I had this cute little idea spring up immediately after writing " Thanks a Lot ", and I decided to go a little further into Janga and Guntz's relationship as father and son. Needless to say that Janga wouldn't be the best father figure in the world, or maybe he is the best depending on what you want. I don't know ... a drunken cat with supernatural powers seems right up my alley.

I don't plan on taking much more than a week on this. Two weeks tops. Then I have another Klonoa central story in mind involving what will quite possibly be the weirdest serious plot in the history of the fandom, a possible shoen-ai one shot, and the remainder of the Here Kitty Kitty to write. Then I'll probably take a break, or die from exhaustion.

Whichever comes first.

DISCLAIMER: The main characters in this story were created by Namco Bandai / Klonoa Works. Miss Saffron was a persona I created for Guntz's mother. Justin and the other members of Rising Dawn are original characters created for this story. I wouldn't mind them being used in other stories if you linked me to them. Thanks.

Prologue: First Strike

This was easy enough.

It didn't stop him from hating Buntz for making him do it, though.

Should've known that something was up when Miss Saffron showed up last night with her spoiled brat. His mate and the kid didn't live with the rest of the hunters for obvious reason, but unless it was the last weekend of the month they had no business coming into the hunter's territory. Not unless she wanted something. Turned out that she talked Buntz into spending the weekend with her in Joliant, alone.

Which meant that the kid would not be with them.

Which meant they had to con someone into watching the kid.

... Damn it.

The bribe was too tempting to pass up; twenty thousand stones and a week's supply of liquor. The stipulation was that he would receive half of the money up front to last him the weekend, and he'd receive the rest on Monday if he did a good job. It was foolish to leave the stash in the house, locked up, where he could easily get it using his phasing abilities. Ki! An hour after noon he was completely incapable of doing his job properly, and rather then have the kid around where he might accidentally strike him he decided to send the little brat outside with some money. Go buy lunch, or beer, or something. Whatever kids did.

It was now a few minutes after sunset and the kid still wasn't back home yet. Janga could've sworn that he told the kid to come back before dusk, or maybe he just thought that he did. His senses were so out of sync now that he could barely think strait. In any case he'd have to go out and look for the kid if he didn't show up soon. This colony at night was probably one of the most dangerous places in the world. No doubt some shapeless bastard would be looking to get their hands on the leader's son.

A pile of glass bottles were displaced when the purple cat shifted off the couch. The feeling in his knees was completely drained, and he realized that about five seconds too late to keep himself from falling flat on his face. Ow. Okay, he might've been too drunk to do either of them any good. Might want to just lay here about an hour to work the junk out of his system -

" ... Mister Janga? " Followed by a rattled sniff. Janga could hear a small voice next to his head moments before two little paws fell on his shoulder, shaking him. " Are you ... " Sniff. " Dead? ... Don't be dead, Mister Janga. Mama'll be sad. "

Thank that wrenched goddess that the voice was familiar and friendly because there was no way in Hell he was capable of fighting. That kid found his way back just fine, but there was something wrong with his voice that he couldn't quite put his claws on. He allowed the young wolf to pull him up into a sitting position, his back against the couch, so he could look down at him. " ... Master Janga. " He corrected the kid without thinking about it.

The kid nodded in understanding, then winced before brushing across a spot on his forehead with a shiver. Janga leaned in a bit closer, and noticed that the young wolf looked like he'd been mauled by an armored Moo. " What the Hell happened to you!? " He screeched, panic outweighing the paralyzing buzz he had earlier.

" I ... " Yelling at him at a time like this was probably not the best course of action. It just made him cry all over again. " I got beat up. "

" No shit! " Janga didn't mean to growl at him, but the kid probably didn't know the extent of the ass kicking he'll receive when his parents found out about this. " Who beat you up? "

His voice became more subdued the more he cried. " ... Justin. " He sniffled.

Janga winched visibly at the mention of that name. No doubt he was talking about that Justin, the doberman son of the leader of their biggest rival hunting group: Rising Dawn. Though his father had problems ousting Shinigami from his position his son was less of a failure. That little bastard managed to make every kid and teenager in the colony bend to his will. It was inevitable that he'd try and pick a fight with the top dog's son, but his parents were trying their damndest to ignore the possibility.

Well, it couldn't be ignored anymore.

" ... Arrgh ... " The purple cat couldn't even come up with a proper curse to describe the situation. About the only thing he could do now was clean up the worst of his wounds and formulate some plan of action. Hunters took it as a sign of weakness to wait even a day for retaliation, so there was no time to wait for his parents to get back. Admittedly, it would be a little hot for Miss Saffron and Justin's mother to have a cat fight. Ki-ki ...

Still ... This would have to be something they handled themselves.

To be Continued