If there was one thing that Chad hated the most it was being humiliated, the fact was that he along with Mara and Aster hadn't been humiliated once, but twice for two days in a row.
The first time was when Zerinn had shown up effortlessly beating them in a fight when they'd ganged up on Gadget. The second time was earlier today when the young jackal had stolen from their orchard.
No, this time Zerrin had crossed a line. Chad wanted payback. He would teach both of them a lesson that neither of them would forget in a hurry.
Chad pushed open the door that led into Gadget's room hearing the door hinges creak. Chad flinched surely the noise would wake up both Gadget and Zerrin.
However, that wasn't the case since both of them were still fast asleep with the jackal let out a low moan turning over in his sleep. Chad slowly entered their shared room aware of the floorboards creaking underneath his weight.
Chad stared at Gadget feeling a stab of envy in his chest for the young wolf. It made the maned wolf sick to his stomach that Gadget now had a friend, it was maddening that he wasn't alone anymore.
If it weren't for his strange quirks and his weird admiration of Sonic the Hedgehog with quite a few other defects Chad wasn't going to bother listing, then Gadget would've been adopted a long time ago. He slowly made his way over to the other bed the scent of oil coming from the spare bed where Gadget liked to build his "inventions" on hung in the air. How the smell didn't drive Zerrin crazy was beyond him.
Chad turned around seeing Aster entering the room silently moving over to where Zerrin was slumbering. Aster held the camera in his hands which he'd stolen off one of the orphanage staff when they were fast asleep. The coyote giggled lowly pressing a hand to Zerrin's head slowly lifting it up then carefully positioning the thumb underneath his head giving off the impression that he was sucking his thumb.
Aster slowly raised the camera pressing on the shutter button the sound of the low click filled the room. Chad whipped around bearing his teeth in a snarl.
"Idiot! Don't take the picture in here!" Chad hissed his ears flat against his skull. "You'll wake them up."
"Sorry boss."
Chad rolled his eyes ignoring Aster's half-hearted attempt at an apology. He slowly removed the small piece of paper that he'd brought with him and he placed it on Gadget's chest. He paused to remove the small water bottle tucked in the crook of his arm.
His fingers fiddled with the cap of the top of the bottle pulling it off in one deft movement he pulled back the blanket with his other hand pouring the bottle of water over the bedsheets near the end of the bed to give off the impression that Gadget had wet the bed in the middle of the night.
Chad fiddled with his own stolen camera taking the picture seeing the young wolf moan his eyelids twitching at the sound of the click the camera made. Thankfully Gadget didn't wake he just turned his head slightly away from the disturbance.
Chad nodded to Aster signaling him that it was time to leave silently closing the door behind them. Phase one of their plan was complete. Mara had agreed to retrieve the thing that they would need for phase two of their plan.
"So how long is this going to take?" Aster whined his blue eyes wide with impatience. Chad's deep emerald green eyes looked around at the darkening hallway, making his way into the photocopier room.
"Just be patient, Mara will be back by morning with it," Chad made his way towards the computers pulling back the chair wheeling it away from the computer screens slowly opening the lid placing the picture onto it closing the lid and he pressed several buttons.
The machine whirred to life as several copies of the first photo ended up on the paper tray. Chad handed the first photo to Aster.
"Go and hang this up on the community noticeboard."
Aster nodded gathering up the bundle of papers a low chuckle forming in his throat. "You want me to pin up these photos all over the orphanage?"
"Of course your idiot!" Chad snapped impatiently as the second stack of copies came pouring out of the machine. Chad gathered them up in his black-gloved hands. he gazed up at the clock on the wall which read 11:30 PM.
Both of the bullies worked late into the night walking around the orphanage planting the pictures up on all of the orphanage's walls. Chad knew that Aster was loyal to him along with Mara. They were the undisputed kings and queen of the orphanage ruling with fear and terror especially Gadget who was their favorite victim.
A lack of sleep would be worth tonight's activities would be worth it. For when both Gadget and Zerinn awoke tomorrow they would be thoroughly humiliated.
The next morning there was a hustle and bustle around in the main hall where most of the orphanage kids were gathered around the notice board. The notice board was usually a place where announcements were made such as who had won student of the month in Mr. Shun's class or who was most likely to get adopted.
However, there were more kids then usual clustered around the notice board. They were laughing, jostling each other to get even closer to the notice board something that caught Gadget's attention. It was odd since not many kids were clustered around the board at this time of day.
"I wonder what's going on?" Gadget asked seeing Zerinn look in the same direction his ears were pricked in interest.
"Maybe they finally fired that idiot teacher," Zerinn replied. "I mean he sucked at his job so why not?"
That was a possibility, Gadget noted making his way to the notice board Zerrin not too far behind him feeling the pairs of eyes that were on them. There were small giggles coming from the crowd for some weird reason.
Gadget and Zerinn made their way to the front of the small crowd. What they saw made them freeze in shock. There was a picture of Zerrin fast asleep with what appeared to be with his thumb in his mouth, and there was another photo, this one was of Gadget was also asleep with a small notice on his chest that proclaimed I'm seven years old and I still wet the bed!
"Awww I had no idea that Zerinn still sucked his thumb!"
"No, I don't!" Zerinn heard the comment spinning around to face the speakers a low scowl was forming on his muzzle.
"Gadget I had no idea that you wet the bed!"
"Wh-what?!" Gadget's face was burning with embarrassment hearing a few chuckles coming from the crowd all around them. "No, I don't!" Gadget protested which sent the kids wild. Zerinn quickly placed an arm around Gadget's left shoulder steering him away from the crowd of kids that were making kissy faces at them for he figured it was best that they make a quick exit.
The rumor that Gadget was a bed wetter and that Zerrin was a thumb sucker quickly exploded around the orphanage. No matter where Gadget and Zerrin went the same two pictures of Gadget supposedly wetting the bed and Zerrin sucking his thumb were everywhere.
Zerrin's response had been to tear down the pictures tearing them to little sherds with a low growl in his throat. There was no doubt in the jackal's mind of who was responsible for this prank.
"Zerinn you don't think that Chad and his gang did this?" Gadget asked quietly. "I'm used to this. I'd never thought that they'd stoop this low."
"Of course they did this Gadget!" Zerinn spoke quickly ripping another picture down from the wall tearing it to shreds with his claws. "This is the kind of thing they'd do just for the heck of it."
Neither of them was in good spirits by the time they wandered into the playground well after lunchtime, there were so many eyes focused on them. Gadget kept his head down not warning to make eye contact with the kids.
"Awww there 's the thumb sucker and the bed wetter!" Chad jeered. "Freaks like them will never be accepted in this world!"
This set off a giant round of laughter from the crowd. Most of the kids alternated between miming thumb sucking and pretending to wet the bed at the young wolf and jackal. Some of the kids called out to Zerrin asking him how many times a day Zerrin sucked his thumb.
Gadget hurried on ahead with Zerinn right behind him the young jackal whipped his head around fixing the three bullies with an icy stare, they flat out ignored it making their way across the playground doing their best to ignore the jeers that came their way.
The wolf and jackal fought to keep a dignified walk with Zerinn glared at a few kids who were following them as they broke away not wanting to engage in an actual fight with the young scrappy jackal.
The duo of friends made their way to the back of the building where not a lot of kids even came this way. The only sounds that could be heard were the sounds of Flickies chirping, it was a nice sound and the duo of unlikely friends sat on a wooden bench overlooking the small pond. It was nice and peaceful. They needed to get away from the rest of the orphans for the rest of the day to avoid the teasing.
"Are you alright Gadget?"
"Yeah, I'm fine." Gadget responded sadly; one ear was folded back against his skull in sadness. "You don't think that I'm a freak do you?"
"You're not a freak." Zerinn's voice snapped Gadget out of his thoughts. "Chad and his gang are the freaks."
The two of them just sat together in silence listening to the Flickies in the distance the sound of the leaves rustling in the gentle breeze Gadget perked up a bit for the crisp fall air was soothingly distracting him from the teasing earlier.
"So what do you plan to do in life when you get older?"
The wolf's ears pricked in surprise, he tilted his head trying to think of a response to the question.
"Well, I do want to be an inventor when I get older." Gadget replied earnestly having his tail wag ever so slightly in excitement. Zerinn just kept on continuing to surprise him.
Heh, that sounds about right for you," Zerinn said. "You do love to tinker with gadgets."
"So what about you then?" Gadget asked for a moment he thought he heard a trio of footsteps treading the ground slowly walking over to where they were.
"I'm going to become the leader of the Jackal Squad," Zerinn replied. "Then one day I'm going to be the Ultimate Mercenary, it's been my dream."
Gadget's ears twitched. "What does the Jackal Squad do exactly?"
"I'll tell you when you're a little bit old-," Zerinn replied hearing the sound of a twig snapping catching his attention. "We've got company."
"There's the bed wetter and the thumb sucker." Chad's jeer cut through the air as the maned wolf along with Mara and Aster came around the corner of the building towards them a low growl forming in the back of his throat. There was a look of pure anger in his eyes, and his fists clenched. Zerinn slid off the bench he was sitting on recognizing the threat posture Chad was making gesturing to Gadget to stay put.
"Can we help you?" Zerinn fought to keep his tone even. "That's a pathetic stunt you came up with just to make yourselves look good."
"It wasn't funny Chad." Gadget chimed in making sure to stand up. The tension in the area was that even the Flickies had stopped chirping, it was almost like the small birds sensed the anger building up in the area.
"Yeah, you're the thief that robbed our orchard!" Chad snarled taking another step forward.
"Heh, you look a little too well fed to scale the trees for that delicious fruit."
Gadget had to bite down on his tongue to stifle his laughter. It was correct Chad was a little plump around his waist, the same could be said for Aster, but Mara she was the only skinny one out of his gang.
"I'll teach you to laugh you little punk!" Chad snarled making a beeline for Gadget. Zerinn immediately stood up placing himself between Gadget.
The look of fear was on the young wolf's face was all too clear seeing his enemy come racing towards him. Zerinn ran at Chad his fist raised ready preparing to punch Chad in the face when he was within striking distance of the maned wolf.
Before Zerinn could even land a punch on him. Chad was quicker punching Zerrin hard in the stomach knocking the wind out of the young jackal before he was roughly tossed to the ground.
Zerinn rolled onto his side gasping for air feeling a heavy weight being pressed into the small of his back. The jackal was pinned feeling Chad roughly stomp on his back repeatedly his face fixed in a sinister grin ignoring the jackal yelping in pain
"Stay down you pathetic weak dog! I'll teach you to steal from my orchard!" The blow of kicks continued onwards until Gadget suddenly up his good fist stood to make a dash for Chad kicking him in hard in his right shin, which got the maned wolf's attention and he spun on his heel a low growl forming in his throat
"How dare you."
The next thing that Gadget felt was Chad's elbow slamming into the bridge of his nose hearing something crack, for he was rewarded with a gush of blood coming out of his nose resulting in a sharp pain emitting from his nose. He felt Aster's sharp claws digging into his shoulder, then Mara walked past them, both carrying something in a handbag with a smirk on her muzzle.
"Here you go, boss." Mara was passing the satchel while Zerrinn fought to get up, but Chad kept his foot pressed down into the small of his back pinning the young jackal to the ground. He dug the heel of his boot into Zerinn's back hearing the aggressive growl emitting from the jackal's throat. No one picked on Gadget. He summoned his strength desperately to wriggle out from underneath Chad's foot to no avail.
Chad's response was to push down harder keeping the jackal pinned to the ground, the soil pressed right up against the jackal's face. If he'd known just how bad his beating was going to be, Zerinn would've never have stolen from their orchard in the first place. His body ached all over; he was so weak. Oh, how he hated feeling weak, it made him want to scream in pure anger.
Mara watched the scene impassively folding her arms across her chest. She remembered exactly how her stripes had failed to come. How Mara begged and pleaded with her parents not to send her to the trial, but her pleas had fallen on deaf ears. She'd tried her best to cross the desert in a single night, only to take to long and when the first rays of the morning sun passed over the horizon she'd just barely reached the border of Green Hill only to find that Cassius was already standing informing her that she'd failed her trial and was no longer a member of Saharais.
"Your dad may be the leader of the Jackal Squad, but he's not here to save you now," Mara sneered coming forward kneeling right down onto one knee to whisper the words into Zerinns' ear leaning forward she nipped him on the ear earning a yelp of pain. "This won't hurt a bit."
Chad grinned slowly removing the object that was hidden away in the handbag. Zerinn felt his heart freeze. It was his father's red shortsword. It had gone missing after his father had realized that the female jackal pup he'd sent on the trial had taken it, enraging his father. Right before he'd exiled the jackal pup, he'd questioned her endlessly only for her to smirk back at him cheerfully informing him that he was never going to see his sword ever again.
"Do me a favor; I want to hear you scream."
The tip of the sword was placed against the skin, and in one swift movement, Mara dragged the tip of the blade down the right side of Zerinns' face slicing through fur and skin, a steady flow of blood leaked from the newly formed wound on Zerrin's face. Zerrin screamed.
Gadget felt Aster release his hold for he raced forward to aid Zerrin from the corner of his eye he saw Chad roughly grab him by the shoulder. He was dimly aware of Chad's cronies running away shouting that both Zerrin and Gadget had tried to attack them both.
"Now then we're even for Zerinn's little theft." The smile that spread across Chad's face was sinister. "So much for the Ultimate Mercenary."
Gadget blocked out Chad's cruel laughter ringing in his ears seeing the blood staining Zerinns's white glove turning it crimson. Zerrin was thrashing around in his half blinded state; blood continued to bleed out from Zerrin's wound, trailing down his body in small crimson trickles.
Gadget took a step forward attempting to grab Zerrin with his uninjred hand only to be met with a pair of claws sinking into his left shoulder.
The wolf attempted to grab Zerinn by the left shoulder only for the half-blinded jackal to foil his every attempt sinking his claws into his skin cutting into his flesh in his desperate attempts to get away. "I'm ... not...weak. I'm...not weak."
"You're not weak!" Gadget protested struggling to hold onto the writhing jackal feeling his the jackal's claws slicing into his skin and flesh leaving bloody ribbons that were hard to see against the wolf's red fur.
Time was running out for Zerinn for if the bleeding weren't stopped soon, the jackal would undoubtedly go into shock. Gadget made one last desperate attempt at ignoring the stinging wounds he willed his fingers to grab tightly Zerrin's shoulder.
"Zerinn stop! It's me! He called out as he saw the light of recognition in Zerinn's left eye. The jackal's knees buckled his bruised body sinking to the ground taking Gadget with him.
They remained on their knees for several minutes, the jackal panting his sides rising and falling in rapid breaths. Gadget murmured soothing things to Zerinn wishing that he had some gauze on him. An idea came to his mind, removing his white glove he pressed it right up against the wound trying to ignore the pained gasps coming from the jackal. He was trying very hard not to have a panic attack himself.
"I'm sorry, I- I didn't mean to." Zerinn gasped out. The jackal was openly sobbing now from the pain of the attack. Gadget shook his head keeping his excellent hand focused on the soiled glove. He shuddered. He could feel Zerinn's skin becoming clammy underneath his touch. He continued to apply pressure on the glove trying so hard to stop the bleeding.
"It's okay." Gadget whispered ignoring the pain of the stinging cuts all over his body. "I accept your apology, please just hang in there." He said feeling the sting of tears threatening to slide down his face.
The sound of an ambulance siren was heard coming from the parking lot with the Matron appearing around the corner with a red bear nurse running across the ground the Matron took one look at the sight of Gadget sitting upright bleeding from multiple cuts holding a crying Zerrin.
"Matron it's not what it looks like."
Gadget looked over at the crimson sword lying in the dirt which Mara had forgotten to grab in her chance to escape. Zerinn looked up at the sound of Gadget's voice and the Matron covered her mouth with her hand in horror when she saw the long bleeding gash running down the side of Zerinn's face, there was a patch of fur missing from where Mara had slashed the sword across his face.
Zerinn suddenly began to tremble all over. There was a sheen of sweat on his fur, he was panting rapidly the left pupil in his eye was becoming dilated.
"This is bad he's going into shock," The nurse said. "We need to get him to the Children's hospital right away!"
The nurse quickly walked over to Gadet who released his hold on Zerinn. The bear bent down picking up Zerinn with a grunt lifting the jackal onto the stretcher. The blood-soaked glove was swiftly removed and it was replaced with a fresh wet towel the second nursed pressed it against Zerinn's face with the jackal letting out a moan of pain.
Gadget watched with tears in his eyes as Zerinn was loaded into the back of the ambulance which immediately sped away sirens blaring into the distance. He felt a sense of despair creeping up his spine.
The Matron looked over at Gadget an impassive frown on her refined face. "We need to have a talk Gadget.