Comet woke to find rabbits anxiously staring at him. It took him a moment to work out where he was and why he was here.

”Where’s Master Coney?” He asked, jumping up frantically.

”Settle down, he’s dead.” Said Ruby.

”We have the Master-Medallion. You will need this.” Said Orion.

”You are you feeling?” Asked Comet.

”A bit better, but power is still weak. I don’t know if it will ever return to what it used to be.” He said sadly. “Anyway, enough about me. With the Master-Medallion, you should be able to drive away the invaders.”

“They’re still here?” He asked. He’d been hoping that since gold and copper colony rabbits can use precious resources now, it would give them an advantage over the rebels.

“Yes, the colony is close to being overwhelmed by them.” Said Ruby.

”Then I’ll go and help, do you know where Arrow and Blue are?” Asked Comet.

“You’ve only just woken up, so take it easy but last I heard, they were looking to get more precious resources to use.” Said Ruby.

”Then I have a pretty good idea where they might be.” Said Comet.

He said goodbye to the rabbits and to Orion, who wished him luck.

Taking a deep breath, he plunged back into the water. It was sunrise now which made seeing where he was going easier at least.

Once he got to the other side, he shook himself off. He travelled cautiously at first, expecting to run into a wild rabbit or rebel but found that at the heart of the colony, it was oddly quiet. He could hear that was busy with activity.

Hopefully, Blue or Arrow would be in the cave. As he approached the mouth of it, he saw two rabbits, obscured by the shadows.

They instinctively charged at him but stopped short once they realised who it was.

”Comet, you’re alive.” Said Arrow with relief then looked guilty. “I hope you don’t mind us taking these resources.” They both were carrying satchels, heavy with precious items from the cave.

”Oh wow, is that the Master-Medallion!” Asked Blue, circling him excitedly.

”Yes, and I’m sure Orion won’t mind, you need everything you can get it seems. But I don’t understand, how are we losing?”

“You’re right, really, we should have the advantage. We have the numbers and magic, but the rebels have managed to get wild rabbits to fight for them. They don't fight like us, they fight without any regards to their own survival. Worst of all, many of them have the infection. Our rabbits aren’t willing to fight them.”

“And rightly so, there’s no point saving the valley from them if we all die from the infection anyway.” Said Blue.

“Hmm… so we’re facing an enemy who fights with reckless abandon, who probably knows they are going to die from infection anyway and we can’t touch them.” Said Comet.

”Yes, pretty much.” Said Blue.

”I thought you were going to try and give us some inspiration, I guess not.” Said Arrow, unimpressed by Comet’s summary.

“I’m not trying to be inspirational, I’m trying to come up with a plan.” Said Comet, deep in thought. “Blue, do you remember the thicket we saw all that time ago when you brought me here?”

”Yes, of course I do.” Said Blue. “It’s still full of rebels and wild rabbits if that’s what you want to know.”

”Then we have to destroy it, with their base gone, they won’t have a place to run back and retreat to.”

”That’s a great idea but it’s impossible to get close to it and even if we did, we wouldn’t be able to defeat them, our fighters are losing the strength to keep going as it is.” Said.

If you spot this tale on Amazon, know that it has been stolen. Report the violation.

”Then we don’t have any time to lose. You will give your most capable fighters the resources they need, then we will go in a wide arch around the ticket, to approach it from behind. They are likely focused on protecting the front, is that right?”

”Yes, that is right and I see how that could work but I still don’t know, as long as the thicket and tree line still exist, there will always be places for them to hide and grow in numbers to come back again.” Said Arrow.

”I think you forgot he has the Master-Medallion, he could probably defeat them all on his own.” Said Blue.

”Let’s just keep our expectations a little more reasonable…” Said Comet. “Arrow is right, there is no guarantee that they won’t come back, which is why we have to burn the thicket so that no rabbit can return to it.”

Arrow and Blue looked at each other. Comet felt strangely insecure, he knew the plan was risky, but unless they had a better one, there wasn’t time to plan anything else.

“That sounds pretty extreme, don’t you think? It’s been so dry, the whole valley could go up in flames.” Said Blue.

”The river and lake will help protect the valley.” Began Arrow, thinking the idea over, “Rabbits will be safe if they go deep underground in the warrens. It’s risky, but if our enemies are going to be reckless, then we have to be too.”

“The rabbits here could keep going to the fortress through the tunnel in the treasury, that’s where we’ve been telling them to go.” Said Blue.

”I accidentally destroyed the tunnel, when I was fighting Master Coney… so you might want to tell them to go somewhere else.” Said Comet. Hopefully the rabbits down there were alright.

”Great, we’ll have to let SilverSkull know about the change of plans first.” Said Arrow.

”SilverSkull?” Asked Comet. “You trust him?”

”The Magia all fled but he stayed and fought, the rabbits still look to him as they’re leader too, that’s enough to make me trust him.” Said Arrow.

They headed towards the warren. They could see most of the fighting was on the north most side of the warren. Even though it was easy to slip in through a southern entry point, they knew there was fighting inside and it wasn’t long before they heard it.

Comet led the way, using the Master-Medallions power to protect them from the rebels and wild rabbits. It was surprisingly easy, the medallion had some much energy of its own, he hardly had to use his. What was difficult was working out how many intruders were down here but as they continued, their numbers decreased, living ones anyway, he tried not to think about the fact they were hopping over their dead bodies.

They didn’t run into any valley rabbits though which was somewhat concerning. There was no one at the entrance of the treasury, the huge stone still sealed it.

“Let us in! It’s Arrow. Blue and Comet.” Said Arrow in a loud voice. Comet flinched, expecting some rabbits to rush down and attack them.

A moment later, the stone rolled back ajar, a couple of rabbits peered through to confirm who they were.

”You said we could get through a tunnel to the fortress. We found a tunnel that was completely caved in.” Said SilverSkull.

”I know, I’m sorry about that. But the heart of the colony is largely free of any intruders. If you go to the surface, you will be able to swim to the fortress.” Said Comet.

”That won’t be possible for most of us, the reason we’re stuck here and not on the island already or fighting is because we’re injured.” He said grumpily.

Comets ears dropped with shame. Of course. He should have thought of that.

“Maybe they don’t have to move.” Suggested Arrow. “You’ve already get rid of the intruders that could have attacked them and Ruby has given them food, supplies and herbs so that they can support themselves.”

”We will destroy the rebels and wild rabbits once and for all very soon, just stay in there and keep the entrance sealed.”

“You don’t have to tell us that.” Said SilverSkull. “But I wish you luck, I see now the Magia never cared about us, they ran off to their secret passageways as soon as things got hard and left me to deal with it. I wish I could do more to help.” His tone was much warmer now.

“If you can keep the rabbits in here until we tell its safe, then you’re doing the best you can to protect the colony.” Said “Comet.

”What exactly are you planning to do?”

“You’ll find out, there’s no time to explain it now.” Said Comet, which wasn’t a lie but he also didn’t want to have to justify his plan to more rabbits than he had to.

They quickly left the warren and decided it was best to leave the rabbits that were defending the warren where they were. They didn’t want to bring them with them and leave the warren at risk.

They managed to slip into Porcelain Colony. It was clear that there had been a great deal of fighting there. They couldn’t see any survivors from either side. They head towards the large log.

“They can’t all be gone.” Whispered Blue.

Arrow nodded.

They were about to enter the log when a group of Porcelain Colony rabbits emerged. They were startled but quickly recognised who they were.

”There’s no one left down there, if that’s what you’re trying to do. The colony fell quickly since we haven’t had much freedom since the Magia took back control. Once the Magia left, it quickly turned into chaos.” Said the rabbit.

”So, everyone is dead?” Demanded Blue.

”No, most of them escaped to Iron Colony or travelled over the bridge to Copper Colony. We just came back here to find any rabbit that was left behind.” He said, nodding to the rabbits behind him. There were six of them.

“We have a plan to destroy the rebels base, but we need some help. Would you like to join us?” Asked Arrow.

They looked at each other. “I would be happy too.” He said. The other rabbits voiced their agreement except for one.

”I want to help, but I sprained my paw and I want to see if my family is alive.” Said a rabbit, she looked at them desperately.

”Of course you can go, but please, deliver the colony a message to go underground, to the deepest part of the warren. You’ll soon find out why.”

The rabbit seemed to be confused by the cryptic message but nodded and hopped awkwardly towards Iron Colony, as struggled to put weight on her front right paw.

Hopefully she’d get to Iron Colony without being attacked and more importantly, before they started the fire.