Endless Sky ~New Beginning~

Chapter Nine

People were already getting ready to leave after having grabbed something to munch on for lunch. Despite being physically shaken by the slug attack, Avaro had agreed to visit Mystic and Roxxan had managed to retrieve OStar's necklace for her.
"Maybe Patch and Rose have grown some since the last time we visited," Charlotte was saying as she helped fix Afina's scarf to be more comfortable.
"They'll probably be bigger than me now," the small cat meowed, looking as if she wished she could grow a bit larger. OStar didn't add to the conversation, she was only listening. Assuming Patch and Rose were kits of someone's, maybe Mystic's? She'd find out eventually.
"All right is everyone ready? Roxxan called out. "We're not getting ready for a damn sleepover; it shouldn't take this long to get ready."
"Ey! Some of us are still tired!" Avaro said as he shook Lucerne who yawned.
"Then wake up!" Roxxan snapped back. OStar's tails twitched slightly. She was a bit tired herself but the growing excitement of going to a different universe was pushing that tiredness away. Estella seemed just as energized, but she was always that way. The princess threw a satchel around her neck and bounced. "Some snacks for the kits! Maybe they like cake," she purred. "I don't think the grown cats can even make cake let alone give it to the kits," Avaro pointed out. Estella frowned.
"Well, there's a chance for everything! Maybe they will love it after trying it for the first time!" She exclaimed, the frown vanishing as if it had never been there.
OStar remembered when Mila arrived and Estella's distraught face as Roxxan laid motionless under her paws. It was unnerving seeing the princess sad, it gave OStar an odd sense of dread whenever she imagined it. A chill went up her spine, as if warning her that it wouldn't be the only time Estella would get hurt.
"You good?" Charlotte suddenly asked, nudging OStar. "You look as if a ghost started petting you."
OStar shook her head. "Yeah, I'm fine, just a bit lost in thought," she replied with a flick of her ear.
Charlotte seemed a bit skeptical but didn't continue.
"Everyone ready? It shouldn't take this long, like I said, we're not having a sleepover," Roxxan huffed.
"Have patience, if I go any faster, I might break a leg," Avaro responded and Roxxan glared at him.
"He's ready," Lucerne piped up with another yawn, patting Avaro's shoulder.
"Nooo, I haven't used the bathroom yet! Want me to pee on a tree?"
"Avaro you went to the bathroom twenty minutes ago,"
The dragon didn't say anything after that.
"Wonderful, let's go," Roxxan said, opening up an orange portal.
OStar blinked at it. "So that's a portal?" she thought. It was an orange swirling vertical oval, not like a window since the other universe was unable to be seen while a view from the side was nothing more than a nearly invisible line. Nothing seemed to come off it, no sparkles or mystical noises. She wondered if all portals were like this. She doubted it.
Rual finally showed up wearing a backpack. It appeared to be filled with books and other random things like snacks for anyone who wanted some. No one waited any longer once he arrived, Avaro and Lucerne marched through the portal first, followed by Estella and then Afina.
"Let's go," Charlotte patted OStar's head and walked through the portal.
OStar glanced at Roxxan and quickly followed. She'd expected some kind of chill or zap when walking through, but there was nothing. It felt like walking through an opened door to the outside as she felt the wooden floor turn to soft grass. The sun was beaming down through the trees and onto what seemed to be a camp, filled with cats. They were all sorts of colors. Blue, green, red, it was kind of eye-popping against the normal forest background.
Rual and Roxxan soon followed through the portal and it closed without a sound. "Well, here we are," Roxxan said. "Mystic!" Avaro called out before running off. "And there he goes," the robot mumbled as Lucerne quickly followed his friend.
Avaro was headed to a light purple cat who looked over with bright yellow eyes. She seemed happy to see him.
"That's Mystic?" OStar asked Charlotte. She nodded in reply, "Yep, she apparently can see the future but can't speak of it, dunno why. All of the others like her can speak of it."
"Others?"
"Yeah, there are different kinds of cats here, Elemental, Wild, and Prophetic. No, the 'wild' ones are not wild. They are more the defenders of the place, guardians, warriors, I don't know," Charlotte explained.
OStar blinked and opened her mouth to ask another question but her friend was already walking off and motioning her to follow. "Why don't you meet some rather than have me explain them all?" she was saying.
"Oh, okay," OStar nodded and padded after her, leaving the others behind. Seems like they weren't going to stay in a group.
As she followed, she looked around at the village. It wasn't hard to find elemental cats, the one climbing a tree was a fluffy yellow with white lightning-like streaks. Another blue one with fins was splashing around in a nearby stream near the edge of the village, and there was even a green one with flowers growing on her pelt. It was quite interesting, but strange. Wouldn't some elementals feel out of place in a forest like this? Such as the fire ones?
But everyone seemed at peace, relaxed, talking; it was calm.
"I think you should meet Spike first," Charlotte spoke, breaking through OStar's thoughts.
"Who?" she asked.
"Spike, she's a Wild cat here but really kind," Charlotte laughed "I thought I said I was going to have you meet them instead of explaining everything?" OStar smothered a small laugh. "Oops, sorry he he..."
Charlotte chuckled as she bent down to pick up a rock before heading to a tree and throwing it. "YO SPIKE! WAKE UP!"
The rock bounced off a branch that had a large ball on it. It seemed sturdy and made of branches, leaves, and even mud. It only looked big enough for one cat though as a head poked out from a hidden hole. She had yellow eyes and brown fur with a grey muzzle. Each of her ears had two black stripes on them while the left one was torn. In addition, she had a scar over her right eye, yet her facial expression still seemed more confused and curious rather than angry and intimidating. "Charlotte?" she meowed, climbing out of the nest and onto the branch so she could look down, her eyes lighting up. "Charlotte!" With quick and precise paw placements, Spike practically ran down the trunk of the tree and hopped down on the grass. Now OStar could see more details.
Spike had a deep scar along her shoulder as well as one on her right flank. She had a short bobbed tail, but she seemed born with it and not that her tail was cut off. Another three black stripes were on her back and she wore a loose collar made of thick animal skin, teeth and claws poking out of it, though they all were clearly from prey or intruders like badgers.
"By the elements it is you! What brings you here?" Spike asked before looking over at OStar. "Oh? Who's this?"
Charlotte looked over, but didn't say anything, expecting OStar to introduce herself.
"Oh! Uh, name's OStar,"
"Oh Star? What's with the O?" Spike asked.
"I..." OStar frowned, "don't know..."
"She's like Estella, lost her memory," Charlotte spoke up.
"Oh... Well, that's too bad. Hopefully, it doesn't cause too much trouble for you," the Wild cat meowed, flicking her tail.
"It's not that bad, I could've ended up a vegetable and lost my ability to speak and think," OStar joked.
Charlotte snorted while Spike made a small laugh. "Well make yourself comfortable here! We don't mind visitors as long as they don't cause too much trouble..." Spike said, about to continue saying something but cut herself off and looked over to her left, ears perked up. OStar and Charlotte also looked over to see an orange cat walking over. She wasn't as bright as Estella and was a few inches shorter with yellow and orange eyes, red tuffs on her ears, and yellow paws. OStar could only guess this was a fire elemental cat.
"Oh, Blaze!" Charlotte called out and waved, causing the cat to sprint over the rest of the way. "Charlotte! Who is this?" Blaze asked, noticing OStar quickly. OStar blinked at the cat, who was definitely young. Assuming she aged like a human, she would maybe be eleven or twelve years old.
Charlotte chuckled. "Guess you gotta introduce yourself once again," she grinned.
"That's fine," OStar said and padded over to Blaze, "Heya, name's OStar." she started, trying to be as friendly as possible to the kit. Blaze looked up with wide eyes, OStar could feel heat rising off her. "Oooh, where did you come from?" she responded.
"Dunno, I kind of woke up outside OCTown without any memory," OStar answered. Blaze blinked but didn't say anything, making an awkward silence. "Hey, wait, Blaze aren't you supposed to be with Mystic?" Spike said, breaking the silence. "Oh right!" the elemental kit exclaimed before running off.
Spike padded over to OStar's side as Blaze bounded away. "You know, we don't really know what happened to her parents," she meowed unexpectedly. "Huh?" OStar looked over at the she-cat.
Spike kept her eyes on the kit in the distance as she rejoined Mystic, Avaro, and Lucerne. "She was maybe four when Mystic found her alone in the woods. She tried looking for her parents but couldn't find them. We even tried sending search patrols, but we found nothing. In the end Zeru agreed to let Mystic raise her as her own kit," she turned her head to look at OStar, "Blaze loves Mystic but I can still see in her eyes that sometimes she wishes she'd gotten to know her parents more..."
"Did... You know her parents?" OStar asked and Spike shook her head. "I knew their names, Flint and Firu, but I didn't know them personally. Neither did Mystic, or Fuchsia or Stripe. They weren't well-known cats, just kind of kept to themselves,"
"Oh..." OStar looked up at Charlotte but her friend was looking away at something else so she couldn't catch her eye.
"But everything's fine now, Mystic has been doing a great job of taking care of Blaze," Spike purred, "Have you met Mystic yet?"
OStar shook her head.
"Well then why are we standing here? Let's go!" she grinned before padding off to the prophet. OStar again looked up at Charlotte and nudged her leg. "Hey, are you coming?" she asked.
Charlotte flinched. "Hm? What? Uh, yeah I'm coming," she replied before walking off after Spike, not looking down at OStar.
"...Odd..." OStar thought, "Does she even know we are going to Mystic or is she just following Spike?"
OStar shrugged it off and headed after the two.