The New Light of Hope: Books I to VI.

Chapter XXII: The Eighth and Final Returns.

Summer:

Protection.

The eighth power that was suggested by BoulderHeart upon suggesting it to the leaders which was then approved to be the eighth power. Those who went on the possess the power would have the ability to form shields, create force fields, and possess great strength and other different abilities relating to it to not only protect themselves, but others around them as well. The last one that possessed this power was AsterWind up until her eventual, yet sudden death. And I had been told that I would be the next one to inherit this power when the time came.

BirchTail:

Enhanced Tracking.

The sixteenth and final power that had been suggested by CrowWing upon finding Lilac, her brothers and sisters out in the woods during a patrol, where he had decided that she and her siblings would be the chosen animals to represent the second eight Protectors of the forest— those who went on to possess this power would be given enhanced and better tracking skills to help with sniffing out the enemy, finding an animal who is missing from the Division or for their own personal needs. The last animal to have inherit this power was PetalTail up until her eventual, yet sudden death. And I had been chosen to represent this power and would later receive it at some point.

And since we were the final ones who had yet to experience what our powers had to offer for us.
…
Date: June 22, 2020.

On that day, me and BirchTail went on a hunting patrol with DawnRain, BubbleFur, MudSpots, ShySong, EchoSoul, DewCloud, BeetleEar, LightningBug, and NightShadow to catch some prey for the Division and to practice some hunting and a little bit of fishing with other positions as it would help all of them out in the long run. But so far, none of the animals caught anything big, just small birds and moles that did not suspect that they were stalking them when they were being hunted and the first two catches were only small creatures that would not be enough to fill an animal's belly.

"I think by this point, we might have to make do with what we've caught during this patrol." DawnRain amitted when ShySong caught a small vole. "We haven't managed to find a single creature that's bigger than us and I think by this point, we might have to call it quits if possible." ShySong heard this and placed the vole she had caught down, looked at her sister, and asked: "What's all this negative talk about calling it quits and going back home with small amounts that certainly would never be enough to suffice hungry animals back home?"

DawnRain: "Well, ShySong, at this point, we might have no other choice but to do just that."

ShySong: "Let me ask you something, DawnRain. Remember off the top of your head what father said about relinquishing so quickly."

DawnRain: "You'll never find or achieve the things you need if you back down so quickly."

ShySong: "Precisely! We're not going to just give up and bring back home prey that's so small it wouldn't be enough to fill even one animal's belly. We've never given up before and we're not going to give up now!"

DawnRain: "You're right, ShySong. We shouldn't just give up without even trying to find bigger catches."

BirchTail: "Well, we also came out here to practice our fishing skills so we might as well give it a shot while we're still– wait, what's that?"

I stopped halfway through what I was saying when I picked up the scent of squirrel— it was strong too even though the scent seemed to be the fresh yet faded scent of a squirrel that was leading somewhere off to the left. "What's wrong, BirchTail?" Summer asked. My head was lowered to the ground to figure out where to go and where to follow the trail before I turned to face her and replied: "I can sense squirrel and its scent is fresh too." Then I pricked up my ears to hear the sound of chattering coming from somewhere. "Wait right here everyone. I'll be right back." I told the group before following the trail which is where I found a massive black squirrel minding its own business and it did not seem to notice me one bit. And so I stalked him without making any sudden noise that would reveal to the squirrel that I was near and ready to strike at any moment until I caught him off guard, pounced, and delivered a fatal blow, killing him and I brought my catch along with me to show to everyone what I had found. "That looks like it'd be enough to feed some of the young!" BeetleEar responded. "Well, it's big enough to feed a few of them." I said with the prey still in my jaws. "I say we bring back what we currently have right now and then go back to focus on fishing in the river."

ShySong: "I think that's a good plan. Come one; let's head back."

And then we went back to the Division where we would then go fishing, where the next occurence would take place.
…
Summer:

When the prey was dropped off into the prey pile in the Division, we went back out again so the group along with some apprentices so that way they could practice their fishing skills and I accompanied them during their practice. And it was going well— many of the catches were mainly trout, carp, and bream. Everything was going well for the most part until the Diablos carried out another accost and this time, one of their members hid in the river waters.

"Hey, Summer..." One of the apprentices, Reed, seemed a bit uncomfortable while looking into the depths of the river water. "Yes, Reed, what's wrong?" I asked."I think I see something making its way to the-- Ahh!" Just then, Alfis emerged from the waters and jumped onto the shore, attempting to grab Reed and drag him into the water to drown him but Reed moved back before he could even do anything to him where DewCloud ran towards us and held Alfis down by pressing his paw on his snout. "Just what do you think you're doing in our river?!" DewCloud asked him, slowly moving his paw so that way he could respond to him. But the moment he moved his paw, Alfis grabbed him by his neck and began dragging him to the river. "DewCloud!" I quickly jumped into action to save him by punching Alfis in the left eye which caused him to cry out in pain and let go of DewCloud as he held his eye, screaming in anguish. "Are you all right, DewCloud?" I asked while Alfis was down. "Yeah, I think so. Thank you, Summer." He replied. When I turned around, I saw that Alfis was swimming straight towards me. "Oh no, you don't!" I firmly snarled as Alfis tried to grab me to try me down into the water only to be stopped by an invisible force field that I formed. "What? How is that even possible?!" He asked furiously. But I responded to him by saying: "If you want to hurt him or any of the animals that are here right now, you're going to have to kill me... if you could."

Alfis: "And how exactly did you managed to create some sort of border to defend and your little friend?"

Summer: "It is my destined power I have yet to receive and it's going to come in use in the future and you're going to find out what it has in store for you and your little friends when the time comes. Now, I would advise you to go home and leave us alone or there's gonna be even more problems for you and a lot more pain you are going to experience!"

Alfis: "All right, I'm going! But I will be back soon enough."

Summer: "Oh, I know that's for sure."

And then he swam away from us and me and DewCloud made our way back to the rest of the group. "He may have left us alone for now, but he will be back without a doubt." I told everyone. "But for right now, I think it might be best to head back to the Division with the fish we currently have with us and just go from there."

LightningBug: "All right."

Then everyone picked up the fish they caught and we began to make our way back to the Stream Echoes without any questions about what had just happened, because by now, we were already familiar with these sort of occurences and by then, we were no strangers to them.

And we would not be strangers to them later on when we received our powers.