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Chapter 3

It had been a day since Shagar had left Curtsinger with her friends. They'd traveled through most of the night because it had been too hot to travel during the day. There was no road, and stumbling through the rocks in the dark was no easy task. The four of them had finally gotten tired and stopped for a rest. They'd slept under one of the few trees in the area, and were about to set off again.

Shagar, who'd been keeping watch since she'd woken up, was perched on a branch near the top of the scraggly old tree. It was a beautiful night. There was a welcoming desert breeze, and the temperature was almost perfect. The sky was filled with thousands, maybe even millions of stars; each one of them twinkling like a torch in the distance.

Gazing at the night sky, Shagar worked out which was north by finding the North Star, and from there, worked out which way was west. That way. She told herself. The camp was that way. Her night vision wasn't too great, but Shagar stared into the distance, trying to pick out any landmarks she might recognize against the pale starlight that illuminated the sky. She managed to make out the outcrop she remembered crossing before making it to the camp. Once they got passed it, all they had to do was look for a cliff with a Fire Nation camp nestled at the bottom.

"You almost ready to go?" A voice said behind her. Shagar nearly jumped out of the tree from surprise.

She turned to face whoever had come up behind her. "Don't sneak up on me like that!" She gasped. "Especially at night."

"Sorry," said the voice, who Shagar could just make out to be, Freezachu. "Are you gonna be ready to leave in a few minutes?"

"Is everyone else ready?" Shagar asked. "I'm ready whenever everyone else is."

"I think so," Freezachu replied. She glanced toward the bottom of the tree. "I think they're getting the last of their things together down there."

"Alright then," Shagar said, beginning to make her way down the tree. Going mostly by her sense of touch, she finally got to the bottom. That was, after being poked by the thorny branches about a thousand times.

Freezachu followed close behind her.

Kinko was sitting near the bottom of the tree, probably enjoying hearing the two of them say "ow" every five seconds.

Aliela was stuffing the last of her few belongings into her bag. No one at the school had very many personal items, and few supplies had been needed for this trip. Aliela slung the bag over her shoulder and glanced at everyone else, who seemed to be waiting on her.

"I'm ready," she said, trying to get everyone to stop looking at her.

"Let's go then," Kinko said. "We've been here way longer than we wanted to be. We'll never get there by sunrise at this rate…..if it's still there."

"Well, I can't control when people move," Shagar said in defense. She knew that there was a good chance the camp wasn't there anymore, but she wanted to see anyway. "But I have to admit, I'll be a bit disappointed if it isn't there."

"We're never going to get there if we don't start walking!" Kinko stressed, glaring at everyone.

"Fine," Freezachu said. "Everyone get moving."

By sunrise, the group was far past the outcrop and pretty far from the school. Shagar could see the top of the cliff on the horizon, but it would take a little while longer to get there.

"How much farther?" Aliela asked miserably. "My paws hurt."

"It's at the base of that cliff over there." Shagar said, motioning to it with her tail. "We can probably be there in an hour." She glanced at the others nervously. "If the path isn't too rocky."

"Could we pick up the pace then?" Freezachu questioned. "I'd like to get there as quick as possible."

"I don't think I can make my paws move any faster." Kinko complained. "We've been walking all night. I'm kind of tired."

The group grew quiet and continued walking in silence. A two long hours passed before they stopped again.

"Can't we stop now?" Kinko asked. "We've been walking since midnight."

"Look, it's not that much farther now," Shagar replied. "We might as well keep going. I bet we can make it there in fifteen minutes."

"Yeah, aren't you curious as to what's over there?" Freezachu looked tired, but her eyes still gleamed with excitement. "Come on! We can stop when we get there."

Aliela stayed silent, as if she wasn't on either side. She looked back and forth between the group and the base of the cliff, as if she'd be happy with either choice.

Kinko sighed. "Fine," she said. "But we have to stop when we get there. Please."

Once again, the group continued toward the cliff. Shagar was beginning to admit to herself that, like everyone else, she was tired. She was starting to feel the pain in her paws from walking so much. And now her leg was cramping. Great.

And now she was also beginning to wonder if the camp was ever there at all. She couldn't think of a reason why someone would stay in the same spot for an entire week. Normally when people set up a camp, it's just an overnight thing and they keep moving the next day. That was, of course, unless they were setting up some sort of settlement or something. Except, they couldn't do that. This was Pokemon land; they couldn't just invade it, could they? Of course, the Fire Nation was building all these colonies in the Earth Kingdom. That wasn't their land, but they were still living there. For a second, Shagar made up in her mind, that if that was the case, she'd be willing to chase them out. Then she remembered that the people living in the Earth Kingdom had tried to fight back too, but they couldn't do it. If a bunch of big, strong earthbenders couldn't defend their city, then how were a few smaller Pokemon going to do it? They'd need an army, but that was something they didn't have, unless you'd count a school with around eight hundred kids and about seventy teachers as an army.

By now, the sunrise was only moments away. The cliff face took up almost her entire view at this point, but she could still see the glow of the sun at its edges.

Finally, the group reached the base of the cliff. Shagar poked her head around the rocks and was thrilled to see that the camp was still there. They were still a good one hundred feet or so from the camp, so they could watch safely from a distance.

"It's still here!" Shagar whispered to her friends excitedly. She motioned for them to come and look with her tail. Everyone peeked around the rocks jutting up from the ground, scrambling among one another to get a better view.

Shagar crept out from behind the rocks, being careful to stay low. She glanced back to see if her friends were following her, but they looked a bit nervous. With a motion of her tail, she signaled for them to come with her. They were all a bit hesitant, but eventually Freezachu came, and the rest of them trailed behind her.

The four of them crept across the clearing, ducking behind rocks and brush until they had entered the campground. Tents were scattered around the cliff's base, and soldiers patrolled the grounds. But it wasn't like they actually needed to. Their biggest threat out here in the middle of nowhere was wild animals. At least, it was their biggest threat until the four little Pokemon came along.

Shagar led the group behind one of the nearby tents. She figured from here, no one could see them.

They'd be able to look around without getting caught.

"Look!" Aliela whispered. "That guy over there's dancing!"

Sure enough, near the middle of the campsite, there was a big, sleepy crowd gathered around some guy doing a goofy dance. Shagar and her friends couldn't help but giggle a little. They must've been really bored and maybe a little crazy for someone to go out there and do something like that.

Of course, Shagar danced for no reason all the time, even when she wasn't bored. But still, she thought people in the army might be a little more mature.

Suddenly, her friends stopped giggling. She turned to face them, noticing they were looking at something behind her.

She whipped around. Standing in front of her was a Fire Nation soldier with his spear pointed right at her.