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Cylver joins the others in their search. "Does anyone know anything about turtles? I think I heard they like pizza once... maybe we can lure it back with that!"
LQ laughs as she looks around the area for clues.
"He likes lettuce. And why not, it's DELICIOUS. I'm just concerned his propeller is damaged and he may not have control."
As Verdant looks all around, she spots a cloud of smoke in the distance that seems to be coming from deep in Everfree Forest to the south as it rises into the sky.
As Cylver searches she hears a sad dog howl coming from deep in the Everfree forest to the west, and a purple bow that is caught in some bushes near the cottage.
Lilac finds a trail of bunny tracks that lead from the cat flap southwest into Everfree Forest, as well as alligator tracks leading from the cat flap to the edge of the river running past the cottage.
LQ finds a trail of soot that leads from the cottage east into Everfree Forest.
"Um, I think we should all go together though," Lilac says. "We don't want to get into any more trouble than we already have."
She nods, "I agree....so which one should we go after first?"
"I think the smoke should be first. If it's Tank, he could be hurt."
"Okay, let's look for Tank then," Lilac says.
The group heads in the direction of the smoke which leads them south into the Everfree Forest. After about an hour, they lose sight of the cloud because trees block their sight. If they can somehow get a better view of the area, they might be able to see where the smoke is coming from.
Lilac simply follows along and doesn't notice losing sight of the smoke cloud disappearing.
LQ tries to figure out the best way to find where the smoke went.
Alas she is completely dumbfounded as to what to do next.
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Managing to avoid the branches of all the trees, Verdant makes it above the tree tops and spots the smoke.
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"I think it's this way!" Cylver says excitedly.
Between Cylver and Verdant, the group is able to navigate through the spooky forest as they follow the smoke. Eventually they come to a great chasm that splits the forest apart like a rocky scar.
Looking down intot he rocky chasm, you immediately see the source of the smoke. Halfway down the left wall of the chasm, the tortoise, Tank, is dangling by the strap of his goggles, which are caught on a jagged piece of stone that juts out from the cliffside. He must have crashed into the cliff, as thick black funes stream from teh ruined rotor engine of his flying machine. The cliff looks like it can be climed, but Tank is very far down. You also notice several caves dotting the cliff face.
Verdant looked the situation over, then turned to Lilac, "I think if we both go down there we'll be sure to get him before he falls."
"Okay, let's go," Lilac says, taking off.
Verdant took off as well.
Thanks to the two friends working together, they both reach Tank safely and Verdant realizes that they have to hold onto tank while Lilac frees him from the straps that he's tangled in so that he doesn't fall.
Having secured the teetering turtle, they fly back to their friends.
"So who should we look for next? Opalescence's bow was nearby...maybe she didn't get too far," Lilac suggests.
"Let's go then, we need to find them before someone finds out and we all become laughing stocks!" Cylver exclaims.
After shifting some of her stuff around, Verdant gingerly placed Tank in one of the bags with a head of lettuce. Poor little guy. She thought.
Making sure to leave the bag open enough so that he wouldn't smother, yet not fall out, the Pegasus said, "Yes, let's go get Opal."
"I think we need to take Tank back to the cottage first and let him rest. Poor little thing looked exhausted. We can put some water and lettuce near him, and then go find the cat." She suggests, LQ thought it would be easier to find the other pets if they weren't carrying around injured ones.
Lilac nods in agreement. "Let me check outside again for any other sign of her."
She heads outside and looks around for more clues to Opalescence's whereabouts.
After getting back to the cottage and making sure that Tank was down with a full head of lettuce to munch on, Verdant came back out and helped look around.
While Verdant gets Tank comfortable, LQ removes the busted up rotor blades from the tired out tortoise and rubs his shell a little before putting down a bowl of water for him and joining the others in their search for cat clues outside.
Once Tank was taken care of Cylver joins the others and keeps an eye out for the remainin pets.
As Cylver and Lilac look around the area where they found the bow, they see something glinting in the sunlight. Walking a little bit further away from the cottage they find a blue opal as it lies in the middle of a narrow path leading southeast into the spooky forest.
"Looks like we're going back into the forest..."
She nods her head, "Oh dear....it's just so spooky in there, but we'll do what we have to rescue those poor little creatures." She says, following behind the others.
"The poor Kitty, it must be so scared." Verdant commented as they headed in.
As you follow the path through the undergrowth, the spooky trees that look like misshapen monsters tower over you, blocking out the sky and sunlight. After about fifteen minutes you all find another opal on the path. As you continue along the path, the claw like branches seem to reach out and snag on your manes and tails, and fierce red eyes seem to blink and glare from the shadows. About every fifteen minutes or so you find another opal. After about the fourth opal, the path opens to a small glade.
At the center of the small forest clearing sits a water well. The edge of the well is made up of a low, circular stone wall. A slate roof, covered in moss, shelters the well from the sky. There's an old, rickety-looking handle attached to the wheel, used to raise and lower the rope that drops down into the depths of the well. Looking down over the wall of the well, you peer into darkness and can't make out the bottom. The shadowy walls of the well disappear deep underground. You can hear a faint meowing coming up from the darkness.
There's an old board attached to the front of the well. Scraping away the cobwebs and dirt, you can see some words written in old-fashioned writing that appear to change before your very eyes!! In moments they have formed into a poem!
LQ looks at the strange words curiously, "It looks like it's trying to tell us something." She remarks, while trying to make out the writing on the board.
Verdant looks at with a slightly tilted head. As she did, she inadvertently began saying the word she thought she was seeing.