The Chronicles of Narnia: the Dome of Pleasure and the 9R Potion

by VPVPVP

High King Peter is badly poisoned by a cake and only an exclusive potion made from nine unique ingredients can save him. Worse, many youngsters are kidnapped and end up in a mysterious ocean liner. Kushanku and company must get the ingredients for the potion to save Peter and rescue the kidnapped victims but must also deal with a new and deadly villain in addition.

24. Planned meeting

Chapter 24- Rei and Akari's group's planned meeting

The quests to find and retrieve the exclusive ingredients for the Nine-Realms Potion, the only antidote to High King Peter's poisoning were underway. Those that were going to use the Bifrost Transporter to teleport to the more distant realms such as the Narnian Moon had separated from the Garden of Youth group to go to the transport pads while the Garden of Youth group continued their journey on the transport assistants. The transport assistants were Magical Creatures capable of fast transport on both the land and in the air. The land transport assistants were a small herd of Sleipnir, or Eight-Legged Horses, who had been called by Martian to help take the Garden of Youth quest-goers to their destination. Sleipnir were amongst the fastest runners in Narnia and were capable of reaching running speeds that far exceeded even the fastest regular Talking Beast species, the Cheetah, thanks to their eight legs and incredible stamina. When a herd of Sleipnir ran, they resembled land comets to distance viewers. Not even Centaurs or Kitsune could keep up with these magnificent Magical Horses. Sleipnir were incredibly noble Horses and it was a BIG offense for common folk to mount one without their permission and it has been known that some arrogant kings and queens had tried to use a Sleipnir as a regular Horse for their speed and nobility only to reap injurious consequences. There existed a story of a Narnian king who ruled during the Conquest Age, the age before Jadis' un-rightful reign and the Age of Winter, who tried to force one of these magnificent Eight-Legged Horses to be his steed out of pure vanity and ended up becoming never able to walk again. If there were any monarchs anywhere in the Narnian world that used Sleipnir as steeds, it was the kings and queens who sat on the throne of Asgard Sky City of the Sky Domain. However, those Sleipnir were treated with high honour and with respect by their royal steeds. The current ruler of Asgard Sky City, King Cumulus, had a royal Sleipnir which he often rode when visiting the kingdoms of the Sky Domain or the other domains of Narnia including the underwater cities of the Eastern Sea housed in magical bubbles to allow air-breathers to visit. Other than Asgard City's kings and queens, it was EXTREMELY rare for anyone else to ride a Sleipnir. However, due to how far the Garden of Youth was from Cair Paravel, Martian had summoned a small herd of Sleipnir to come and help in the fast transport of the Garden of Youth quest-goers which included Tumnus, Guinan, Queen Lucy, Basophil, Eosinophil, Monoctye and Neutrophil, to the destination as it would take FAR too long for 'normal' transport to reach the area, in addition to the use of the Bifrost Transporter being out of the question for Queen Lucy's safety. Alongside the Sleipnir were flying creatures such as Pegasi and they aided in the air transport of some of the group members who did not want to dishonour the Sleipnir by riding on them despite having special permission. The inclusion of these magnificent Winged Horses was like a homage to the very first quest to the Garden of Youth in which a boy and a girl rode on the father of ALL the Pegasi to get an apple, bring back to Aslan and plant the Tree of Protection that would keep the White Witch away for a number of centuries. Trips to the Garden of Youth have happened throughout the Age of Conquest and NEVER during the Age of Winter for obvious safety reasons. Obviously Jadis, because she stole from the Orchard for her own personal gain, found those fruit repulsive; her minions would have no doubt used those fruit for evil, so the Garden of Youth had been completely inaccessible to the Narnians, if they had been able to escape Jadis' diamond-ice fist and dominion that is, until the Age of Winter was brought to an end. Now that it has, the Garden of Youth was accessible to the Narnians once again. However, there was a set of EXTREMELY strict rules to follow when visiting the Orchard.

The Garden of Youth group sped for miles across various landscapes, the Sleipnir pounding their eight hooves on the grass furiously. Some of the riders on these Sleipnir were Queen Lucy and Basophil for this Terror Bird had lived with a herd of these Eight-Legged Horses for a short time after running away from his clan in a rage during the Age of Winter when he had been a chick. Overhead, the Pegasi and other flying assistants transported the rest of the quest-goers. Tumnus, Guinan, Neutrophil, Eosinophil and Monocyte rode on these Flying Beasts for they felt it was too dishonourable to ride on the Eight-Legged Horses, especially Tumnus for he had such great respect for these Equines. As the group sped along, Tumnus who rode on the back of a chestnut-coated Mare Pegasus, cried in excitement.

"THIS IS JUST AS AWESOME AS GOIN' INTO THE BATTLE OF BERUNA!" the Faun shouted, the wind rushing through his hair and Goat's fur. His scarf flapped about like a flag in the wind.

"It WOULD HAVE BEEN AN AWESOME RIDE ON THE BIFROST TRANSPORTER," screeched Eosinophil on another Pegasus, a white Stallion, nearby. None of the others gave a reply, however, and continued to stay focussed on the journey. The rest of the group consisted of Talking Rodents like Talking Squirrels, an Archaeobird and a Gorilla and they had volunteered or had been chosen to accompany Queen Lucy and company on this quest. Then the group continued to zoom off into the distance, the Garden of Youth Orchard being their destination.

Meanwhile, the rest of the groups had arrived at the transport pad for the Bifrost Transporter and were being transported to their destination realms. The Bifrost Transporter pads were operated mostly by Trolls and Giants and the pad in Asgard Sky City was guarded by (name of Norse character). The Lunar Mushroom quest-goers were the first to enter the Transport Wormhole and were now being beamed to the Narnian Moon. The Bifrost Transporter wormhole was like a wild theme park ride in our world, if such a ride could be created, that is. However, as mentioned before, the magical wormhole was deadly to certain species like humans. The transporters warped through a colourful wormhole-like tube at high speed. The 'walls' of the Bifrost Wormhole was semi-transparent and the changing landscape could just be seen as the transporters warped through the wormhole. As they whizzed through the Bifrost Wormhole, the Lunar Mushroom group endured the shaky ride. They were accompanied by some Grey Men who, as commanded by Martian in Narnia, to be their escorts through the Transporter. Young Centaurs Cyllene and Beni, Beaver and Pigs Woody Straw and Brick, together with their comrades including some Rabbits and Faline's descendants, continued to endure the shaky and fast warp.

"ONCE WE-E-E-E-E HAVE RETRIVED THOSE MUSHRO-O-O-O-O-OMS AND GOT BACK HERE," cried Beaver as he was shaken by the ride, "I DO NOT WANNA-A-A-A USE THIS KINDA TRANSPORT AGAI-I-I-I-IN..."

"IT'S JUST FOR THIS JOURNEY, BEAVER," shouted a Grey Man nearby, "YOU WON'T HAVE TO USE IT AGAIN ONCE YOU HAVE GOT SOME LUNAR MUSHROOMS FROM THE FORBIDDEN CAVE and RETURNED TO YOUR SOLID LAND!"

Beaver did not reply and continued to struggle to endure the ride. Next to him, Brick had his tongue poked out and his skin was slightly green. It was clear he will need a break once the group arrived on the Transporter pad on the Narnian Moon to begin their journey to the Forbidden Cave of the Treasure of Vanity, the ONE AND ONLY place where Lunar Mushrooms grew and can be harvested. The group continued to zoom through the rainbow Bifrost Wormholein the direction of the Narnian Moon. They will arrive in a small Grey Man village that was closest to the Lunar Desert where the entrance to the Forbidden Cave resided. However, it will mean hours of trekking from the village into the wilderness. As time went past, the other groups endured the same wild warp ride to their destinations. Some, such as Athos, Porthos, Aramis, Squea'tagnan, Mjölnir and Rattus who were part of the Rainbowberry group bound for Asgard Sky City where they will meet King Cumulus who will then have some of his royal assistants take them to the path that will lead them to the area where a vineyard of Rainbowberries grew, enjoyed the ride while others, such as Kushanku who was on the same group, found it a bit too much to say the least.

Meanwhile

Back in the room where hundreds of young Talking Beasts and Magical Creatures of various species including the aquatic ones were kept, breakfast was underway with the colourful Teddy Bears with long legs and arms and lithe builds serving it. Malachite, Seishan and Elsa had just received their selection of food for their first day's meal of fish and fruit and were now in the dining area eating it with Lymphocyte, Sisu the young Kiriness, Rainbow Quartz the young Pegasus Mare and Yardang the young Cheetah. Near them were two young Jackalopes, both of them siblings of Leon and part of Malachite's group when they were brought here and they were eating their selection of vegetables. As they did that, Malachite took her fork in one paw and began to fidget with her fish, her other paw supporting her head as she stared bored at her meal.

"Malachite, didn't your mother Mrs Miidori tell you not to play with your food?" asked Sisu, before her gaze turned to the Cheetah cub with the unusual King Cheetah-like markings on his back, "And you, too, Yardang?"

Yardang used his paw to bounce a lump of meat like a little ball on his plate before hitting it hard, sending it rocketing into the air and then catching it in his mouth to eat it. Lymphocyte looked on in disapproval.

"We're Talking Beasts, don't forget," the young Terror Bird said, Yardang, however, didn't reply and continued bouncing his meatballs like little bouncy balls to the irritated roll of the eyes from Lymphocyte and Sisu.

"Yardang's mother Mrs Tatooine always severely disapproves of her cubs playing with their food," said Seishan, "She once said that it is something only the cubs of DUMB cheetahs do."

"I never played with mine since our diet usually consists of grass and open country plants," said Rainbow Quartz as she ate her dish of green slivers.

"Neither did most of us Terror Bird chicks," said Lymphocyte.

"Let's just get this breakfast into our stomachs before our Teddy Bear carers call us for our lessons," said Elsa. With that the group including Malachite continued eating. Then Malachite, after some thought as she munched on her breakfast, spoke. "I just had this thought."

"What thought, Malachite?" asked Rainbow Quartz.

"Well, you remember..." however, Malachite's sentence was cut off by the sounds of commotion. Heads of various young Creatures, both Regular and Magical alike and including Malachite, Seishan, Elsa, Yardang, Rainbow Quartz, Sisu and Lymphocyte's turned in the direction of the source. Another Kirin with green scales and black markings came in with a black half Unicorn, half Talking Zebra Mare with white and silvery stripes and a white bellied grey Dog.

"Rei and Akari have been up to their escape attempt escapades again," muttered the first one, Kosmochlor. Malachite and her group shot the male Kirin and Sisu's cousin a look before a Teddy Bear's voice, that belonging to Lucius who was one of the yellow creatures, rang out.

"We are gettin' SICK of your disobedience against orders to stay in here, you two BRATTY RED RACCOONS!"

Malachite and company returned their gazes in the direction of Lucius and saw that the yellow Teddy Bear with two green ones had two writhing red Raccoon-like creatures with white markings and ears in their hands. The faces of the two Raccoons were laced with UTMOST defiance and fury and they writhed like a fish caught in a net to get free but their captors kept a firm grip on them. Then after a few more seconds, the two Raccoons, Rei and Akari the Red Pandas, were then thrown like ragdolls into a dark, small room by the two green Teddy Bears at Lucius' orders, followed by a mighty SLAM as the door was bashed shut, sealing the two Red Pandas in the room. The bang of the door exploded through the room and made all the other youngsters including Malachite and company wince.

"Those two Red Pandas are gonna develop a fear of closed spaces if they keep being thrown into that tiny room all the time," said Rainbow Quartz with concern.

"That's what you get for being disobedient," said Kosmochlor, though under his lack of surprise, concern for the two Red Pandas developed. Then a MASSIVE shout from Lucius jolted the kids into resuming their breakfast.

"EAT YA BREAKFAST, ALL OF YA!" barked the yellow Teddy Bear angrily. He sounded like an army officer issuing orders to a small group of cadets during a training session. "MADAME DOLORES will be HERE ANY MOMENT and SHE DOES NOT TOLERATE TARDINESS!"

That made ALL the young Talking and Magical Beasts including g those in the water tank eat their breakfast faster.

"Let's just do as he says," said the odd Equine, Hypersthene and she resumed her breakfast. The Dog, Emori, did the same and said nothing. During the rushed breakfast, in the tank, one of the young Orcas got a piece of fish stuck in its throat and began to choke but an Ichthyo-Centaur (not Cubozoa) helped the Cetacean dislodge the piece of food by swimming behind it and performing the chest-thrust with his arms. Malachite and company also resumed their breakfast and due to the voice tone of Lucius, Malachite abandoned the idea of discussing her thought. It was the thought of exploring what was outside the room but she knew it was forbidden territory, both metaphorically and literally.

After breakfast, the children got ready for the tasks set by their carers ahead of them. Just then Yardang looked up and saw Lucius, recognisable by his yellow fur though there were other yellow furred Teddies as well, call for some of the young Talking Beasts, among them two Talking Kittens (young Regular Talking Cats), a Hedgehog, a Badger, a Dolphin Calf in a water trolley for Dolphins cannot walk on land, and several strange looking Feline creatures with silky fur (some pure white, some pale yellow, some salmon pink and one vivid neon blue), stubby limbs and a lithe body like a Ferret to come to him. Curiosity welled within Yardang.

"Why is Lucius calling for that little group to gather around him?" the young Cheetah asked Lymphocyte and Rainbow Quartz who were closest to him. The two came up to him and saw the small gathering.

"I don't know, Yardang," replied the Terror Bird, "Maybe Lucius has a special task for them to do today?"

Then a hopeful look made the colourful Pegasus' face beam. "Or maybe they are being prepared to be returned to the mainland and the ocean be reunited with their families?"

That beaming look then appeared on Yardang and Lymphocyte's faces.

"Well, if that is the case," said the former.

"Then we certainly have a way out," said the latter with a hopeful smile. Then Yardang prepared to go over to the small gathering to ask Lucius this but a voice seized him like a lasso.

"I wouldn't go anywhere near Lucius if I were you, Spotted Cat." Yardang turned with Lymphocyte and Rainbow Quartz and saw a Skvader with a dumb Spitfire Bird on her shoulder, a colourful-looking Viscacha with pink and purple markings strewn through her drabber pelage and a strange sea creature resembling a cross between a Gannet and a Seal came in, frowns on their faces. The one that had spoken was the Skvader, Laminin. Yardang and the other two's faces then fell as they watched the trio, Laminin with her pet Spitfire Bird Scoville, Misty the Gannetwhale and Nanachi the Moon/Regular Viscacha hybrid come in.

"Why?" asked Yardang.

"Lucius over there is going to send that group of youngsters back to the mainland," said Rainbow Quartz. However, what Nanachi said next quenched the fires of their hope about this thought.

"Don't be fooled, you three," said the hybrid Viascacha in a low voice, "The reason for that group's gathering as per Lucius' orders isn't what you think is going on."

Rainbow Quartz, Lymphocyte and Yardang exchanged looks, those looks now laced with concern and dread, before they looked back at the trio. Misty nodded to Laminin as the Skvader's face and ears fell, sadness clearly taking over.

"We have witnessed several previous gatherings like that one before," the Pinneped-like Seabird said, "the most previous one included two Skvader, a Badger, several Slugcats like that those eight in that group, and a Plains Rattleback. One of the two Skvader had been Laminin's second cousin named Willow."

"They had been gathered and led away like that along with the selection of a few other Talking Beasts, among them an Ichthyo-Centaur girl who had been a close friend of Cubozoa," said Laminin, before her voice began to break. "And-and that was the last time we had seen of them, including Willow, my second cousin."

"We had been told by another Teddy Bear that Madame Dolores that they have been returned to their homes from here as you believe that lot will be," said Nanachi, "But..."

"But what?" asked Lymphocyte. Nanachi just gazed at the young Terror Bird with a scowl and left. Misty and Laminin followed her.

"You need to ask Rei and Akari that once they are released from the solitary confinement room," said the last one, the Skvader with the pet Spitfire Bird on her shoulder, "But I'm not sure if they want to explain where those gathered young Talking Beasts have really been lead."

"But one thing is certain," said Misty, "We need to be out of this place right away."

"Why do we need to be out of this place!?" demanded Rainbow Quartz. The Viscacha, Gannetwhale and the Skvader gave no answer and returned to the others, to the frustration of the trio.

"Malachite was right," grumbled Lymphocyte, "This is ALL mixed up like a pile of worms and herbs, a dish that is part of the Talking Songbirds' cuisine, and secondly, that lot is SO irritating in their refusal to answer our questions."

As he said this, Rainbow Quartz and Yardang looked up and saw the gathered group then leave the room in a line. The Cheetah cub then left the other two to take a closer look at the selected young Talking Beasts. However, he was stopped dead by a bark from the yellow lanky-limbed Teddy Bear to come no closer but Yardang managed to get a glimpse of the faces of some of the selected young Talking Beasts including the two young Regular Talking Cats. Smiles of excitement were present on their faces but they were soon led out of the room by Lucius. After the last of the selected group had left through the door, Lucius closed it. Yardang then carefully crept towards the door and began to try and look for a crack in the nearby wall to peer through. When he could not find one, he cocked an ear to the wall instead to listen to the talking on the other side. Yardang then soon heard a dainty, motherly voice travel to his ear from the other side and he identified it as Madame Dolores. However, it was dampened by the wall's thickness but Yardang did manage to pick out a few words.

"You kids... something... first."

This was followed by a cacophony of excited giggles from the young Talking Beasts in the selection. Yardang's mouth stretched into a wide line of perplex as confusion gripped the Cheetah. 'Something'? What did Madame Dolores mean about 'something'? Just then Seishan's voice pulled the young Cheetah to her and he saw the Nekomata and her twin sister approach him.

"Yardang, have you ever thought of possibly leaving here and exploring what's beyond that door?" asked Seishan in a low voice while Elsa flashed a look back at the crowd of young Talking Beasts to make sure that they didn't hear.

"Exploring beyond the door?" asked Yardang with a frown.

"Yes," said Elsa, "We wanna know what's out there."

"If Rei and Akari and some others have been out there but refuse to tell us what they could have seen," said Seishan, "Then we would like to explore ourselves."

"Yes, especially if they or their friends will NOT answer our questions," put in Malachite in the background in exasperation. Seishan and Elsa nodded gently to this in agreement.

"But wouldn't that get us into a LOT of trouble?" asked Yardang with uncertainty of the consequences. Then a young male green and black Kirin walked in, a stern look on his face.

"It would indeed, you three," said Kosmochlor, "and the punishment may NOT be very nice. Being thrown into those solitary confinement chambers is only the gist of their punishments but some escapees have suffered worse punishments than those."

"Such as?" asked Yardang. Hypersthene came in, a dark look on her face.

"A serious whipping," she said, "Subjection to exposure to your worst fear such as spiders or non-talking rats..."

"Akari, who has an IMMENSE fear of scorpions, was shoved into a room packed full of those spider-like creatures with tail stingers once, didn't you know," said Kosmochlor, "She had been disrespectful to Madame Dolores and she ordered Rei's twin sister to be thrown into a room stuffed with those scorpions and kept there for a number of hours."

"And believe me, that ordeal had left the poor Red Panda SEVERELY traumatised," said Hypersthene darkly, "And Nanachi over there was whipped and beaten to near death once, as was Tektite the Wampus Cat," she nodded to the hybrid Viscacha and a Wampus Cat in the crowd as they sat with Misty and Laminin and also Louie the Babookari youngster and Eleven the young Windrunner, before returning her gaze to Yardang, Seishan and Elsa, "when you disobey Madame Dolores' rules severely, she and her minions WILL bestow upon you punishments SO severe that you will NEVER, EVER want to disobey them again."

"However, the scorpion room punishment hadn't affected Akari one bit," said Kosmochlor.

"If anything," said Emori the Dog as she walked in, "It added fuel to her and her twin brother's defiance and desire to escape."

Outraged glares formed on Yardang, Seishan and Elsa's faces when they heard of Akari's scorpion room ordeal.

"THAT is NOT AT ALL punishment in ANY way, ESPECIALLY if it involves throwing the misbehaving individual into a room of something they are MOST scared of," growled the Cheetah cub, "THAT is abuse!"

"Mother (Moonstone) and Father or our extended family relatives like Grandpa Kushanku would send us to our rooms, confiscate our favourite toys or even spank us whenever we misbehaved," said Seishan.

"But they would NEVER EVER subject us to SUCH mind torture using our worst fears, such as me with spiders, as a punishment," said Elsa.

"And certainly NOT a beating," put in Malachite in the background, "A spanking or even the cane, maybe, but NOT an outright BEATING or WHIPPING to the point of massive blood loss or SERIOUS injury, or even almost to the point of DEATH."

"Well, Madame Dolores and her helpers will still NOT hesitate to use those methods of punishments on you if you dare disobey or disrespect them severely, you four," said Hypersthene, before the half Unicorn, half Zebra's frowned gaze turned especially to Elsa, "If they know you are so afraid of spiders, they may toss you into a room full of those and keep you in there for hours like they did with Akari and her most feared animals, scorpions."

Nearby, Rainbow Quartz, Lymphocyte and Sisu snapped their gazes in the direction of Elsa and Seishan as the twins flinched violently at that potential 'punishment'. Yardang and Malachite also winced. Then the twins made their choice.

"We're in the same tree as Rei and Akari then," said Seishan without a care of the consequences. She then glared at Malachite, "Mal, can you set up a meeting please?"

Malachite looked on in confusion before going over to Rainbow Quartz, Lymphocyte and Sisu to tell this to them. Seishan, Elsa and Yardang then barged past Kosmochlor, Hypersthene and Emori as they began to protest.

"You guys are SERIOUSLY jumping into deep water with a STRONG undercurrent, you lot," said the third one, the Dog.

"Yes, Madame Dolores will NOT tolerate this attitude," put in Hypersthene.

"They WILL bestow those punishments on you," added Kosmochlor.

"I'm sorry, you three, but hearing of their so-called 'punishments' involving a SERIOUS beating to unconsciousness and locking up in a room full of one's worst fears is the FINAL fishbone for us," said Elsa. As the three returned to their group, Arezu, Eleven and Louie looked up in wonder, especially as Yardang continued. "We're gonna go ahead with our plans whether you like it or not."

Then a male Wampus Cat youngster with dark grey fur and glowing orange-red markings came in, a scowl on his face.

"Looks like someone else is finally ready to join our little group formed by Rei and Akari," said he.

"Yes, Tektite" said Eleven. The Wampus Cat named Tektite then flashed a look in the direction of the solitary confinement room where Rei and Akari had been thrown, two youngsters, one of them being a male Ichthyo-Centaur with aqua blue head hair and horse hair and azure blue fishtail and darker blue fins, working on the lock in an attempt to free the two Red Pandas within. However, they had to stop when a sinister floating eye, the same metallic sphere with the red 'eye' that came past the night Rei and Akari's group were discussing something, floated past. This forced the other young Talking Beasts to behave as well.

"Madame Dolores will be examining us through that eye-sphere," said Emori, "We'd better behave."

Then Kosmochlor shot Malachite's group a glare. "And I hope whatever you have said about Madame Dolores' methods of punishment haven't been picked up either, you seven."

Seishan and Elsa's arms folded and their faces just formed defiant scowls in response to this while Sisu, Lymphocyte and Rainbow Quartz trembled with rage. They had been UTTERLY repulsed at what they had just heard about Madame Dolores' methods of punishment. In fact, these methods weren't punishment at all and they knew that very well despite their age. Then Kosmochlor left with Hypersthene and Emori in tow. As the three left, Rei and Akari's friends waited for the eye-sphere to float past or float a good distance away from them before going over to Malachite's group.

"You see that eye-sphere over there?" asked Misty with a nod to the floating device as it continued to scan other Talking Beasts, "Madame Dolores and her group use those things to watch us. There are many of those eye-spheres scattered in the various rooms beyond that door and sometimes, those Teddy Bears storm into the room to drag some of us away for those inhumane 'punishments' for no apparent reason."

Then Tektite stepped forward, a scowl on his Feline's face. "They once deliberately broke my front left leg during a SERIOUS whipping session when I just gave Dolores a simple sour glare during our first days here. And THAT was just for a simple pout."

"So, Madame Dolores may seem like a really nice, motherly Spider-like creature," said Arezu the Kangaroo, before her face hardened, "but she really isn't nice at all, especially if you offend her in ANY way shape or form."

Malachite and company gazed at Rei and Akari's group with a worried and dreaded look on each of their faces. Then Sisu spoke.

"So, what do you mean that there are various rooms beyond that door?" asked the young brilliantly metallic blue Kiriness with a blue-white mane. However, as always, that question was shot down as Arezu and company just turned round to speak to a group of more lithe Ferret-like Feline creatures as they approached them. These creatures were a part of Rei and Akari's group planning on escaping this place.

"It's complicated, Blue Kirin," replied Arezu blankly, "Now if you don't mind, we would like to talk to this Slugcat squad led by Kovu about freeing our Red Panda leaders from the solitary confinement room and discuss what new plan of escape we could come up with."

Sisu released a hiss from her Horse-like mouth and turned around.

"Stubborn bunch of stonewalling Talking Animals!" she hissed in frustration.

"We heard that, metallic blue Horse-Dragon," shouted one of the Ferret-like Feline creatures called a Slugcat, a white male. Sisu shot the Slugcat and the others with him including Arezu, Tektite, Louie, Misty and Nanachi a pout as they glared at the Kiriness with anger at what she had just called them. Sisu, however, refused to apologise and walked away.

"Have that meeting you were planning to have, you lot," called Misty's voice, "If you're planning on getting out of this room because of the stuff that's happening then you need to get your act together."

"Yes, you could join us," said one of the Slugcats, a female pale yellow one. Then Arezu called the group to start the discussion. Malachite,Elsa, Seishan, Yardang, Rainbow Quartz, Lymphocyte and Sisu walked to a spot away from the other young Talking Beasts and Magical Creatures, two of the Nekomata sourly glaring at Arezu and company as they talked, especially Misty the Gannetwhale.

"Gladly, Seal-Gannet," Seishan growled under her breath. Then as soon as the seven were alone, they began to speak.

"So, how do you want to escape?" Malachite asked her two twin second cousins.

"Now that's a good question," said Elsa.

"That door is likely to be heavily guarded by those long-limbed Teddy Bears," said Lymphocyte with a nod to the door leading to the next room, "If we simply tried to get it open, we'd land in trouble there and then and REALLY easily."

"That's something we SHOULD avoid at ALL costs," said Elsa, before shiver travelled down the young Nekomata's spine, "The last thing I want is being thrown into a room full of my most DETESTED creatures, spiders for hours on end."

"Yeah, I can imagine the devastating trauma that would inflict on you if THAT happened," said Yardang.

"What happened to Akari and also to Nanachi and Tektite still makes me wince violently," said Rainbow Quartz, before the colourful Pegasus youngster's gaze turned to Arezu and the others as they continued their discussion and then to Kosmochlor, Emori and Hypersthene, "If what some of those poor creatures over there have been through is true, and if what those three over there have said is true about the 'punishments' Madame Dolores and her assistants use, then it's clear that there is something wrong about their use of discipline."

"Discipline?" repeated Lymphocyte sourly, "That didn't sound like discipline at all. It sounds more along the lines of torture and abuse, sort of like what the White Witch and her cronies often used on us during the Eternal Winter."

"Well, if that is the case, then I fear for those other young Talking Beasts and Magical Creatures," said Sisu worriedly, her gaze on the other youngsters including those in the water tank, casually up to a variety of simple activities like swimming in the case of the Water Beasts. "I wouldn't be surprised if any of THAT lot is afraid of Madame Dolores and her helpers and what sort of 'punishments' they use if they misbehave even in the simplest of ways such as using the wrong tone of voice."

"I agree," said Lymphocyte, before the young Terror Bird asked for the other six to bring their heads closer. "I hate to say this but I am starting to believe that this assurance that we will be returned to our homes could actually be false, you know."

"What makes you think that?" asked Malachite. Suddenly, a Windrunner's voice interrupted the discussion. The seven turned to the magnificently blue Crane with four wings like an Archaeobird.

"You seven are to meet us tonight," said Eleven firmly, "Kovu and his Slugcat group are going to bust Rei and Akari out of that solitary confinement room and once nightfall comes and everyone else is asleep, we're gonna meet up. Understood?"

"Meet up?" asked Rainbow Quartz in confusion.

"For what?" added Elsa. Eleven, however, just turned round and walked back towards her group.

"Just meet us tonight, you seven," the Windrunner snapped, "No questions."

"But we..." began Malachite but Eleven cut her off.

"I said NO QUESTIONS," retorted the four-winged Crane slightly harshly. "Just meet with us tonight once everyone else including our 'carers' led by Lucius, are asleep."

The seven watched sourly as the Windrunner walked away.

"Brusque, as always," muttered Lymphocyte in frustration.

"Well, despite their brusqueness," said Rainbow Quartz, "I'm itching to find out what plan they are concocting but I bet it's another escape plan."

"Good," said Seishan with a scowl, "Whatever plan they are coming up with, I am happy to go along."

"I agree," said her twin sister Elsa, "I don't wanna be in this place for another day after hearing what sorta abusive 'punishments' Madame Denise or whatever her name is and her Slender-Man-like Teddy creatures give to us when we misbehave..."

"Then it's settled," said Malachite, "Let's just get through the day and then get prepared to join Rei and Akari's group and see what they come up with escape plan wise tonight."

With that, the seven left to join the other young Talking Beasts and Magical Creatures to prepare for the rest of the day, especially as one of the red Lanky-Limbed Teddy Bears turned up to call for everyone in the room to gather around it as the pink Spider-like Madame Dolores arrived after seeing the small group of selected Talking Beasts called by Lucius, among them the two Kittens, the Hedgehog, the Badger, the Dolphin and eight Slugcats off into another area outside the room.