Part Five:

Chibi, Luna, and Emerald have gone into the Haunted Woods in search for the Ixi, the Eyrie, and their companions. They will soon learn, however, that it is easier said than done...

They hiked halfway through the night. By then, they decided it was time to sleep. The entrance to the Haunted Woods was just becoming visible in the horizon. They sat down their backpacks.

"Um, Chibi..." Luna began. "What are we going to sleep on? We don't have tents, blankets, anything."

"We'll have to sleep on the ground," Chibi said grimly. "I'm going to look horrible in the morning."

They arose at the break of dawn. After about 30 minutes, they had reached the entrance to the Woods.

"Well, this is it," Chibi said. "The point of no return." The trio entered the Haunted Woods, overcoming their fears.

Almost as soon as they entered, it became dark. The trees were so thick the branches hid the sunlight. Strange insects scurried from beneath their feet to escape being stepped on. The trees seemed to be staring at them.

Luna looked around. "Emerald, keep your eyes, nose, and ears open for anything that could come our way. Chibi, keep your eyes open as well. " She said, putting her nose to the ground. "I'm going to try to find Gryffin and Sunskyes' scent."

The trio wandered around, until finally Luna picked up the scents of her younger brother and sister. They followed it until they came to a small river. "Great." Luna complained. "I think they crossed the river. I'll have to look for their scent all over again."

"That won't be too hard," Emerald said. "It's a small river." He walked into the river, and peered into the waters. Suddenly, he lunged with his claws and mouth. A moment later, he walked out of the water with a fish in his mouth. "We may as well take this opportunity to eat. " he said, dropping his food on the ground.

"You're going to eat that?" Chibi said disgustedly, as he and Luna put down their packs and got out some of the food they had packed.

"Well, I was in such a rush I forgot to pack anything to eat," Emerald answered. "But I don't mind. My family and I go camping a lot, and we catch our own food. Makes it more fun."

After lunch, the three crossed the river, and soon, Luna had found the trail again. After a few hours, they had followed it to a long, old, rickety bridge, over a tall cliff.

"This looks dangerous..." Luna began.

"Nah, it's fine," Chibi said, starting across the bridge. "If they could make it across, we can."

They were walking, about halfway across the bridge. "Wait." Emerald said. They stopped in their tracks.

"What is it, Emerald?" Luna asked.

"I smell something coming nearby. I can't quite tell what it is," Emerald answered, caution in his voice.

Suddenly, they heard laughter. Not loud, but not too quiet either. It was a giggling, evil laugh.

"Darkness Faeries!" Luna cried out, seeing them with her keen Kougra eyes against the trees. Four evil, cackling faeries raced towards the group.

"Something is in their hands!" Emerald shouted, seeing one of them holding something. "Run!"

They began racing to get to the other side of the bridge. Suddenly, they saw the faeries speed past them, two on each end of the bridge. There was a slicing sound as they flew past, and the bridge, with its ropes cut in half, collapsed.

After a couple of seconds, Chibi pulled up enough strength to catch his balance and begin flying. Luna used her long claws and gripped the side of the cliff, on the edge of a rock. Emerald attempted to do likewise, but was too far out, and couldn't reach it.

"Chibi!" Luna cried out. "Catch Emerald!"

Chibi raced down, flying at an incredible speed, until he finally caught up with Emerald. He tried to carry him on his back, but their packs were in the way.

"Drop your sack!" Chibi ordered, as he dropped his own. Emerald obeyed, and Chibi was finally able to fly up the cliff wall.

Chibi dropped off Emerald, then went back for Luna. Luna was barely holding onto the rock, her claws slipping, when Chibi caught up. She had to drop her equipment sack as well, but he managed to get her up.

When they were on solid ground again, Luna and Chibi sat down with relief. After resting a moment, Luna ran up and hugged Emerald. "I'm glad you're ok," she said. She then went to Chibi, and thanked him for saving them.

"We should get back on the trail," Emerald said.

"There goes our equipment," Chibi said sulkily.

"But we're alive, at least," Luna answered.

They followed the trail until darkness. It was hard enough to navigate in daylight, since the sun was nearly completely blocked out. It was impossible by night. So, once darkness came, they found some wood, and after a few tries, started a fire, and settled in for the night. Just as they were drifting off to sleep, they heard voices. "Ouch, you just stepped on my foot!" A little voice exclaimed.

"Well, maybe if your feet weren't so big…"

"You two, stop it. This isn't the time or place to be bickering."

"But, he…"

"Look. I know we're all tired, but we need to keep it together if we're ever going to find them."

Emerald looked at Chibi and Luna. "I'm going to go get a closer look. Stay here."

He snuck up and hid behind some trees. He peeked around the trunk of the tree. There he saw Spritzie, Koorite, and Lil. "Spritzie, you guys are here!" Emerald exclaimed as he jumped out from behind the tree.

Lil and Koorite jumped back and screamed. "You guys, it's only Emerald," Spritzie said calmly.

"And you were scared, Koorite," Lil taunted.

"Heh, I knew it was him all along. I was just acting scared," Koorite said proudly.

"That's a lie and you know..."

"Ahem," Spritzie said looking at them.

They all ran to Emerald. "We're glad you're okay, Emerald," Lil said contently as Emerald hugged her.

Koorite walked up to him and playfully punched him, "It's good to see that you're all right."

Emerald could feel eyes gazing into his back. He turned around to see Spritzie staring coldly at him. At first he was puzzled, but then he realized what he had done. He hung his head low as he walked over to Spritzie. He could tell she was displeased with his actions. Spritzie was the unspoken leader of the group. She was always watching out for everyone. "I'm…I'm sorry, Spritzie, but Chibi and Luna were going to come by themselves and I didn't think it was safe for them to go alone."

"It's all right, Emerald. You did what you thought was best. Just next time, wake me up."

"Okay. Well, we have a fire going, why don't you guys come join us?"

"Okay."

They all followed Emerald back to the others. That night, they were all so tired, nobody asked any questions as to how the Shoyru, Jubjub, and Lupe found the Uni and two Kougras. The next morning, they woke up very early, and the two Kougras caught some food for themselves and Chibi, as the three of them had lost their food on the cliff.

"Why did you come looking for us?" Chibi asked Spritzie.

"We figured that you guys could use as much help as you could get. These woods are dangerous. Plus the more of us that are looking, the sooner we find your siblings and bring them home safely," Spritzie replied.

"So how did you find us?" Chibi asked.

"Well, I have Koorite to thank for that. With his great sense of smell we were able to track you down."

So the group survived one mishap on their quest, and even found help. But, can they survive the rest?