"HELLO!?," I shout against the icy wind,"CHANCE? JACK? ANYBODY!"

I have to keep moving, or else I'll freeze. Keep moving, One step in front of the other, there you go. Again! Again! Again!, I mentally coached myself to keep stepping. The rain was starting to freeze to fur and to the ground making it very slippery, even worse, I was going uphill.

"THERESA!? CHANCE?! Jack!," My voice was fading, no one could hear me through the storm. It was hopeless. Not even a day into this adventure and I was going to die of frostbite. Dad is never wrong, I thought bitterly. The wind picked up and blew so hard, I slipped on the ice and fell backwards, tumbling down the hill. I hit rocks and trees, that I didn't even know where there while I had been climbing. Once I rolled to a top at the base of the hill, I didn't move. What's the point?, I thought as the rain pounded against my back, making me shiver and squirm. I won't survive this...VIOLET! Pull yourself together, my conscience spoke to me. What about Chance? You can't give up on him! GET UP AND KEEP GOING!

I tried to stand but I slipped on more ice, slamming into the ground again. Everything hurt, my back, my legs, my head. The rain was making it hard to breath, it was sucking the life from me, slowly but surely. There is GET UP! GET UP!, My conscience screamed to me. Wasn't it? No, someone was yelling at me through the storm...or was hallucinating.

"GET UP! GET UP!," A voice carried through the trees. I opened my eyes, but there was no one there. "GET UP!," A figure appears in front of me and bites me by the nape of my neck... hard. It hurts, especially when it starts to pull me upward, I moan with discomfort. His teeth were sinking into my skin, making the ache from my body seem less important.

"Chance"," I tried to turn but couldn't, my neck screamed with pain. "Chance!" He drops me and I fall onto the cold hard ground again, to weak to stand.

Chance bites my neck again, probably drawing blood and it sent signals of pain to my brain, as lifted me up as high as he could. My tails were drenched and too heavy to carry, so they dragged on the ground. Chance put me on his back, as soon as he did, I nuzzled into him and held on as he ran through the storm. He never slowed down or stopped even when the wind blew against him. The wind bite at me with its cold jaw, absorbing my life. I could feel myself slipping, not from Chance's back, but from reality. I closed my eyes and prepared myself for it all, there was not point in fighting.

Chance leaped over a tree on the trail, but luckily, I stayed on his back. Even though his fur was wet, it was still kind of spikey, and it was less fluffy than what I remember.

"Chance," I mumble into his fur," I love you..."

Chance doesn't stop running, he doesn't respond, either. I didn't raise me head to check, I couldn't even keep my eyes open. I rain was still falling heavily on us, when he took a sharp right, causing me to waver and grasp him tightly.

"Hang on," a gruff voice floated over the wind.

Chance pounced up, over whatever he was jumping, I struggled to hang on to his soaked body. "I'm slipping!," I yell, feeling my paws sliding through his wet fur. I dug my claws into his skin, feeling him flinch and tense from the shock.

"We're almost there," he replied. With one last jump, he landed and I no longer felt the rain on me. I opened one eye and saw I was in a dark room with rock walls. "Rest," he told me as he dropped me onto the floor next to a roasting fire. Ow! Could you be more gentle? The fire felt amazing though, better than anything I had ever felt before. I cuddled up to it and rested my head on the floor, my eye lids to heavy to keep open.

"Thank you Chance," I whisper as I drifted off to sleep, while voices in the distance droned on into the night.

The next say I woke up with the sun streaming in on my face. I squinted and rolled away from its brilliant light, my back running into something soft and furry. Chance. I snuggled into it and yawned, opening my eyes. I stretch my legs, but pain courses through them, so I stop and yelp. The body beside me stirs and shifts, sitting up and yawning.

"Chance, I think I broke my leg."

"Actually, you broke your ankle," a deep sultry voice responds. A voice I had never heard before.

My eyes open, suddenly I am fully awake, and I turn my head slowly to the person beside me. Laying beside me is a black and gray dog, with eyes redder than the flames of hell. I whimpered with fear and tried to edge away, but my ankle throbbed terribly. The dog smiled flashing his fangs at me, but not in a threatening way. I couldn't help but be scared, he was a total stranger that I had...cuddled up to?! EW! How did I get here?!

"Who are you? What do you want? How did I get here?," I look around the cave trying to pinpoint my location.

"I am Nokto," he said while stretching out," You got here, because I rescued you. You're welcome by the way. And what I really want is a ham sandwich," he spoke placing his head in his paw.

"Nokto?..." his name was truly beautiful in a deep ancient kind of way. I glanced at him, he was staring at me. He didn't seem very threatening and he DID rescue you, so I relaxed... not all the way, but some. "Why did you rescue me?," I ask him, not moving.

"I was out in the woods doing patrols and there you were, so I told you to 'get up and get away' ya know? From our land. But you didn't move, I thought your were dead until you spoke," He licked his paw. He had some massive claws, that were sharp and long, they made me uneasy. " I'm not heartless enough to leave a dying girl in the rain," he said matter of factly.

"What do you mean 'our land'?," I ask curiously. Are there more?

"Well, my pack, duh," he said like I was stupid child. I growled in my throat. "No use in doing that," he said standing," You can't fight, you can't even stand. Why don't your turn off your high and mighty thinking and start being a little grateful, huh?," he walked to the mouth of the cave.

Maybe he is right...He did rescue me from death. But he also is a complete stranger... Mhmmm. I should be polite, but nothing more. He is still a little odd, for all I know he could be a murderer. "Thank you," I called out to him, he turned back," for saving me," I finish looking to the floor embarrassed and unable to meet his sinical eyes.

"Well, well, well, look who is being nice all the sudden," he trotted back into the cave with a smug smile of satisfaction on his face.

"Stop smiling like that," I snap at him," You look ridiculous," I grumble.

"Ahh, there's the real you. There is no hiding it, Vulpix. You are feisty, crazy, little fox, aren't you? Running around in the rain, without a care in the world. Did you have a death wish?," he sat in the far corner near the entrance glaring at me. His bright red eyes made it feel like the devil himself was looking at me.

I look at the walls, instead of him,"Violet," I tell him. I glance back and see his head cocked to the right and his eyebrows bushed together. I roll my eyes," My name is Violet, duh," I repeat his childish tone. "And no, I did not have a death wish for your information. I was just... I was just lost."

He smirks again, straightening his head and staring me down again," That explains your eyes. At least your not all bad, I'm glad I didn't rescue some high maintenance priss," and with that he jumped up and left the cave.

"WAIT," I called after him,trying to stand and follow, but collapsing on the hard ground from the pain in my ankle. He popped his head back into view," Oh, yeah. I'll be back later," and he dodged out of sight again.

I didn't move my ankle was in so much agony, it was unbearable. I closed my eyes and tried to think happy thoughts. Happy thoughts? Happy thoughts? Chance. That was all I needed to smile and forget the pain. Wait?, I open my eyes. Chance. Jack. Theresa. I sit up quickly, way too quickly, my ankle starts to throb again, but I press it to the back of my mind. Where are they?