Disclaimer: I do not own anything. All credit goes to Crest Animation Productions and Lions Gate Family Entertainment. All I own are the original characters.

The New Generation: Alex Trey Stella

Chapter Nine

"Where are we going again?"

"You'll see when we get there, Vince. It isn't that far, so calm down."

Vince, the red-furred male wolf lowered his head to look at the ground. His red-furred and green-eyed sister, noticing her brother looking bored quickly thought of something to say. She teased, "You miss your girlfriend already?"

"I told you, I don't even know her. So, she can't be my girlfriend. Okay? Just forget it, already."

Vince would never forget those blue eyes that he had seen the night before. His heart had pounded so rapidly when they locked eyes. He had only heard of love at first sight in stories his mother told to his sister when they were younger. Vince never believed in such a thing until that night. He would never forget that girl.

Trying to change the subject, he asked, "Will you please just tell me where we're... Whoa..."

Vince stopped in his tracks, frozen in place as he stared at the ground ahead of him. His sister stopped when he had and waved her paw in front of his face. She asked, "Hello? What's up with you? What are you—"

She stopped when she looked in the direction her brother was looking. In amazement, her eyes widened. "Whoa... What do you think happened here?"

"I don't know..."

As his sister took a few steps forward, Vince told her, "Stay close, Meryl... We don't know what did this."

Vince stepped closer to his sister so he could protect her if needed. The two had found an area with a lot of blood. The scent of it filled their noses. As the two continued walking, Vince and Meryl tried not to step on any of the blood. After all, what their parents think if they came home with blood on their paws? Nothing good. Of course, they could explain it. But, would their parents even believe them? They most likely would, but trying to avoid the blood was still a major priority.

Vince said, "Hope nothing is behind you, ready to chop you up in little pieces."

Meryl took a step closer to her brother, now a bit more nervous. "Don't joke about that, Vince!"

The two continued on, looking for anything other than the blood that was around. Along with the blood, there was also some fur that looked like it had been scratched off of a wolf's body. Which, it most likely was. Vince said, "We should probably tell the Head-Alphas about this..."

Meryl nodded in agreement and said, "Let's go... I don't want to be here any longer than I have to."

Vince turned around and started his way toward the pack, knowing exactly where the Head-Alphas lived. Not hearing his sister's footsteps, he stopped and turned around to look at her. She was staring straight ahead, mouth hung slightly open. Vince called, "You coming, Meryl? Or would you like to stay here and wait for me to come back?"

Meryl looked to her right at her brother and back to what she had found, lying not too far away. She said, "You better check this out..."

Vince ran back over to his sister and looked in the same direction as her. He gasped when he saw what she found. The body of a wolf, lying still and silent.

Lilly sat at the mouth of the den, her paw patting the ground with worry and nervous. She turned her head towards her eldest daughter, hearing Violet's voice. "Mom, i'm sure they're all okay. Dad is with them. He made a promise to Kate. Dad never breaks a promise, and he never will."

"I know... I'm just worried since they've been gone all night..."

Jake tried to assure his mother with a good explanation. "Don't worry, mom. We were all pretty tired after the Moonlight Howl. Maybe they just fell asleep. They're probably on their way home right now."

Lilly, looking back outside, took the red and white flower from behind her ear and looked at it. She treasured this flower ever since Garth gave it to her. Even though it wasn't the exact same one, she treasured it just as much. She would have liked to keep the first one, but it had eventually died without its connection to the soil. As Lilly looked at her flower, she spoke. "I hope you're right, Jake..."

Luna walked out of the den, taking a spot at her mother's side. Lilly looked at her daughter and smiled at the remarkable resemblance between them. Luna smiled, trying to cheer up her mother. Lilly laid down, head on her paws, as she looked out at the Central Pack territory of Jasper. Lilly looked up at the moon. Still visible, even in the daytime sky. It looked almost like a full moon, but everyone knew better than that. The moon was slowly working its way toward the New Moon phase, where it would be completely covered by its own darkness.

Luna sat up and walked back into the den, joining her brother and sister in a conversation about their experiences at the Moonlight Howl.

Lilly continued lying down at the mouth of the cave, head on her paws. Moving her tail in front of her face, she covered her nose to give it a little warmth from the light breeze. As Lilly looked out at the territory, her eyes drifted from family to family. She watched each wolf, trying to see if she could name all of the wolves she could see. Lilly liked to test herself with trying to match names with the wolves. The pack seemed much larger ever since the West and East were united by her marriage with Garth. She was just glad they didn't have to be rushed with the marriage like she had first thought.

As Lilly continued with the wolves, she grew more excited, glad that she was doing so well this time. Then, her eyes drifted to the trees of the forest. And further to the right was the river that had previously separated the two packs. Now, it just signified the place for families to enjoy some free time. Ever since the flowers and grass had grown in the once dirt-covered area, it was a beautiful sight. Until Winter came and made a blanket of pure white snow across everything and froze the water. Although she did have a memory she enjoyed to giggle at every now and then. She even giggled silently as she remembered Garth slipping on the ice as he walked on it, not even knowing it was ice until his head was on the ground.

Lilly's eyes continued toward the right, until she saw two red wolves coming toward her with a wolf on their backs. She stood up and gasped when she saw who was on their backs. Luna, Jake, and Violet came outside to see who was with their mother, and gasped at the sight of their father lying silent. Lilly asked, "What happened?"

Vince answered, "We found him in the forest... Amongst the blood."

Jake asked, "Was there anyone else around?"

Meryl answered, "No. Not that we saw."

Jake sighed, losing the hope that his cousins were safe. Lilly said, "Bring him into the den..."

Vince and Meryl nodded, carrying the unconscious and unmoving Garth into the cave. Jake, Violet, and Luna followed the others into the den. As Meryl helped her brother carefully set Garth on the ground, Vince stated, "I don't think he's dead. Just unconscious... Though from the looks of these scratches on his face and all the blood in the forest, it looks like he got in a fight with someone."

Lilly nudged Garth's head, trying to see if he would wake from his unconscious state. He stayed still and silent. Lilly put her ear to her mate's chest. Hearing his heartbeat, she said, "Yea, he's still alive. He still has a pulse. Thank you two for bringing him home."

Vince nodded and said, "No problem."

Meryl questioned, "Should we take you to where we found him? I think you should take a look at the area."

Lilly responded, "I'll check it out with Garth later, when he's awake."

"Okay."

"Again, thank you for bringing him home... Vince and... Mary?"

"It's Meryl."

"Right, sorry," Lilly apologized, "Hard to memorize everyone's names, you know?"

Vince said, "Don't worry about it. You'll get it soon."

"I sure hope so..." Lilly responded with a slight smile.

Meryl turned to her brother and said, "Let's get going, I still want to show you that place I was talking about."

"Oh right... Well, Lilly, it was nice to meet you."

"Nice to meet you too. Tell your parents I said hi, okay?"

As Vince and Meryl began running away, Vince said, "Will do!"

Luna whispered to Violet, "Was that...?"

"I—I'm not sure... I think it was, but I don't know... It sure looked like him..."

Alex, Trey, Stella, Jet, and Serah turned to see three black colored wolves blocking the only exit out of the den, growling as they approached. Trey got to his feet, his legs feeling weak after everything that had happened. First the fight from the night before, then getting attacked by a bear, and now this? What else was going to happen? Letting out a growl, they saw Korosu, Garth's brother, come in to view.

As Korosu walked in to the cave, the black wolves made space for him to walk through. He walked forward and said, "You may have gotten away last time, pups. But now," he glared at Jet, "There's nobody to help you."

Jet growled even louder, threatening to attack any minute. Trey growled, "I don't know what you want, Korosu, but leave us alone! Why do you want Serah so badly?"

"I don't want Serah... I want her death. She doesn't deserve to live after what she did to my daughter..."

"Why won't you believe me? I've told you; It was an accident!"

"It sure didn't look like it!"

"I didn't—"

Serah let out a yelp as Korosu rapidly scratched her across the face as he yelled, "Don't lie to me! I saw it with my own eyes, you can't try to make me believe otherwise. My daughter is gone because of you! And for that, I want revenge. I want your death to be caused by my own paws. And since these friends of yours want to help you so much, their blood will be spilled as—"

Serah jumped at Korosu, pushing him to the ground and snarling in his face. "Leave them out of this!"

Korosu pushed Serah off him, sending her closer to the mouth of the cave, where the three black wolves were standing. Two more wolves with black fur entered the den as well, joining the others. Korosu told them, "Get the others. This one is mine..."

The five black wolves ran from their spots, ready to fight Trey, Stella, Alex, and Jet. Trey was the first to attack, leaping at one wolf and sending him to the ground. Scratching the wolf's face, he ran for Korosu, who was stalking toward Serah. Alex used his shoulder to push another wolf into the wall before turning around and using his hind legs to rapidly kick the stranger in the stomach. Stella growled as she was pinned to the ground. She bit into the black wolf's shoulder, and scratched their face. Growling, she pushed the wolf off her and ran to her brother's side, who had just been scratched by Korosu and was backing away next to Serah. Jet was fighting off two wolves at once, making snide remarks as he dodged each snap made at him. "Oh! So close! Come on, slow-poke, you can do better than that!"

Dodging one last snap, he ducked under the attack and pushed the first wolf to the side and kicked the second hard in the face. He said, "That has got to hurt!"

He got himself free from the fight and ran to Stella's side. Alex jumped over a wolf that leaped at him, and ran to his brother's side.

Now Alex Trey, Serah, Jet, and Stella were backing away from the ring of six wolves; Korosu and the five unnamed black wolves were stalking toward them with growls. Trey looked at his back paws as he almost slipped. He noticed the cliff behind him and realized they were trapped between the wolves, and the cliff. He told the others this, which made them check to make sure. Korosu laughed, "Quite the predicament you have yourselves in..."

This made the five wolves around him chuckle. Jet whispered to the others, "We have to jump."

Alex asked, "Are you crazy! We'll be killed for sure!"

"You don't know that!"

Stella yelled, "Yes we will! We jump over, and fall on solid ground. We'll be lucky if all we get are broken legs!"

Jet countered, "We stay here and we'll get torn to pieces!"

Stella, Alex, Trey, and Serah looked back and forth between the cliff and the wolves who were getting closer by the second. They looked at each other and nodded in agreement. Trey said, "Let's do it."

With that, Jet grabbed Stella and jumped over the cliff, both of them screaming. Alex looked at his brother and said, "I hope we live to tell mom and dad about this."

He jumped over, leaving Trey and Serah with the six wolves who were watching in shock. Trey and Serah nodded at each other, showing they were both ready to go. With that, Trey and Serah jumped, head first, spiraling down the cliff as they held each other.

Chapter Nine... COMPLETE. You enjoy it? I sure hope so!

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