"This is bad," Linka said. "He has been missing for almost an hour now!"

"It will be getting dark soon," Kwame added.

"Oh man—Ma-Ti! MA-TI!"

"MA-TI!"

As the other Planeteers' voices echoed through the forest Gi merely bit her lip, only lifting her eyes from the ground to search fearfully through the trees. Suchi was perched on her shoulders, an unfamiliar and oddly burdensome weight that by now she had nevertheless stopped noticing. He had been riding there ever since emerging from the forest alone to alert the others of his owner's disappearance.

"Oh…how did this even happen?" she moaned. "We only got separated for a second! What could have happened to him?"

"All sorts of things by now," Wheeler muttered, angrily kicking the nearest tree trunk.

"That is true," Linka murmured worriedly. "Especially if Gaia is right about Blight and Skumm using this forest for their research."

Gi moaned again. From what little information they had managed to gather from the nearby town, whatever those two were planning this time was even worse than their usual twisted schemes. She suddenly pictured Ma-Ti trapped in some sort of cell, forced to watch whatever horrible experiments they were up to…or worse, him strapped down to a table, a part of those experiments.

"He's in trouble, I just know it!" Gi said, closing her eyes tightly and feeling an oppressive weight growing in her chest.

"We don't know that, Gi."

"But then why doesn't he call us? ! He must have lost his Ring, or he's been knocked out, or— "

"He will be alright," Kwame interrupted, and though his voice was firm Gi could sense the fact that he was trying to reassure himself as well. "We will find him."

Gi looked down and sighed. She suddenly felt tired, like she could just collapse on the ground and fall into a deep sleep. Suchi, blinking at this, let out a sympathetic chitter and gently ran his paw over her cheek. Gi had the feeling the little monkey was the only member of the group quite as worried about Ma-Ti as she was, or at least the only one willing to admit it.

Without thinking she reached up and stroked him back, letting her hand slide down his rough, furry back. "Oh, Suchi," she murmured, "where could he have gone?"

Suchi merely moaned again, looking down sadly. Then Gi felt his toes tense up against her shoulder, and he began to cry wildly, pointing down off the path.

"Huh?"

"What is wrong with Suchi?"

Gi gasped. "There!"

She bent down, carefully moving aside a patch of poison ivy that half-obscured something red against the brown soil. "It's Ma-Ti's bandana!" she cried, holding it up for the others to see as Suchi began to cheer. "It must have fallen off his arm!"

"And look— I think those are his footprints!"

"And there are more, too. They look like they could belong to Skumm or some of his rats."

"We are on the right path!" Kwame said, and even his usual calmness couldn't quite mask the small smile playing on his lips. "Let us see where it leads!"

The Planeteers set off in the direction of the Rat Pack's footprints, Wheeler already muttering threats about what he would do to Blight and Skumm when they got to their lair. The others felt a renewed sense of hope, but even as she hurried after them Gi fell somewhat back, Suchi's weight heavy on her shoulder and the image of her friend strapped down in Blight's lab again playing in her mind.

"I hope you're alright, Ma-Ti," she whispered, her hand grasping his bandana tightly. "We're coming, don't worry."