Cobalt grinned as he squeezed into the small cave. It was a tight fit for that many dogs, but it was shelter. He couldn't believe his luck. He hadn't been able to smell or hear any trace of the other dogs, and the tree limbs that came crashing down all around him had him wondering if taking shelter in the forest was really such a good idea. But he could practically sense Dinah's fear and worry and it led him straight to his kennel-mate's hiding place. Dinah jumped up at the sight of him and wagged her tail. She launched herself at her friend and began licking his face, whining with joy.<br /><br />"You made it! You're okay! You made it!" she kept repeating over and over. Then she caught sight of Frappe and the whine became almost a keen. She ran circles around the aussie, wagging her tail furiously and whining as though completely unable to come up with words. She spotted the blood on the other dog's head, probably from some small bit of debris, and she immediately licked it away.<br /><br />Cobalt had settled down at the back of the cave with Rolo and was watching the chaos outside with calm eyes. He addressed Kendra gravely. "The people were mostly gone by the time I found Frappe. There weren't many dogs still around either. I don't know if they ran for it or... but were there any other dogs from your kennel with you?"

Frappe smiled a bit as she followed Cobalt through the trees. For a moment, it seemed as if he was leading her off into some new and far away land where when the trees were gone, a lush paradise and large waterfall awaited them. The birds would chirp and sing, the waterfall would slowly cascade down a perfectly sloped hill, and the other smaller animals were up to being chased by the bigger dogs.<br /><br />Of course, this was only a fantasy and relaity soon came and hit Frappe on the head. Literally. A small twig from a tree had smacked Frappe in the head and snapped her back to the real life.<br /><br />Frappe shook her head and continued to run after Cobalt. All the while her mind ran-"would Dinah forgive her? Was Rolo okay? What does Cobalt think of me?" Frappe tried to clear her head of these thoughts, but once she saw Kendra, she panicked. This was it-this was the judgement.<br /><br />A single clap of thunder eruped above them as Frappe caught a glimpse of fear in Kendra's eyes. The storm was worse-far worse than they had thought. And now they were going to have to be confined together? Just great.

"Frappe!" Cobalt's tail was wagging so hard it even defied the wind. He dashed up to the other Aussie and nudged her shoulder with his head in friendly greeting before bounding away again, seeming to take no notice of their danger now that he had found her. He ducked a piece of flying debris and shouted back, "Dinah told me to find you! Come on, we're taking shelter in the trees!"<br /><br />Meanwhile, Dinah dashed into the cave, narrowly avoiding a falling tree limb, and huddled in the very back, curling up around Rolo and watching with wide eyes as everybody piled into the cave. No one seemed hurt, and Dinah breathed a sigh of relief even as she realized she was shaking. A loud peal of thunder made her jump, and she curled in on herself and bared her teeth a bit. The storm was only getting worse, and Cobalt was still out there.

Kendra wagged her tail slowly glad to see the puppy was okay. She then stepped closer to Dinah. "We should get the pup and everyone someplace safe. There is a rock cave that should fit us all not far from here." Kendra pointed into the woods. "Come on follow me." Kendra run straight for awhile and was almost out of sight before she stopped and turned. She shouted back to the other dogs, "It's left of this tree!" She pointed again with her paw and dashed to the edge of the cave. She grabbed up mouth fulls of grass and leaves an threw them into the cave so the puppy would have someplace warmer to dry off. She heard more thunder and dashed inside but stayed close enough to the edge that everyone would be able to spot her when they got close.

---

Frappe has to hide in a small ditch she had found to prevent hereself from toppling over or even worse, being blown away because of the wind. Debis flew above her head and she didn't think of much except escaping. The tree above her was creaking as the wind threatened to knock it down.<br /><br />"Shoot." Frappe scrambled onto her feet and ran away from the trees. She decided that heading into the open field would be better since there weren't that many threats around, and she couple clearly see if something was coming her way. <br /><br />"Frappe!" The aussie turned around when she heard her name being called. It was faint, very faint, but she knew the voice all too well. <br /><br />"Cobalt...?" Frappe turned in the direction of his voice and bolted. The wind screamed in her face and it seemed as if every piece of fur on her body was being pulled out, one by one. "Cobalt!" Frappe called before managing to find the other aussie.

"Honey, I prefer you stay near the shore until your swimming skills are a bit better," Dinah sighed. "Cobalt, will you go get the coward and--" a sudden gust of wind nearly knocked her off her feet, and there were shouts from the trial grounds as some of the equipment toppled over. "Uh, actually, you'd better bring her into the woods for some shelter. It's getting bad."<br />Picking up her puppy by the scruff of the neck, she trotted past Dusk and joined Kendra and Sheena at the treeline. She looked around worriedly and tried to remember where she had last seen the other pup, Hecubus. She hoped he had found his master and wasn't out in this windstorm.<br /><br />Cobalt watched her go and then turned to his brother, tail wagging despite the worrying thunder that was getting louder by the moment. "Could you go with them? I'll catch up." Then he bolted away after Frappe, hoping she wasn't hiding anywhere... or worse yet, out on the open grounds where the debris was blowing around, knocking over humans and dogs and denting cars. He didn't see his master and he couldn't remember where he had last seen the other dog who had accompanied them to the trials. He ducked a flying hat and whined, searching for Frappe but unable to track her by scent because of the vicious wind. "Frappe!" he finally called, howling to be heard over the weather.

Frappe took a step back from Dinah and flattened her ears and tucked her tail between her legs. "Well...you see, I was just playing around, hehe, umm yea, see ya!" Frappe turned tail and ran in the oppostie direction leaping over any obstacle in her way. Since she was faster than Dinah, she didn't have to worry about having her catch up. But, by the time she reached the trials, she began to realize her mistake.<br /><br />"If I leave, Dinah will hate me and I won't be able to go back. And things will be awkward between me and Rolo and Chip will hate me. So I guess I should go back and-" Frappe was suddenly cut off by a rumble of thunder. The clouds in the sky had begun to take a more billowy appearance and it seemed as if mother nature was also reprimanding Frappe.<br /><br />Meanwhile, back at the lake, Rolo managed to stand up and licked her mother's face. "mommy, even if that was a bit dangerous, that was A LOT of fun!" Her whole backside began to shake as her tail wagged. "I wanna do it again!"

Dinah's lip twitched, baring just a flash of fang.<br /><br />"Cobalt?" she asked quietly. The silver dog froze, ears tucked flat to his skull. "What really happened?"<br /><br />"Uh... well, Frappe was playing and--"<br /><br />"Frappe was playing." Dinah's voice had taken on a low growl.<br /><br />"Er, well, THEY were playing and Rolo just sort of... went under."<br /><br />"You are responsible for the near drowning of my pup?" Dinah asked Frappe, standing protectively over her whimpering offspring. She was shaking subtly and the rapidly worsening weather reflected the stormy look in the normally sweet border collie's pale eyes.

Sheena breathed a sigh of relief when Rolo started moving and talking. One more life lost would just be too much for her right now. Memories start playing in her head and she shakes them away and tries to remember which direction they had come from.

Frappe sighed as the weight of Rolo was off of her. "We were just playing around, and well, I guess she doesn't know how to swim as great as I thought she does. Either that or the water is really treacherous because of the storm." Frappe shook and water flew in multiple directions. <br /><br />"Mom..?" Rolo rolled over onto her side and her eyes fluttered open. She looked up at Dinah and gave a small smile. "mommy? am I alive?"<br /><br />Frappe breath hitched as she realized that Rolo thought that she was dead. That meant that, well, technically, Frappe was in trouble.