Anais looked at the blood worried, then noticed more small drops slightly further ahead.
She walked over to the branch and checked the white fabric, finding a little blood on a part of it.
"Looks like she caught her arm on the branch, cut it open, and left a trail with her drops of blood..."
"So we can follow them and find her?" Teri asked.
"Exactly! I just hope she's okay..." Her ears lowered slightly as her thoughts filled with worry for her.
"Then what are we waiting for? Let's find her and get out of here!" Masami exclaimed. They nodded in agreement and began to follow the trail.
As they walked Anais let out a small whimper. She was trying to act confident as she didn't want to let Jamie down, but she was really starting to get frightened, what with the darkness of the forest, the sound of the storm above them, the odd sound of a twig snapping and a creature moving through the bushes, and now the possibility that Jamie could actually be seriously hurt.
She wiped her nose and sniffled, as her eyes welled up and she began to shake slightly.
Suddenly she felt something hold onto and squeeze her paw. "You okay?"
She looked up and saw Penny holding her paw, her and Carrie both smiling reassuringly at her.
She hesitated before sighing. "I'm gonna be honest, I'm really scared right now, and also really worried about Jamie, but I'm trying to do my best to be brave for her. She's counting on me right now."
"Awww, she's lucky to have a friend who cares about her as much as you do." Penny ruffled the fur between her ears, making her giggle.
Carrie nodded. "With you looking out for her she has nothing to worry about, and neither do you. We're here and we'll protect you, no matter what."
"You will?" She smiled weakly.
"Of course we will. We owe it to Gumball and Darwin to keep you safe. They'd never forgive us if we let something happen to you."
She chuckled nervously. "If they knew I was out here right now, they'd be blowing a fuse..."
Penny smiled. "Perhaps, but I know they'd also be very proud of you for being so determined and brave for the sake of your friend."
Anais stopped walking and sniffed, looking up at her. "You...you really think so?"
"I know so." She crouched down and placed her hand on Anais's shoulder.
Anais teared up, before hugging her tightly, "Thank you, that...that really means a lot."
"You're welcome." She hugged her back with a light chuckle. "You really look up to them, don't you?" Anais responded with a nod and a weak smile. "Awwww, I'm sure they're very proud of you."
"Don't mean to interrupt, but we really need to get moving!" Carmen suddenly called out.
"Oh, sorry! Coming!" Anais called out.
They stood back up and continued to walk, Anais holding Penny's hand.
Masami looked down at them and noticed.
"Aww, is the wittle baby scared?" She snickered, which made Anais blush. "Good thing you wear still wear diapers then!" She laughed.
"Masami, what is your problem with her?! Just leave her alone!" Carrie snapped as Anais looked away annoyed.
"Yeah, knock it off already!" Penny gets annoyed.
"and for your information, I do NOT wear diapers anymore!" Anais called out as she crossed her arms, looking offended.
"Yeah, sure you do-"
They were suddenly interrupted when a creature jumped out from the behind the trees and began snarling. slowly advancing towards them, making them all scream.
"What is that?!" Molly asked horrified.
"I-I-I don't know!" Carmen replied as they all began to back up.
"What do we do?!" Teri asked.
"Uh...I-I-I don't know!" Anais panicked
Masami smirked. "That's a first.."
Anais glared at her angrily before she suddenly had an idea. "Oh! Molly, tell it a story!"
"What? How will that help!?" She asked.
"Trust me, just do it!"
"Okay..." She asked, not convinced of the idea.
She began to tell a story to it, and it stopped, tilted its head, and looked at her confused.
"Wait...it's stopped!" Carmen called out.
It sat down and listened and as Molly continued its eyes began to droop and eventually it laid down and fell asleep.
"Hahahaha, it fell asleep!" Penny laughed.
"Rude, I hadn't even gotten to the good part yet!" Molly looked offended.
"Wait..." She turned to Anais" "How did you know it would do that?" She asked.
"Because your stories are so incredibly bor-RILLIANT!" She managed to catch herself.
"Really? Thanks!" She smiled as they continued walking, Anais letting out a sigh of relief.
"Ugh, we've been in here for so long!" Masami complained.
"It's only been an hour and a half, two hours. Stop complaining." Carmen replied annoyed.
"I don't see you flying around in the rain and wind like I am." She argued back.
"I don't see you actually caring about any of this! You don't care whether we find Jamie or not. All you care about is getting out of here so you can go and bully a child like the jerk you are!" She snapped.
"Not my fault you wanna be friends with a toddler!"
"I'm not a toddler anymore! Stop saying that!" Anais snapped.
Before Masami could respond a bolt of lightning suddenly struck right in front of them, making Anais scream and jump back. The lightning-caused the ground to light on fire, the fire spreading into a circle around them.
"Woah!" Carrie's eyes widened.
"Ah, don't let it touch me, please!" Teri panicked.
It began to spread closer to them, surrounding them with no way out.
"What do we do?!" Penny cried.
Anais looked around panicking, her mind racing as she tried to come up with a solution. Suddenly she saw Carmen and had an idea.
"Wait, Carmen, you're a cactus!"
"Yeah, why?"
"You keep a ton of water stored inside you, right?!"
"What are you suggesting?"
The scene cut to Anais holding Carmen, pointing her head towards the fire, Anais tearing up in pain from the thorns.
"Ready!?" She asked.
"No!" Carmen replied.
"Here goes nothing!"
Anais squeezed Carmen and water shot out of her head and branches like a hose, putting out the fire.
She put Carmen back down, who looked down at herself and saw she was now all shriveled up and wrinkled.
"I look like I've aged 70 years..."
"Ow, ow, ow, ow, ow, ow!" Anais hopped around, panting and shaking her arms and hands, which were full of thorns from squeezing Carmen.
Masami laughed so Carrie telekinetically slapped her with a tree branch.
"OW!"
"Stop it, she's in pain!" Carrie yelled at her annoyed.
"So am I!" She cried out rubbing her cheek, which was now red.
"Hold still." Carrie said to Anais as she lifted her arms.
"Why? What are you gonnAHHHHHHHHH!" She screamed in pain as Carrie telekinetically ripped all the thorns out at once.
"Better?"
"Yeah...much better..." She replied, her voice high-pitched from the pain of the thorns being removed.