Warriors: Full Moon Ch. 23

    The mission was set. Assault Volt’s fortress of stone. The clouds circled overhead, lightning and thunder apparent. The sun, hidden behind the thick layer of charged clouds, lit up the twolegplace as best it could. The whole entire city was dull and empty.

    In the middle of it lied a huge twoleg den that had wires coming out of it like none other. The den rose high, and stone walls and chain fences kept everything out that would try to get in. Windows dotted the huge den, but only on certain parts. The entire thing seemed like some kind of Twoleg jungle.

    The wires. They were everywhere! Jutting from the ground and coiling around random huge cylinder shaped pieces of metal, hung across tall posts that led into the rest of the twolegplace, and entering large tunnels that led underground. The whole entire den was a maze of stone!

    “This is the Spark Den, Volt’s hideout.” Glaive announced.

    Platinum, Gold, Echopaw, Lionblaze, Dovewing, Squirrelflight, and a few other Fighters were lined up at the fence that led into the den’s high walls. Together, with the bad weather, horrid ominous atmosphere, and the tenseness of the situation, Echopaw couldn’t help but be a little nervous. Here he was, at the door of a wicked tom that used electricity to kill cats with a single touch. A cat that almost killed him.

    “He has no where to go... The Poisons have surrounded a checked every hidden exit and underground pipe.” Glaive sat in front of the gate, metal eye glowing and fur kinda bristled. “This time, we make sure he never kills a cat ever again.”

    Echopaw was ready. This was the first of three important and dangerous battles to come. His whiskers twitched, and there was that nagging fear of his own death at the back of his mind, but that wind wasn’t going to get the best of him now.

    “We are marching straight in. Protect each other. Have each other’s backs. This is Volt’s home, and he is bound to know every corner of this building and have traps set for us. Be careful.” Glaive turned around and shouted, “Mei, open the gates!”

    Mei had gotten behind the gates on the inside. She was at the wall. Pushing against the wall, with probably some kind of tool on it, the gates inwardly creaked open for the cats to enter the clearing.

    The clearing was humongous, and on either side of the walkway, there were tons of huge cylinders like the one Echopaw had seen before. They lined the walls, wires dancing between each. Scouting farther down, the den was tree-lengths high, and probably four times as big as StoneClan’s camp. The doors in the front were torn and battered, dents in the metal. The steps leading up to them were perfectly cut, and  in some places, the stone was replaced with some kind of metal fence for the ground.

    Echopaw passed over one on the walk and glanced into it. Beneath their paws was a whole other part of the den! He could see the electricity traveling along the wires underneath.

    “Are you okay?” Lionblaze whispered in his ear.

    Echopaw shook his head and refocused on the group. “I’m fine. Volt is waiting for us. How could someone not be a bit anxious.”

    Lionblaze took a breath in. “There is an easy way to fix all that, and I’m sure you already know this. No cat is more powerful than one that believes in himself.” He nodded assuringly. “And always remember, your friends are by your side. You won’t be facing Volt alone this time. I won’t let you.”

    “Thanks,” Echopaw said. “I hope no one gets killed this time.”

    “As long as we work together, there’s no one that can take us down. Not even Nox.” Lionblaze’s encouragement was refreshing. There was no other cat with his kind of positive outlook on things.

    “Hey, I want in on this ‘important lessons’ talk!” Dovewing crashed between them. “You’re taking all the good ones, Lionblaze. Let me or Squirrelflight give him advice once in a while!”

    “Lionblaze is his mentor,” Squirrelflight said. She smiled and joined the conversation with a smile. “Dovewing, you’re just jealous because Stealthpaw isn’t the kind of apprentice you wanted, huh?”

    "She never listens to a word I say!” Dovewing complained, a smile appearing on her face too. “When I get back to camp, I’m definitely giving her a piece of my mind!”

    In such a dark and depressing situation, it was good to hear a normal chat among warriors like this. Echopaw grinned and said, “Volt won’t know what hit him!”





    “Like a fox in his den, I’m trapped! Oh woe is me! The eagle has betrayed me and stolen away my younglings! Now I must wait for my head to be delivered to me on a plate!”

    Volt jumped around the room, shouting, whispering, and talking to himself. Tesla and Smokey watched, just out of Volt’s striking distance, as Volt went on a small rant. He was so random, they couldn’t follow anything he was saying.

    “My father is going to punish me for breaking my toys! I must find a way to stop him!” He let off a spark wave that connected with the metal railing beneath him. The electricity shot across the metal like a rabbit, swirling around to every other railing that was attached to the one he stood on. “I am smarter than this! Or am I mouse-brained? No! I’m as clever as a fox! This mouse won’t frighten me! I am the predator! He is the prey!”

    “Volt, I think it’s time we put this behind us and gave up...” Tesla attempted to convince him to no avail.

    “Never!”

    Smokey agreed with Volt with a nod. “I’m not going to give up. These cats are nothing. No one can match the power of our electricity!” He joined Volt, pacing around the room. “Volt! Tell us what to do and I’ll make sure it happens!”

    “Squirrel... Sparkly... Lion... Shiny... Dove... Father... Echo... Hehahahah! It’s all coming to me now!” Volt spun around and lifted his head into the air. His eyes filled with awareness, he spoke with a cracked tone in his voice, “All of them... My new toys!... And I will break them like any other!” He faced Tesla and Smokey. “Gather all the remaining Spark Assassins. Split up and ambush the group in the catacombs! Do not let them into my sanctum!”

    “Yes, Volt.” Tesla replied. She responded immediately, rushing down the small steps and into the Spark Assassins’ sleeping quarters.

    Smokey hopped in place. “I won’t let you down, Volt!” He winded himself, then thrusted himself into the other room with a joyful skip.

    Volt sat back in the middle of the room, the electricity starting to accumulate on his body. “Time to turn on the lights...”





    The lights in the front room turned on, suddenly. Glaive was surprised, and he probably half-expected assassins to jump out right there. It was a false alarm. The light flickered to life, and the entire den seemed to turn into a loud machine in itself. Electricity poured into the wires lining the walls, the distant sound of some kind of screeching pierced Echopaw’s ears, and the doors at the end of the room slid open.

    Platinum said, “This doesn’t look good. Volt knows we’re here already.”

    “I expected him to know.” Glaive responded with no hesitation. “You forget that I know the Assassins personally. Every move they make, I have already thought through and calculated a counter.”

    “Then why did we only bring the nine of us, huh? You expect me to believe we can take down a whole entire den of assassins with nine cats?” Platinum was definitely a negative sort of cat.

    “Reaver has already ordered his own Dark Assassins back to his hideout. Assuming my beliefs are correct, Volt should only have a couple of Spark Assassins other than himself. This also assures us not too many cats will get hurt. Glaive begun walking through the open room, focusing his eyes on the open pathway. “We must stick together. The catacombs below is where Volt’s lair is hidden. He has obviously planned an ambush somewhere along the way.”

    Catacombs? What were those?

    Lionblaze asked, “Glaive, do you have a plan when we face Volt? How will we avoid his spark ability?”

    Glaive replied, “This is no lie. I have no clue how to trick him. His insanity has made him unpredictable in that category.” He lowered his voice. “If we can all work together and overpower him, I think we stand a chance at close combat.”

    Glaive led the group past the doorway and into a smaller room with two paths. On the right side was another doorway. Buttons were on the wall next to it with arrows pointing up and down. On the right path were two sets of steps. He glared at both paths.

    “We take the stairs. Below us is a maze of paths and wires that power the upwalker tools and devices. That is where Volt will attempt to ambush us. The Catacombs.” Glaive headed to the stairs.

    Echopaw examined his surroundings like he did in his first time in the StoneClan forest. The walls either were made of stone or had all kinds of wires running along them. Blood stains on the ground didn’t seem like a good sign, and the reeking smell of smoke filled his nostrils. This entire den was as opposite to the forest as a cat could get. How could cats live in such a polluted place?

    Down the stairs they went. Step by step, the light was dimmer and dimmer. Squirrelflight and Dovewing stayed close to Lionblaze. Some of the other Fighters seemed a bit ready to run away, but Gold and Platinum weren’t going anywhere. They looked ready to fight a badger. Glaive was the most confident, though. Traveling into the den of a beast that he created and  knew the capabilities of.

    Echopaw had to think about it for a bit, but without Glaive’s help, this entire alliance against the Assassins would have never happened. The Assassins would have kept killing cats, forcing the Poisons and Fighters to fend for themselves. Who could guess what would have happened to the Twoleg cats if the twolegs had stayed. Glaive also knew everything about the Assassins. StoneClan might have never had the capability to defeat the Assassins without him.

    Even though he might have accidentally created monsters, he’s helped more than enough to repay for that mistake.

    They entered the room at the bottom of the stairs. Glaive stopped midway into the room and sat down. Gold and Platinum approached him and gaped at the sight in front of them. Echopaw sped his pace up and looked around to see what had gotten them all in astonishment.

    Echopaw was at the edge of a long fall down. Left and right were stairs leading down into a massive room filled with wires hanging across the walls, barrels of electricity sticking out of the ground, and whole lake of sparks flowing beneath the metal chained floor. The only light source in the room was the sparks, and it absolutely brightened everything up. This place was a deathtrap for any cat who step foot in it. The catacombs.

    “This is... unexpected...” Glaive meowed, “I must say I was fascinated with the Twolegs that could run such a facility, but this... How do they work under such conditions?”

    Platinum shook her head. “You expect us to find our way through all those obstacles and wires, not get shocked, and have the chance of an Assassin kill us in the process? No way!”

    “There is Volt’s hideout.” Glaive let out a beam from his mechanical eye. It traveled to the other end of the massive chamber. There were entrances at many different places across the catacombs, but Glaive pinpointed Volt’s room. It was a large opening in the wall, big enough for a small twoleg to fit through. It was so far away.

    Gold leaned his head over the edge. “How do you know that?”

    “Watch.”
 
    Echopaw kept his eyes on the entryway. After a few seconds, a figure exited from it and looked straight at them smiling. The black tom from before. Smokey... He disappeared between the jumble of wires and barrels once more, hiding in the shadows. Echopaw swallowed hard. In this place, he had to be extremely careful.

    Glaive ordered, “Echopaw, you and your clanmates will go down those stairs. Platinum, Gold, Mei, and I along with the other fighters will go down these ones.”

    “But you said we should stick together,” Echopaw complained.

    “Splitting up in smaller groups will give us a better chance of not falling into a trap together.” Glaive nodded slowly. “This way, if we fall into a trap, you can still make it into Volt’s hideout and fight him.”

    Echopaw saw what he was doing. This time, he wasn’t telling Platinum everything. Glaive knew he was going to fall into a trap, and made sure Echopaw would face Volt with his friends by his side. “Okay, Glaive. We’ll see you back outside. Promise?”

    Glaive tilted his head a bit and kind of half shook, half nodded. “Promise.”

    Echopaw motioned his tail for Lionblaze, Squirrelflight, and Dovewing to follow him down the right steps. Down he ventured, into the den of traps, sparks, and a horrid monster of a cat. Part of his wished Glaive would be okay, and the other part feared for how powerful Volt could be in an environment like this.