It was a day I'll never forget. It all began as I as usual woke up early in the morning. I sneaked out of my bed and down the ladder not to awoken my grandfather.
Well down, I stretched my body and yawned. I suddenly saw something red move in front of me and I started to snarl, but then I remembered that there was a mirror there.
As I walked over to the mirror I laughed of my self. I looked at my own yellow eyes that looked back at me. As usual for my clan I am a large cat/dog like creature, with a long brown mane down from the top of my head and in a straight to my shoulder blades. A deep red color of fur that was in little contrast to the orange areas on my throat, chest and belly. Behind my ears I have to long white feathers with blue tips, braided in too my mane. I had also attached a blue and a white peal to two locks of hair so that the two locks hanged down behind my ears.
I used one of my forelegs to pull down my forelock as I looked how it jumped back over my eyes. Under my eyes I had painted in to deep dark red straight lines over my cheeks on both sides.
I had a big gold ring with a zigzag pattern on every one of my four paws. My long catlike tail swung around me and my tail tip flame burned just as usual.
I left the mirror and continued on out the door.

Morning's first light colored the sky in a light blue color over my home in Cosmo canyon.
I turned to look out on Cosmo canyon and Cosmo City. The tall walls of the canyon made the suns beams never really hit the City something that made it to the perfect place to do research on the stars. Everyone in Cosmo city had some sort of interest in the stars. I smiled as I turned to go down the stars inside the mountain to get down to the lower levels of the city.
On one of the levels there was a big locked metal door blocking the way to a little walleye longer in to the mountain. I snarled low as I looked at it and turned around to get down to the lowest level of the city.

As I made my way out the mountain and made it down to the lowest level I smiled at the city I was born and raised in. the small houses was build on little cliffs with long ladders going up to them. A cold wind reminded me that it was still early in the morning, and it was not a soul too be seen.
I made my way over to the fire that was always been light for as long as I can remember. I stood there staring in to the fire.
The bright flames brought back memories of one special night when I was young.
"We have the heavy duty to protect this city for all the dangers that threaten it, Nanaki, my son." My father stood at the other side of the fire and his yellow eyes flamed like the fire it self. His deep red fur seemed to be burning there he stood, and he was big as a house in my eyes.
He was walking back and forth and telling stories of the monsters the came out of the walleye that the big metal door now block.
"Seto, calm down, you scare him with these stories of yours." My mother's voice was calm and friendly like always. I sat between my mothers foreleg's and looked up at her. She looked down on me and smiled. My mother was different from all the other in our clan; she had snow white fur and deep ice blue eyes.
"That is my point, Moonshine. He must be ready for anything that these dangerous monsters are capable of." My father sounded frustrated. He always became a little frustrated when mother calmed him down during his story times.
"I am not afraid, mother. I will protect this city. Against any dangers." I said, sounding as strong and brave as I could.
My mother turned to my father and said.
"Like father like son, what?"

I shaked my head and came back to the real world.
"I will never be like my dad!" I cursed low and left for the opening out of the city.

That night was four years ago, one of the last days that I still had parents. Two days later one evening my father went in to the monsters walleye to keep them from going in to the city, but my father fled from his duty and left the city unprotected. My brave father that always talked of how important our duty was had fled. Later that night grandfather blocked the way in to the walleye with the metal door that is still there to keep the monsters in.
When my mother heard that he would not return, she collapsed and lay sick for two days, before she just died away. Since then the human living in the observation on top of the mountain that Cosmo city was build in to, took care of me.
I believed I was the last of my clan and as the last it fell on me to protect the city. Grandfather always laugh at me and say that I was to young two guard the city alone, even as I was 46 years old. But he always said that I was no older than a human at the age of 13-14.
Every morning I sneaked out of the city, before anyone woke up and trained at any monster that I could find in Cosmo canyon.

This morning I went all the way to Cosmo canyons south east end. There standing on top of the cliffs I stared out on the world outside of the canyon.
Suddenly I saw three Shinra cars coming in my direction. They seemed to come from the town that lied farther to the east. If they were going to the golden saucer in the north east, it wouldn't be quicker to go through Cosmo canyon, and still they were headed strait for Cosmo canyon.

The Shinra Company was a company that were specialized in an energy source that they found down in the earth. They called it Mako energy. The Shinra didn't have any interest in Cosmo canyon before because there was no Mako energy to be found here. I had little interest over what the humans were doing, but all that was about to change.
There was something about those three cars that worried me, I moved to a safer point where I could see them but they couldn't see me.
Perhaps it is just some soldiers out on a mission. I thought to my self to try and calm down my beating heart.
The Shinra Company did more than just energy. They had big armies and all types of hi-tech stuff. And a special group of troops called soldiers. Men that had gone through a special training, being exposed to pure Mako energy. They were too many, heroes, But I didn't know much about soldiers and the training they went through then, but I was going to learn.

The three cars stopped a bit into the canyon and out of the two last cars came five normal guards, in the standard blue suit and blue helmets. A little disappointed I turned to the last car as a strange man got out. He was dressed in a white coat and green pants. He had long black hair that were in a ponytail down his back, and some big glasses that took much of his face. Out of the other side of the car came a Shinra Officer that was easy to spot out on his dark red leather suit and hat.
I sneaked a little closer so that I could hear what they were saying.
"Is it here were this rare type animal is?" asked the man in the white coat the officer.
"Yes Dr. Hojo. They say he is the last of his kind." The officer answered. The man the officer called Hojo laughed.
"Good, good. It is perfect. Endangered species must be cared for, you know."
There was something about that doctor that made me nervous and I decided to get back to Cosmo city as fast as I could. The fact that it was me they were looking for worried me but I had to tell grandfather.

As the officer gave two of his men order to get the cage they had with them, the other three were order to spread out and start looking, I moved silently through the cliffs.
Just as I believed that I got away from them, one of the guards suddenly screamed out. I froze completely and turned slowly to see him lifting his gun. The other ones came running towards me, I just stood there not knowing what to do. Then I realized that they were too many for me to beat and come out of it alive, so I suddenly turned around and dashed through the canyon as fast as I could.
I hear the men scream out something but I did not turn around to see. The humans surprised me as a big robot suddenly rushed past me and blocked my way, as I stopped in front of the bird on wheels like robot, I turned and ran towards the cliff side and bounced up the wall it self. I could hear the delighted sounds from Dr. Hojo, as I found steps were no other could. Suddenly bullets started to fly around me and one of them hit the edge that I put all my weight on and it gave away under me.
"Don't shoot, Idiots! You risk to harm it or worse kill it!" The doctor screamed angry at the guards. As I was getting closer to the ground I turned in midair so that I landed on my feet, but my landing were so hard that I knocked the air out of my self and for a few second could not move. The guards took advantage of this and surrounded me quickly.
"It's beautiful." I heard Dr Hojo saying on the other side of the ring of guards, all ready to plant a bullet in my skull. Now every thing seemed to stand still, I did not move and so did not the guards. This standstill felt like it lasted for a lifetime when Dr Hojo suddenly broke the silence.
"I need it alive!" Two of the guards got closer, my body was shaking of anger, as I snared towards them with my teeth bare. I was showing them that I had no plans of going down easily.
Suddenly one of the two guards got too close and I jumped up at him and teared open his throat as we landed on the ground. The other guard backed of quickly, as the other ones took a better aim at me. I was standing over the dead guard as his blood was dripping down from my fangs.
I turned towards the other guard that was desperately trying to get something on his gun. I jumped towards him, the other guards opened fire but there bullets only hit the already dead guard As I got up to his face I turned around doing a summer salt making my tail hit him in the face. He backed off screaming holding to his badly burned face with both his hands, but at the end of his gun he had a knife, that as he let go of his gun came to tear a deep gash though my right eye. as the guard fell to the ground I backed of screaming. Blood poured out of the ruin eye and I were never to see again on that eye, a deep scar were to always remind me on this day.
Wounded and surrounded by enemy's I snared and lashed out after them. I kept swinging around hoping to keep them of me with my tail. Suddenly Dr. Hojo yelled out like he had not seen what happened.
"Look at what you did now! If it dies..." He did not get to finish as the officer were afraid more of his men were to get hurt yelled out to his men.
"Use the gas!" The guards that remained started pushing something on there guns and then gave me a good dose of a anesthetize gas in my face. At the beginning I did not feel any thing but suddenly I got very dizzy and my eyesight got all fuzzy. My legs suddenly gave away and it became very hard to breathe. I lay there helpless gasping after air as my mind got all fuzzy too.
After a little while one of the guards pushed his gun in my side. I just couldest move and just lay there, as blood kept dripping from my wound.
"He is knocked out, Sir." I heard him say.
"Good, bring the cage." Said the officer and the two blue shadows disappared as a white one appeared. Dr. Hojo petted over my head with one hand, grinding to himself
"My beautiful specimen!"
"My beautiful Red XIII!" He laughed and that laugh followed me down in to the darkness I fell down in, as I felt the guard lifting me up an putting me in the cage...