We Are Soldiers!

Requested Help (Chapter 21)

~~Normal POV~~

Darkness covered the camp, causing all the cats inside to act more glum than usual. Unbeknownst to them, this negative energy could only bring trouble.

Through the mist of this overcast day, three cats crawled into camp and past to the guards, right to an unsuspecting Kuturo.

"Who are you?" He hissed half heartedly, not in the mood after the lyna-not-lyna drama.

"I'm Poppystar." Said the one in front in an eerie voice. She was a pure white with blank blue eyes that stared at him unblinkingly.

"And the other two?" Kuturo nodded towards a large black tom with red tips and orange eyes and a white tom with light brown/grey spots and odd eyes, one green, one blue.

"Let me formally introduce ourselves." The large black one growled, voice proper and deep, but also unsettling. "I am Darkcloud. This menacing flea-bag is Deatheyes. And-"

"DON'T. YOU. DARE." Deatheyes hissed at his accomplice. "Every single time you make the same damned joke!" His voice, unsurprisingly, was also unsettling and distorted, and though it was deep, it didn't feel natural. As if he actually had a very high pitched voice, but it was disrupted. Nevertheless, he was also the loudest of the three.

Darkcloud continued. "This is our leader, Poppystar. We come from a nearby clan looking for assistance. You see, we have a slight issue with...humans." His face clouded over with disgust. "As much as we hate asking for assistance, they've taken most of our warriors, and we've heard your...group might be able to help."

Kuturo stared at the three. They seemed harmless enough, and his own group was originally just a ragtag team of poor cats abducted from normal lives, much like these. And, Kuturo decided, getting away from the camp and all its current drama would be good for him.

He nodded at the three. "Count me in."

"Good." Meowed Darkcloud. "We leave at once."

~~Kuturo's POV~~

I thought we would never get there, but unfortunately, all to soon a familiar building appeared in the distance.

I was almost tempted to slow down or head back. Only evil and twisted things lay in that death trap, and I was not to pleased to be back.

All I could think about was the bad. My own experiments, the constant crying and screaming of fellow felines, and- most recently- the Lyna incident.

I shuddered as we crept closer to the lab.

Once we entered and had reached the floor where captured cats were kept, I got into commando position, crouching on all joints and slowly crawling. Deatheyes was doing something similar, while Darkcloud was just keeping his head down low.

Poppystar wasn't doing anything different, still just walking creepily.

We arrived at a set of alcoves in the wall with bars and locks. I Poppystar ran to a few cages further down the hall, her comrades walking close behind

Poppystar rubbed her fluffy head against the muzzle of a small greyish kit. The humans hadn't gotten to her yet, thankfully, but she wasn't eating well. Ribs shone through what little fur clumped to her chest. She was skin and bones.

Darkcloud was speaking with another tom who had, unfortunately, been experimented on. I padded next to him to see the damage.

The tom had an annoyed expression on his face. He was a deep, tar black, with eyes to match. Red pupils illuminated his features. Fresh red blood oozed down his face.

"Kutoro." Darkcloud turned to me. "This is Drownedpaw. My apprentice." The Drownedpaw gave me a curt nod.

"That's all well and good." Deatheyes interrupted. "But Inkclaw is missing."

Indeed, the cage were Deatheyes stood was empty.

"The humans must be working on him." I said, observing the cage. "From the looks of it, he's been gone for a while. They should be coming back-"

The sound of a door opening proved him to be true. I slammed into Deatheyes and Darkcloud, forcing them into Drownedpaw's cell. I then pushed Poppystar into the hunger ridden cat's cove and closed the door on us. Darkcloud closed his own.

"What's the meaning of this?!" Deatheyes hissed.

"Shhhh!" Darkcloud and I growled in response.

We his in the back of our cages as the humans came back with who I assumed to be Inkclaw- though it did not look like a cat.

A human with gloves forced a black gooey mess into the previously empty cage.

I managed to break out of the cage once the humans left. Poppystar and the other followed me out and helped me free the other three. We stood in front of the third cage for a while. staring at us was the blob, two pointy horns sticking out of it like his ears. He managed a somewhat cat-like form, but from his paws down he was, well...ink.

He smiled, revealing pointy white teeth, so unlike the rest of him.

"You found me!" He said with a surprisingly normal voice. "Good to see ya again, Poppy." She smiled blankly in return.

​​​​​​"Don't worry about getting me out- look what I can do!" Returning to liquid form, he managed to squeeze through the bars. The ink he left behind quickly joined the rest of him.

​​​​​​"I feel invincible!"

Already tired of this place again, I was more than eager to head back.

They grouped together to talk, giving me a chance to think about everything. Gather my thoughts a bit.

​​​​​After a while, I split from the other six and was left in silence.

It was nighttime by the time I was back in camp. All seemed OK, until I realized...Lyna was missing.

I asked around, and apparently no one had seen her- no one but Indigo, who told me that she had seen her near the rejects...

Before she disappeared.