Futago Pass was surely big, Spencer looked around him with opened mouth and with huge blue eyes. It made him pay no attention to his surroundings, and he almost stumbled over a small stone laying on his path. Yelping he fell forward, bumping into Benji who was knocked down along by him.
The two yearlings fell on the ground, sand and dust whirling up into the sky. The other dogs turned around to look at them in confusion, and GB moved to the pack of the group to make sure they were alright.
''What happened to you two?'', he asked, frowning. ''Did you suddenly fall?''
''I stumbled…'', Spencer said and he blushed slightly, feeling quite ashamed. He got to his paws again, chuckling slightly as he met Benji's annoyed gaze. ''I stumbled over a stone when I wasn't paying attention.''
''How could you be so dull? You should look before you.'', Benji said annoyed and snorted, turning around and moving on. Spencer sighed in response, chuckling again as he now felt ev3n more ashamed. He said to Benji: ''I'm sorry, Futago Pass is just so big; it amazes me.''
GB laughed and poked the German Shepherd mix with his paw, right at the shoulder. He spoke to Spencer as he winked at him, grinning. ''You really remind me of Weed sometimes.''
The two dogs moved again, going after the others. Meanwhile Spencer looked confused at GB, wondering why he had said it. And he wasn't going to keep it thought, he really wanted to know. ''Why do I remind you of Weed? And when?''
''You sure are a curious pooch.'', GB responded, still grinning. As they walked he looked at Spencer, smiling at him. ''Weed has always been a very curious dog, too. And he too was amazed by the beauty of Futago Pass and all the other parts in Ōu's territory. And considering you accepted Ryota to come with you… you would be just a fair leader as Weed is today. He too gave others a second chance and saw a good side in them. He's one of fair justice, just like you.''

''Really? So I'm just like Weed?'', Spencer asked, a smile on his face as he stared up at GB all excited. However, GB chuckled and shook his head, causing Spencer to stare at the ground with a sad look in his eyes.
''No, you're not the same. You two have the same personality traits, but you are both different dogs. You both have your own life and your own story to tell.'', the English Setter answered and Spencer looked up at him again, wagging his tail happily.
''Really? So I'm not exactly like him but we're quite alike?'', he asked and GB nodded, causing Spencer to squeal and run fast, passing all the others. ''I'm almost just like my hero! Now I really wanna meet him!''
''Oh boy, sure is an interesting pooch. He's almost just like Weed when that kid was younger.'', GB said, laughing again. He started running now, too, the others following as well because they didn't want to fall behind. ''Hold on kid, wait for us!''
The group of dogs ran over the hills, Ryota being supported by the wolf called Yoru. As they reached down the hill a small river blocked their path, but it wasn't very much an obstacle; Spencer jumped straight over it, and so did the others. Passing the small river they entered a huge dark green forest, a mixture of birch trees and pine trees all together.
''We're getting closer to Ōu's heart, Gajou. It won't take long now till we reach the pack and get to see Weed and Gin.'', Ken said as he ran just after GB, looking around him. his brown eyes were narrowed as he spoke. ''Though, it sounds oddly quiet… a bit suspicious out here.''

''You feel it too, huh, Ken?'', Kagetora asked, looking at the Great Dane, who nodded in response. ''There are no birds singing… I guess it's those wolves hiding themselves in this forest. They seem to follow us for some reason.''
With his last words he glared at Yoru, who was running in the back, carrying the wounded Ryota on his back. The black wolf was rather small for his age and breed, and quite slender, but he still had enough strength, making him able to support the adult Akita Inu who seemed to be asleep, his head hanging down, his brown eyes closed.
''Hey, wolf, where are your filthy friends, hmm? Those mutts, covered in fleas?'', Kagetora asked, his voice sarcastic as he teased Yoru, trying to get the wolf out of its shell, but Yoru didn't pay any attention to the Ken Kai's words, he didn't seem to bug. He just stared at the dog, almost like his multicolored eyes tried to stare right through Kagetora's soul. ''Eh fine, have it your way… I don't trust you.''
''Shut up Kagetora. That wolf is wounded, too. Only slightly, but still; he's no match for us. And if that kid called Spencer said he joined them and won't harm us, then we better trust his words.'', Ken said, looking at the Kai Ken. ''Didn't Weed teach us to accept someone and give them a chance until proven differently?''
''Yeah, guess you're right…'', Kagetora answered in a mumble, staring at the path in front of them. He didn't feel like arguing with Ken over this anymore, because in the end Ken mostly was the one who was right about things.

''S-stop!'', GB suddenly said and the dogs all stopped, bumping into each other, creating a pile of fallen, disorientated dogs. They called out GB's name in frustration, getting up and rolling out from underneath each other as they sought for ground beneath their paws again. That's when a faint scent of wolf hit them, and the dogs looked up to see the black figures of other canines staring down at them, but these canines were much bigger than the dogs, and their eyes held an evil glow; brown, amber, yellow, all eyes were different. As the black figures stared down at the dogs growls were heard, deep and frightening. ''W-wolves…''
''Are those… actual wolves…?'', Kagetora asked, staring up at the canines in the shadows, his body shivering as his tail was tucked between his legs. ''They're much bigger than… Yoru. How come?''
''That's probably why they chased Yoru off; the male was smaller AND mute, useless to their pack…'', Spencer answered Kagetora's question, not looking at Yoru as he spoke, but he could feel the tension around the group of dogs; he was sure Yoru was standing behind them, cowering as well, even though he was a wolf just like those creatures up those hills in this forest. ''W-what do we do now…?''
The creatures came down the hill, stepping closer. There was no way the dogs could go around; the wolves were blocking their path. Five canines came from the darkness of the forest, out of the shadows, their eyes on the dogs, growls emerging from their throats, deep down. One of them was drooling, showing off his teeth while his yellow eyes were filled with rage and insanity, a golden coat with white and cream through it. While three others just growled at them, all black coated just like Yoru, and brown eyes, the fifth and last wolf standing in the front just stared at them, his amber eyes piercing through their soul as his face held no expression at all. He rolled his eyes for a moment, his voice a deep sound as he sighed and spoke, almost like he was tired of seeing dogs.
''Ugh, dogs… more and more dogs, like always.'', he said, his eyes rolling back down onto the presences in front of cowering, cowering before him.

''Why are you here? Speak up! Don't make us attack you, I have an army, more than a thousand wolves hiding in the shadows.'', the wolf spoke, his amber eyes full of life and excitement as his face stayed the same; expressionless. His coat was a brown color with mixtures of cream and grey going through it. One of his ears was torn, giving this leader an actual dominant look, an aggressive look. ''Speak up I said!''
''S-sir, we didn't mean to go through your territory, if this is part of yours.'', Spencer spoke up, stepping forward, his head held high as he tried to stare the wolf into his eyes without averting his own or shaking all over his body. ''We just need to go through this forest in order to get to Gajou, the heart of Ōu… Please, let us through and we promise not to return to this very part of the forest.''
The wolf laughed, throwing his head back as he did so. The other wolves laughed too, the golden coated one which has first appeared the most aggressive of all laughed the loudest and in a very unpleasant way.
Stopping with laughing the brown coated leader tilted back his head a bit, looking at the small German Shepherd yearling in front of him. His amber eyes held even more excitement now as a grin was spread across his face, showing off his sharp sparkling teeth.
''Gajou? Ōu? That pack is pathetic, they will not be able to stand up against us.'', the wolf spoke and he laughed again, the golden coated wolf laughing as well, but he was soon shut up by the other three, receiving growls and snaps from them. ''Dogs don't belong in this forest, dear boy. And neither do wolves who are traitors.'', he continued to say as his eyes slowly drifted off to Yoru, the male hiding in the back.

''Dogs have never belonged here, they belong back in the villages and cities with their human owners, they belong in captivity. Wolves are the ones who belong here, they should be the ones free and wild.'', the wolf leader spoke, eyeing all the dogs with an angry glare one by one, but the grin never left his face, until now. ''That's why Gajou should be ours. It's ours! And if it won't become ours then it's no one's! we wolves are thriving, we need a territory, a place where we can live freely and survive, dogs aren't wild, they shouldn't be here, they shouldn't stand in our way!''
The three black wolves standing behind their leader howled, it sounded like a victory howl, and the golden coated one quickly followed their lead; he seemed to fall behind on everything, and not exactly too bright.
''We will take back what is ours, we will fight against you mutts and take over Gajou, we will bring down the Ōu army and kill them all, no mercy! You stole this place from us and now you will pay, we will steal it right back from you!''
The other wolves had stopped howling and nodded, standing just behind their leader, eyeing the dogs. The three black coated wolves held no expression while the golden coated wolf with yellow eyes grinned and giggled like a little pup, droll dripping down his jaws once more as he stared at the group with a look of insanity in his eyes.
''You can't do that! Ōu fought hard to win Gajou back for their own! Gajou belongs to Ōu and to no one else!'', Spencer yelled furiously, stepping forward as he growled loudly. The wolf stared into his blue eyes, not pulling them away at all, they both just stared at each other, until he let out a chuckle, closing his eyes.

''I see, you're a strong pooch, you're different from the others… I will let you live for now, kid. you're a more worthy opponent than any other dog in this world, facing me like this, not stepping back. For now you will live.'', he said as he turned around, looking at Spencer. ''But mark my words; we will kill each and every dog in this continent, each dog that tries to become wild and free. I, Kenshi, leader of Japan's wolves, will promise you this.''
With those words the male turned around and glanced at Spencer with a slight grin on his face, before moving back up the hill. ''Kai, Zai, Rai, follow me. Hokori, report about these filthy mutts to General Kurai back in the mountains, hurry up!''
The golden coated wolf nodded quickly and ran off in the other direction, his tongue hanging out of his mouth as it was swept aside by the wind. Before the four other wolves vanished from the dogs' sight, Kenshi looked one last time at Spencer before rushing into the forest, disappearing behind the trees, and the triplets Kai Zai and Rai followed him.
''Oh no, this is bad… we gotta report the situation to Weed and Gin quickly, before that mutt of a wolf does to their own General.'', GB said, looking at the other dogs around him. ''Hurry guys, we gotta reach Gajou before nightfall!''
The dogs began to run up to hill, towards where the wolves had went, but there was left no sign of the evil creatures. But Spencer was sure they would return to finish them off. However, he wondered why Kenshi had let them live for now, why he had let them go. It couldn't be just because Spencer had been standing up, right?