Another chance to give credit where it is due, the idea for Crystal came from the brain of XxMungoteazerxX, who also has a fanfic floating around on here, go check it out!

Enjoy everybody!

Love,

Blaze x

Chapter 3

Thorne leaned backwards, readying himself for whatever was about to face him.

His claws sharpened, he was just about to pounce, when he was totally taken by surprise.

The creature standing before him was not a hideous monster as he'd imagined, but a small, pale yellow creature, with bright red cheeks, slightly curved ears, and big blue eyes.

There was a moment of silence, before the creature uttered her first words. "Oh. My. God."

Her voice was soft, and quiet. It had a distinctive Californian accent to it, and Thorne was slightly confused at how streetwise this creature was.

Finally, he spoke. "Hello," he said, in his nicest, least intimidating voice, "what's your name?"

"I'm Crystal, Crystal Lauritsen." she replied. "You?"

"I'm Thorne." he said. Crystal seemed to be becoming more confident now, but as she started slowly walking towards Thorne, he noticed that her front left paw was raised- she was limping.

After a few seconds, she spoke again. "Ha, that's a funny name." she said, giggling.

"I guess it is." replied Thorne, laughing.

For a brief moment, they were both lost in laughter.

But, eventually they had to face up to the matter in hand. "So, it's happened to you too, then?" she asked.

Thorne knew what she was on about. "Yeah," he replied solemnly. "Me, and my sister."

"You have a sister?" asked Crystal.

"Yeah." replied Thorne, realising he'd almost forgotten about her. "Her name's Shaiden."

Crystal laughed again. "I don't have any brothers or sisters." she said, with a hint of sadness in her voice. "I only live with my Mom and Dad. Not that I mind, my Dad's a millionaire, we have all the money we could want!"

Thorne smiled. "I don't remember my parents. I've only ever had my sister, and my seven other friends."

Crystal raised an eyebrow. "Only seven?" she said curiously.

Thorne nodded. "We're all part of this special group. We get to defend this huge castle from these young kids, Attackers. We have a blast."

"Wow!" said Crystal, her eyes going wide with wonderment. "And I thought my life was fun!"

She paused for a bit, before adding: "Until now, that is." Her head drooped downwards.

"How did you get here?" Thorne asked, coming closer.

"Well," replied Crystal, "I was sitting in the lounge of my house, at my desk, writing a letter to my Uncle Terrence, when suddenly the house started to shake. My Mom and Dad were shouting at me to get down, but before I got the chance the chair collapsed, and I blacked out."

Thorne nodded again, his brow deeply furrowed. "When it happened to me, all the others rushed inside the castle, but I was left with Shaiden. In fact, if it wasn't for her, I might have ended somewhere much worse. You see, she was the one that alerted me in the first place."

Crystal gasped. "If your friends ran into the castle, then wouldn't they have been trapped by it collapsing?"

Thorne pondered this for a moment, before answering "No, Castle Splat's been around for hundreds of years, and it's foundations are way too strong to be knocked by what happened today."

Crystal nodded, before saying "So, where's your sister, then? I'd really like to meet her."

Thorne's heart began to beat inhumanly fast. "Oh God, Shaiden!" he said out loud. Whilst he'd been idly chatting with his newfound friend, she could be anywhere, caught up in anything! He ran off quickly to the path she went down.

"Wait for me!" Crystal called, running after as fast as her sprained paw would let her.