{Midnight's Point of view}

"Put your feet lightly in front of you- no, not both! Yes, first the right, now the left- Midnight be careful of your surroundings! You almost stepped on that twig...." Cloud was softly instructing me while I unsuccessfully tried to sneak up on a fat squirrel.

"Cloud, will you shut up and let me hunt? I appreciate you trying to help me sneak around and stuff but that's not how I hunt! You know I charge at them straightforward." I growled a little-to-loudly.

The squirrel we were stalking now had its head up, sniffing the air warily. It twitched its ears, looking around the premises for the source of the sudden noise that had alerted it. Cloud and I both stiffened from behind the bush that kept us concealed. We both eyed each other, not daring to move a muscle.

Now look at what you did, Cloud! I gave her one of my rare glares.

Don't blame it on me! You're the one who startled the squirrel! She returned the freezing glare.

Well, you're the reason I raised my voice. My eyes narrowed into tiny slits.

I was just trying to help! She snapped back. It's strange how Cloud and I could communicate like that with just our eyes and facial expressions.

Oh my God, I'm done with helping you! Her eyes burned with an intense fire that I'd never seen before. She threw her arms out in an exaggerated gesture and stood up, before I could utter a cry of protest she had startled the squirrel and sent it running up the safety of a nearby tree.

Too late, I realized. Even the most experienced hunters such as myself couldn't hunt it down now.

"Whoops, my bad," Cloud snorted, blinking her eyes innocent-like. Before I could reply she walked off, her tail angrily twitching to-and-fro.

I stood there in complete silence for about three minutes, the shock on my face clearly evident. The sudden rumbling in my stomach finally broke the silence and I glanced meaningfully back at the tree where my earlier prey had escaped.

Dang, I was looking forward to some juicy meat tonight. Ah well, guess I'll have to settle for some berries.

I walked through the forest at a brisk pace; occasionally getting caught in the thick undergrowth. I mentally cursed as I felt a large tear in my jeans, which also cut skin slightly.

The forest is defiantly not a place for a wolf.... Or human.

After another ten agonizing minutes of clothes tearing and more curses, I finally stumbled into a large clearing. I sat down on a nearby rock and basked in the weak sunlight. I groaned quietly to myself as I clutched my empty stomach.

I let my gaze weakly travel across the clearing, looking for any kind of food I could get my hands on. And there it was; a patch of red berries. My stomach growled at the thought of stuffing my face with the succulent berries and I felt my mouth water slightly. Before I could process what was going on I had picked about half a dozen berries from the small bush.

Wait a minute, what was it that Kat told us about red berries? Something about eating them, I'm positive. Hm.

I racked my brain, desperately thinking of what she could of said but I couldn't think of anything. Finally I just gave up and delicately popped one of the small bright-red berries into my mouth.

It was delicious. The berry was juicy and sweet, with just a little bit of tartness. It felt like all the combined flavors were dancing around in my mouth.

Next thing I knew I had put two more in my mouth, then three, four, five.... I had stopped counting after twenty-three.

"Sooo good~" My tail wagged in pleasure as I popped yet another berry into my mouth. My vision was getting a little hazy but that didn't matter, I was to busy stuffing my face with the delicious berries.

When I was stuffed and I couldn't eat anymore, I picked the rest of the remaining berries, which wasn't much; and put them in my shirt as a makeshift basket. I stood up a little to quickly and gravity washed over me full-force, making me fall back down to the welcoming ground, butt first.

I stood back up, more slowly this time, and succeed in rising unsteadily to my feet. The bright-red berries rolled around in my shirt and I tightened my grip on my heavily damaged light-blue shirt.

"Stay there my little children." I giggled, my cheeks flushed a bright red.

I casually sniffed the air and suddenly smelt live prey, close by too. I wagged my tail in excitement, my eyes bright with thought of the future hunt.

I suddenly sped off, my legs moving faster than my brain could process my movement.

There it was. Right in front of me was none other than a fat, juicy looking deer. Despite being full, I still lunged at it. I took it by surprise and held it down. Then, to even my surprise; I started licking its cheek.

"Ew, Midnight, get off of me!" I heard Skittlez yelp as I felt something sharp jab me in the side, knocking me off the deer and driving the breath out of me.

"Oww, I didn't expect prey to fight backk." I muttered as I scratched the back of my head, suddenly feeling quite embarrassed.

I looked up and was surprised to find Skittlez in place of the deer that I had jumped. She was standing up and brushing the dirt off her damaged jeans.

"Oh hey Skittlez," I grinned at her as I trapped her in a bear hug.

"Midnight- stop. Can't... breathe..." She gasped, trying to push her way out of my iron-like grip.

I eased my grip on her slightly and she pushed free. She had her hands on her knees and was taking large, deep breaths.

"Aww, stop being such a downer," I cooed as I pulled an undamaged berry out of my makeshift shirt-basket, holding it up high for her to see. "Here, lighten up a bit and have a delicious berry."

"Midnight, what are you doing?" I heard a distant voice yell. Before I had time to react I felt a strong force grab my arms and haul me against a tree. My eyes grew wide with fear at the harsh contact. I looked up slightly into blazing dark brown eyes, which belonged to none other than, "Ms. I'll bite your head off."

"Kat let go, you're making me spill my berries!" I howled as I squirmed under her steel-like arms.

She eased her grip on me and I pulled away. Gravity decided to uphold its wrath on me and I was about to face-plant the ground when Kat grabbed me by the back of my shirt and hoisted me to my feet.

Before I could voice my thanks she was up in my face; her jaw twitching in anger. She picked up an undamaged berry off the forest floor and shoved it in front my face.

"What did I tell you about red berries?" She snarled as she threw the berry on the ground. Before I could protest, she stomped on it.

"Noo, you killed my baby!" I cried as I knelt down next to the squished remains of the red berry I oh so loved.

"Ugh, Midnight. I told you to never eat red berries! And you just had to eat them, didn't you?" She sighed, her palm on her forehead.

"Kat? Midnight? Skittlez? What's going on?" Cloud's sudden appearance startled me.

"Miss deranged lunatic over here," Kat began, pointing at me for emphasis. "Ate some red berries that made her go bonkers, and then she decided to attack poor Skittlez over here," she once again pointed at Skittlez for emphasis.

"Midnight, what was in those berries you ate?" Cloud asked me gently, but the look in her eyes were full of fear.

"I'm a cute little puppy..." I slurred, swaying my arms from side-to-side; my tail swishing with excitement.

Skittlez, Kat and Cloud all exchanged knowing looks, all with a grim look on their faces.

"They did this," Cloud said, turning to look at me.

"Well they should give me some more berries," I giggled as I twirled a strand of my black hair with my finger.

Before Cloud or Kat could reply back, Skittlez perked her ears; a foreign look in her eyes.

"Guys, I hear something coming towards us," she warned, her tail twitching with concentration.

"I don't hear anything," Cloud frowned as she strained her good ear.

"Me either," Kat agreed, straining her ears as well.

"Well I-" I began but was quickly cut off by Skittlez screaming at me.

"Midnight, watch out!" she screamed as she tackled me to the ground. I heard a whooshing sound above my head, then a sickening bone-snapping sound. Except, there was no blood-curdling scream that followed; just a grunt.

Skittlez and I both timidly looked up, expecting the worst. We let out sighs of relief when we noticed towering above us was Cloud, her mouth set into a tight frown of concentration.

"Get up and help me fight these robots. Kat and I can't handle them all," she grimaced as she kicked at something just out of our line of sight. We both obliged and quickly stood up, taking up fighting stances next to Cloud and Kat.

"You all look ridiculous," Kat yelled at us from over her shoulder as she delivered a 360-backhand slap to an unsuspecting robot's face. Not the best move on her part, I noted, as I watched her withdraw her hand, wincing slightly.

A flow of wind next to my right shoulder brought me back to my senses. These robots didn't have the best of aim. Nor were they the prettiest sights I've seen, I added as I faced a dull-gray robot. There were screws precariously poking out over its body.

Time to attack. I went with my first instinct and I kicked it right in-between its legs.

Bad idea. I realized as I withdrew my throbbing leg. The robot went down however, so that was a plus on my part.

Despite the agonizing burning sensation in my leg, I still charged back into the crowd of robots; my tail fluffed up with excitement.

~~~~~

"We can't stay here for much longer," Skittlez voiced everyone's fears back at our log cabin, where we had all gratefully sank down on the furniture; exhausted from our recent skirmish with the robots.

I grumbled back an unintelligible response, a dirty wet rag lay on my swollen black eye.

We all sat there in silence, Cloud and Kat too exhausted to respond to Skittlez's statement.

"Then it's settled," Skittlez stated gruffly. "After a week we're back to our journey."

And this time, Skittlez was greeted with three groans of protest.

"Oh shut up you babies," she snorted as she flopped down on her ruffled bed. "I expect everyone bushy-tailed and ruffle-feathered tomorrow."

This time all poor Skittlez received as response was the sound of snoring.

A/N

Yes, I finally finished chapter 12. Am I your favorite human-cat-bird in the whole wide world now or what? XD