Hailfire Vulpes: I'm back! And now...hopefully things can get interesting.

~Chapter 4~

Faint birdsong echoed in his nonexistant ears, and Shade opened his eyes slowly, wondering momentarily why there should be birds in the Dark Gardens. The sun-loving creatures usually kept to the sunnier gardens. And why was it so bright?

Then he remembered. The Gardens were taken over by the strange plague.

Shade sat up, rubbing both eyes with a sleep-heavy paw and extending his wings as far as they could go. Giving the back of his head a scratch, he took a moment to view his surroundings and recall the events that had happened.

Grass. He was laying in a field of grass. Above shone an early morning sun, slightly shrouded by the foreboding clouds that had surely by now covered the Gardens. Around him looked like an enlarged Neutral Garden, grassy, prairie-like with the sound of a stream or river nearby. Definately homely, for Blossom and Berry, at least. This place didn't suit him, and besides, it wouldn't last, given how close the "void" as he called it, was spreading.

Little Memphis was curled up by a small shrub a few feet from him, one paw in his mouth and a thin strand of drool dripping onto the earth from his slightly opened mouth. Blossom was lying on her belly, both arms crossed with her head resting on them, and her small pink wings drooping off her shoulders. Berry was lying on her back next to Blossom, arms crossed behind her head looking as if she were watching the clouds.

Shade blinked, remembering they were running to escape the void that had claimed so many Chao already. He sniffed, and crossed the ground to stand over Blossom. Gently, he shook her shoulder, "Blossom." he whispered, "Time to go."

The lavender and pink Chao blinked her eyes open immeadiately, as if she remembered already the current state of affairs. She sat up, giving a gusty yawn, "Guess so..." she murmured. While she went to wake Berry, Shade turned to Memphis. The dark Chao was aware he had no paternal bone in his body, and no patience at the moment for any toddler antics, so he tried to act as nice as he could,

"Get up, Memphis." he murmured, "We have to keep moving." The little Chao moaned slightly in his sleep and rolled over, ignoring Shade. Shade sighed, "Seriously, you need to get up." he said a bit firmer this time. Memphis didn't move.

Berry came up to stand beside him, "It's too early for the little guy." she said sympathetically, and Shade grimaced in annoyance,

"If we don't move it'll be too late." Shade snapped, shaking Memphis's shoulder, "Get up."

Berry pushed his paw away, "Let me do this. You just decide what you wanna do now, since we've left home." the swimmer Chao said with a hard edge to her voice. Shade rolled his eyes and padded over to Blossom, who was staring off in the direction they came.

"Homesick already?" he asked, sitting down next to her. Blossom shrugged,

"It's not home anymore..." she murmured, bitterness tinting her words, "And we don't even know why it's not home."

Shade wanted to say the void plague forced them out, but he knew there was still the question as to what the hell it was. Where had it come from? Why did it attack the Gardens? Was it curable, or were the Gardens as good as destroyed? Shade didn't know, so he didn't answer.

Blossom stood up after the silence, "Do you know where we're going now?" she asked. Shade got to his own feet, folding in his dark wings so his body appeared sleeker,

"Nobody knows where we're going." he reminded her grimly, "No one's ever set foot outside the Gardens."

Blossom shrugged, "Then how do you know the Gardens was the only place afflicted? We could have been the last to go, and everywhere else in the world was already taken over." she said, "We could be about to walk into our dooms." She looked up, her blue and white eyes sad, and Shade saw her gaze drift over Memphis, who was shedding grumpy tears at waking early in the morning. Berry was trying to console him. He didn't want to think about the baby's life ending as it had barely started, but he knew, just somehow, it would if they lingered in the void-afflicted areas. Shade felt sunken, and suddenly small and overwhelmed, knowing that everyone was going to look to him for guidance, for leadership. Yet Shade was barely an adolenscent, he knew he had important descisions in his way, descisions that decided life and death for this lot.

"It can't be." he said, finding a reply to Blossom's theory, "This place seems fine, and I can't see anymore dark clouds in the sky, besides the ones over the Gardens." he told her, feeling confident in his answer. Blossom seemed satisfied, and nodded.

Berry trotted up, carrying Memphis who stilled looked drowsy and angry, "Memphis is hungry." she informed them, "We'll all need to find food."

Shade sighed internally, knowing this was a set back to their first priority, yet he acknowledged the fact that soon they wouldn't be mobile at all without the nessesary food to keep the energy flowing through them. Although he knew the local trees contained fruits and nuts that looked similar to those in the Gardens, he was reluctant to try them. Maybe it was instinct, or paranoia, but he knew that being bashful was going to let him starve.

He gestured at the trees, and Blossom was the one to go an retrieve them. Shade took this moment to survey the distance.

Ahead, pale clouds sat heavily around a range of tall mountains, sitting at the end of the long-stretching prairie. They were pale with cold winds and possibly snow, and not dark with void-like disease and malice. To his left was more prairie, and to his right was more praire, stretching far to either side. Shade felt a route to the mountains would lead them farthest away, although he knew he would have to brace himself for harsh weather.

"Shade?"

He looked up abruptly, shaken from his thoughts, to see Blossom holding out a dark-skinned fruit toward him. He smiled gratefully, feeling for the first time since they left the hollow effects of hunger. He accepted the food, nodding his thanks, and sank his teeth into it.

The flavors were sour and sweet at the same time, waltzing pleasurably on his tongue in a way that reminded him of the Gardens' Dark Fruit. This must be similar, if not the same thing. Either way, Shade was grateful for the energy.

...

"...How is this possible...? Outside the Gardens...they're...I thought we were the only ones."

"Suppose not, I guess."

"And...look at them...they're hardly more than children."

"...Uh, aren't we 'hardly more than children' too?"

"...Right...anyway, I can't be sure of their intent."

"Maybe they're travelling?"

"Outside the Gardens? Can't you think a little more, Honey?"

"No really, Lunara. Did you see the DVoid open up over their Gardens? They must have fled from it."

"...Right."

"Who needs to think more now?"

"Now's not the time! We need to figure out what the hell they think they're doing."

"...Fleeing the DVoid?"

"..."

"...Are we going to ambush them, Lunara? We'd be outnumbered."

"Look, Honey. They're three kids, and a toddler, no fighting expierience whatsoever. It's an easy match."

"...Yeah but...why attack them if..."

"Shush! In these times, we have to put ourselves before anyone else. If we risk exposing ourselves, we risk our lives! Either they live, or we live, and I'm not keen on sacrafices. Got it?"

"Yes Lunara!"

"Good. Get ready to pounce them. They're coming this way..."