The sun rises beautifully over the city. It passes the horizon, washing the buildings with rays of soft orange light. The forest near the city springs to life, birds chirping, welcoming the arrival of a new day. Leaves rustle, a gentle wind blows. The city itself is quiet, nothing but a few gusts of wind blowing through the streets.

It is a beautiful, serene day.

Yeah, right.

Gunshots suddenly break the silence. Yelling echoes off the buildings, and a figure runs from behind a skyscraper, two other figures right on its tail. It tears down the street as if the demons of hell were the ones chasing it.

One of the pursuers skids to a halt. It waves a gun above its head, screaming. "Get outta here, you Hacker scum!"

Its partner stops as well. "If you decide to come back uninvited again, I'm going to make sure you don't leave alive!" It yells.

The Hacker pays no attention, disappearing around a corner. The two others watch them leave.

"Christ, Aurora, are we just gonna let them go?" The first one asks, jumping from foot to foot. He rubs the back of his head, slightly shifting the cowboy hat on his head. His white and gray fur is ruffled by the breeze. "I mean, we don't know why they came here, and we don't know if they took anything." He stops talking, green eyes widening. "What if they took something and they're gonna give it to the Justifiers? What if they show it to everyone? What if-"

The other figure holds up a paw. "Hush, Marble. They're not going to show anything to the Justifiers. Nobody, not even the Hackers, is going to confide in them for anything."

Marble blinks. "Oh. Yeah. I knew that." The fox straightens up, spinning a crimson revolver around his finger. "So...do we go now?"

Aurora sighs, flicking her black, white-tipped tail back and forth. She drops the arrow she was about to shoot back into the quiver slung across her back. The coyote absentmindedly brushes a black paw along the length of the bow, white-tipped ears straight and alert. "But if they did take something, what was it? We don't have anything of importance to them."

The marbled fox frowns, stuffing the gun into the pocket of his brown hoodie. "Maybe it was just because they hate us. If I were a Hacker, and thank the circuits I'm not, I would do the same thing. Just to screw around with my enemies."

A small smile spreads across Aurora's white muzzle. "You're probably right. Now, let's get out of here and tell the others that it was just a false alarm."

Marble grins mischievously. He dusts off his brown camo pants, planting his steel toed boots on the ground. "Race you?"

Aurora grins back. "It's on."

They two canines take off, going so fast that they look like a black and white blur to anyone watching. They leave the gray confines of the city, heading towards the giant forest right next to it. They speed into it, dodging trees and scaring a few small animals back into their homes.

The two animatronics reach the middle of the forest. A hanging ladder falls from the top of a tree, and Aurora reaches for it. She scampers up the ladder, Marble close behind. The coyote climbs to the top of the ladder, and she plants her feet on the wood floor of the tree dwelling.

"Ha!" she says triumphantly, adjusting her blue-green bowtie. "You'll never beat me!"

Marble climbs up the ladder, panting. He plunks his head on the floor. "Oh no!" he yells in mock defeat. "I have been bested once more!"

Aurora smiles, lifting Marble up. "Come on. I don't think Mint's going to appreciate you lying on the floor like a rug."

"Then leave me here."

Aurora rolls her mismatched eyes. "Fine." She drops the fox back down on the floor with a thunk.

Marble scrambles to his feet. "No, I was just kidding!" He begins to walk next to the black and gray coyote.

The two leave the room they came in, which had no decoration in it save for a small window on the right wall. They exit, and are met with a hanging bridge made out of wood and ropes. The bridge was connected to another treehouse room, which was in turn connected to another bridge. All of the treehouses were connected to each other, forming a large circle. In the middle of the circle is a giant mansion made out of wood, with multiple bridges coming out from it. Smaller trees hid the whole base from prying eyes below. Lush green foliage creeps up the sides of the houses, making the place camouflaged even from above.

Aurora and Marble cross the bridge leading to the large wooden mansion. It looms over them, the polished wood gleaming in the morning sun.

They approach the double doors, and Aurora gently pushes one of them open. The room they enter is large and spacious, with a stained glass skylight making up the entire roof. The room itself is sparsely decorated, with a few armchairs here and there. A fireplace takes up most of the right wall, and the other walls have different paintings depicting the forest.

In the middle of the room are three other people. One of them, a girl, notices the two animatronics walk in. She turns around to face them, flipping her braided, strawberry blond hair over her shoulder.

"Hey guys!" She calls out, walking over to meet the two. She looks them both up and down. "Where's the Hacker?"

Marble waves. "Hey, Calypso. About that. All they wanted to do was cause some trouble, and they didn't get away with anything. Plus, it would've been a waste of time if we tailed the guy across the entire city only to find out he was a troll."

Calypso frowns, crossing her arms over her orange shirt. She fiddles with the sleeve of her black denim jacket. "Are you positive that they didn't have anything of value?"

The gray and white fox nods. "One hundred percent positive."

Aurora comes up behind Marble. "And speaking of the Hacker, where's Chica so I can tell her?"

Calypso shrugs. "I honestly don't know, but you can give your report to Grace." She points over her shoulder, where a dark gray wolf and a brown rabbit were currently yelling at each other, making wild gestures in the air with their hands. "As usual, she's arguing with Ganache." The girl grins. "They're having a heated discussion on the values of potatoes."

Aurora sighs, trying not to laugh at their second-in-command talking about vegetables. "Of all things, why potatoes?" She begins to walk towards the two animatronics. Marble and Calypso follow.

The brown rabbit was in the middle of making a statement. "-but all that's going to do is take up space!" He yells.

The dark gray wolf, Grace, rolls her light blue eyes. "And can you suggest a better vegetable to grow up here?"

Ganache huffs, bright green eyes narrowing. "Why are you so intent on bringing potatoes up here, anyways? It's not like they're the best vegetable, and we already have a lot of other plants growing in the garden." He spreads his arms, indicating the entire base. "Plus, as I said before, where are we going to put them?"

Grace bares her teeth. "I'm bringing them up here because we have multiple human children with us. Or did you forget?"

"I didn't forget about Esmeralda or the others! But they're not going to spend the rest of their lives eating potatoes."

"I never said that!"

"I sure sounded like you meant it."

Grace throws her paws up. "Fine. I'm done arguing with you. But I'm putting potatoes in the sky garden, and you can't stop me." The wolf turns around, noticing the three other people for the first time.

"Oh, hello." Grace says, slightly flustered. "I'm sorry I couldn't get to you guys sooner. I was caught up in a completely unnecessary argument that would've been resolved earlier, if only a certain rabbit could've listened to me." She directed her last sentence at Ganache, who waited until the wolf wasn't looking at him and started to make faces behind her back.

Marble snickers, sticking his tongue out at the brown and white rabbit. Grace notices this and frowns at the fox, who sees the second-in-command staring at him. He immediately stops.

The dark gray wolf turns her attention back to Aurora. "So? How did it go?"

Aurora tells Grace about the Hacker and how they probably snuck into the base as a prank. Grace nods. "One of their buddies might have dared them, and they didn't want to be known as a coward." She swishes her tail, looking back at Ganache, who had stopped making faces and was straightening his green tie. "Come on, it's almost time for training."

Marble holds up his paws. "Wait. Training before eating? Who's crazy idea was this?"

"Chica's," Grace says. "And if you have the guts to say that to her face, I admire you."

Marble wiggles an eyebrow. "I may be brave, but not that brave."

Ganache saunters up next to the fox, placing a paw on his shoulder. "But I remember that one time you said you were going to sneak into the Hacker's base and cut Foxy's head off."

Marble opens his mouth to protest when Calypso pipes up. "And when you said that you were going to fight Grace to the death for the position of second-in-command."

Grace looks at the white and gray fox, amusement dancing in her eyes. "Oh really?"

Marble got an agitated look on his face. "I never said any of that! Especially not the thing Burn said about fighting to the death!"

Calypso beams at the sound of her nickname. "I'm pretty sure I heard you."

Marble begins to try and explain why he never said anything. Everyone one else teases him, making comments. The four animatronics and one human walk out of the mansion into the light of the forest.

Run.

That was the only thing on her mind as she speeds through the abandoned city, trying to outrun the pair of Hunters.

She hears the animatronics stop, and one of them calls her scum. She grins to herself, wavy red hair flying away from her face as she continues to sprint.

If only they knew who they were dealing with.

She turns a corner. Not stopping, she whisks down the street, glancing at the street signs as she runs past them.

East Burke...Kero...Rancom...and here it is.

She skids to a halt in front of a worn down sign, the faded white letters reading 'Alders End'. She walks over to the sign and runs her hand down it. Finding a button, she presses it.

A circular section of the street under her begins to sink down. She stands on it, tapping her foot in impatience. As soon as the street above was past her head, another circular slab slides into the opening, covering her completely.

Lights flick on, lining the sides of the tunnel she was descending through. She drums her fingers on the glass of the tube she was in. Every single time she had gone down here, she had no idea how the glass had materialized around her.

The tube exits the tunnel, and it appears in a gigantic underground airplane hangar. The walls and ceiling are made out concrete, and multiple large lights are on the ceiling and walls.

That's where the resemblance to an airplane hangar ends.

Dozens of computers take up most of the right half of the entire base, thousands of wires crisscrossing on the floor and traveling up the walls. The other half has some of the weirdest inventions ever known to mankind. Most of them are either smoking or on the verge of exploding, and all of them emit some kind of odd noise. Three huge bookshelves are crammed in in the far left corner of the hangar, and multiple books are opened and scattered on the floor near them. In the very middle of the northern wall is a large metal door. It was open, revealing multiple beds and a kitchen.

The glass slides open, and the woman steps out. Her dark green eyes scan the base, and she spots a person running towards her. She recognizes them instantly.

"Oh my God, not now," she mutters, and looks up, forcing a smile. "Henry."

The man wrings his checkered bowtie, coming up to her. His brown eyes dart around the nagar nervously. He pushes his wire-rimmed glasses up his sweaty nose. "May. Um, you're in trouble. Actually, really big trouble. You know what, make that lots and lots of-"

May cuts him off. "I get it. I went out without telling anyone. And may I ask who is the one going crazy over my disappearance?"

"Um, it's mostly Aravis, but Savannah is really worried, you know how she gets…"

May's eyes widen. The annoyed look on her face leaves, and she storms past Henry, leaving him in her wake. He scampers behind her, almost tripping over his own feet.

She jogs over to the open door on the other side of the base. She walks into the room with the beds and kitchen in it.

"Savannah?" She calls out with concern. "Don't worry about me, I'm fine."

A golden blur flies from the kitchen, and it wraps around May with a crushing hug. "May Caster!" The tiger exclaims, brushing a paw on May's red hair. She pulls away, studying the human. "Where have you been?"

May coughs. "I had to do something important."

Savannah frowns. "Something so important it had to do with the Hunters?"

Behind them, Henry gasps. As usual, he is ignored.

May holds up a thumb drive. "But I got something off of them, and I should probably show it to Aravis. I don't know if it's important, but they didn't give me much time to check their databases. That was very rude of them."

Savannah begins to check May up and down. "Did they hurt you in any way? Because if they did…"

May gently squirms away from the tiger. "Nope. I was too fast for them."

There was a terrible smell. Savannah looks up, blue eyes widening. "Oh no, did Vesper forget to take the pie out of the oven?" She runs into the kitchen, and the burning smell intensifies.

May rushes in after her, followed by Henry. She looks tentatively inside, and winces at the scene inside.

A tall black animatronic snake with orange eyes stood by the oven with some kind of charred rock on his head. It took May a moment to realize it was a pie. The snake was trying and failing to take the pie off his head, but it seemed to be stuck. Next to the snake was a toucan animatronic, complete with the orange beak. He was kneeling near the oven, cleaning it out with a rag. Savannah herself was standing in front of the snake, giving him a lecture.

"What did I say about taking the pie out, Vesper?"

"Take it out carefully." The snake mutters, seizing the burnt pie again with one of his hands. "Don't leave it too long inside or it'll burn."

"And did you listen?"

"No…"

Savannah sighs, grabbing the pie and placing her other paw on the side of Vesper's face. She gently shakes the pastry, and when satisfied, rips it off in one go.

Vesper yelps, slithering away from Savannah. He rubs the side of his head, grimacing. "Could you have done that a bit softer?" He removes his hand to find bits of metal on it. "Great. Now I'm broken."

"You're not broken," Savannah says, setting the burnt pie on the stovetop. "And if I hadn't done that now, you would've had a pie stuck on your head forever." The tigress turns to May. "Aravis, Ms. Caster has something to show you."

The toucan looks up from the oven. He stands up and walks over to May, his black clawed feet clicking on the green and white tiled floor. "May, please tell me what you got from the Hunters is crucial, or a certain fox is going to be very mad at you."

May flips out the thumb drive, rubbing her finger along it. "I'm actually not quite sure, but hey, anything from the enemy is important, isn't it?" She hands it over to Aravis, who wastes no time and runs out of the kitchen. The toucan blows past Henry, almost knocking the small man over. Everyone else follows, quiet.

Aravis had crossed the giant hangar in record time, getting to the nearest computer. He plugs the thumb drive in, and everyone crowds around him.

The file pops up. Aravis narrows his gray eyes. "A password."

"Hey, that kind of stuff is a cinch," Vesper exclaims, and he reaches out to type something on the keyboard. The password screen disappears, and some more files appear. Aravis scrolls past the data, eyes scanning the file names.

"They names are all mostly acronyms, but we'll have time for those later. It's the ones with decipherable names I want a look at." He stops at a single document, hovering the cursor over it. "This is what I'm talking about."

May reads it out loud. "InsideTheShadows. Sounds important. But that sounds like an application, not a word document."

Aravis clicks on it, and a document with thousands of words comes up. The toucan browses the first few lines, and he stops in amazement. The others also read the lines, and they exchange looks of understanding with each other.

"Are you all thinking what I'm thinking?" Aravis murmurs.

Vesper gapes at the screen, a hand reaching up to grasp the silver pendant around his neck. "Holy circuits, the Fighters are going to pay a fortune for this."

A/N: The wait is over!

Featuring:

Aurora, by: CrossedTheBarrierForPizza

Marble, by: WingsOfBronze

Calypso Snow, by: Bunnie Queen Rulz

Grace, by: AlexaMarrinDaughterOfPoseidon

Ganache, by: me!

May Caster, by: KalypsoKari87

Henry, by: Grezzwizard

Savannah and Vesper, by: xdarkx

Aravis, by: FireMoon

o0o

Thank you all! And remember, don't worry if your OC didn't appear. I have LOTS OF THEM TO KEEP TRACK OF.

Have a great day!

PlatinumFire~