The Escape

Plot
Mist, a wolf in Greely's army, is sent on a mission to rescue Graham's crew and Krem, another soldier, from the phantom tower. But the mission takes a deadly turn when the tower goes under lockdown. Can the wolves escape and figure out the real truth behind the mission?

== The Escape == Mist turned his nose up to the sky. The sun shone brightly, and his dark blue eyes squinted at it. He could hardly see the sun at Greely's campgrounds, the air was usually so foggy.

Small green plants poked up through the snow. The trees were bare, but the area was welcoming. It showed signs of earlier life. Mist could imagine that the bushes were more then unstable branches, and in the spring gardens grew.

The dark gray wolf continued padding onwards. Cosmo had asked to see him. Mist was only a slightly-trained soldier in Greely's forces, and he wondered what the koala alpha would need from him.

"Message for you, Soldier Mist," the messanger had barked yesterday after he had gotten up. "Greely has requested that you meet with Cosmo tommorow at this time."

"Is there any information included with this request?" he had asked tiredly.

"No. Greely has not included any specific details. Cosmo will fill you in when you arrive."

It was not a good morning. He had been on watch since midnight and woken up at an early hour. I hope this is a simple mission, he thought as he approached a large treehouse.

It was not a simple mission.

"A while ago, Graham(who was the monkey alpha) had a workshop near the volcano."

Mist listened with open ears as Cosmo explained.

"However, the workshop was taken over by phantoms. The crew there was taken prisoners and locked in the basement of the old workshop, which is now a phantom tower. We sent a wolf, very much like you, to infilitrate the tower and rescue the crew. He has not returned."

"Krem," Mist breathed. He had talked to the cream-furred wolf many times, as Krem was very enthusiastic and always someone who you wanted to be around. They weren't exactly friends, but they were put on the same forces together. Mist was only a bit more experienced then Krem.

"Yes, Krem," Cosmo echoed. "Greely has planned for me to take you to the door of the castle. I have the map here from Graham."

Cosmo put the map on the table. Simple drawings planned out what Mist was supposed to do.

He did not like the drawings.

It showed him dancing in front of the door, the phantoms carrying him away, and locked in a dungeon.

"Cossssmmoo..?" He said uncertainly.

"The plan is to get captured by phantoms, free Krem and Graham's crew, and go out through a side door. Any questions?"

"I don't think so," he said slowly.

"Alright then, Soldier Mist." Cosmo nodded. "Here are the weapons Greely wants you to use."

The weapons were a sharply fashioned bow and arrow, colored deep blue and gray like Mist's fur, and a sack of boomseeds. Mist poked a boomseed onto a bow and pulled it back with his teeth against the bow in his paws. It shot across the room.

"Thank you." Mist put the bow back over his shoulder and fastened the sheath and sack on his back, wrapped around his stomach. Mist was used to using a bow and arrow, even though he perfered fighting with his paws or teeth. Against phantoms though, that would be impossible.

"Your welcome. You should find a few boomseed gardens inside the tower, so you can restock."

"Won't the phantoms take away my weapons?"

"I doubt it. They aren't very bright."

Mist approached the tower. It was tall and threating, the volcano looming over the tower. Mist crouched in a bush, which was ruined by phantom goop, and looked at the carefully guarded door.

"Time to go in," Mist muttered. He got up but fell to the ground again when the earth began to shake.

What was that? There was no way to tell. There was also no time. He had to infilitrate the tower on a scheduale, after all.

Mist got back up and looked around before padding to the door of the castle. The dark gray wolf stopped and then leaped up onto his hind legs, splattering phantom goop on his fur. As he jumped back down he started a dance, then chased his tail, then rolled in the muck.

It wasn't long for the phantoms to appear. They surrounded him, and Mist had to do everything to fight the insticts inside of him that wanted to shoot his boomseeds at the creatures. So he just closed his eyes. The flashes of the phantom alarm burned through his eyelids into his vision, so he just waited until he lost conciousness and fell into a deep sleep.

All of Mist's muscles were sore. The air was foul, heavy with the smell of rotting vegetation and phantom goop, and the ground underneath him was hard. The first thing he heard was the metallic hum of some type of phantom device, slow and distant.

The slate-gray wolf opened his eyes, and Mist found that he was in a large phantom cell. Barred metal doors were on one side, and a wall on the other. His bow and arrow clanked against the ground as he forced himself up.

He explored the prison cell, looking for anything that could signal an escape. It was quite easy, actually. The phantoms really aren't smart, Mist thought as he pulled out his bow and an arrow. He fired the arrow at a switch that was out of jumping reach, but quite easy to hit. The barred door started to rise. Mist collected the arrow and padded out of the prison.

A shadow-filled hallway waited for him. The buzz of the phantom machine grew louder, and more cells came to view as Mist got to the end of the hallway.

The phantom machine was a blazing eye. It let out a flash of purple light that circled around the hallway; Mist immediately saw that it was an electric flash. If someone was to touch it, it would immediately sound in an alarm and falling into sleep.

"Soldier!"

Mist looked in alarm at the direction the shrill cry had come from. A black and white-furred monkey(part of Graham's old crew, I suppose) was peeking out, his hands clasped on the bars.

"Don't worry," Mist said. "I'm going to get you out of here. Who are you? I'm Mist."

"I'm Monty," the monkey replied. His eyes flashed to the phantom eye, and he said quickly, "Watch out for.. that thing! There are more. The keys are around the corner."

"Thanks. And I will. Also.. have you seen another wolf here?" Mist asked.

"Yes. A light-colored one."

"What cell is he in?"

"The one in the far corridor, after you turn right."

"Alright. Don't worry, Monty, I'll be back in a second."

The monkey nodded, his face showing worry. Mist backed up and waited until the electric flash had passed, then leaped forward and passed it. The next hallway was filled with cells with rares and treasures. Mist suddenly saw another phantom eye up ahead and leaped back, then saw a switch on the wall. Pulling out his bow and an arrow, he quickly shot at the switch. It flipped down and as it did, the phantom eyes disappeared into their stands.

Mist padded by with caution and looked down the next adjoining hallway. This one held more cells. Mist jumped in and was quickly bombarded with questions.

"Who are you?"

"How did you escape?"

Mist tried to answer quickly, but he had to stay focused. One voice called out helpfully, "The keys are there. Behind the wall." Mist ran to the other side quickly, without thinking.

The monkey had just called out "WAIT!" When there was a flash of electricity. Phantom! Stunned, he quickly tried to pull out his bow, when the phantom attacked him again. His paws were trembling and he could hardly shoot the boomseed at the creature. But he did, and the phantom disappeared. Behind him was the wall with keys.

Mist grabbed a key in his teeth and ran to the cell with the monkey who warned him. The monkey was a dull brown color. He quickly turned the key in the lock and the door sprung open.

"Thank you," the monkey said.

"Thank you," Mist replied. "What's your name?"

"Virgil."

"Alright, Virgil. Go to the side door and wait there until I get everyone."

"Yes, Soldier."

Mist quickly got another key and ran down to the end of the hallway. The last part of the hallway was shadowed and all Mist could see was the bars of the last cell and two wide, golden eyes.

"Mist? Is that you?"

"Yes, it's me, Krem." He turned the key in the lock and Krem limped out. His eyes looked tired and his fur was dirty and singed slightly.

"You succeeded."

"We haven't escaped yet." Mist was worried. "What happened?"

"What do you mean?"

"You don't.." Krem wasn't okay. That's all he knew.

"I'm fine, I just tried to escape too many times," he said tiredly.

"Can you help me free the rest of the monkeys?"

"Yes.. I believe so."

"Good. The keys are on the wall. Just tell the monkeys to meet at the side door."

Krem nodded and took off for the wall. Mist followed. He quickly got another key, leaving only two left, and ran to free Monty.

"Thank you, brave soldier," Monty said, relieved.

Mist nodded, "No problem. It was just my mission. Follow me," and led Monty to the door. The rest of Graham's crew was there, and Krem quickly appeared with the last monkey, Philip.

"Let's go," Mist instructed. He opened the door and the monkeys streamed out. He nodded to Krem to go out, but suddenly there was an alarm. The door slammed back.

"MIST!" Krem yelled. The alarm blared in their ears, even louder then the one outside. Mist tried to open the door. It was locked.

"It's a lockdown," Mist yelled back.

Krem quickly leaped onto the the wall and ripped off a map. It was made so phantoms could understand it, with strange symbols, but Mist had learned the phantom language.

"There's only one way to escape," The cream-colored wolf said. "The balcony."

The balcony.

That meant going all the seven stairs up the tower.

Which was not planned.

Man, could this get any worse?

Mist could hear the phantoms approaching. "Come on, we have to go up the tower!" He collected some boomseeds from a planter, like Cosmo had said, and gave some to Krem. Krem gripped three in his jaws and perpared to spit them at phantoms, because he had no weapons.

The dark gray wolf leaped up the stairs. Krem quickly followed. The buzz of the phantoms was becoming louder and louder in their ears. Mist jumped onto the ground floor, gasping.

This was a storage room, filled with crates. Mist started to run to the door to the second floor when he heard a muffled scream. "MUST!"

Krem didn't close the door fast enough. The phantoms were surrounding him, and he was quickly spitting out boomseeds, but not fast enough.

"GET BACK!" He yelled, and came bounding over. "GET BACK!" Krem jumped back from the door and Mist threw himself into it. The door slammed back, leaving the phantoms on the other side.

"The door. I mean, the other one." The cream-furred wolf stumbled to the door to the second floor and tried pulling on the handle with his teeth. It wouldn't open.

"Mist! We need a key!" he said, seeing the keyhole.

"On it." Mist's ears were still struck by the phantom's noise, trying to break down the door. They had to be fast.

Mist started to push his nose through crates, trying to find the key. Krem joined in too. He finally saw it, under a plank of wood in the forth crate.

He sprinted to the door and pushed the key in. With a jank, it sprung open. The wolves ran to the second floor.

Mirror, mirror, on the wall. Mist was struck dizzy as soon as he walked in, even though he had been taught about these scenarios before. Where you had to reflect light to a door, making it open.

BAM! The wolves turned to the closed door.

"The phantoms got past the first one," Krem said worriedly. "They're following us."

Mist quickly thought of a plan. He pushed his sack of boomseeds and bow and arrow to Krem. "Jump up and lean over the door, and shoot these at the phantoms. I'll solve the puzzle."

Krem nodded and took the weapons. Mist bounded to the light source, which was a machine Graham built a long time ago(almost like a giant flashlight). He pushed it to shine on the first mirror, which relfected off it and onto another one. The third one had to be moved. While Mist was pushing, he heard Krem by the door, shooting at the phantoms.

"How's it going over there?" Mist grunted, pushing the mirror, then running to the last one.

"Good," Krem said shortly. Out of the corner of his blue eyes he saw that Krem was succeeding; the phantoms were fleeing.

Finally, the door opened. "Let's go, I got it open," Mist called. Krem jumped down and passed the weapons back to Mist. After securing them on himself, they ran onto the third floor. Only a few phantoms chased them now. We might actually make it.

One challenge after another followed them. The third room was under construction, and the only thing to cross through on was a few weak beams of wood. Mist was shaking, sweat dripping down his matted fur. I'm going to fall. I'm going to fall, was the only thing flashing through his head. But he didn't. He had to keep going, if he wanted to live. Mist knew the phantoms were in the second room by now, and if he fell through into the second one, he'd be trapped.

While restocking boomseeds in the forth level, a tank burst open. The wolves leaped back from the oozing purple goop, but it was spreading quickly.

"We can't swim through it," Krem yelped. "It's that electric goop.. it puts you to sleep immediately."

Mist immediately began to study the walls, floor, anything. Suddenly, something clanked on the wall beside him.

"A secret door. Well, that's a good piece of luck," Mist said. But he spoke too soon.

Phantoms were in this secret room. Krem immediately spit out a boomseed in the middle of the room, finishing off 3 phantoms. The rest started to attack Mist, but he got out his weapons fast.

"Into the room!" Krem shouted while Mist was shooting at them. He hadn't realized that the goop was spreading, soon becoming more deadly then the phantoms themselves. Mist ran into the room after Krem, and they soon lost the phantoms and headed up the fifth floor on the tower.

To talk about the fifth and sixth floors would be useless; they were simply harder versions of the troubles the wolves faced before. A maze of storage boxes that they had to search through before being found by the phantom eye machines, a more complicated mirror puzzle that Krem had to do because Mist's head was spinning. The seventh floor, the balcony, was the real challenge.

An army of phantom guards. Krem started spitting, but Mist was distracted. By a flash of blue-ish-gray fur and the sharp yellow eyes that he would never mistake, not anywhere.

"Greely!"

Krem stopped too, which happened to be the best thing. Mist had fallen asleep. The phantoms got to him.

"MIST! WAKE UP!"

Krem looked around, exasperated. His boomseeds were gone, and the phantoms were multiplying by the second. "This is it," he whispered. "It's over."

"You're mistaken, Krem."

Krem looked ahead of him. With a flash of shadowy blue light, the phantoms evaporated. In their place stood the most majestic, scary, and powerful wolf of all. Greely.

"Leader."

"What are you doing here?" he growled.

Krem nudged Mist. "He came today, you told him to. He rescued us but then the place went into lockdown and.."

"I told him to come yesterday." Greely said angrily. Krem shot a look at his sleeping friend. Was that true? Did Mist actually disobey Greely's orders? No, he wouldn't. Krem knew he wouldn't.

"And you, you failed." He turned his glance back to the leader, and their yellow eyes met, his frightened pair with Greely's angry pair.

"I know. I'm sorry. But.."

"NO EXCUSES!" Greely barked. Suddenly, a rumbling shook the ground, waking Mist. Krem looked past Greely and his heart was caught in his throat. The volcano was exploding.

Greely turned and saw this, then whipped back around to the young wolves. "Go. Go back to Cosmo and tell him you succeeded. And never, never tell anyone what happened here today. You succeeded, and Graham's crew will be returning. But I swear, leave now and speak of none of this expect what should have happened, which is this: you infiltrated the tower succesfully and escaped out the side door without getting caught, got it?"

Mist looked up drosily. He was tired and wanted to slip back into sleep, but Greely's words had caught his memory.

"How do we escape?" Krem was the one who answered. "We can't just.."

"There are parachutes on the balcony. Now go." Greely ordered. Mist stumbled onto his paws and looked at Krem. The other wolf nodded and they both bounded to the balcony, with the alpha's eyes still chasing them.

Krem let it go. He had seen weirder things happen in his days in Greely's army. It was just the way the powerful wolf was.

Mist, though, was a bit more suspicious. If Greely really wanted him to go the day before, had the messenger messed up? Why didn't Cosmo notify him as well?

He figured it was all a mistake. A weird, warped mistake. But there was that deeper thought, that maybe the other alphas like Graham and Cosmo, knew that Greely was up to something. That Cosmo told the messenger to alter the message. That Graham put the place under lockdown. All so the soldiers could unmask Greely.

And what was the only proof of this idea?

The volcano.