Ok this chapter is much longer than the others because usually I write one big blurb and then divide it up into chapters. So this one I just couldn't find a way to divide it in two.

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The four ran until they came to the edge of the forest again, where they slowed and Shikyo, Dan, and Simon morphed into their human forms. Alexis stared blankly at them.

Dan had short, tan hair and laughing light brown eyes. He was wearing a green shirt and camouflage shorts, and he was tall and well-muscled.

Simon had messy dark hair and warm amber eyes. He wore a blue sweater and black shorts, and he, too, was tall and well-muscled.

Shikyo was simply breathtaking. She had straight black hair, the colour of her stripes in her tiger form, and a very pale face - so pale that it looked white. Her eyes were a deep, piercing blue, and she was tall and very thin. She was wearing a black hoodie over her black shorts.

The three of them stared at Alexis as she changed.

Alexis had pretty tawny brown curls that fell to her shoulders, she was tanned, and had hard golden eyes. She was fairly tall, but nothing compared to Dan or Simon. She was wearing a black T-shirt and black kapris, and her tawny hair was pulled back into a ponytail.

Now that Alexis compared the three, Shikyo looked very sickly. She couldn't help but worry a bit...

"I'm still the only dog! Ugh, Alexis, why'd you have to be a cat?" Simon was complaining as he grinned. Dan elbowed him lightly, laughing as they walked towards a large tree.

Shikyo was already at the base of the tree, waiting for them as Alexis tailed Dan and Simon. She glanced at her and smiled briefly. "We live here," she told Alexis, gesturing to the huge tree house perched in the tree. It was made entirely of wood, and had several window and a door. There was a small deck surrounding the house, and Alexis thought she saw a chimney.

Shikyo grimaced lightly and leaped, sailing through the air at a seemingly impossible height. She landed lightly on the deck, and beckoned the others up.

Dan and then Simon jumped up, copying her leap easily. Alexis stared up, wondering how she was supposed to get up, and knowing she couldn't jump like them, even in her cougar form.

"Come on up!" Dan called, looking down at her. "Use your legs!"

"Dan, just go get her," Shikyo's voice called; she had disappeared into the tree house. Dan shrugged and dropped down, landing lightly next to Alexis.

He scooped her up into his arms, then leaped, landing near the edge of the deck. He set Alexis down gently and walked into the house with Simon, expecting Alexis to follow. She did.

Inside was a large room, with one other door across the room. There were three hammocks strung in the far corner of the room, one blue, one red, and one black. A dresser with five drawers was next to the hammocks, over flowing with multi-coloured clothes in the top three drawers. In the corner to Alexis' right seemed to be a kitchen, complete with a mini fridge, a camping oven, and somehow, a sink. A small table sat nearby with six chairs, and it was covered in dishes, cloths, papers, and a map. In the middle of the room was a large carpet, a few more chairs placed around it and a tiny coffee table in the center of the chairs. To Alexis' left was a huge bookshelf, filled with papers and books and all kinds of knickknacks.

Shikyo was pulling things out from a bin next to the bookshelf, and sat up with a triumphant smile as she held up a big blob of green. "I hope you like green," she smiled. "It's now your colour." She threw the green thing at Alexis and closed the bin, walking to the kitchen area. Alexis unraveled the green thing and saw that it was a hammock, just like the other three in the room.

Simon went to the table, sitting at its head and sorting through some maps and papers. Dan glanced at her as he walked over to Shikyo. "Well, put it up," he told her.

"Uh...ok," she agreed, and walked to the other hammocks. She noticed that the blue and black hammocks were attached to a large branch, protruding through the floor and up through the roof as well, and to the wall nearest by the kitchen area, and that the red one was attached to another branch and a different wall. She attached her hammock just like the red one, except hers was farther from the other hammocks.

Shikyo was mixing something together in a pot, as Dan pushed some papers to the side of the table and cleared a place for four. Simon picked up most of the papers and the map, bringing it to the shelf.

Alexis walked over to them, smiling tentatively. "I can set the table, if you want," she offered.

"It's fine, that's Dan's job," Simon answered. "But could you clean some of the dishes? We've gotten a bit behind." He grinned and grabbed the rest of the papers littering the table.

Alexis shrugged, wanting to do her part. "Sure." She walked to the sink, and began to clean it, as Shikyo added some sliced bits of potato into the pot.

"It's nice to have some extra help," Shikyo commented as everyone continued their jobs. Dan was now filling each glass with punch, as Simon folded up the cloths that were on the table. "Dan usually gets all the soft, easy jobs and Simon and I do the harder, or longer jobs around here," she whispered to Alexis lightly.

Alexis smiled, feeling welcome.

Soon everyone was done their jobs and they were sitting around the table as Shikyo served them some of her stew she had been making in the pot. She gave them each quite a bit, emptying the pot on Alexis' plate.

"Sorry about the food," she apologized, sitting next to Simon. "We can't have the greatest of meals when we aren't able to buy a lot of food often."

"In fact," Dan interrupted, "We grow quite a few vegetables and some fruits. I'm not so bad at it."

"He's actually pretty good at growing vegetables and fruits," Simon commented after swallowing some stew. "That's what he does most of the time during the summer."

Dan shrugged. "I don't mind. It's easier than some of the work around here." He eyed Shikyo with a grin.

"He means sneaking around in the town just to wash our clothes and buy some food," Shikyo explained at Alexis' expression. "Speaking of which, we'll have to do soon. Next sunny day, guys. We have to get groceries and some clothes for Alexis, I think."

Alexis looked down at her ragged shirt and nodded slightly. "Yeah, I kind of do need some clothes. But I have a house in the town that we could just take them from, instead of wasting money on getting new clothes. There's also some food and money we could get."

Shikyo exchanged a glance with Simon and Dan. "Where's your home?" Simon asked.

"When we come out of the woods, pretty much across the street."

Shikyo, Dan and Simon looked thoughtful for a moment.

"I guess we could go there...," Shikyo said hesitantly. "We'd just have to be very careful, and take everything that could be useful to us. That means we should probably go at night. How about...tonight? They won't be expecting you to return so early."

"But...but you'll have no time to prepare! You won't be ready!" Alexis protested, caught off guard.

"We'll be fine," Dan replied lazily as he sank back in his chair, his hands behind his head. Simon looked calm, too.

Alexis gaped at them, surprised, as the three rose and headed towards the door.

Simon looked back at her as Shikyo and Dan dropped to the ground. "Well, are you coming?"

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Please review I like reading them :)

A special round of applause to my assistant!! Haha, this is just my friend that is helping but she is now just called South, ok? :)

It might take me a little longer to update this time...