CHAPTER 20

CAPTURED

ZANE`S POV:

After spending the night and almost the entire morning inside the dense and cold forest, we finally escaped through the harsh endures of what we saw. The desert was just awaiting for our arrival. After another day traveling, we spent the night surrounded by open ground with our tents up and a nice fire starting. As usual, I offered to make dinner, seeing as though I was the only one that knew how to cook from over a fire. Everyone else had pretty much started up a conversation of their own.

"Sensei, I have to ask," Cole said, "Why didn't you stop everyone yesterday when we told Jay that we wouldn't forgive him? We'd figure that you would say something if none of us stopped him from going off all on his own."

"There was nothing to say," Sensei said, "If Jay wanted to go on his own, let him do so. As long as he is alone, he might learn a thing or two."

"To be honest, Sensei, I am worried about my brother," I said, "Would it not have been better if we would have just talked to him?"

"As I said before, there was nothing to say," Sensei said.

"Do you all mind not talking about Jay in front of me?" Nya asked, "I still can't stand hearing his name, let alone even thinking about it."

"Alright, Nya, what's going on?" Kitty asked, "Ever since you asked Jay to speak with you alone, you haven't been the same. You kept telling me that you knew something was wrong with Jay and that you would speak to him about it, but it seems he said something to almost hurt you. So tell us. We're all waiting to here."

"Here's the one thing Jay did. He had feelings for another girl while he was dating me, which makes me glad that we broke up."

"He did what?"

Zeah gasped. "What kind of man would do such a thing?"

"That's it," Caleb said, "This whole entire time, Jay has done nothing but ignore you and be the way he is now. He's mostly taking all his anger out on you and I'm starting to get sick of it. I'm gonna make sure that Jay is taught a lesson. I'll do something that he'll regret for the rest of his life."

"No one is going to teach anyone a lesson in their own kind of way," Sensei said, "It's not Jay`s fault that he is the way he is. The changes have been making him someone else. Until we can figure out what's causing those changes, we will need to be civil with Jay."

I did not think I could agree on that, but as so much time has passed, we all knew that these changes will affect Jay somehow in the near future. We needed to understand that what he's going through is something people have to deal with in everyday life. Plus, I had to listen to my Sensei.

"So, since we got that out of the way, why don't we talk about something else," Cole said.

"Indeed," Sensei said, "Let us go over the trail for tomorrow. Caleb, the map."

Dinner was finally finished. I brought everyone a plate as Sensei was going through his instructions.

"Mostly the trail is through the rest of the desert tomorrow, but by tomorrow evening we should be heading over to the Jungles of Kingdoms," Sensei explained, "This is where most of the Serpentine kingdoms actually came from. Long story short, after the Yellow Tiger was taken away from their possession, they moved out to those jungles to be ready when the time came to take their jewel back."

"So how long will it be now, Daddy?" Monica asked.

"I'd say about two more day, sweetheart."

"Just two more days," Kitty said, "Two more days and I'll be back with Kai."

"Don't forget about me," Nya said, "I'm wishing for him to come back myself. He needs to help me take care of someone."

"Nya."

"I don't care what you all say. I'm not gonna change my mind. I want Jay to be taught a lesson in a different way. He's not getting away with it that easily."

"What should we start planning ahead for, Father?" Caleb asked.

"If you happen to see any Tigarians, be prepared to fight," I said.

Just like that, a dart flew by and hit Caleb in his arm, making him fall into unconsciousness. I looked to see some familiar looking sights off in the distance. They were back.

"Get into position!" Cole shouted.

"No, Cole, wait!" I shouted. I was too late, though. Cole was hit with a dart by that moment. We all had to hide out. Prepare to fight, just like Sensei said.

Once they drove up to us, I looked at the leader, who was standing in the seat of his vehicle. "You all thought that you would save the remaining friends that you have that are in my possession, but it seems like you are too late. As king of the Tigarians, I'm placing you all under arrest. Take them down, boys!"

Darts were being shot at us. How many of those things did they have? The more the kept aiming at us, the more that scattered on the ground, being known as useless. Which gave me an idea. I picked up one of those blowdart, hid in my exact position, and aimed it right at one of them. It hit their shoulder, which made me pleased to see that my plan was working. Another dart was thrown and hit a different tiger, but I was not the one to aim it at him. I looked to see my love doing the exact same thing, so we decided to work together. Even Sensei joined in with us. Once they had no more darts to shoot, I took one of the tubes that laid on the ground and blew a blowdart right on the kings arm, making him collapse into his army's grasp. He was looking up at his soldiers.

"Get all the one's that were taken down," he said, "Leave the rest behind. We'll return for them another day."

With that, the battle had begun. I started fighting the one that was going towards Nya. Zeah was doing all she can to make sure Zelda would not be taken. If anything, we needed a few people for this, and it would not be wise for anyone in this group to be taken. As I was fighting the one in my grasp, Sensei was taken down, not by a dart, but by a punch that was too difficult to bear. Unfortunately, the number of Tigarians were one too many. One by one they took as many of our group as they could. When I was not paying attention, the feline I was fighting punched me down and ran. I looked behind me to see that Nya was safe.

I walked over to Zeah once the coast was clear. "Are you alright, my love?"

"I'm fine," Zeah said, shaken a little, "This battle is going from bad to worse. We lost most of our team."

"We did not lose everyone."

We walked over to Sensei and helped him up off the ground. "Thank you."

"Are you alright, Sensei?" Zeah asked, "Did they punch you too hard?"

"It stings, but I should be alright."

"Zane, who else is out there?"

"The only one's I see are Zelda and Nya," I said.

"Don't forget about me," a voice called out. We looked over to see Lloyd behind a large pile of sand. "Thought I'd hide under here to keep myself protected. Well, I was trying to Monica and Nick, but I didn't get to them on time."

"We all make mistakes, nephew," Sensei said, "At least you are safe."

"Yeah, your right about that," Lloyd said.

"Half the team is gone, and we have lost some of our supplies," Zeah said, "What do we do now, Sensei?"

"We wait for the others to wake up and get a move on," Sensei ordered, "For now, let us help the others."

As we placed Nya and Zelda inside one of the tents and started another fire, I kept thinking about how long it would be before any of us would get out of this mess alive.

JAY`S POV:

I may not be close to where I need to head to, but at least I'm growing closer to the kingdom. I was in the middle of the desert, sitting on a log and staring at the fire I made to keep myself warm. My thoughts kept going back to what I said about the group. Or what I told them. I didn't mean any of what I said. These changes that I'm going through are to blame. I don't think it's because I'm about to see the light. I think it's because I'm turning into a mature adult.

That explains everything. That's why I'm not making any jokes or being the funny guy everyone's used to me being. My hair is not straight anymore and I can finally see with my glasses on my face. I'm always being serious about everything when I don't mean to be. Some of the things I used to do. I'm just not in the mood to do it anymore or my maturity is getting the best of me.

What am I doing? I'm taking my anger out on everyone else when I should be taking it out on myself. I'm the cause of all this. I'm the reason Nya and I don't get along anymore. I'm the reason my team is mad at me. I'm the reason for my family being taken by those stupid feline tribes. I'm the reason for it all. I shouldn't be blaming everyone else. I should be blaming myself.

I'm the cause of all of this. I'm the cause. I'm the cause.

OH, NO. ZANE AND THE OTHER FIVE ARE THE ONLY ONE'S LEFT IN THE GROUP. WHAT ARE THEY GONNA DO? HOW ARE THEY GOING TO GET THEM ALL BACK? THIS IS SO BAD. I CAN'T BELIEVE THIS IS ACTUALLY HAPPENING.

JAY IS BLAMING HIMSELF FOR ALL OF THIS MESS. ITS NO ONE ELSE'S FAULT BUT HIS. THIS IS HIS PROBLEM. THIS IS WHAT HE HAS TO FIX.

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