{How long…? How long have I been running?} Colin didn't know. He collapsed on his hands and knees, panting hard.
"Ugh…" he rolled over and lay flat on his back, struggling just to breathe. His lungs burned. Everything looked hazy.
There wasn't much to look at, anyway. There was fog here, and it was getting thick. He could barely see a few trees here and there.
The white lioness, meanwhile, was getting farther and farther away. She hadn't even been running, simply loping along at a comfortable pace, but no matter how hard Colin ran, he never seemed to be able to catch up to her. He'd closed half the distance, but it had been a long run and he'd gotten very, very tired.
"Yip." Shiro said, falling flat beside him. He, too, looked exhausted. Sonia sat near him, looking curious. Fireheart growled at their backs, looking at the fading figure of the white lioness, eager to continue the chase.
From above, Warc and Kirin came in for a landing, with Raiki on Kirin's back. Rall and Bubba was somewhere far behind them, Colin guessed. Too far even to see.
"Mik." Meek peered out of Colin's pocket. "Mik?"
"Yip…" Shiro whined. He turned to Warc. "Yip."
"Wark." Warc nodded, and took to the air.
{Warc's going to keep an eye on the white lioness. That's good… at least we won't lose sight of her…}
{But the fog is thick. Warc might not be able to keep track of her all the time. We better get moving.}
{Just as soon as we get some rest. I'm bushed, and Shiro's weak point is stamina. We can't keep chasing her like this.}
{I wish I brought my bike.}
But he'd expected to meet Katrin, and walk back with her.
{What happened to Katrin, anyway?}
Colin had to wonder. Between the two of them, they might have been able to warn Jonah off, or she could have stayed to explain to the J-Knights when they arrived on site.
As it was, Jonah and Alicia were probably telling Foxtrot and Maggie all sorts of bad things. Colin could be in serious trouble when he got back.
{If} he got back. "Where are we?"
This place didn't look anything like the South Sunshine Forest. The trees were too sparse, and they looked far smaller than the forest trees. Also, there was all that fog.
Colin tapped his watch. "Abby?"
His watch flashed red. {This is a No Comms Zone.}
"Great. No service…?" Colin laid his head back with a groan. "How did we even get here… wherever 'here' is?"
"Yip." Shiro answered, glancing at the speck of white they had been following all this time.
Colin got to his feet. "We better keep going, or all this would have been for nothing."
At least the white speck ahead seemed to have stopped.
Shiro had given up trying to run and was hitching a ride on Kirin behind Raiki. He really looked tired. "Yip."
Colin walked on, glancing back through the fog to see if Rall or Bubba was ever going to catch up. Then, he would look ahead to make sure the white speck was still there.
It should be. Colin looked around for a small blue speck above the white one, trying to find Warc, but the fog was too thick.
Between the fog and all those damp dead leaves under foot, Colin felt more like he was walking in a non-headband dream rather than in a Dreamworld.
{Am I Dreaming, or dreaming?}
All this was weird. Too weird.
And then Colin stepped out of the fog entirely.
***
"Wow."
He stood in a place of absolute clarity. Behind him was all fog, and before him, not even a wisp of vapor.
There were no trees blocking his view. No dead leaves covering the ground.
Right before him was a valley, or a chasm. There was the mountain wall, and there was a crack in the wall about six feet wide that seemed to form a path in front of him.
Far ahead, the white lioness had stopped.
Warc was nowhere to be seen.
"Where's Warc?" Colin asked, glancing at Shiro.
But Shiro wasn't there any more. In fact, Kirin had disappeared entirely.
"Yip!" Shiro called up to him. Colin blinked, finding the wolfcat cub on the ground.
"What happened to Kirin?" Colin had to ask.
"Mew…" Raiki shook her head.
Shiro was there. Raiki was sitting right in front of him.
But Kirin was gone.
"Fireheart?" Colin glanced about. Fireheart was gone also. Sonia wasn't around either. Colin checked his pocket. "Meek? Are you there?!"
No response. Nothing in his pocket. Meek, too, had vanished. {Okay, now this is getting VERY weird.}
Colin turned around. "Maybe we better go back."
"Yip." Shiro shook his head. He took a step forward. "Yip."
Colin took a deep breath. "I know it'll be a waste of all our efforts, but this is creepy. Where is everybody else?"
"Yip." Shiro looked sad. His tail drooped…
"Okay, okay!" Colin said hastily. "Let's keep going."
He put Shiro on his shoulder, something he hadn't done for a while. Shiro stretched out his tail and wrapped it around Colin's back securely. Raiki, he carried in his hands.
Now just with his two favorite Comrades, Colin stepped forward into the chasm.
The moment he entered it, he felt wind.
{Odd. I didn't feel wind outside.}
But he felt it now. Felt it, and heard it.
It sounded like someone blowing softly. A gentle wind, but strong.
{That sounds impossible. How can it be gentle but strong?!}
But that was exactly what it felt like. Thick, strong wind, surrounding him like a river of air… yet it was gentle.
Other than the wind, there was nothing in the chasm. No Wilds. No fog. No trees. No grass.
Just the white lioness ahead of them, the wolfcat on his shoulder, and the kitten in his hands.
{What IS this place?}
Colin walked on in silence, approaching the white lioness.
She sat there watching him, deep golden eyes observing his every move. The closer he got, the more he realized just how much bigger than himself she was, and that he had only a kitten and a cub for Comrades here.
{One day, they can be stronger than even full-grown Storm Swans… but they're definitely not grown up yet.}
Colin stopped, twenty feet in front of her. What am I doing here? I obviously can't win a fight with her, much less Tame her, at my level.
{Maybe I should go back…}
"Yip." Shiro darted down from Colin's shoulder before Colin could react. He ran up to Kyria, the white lioness. "Yip."
"Shiro!" Colin gaped. {He can't be meaning to FIGHT Kyria!}
But he didn't. Shiro just ploughed headlong into the white lioness, not biting or attacking with either tail or sonic powers, but simply bumping straight into her. "Yip!"
"Rrrr." The sound coming from the great white lioness sounded… pleased. "Rrrr."
"That sounded like a welcome." Colin stared, as Raiki, likewise, darted down and went to greet Kyria. She purred, as Kyria lowered her head to nuzzle the little blue kitten.
"Rrrr." Kyria said again.
"Rrr." Raiki purred.
{Kyria was… purring?!}
"Yip." Shiro told Kyria earnestly. Then he whined. "Yip."
"Rrrr." Kyria answered gravely.
"Mew. Mew." Raiki added.
"Yip."
"Rrrr."
Colin hesitated to approach any closer. After a bit of thought, he sat down right where he was, a safe distance from the trio. "I'll just… wait here."
"Yip." Shiro nodded to him, accepting his decision. Then he turned back to Kyria. "Yip. Yip."
Then there was the sound of great wings, and a shadow fell upon the land. Colin looked up in time to see the black form of the half-eagle, half-lion designated M-2, the black Gryphon named Midnight.
{M-1 and M-2 were both here…}
Midnight called, a pure, rising sound from his eagle's beak. He turned to Colin and gave him a nod in greeting.
{Midnight saved me before, when I was about to get hit by a Megant the first night. He seems to remember me.}
Colin looked over his stark black feathers, mingled with the thick fur. There was a dark blue tinge about them, as well as a hint of silver, as if reflecting the light of a white moon.
{Midnight is well named. }
The black Gryphon went over to join the other breedings of Michi, so that the four of them seemed to hold some sort of conference together, and Colin hadn't a clue what they were talking about.
{Almost all Michi's special experiments chatting together. I think they're friends. Michi would love to see this… but I haven't been able to contact her recently. I tried to find her at Forest Village last night, but she was either gone by the time I arrived, or she hadn't arrived by the time I left. I've tried calling since, but never got through.}
Colin laid on his back, right there in the Chasm of the Winds. "I'm so tired."
Shiro, Raiki, Midnight and Kyria went on talking.
Colin closed his eyes.
{I wonder if it's possible to fall asleep in Dreamworlds…?}
***
[Cyril…? Cyril, is that you?]
[Who… who are you?]
[You're not Cyril… sorry. I was looking for my brother. I'm Cody. Cody Rivers.]
[Rivers? I'm Colin Rivers. Are we related?]
Colin saw him then, wearing black and silver armor. Brown hair in a mane, brown eyes, sharp face… slightly tanned…
"Hey… you look like me." Colin said, eyes wide.
But he was older. Not yet Kate's age, but older than Colin.
Cody disappeared, and Colin was left drifting in mists, hearing the shouts and sounds of a distant battle that sounded familiar. He tried to remember why it sounded familiar, but awareness faded, and he floated into nothingness.
***
When he opened his eyes, he was at home. Not at his Home Base in Dreamworlds, but awake in the real world with his family stirring about the house and Mom saying something about breatkfast.
"What the…?!" Colin stared.
He felt the Dreamworlds Headband around his head, took it off and studied it suspiciously. It had switched off automatically when he woke up and now stayed quite still in his hands, looking very innocent.
{What WAS that?!}
Colin shook himself. "That was weird."