Powers rematch
Kero hammered the glass with her paw. Loc was hysterical, laughing hard in the safety of the room. "Lock, this ISN'T funny, let us in!" Kero growled. Lock, as always, refused to obey Keroberos. Aura put a paw on the window and it unlocked. She wagged her tail and Kero dragged her in. "Why are you acting so weird suddenly?" He asked closing the window. Aura bounced onto the bed. "You don't look like Kero, or smell like Kero, or sound like Kero, or taste like Kero, or fell like Kero, my subconscious is telling me you aren't Kero. I know you are but my sub is making me act weird because it says this is the first impression thingy, and they always make me act weird."" She said calmly. She broke into a giggling fit and began to wrestle around on the floor with her pillow. "At least there IS a reason." He muttered, deciding her would ask her when her sanity returned.
"Dinner time, wanna come?" Aura asked later. Kero nodded eagerly and spread his wings as best he could in the small room. Folding them into a cocoon he reverted to his false form. Aura put him around her shoulder and the two walked to the cafeteria. "And today's meal of mystery, is it A) Meat, B) Vegetable, or C) none of the above?" Aura joked sniffing it. Kero stared at it closely, sniffed and thought. "I vote C." He said. Aura nodded. "The sad thing I, I'm not sure weather or not either of us was joking." She said sitting at one of the table today. The Aura at most of the food, slipping Kero scraps of 'bread' and 'meat'. They finished and Aura headed up to her room. "So what would be a good way to beat Power in her strength contest? I can't think of a contest I could win against her myself." She said. Kero sighed. "Me either. The only way to win would be to cheat somehow, but even that probably wouldn't work. Power may specialize in strength but aside from her pride she's no fool." He said thinking aloud. Aura and Kero thought of ideas, all rejected as they walked to the fourth floor. Aura stopped talking when she heard footsteps coming down the other hall. She stiffened and slid into a poorly illuminated are and let some of her camouflage stripes came out. Her nose was sniffing the air cautiously her ears swiveled in on the sound. Kero looked and saw the guy who attacked her on his first day out standing in the other hall. One of his 'minions' talking with him. The two were talking, or more likely plotting an attack on someone else. "You say this guy can pick any lock, how long does it take?" He barked. His subordinate remained as neutral as he could. "He claims it only takes five minuets at most. Devon, I seen him at it, he aint lying here. He busted my room in about a minuet. This Ralf guy, if he's that good he can break into that chick Aura's room in no time." The minion said. Devon grinned a scuzy grin. "Good, tell him to be here tomorrow or else." The two parted way down the hall and as soon as it was clear Aura slipped into her room on the next floor.
"Think they'll be any threat?" aura asked. Kero looked concerned. "Normally with lock up no, but I could sense a lingering trace of someone else's magic on the other guy. To linger around that strongly, this lock picker, if it's his magic, might get through. It does worry me. Magic is real rare, so, who else's could it be? I haven't sensed any but you own around her, so…" He trailed off. Aura morphed tiger and paced around. "If only I knew who it was, then I could remove it before it became a threat to me." She muttered. Kero jolted back to reality. "Hang on, get rid of him before he does anything? Isn't that going too far?" he asked. Aura shrugged. "If I feel threatened I try to remove the threat, if that wasn't an option, I'd flee, but doing that would mean leaving the card job half done, and I don't want to do that." She said. Kero sighed. "And speaking of cards, we need to defeat Power somehow. Ohh this is so not fun at all!" He said angrily. Aura nodded.
" Swimming." Harris said next to aura. She looked up in confusion. "Swimming, it takes strength and stamina to swim a race. I know you hate getting in water that could be dangerous like the river, but it's the only way I think you'd stand a chance. I've seen you swim underwater, and you do it as well as any fish, or other aquatic creature." She said.
Aura thought about it as Harriss vanished. "Kero," she began interrupting his possible contest list, and why it wouldn't work," What about a swimming contest, in the river or something? It takes power to swim a river in a race, but I know how to manage in the water now that my paws healed up." She said Kero thought a moment. "I guess but wait Already It hasn't even been a day!" He exclaimed. Aura grinned, "If I needed to I could grow back whole limbs in about a week. Healing a paw is nothing. "She said. Kero stared open-mouthed and shook himself out of it. "I think a river race might work, as long as you do know how to swim fast. How fast do you swim?" he asked. Aura got up. "If there's a good current, I'd say about six or seven miles per hour. About crocodile speed I guess." She said. Kero whistled. "That's fast! That's very fast. You may have a chance of winning this then." He said. Aura nodded. "But, I'd also be swimming up stream, and without a good current it's probably a bit less. How fast do you think Power would swim?" She asked. Kero thought a moment "I'd say about three quarters of your speed, if she had practice and a good stroke, but if you swim as fast as you claim, you should win this." He said. Aura nodded. 'Thanks for that Harriss,' She though. The two decided to challenge Power in the morning, and went to sleep.
"Good morning!" she said to Kero. Kero stirred from his slumber and waved a paw at her before snuggling further into the pile of warm plush toys. Aura sighed. "Need I remind you we need to catch Power today. Wake up already Keroberos." She ordered. Kero grumbled to himself but crawled out into the cold air in the room. "Could you have Fire act as a room heater in here or something, it's fu- it's freezing in her." He said as he rubbed his arms and curled up into a ball. Aura shrugged. "I know, but I prefer to have it cold to hot, I could go into detail about the dangers of heat and cold, weighing the risks of each and why I choose that, but I'd like to set out while my smooth oily heat retaining fur is going to be an advantage." She said plucking the guardian up and carrying him to the window. "Dang, it is freezing out here, what a day for a swim in a melted snow stream huh?"
Aura spread her wings and flew over her hill, around Freezes Lake, and to the cliffs, but didn't see Power about. She was about to ask Kero if he could sense her when she picked up her presence and followed it. "Kero, this is weird, normally I can't sense card at all, but each time I take to the skies I can feel them quickly." She said. Kero nodded. "It's probably because Fly loaned some magic to make your wings, so it goes through there and you get a boost from it." He explained. Aura skimmed the treetops, stopping when she saw Power sleeping on a patch of rock. She landed and shook the card awake. Power looked up blearily.
"Huh? What do you want?" power asked stretching awake. Aura sat down and swished her tail. "I calmed down, it's just my 5 senses told me that wasn't Kero and it was conflicting with my mind that said he is and it just made me a little crazy. I also came up with an idea for our rematch." She said. Power was awake at that. "Oh, you did, did you? Just what might that be? She asked. "Swimming a race through the forests main river. With the current, the water, and the temperature, it does take strength to swim, and lots of it, right?" She asked. Power considered this. "I guess it would. All right, how did you plan the race to be?" she asked. " I was thinking maybe a 300 meter round trip race. Turn around at 150 meters, starting by swimming down stream." She said Power nodded. "All right then, sounds good to me." She said. The three went to the river, selecting a straight deep area with a strong but not rapid current. Kero floated at the turn around point, and Freeze had set a small chunk of ice at the finish line for the winner to grab.
"Ready, GO!" Freeze said. Aura and power both took off down the river. Power was swimming like a normal person, but Aura was using a different technique. She held her breath and dove, flapped her tail up and down a few times to right her course, then swished it rapidly from side to side, gliding like a crocodile or a snake through the frigid water. Her front paws, held down against her tummy served as steering fins and her ears were laid flat against her skull. Her un-groomed and now oily fur kept out the water, and her gently curving snout parted the currents allowing her to sail past Power in the river. Power swam harder, picking up a little more speed. Aura surfaced and had to slow a moment to catch her breath, then dove and swam another fifty or so meters.
Power was at the fifty meter mark went Aura swam past Kero, and spewing a small mouthful of water at the tuft on his tail for fun. She turned and swam downstream before he could even shout at her for it. Aura passed Power at the halfway mark and surfaced. Power grunted and swam harder. Aura neared the end of the course when she felt a tug at her paw. She looked down to see an abandoned and ripped fishing net caught on her foot. She tried to tug free, but her paw and toes were tangled greatly in it. She swam up, only to find her snout was below the surface by a good foot or so.
Panic set in and she squirmed, and bit, and clawed, and dug, but her paw wouldn't come out. She rolled and thrashed into the water, sending it up in waves of white droplets. She felt the net tighten around her foot, digging in deeper and ensnaring her even further. She clawed at the mud around the net, but it fell back into the holes faster then she could dig. She chewed at it, but the strong strands wouldn't be broken. She felt herself getting light headed and dizzy. 'No, not drowning, anything but drowning!' She thought desperately. She withered in the water, the cold seeped through her fur, and she felt herself going numb. Seeing no other choice she tried her last escape rout.
She turned and opened her mouth, bringing her jaws around over her stuck foot. The icy mountain fed river numbed her whole body, where the oily fur had been shaken apart into spikes to let the water through. She snapped again and again as blood began to mix with water, she tore at her ankle, feeling herself begin to float to the surface. Her sharp teeth and powerful jaws tore at skin and bone, ripping her foot from the rest of her body. There was o air, no feeling, no way to think, just instinct to try and break free of the net that kept her under the glimmering surface of the river. She snapped and chewed and clawed, feeling bone break and skin tear. At last she had chewed her way free and gasped for air, splashing down the river. Her mind spun around, the only thoughts were that of the water, icy water, and the shore taunting her, as the water turned pink.
Power was closing the distance and Aura flailed in the water, snapping for the ice. Her teeth found the block and she floundered desperately for shore, feeling her strength going. She grasped some of the rocks at the shore and pulled herself to land, lying limp on the dirt of the forest floor. Kero flew over to her, looking sick at the sight of her self-mangled foot. She gasped and let the block fall to the ground, sleepiness beginning to cloud her mind. "Aura, Aura! No, don't go to sleep! Stay awake! Aura!" Her eyes closed, Kero's voice seemed like a far off echo, or a dream. "AURA! Come on!" Kero shouted, shaking her. "You said you could grow it back, come on, We'll get you back home, get you warmed up and you can rest there, hang on!" He said, transforming into his true form. He hoisted the chimera onto his back, leaping into the sky and racing for Aura's tree, where she kept all her strange plants from places unknown to anyone else. Kero landed and raced to the tree on the hill, pawing desperately, without any idea what to do.
"Get bandages, star shade and something to keep pressure on her stump." Kero whirred to see a semi-transparent figure floating near him. "Hurry, the clocks ticking!" Harris said. Kero gathered his thoughts and plucked up the items. Put star shade over the wounds, it kills infections and stuff like that, then wrap the strips of cloth around it, not too lose." Harriss said. Kero did as she said. "Who are you, and how do you know this?" he asked. Harriss looked down at Aura. "I'm Harriss, and there are Aura's from all parts of timelines that I can talk to, and the one with me now says that 's what you need to do." She replied vanishing. "HEY! Wait!" Kero demanded, but the figure was gone. He looked down at Aura, and curled up around her, putting his wing over her to form a warm Kero cocoon on the cold day.
Aura stirred from her sleep. She felt cold still, and her paw felt funny.
She looked down as the day's event flashed back to her. She winced at her paw, but wasn't worried, knowing she could grow a new one. She looked around, the wall was yellow, thee roof was white and feathery, and she could see a paw sticking into the cocoon. "She sniffed. "So, it's Kero then." She said snuggling into his warm side.
Kero was roused back to reality as he felt Aura stirring awake. He breathed a sigh of relief. She muttered something he didn't catch. "What?" He asked. Aura curled up next to him again. "Toooaaassst…" She said falling back to sleep again.