Clouds of Shadows Volume 1

Berries and RainWings

Sun and Spree left Amethyst with a warning, one that she ignored as she searched for ShadowNight to ... finish her job, so she didn't have to be killed. Little did she know, Fossa had followed her, watching from the bushes. He blended in with the tropical greenery, looking perfectly like the environment. Except for the part where his snout was tore off. Amethyst flew to a tree not far above, examining the claw marks. Fossa got closer, and pounced, missing and bumping his horns into a nearby palm tree.

"OOOW!!" Fossa yelled.

Amethyst jumped, looking down, "seriously? What does it take not to be followed??? And what are you doing here," she asked, gliding down to the ground.

"Sorry. Hehe," Fossa turned a light pink in embarrassment, and Amethyst rolled her eyes.

"Are you coming back to the rainforest to live here again or not."

"I dunno. Can I give you something? I don't know why," Fossa asked her.

"Depends on the thing, and how long it will take," she decided.

"Quick," he reassured her.

"Fine," she told him. He pulled a few darts from his pouch.

"You are an assassin, yes? I used to throw darts. I don't do it much. Hehe. Just take as many as you want. Also take this," he gave the NightWing a stone dagger with a handle woven out of fabric and leaves, "and don't eat the long purple and blue berries, ok? They make you sleepy and see things! Which reminds me.... hey, is that a big toucan?" He yawned, "Oooh, yeah that's a big toucan.... and a big pink rainbow dragonfly.... that just ate the toucan... Wh-" then, just like a flash, he fell asleep on his back.

"Are you okay? Is that a RainWing thing?" Amethyst asked, taking the darts and the daggers, but Fossa was fast asleep. Amethyst dragged him to the side of a tree trunk, and left him there, flying deeper into the rainforest. She soon found a sloth hanging from a tree branch that was filled with the purple and blue berries, and decided to try to get the sloth anyways, not remembering the last time she'd eaten. The sloth noticed her, and went into the hole of the palm tree

"Come here, sloth," Amethyst cooed at it, trying to coax it out, but the sloth was pretty smart, so it stayed in the hole. Amethyst frowned, her stomach yelling at her. She picked off a purple berry from the tree, and held it out to the sloth.

"Yum," she told it, hoping the sloth would understand. It did comprehend what she was indicating, so it reached a long arm, taking the berry, and eating it from the hole.Amethyst watched the sloth. Sloths were already sleepy creatures, and so was Fossa, so she wasn't sure if Fossa was totally telling the truth about the berries.

"Alright berries," she told herself, "let's see how you taste," she took one that was hanging next to her, and bit into it, but she never got past the first bite. Amethyst felt the warmth of the rainforest sun on her eyes, like a calling. She closed them, feeling like she was dropping into a ball of warmth as she fell back, back into sleep as she landed on her back on the branch. The sloth slowly crawled to the right side of the branch it was on, snacking on leaves. Minutes later, Amethyst woke to the remnants of leaves and berries being dropped on her face. The sloth was still there, right in front of her, but still walking around on the branch, ready to get onto another branch. Amethyst spit out the berry.

"Oh no you don't! If I'm going to have something to eat, it's going to be decent, and NOT berries," Amethyst reached for the sloth again.

"Rrrrpled?" The sloth asked sleepily.

"No! Come!" Amethyst tried to say it gently, attempting to smile at it, but the sloth still tried to get away as fast as it could. She leaped, grabbing the sloth.