Chapter 4: Kai; the Mountain Lion

The young mountain lion reached out his paw for her to grab. He helped her up and saw she was crying. "What's wrong?"

"I was taken away from my mom and dad," she said.

"Oh, that's got to be rough," he replied.

He then smiled and said reaching out his paw again, "I'm Kai. Who are you?"

She tried to form a smile, "I'm Silvermist."

Kai showed her around. It was like a dungeon. People worked in poor conditions and seemed weak and sick. "Why were all these people brought here?" Silvermist asked.

"I don't know. It's all a part of that goat's evil plans I guess," Kai said, but still had a smile on his face.

Silvermist wondered why this boy continued to smile when all of this was happening around them. As she was about to ask, Kai stopped and told her to duck down. Silvermist and Kai ducked down from around the corner.

Kai saw an ox guard looking around. "Come out kitty. C'mon out here little kitty."

Kai narrowed his green eyes and reached into his pocket. Silvermist saw he had a white straw-like weapon. She had never seen it before. Kai blew into it and a little sleeping dart shot out. It hit the guard's arm and he felt drowsy.

He fell forward and Silvermist looked at him nervously. "What'd you do to him?" she asked.

"I used a sleeping dart. These guards are no good," Kai said walking over to the guard.

He took the dart and showed it to her. She was a little nervous to touch it, but then examined it. It was intriguing to her.

She was about to tap the point, but Kai stopped her. "Unless you want to get knocked out cold like that guard, I suggest you not do that."

Silvermist gave it back to Kai and he put it in his pocket along with the dart weapon. He heard another guard coming. He grabbed Silvermist's paw and lead her back to the corner.

They hid in the shadows as the guard came around. He saw his friend on the floor and asked what happened. The guard just snored. The other guard carried his friend back to the guard's private room.

"Who were they looking for?" she asked.

"Me," he replied simply.

"You? But why? What did you do?" she asked nervously.

"Relax," he said.

"But you just said they're looking for you. Are you a criminal?" she asked taking a step away.

"Of course not. I'm a prisoner just like you. I'm just a little bit of a troublemaker," he said with a smile.

Silvermist cocked her head slightly. I think I'm going to see that smile often, she thought.

Kai asked her, "Would you like to help me?"

Silvermist looked down and then said, "I'll do it."

Kai nodded. He grabbed her paw again and led her out into the halls. He ran down and passed multiple rooms. He walked into the double doors to his right. It looked like a cafeteria. Guards were in a small corner to the left of the room. Kai and Silvermist snuck into the janitor's closet.

"Okay, let me explain the basic weapons," Kai said turning on a light.

Kai told her about dart tubes and nunchucks. He told her that some guards chickened out when they saw a certain weapon. "The guards in red vests and have a golden sash around their waists, are afraid of bo staffs."

"A bo staff?" she asked. She remembered hearing it before, but didn't remember it clearly.

"It's a long wooden stick or pole that people use for defense or to attack," Kai explained. Silvermist nodded. "The guards in blue vests and black sashes around their waists, are afraid of nunchucks."

"Nunchucks?" she asked.

"They're two metal or wooden rectangular shaped things that are chained together. You can do a whole bunch of tricks with them too, but you have to be careful," Kai said.

"Why? Are they dangerous?"

"Kinda," Kai said showing her a bruise on his arm.

She could barely see it with his light brown fur covering it, but she believed him. "Is there anything else?"

"Yes, the female sheep who mop the floors and clean around the place get the dirt on everything. Make sure you don't talk about things to anyone except me," Kai said.

She nodded. "So, what do we do now?"

"We're going to do a sneak attack!" Kai said with a grin.

"My daddy said not to fight dirty," Silvermist said crossing her arms.

Kai facepalmed and said, "These guards don't fight clean. They will trick you and sneak up on you."

"But my daddy said," she began, but Kai interrupted her, "Do you want to be a prisoner here all your life or fight and have the possible chance to get out of here?"

Silvermist uncrossed her arm and looked down sadly. She then looked at him with a determined look on her face. "Let's do it."

Kai nodded and smiled proudly. "That's more like it," he said.

The two snuck out of the closet and Kai took a chair. He saw the guards about to leave. He took a bunny's cabbage and threw it at the back of the head of another prisoner.

The two ducked down and the prisoner got mad. They all started throwing food. While the guards were busy trying to keep everyone calm, Silvermist and Kai tried to get into the air duct. Kai climbed onto the chair and used his claws to unscrew the screws.

The two crawled in and tried to move around quietly. Although, Silvermist wasn't very quiet. "Ow! I keep banging my head," she complained.

"Be quiet! You're going to draw attention," he whispered harshly.

"This place is too small. Let's go somewhere else," she said about to turn back.

He looked back at her and said, "No, don't go back there. You'll get caught."

Silvermist was nervous about this, but kept going. Kai saw the room he and his family stayed in. He saw his parents working in the room. He kept going. Silvermist sneezed. "Don't do that!" Kai hissed.

"Then stop whipping you tail by my nose," Silvermist growled.

They started to argue. "Stop complaining," he told her.

"Stop being bossy," she said back.

"Well if you want to get caught, then just get lost!" he hissed.

Silvermist looked at him and narrowed her eyes. "Fine, I will," she said. She started to go back, but then Kai stopped her.

"I'm sorry. I'm just tired. Those guards have been chasing me all day," he admitted.

Silvermist just said, "Don't worry. We'll just rest here for a few minutes and then get those mean old guards."

Kai nodded. "Alright then," he agreed. They laid around in the air duct and then found themselves bored out of their minds. "What do we do?" he asked.

Silvermist looked around. It was crowded, stuffy, and warm in the air duct. She just looked at him. They were both sweating. Kai put his paw on his head. "I'm so warm."

"Me too," she said.

He looked at her and poked her arm. "Tag," he said glumly.

She poked him back. "Tag," she said.

He poked her and then she poked him back quickly and crawled away. Kai chased after her. The two played tag in the air duct and made loud noises from them crawling around quickly. Their tails wagged and they banged their heads on the narrow walls.

Guards started listening in. In the room that Kai and his family stayed in, his mother was just finished dusting. She had made a big pile of dust next to her. All she needed to do now was throw out the dust pile and she was all done. "If I see another speck ot dust on this floor I'll lose it."

The two mountain lions heard something banging in the air duct above them. The little white bars that were bolted shut, sprang off! Kai had gotten tired of her always escaping his pokes and tackled her. The two fell directly into the dust pile.

The two cough and laughed. They threw paw fulls of dust at each other while Kai's mother just walked away.