The sun was starting to rise and the two mystery thugs that chased after us had finally given up and left the area. Exhausted and annoyed, Gab and Jake leaned down over on the tree branch they were on. Kitsuno and I looked over at them and climbed over to where they were. Gab looks up slightly as I got close to her. "Thanks for getting us chased jerk. We didn't plan on having to run in the middle of the night again."

Shaking my head before looking down at the ground. "It's not like we meant to. Those two came out of nowhere and started chasing us." I start lowering myself down from branch to branch before meeting the ground with my feet. Kit follows behind me and I help her down on the ground.

Looking back up, the two cats were both laying on the branches. We had to play it cool since we know who they were and don't want to pass it off of us hunting them down too. "So, what's up with you two? Enjoying nature too?" Jake closes his eyes for a moment before looking at Gab as she lets out a loud yawn. "Yeah. Camping." He then grabs ahold of his bag before climbing down. "Come on Gab. Let's find somewhere else to crash."

"Need any help? We both know the forest a bit and can get you two somewhere cozy." He looks at me and then tilts his head to look at Kitsuno. "Thanks, but no thanks. You two kinda brought those freaky painted guys to us, and I'd rather not run into more if that's what you two are planning."

Well he's got us there. Despite it being completely accidental. Yes we are looking for these two, but those other people were not part of the plan. What the hell even drew their attention to us in the first place?

We watched as the two cats walked off a fair distance before we started moving ourselves. Uncanny that we followed them, and they probably outright knew we were doing so, Kitsuno and I at least passed it off that we were heading the same direction and made idle banter on things. Though to make it more believable to where we weren't fully following them, we diverted paths away from where they were heading and kept a distance.

When it came to a certain point where those two had stopped moving, Kitsuno and I started scouting the surrounding area. We were pretty far into the forest, no doubt these two had a few caches out here. We did end up finding one clothing cache, but we left it alone just in case they were to make their way to it next.

Around noon came to the point where we needed to get some food. Unfortunately, after what happened last night made us very wary of the river. Just in case someone set up a trap or ambush point for us. The forest may be large, but we have the suspicion that they never left. To be on the safe side, Kitsuno and I broke off some tree branches and with some fiddling around with my magic, we shaped the tips to sharpened charred edges. It wasn't pretty to look at for a self defense weapon, but it's better than nothing.

As we walked to the river, I began to think about those two cats. "I know we are suppose to keep an eye on them to find the thing, but don't you think we should probably help them?" Kitsuno looks at me as she lifts up some branches that were drooping. "With those weird people around, yeah." As I pass through, Kitsuno stops me a step after she follows. "Those two are young and have some experience with stealing, but I don't think they have been in as serious stuff as we have."

Letting my thoughts run wild for a bit, while it is true that we have had a few nasty encounters, both before and after the heist, there is still the difference between us and them. "Sis, I appreciate the thought, but let's remember. Those two are normal. We're not." She stood there for a bit before nodding, "Yeah, you got me there." We continued walking towards the river in the foliage before breaking through completely and seeing the rushing water flow by on the ground. "Shade?"

Turning my head to face my sister, "What is it Kit?" She looks off into the distance of the river. "Do you ever think we can live a normal life?" Nothing but the sound of the water flowing filled the air. I reach for her open hand and grabbed onto it. "One of these days sis. I promise that." She gives me a gentle smile before hugging me. Next thing I know is her moving her arm and thrusting her makeshift spear into the water.

Letting go of her, I turn around and saw her spear lodged in the water and she wades her way in the river to grab ahold of it. She lifts it up out of the water and a large bass was flailing on the end of the stick. Kitsuno gives me a smile before wading her way back to me. "Sorry sis, had to take the opportunity." I look at the fish as it was the size of a football in length. Sticking out my tongue, "I betcha I can find a bigger one than that." Kitsuno laughs before walking off to a flatter part of the ground in the tree line. "I'd like to see you try."

For the next hour I spent in the water to try to find a bigger bass, led to me getting only two small ones instead. I will admit, I was a little peeved about it, but what can be done about it? Kit just got lucky and it is nice to see something that makes her happy.

I got a fire going with my magic and we slow cooked the fish for a while. My attention did draw over towards the trees as I swear that those two were watching. Me thinks that the smell of freshly cooked fish drew their noses to us.

After waiting a bit, I got up and walked back into the water. "Shade, what are you doing?" Shrugging as I grabbed my spear that I lodged in-between some rocks, "Gonna see about catching some more fish. Save some for later." Kitsuno stares at me confused before her ear twitches a bit from some rustling in the trees. "Alright, just don't gather too much. I'm not carrying a lot of fish around like last time." I rolled my eyes on how she still remembers that. It was just ten fish.

With some precision, and my spear snapping in half, I managed to snag five fish before having to get out of the water because of my fur getting too damp. They weren't as big as the first one Kit caught, but still decent sized for bass. The fire itself was starting to die down a bit so I added my broken spear to the pile and scrapped together some grass. Kitsuno got up from her spot to jab her spear against some of the trees to carve some of the bark off.

The fire started picking up better when she added the bark and I give her a nod. "There. A nice slow cook for a while. Let's let that sit for a while and see if we can find that birds nest I told you about. I wanna see if those pretty birds are there or not." We both delve back into the trees and move past a couple drooping branches and go into a bush.

When in the bush, we made it seem like we left and listened. My ears twitch as I heard a branch snap from near our fire and I smile, "Figured they would go for it. Food is food." Kitsuno then looks at me. "So what now sis?" I had to ponder this over now. Both of them are in a spot we can keep an eye on them, which means whatever stashes they got can be raided and or located. However, we do need to keep an eye on them. Just in case they vanish or are as elusive as they have been.

My body glows a bit as I focused my magic to shift into my feral form. "Shade?" Shaking my head and letting my ears wiggle about, I move out of the bush and look around. "You stay close to these two. I'll go feral for a bit to do some searching. They'll think more of me being a wild animal should they find me like this." Kitsuno nods before crouching closer to the ground. "Try not to get lost Shade, or worse. Stuck somewhere."

"I'll do my best not to." Sneakily making my way out of the bush, I start delving back into the forest. Some parts of the trek was made easier since being on all fours meant not having to duck under a lot of branches. Though it did not take long for me to leap up onto something unstable. I walked onto a log that was jutting out over a small drop, and in a short second it cracks. Stumbling a bit as it moved and trying to regain my balance, I was about to leap off.

Well, the moment my feet forced some weight for me to jump, the log breaks and I end up falling onto the ground chest first. Luckily I did not land on anything hard or pointy. Lifting myself up and shaking my body to get any debris off me, my ears flatten a bit. "Yeah yeah, I know Kit. Didn't take long for that to happen." Shaking my head and continuing to walk in the forest, "Come on though, it's an large forest that's been here for years. Of course some of this is gonna be old and falling apart."

The further I made my way in the forest from where the river was, the more eerie things felt. Neither of us gave it some thought because we both were preoccupied with finding Gab and Jake yesterday, to keeping an eye on them now. The wind blows through the trees yes, but... that was it. Nature has been, silent.

Aside from fish, we haven't seen any other wildlife. This is a little concerning as I know there are birds and actual wild foxes in the area. It's almost as if something chased them away. Could it be because of those guys from last night and this weird cult?

Moving through some bushes, I pause a bit as one of my paws stepped on something metallic. Pulling it back and looking down at the object, my curiosity got the best of me as I gave it a good sniff. This caused me to narrow my eyes as the metal object had a strange smell to it. Moving my paw around it, I unearthed some of the sticks and dirt around it and saw a half broken dagger. "This... is concerning."

Leaving the blade alone, I pushed through the bushes some more before stumbling across a damaged bush. My skin was starting to bristle my fur as things were starting to feel very unsafe. My nose caught whiff of a scent I am new to as it just smelt weird. Like, weird weird.

Poking my head through the bushes, the scent became stronger and I caught a glimpse of a tent. "Okay... must be a hunter? Please be a hunter." Moving slowly out of the bush and getting closer to the tent. The smell was becoming a bit unbearable to me.

The smell was only the beginning. As I moved around the tent, the first thing that my eyes spotted was a large metal cauldron. "Okay? Maybe a witch the... what?" Stepping out further, the next thing that caught my immediate attention was one of the tents being opened and I saw a couple weapons inside it hanging around on racks. This didn't belong to a witch.

This place looked like a small encampment. Five tents, a cauldron, weapon storage, and... "Is that a sigil?" My body moves closer towards the center of the camp next to the cauldron and my eyes focus on the markings in the ground. All of my fight or flight responses are screaming at me that I need to get as far away from here as humanely possible, and yet. I stay still, looking over the sigil that appeared burnt into the ground. "Why... does this look familiar?"

Things were starting to feel weird, it may be from whatever the smell was. The world around me was starting to become hazy as I kept staring at the sigil. "Hey, what's with the fox?" My eyes drift up to see that a robed man has emerged out of one of the tents. His voice was thick as he started talking some more, but it was getting less and less clear to me the more I sat there. Up until I saw the same two thugs from last night appear next to him. "You two, get rid of that thing before it messes with the summoning gate."

The two concealed thugs nod to each other before they walked around the sigil to approach me. As if on instinct, and possibly payback from last night, I leapt up as one tried to grab me and I focused some magic in front of me. The magic formed into a large fireball and placing my paws on it, my body shifts and forces the fiery ball towards them and myself away.

The two thugs move quickly to avoid getting burnt and I landed near one of the tents as the ball makes contact with the sigil and explodes, setting the markings alight. The robed man stares in shock. "A magical fox... but that's impossible around these parts. Unless..." He brings a hand to his mouth and a loud whistle echoes in the camp. "Everyone! Get out here now! We have a kitsune in the area."

Shaking my head to regain my senses, I look at what had transpired and immediately regret staying too long. Around twenty people in robes and painted hoodies drove out of the tents and some were looking at me, while some were trying to avoid the now burning sigil. The ones looking at me started to sprint at me, and I immediately turned tail and ran through the bushes.

Quickly and swiftly I dashed through the plants and leapt over any obstacles in my way, my main goal now was to escape and find my sister and warn her. My senses were slowly coming back and things could not have been any more worse. Just what the hell happened back there? It's like I lost control of my own body.

Dashing through some more of the bushes and leaping over to where I last left my sister, "Kitsuno! Where you at?" My head darts around and there was no sign of her. My first thought was near the river so I charged through the folliage and end up sprinting face first into the water. Getting back up and shaking myself, my eyes stare directly at the two cats talking with my sister.

Gab was the first to speak as she noticed me in the water, "It's that fox again." As they all turned their attention to me, I scrambled myself out of the river and sprinted towards them. "Kitsuno... bad things. Very bad." Jake and Gab jolted back a bit when they heard me speak. Jake points at me before grabbing his sister and stepping back further. "That fox talked. And why does it know your name Kitsuno?"

Kitsuno looks at the duo before looking back at me. "We can explain more on that later. Shade, what's wrong? What happened out there?" I let myself catch my breath a bit before attempting to explain. "I think I found the cultists. There was this weird camp not far from here that smelled weird and had weapons and this weird... sigil thing." They all looked at me confused from this. "Next thing I knew is using my magic to try to burn them, I don't know what happened before they all started coming out to attack. I--"

"Whoa whoa whoa, I'm sorry. But did that talking fox say magic?" Jake leers at me a bit as he moves closer to inspect my face. "I knew weird things were happening in the area lately, but a magic fox?"

"Move! That kitsune couldn't have gotten too far."

Our attention was drawn towards where I came from. "Crap. It's them." Without much of a word, we started running into the river to get to the other side. Right as the cultist group breaks through the tree lining. "There it is! It's got some friends too."