“Keep running! We need to get out of here as soon as possible!” exclaimed Lumina as Emmy ran next to her.
“Where’s Rain and Luna?” Emmy panted, trying to keep herself from slipping on the cold tile floor.
“I’m not sure, last time I saw them they were with the pride in the hallway.” replied Lumina. They continued to run in the seemingly endless corridors until they stopped to hear a loud crash in the distance; both lionesses froze.
“What was that?” Emmy asked, her body shaking with fear as she looked around to see if the Professor was coming.
“That must be them…” Lumina whispered to herself.
“Who?” Emmy questioned. Lumina didn’t answer her; she took off running again.
“Hey! Wait up!” Emmy shouted and ran after her.
I’ve got to get everyone out now… I have a feeling something’s going wrong! thought Lumina as she sped towards the sound of crashing equipment. Emmy caught Lumina’s thought.
“Whatever happens, we’ll get through this; we all will.” Emmy said to Lumina confidently. They turned around a corner and the crashing sounds became louder. Through an open door up ahead, they spotted the other felines creating chaos. It looked like a war on who was the superior species. Lions attacked the labcoats in every way they could; they sank their teeth into the humans’ limbs and swiped at human faces with their claws. Meanwhile, the labcoats shot tranquilizer darts in every direction at the lions. One human had managed to corner a lioness at the far end of the room.
“You blasted flea-ridden cats should know where your places are by now!” the human growled and took out a pistol from inside his lab coat. “Say good-bye!” he chuckled menacingly.
Suddenly, a flash of purple light zapped from nowhere and hit the labcoat; electricity surged throughout his body. He cried out in agony as the pain fired every nerve in his body. He dropped to the ground like a rock, twitching in pain. The lioness gasped in shock, and then saw Luna dusting her paws off in satisfaction.
“I figured you could use a paw,” she stated, smiling mischievously
“Umm… thanks,” the wild lioness said, relaxing her body now that she was out of danger… for the moment. Luna nodded in reply and sped off, taking out any other labcoats that were winning against the lion.
Lumina spotted Rain flying over the labcoats’ head and dropping things on them.
“Rain! Get everyone out! NOW!” Lumina roared. Rain nodded and flew to Lumina’s side.
“You found Emmy!” Rain said happily as she landed, more gracefully than before.
“Y-You can fly?” Emmy asked jealously.
“Yeah, I took some time to learn and get the hang of it,” Rain replied.
“C’mon, we don’t have time to chat, we need everyone out now!” Lumina commanded.
“I’ll get right on it,” replied Rain, with more than a hint of sarcasm and then she was airborne again, dodging the tranquilizer darts. She began to fly in a circle, dipping one wing so that she spiraled.
Umbar was the first to notice. “There’s the signal! Let’s go!” he roared.
Immediately, all of the lions turned around and fought towards the door. Umbar was the first to make it out of the room, and ran down the hall. But he slid to a stop when he saw smoke coming out of a doorway to his right. A fire had started in the room where he had first knocked over containers and computer equipment. He saw a frayed cord lying in a pool of water, and the fire that surrounded it. Its flames were already licking at the walls of the room, and it grew with every second. He wheeled around and saw that most of the lionesses were already out of the main room. “Quick, run to the front door! Get away from this corridor!” he told the pride. The lionesses obeyed him quickly, and ran past him. When most of the lionesses were gone from his sight, Umbar looked anxiously at the fire in the lab, shut the door and ran after the pride.
Rain flew to the door as the remaining lionesses ran out of the main room, and attacked any labcoat who tried to follow. She stretched out her wings and barred the door. The labcoats crowded around her, and one or two managed to fight past. But Rain kept the rest of them in. Smoke began to spread through the hallways.
Lumina waited for the last lioness to leave the room, then turned to Emmy.
“You go with them; they need someone to open the door.”
“But I don’t know how,” Emmy objected.
“Yes you do! You’ve seen me do it before – just slide the card through the slot and it will open.” Lumina looked around, and saw a labcoat lying on the floor unconscious. An I.D. card was clipped to his coat. Lumina ripped it off and passed it to Emmy. “Take this. Rain and I will catch up.
“But I want to stay with you and Rain!”
“No, you have to get out of here. I don’t want the Professor to catch you again! I can’t let that happen again or anyone…” Lumina growled. In the doorway a few feet behind them, Rain screeched as she flung the last human off of her. He landed unconscious and across the room. Luna ran up to Lumina and Emmy; she was covered in scratches and bruises from the labcoats.
“Are we all set?” the tigress panted, looking around to see if any labcoats were regaining consciousness.
“Yeah, we’re ready,” Lumina replied. Luna nodded and ran after the pride. Lumina watched her leave, and then checked to see if Emmy had the I.D. card. “Take it and go!” Lumina begged her friend. Emmy hesitated; then they heard a distant roar. It was Mansa.
“Come one! We have to leave NOW!” he bellowed, tossing aside a labcoat like a towel. Emmy nodded to Lumina, and stood to her paws. Lumina gave a small smile.
“There’s a fire!” Luna yowled in the distance. Everyone gasped. They had barely any time to escape now.
“RUN! RUN WHILE YOU STILL CAN!!” commanded Lumina, and shoved Emmy through the door and towards the pride. Emmy races after the sound of the pride paranoid, and panic filled her. Up ahead she noticed an orange glow appearing like a wall across the hallway – it was separating her from the pride! She gasped and told her legs to run faster. As the fire grew taller, Emmy leaped over it and felt the flames lick at her tail turf and belly. Embers burned into her burned as she landed on the other side, sliding across the tile. She breathed a sigh of relief as she ran to the pride; but what about Rain and Lumina? They were trapped inside the room that would soon go up in flames! Emmy wanted to turn around and help, but she knew there was nothing she could do. Tears and smoke stung her eyes as she continued to run towards the door and the pride.
“Where do we go? How can we escape?” panicked Rain as she landed next to Lumina. But the blue lioness didn’t answer her; she was staring at the approaching fire. She had never seen fire before and was spellbound. Rain noticed her unusual behavior.     
        “Lumi? Are you ok?” Rain asked.
Lumina again didn’t reply. She started walking towards the dancing flames, not taking her eyes off its yellow and reds colors that warned her of its danger.
        What is that light? I’ve never seen anything like it before… it’s so bright and warm… Lumina thought. She felt a prickling in the star marking on her forehead. She didn’t realize that her curiosity would lead her to a fiery death. Rain’s eyes widened as she watched.
        “Lumi, come back here you stupid cat!!” Rain said, with her usual tact. But it was no use; the fire’s music drowned out all of the surrounding sounds. In desperation, Rain lunged forward and bit down on Lumina’s tail. A sharp pain woke Lumina up from her trance. She yowled in pain and whipped around to see Rain releasing her tail from her jaws.
        “Ow! What the hell was that for?” Lumina growled.
        “It was the only thing I could do!” Rain shouted over the roar of the fire.
        “What are you talking about?” Lumina asked, puzzled.
        “Never mind, we have to escape!” Rain yelled. She led Lumina to the far side of the room, away from the fire.
        “How are we going to get out of here?” Rain asked.
        “I’m trying… but I can’t think of a single idea…” Lumina groaned. “The ground is too hard to dig through, there aren’t any other doors except the one the fire’s blocking, and there are only windows up in the ceiling!”
        “That’s it! We’ll escape through there!”
        “Just one problem, I can’t fly and you can’t carry me.”
Rain looked up and realized that Lumina was right. It was much too high for her to reach. She tried to think of a way to help her, and with her quick brain, she managed to think of a decent plan.
        She ran over to a desk and began pushing it over to some bookshelves. But she was exhausted after all of the flying she had done tonight. Lumina saw what she was doing, and ran over to help.
        “I’ll climb?” Lumina asked
Rain nodded and they quickly pushed the desk over to the bookshelves. By the time they’ve finished, the fire was within thirty feet of them
        “C’mon, go while you still can!” Rain urged. Lumina took a few steps up the desk, and onto the first bookshelf.
        “Are you sure it’s supportive enough for me?” Lumina asked, her whole body was trembling in fear. The heat of the fire was making their pelts burn like human skin without sunscreen.
        “Yes I’m sure, no hurry up! I’m going to find a way to open the window.” said Rain as she flew up to the windows with the last of her strength. She saw that there was a simple lock on the window, and she easily opened it. She breathed the fresh air deeply. Climbing through the window and turning around, she glanced down to see how her flightless friend was doing.
        Lumina was slowly climbing up on the propped furniture, being ever so cautious; for she wasn’t fond of heights.
        “Did you open the window yet?” Lumina called, not looking up or down, but concentrating on her paws.
        “Yeah, but if you never make it up here a load of good that’ll do!” Rain spat.
        “Don’t’ rush me!” Lumina hissed, lifting another paw slowly. “I’m not like yo, I’m afraid of heights!”
        Rain stuck her head back inside the burning building to see how close Lumina was to the top. And then she caught a glimpse of white through the thick smoke. It was the Professor and he was running towards Lumina!
        “Lumi! Get up here, the Professor is behind you!” Rain panicked. Lumina looked down and saw the Professor at the bottom of the bookshelves. He wasted no time in climbing after her. Lumina panicked as she tried to gather the courage to climb the furniture faster. But something was holding her back. She dared to look down and to her terror, saw the Professor grabbing on to her left hind leg.
        “Where are you going?” he snarled, sounding more sober. Lumina tried to shake him off but it was no use. He had too firm a grip on her. She could have easily attacked him, but she was afraid of falling!
        “You’re staying with me, my pet. If I’m going to die, you’re going to die with me!” he yelled insanely, trying to pull her down. Lumina dug her black claws into the bookshelf, holding onto her dear life.
        “Rain! Help me!” Lumina cried out desperately. Rain lunged for the Professor from the window, looking like a falcon with her claws unsheathed and wings curled in close. The Professor was completely unaware of her attack and shrieked in terror as Rain came down on the Professor like a storm. She clawed him all down his back and bit into the arm that held Lumina. The Professor bellowed out in pain and released his hold on the lioness.
        “Run now Lumi! I’ll hold him off!” Rain yelled out as the Professor dragged her down by her wings. Lumina scrambled onto her paws and immediately ran up the window, completely forgetting her fear of heights.
        When she finally got onto the flat roof, she looked don through the smoke and saw Rain still fighting the Professor. He was surprisingly strong as he threw punches at Rain’s face. Lumina wanted to help and was about to step back inside, but Rain snarled at her.
“No! I’ll deal with him! Just get out of here!!” growled Rain, trying to get the Professor to let go of her wing. The fire finally reached the stacked furniture, and started turning it into ashes beneath the Professor’s feet. A desk collapsed, and the Professor nearly fell off; he managed to save himself by grabbing onto Rain’s hind legs. Rain yelped as the Professor finally fell and pulled her down into the fire below.
Lumina could hardly breathe, from anxiety or the smoke, she couldn’t tell. Rain frantically reached out for something to break her fall and grabbed onto a pipe that jutted from the wall. Now she was the one who was hanging on for her head life!
“Rain!” Lumina cried out in depair.
“Just go, how many times do I have to tell you?” Rain snarled, her eyes wild and bright from the fire. She could feel her grip loosening on the pipe as the Professor’s weight pulled her down. Just when Lumina was about to turn around to fins a way off the roof, Rain’s paws no longer had the will to hold on. Both the Professor and Rain plummeted to the fiery depths below.
Lumina couldn’t bear to watch Rain die, and ran away from the scene with tears streaming down her face. The lioness ran along the edge of the roof, trying to fins a stairway down. But she found none. Lumina cried for Rain and tried no to think – what would she tell Emmy, Luna, and the pride? She wiped the tears away from her cheeks. Be strong… she told herself, as she leaned over the side of the building.
How am I suppose to get down there? she wondered. There was a sudden clash behind her, and Lumina whipped around to see a wall of smoke pouring from the open window. Flames and towers of fire spilled from inside the smoke. She had to leave now before the whole lab crumbled to pieces!
C’mon… think of something…
She felt a terrible rumbling in the concrete beneath her paws. Lumina had no choice now. She placed her front paws on the very edge of the building, and looked down. A cold shiver went down her spine. I must be insane… Lumina thought wearily as she gathered her paws, took a deep breath, closed her eyes…

And jumped.

Lumina screamed as gravity pulled her down to the Earth. She instinctively twisted in midair so she would land on her paws. And then she collided with the savannah ground with a thump and pop! For a few moments, Lumina laid there, too stunned to move. She groaned and slowly strained to lift her head, looking around semi-consciously.
        Damn… what a drop… what was I thinking? Lumina thought as she tried to move her aching limbs and then gasped with pain. Fire spread through every nerve in her body from pain and lay perfectly still, still too dizzy to think. Her right hind leg felt like it would explode from pain. But as much as she hurt, she knew that she had to move away from the burning building as quick as possible. With her remaining strength, Lumina dragged herself through the yellow grass until she reached the fence that went around the lab’s enclosure. “AAAH! God, that hurts!” she muttered. As she reached the hole where the pride had first broken in through, she strength left and collapsed. There she lay on the cool earth feeling her mind slowly shutting down. She felt her consciousness slipping away again and whimpered for Rain.
If I die from this pain, at least now Rain won’t have to be alone up there… she thought as she closed her eyes with a faint smile on her face.

                                                       ***

“How’s she doing?” said a hushed voice.
“I’m not sure… she hasn’t woken up since we found her at low-moon.” another voice replied quietly.
Uhhh… what’s going on? I’m hearing voices… have I arrived in the Starry Kingdom? thought Lumina. She started groaning softly.
“Hey look! She’s waking! She’s actually waking up!” Umbar’s voice cried out happily.
“You’re right! She’s going to be okay!” Emmy added joyfully.
Was that Emmy’s voice I just heard? And Umbar’s? Have they also moved onto the next world? Lumina thought, very confused. She slowly opened her eyes and saw a ring of faces all staring down at her with worried eyes.
“W-what’s going on…?” murmured Lumina, sounding as if she had woken up from a dream. She squinted her eyes at the morning sun that was shinning down, warming her fur and the land.
“Hey, come one guys. Move away will ya? We have to give her some breathing space!” Luna said, shoving the other felines away roughly.
“Am I… in the Starry Kingdom?” Lumina asked slowly, still not comprehending that she was still alive.
“Starry Kingdom? What are you talking about? We’re outside the lab’s enclosure.” answered Umbar.
“Lab? Enclosure?” Lumina muttered, her memories slowly filtering back into her brain. She quickly sat up and cried out in pain in her leg.
“Be careful Lumi! Your leg isn’t completely healed and if you keep squirming around like a worm you’re going to ruin the treatment.” lectured Luna. “Just one more spell and then it should be set! Your leg might be stiff though…” Luna chattered on. She held her paws over Lumina’s injured leg, and closed her eyes. White plasma light flowed from her paws and was absorbed by Lumina’s leg. The pain disappeared completely and all Lumina felt was a deep ache, the way it felt when she slept wrong on her paw.
“Treatment?” Lumina echoed dumbly, flexing her leg.
“It’s true! Rain recovered from her burn injuries quite nicely with Luna’s treatment.” Emmy said, stepping into the conversation.
“Rain!! Where is she?” Lumina cried out, looking around frantically.
“Over there,” said Mansa, pointing with his broad muzzle. Lumina looked in that direction and spotted a lump of grey fur that turned out to be Rain. She was neatly curled up and was sleeping peacefully with one of her wings outstretched in the sunlight.
“I thought she died with the Professor in the fire!” Lumina choked, fighting tears.
“Nope, we were going to go back inside the lab to find you two, but then we saw Rain flying from the roof. She got her wing badly twisted and most of her flight feathers burnt off… I’m surprised that she managed to fly long enough to escape.” explained Emmy,  looking in Rain’s direction. Lumina realized that Rain’s wing was outstretched because of the dark bruised circles all over her wing and great sear marks where her feathers ought to be. Her once beautiful black-tipped feathers were now missing or uneven. Lumina felt pity for her, but she was also happy that Rain was alive
“She was going to tell us what happened, but she was too tired,” Umbar said.
“Let me ask you something…” Luna purred, “How did you get your leg all crippled like that? It took me a while to figure out how to fix you!” she teased Lumina. The blue lioness blushed with embarrassment.
“Well actually, I climbed some bookshelves while Rain opened a window. when I was halfway up, the Professor grabbed me by my foot. Rain attacked him and pulled her down into the fire with him instead of me…” she became quiet for a moment. “I thought she died last night; I managed to escape by jumping off the roof. Damaged my leg and had to drag myself to the edge of the enclosure. I thought I was gonna die…”
Everyone was silent, and then Emmy stepped forward and rubbed her muzzle across Lumina’s starred forehead.
“This crescent and star marking must be good luck for everyone,” Emmy teased. Lumina smiled.
“What happened to the lab?” Lumina asked curiously.
“Take a look,” Emmy pointed. Lumina turned around and a small gasp escaped her mouth as she looked on. The ugly white building that had been her birthplace was no longer standing. Charred trash was scattered everywhere, and she could barely see what was left of the walls.
“Let’s all hope that this will finally end our problems…” said a voice. The all turned around to see Rain slowly walk over to them. She had trouble balancing because if her wing.
“Rain! You’re finally awake!” Luna mewed happily.
“How’s your wing?” Emmy asked.
“Eh, better than last night I’ll tell you that much,” mumbled Rain. Lumina looked at the winged hybrid and smiled.
“I’m happy to know that you’re alive,” she purred softly
“Me too. I guess we both got lucky that time.” Rain chuckled, a small smile appearing on her tired face. There was a moment of silence before Mansa called out to his pride.
“We should get going now…” he growled, standing up and making his way into the deep area of the savannah plains. All the lionesses got up too and followed him. Lumina, Rain, and Emmy stayed where they were and stared at the remains of their old home one last time.
“Hey! C’mon, let’s go already! I’m hungry and those steaks on legs don’t stand still!” Luna called out to them. The trio laughed and turned to catch up with their pride.



They were truly free.