Star Fox Adventures: The Resurrection of Star Wolf

by LylatChronicler

The end of the Lylat Wars has brought about a bleak era, one where after years of solitude, Star Wolf is but a faded legend. None know Wolf by his true name, and his memories and power are both fading. His last hope lies on a desolate planet where a new war, new allies, and possibly a new life await him... (Part III of the O'Donnell Saga).

25. Chapter 25

Now, after a staggering delay, I present the new chapter. You can thank my college for the oppressive gap, because the first assignment those infernal scourges teachers at my poltical comics class had me do was a hand-drawn, 50-page, fully-inked comic FROM SCRATCH. It was so overwhelming and tedious that it's literally made me never want to draw again.

So as you can imagine, progress on this chapter came to a dead halt for the three months that ungodly project took to finish.I'm really sorry for making you all wait, but I assure you that it was equal penance for me.

Without further ado, here's a reward for your patience.

Chapter 25: Treading the Boundaries Of The Unknown

Sargasso Shrine Sub-Level, Catalaya on Titania, 5 ALW (HMD Period)

"Cerinia…"

Everyone else had regarded the strange word with a minor look of curiosity or a dismissive shrug without any real recognition. But Wolf muttered it aloud and pondered the sound of it inside his head.

He was fairly certain that he had never heard that name in his life. And yet it lingered…leaving a mental echo in his mind.

Miyu looked at him absentmindedly. Then she looked at him again, noticing the strange look in his face.

"Hey, what's up with you?"

Sauru turned to him. "Is there something wrong, boy?"

"You sure that's the name of the planet?" Wolf asked suddenly. "Not the name of…" His eyes darted across the ground. "…a person?"

Sauru remained still for a moment, eyebrows furrowing. "There isn't any record of anyone with that name in any archive. Why?"

Wolf looked down. "I don't know…it just sounds odd."

He didn't even know why he had asked that. Uttering the name "Cerinia" in his head didn't trigger a single image in his memory.

For some reason, some portion of his subconscious just automatically assumed the word "Cerinia" with a person in particular. But who?

Sauru began to regard him with a growing look of suspicion.

"Do you know something about the planet, Star Wolf?"

Everyone turned to Wolf with curiosity. Miyu raised her eyebrows expectantly. Riley stopped examining the dusty jars on Sauru's shelf and perked his ears up with sudden intrigue. Mason shifted his stiff expression to allow an interested glance.

But Wolf, after a moment's stare into space, shook his head.

"No," He said, voice still uncertain. "I don't think I even heard of it before now."

"I'd be surprised if you had heard of it." Sauru's expression sharpened keenly. "Apart from the Cerinians themselves, no warm-blood has ever laid eyes upon it, let alone heard of it …" He peered closer, yellow eyes becoming shrewd. "Which begs the question, what about a name you've never heard of strikes you as odd, Star Wolf? Do you recall it from somewhere?"

Wolf, a little uncomfortable with the weight of Sauru's curiosity, grimaced away slightly.

"No."

Sauru rested his fixed stare at Wolf for a moment before it slowly faded, looking disappointed...but the suspicion in his expression still lingered.

"Indeed…"

"And you say this planet was just…destroyed?" Fay asked in hushed voice.

Reluctantly swerving his inquisitive gaze away from Wolf, Sauru turned to her.

"I'm not even certain myself. There was no trace of it when I returned years later…not an asteroid field, and no signs of perished life-forms. It was gone."

"That's impossible," Mason said with flat skepticism. "Something as big as a planet doesn't just 'disappear', not at least without leveling every single planetary world around it. That goes against every law of physics!"

"Well, feel free to offer an alternative explanation for an entire planet disappearing," Sauru offered in a dry voice. "I'm only telling you everything I saw."

"Wait a minute," Riley chimed in suddenly. "If this place, and all the people on it, was destroyed…" He pointed at the shimmering scorpion in Sauru's hand. "Then how did you get ahold of that thing?"

The talisman's radiant gleam illuminated Sauru's face, but cast shadows on the worn creases, making his cold grimace of dreading reminiscence all the more cryptic.

"I visited the place long before it met its end, during my youth as a corsair in the SharpClaw ranks...when I was young and impulsive, and wasn't mantled with the burden of intelligence, just like the rest my brethren.…" His reptilian eyes traveled past all their confused faces. "We SharpClaw were under General Fang's command during those days, and he was sending out convoys of airships across the known worlds. At the time, the SharpClaw Army was but a cluster of raiders and pillagers, not grunts for an empire like Talon wishes for the current generation." His face contorted with loathing distaste before continuing. "And amidst our search for plunder, our Convoy stumbled across a planet that hadn't appeared on a single one of the planetary charts we had ever stolen. It was no arid wasteland, or ruthless tundra that greeted us when we set foot on this new planet…it was a lush world, one we had never seen before…"

Fay sighed longingly. "Oh, do tell us what it was like, Sauru-ji…it must've been so exotic…"

"Exotic? My dear girl, your little Lylatian planets are befitting for a word as generic as 'exotic.' Cerinia was a haven for nature, teeming with life…"

Sauru drank in the memory, his expression rekindled with longing, the recalling of a pleasant dream.

"It was lush with fertile jungle, humid air, towering waterfalls, clusters of tantalizing fruits, roaming wildlife…it was a reptile's dream, the ideal homeworld for SharpClaw." His expression sharpened suddenly. "But it was only moments after we arrived that we encountered the numerous life-forms that inhabited the surface. The Cerinian warriors…and they weren't jungle-bred aborigines, either. They were calculating and merciless, cold and tactfully superior. With the way they fought us, you'd think they had been waiting for us. Once General Fang saw that his raid had become a battle, it was apparent that no amount of plunder was worth the countless SharpClaw we'd lose to the mindless bloodshed. We took our leave, never to return."

He looked down at the golden scorpion in his hands.

"But we didn't leave without salvaging a few spoils; including a number of slaves. And among the slaves my battalion took, there was an old Cerinian fox…one without the paint or trappings of any of the known clans…only a brand on his fur, one the Cerinians reserved exclusively for outcasts of their clans. He wouldn't reveal anything about himself…except his name, Randorn."

Sauru glanced at the ground in an almost melancholy fashion for a moment, before continuing.

"The harsh treatment of the SharpClaw Slavers honed his spite for them…and reinforced his trust in the only SharpClaw who showed him even a grain of mercy…" He looked up. "…me."

"Hmph, perhaps you weren't as different in your youth like you claim, Sauru," Mason commented, some approval lingering in his stiff demeanor. "You were the only morally-conscious one amongst your race, even then."

"I wasn't much better than those around me." Sauru grimaced uncomfortably. "All I ended up doing for him was giving him water, and sparing him the constant insults and abuse my brethren was showering him with. But it apparently was enough trust to pass one of the remaining relics of Cerinia to me…along with the secret of its divine properties."

Miyu blinked. "That's it? He passed the secret of entire civilization to you, just for some water and a pat on the back?"

"I assure you, I was just as baffled when he gave it to me," Sauru said admittedly. "There was no rhyme or reason to it, but he never explained why. He escaped our airship within a fortnight of his capture, and disappeared long before I could find him. When I eventually left my SharpClaw brethren behind, I actually went in search of him during my quest for greater knowledge…but by the time I had returned to Cerinia's spot in the galaxy, the planet had been long destroyed…" He looked down at the Scorpion. "…with only a fragment of its legacy left behind."

Riley knitted his eyebrows together, suddenly piecing Sauru's words together.

"But…if you were part of the SharpClaw battalion that went there…does that mean you fought the Cerinians there as well?"

The constant focus on the subject of this Cerinia place was provoking a jolt of dread in Wolf's stomach, and he didn't know why. On one hand, it stirred up a strange, inexplicable sense of yearning to know more about it…

….but something else in the pit of his stomach squirmed uncomfortably at the thought of it.

Finally, he shook himself out of it. He was worrying over nothing. What significance could this place possibly have?

This has nothing to do with the task at hand…none of it…

Sauru was about to open his mouth objectively to Riley's question, before Wolf interrupted.

"Look…not that this isn't-you know, fascinating… But could we just get to the process, now?"

"But aren't you even the slightest bit curious?" Fay asked, sounding reluctant. "This relic came from another people, another world…one that doesn't exist." She cocked her head. "Doesn't that strike a little bit of interest?"

Wolf drummed his claws on his side, glancing warily at the rapidly-disappearing sunlight of the outer dusk slipping through the boarded-up windows.

"I think I'd be a little more interested if every minute I wasted wasn't a minute lost."

"Oh, I see…" Fay said in a different voice, looking down at the ground meekly. "Right, I'm sorry…"

But Sauru seemed somewhat relieved at the change of subject.

"I agree," He concurred instantly. "It isn't really something I'd like to go into. I'd happily regale you all with the story another time…" His voice was layered with bitter sarcasm. "But we have more pressing business…like this boy's memory."

Whatever curiosity everyone had to learn about their cryptic Field Advisor were dashed instantly at the exciting mention of inter-dimensional travel.

Fay still looked disappointed, though. She really wanted to hear more about that Cerinia place…

Wolf nodded hurriedly. "First off, how is that thing going to take me-or us, rather-to the space between dimensions? You can call me condescending, but I don't see a G-Diffuser or a set of wings on it."

Sauru chuckled dryly. "Not all comings and goings of this world depend on the aid of your warm-blooded technology. Despite whatever pride your generation may have in its mediocre 'feats of science'-"

"What, space travel is a mediocre feat, now?" Miyu said, raising an eyebrow.

"In the long scheme of things, yes." Sauru said with unimpressed dismissal. "The route to the next realm isn't through any tunnel through space and time…" He smiled at Wolf. "It's through your mind."

"My mind?" Wolf's eyebrows furrowed. "But-how is that possible? If it was in my mind the whole time, why do I need that thing?"

Sauru held up the golden scorpion Wolf was pointing at for everyone to see. "I assume you all have taken notice of the peculiar gem on its upper construct?"

Riley's eyes drew greedily to the massive ruby on the golden creature's sting. "Yes…I mean-" He straightened up, clearing his throat. "Yeah, I noticed it."

"It is called a Honing Stone in the Cerinian dialect," Sauru explained. "Deep within its planetary core, Cerinia harbored many extraordinary resources that ended up disappearing along with it..." The ever-growing glow of the stone illuminated Sauru's face. "…including these minerals that radiated the planet's supernatural aura within their cores. Each of them contained many diverse and unknown properties. Some of these properties are what many adepts of modern science would consider…" He paused for a moment. "...unnatural."

"Unnatural?" Wolf repeated. "How so?"

"The energy that resides in this stone derives from a number of sources, the human mind being one of them." The SharpClaw held the stone more delicately, laughing with quiet nervousness. "Even I don't know what else the devious little thing's capable of doing..."

Miyu's curious look disappeared instantly. "Hold on, you don't know what else it does?"

Sauru shook his head. "No records of the stones were ever found…and hence I have no knowledge of their full potential."

Suddenly, she clenched her fist, eyes fixed on the red stone.

"Then you shouldn't be treading lightly with that thing, Sauru!" Her indigo eyes flashed from alert to frightened . "What are you thinking?! You brought in something that's beyond even your understanding-and you didn't tell even one of us?! That could pose a hazard to every single person in this-!"

"Easy now, Miyu," Sauru cooed reassuringly. "The stone won't pose any threat to you, or anyone else."

As Miyu's tightened fist slackened, her eyebrows knitted closer together.

"It won't?"

"No." Sauru chuckled. "I'm glad you remain a vigilant leader as ever, my dear girl…but this isn't an unstable threat any more than a barely-tinkered machine. It's unpredictable, but it's nothing dangerous."

Much to everyone's surprise, Mason stepped forward and put his hand on her shoulder.

"Relax, Miyu…it's fine." He adjusted his frosty look for a solemn nod, which did more to stimulate Miyu's cheeks more than soothe her caution. "Sauru wouldn't bring in a security risk before running it by me first." He looked up at the Field Advisor. "Isn't that right, Sauru?"

The SharpClaw gazed silently at the stone before answering.

"Anything can transform from harmless to dangerous in an instant." He looked up. "But rest assured, as long as the stone is the hands of anyone without Inner Power, it's perfectly safe. The energy inside the Honing Stone will remain in a neutral state, until it comes in contact with an organism touched by Inner Power…which means it goes out of control-for whatever reason-it only poses a threat to that individual."

A growing look of ominous realization spread amongst the stunned TRU Members, as they stepped aside to turn their gaze to Wolf.

Wolf took a cautious step back, eyes narrowed with a newfound glare fixed on the small, glinting gem.

"What kind of threat?" He asked slowly.

"No need to worry," Sauru interrupted. "By fortune's whim, you've already lost so much of your Inner Power that it doesn't send a strong enough of a beacon to the stone's energy…so you won't have to worry about it exploding on you." His smile disappeared. "But in the end, you're exactly the type of person this unique little device is suited for."

He looked down at the scorpion.

"You see, the proper term for this device is the Cerinian Memory Router. It's initially designed, at least according to Randorn, to link non-telepathic beings to the construct of their own minds." He looked up at Wolf, choosing his words simply and delicately. "What this means, is that once this device is attached to you, and the stone detects your Inner Power (or whatever's left of it), the unstable energy within the stone will become rigid…like water that enters a low-temperature zone, becoming ice."

Fay regarded the glowing stone with quiet wonder. "Would you compare something like Inner Power to water?"

Sauru smiled, eyes twinkling. "Oh, yes, my dear… Inner Power behaves in an almost identical fashion: it curls, it ripples, it rises and falls…alongside the organism it's attached to." He turned back to Wolf. "And the energy within this stone rises and falls in unison with the power it detects. But the Cerinians who built this device…" He pointed his gnarled claw at the scorpion. "…designed this talisman so that the stone's energy fixates its pulse on the host's brainwaves, linking the two in the process…"

He curled his hand around the gleaming jewel like a dry tree root.

"….and expands a psychic tunnel in the host's brain…" He held up his outstretched claw as he detailed the process with mad eyes, casting a shadow on everyone's astonished faces. "…lifting the organism's consciousness, and allowing it to suspend itself from the hold of the mortal body."

The oil lamp glowing dimly in the corner of the study waned and flickered. Shadows passed over Wolf's face, his bewildered eyes disappearing in the cryptic deterioration of light.

Sauru nodded…seeing the realization in Wolf's stare.

"You understand, boy?" His scaly fingers closed around the Memory Router's surface. "This device is your bridge to the unknown realm. Your mental consciousness, your mind...is about to be lifted from your body. In mind, nerves, and soul, you're being transported to the next dimension...leaving your body behind. This the only means you have to dive into the realm...and retrieve your memories from the Gate that contains your Inner Power."

The flame within the lamp curled into a submissive puff before dying out completely, leaving the foreboding glow of the stone as the only light in the room.

Everyone stood in the barely-lit stillness of the shadowy study, suddenly feeling a strange presence from this odd stone.

Miyu's indigo eyes shone with growing unease. Mason's stone expression became saddled with a mix of doubt and lack of full understanding in was illuminated in the dark. Fay's pondering look of confusion became jarred and mystified...even afraid.

Then, a laugh whisked some of the tension from the dark silence.

"Okay…wait," Riley started. "You're telling me that this-this scrap of metal, with a pretty jewel on top, is going to whisk Wolf's mind away and send it into another dimension?" He rubbed his temples humorously. "Jesus Christ, I'm trying to make out the realism in that statement…"

Sauru curled his lip, scowling at the young cat.

"Do I detect some doubt in your voice?"

Riley put his hands up. "Well excuse me if I'm questioning some of the practical logic in all of this. I mean, Inner Power's one thing…I mean, I've seen THAT- But this?" He outstretched his hand in a questioning fashion."This is beyond the fabric of impossible! This is the kind of backwards-ass crap that Andross dabbled into, but would never actually get to work!"

Mason didn't look the least bit amused.

"Yes…and everyone also said 'a banished scientist would never be able to raise an army and declare war on the entire galaxy.' Look how impossible that turned out to be."

Riley's amused look faded, and he muttered something under his breath.

Wolf blinked from his astounded daze, and fixed a keen look on the SharpClaw.

"Don't play games with me, Sauru…" He eyed the scorpion. "Can this thing really do what you say it can?"

"Come to think of it," Miyu suddenly said. "How do you know if the energy inside that thing even exists? You can't even see it…"

Sauru groaned and rolled his eyes.

"Brilliant. I'm not even five minutes into explaining this procedure, and still nobody believes that it will work."

Fay looked about timidly before partially raising her hand. "I believe you."

"Alright, listen," Sauru said firmly to everyone. "Randorn only explained the bare minimum about this thing before he died," He said through grinded teeth. "So forgive for not having complete knowledge about something I didn't even even build."

Wolf paused for a moment. "Then, how do you know it works?"

"I told you…no one has attempted this in over a thousand years... I've never attempted it because I was never in need of its abilities." The SharpClaw flashed a conniving smile. "But since you are in need of them, you just have to hope that it will work…don't you?"

Voice and eyes layered with irritancy, Wolf sighed.

"You act like I have a choice in this…" He muttered. He began scratching his chin, eyes darting intuitively. "But if I do manage to reach this place through my mind alone-" He looked up at Sauru. "How do I get back?"

"You won't go in alone," Sauru promised. "I shall accompany you, to prevent any possible mistakes or mishaps."

Fay smiled with some optimism. "Well, at least he won't be totally alone in this inter-dimensional place. That's good, right?"

"Yeah," Miyu agreed. "He won't have many chances to screw up with you there with him."

The Field Advisor slithered over to the oil-lamp, setting the Memory Router on a table.

"I can only get him as far as the gate. Whatever mental trials wait beyond there, I cannot say." He drew a match from a pouch on his tunic. "It's his battle from there…"

"Will I be able to take physical form in this dimension?" Wolf asked.

Ptch!

Lighting the match with the flat of his middle claw, Sauru lit the lamp, bringing the comforting spread of light back in the musty room.

"Your physical aspect of yourself remains here. On the other side, you'll only have your soul and your mind to depend on."

Fay and the others look at him anxiously. But Wolf fixed his glance on the gleaming scorpion with a sense of sureness.

"One never truly approaches a battle unarmed…not as long as he has his mind and his wits about him." From the way he said it, it was as if he was assuring himself more than anyone else. "I'm going to need them…if I have to do this process for every memory I need."

Cupping the small lamp-flame in his hands, Sauru flinched and turned around suddenly.

"Every memory?" He repeated. "Whatever do you mean?"

Wolf furrowed his eyebrows. "Aren't I retrieving all of my memories by doing this?"

"Oh, no…" Sauru blew out the candle and shook his head. "By the Claw, no! We aren't recovering all of your memories…otherwise, we'd be sitting here for years, and we don't have that kind of time."

"WHAT?" Wolf shouted, confidence and breath coming to a complete halt. "Wha-Why didn't-what the hell am I to do, then? I can't just have my entire memory incomplete, and if we don't have enough ti-"

"We'll unlock the key memories, Star Wolf," Sauru said calmly. "With so little of your memory left, we'll have to retrieve the most important fragments of it…events that outlined crucial stages in your life. Once you've recovered the most vital of your memories, your mind will use what it has to rearrange the rest of your memories back into place…but it'll happen over time, most likely in the weeks ahead as you gather the more vital memories yourself."

As he slowly pieced the SharpClaw's words together, Wolf's rising pulse and frantic nausea gradually simmered down.

"Then- How many of these…these vital memories do we need before my memory's complete?"

Sauru's eyes drew to the corner, enveloped in deep thought. "These select memories aren't random. They're selected by your Inner Power…because they are the most essential to its construction, to its shape and traits that reflect everything you are…" His eyes glowed with a strange hunger. "And somewhere, there lurks a Master Memory…one that stands above all others in significance, the moment of your life that defined you as who you are…the Last Memory, one that will reset your memory back in place."

One memory…

One that could make everything right again. A strange warm, sense of curiosity and longing rose inside of Wolf. What could that memory possibly be?

What could it have been, to have shaped his whole life? He could only yearn impatiently, and wonder…

Sauru pointed his long gnarled claw between Wolf's eyes, causing him to draw back slightly.

"Everything you are…your attitude, your personality, your unique spirit …are all dependent on this series of memories, followed by that one Master Memory. Human beings are but heaps of clay to be molded, and there is no better molding tool than experiences…the experiences you lost. Experiences this can give back to you…"

Wolf's eyes shone, reflecting the promising gleam of the Memory Router in Sauru's hand. He stretched out his hand, preparing to reach for it-

"But I warn you now, Star Wolf," Sauru said, suddenly yanking the scorpion out of Wolf's reach. "This is a painful, devastating process. No matter how devastating or agonizing it is to witness what you will see, you cannot stop the process once it starts…or you will risk slipping into that coma early."

The musty air in the study was twice as heavy with the sudden ominous tension, and more timid bystanders like Fay and Riley could only gulp in fearful protest, while the more cautious likes of Miyu and Mason only readied themselves in wary anticipation.

Wolf didn't know what Sauru meant by "what he will see", but he didn't have time to dwell on it.

"We've already discussed this," He said flatly, his patience running dry. "Can I just go ahead with it now?"

Sauru frowned, claws curling around the scorpion.

"Don't be so hasty to dive into the process, boy. Believe me, you'll wish you hadn't in a moment…"

Wolf's eyes darted to him. "What do you mean by that?"

"I mean that there are certain measures I that I haven't illuminated you about…" His eyes shifted to the corner, narrowing uneasily. "…certain precautions that we must take, in order to ensure the safety in this process, to make sure nothing dangerous occurs as you plunge into the void."

"Look, I already told you…" Wolf stepped forward insistently. "If there's any danger in this, I'm already prepared to-"

"It's not your safety that's a concern, Star Wolf. Whatever dangers you face aren't physical." His yellow eyes traveled away from him. "It's theirs."

Everyone standing behind Sauru in the corner of the room-Miyu, Riley, Fay, and Mason-looked up abruptly, suddenly looking confused…and alert.

"What?" Riley blinked, oblivious to what was going on.

"Our safety?" Mason sat up instantly. "What do you mean, Sauru? You told me that this operation was safe, without risk!" His voice was quick and demanding. "You told me there were no necessary precautions!"

Sauru looked down at the ground. "There aren't any precautions for Wolf's safety…but there is a crucial one for the rest of you."

"Why?" Wolf said slowly, straightening up, looking just as alert as the rest of them. "I'mthe one going into the dimension….why would that pose a danger to them?"

But Sauru didn't rise up on his coils and spit back some defiant answer or long-winded explanation this time. There was something hard-pressed in his expression as he avoided all their gazes, something pained and reluctant…

Fay's widened eyes fixed on Sauru, trying to find an answer in his expression.

"S-Sauru-ji…?"

"Sauru," Wolf repeated. "Answer me…what about this process threatens them?"

Miyu's eyes traveled from the scorpion to Sauru, fingers wrapping around the rifle slung on her back. Mason took a step forward, fur rising and eyes alert.

"Boy-Star Wolf…" Sauru rearranged his voice completely, the cynical edge that was typically in his tone now gone…and replaced with an imploring tone. "I beseech you-as the process unfolds, as long as you trust me to guide you through it…for your own sake, do not question the means I take to ensure that it succeeds."

Fay's blue eyes expanded in frightened confusion, and Wolf took a step back.

"What means?" He demanded, claws starting to emerge cautiously from his fingers. "Tell me, Sauru!"

Sauru's eyes didn't leave the corner. "Your mind shall be lifted from your body's restraint….but at a price. Entering the space between dimensions is work for the mind, but it also affects the body as recompense." He looked up at everyone's startled expression with a face that was calm and controlled, one that masked his uneasiness. "Knowing this, I had arranged for a means to counter those effects. Means I must ask you not to question or interfere with."

Wolf's stance became rigid, and his voice aggressive. "What means are these? Stop dancing around the question and answer it! What am I not permitted to question?!"

The SharpClaw extended a claw, pointing to the shadiest portion of the room, where light was scarce and dusty was prominent.

"Nothing I can say will suffice to explain…your friend shall demonstrate it better than I."

Wolf's suspicious look slackened, and his eyebrows furrowed.

"My fr-?"

Suddenly, he stopped. He faced towards the dark portion of the study, where Sauru was pointing.

He looked back at Sauru, who nodded, gesturing him to keep going.

Face wrought with confusion, Wolf turned and stepped towards to the dark, where all was silent, and the glow of the dim oil-lamps did not reach.

Wolf walked into the large space, realizing that unlike the rest of the study, there were no shelves or tables here…or books, or papers. It was empty, but extremely spacious. But it was veiled in the darkest portion of the room, without the aid of any lamp or flame.

The thin dusk-light that crept through the windows was gone. All was dark…all was quiet.

Miyu and everyone else in the lit portion of the room stepped forward, but Sauru held out his hand, barring them.

Wolf looked around in the dark area.

"Sauru, what is-?"

Then, in the corner of his eye, he saw a dark shape in the closed-in area of the room with him….a figure. The faint glare of the light wasn't enough to distinguish the figure's shape, but the waning oil-lamp was enough to reflect the figure's clouded, electric-blue eyes.

Wolf's eyebrows furrowed.

"Leon?"

The Chameleon didn't even look up. His expression was blank…and he didn't seem to acknowledge him.

Relief began to swell back into Wolf's nervously-tightened chest. "There you are! I was wondering when you'd turn up…Jesus, you wouldn't believe what-" Then, he stopped. "Wait, have you been here this whole time? What're you doing back here? We were just-"

Then, he realized in mid-sentence that something was wrong. He glanced sideways at the lizard. Leon wasn't talking, or looking at him.

"Leon?" He nudged him knowingly. "Hey, what is it?"

Leon slowly looked up, facing him with some reluctance.

"Sauru's…told you about the process, I take it? About getting your memory back?"

Wolf shrugged. "Just some vague details. I mean, you heard everything…back here, in the corner…for some reason…" He glanced around them strangely. "I only know what he's told me in these last few minutes-"

"I see…" Leon's eyes drew to the boarded-up windows, still with a stone expression. "Then he hasn't told you…"

Wolf's eyebrows furrowed. "Told me what?"

"Wolf…you told me once…that you'd do anything to get your Inner Power back, and your memory."

That's when Wolf began to detect something in Leon's voice...something that pained his voice.

"What about it?" He asked credulously.

"Do you still stand by that?"

"What?"

"Are you willing to do anything, to endure anything, to get them back?"

Wolf stared at him, starting to feel put off by his sudden shift in tone. The shadows were creeping in steadily, and the demanding look in Leon's eyes was only making things all the more unsettling.

"Let's move this conversation where the light is, shall we?" He started to turn to where Sauru and the rest were. "This dark spot is making me a little uneasy-"

Leon didn't move, but his voice shot out in the dark sharply.

"Don't move!" His voice reverted to concrete. "Stay where you are."

Wolf froze, his foot halted from taking another step. He didn't turn around to face Leon, but he could sense the hostility in his voice.

Miyu and everyone else could only furrow their eyebrows in confused unison. Fay didn't know what was going on either…but she didn't like it.

There's something off about him… Wolf thought. Something wrong…

He hid the alerted curve in his stance, and decided to play along with whatever was going on.

Leon looked up. "Listen-Wolf- do you trust me? Not just as your second, but as your friend?

Wolf stared back at him with an oblivious look. His eyes darted at him suspiciously, as he tried to make sense of all this.

"Leon, what's the meaning of all this-?"

"Answer the question, Wolf," Leon said in a suddenly sharp, impatient tone.

Wolf looked at him, hard, before glowering at him though the dark.

"Listen," He said angrily. "I don't know what's gotten into you, but I'm starting to get a bit sick of all these questions." He eyed Leon distrustfully. "If you're really the Leon Powalski I know, then you wouldn't have to ask that question…not after everything we've been through."

Leon's dark figure shifted its stare back at the ground.

Wolf's irritated look faded, and he edged closer, realizing that Leon had a look of guilt.

"Leon, what is going on?" He demanded, more confused than angry. "Why are you here…and why are you asking me all this?"

The face Leon made as he looked up was a crumbling compilation of guilt, shame…and desperation.

"Wolf…look…" The sharpness in his voice vanished. "Everything I do, no matter what it looks like…just remember that I'm doing it to help you."

The bewildered expression on Wolf's face slowly disappeared, his eyes widening.

"What-?"

Click.

Suddenly, Wolf felt something cold and weighted curl around his hand in the darkness. Fur spiking at the sudden chill of the smooth surface of whatever was grazing his wrist, his wriggled hand back on reflex…

…until it yanked hard at his wrist…held down by some immovable weight.

Wolf's heart almost stopped. He shot his free hand in the dark and to his bound wrist…feeling the all-too-familiar cold, linked formation of chain. He blindly traced his fingers to where the chipped grooves of the chain were ended, until they met the smooth, metallic surface of the rod they were attached to.

Wolf groped in the dark till his hand met other cold, metallic rods….their surfaces meeting his fingers in each direction he poked at. He swung his trembling gaze up to Leon, breath frantic and chopped.

"Wolf, listen to me-" Leon started, attempting to calm him down.

"What did you do, Leon?" Wolf demanded, his voice quaking with fear-riddled anger.

"Listen to me, Wolf-" Leon pleaded rapidly. "This was the only way to-"

"What did you do?"

"This is what had to be done-"

"WHAT DID YOU DO?!" Wolf shouted.

The Chameleon sighed. "Turn on the lights, Sauru."

Sauru tapped a switch near his table. The central electric lamp that dangled over the study blared on…illuminating the entire spot where Wolf was standing.

Everyone gaped. Wolf's petrified gaze grew large, and he let go of the iron rod he was gripping…

…now illuminated to be one of many bars of a cage, surrounding him on all sides and towering over him like tall, demeaning obstructions, their iron coated in a thick and scraped rust. The space within the cage's confines was so tight and limited, the patch of dirt where he stood barely an arm's reach in diameter. For a split second, Wolf wondered how both he and Leon fit in the cage…

…before he realized that Leon wasn't in the cage at all. He was staring at Wolf from behind the bars…that had been between them the whole time in the dark.

Somehow, the cage had soundlessly closed behind Wolf when he had obliviously walked into it in the dark.

He tried to reach for the bars with both hands, only to have it yanked back down by the strain of a set of hand-cuffs that bolted Wolf's arm to one of the bars…

…the cuffs Leon had put there.

"Leon!" Wolf's voice was thick and dry, caught in a stammer, before it warped to an enraged yell. "WHAT IS THIS?"

"Wolf, calm down," Leon said firmly, putting a hand on one of the bars. "I promise you, this is just a precaution…"

But the sudden appearance of the cage already sent a wave of horror and shock into the TRU members huddled in the corner with Sauru.

"What the hell is going on?!" Mason was the first to whirl around and confront him. "What is this?!"

"Is that a…cage?" Riley stuttered feebly, eyes locked on the cage."B-but-when did that get here? How long has it been there?"

"It hasn't been there until recently." The SharpClaw slithered forward, past all their shocked faces. "Young Powalski over there was kind enough to help assemble it for me."

Fay looked from Sauru to the cage, fear enveloping her expression. "But why Wolf? What reason do you have for imprisoning him?" She turned to him. "Sauru?"

But the SharpClaw remained silent, expression hardened.

Wolf looked up at the towering bars of his new cage, the gaps between them seemingly shrinking as his frantic gaze traveled over them.

No…not this… Not another cage….

Not this…ANYTHING, but this…

The faint streams of light poking through the bars of the cage striped the stark look of fear on Wolf's face. Being compressed in the horrible tightness of the cages was enough to send an irreversible jolt down his spine. His breathing suddenly became heavier…

Wolf didn't know why, but some suffocating and heart-wrenchingly urgent scream in his body was urging him to find some way out the cage…somewhere to squeeze through, somewhere to bash…or he'd stop breathing. The gaps in those bars would close up. Somehow, he knew they would…

Immediately, he started pacing the confines of the bars like a caged beast, gripping the bars and shaking them….pounding them until the metallic confines rattled like chattering teeth…there had to be some weakness in their design…

Then, his insides seemed to close up like a sinkhole, as his desperate, panicking eyes unveiled a horrible discovery.

There was no lock or mechanism anywhere on the cage.

There were no hinges. There wasn't even a door.

He was trapped.

Breath decreasing rapidly, Wolf turned helplessly from set of bars to the other. His desperation turned to panic, and that panic turned to terror.

CLANG! CLANG!

Smashing his fist against the bars surrounding him, he shouted through the gaps of the cage.

"Get me out of this cage," He pleaded in a hollow voice, his hands shaking. "Leon, get me out of this cage, please!"

"No, Wolf," Leon said firmly. "You have to stay in there. You can't leave it at any moment during this process."

"Why did you chain me to this, Leon?" Wolf demanded, somewhat shakily. "Tell me!"

Leon looked down. "This had to be done…to prevent you from hurting anyone…"

Wolf's panting and constant looking around halted, as his gaze altered in confusion.

"What? Why would I hurt-? Wait…." A slow look of realization grew on his face. "You…you lured me in here?"

Leon averted his pained expression away from Wolf, clenching his fist. "I did what I had to, Wolf. This is what needs to-"

"Why?" Wolf's voice sounded stung. "Why would you—you-?"

"I can't say anymore. You'll thank me when this is all over." Leon started to walk away sullenly. "Just remember that…"

Wolf stared at him for a long time, and after a moment of stunned silence, his confused look hardened, and his voice turned to steel.

"You open this cage right now, Leon!" He barked. "That's an order!"

Leon stopped walking instantly. The loyal instinct that emerged with the word 'order' caused him to wince guiltily.

"I…I can't, Wolf."

"WHAT?"His lip curled, baring his fangs. "I'm giving you an order, Leon. I'm your Leader…and you've been issued a command. Now, FOLLOW IT!"

"You aren't in command anymore, Wolf," Leon said quietly. "This for your own good."

"What are you talking about?" Wolf demanded "Who told you to-"

Miyu, still looking as perplexed as everyone else to whatever was going on as, was the first to shake herself out of it and take immediate initiative.

"Stay where you are, Wolf" She said, stepping an assertive forward. "I'll get you out of there, just let me-"

"You'll do no such thing."

Then, Wolf's confused stare swerved over to Sauru, who emerged from behind the rest of the startled TRU members.

Miyu's eyebrows furrowed in protest. "But-"

"He's in that cage for a reason, Miyu," The SharpClaw said flatly.

"YOU!" Wolf roared furiously, gripping the bars until they clanged in disturbed unison. "YOU PLANNED THIS!"

Sauru calmly addressed him from across the room. "Don't make this any more difficult than it needs to be, Star Wolf. Your panicking and havoc will only slow this process even more."

"WHY?" Wolf demanded, pointing a quaking claw at him. "What did I do to deserve this from you? What action did I perform to warrant a betrayal like this?"

The Field Advisor didn't answer. He picked up the golden scorpion from its stand and slithered past Wolf.

"DON'T YOU TURN YOUR BACK ON ME, OLD MAN!" Wolf spat. "ANSWER ME! EXPLAIN THIS, NOW!"

Pausing, Sauru washed any reluctance or remorse from his expression before turning.

"This isn't betrayal, Star Wolf. This is what's necessary. I plead with you, do not question it until you know why.All I can tell you is that you must remain in that cage-"

"THE HELL WITH THIS!" Wolf howled. He looked frantically between the bars, covering the raw fear that disintegrating his nerves with blind anger. "I don't care what excuse you have-I've spent half a decade rotting in a cage and I won't do rot in another, no matter what necessity this serves!"

Sauru slithered farther, out of Wolf's restrained line of vision.

"I don't have to justify anything to you. You'll realize the importance of this once the process starts."

Fay stepped forward slightly, raising a small hand. "But, Sauru-"

"Keep back, all of you," The SharpClaw commanded. "I won't tell you again."

Wolf's grip around the bars began to become slippery with sweat, all of it trickling down his shaking forehead and neck. The cage seemed to get smaller and tighter all the time…to the point where it tightening his lungs, and making his breath harsh and thin. His heart was racing until the blood pounding deafened his own panting…his fur was starting to feel hot and uncomfortable…

"OPEN THIS CAGE!" He yelled. "I won't be caged…by you, or ANYONE ELSE!" He tried to sound intimidating, but he was feeling so nauseous that he could barely stand. "DO IT, NOW! Or you won't have even a smidgeon of my cooperation in this insane occult process of yours!"

"Do not even think about backing out of this, boy!" Sauru hissed. "Do not forget, that you were the one who boldly claimed that you were ready for any obstacle necessary, no matter how painful or demanding!"

"I didn't agree to this!" Wolf yelled. "You didn't say ANYTHING about this-you kept it under your coils like the snake you are!"

Sauru glowered at him.

"Think, boy," He said sharply. "Would you really have undergone the perquisites of this process if I had asked you first? Even with your memories and Inner Power at stake, you would've refused with every fiber of your body to even step inside that cage…because your 'condition'."

Wolf froze, his pounding blood and constant panting halting in startled confusion.

Everyone else looked just as baffled.

"His 'condition'?" Riley repeated. "What does that mean?"

Sauru's eyes shone keenly. "Why else do you think he's so terrified of climbing into that cage…before the process has even started yet?"

Wolf's eyes darted in confusion, hiding it by hardening his expression. "I don't know what you're talking about."

"Don't play innocent with me, Star Wolf," Sauru sneered. "I know all about you and your warm relationship with tight, confined places. You're showing signs of it…right now…"

Miyu suddenly looked up, after fixing her eyes on Wolf for a long time. A stroke of realization kindled in her startled indigo eyes, as she realized…that she had seen this kind of behavior before.

Her mind flashed back to jungles of Fortuna, during the war…where she and her Cornerian Guerillas had been captured by Venomians….

...those airless, humid, pitch-black trenches where they had been imprisoned, where she had seen her own comrades-fearless soldiers-get reduced to terrified, screaming, weeping children.

She remembered the looks on their faces all too well:

The shivering, the wide-eyed look of irreversible terror…a fixed state of fear that no amount of comfort or reassurance would relieve….

The look Wolf was wearing right now.

She straightened suddenly. "He's claustrophobic."

Wolf paused in his sweat-induced nausea to turn to her. "What?"

"That's why you're acting like this…" She looked at him harder. "Something must've happened to you to make you like this, didn't it?"

Wolf stared at her, a fixed look of confusion on his face.

Then he shook himself, not allowing himself to show fear and cowardice in front of everyone else.

"I don't know what you're talking about-" Locked in the haze of his fleeting vision and crippling nausea, he growled at Sauru. "But even if I did, that has nothing to do with this!"

Leon stepped forward. "You don't know, because you don't remember.

But just because you don't remember what made you claustrophobic, doesn't change that face that you are claustrophobic."

Wolf's eyebrows furrowed. "What, are you saying that I have some traumatic condition, from an incident I don't even remember?"

Leon looked at the ground sullenly. "If you had your memories back, you'd know that it wasn't just 'some incident.' It was your whole childhood…spent roaming those airtight, lightless caves beneath Venom's surface."

Wolf's eyes started to widen. He didn't know why, but he could picture the jagged outlines of somewhere darker and tighter than this cage…somewhere cold, and even mustier than this study.

"It changed you, Wolf," Leon said. "You might not remember it, but your body still does."

Riley's fur spiked eerily. "He spent his childhood in the caves of Venom? Jesus..."

Fay's blue eyes traveled about the cage, before setting back on Wolf with confusion.

"But…there's plenty of air and light in the cage. Maybe not a lot of space, but-not extreme enough to make something like claustrophobia go off…"

Leon glanced at him knowingly. "With Wolf, it's always been a mental claustrophobia. The presence of an exit or an escape route is what soothes his phobia." He managed a small smile. "The wuss would never have even climbed into the cockpit of his first starship until I told him repeatedly that there was an escape hatch, or an eject button." His smile disappeared, his expression melancholy. "But you don't even remember that, do you?"

Wolf blinked, not catching whatever Leon was referring to so fondly.

"It doesn't matter," He snapped. "But you knew about this claustrophobia, didn't you?"

Leon clenched his fist defiantly. "Of course! I knew, and Sauru knew. That's why I had to lure you in there, because I knew you'd never climb into a cage without a lock or a door by choice! The lack of mental reassurance would've made your mind snap!"

Amidst the bulky haze of his sweat-inducing nausea, Wolf couldn't decide what scared him more: this newfound phobia that he didn't even remember having, or the dread of a new, horrible thought…

What else is wrong with me?! His insides closed up. What else don't I remember?

Mason walked past the others impatiently. He wasn't particularly surprised that there was something wrong with Wolf's mind. That was to be expected from a mindless Venomian like him.

"Enough! I personally don't care why he's losing his grip, because that's not the issue here!" The Snow Leopard jabbed his finger at Sauru fumingly. "The real issue that you went ahead to imprison him by force, Sauru,...without telling any of us."

Sauru raised an eyebrow. "That's an issue, is it?"

"You violated our agreement as well as the security declarations I've set to keep this place safe!" His frosty gaze wandered up and down the bars' reach. "I don't know and I don't care what the purpose of all this is, but you didn't consult me before doing it. You didn't even tell me, the head of security, about whatever risk prompts the presence of this cage from the first place!"

"Inner Power is my field of study, not yours, Mason." Sauru glared at him coldly. "Why would your input on the matter be necessary?"

SWSH!

Mason swatted aside a mountain of yellowed parchments and papers next to him, shaking in a fit of rage.

"It's my job to analyze any potential threats, not you! I'm the Vanguard of the TRU's Security, and that makes my input the only one that matters!" Mason shouted. You may be our Field Advisor," but even you are subject to the rules of this Shrine…but you defied my instruction, and took a security hazard into your own hands!"

Fay and Riley shrunk back meekly at Mason's menacing shout. But Sauru glanced indifferently at the falling papers that drifted to the floor around them.

"Keep yourself calm, Mason," Sauru said quietly. "You don't know what's going on…you have no right to question-"

Miyu stepped forward defensively. "He has every right to question this! I'm freaking questioning this!" She pointed at Wolf, who hung limply on the bars of his cage. "You throw one of our members in a cage, and you expect us not to react?!"

"Um, I have a better question," Riley raised a small finger. "What about this process is so dangerous that it requires a cage? What the hell else is going to happen?"

"You release him, right now, Sauru," Mason snarled. "That's an order, you hear me-"

"SILENCE, ALL OF YOU!"

Pestered by the uproar flying at him like a swarm of wasps, the fed-up SharpClaw reared up on his coils and grew an extra two feet in height. He swung around to face all of them, seething through his fangs and grinding his claws into the scorpion's metallic surface.

"This cage is not just to protect you all from the effects of this process!" He spat in a rancid tone. He turned to Wolf. "It's to protect this boy from whatever harm he extracts upon himself!"

The room became dead silent. Shocked expressions spread from one face to other.

The heat that pulsed in Wolf's head disappeared. The chill of newfound fear churned his blood the wrong way, as his widened eyes were locked on the fuming SharpClaw.

"What did you just say?"

Sauru sighed and faced the ground, his clenched teeth outlined through his closed mouth. The prominent look of reluctance in his face was enough of an indicator that he had said too much by accident.

The stark fear in Fay's expression made her face even whiter.

"What does that mean? What's going to happen to him?" She asked suddenly, her voice shaky. "Is he-going to hurt himself?"

Leon ran his hands down one of the cage's bars.

"Wolf, aren't you wondering why I handcuffed you…even after I made sure you were locked tight in the cage?"

Wolf froze. That hadn't even crossed his mind…

I'm already in the cage.

Why bother with the handcuffs…?

He yanked at the handcuff's tight chain, looking from it to Leon frantically. "Why? What are they for?"

Leon, edged back to the shadiest part of the study, looking down miserably.

"LEON?" He demanded. He swung his gaze to Sauru. "What need would you have for restraints when I'm already imprisoned? What are these chains for?"

Sauru let out a deep and reluctant sigh, before turning his yellow eyes to him.

"Star Wolf…there's something else I didn't tell you about this process…about how you'll be retrieving your memories…"

"Why?" Wolf straightened sharply, pressing his face between the bars. "What's that got to do with this?"

Sauru fixed his gaze upon him.

"You won't be just be retrieving each memory, one by one…you're going to be reliving them."

The non-moving expression on Wolf's face could only be described as plain, dead shock. His mouth hung open, and his arms dangled limply down the bars of his cage until the chain holding them clinked.

"I'm going t- what?"

Sauru slithered around the cage, the bars' shadows lining his face.

"Inner Power evolves as it absorbs its host's memories. Every detail of each event shapes the Inner Power and helps its growth. But the building of memories happens over years-worth of time. This process cannot be altered or counterfeited…or your Inner Power will know."

Riley blinked. "What do you mean 'it will know'? What, it has a mind of its own?"

"By reliving each memory manually," Sauru continued over him. "...each key memory, as we've discussed…you'll do what typically takes years to happen...Your Inner Power will develop at a faster rate…within the weeks we have."

Fay furrowed her eyebrows, her expression facially inquiring: Isn't that a good thing?

"But by doing so, you must obtain all your past memories…" Sauru held up the scorpion, so that Wolf saw his own sweating, shaking reflection look back at him in the gleaming metal. "Even the ones that you want to forget. You'll have to relive the gloom of your darkest moments, and withstand the torment they extracted upon you the first time you witnessed them."

Sudden prickling fear crawled up and down Wolf's back like the cold legs of a centipede.

"But…how would that endanger me?" Wolf asked in a dry voice. "It's nothing more than a memory...right?"

Sauru faced him grimly. "Witnessing a memory for the second time is an unnatural experience for the mind. It'll torture you with everything you fear about yourself…every memory that haunts your subconscious. And while that may be substantial pain for the mind, it's your body that will feel the effects…" He outstretched his claw, seeing Wolf's terrified look in the spaces between his fingers. "In the time that your mind is experiencing each memory again inside the realm beyond...the agony will affect your body out here in the realm of the physical, as recompense for the pain."

The SharpClaw fixed his reptilian stare on Wolf's bandaged arms and torso.

"The rest of you…your nerves, your limbs, your entire body…will be moving beyond on its own, beyond your own will-thrashing and tearing at everything within reach-trying everything to make the pain stop."

Wolf felt his grip around the bars weaken, feeling a plummeting feeling in his stomach.

"N-No…No…" His voice became hollow, and weak. All at once became harder to breathe…and suddenly, his pounding pulse and trickling sweat had nothing to do with the cage…

Sauru nodded. "Anything can transform from harmless to dangerous in an instant…including you. The process isn't what endangers everyone in this room, Star Wolf…you are. The cage will protect us from you, and the chains will protect you from yourself…"

Wolf let his head sink and his forehead press against the cage bars, his chest rising and falling.

"And you didn't tell me…" The fear in his voice was swallowed by anger. "You kept this part of the process from me, so I wouldn't back out, didn't you?!"

The SharpClaw remained motionless, looking away from Wolf.

"What kind of things will happen?" Wolf demanded instantly, "What'll this make me do-?"

Sauru directed his hardened look to the ground. "I only know that you'll be unstable, uncontrollable, dangerous…I don't know full well how you'll react to the pain, or what you'll be tempted to do-"

"What do you mean, what he'll be 'tempted to do'?!" Miyu exclaimed, her furious voice concealing the worry in her eyes. "Sauru, you can't do this! This was never part of the plan!"

Sauru turned to her. "Keep back, Miyu! Don't let whatever limited understanding you may have cloud your judgment. This is necessary for-"

"No, I won't keep back!" The Lynx swiped her hand in protest. "I'm not going to sit by and let you go through with this!"

"Why?" Sauru demanded scornfully. "Because being the Leader entitles you to some authority over this?"

Miyu's fur began to spike as her face contorted into an angry glare.

"Me being the Leader hasn't got shit to do with this! You have a human being locked up here, and you're shoveling him into his own grave against his will!"

"Against his own will?" Sauru screeched, now in a real rage. "He agreed to this! On the first day he arrived, he agreed to face whatever risks came with getting his Inner Power back...now's his time to prove it!"

"You call tricking someone into a cage and then revealing their possible fatality following an agreement?!" Miyu scoffed in disdain. "That's not how we do things here, Sauru! That's the way the SharpClaw capture their prey before beating them and forcing them into slavery! I know forced submission when I see it, Sauru…" She pulled up her sleeves, revealing the scars where the Adder Tongues had made their mark. "I was in those Slave Yards, I saw it happen! And it's what you're doing right now…you're acting just like Drakon!"

"THIS IS TO PROTECT HIM!" Sauru spat, jutting a quaking claw in Wolf's direction and fuming venomously at Miyu. "You stupid girl... How DARE you compare me to that…that repulsive, sadistic, cowardly swine!"

"Sauru, please," Fay implored in frantic desperation. "Can't we avoid this? He's another scrap of parchment or specimen to be cast aside like everything else in this study…he's a human being!"

She turned her teeming blue eyes to Wolf (who was becoming weaker and heavier in the cage's grip), gesturing to the countless bandages up his arms.

"I patched him up when he was prostrate in pain…he's suffered enough at the SharpClaw's hands alone! And now you want to put him through more pain?"

Sauru's flaming gaze faltered at Fay's plea.

"I'm doing this to avoid as much pain as possible…I'm doing it for him, do none of you understand?"

"But can't we find another way, Sauru, please?" Fay clamped her trembling hands together, her voice hovering dangerously over a potential sob. "Please, don't make him go through this…there must be another way…"

"Oh, for the love of Claw-There IS no other way!"

Sauru looked torn between guilt and maddening exasperation, looking at all of them.

"Did you all honestly think I'd resort to the most dangerous process-one that hasn't been attempted in a THOUSAND YEARS-if there wasn't another way? We're using the most dangerous method because there's NO other method!" He looked back at Wolf. "Believe it or not, it's crucial that this boy lives…his life walks hand-in-hand with the salvation of this Resistance, and therefore, the lives of every Lylatian oppressed by Talon's Army. We need his power, and his life…if we're ever to defeat Talon."

But Wolf's ears had already numbed from the words "possibly kill himself."

He remained motionless, but he looked pale and sickly enough to regurgitate his own vital organs. The longer he stared into the ominous gleam of the scorpion, the more vivid a mental image grew in his mind: the twisting, horrifying, mind-numbing thought of him potentially dying in a way he never even dreaded he'd die…

Closed up in a cage…dead by his own hands.

"NO! Forget about this!" Wolf shouted, backing up against the bars behind him. "Forget about that process, forget about this whole thing!"

Sauru's eye twitched. "What?"

Everyone recoiled at him slightly, seeing suddenly how sickly Wolf looked. He was deathly pale with his lips chapped, and his forehead glistened with droplets of sweat. He tried to hide his feverish look with a weak scowl, but couldn't conceal the obvious trembling in his face and dry rasp in his voice.

Wolf yelled weakly at the blurry figure of Sauru. "I won't go through with this! I won't die like this-not like this!" His speech became chopped into deprived panting. "Not curled up in some cage as my body strangles me to death against my will! I didn't endure the scorching son and the scourge's whip to die like this! I WON'T DO IT—I won't d-"

His voice became faint. His head started to sway slightly, and his vision becoming hazier and blurrier every second…

"Now is not the time to show weakness or fear!" Sauru growled. "Your Inner Power won't care for your personal fears and traumas when it shuts down and pulls you into a fatal coma!"

Wolf's grip around the bars began to weaken. It became heavier and harder to breathe, and the nauseous, limp feeling in his head was already spreading to his hands and feet…

"I-I don't-care…" He tried to shake himself of this nausea and cling onto his consciousness. "To have a death beyond my control…there's nothing worse than that…"

"Think what you're saying, fool!" Sauru spat. "If you refuse and you don't die here, you'll just die in a few weeks anyway! I've made all the precautions to ensure you live-but this process will go nowhere if you don't cooperate!"

"Please-" He croaked weakly. "You don't know what it's like in here-"

His breath rose harshly, and his were becoming pink and damp.

Fay's took an alarmed step forward. "Wolf?"

Sauru's eyebrows furrowed at the boy's sudden symptoms.

"We need to start the process now. You're already-"

"Please…" Wolf murmured weakly, warping his defiant tone to a desperate one. "Please-th—the - I don't want t-to-"

His eyelids hung slightly, forehead pulsing and sweat dripping down him as he collapsed in a fit of ragged breath, hands hung in the handcuff's chains.

"WOLF!"

Fay bolted to the cage, reaching frantically between the bars and shaking Wolf's limp body.

"Wolf! Oh, God no…no…" She fumbled out a handkerchief and started dabbing his forehead shakily. "Don't do this-wake up! Wake up!"

But Wolf's collapsing breathing ensued, and he slipped out of her reach, keeling over. His breath became rasp and strained…his face and cheeks sunken.

"What's happening?" Miyu whirled her head demandingly to Sauru, her hand creeping to her rifle. "What's that thing doing to him?"

Sauru looked from the scorpion to Wolf, his yellow eyes alert.

"Nothing… The process hasn't even started yet…" The SharpClaw stared at him. "It's a panic attack. He's having a nervous breakdown."

"What?" Riley yelped.

"Look!" Fay edged closer to Wolf's motionless face, and to where his thin strands of breath were coming from. "He's hyperventilating!"

Sauru glanced at him with some guilt. "It must be that claustrophobia of his…and the fear of the process. It must've finally gotten to him."

A faint groan emerged through Wolf's tightened breathing.

"'Finally got to him'? It's too much for the poor thing!" Fay held his hand shakily between the bar "Wolf, it's going to be okay…everything's going to be okay, just calm down!" Her attempt to sound calming was compromised by the panic in her voice. She turned to Sauru. "We need to get him out! He needs medical attention and stress relief-"

"NO! Daylight is already gone, and we've wasted enough time!" The Reptile's eyes darted hurriedly towards the windows. "Quick-we need to start the process immediately…"

Miyu stared at him in outraged disbelief. "Sauru, look at him! He's in no condition to do anything!"

"It has to be now! There won't be another opportunity like this!"

Fay looked up fearfully. "But Sauru-"

"MOVE!"

He swept past her, sinking his coils lower and huddling next to the cage. In a rushed attempt to seize initiative, he started barking orders to everyone in the room.

"Riley!" He yelled, fumbled hurriedly with the scorpion. "Stand at the door, and make sure that not a single person enters. Tackle them, bind them, do whatever you Spec Ops do to prevent entry…but make sure no one goes in or out! Nothing must interfere with this process, understand?"

The Ginger Cat glanced at Wolf's limp body nervously.

"B-But, Sauru-what-?"

"NOW, YOU FOOL!" Sauru spat impatiently. "MOVE!"

Riley, sprinted frantically for the door and muttered aloud as he drew his throwing knives. "Goddammit…what is going on…?"

Sauru wiped a bead of sweat from his brow, before addressing Leon.

"You, Powalski! Go to that table and get that book of mine….the old one, with the stone pages-yes, that one. Hold it open-Miyu!" He turned to the Lynx. "You're the strongest person here…I need you to hold this boy down."

Miyu's expression became rigid. "What?"

"I have to put this on him…" Sauru looked down at the gleaming scorpion. "…to get the process started. But he's going to struggle no matter what I tell him, so I need you to hold him down."

She looked over to where Fay was nursing Wolf, who was lying in a shivering, prostrate heap. With a long look at how sickly and helpless he looked, Miyu's face solidified into concrete, eyes glinting.

"No, Sauru." She fixed the refusal in her indigo eyes on him. "I won't have any part of this…I won't help you make him suffer more."

Sauru groaned in exasperation before he turned to her.

"Listen, you pride yourself on being a selfless Leader who sticks her neck out for the helpless, right?" He asked furiously, before jutting a finger at Wolf. "Look! He's in a state of helplessness! He's suffering, but not by my hand, but his own. If you tire of seeing him in pain, then help end it!" He fixed a glowering stare at her. "Until then, don't pretend to want to fill in Siegfried's shoes unless you're willing to take up the same responsibilities he did!"

Miyu found herself without an answer, and shot him the most venomous of looks, her scarred fist clenched so tight that Mason and Leon could hear the skin on her palm tighten.

Finally, after a long stare at the ground, fists clenched and eyes conflicted, she unstrapped her rifle and shoved it in a surprised Mason's hands.

"You better be right about this, Sauru," She muttered, as she walked past him. "Because if he dies, it'll be on your hands."

The SharpClaw drummed his claws on the scorpion's metal surface, hiding the anxiety in his face.

"I'm more than aware. He's a loss we can't afford. Now, hold him up!"

Miyu rolled up her sleeves, exposing her toned arms.

"Wolf…try not to hate me for this later."

On that note, she latched her arms through the cars and around his neck and stomach. Years of training combined with Miyu's strength made the professional hold she had around Wolf as tight and restraining as an anchor chain.

But Wolf was still locked in the haze of his panic attack. So, being unable to see or sense anything that was going on, being grabbed and nearly choked to death by something thick and strangling (later to be identified as Miyu's arms) was all the more alarming.

He wrenched and struggled in the tight grip of whatever what was holding him, but his back was forced upright against the bars behind him. He heard a muddle of voices around him…some alarmed, and some commanding. In the blur of his disoriented sight, the only distinguishable sound was his own, deafening panting. The dim light streaming through his cage bars had become glowing columns in his faint sight, until he saw something slip between them, edging closer and closer to him…

….something large, and blurry…but had a bright, golden gleam, and held in what looked like a pair of hands…

Amidst his confusion, Wolf backed up against the cage, heart pounding. He knew exactly what that was…

"No…" He murmured weakly, struggling harder. "No…NO…NO…"

The voices around him grew louder, and the commanding one seemed to echo the loudest as the golden object grew nearer.

"NO!" Wolf screamed.

Clink.

The moment Sauru placed it on Wolf's neck, the Scorpion's golden legs curled themselves around it. The inanimate creature clutched the back of his neck by some mechanism in its legs, fastening itself like a metallic collar…

All Wolf could feel was its cold, weighty surface perched on the back of his neck. It made his fur rise nervously, and he looked around sightlessly at the blurriness around him.

SHINK!

The Scorpion's tail shot back in a mechanical fashion, causing everyone outside the cage to jump back in surprise. It flattened itself against the back of Wolf's head…fixing its stinger on the area where the back of his skull was …as if the red stone was tapping the cerebral cortex of his brain like a human finger.

Wolf sat quaking involuntarily under the Scorpion's cold weight, and the onlooking TRU members held their breath for a long stretch of time. Sauru also caught his breath in numb anticipation, his mold of level-headed serenity broken at last. There was a terrified, compressed feeling in everyone's lungs, expanding with the silent, stabilized atmosphere of apprehension…

Nothing happened.

There was no noise, or reaction from the golden object, or its dormant stone. An tense silence followed, overrun with held breath and anticlimactic stillness.

Wolf looked up, confused but too afraid to accept relief just yet.

The TRU Members released themselves from their preparatory cringes, looking like people crawling out of a bomb-shelter…only to find no bombs had gone off.

Sauru's eyebrows flattened in confusion, looking baffled by the absence of a reaction, or effect, or anything. He swept his claws through the pages of the ancient book in frantic consultation, swerving his frantic look to Wolf for some reassuring evidence that the process had started.

But Wolf sat there, looking just as oblivious.

Riley darted his green eyes about from where he stood guarding the door.

"Er…is that, supposed to happen?"

The SharpClaw growled through his teeth

"Obviously not, you twit!" He barked, slamming the book shut and causing Leon, its holder, to wince slightly. "Something went amiss!"

Sauru slithered back and forth, his face a picture of both anxiety and demanding as he muttered to himself. His yellow eyes darted about, interrogating the walls and floor: What had gone wrong…?

He was about to slither over to his table to rip through some more books…

…when he froze at the noise.

It crept out of the solidified tranquility of the calmed atmosphere like liquid seeping through paper: and it crawled over everyone's skin. It grew like a thunderous swarm of bees, combined with what sounded like someone…or something…groaning through a distorted synthesizer.

The noise didn't even seem to be coming from anywhere in particular, and yet it continued to infest its ringing presence inside each of everyone's skulls. A prickling sensation of fear scurried under each TRU member's skin like a millipede.

The dying candles behind Mason flickered and blew out. The rotted wood that barred up the windows began to creak. The tattered papers scattering the study floor began to drift slowly, as if propelled by some invisible wind that no one in the room could feel.

Mason darted his eyes around the pitch-black room, cocking the rifle Miyu had thrust into his hands. Riley hid his small whimper under a frightened gulp, repeatedly thinking: I didn't sign up for this…

Miyu's stance became rigid with fear, her tall ears quivering tensely at the horrible humming. Fay felt a shiver that had capsulated her shaking body, her blue eyes following the papers drifting past her feet.

In the midst of the blown-out candle smoke surrounding them, they could all feel it. A sudden presence had entered the room…

….one invisible all non-possessors of Inner Power, but could still be felt.

Wolf wasn't spared from the noise's growing hum. In fact, he could hear it the clearest. He suddenly winced at an almost singeing sensation of coldness that split the fur on his neck, like someone had pressed dry ice against his neck like a cigarette put out against an ash-tray.

Then, shadows gathered around his face. Something cast a dim, unnatural light behind him.

Everyone outside the cage held their petrified gasps. The stone on the scorpion's sting had started to glow.

Its hue was nothing like the lifeless gleam it had before, but instead a hideous radiance. Its jagged surface gleamed with thin light that had seemed like a smiling set of teeth.

Fay and Riley stepped back, trembling. Even Mason and Miyu were at point of shaking.

Leon stared back at the gem, his face illuminated by its red aura.

"This isn't how you said it would happen." He turned demandingly to Sauru. "What's going on? Why is it glowing?"

The others also looked at the SharpClaw for some explanation, but his face was just as much sunken and confused as the rest of them. This was not how the process should've gone at all. He knew that by now, Wolf's mind should have already parted from his body, and transcended to the next dimension.

But with the way the stone was glowing…it almost looked like it was feeding off of him.

That's impossible… Sauru thought. The stone is dormant, it doesn't have a mind of its own…

Only his Inner Power does…

That's when Sauru froze.

His yellow eyes darted urgently. Something was wrong. Something was very, very wrong…

But he couldn't stop the process now. They had come too far…

Sweat dribbled down Wolf's neck, as he looked around in confused fear. It was too blurry to see, and he didn't know where this growing hum or biting sense of coldness was coming from…only that for some reason, it seemed to have an omnipresent glare.

All he could do was pant in chopped breaths and yank frantically at his chains, shifting his eyes around his cage like a confused and frightened animal….as the golden, curled-up lotus on the Scorpion's back began to vibrate.

"S-Sauru?" Wolf cried out in a terrified voice, shouting in the blind nothing around him. "What's-?"

Clink.

Before anyone could move, there was a shriek of metal twisting as the lotus shot open like a gaping mouth.

FWOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOM!

Mountainous flames erupted from the uncurled lotus, spiraling and lashed out in an almost serpentine fashion.

They sprung out like flames propelled from the atmosphere of an unstable sun.. They shot a deafening roar and a crackling that shook the depths of every corner and stalactite of the study's stone construct. The entire room was illuminated with a blinding, hellish orange, and suddenly the once-musty air flared with the humidity and eye-watering churning of intense heat.

There wasn't any time for shock or recoil. Everyone flung their hands over their eyes at the blinding glare of the fire. Squinting through the gaps in their fingers, they gazed in horror at the monstrous inferno writhing within the cage.

None of them could visually or verbally comprehend what they were seeing. This wasn't a natural fire. It didn't burn or chortle like any other stationary flame…it was alive.

It tore savagely at the air around it, flinging blazing streams and showering embers everywhere. It flailed in such a mindless, disorienting speed that disoriented everyone's terror-stricken gazes. But worst of all, it made a noise: one that nobody ever heard from something like fire…

It sounded like a shriek, rippling under the fire's growing crackle.

CRASH!

The blisteringly-hot wind swept countless glass jars off the study shelves to shatter into gleaming shards. Pages littering the study floor flew up in a blizzard of scattering parchment and yellowed paper.

Riley let the handful of throwing knives slip out of his trembling hands. He backed up against a shelf, his small chest rising and falling.

"Wha--What's-WHAT IS THAT?!" Riley screamed.

Sauru's eyes were locked on the roaring fire, his voice dry and confined.

"I- don't-" He stammered.

Fay was standing closest to the cage…but only because her body refused to move. Papers and embers hurled around her, and her white fur and red bow blew fiercely in the bone-rattling wind. Her bright blue eyes wouldn't leave the towering flames above her, expanding in terror-stricken dilation.

Every tuft of fur on her was shaking. Her meek voice was stuttering on the edge of both a gasp and a whimper. But her voice was devoured by the screeching wail of the swirling fire. The only sound that could be heard through all the roaring fire…

…was Wolf's piercing, blood-curling voice.

The shock melted from everyone's senses long enough for them to make out his faint silhouette, which shimmered in the bubbling fashion of the desert's rippling horizon in the scorching heat.

He was hunched over, and his voice tore out an ear-splitting scream.

"GUUUUUAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAARRRRRGGGHHHH!AAAARRHHH-AAAHHH-AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAARGGGHHHHHH!"

From the moment that the lotus had opened, an onslaught of pain had washed over his body like pulsating acid. All of his fear-induced nausea disappeared beneath the agony that gripped his body. This bone-melting, nerve-splitting, skin-tearing pain was unlike anything he'd ever felt in his life.

It made the white-hot searing of Andross's electricity seem like a gentle touch. It made the tear-inducing peeling of flesh dealt by the Adder tongues seem like nothing.

No…this was different. It managed to surpass every kind of pain that had ever crippled him in his life, and it didn't leave him a shred of his senses to even detect where it was coming from.

Through his sightless, blurry perception, the only thing he through imploding agony was some extreme heat on his back. Something was baking the fur on his neck like the desert sun.

But the coursing sting that shot through every fiber of his body didn't even let him process that. Whatever it was, it was not wound of flesh and blood…

It was something internal.

It felt like someone was gripping his spinal cord before ripping it clean out of his back in a single yank. And the more he moved or even flinched in the slightest, the pain would get worse. Whatever itched began to tear. Whatever stung began to sear. He wanted to move, he wanted to cry…he wanted to scream until his throat tore open. But after the first few seconds of the pain's emergence, all the pain allowed him to do was keep his body curled in a miserable ball of sickening, inanimate struggle.

His breathing was becoming tight and heavy. His voice was whittling his desperate screams down to sob-like groans.

"WOLF!"

Leon dropped the book instantly, heart pounding at the sound of Wolf's screams becoming faint. He rushed over to the cage-

FWOOOM!

Suddenly, he staggered back just in time to dodge one of the wafts of fire swinging out of the cage.

Leon blindly rubbed his eyes from the eye-watering heat. He didn't know how Wolf was immune to the fire's intensity, but anyone else who'd dare approach the cage would have their skin peel off instantly from the temperature.

Wolf's faint cries sent a heart-wrenching sting through the bars, and all Leon could do was shout to him.

"WOLF?! Wolf!" Leon screamed.

"Oh my God..." Fay's voice cracked into a screaming sob. "What's happening to him?! Why is he screaming?"

Sauru looked from the fire to Wolf, the flames illuminating the powerless expression on his face.

"I…I don't know," He murmured, his breathing heavy.

"WHAT DO YOU MEAN YOU DON'T KNOW?!"

Leon seized the SharpClaw's collar, his normally-calm face contorted with furious shadows cast by the firelight.

"You said you knew how this process would go! WHAT DID YOU DO TO HIM?!"

"I'M NOT DOING ANYTHING!" Sauru tore himself from Leon's grip. "This isn't what's supposed to happen! He should've been gone by now, inside the next dimension-"

"It's that stone! It must be!" Miyu yelled over the fire. "It must be doing something to Wolf-" She shot an enraged look at Sauru. "I told you not to tamper with it, but you didn't listen to me!"

Sauru's distressed look faded slightly, and his eyes narrowed.

"Wait-no. Neither the stone nor the device is capable of doing something like this…much less subject its host to pain."

Miyu stared at the fire, looking confused and afraid. "Then what the hell's causing this?! What did you DO?"

"I don't know…I don't know…" Sauru shook his head, muttering frantically.

He looked around at the flames helplessly, breathing thin wisps and muttering like a nervous wreck. His behavior stunned everyone into horrified silence. If Sauru of all people had was in a frantic state, then something was horribly wrong…

As the swirling fire extended its reach and flailed even faster, Wolf's screams grew louder.

Fay turned imploringly to the SharpClaw. "Sauru, whatever this is, you have to stop it! He's in pain-just listen to him!"

Mason peered at the flames, watching them swirl out of the lotus. "But why? That fire isn't even touching him!"

Sauru stopped, turned, and looked harder at the fire.

"Then….what's causing all this pain?"

"Guys…" Riley said in a low, weak voice. With a gulp, he shakily pointed up. "L-Look!"

They all turned their gazes up to the tips of the massive fire. The tentacle-like flames drew together and rippled like a blazing river. They started overlapping each other before closing up into a massive ball of fire. The fireball swirled and expanded until the glowing center of the fire radiated a blinding white-

Wolf's purple eyes shot open in dilation, He screamed until the bars of the cage rattled with his agonized voice.

Everyone shielded their eyes frantically, their faces painted an ominous white…as the fire began to transform.

The orange haze that cast a blaze of raging light all over the study's confines now shone with a deep, unnatural shade of luminous purple.. The streaming plumes of raging flame no longer flailed like an anemone, but in circulating harmony… its amethyst shine casting the same grin-like aura like the one in the stone.

The towering jets of flame were even more massive than before, each arm as large and as thick as the crushing arms of a tree. On top of that, fiery mass spewed something at the end of its coiling arm…something with long and stretched, like fingers…

The jets of flame had grown hands; Giant, clawed, fiery hands…hued with swirling flame and crackling embers, clawing at everything in sight.

The gazes of everyone in the room expanded in simultaneous fear.

Riley shrank into a state of pale, terror-stricken fatigue. "J-Jesus…Christ…"

Mason's look of skepticism and confidence was gone. He stared up into the multiple flaming arms emerging from Wolf's back, lips dry and sweat speckling his face.

"Sauru…" The rifle shook in his hands. "What the hell is that?!"

The SharpClaw shook his head in silence, mouth sprawled open in disbelief.

The fire began to haze and ripple like electricity. The flames roared and swung about like massive, tentacular arms….the hands clawing and thrashing at the bars of the cage.

Fay gazed closer, who amidst her mesmerized fear, began to notice it.

"The way it's moving…" Her blue eyes followed the flaming arms. "It's almost like it has a mind of its own…"

Sauru froze. A cold ripple of frigid realization slipped into Sauru's skin. He turned to face her slowly, eyes wide with fear.

"What did you say?"

She pointed at the writhing flames. "Look at the way they're moving…"

The SharpClaw squinted hard into the bright blaze of the fire. That was the instant he noticed that the numerous flaming arms shared the same base.

They weren't burning in a collective mass, like a bonfire…they were all all stemming far deeper than just within the lotus…

They were sprouting out of Wolf's neck...like rapidly-growing plants bursting from the ground.

Sauru's eyes expanded, his reptilian eyes stretching into vertical slits.

"I-It…can't be…" His voice was barely above a petrified murmur. "It's his Inner Power."

Mason blinked and whirled around. "What?"

"That's his Inner Power! It's spiraling out of his control! Look!" He jabbed a claw towards the golden lotus. "It's coming from him!"

Newfound fear bloomed in Miyu's indigo stare. "That? That's his-?"

"But what's happening to it?" Mason demanded, pointing at it with his shaking rifle. "Why is it…like THAT?" He looked up at the demonic hands thrashing at the cage.

Sauru's yellow eyes interrogated roaring fire for answers.

"Something must've happened…. the tunnel between dimensions should've opened up for his mind…but his Inner Power is closing it shut."

Miyu looked at Wolf, realization creeping into her stomach. "It's tearing him apart from the inside…just like you said it would."

Sauru, eyes still locked on the swirling flames, shook his head. "No…the memories are what are supposed to subject him to extreme pain, not his Inner Power. And even that pain isn't anything like this…I've never seen anything like this." He turned to Leon suddenly. "You, Powalski! Does this boy's Inner Power typically look like that?"

"Wha-N-No, not at all!" Leon's fearful look melted into sudden confusion. "The color's normal, but I've never seen it move or make a shape like that. It doesn't even look like it's under Wolf's control-"

He stopped mid-sentence, and everyone followed his drift with shocked looks.

Sauru's look of fear grew as he slowly turned to Wolf, who screams and groans persisted as they spoke.

"That's because it isn't under Wolf's control. Inner Power is something that can only be wielded by its host…unless something else takes control of it." He narrowed his eyes. "There's something inside his Inner Power, something that's making it tear out of him like a tumor."

FWOOM!

The flames began to rage and grow taller in height, causing hoarse screams to tear out of Wolf's weakened throat.

"Wolf, hold on!" Fay screamed desperately at him. "Sauru's thinking of a way to help you, just hold on a little longer-"

But Wolf was deaf to her desperate attempts to reassure him. His face and eyes were getting more and more sunken all the time…

Miyu looked closer. "The bigger they get…the weaker he becomes."

Sauru nodded. "They're tearing straight out of his body-no, something is tearing its way through them."

Then, after a long pause and stare at the flames…suddenly, Sauru knew why the stone had that aura that looked so much like a grin. He knew in an instant where he had seen that look before…

…that smile.

His reptilian eyes expanded, their terrified gaze engulfed by the reflection of the fire. His worst fear had been realized.

He was coming.

The others regarded the empty, distant look of terror on their Advisor's face with confusion.

"Sauru?"

"No…" Sauru's lips barely moved. "No…no…By the Claw, NO!"

He sprinted past the group of confused TRU members and swept up the archaic-looking book that Leon had dropped.

"Sauru! What is it?"

But the SharpClaw wasn't listening. He tore through the pages frantically through a fit of panting and muttering, sweat pouring down the scales on his forehead.

"I need to put a stop the process. NOW."

"What?" Riley uttered. "But you said-?"

"Forget about what I said!" Sauru shouted. "This process is going to kill Wolf before he even has a chance to open the gate between dimensions. I can't believe I didn't foresee this…I didn't think this would happen."

"What would happen?" Miyu demanded. "Sauru, you're starting to scare me…"

Sauru looked up at them all, eyes wide with terror. "Don't you all see? Wolf isn't just being barred from the second dimension…something is trying to get out."

Riley paled. "What do you mean, 'something'? What's trying to get out?"

Sauru stopped tearing through the book and looked up slowly. He looked more frantic and terrified than anyone had ever seen him.

"A threat beyond this dimension, beyond any of your comprehension…something not you or I, nor anyone in this room can stop." He shivered and clutched the book with shaking hands, seeing something new and terrifying in that fire. "The less you know about it, the better. All you need to know is this: that if it breaks free…if that thing escapes the confines of both Wolf and his Inner Power, it could potentially kill us all, starting with him."

There was a hollow silence that drove itself into everyone's bones like a rusty needle. Fay's shaking hand crept to her mouth, eyes huge and shimmering.

Mason's fur shook. He was silent for a good minute before he turned slowly, and flashed his frozen stare at Sauru with a glint of fear and warning.

"Whatever you have to do, Sauru…do it quick. Do whatever it takes, because I swear to God…" He towered over him. "If you fail to stop whatever you've unleashed just now, if it even comes close to killing anyone in this room- I'll do whatever it takes to make sure it doesn't enter this dimension." He held his rifle with the barrel adjacent to Wolf. "…even if it means cutting down the bridge it takes to get here."

Riley looked from Wolf to Mason, swallowing dryly at what was being implied. "M-Mason!"

"NO!"

Leon grabbed the barrel and wrenched it away from Mason.

"It won't come to that….IT WON'T!" His enraged voice shook uncontrollably, as if he was telling himself more than anyone. He turned to Sauru. "DAMN IT, DO SOMETHING!"

"I'm trying, I'm TRYING!" Sauru roared, as he sped through the pages. "I can't just stop the process on a whim...his Inner Power's too unstable! If I'm not delicate, I'll do more damage than I'll prevent…Claw's teeth, there has to be a solution in here…"

Wolf's screams began to drag longer, and dig more guilt and pain under everyone's skin.

But out of all the spectators, there couldn't have been a worse person to witness all of this than Fay. For someone like her, whose empathy was too strong for her own good, and prevented her from turning away any living thing that cried out in pain-Lylatian, Venomian or even SharpClaw- Wolf's agonizing pleas tortured her the most.

The others began to notice it, too-the way the poor girl wrung her hands and kept looking away, cringing every time Wolf groaned beneath the flame's relentless fuming-it was obvious that she was being tortured just as much as he was.

Sauru, amidst his rapid page-turning, looked up briefly and noticed the look on her face.

"Don't do it, Fay. I know what you're thinking, and I know it's tempting for you especially-but DON'T."

Fay didn't respond. Her beading eyes were fixed on the cage, mouth pursed tightly from crying.

"I don't care if you have the purest of intentions," Sauru said sharply. "Stay away from that cage. That fire of his may not be strong enough to melt the iron that's trapping it, but it can still grab anything in reach…" He fixed his yellow eyes on her. "…or anyone stupid enough to approach it."

Miyu laid a sympathetic hand on Fay's shaking shoulder before flashing a venomous look at Sauru.

"Leave her alone, will you? Can't you see that him being like this is making her uneasy?"

"I can assure you, she'll be in a worse state if she tries to help," Sauru said coldly. He turned back to the Spaniel. "Fay, just ignore him. Bar his screaming from your ears, fight any compulsive urges. Do whatever you need to block him out, but don't give in."

Fay bit her lip anxiously, slipping her small, shivering hand into Miyu's scarred, spotted one.

But that was when Wolf raised his head with great difficulty, eyes pink and strained from all the pain. As if waking from a coma, faint slivers of consciousness began to briefly return to him. His fearful blur and crippling claustrophobia was no longer clouding his senses. He awoke to find his fur caked in sweat and his throat hoarse…but he was still too weak to move.

He glanced around weakly and squinted at the foggy silhouettes outside the cage.

"Please…Fay…Riley…." His voice was reduced to a weak croak.

Anyone….

Fay wore a strained look as she painfully tried to avoid both Wolf's face and his voice…both of which were excruciating, as she watched him struggle and look about like a terrified beast with its leg lodged in a trap.

Unable to ignore it, she took a ginger step forward.

"No, Fay." Sauru didn't even look up.

"Sauru, please-" Fay begged.

"I said no.

"But-"

"Stay where you are!" Sauru said commandingly. "You'll only do harm to yourself!"

The sound of Sauru's voice hit Wolf's disoriented ears, and he called out in a loud, desperate voice.

"P-Please help me…" Wolf begged on what seemed like the last strands of his voice. "I don't want my memories anymore-I don't want ANY of them…Just please make it stop-I promise-I'll-"

KRRRNCHHH.

"GAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAARRRRRRGGHHHHHHHHHHHH!"

There was a deafening, crunching sound that contagiously turned over everyone's stomach, as Wolf felt the flesh on his body tighten. The flames began to writhe and spin at blinding speed, their light streaking like stars stretched through the void of hyperspace. Wolf's ribs and cheekbones began to outline sickeningly beneath his fur, and the pink in his eyes was slowly deteriorating to red. His screams tore from his throat like flesh cleaved from bone, and echoed nightmarishly up the high reaches of the red-stone study.

Saur's heart almost stopped, the book almost slipping from his hand.

He was too late. Wolf's body was already imploding.

The beast within was forcing its way out.

Everyone watched in horror through the blurring flight of flying papers and glass, as a gaunt scarlet began to seep through the cloth eye-patch on Wolf's face. Blood began to gush out of his open mouth, and streamed from both eyes like water emerging through holes in a dam.

Wolf, his head hung over the floor, slowly began to recoil and turn stark white at the sight of blood splattering the ground as it poured from his face. Unnerved by horror and disgust, he let out a garbled, bubbling scream that sprayed blood from his mouth and nose.

"WOLF!"

Fay didn't waste a single second. Her repulsed scream made the hair on everyone's neck to prickle, as she tore past them and sprinted towards the cage, panting through petrified sobs.

"FAY, NO!" Sauru roared frantically, rising up on his coils. "COME BACK HERE, FAY! COME BACK!"

The closer she ran towards the cage, the clearer the gushing blood in Wolf's face became. Her startled fear turned to pulsating horror, and she ran faster.

"MIYU!" Sauru shouted. "BRING HER BACK NOW! IT'LL KILL HER!"

Miyu's feet were already moving on the word "kill". Her heart pounded in her throat as she bolted after the Spaniel.

But Fay was already less than five feet from the cage when it happened.

Racing past the roaring wind and swirling papers that tore at her fur, Fay managed to a take a speeding step within one yard of the cage's reach, hand outstretched as she reached towards Wolf's cringing silhouette-

Miyu managed to latch her arms around Fay and yank her back….but just a second too late.

FWOOOOAAAAAAAAARRRSSSHHHHHHHHHH!

There was a roar of the blaze, a piercing scream, and the sound of heavy bodies hitting the floor.

One of the swirling, fiery hands tore its way through the bars and lashed towards the both of them. The purple haze of the blazing palm would've engulfed both Fay and Miyu had it swatted them a second sooner….but the Lynx's tactical hold and dive to the floor only allowed the flames to rake the top of them before they hit the ground.

But just like everyone else, she too heard Fay's scream as they both evaded the flaming hand.

Being close to the flame alone caused Miyu's eyes to rupture in a fit of watery stinging, and she swiped her eyes the second her belly hit the ground. She blinked hurriedly to find Fay sprawled on the ground next to her, sobbing uncontrollably…and clutching her arm.

"Wh—Fay? FAY?!" She scrambled over to her. "What happened?! Are- Oh, my God…."

A horrible jolt climbed up Miyu's stomach and rendered her voice numb, as she saw the raw, red, searing burn between Fay's fingers. Large tears gushed from the Spaniel's agonized eyes as she whimpered through a cracked voice.

"Oh no-oh God, no….Fay-"

A pale, devastated Miyu tried to help her up, but the disturbance only caused more burnt flesh to contort and red to gush through the borders of the wound. Fay screamed and buried her face in the ground, clutching her wound.

Then instantly, Miyu's tall pierced ears perked up at the sound of fire crackling above her.

The fiery hands grouped together into a flurry of ember-induced hands that groped the air with their clawed fingers. Rearing back like snakes spitting Venom, the hands shot forward in simultaneous speed, prepared to flatten a terrified Miyu and sobbing Fay with their flaming wake.

"GET AWAY FROM THEM!"

In a fierce dive, Mason bolted forward, cocked Miyu's laser rifle and unleashed a series of yellow energized shots at the swirling flames.

BRATTTTATTATATTATATTTATATTAT!

But they just melted seamlessly into the fire's gaping hands….and continued to rain down on them.

Mason's grip on the rifle remained firm, but he shook just as much as the two people cowering behind them. As the hands began to bury their terrified faces out of view, the raging light fused their petrified gazes with a glow that lit up their whole faces-

Then, a shadow swept in front of them, colliding with the fire before them.

FWAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAASHHHHHHH!

CRASH.

The impact of the blast knocked all three TRU members back, sending them flying against one of the bookshelves. They weakly rubbed the aches that the wood had etched into their ribs, but not one of them had received a burn.

They looked up from their unscathed bodies…and at the reptilian silhouette towering above them.

Sauru had taken the blast for them.

Or rather…he was blocking the blast.

Shoulders hunched arms out and coils dug deep into the ground, the SharpClaw was literally pushing back the wave of fire with his bare hands. The intense plumes of purple flame hurled themselves against his hands like lightning, but he wouldn't budge.

Each of the TRU Members stared in simultaneous and gaping disbelief, completely overwhelmed and oblivious to just what they were seeing. Sauru-their Sauru, who was too older and more decrepit than the cave they were standing in-was blocking a demonic inferno with his bare hands.

But it was only when all the TRU members looked closer that they realized that not a single flame was touching his hands.

A flame this intense and fierce should've burnt his hands on impact alone, and yet it seemed to repulse around his fingers before it even touched them, as if barred by some invisible force-field.

No one knew how on earth he was doing it…but one thing they could see was that it seemed to be bone-crushingly exhausting for his body. His face was becoming deathly-white and sunken with every passing minute, like the life was being sapped from his weak, aged bones. From the way his stance quaked, he looked like he was trying to hold his ground while pushing back a meteor shower. And judging by the sweat pouring down his neck and arms, and the veins pulsing through his head and muscles, whatever he was doing was just as straining…if not more.

His breathing became chopped, his ribs and cheekbones edging through his skin. He rigidly looked up, too locked in concentration and strain to do more than fix his defiant yellow stare into the flames.

The glow that the the fire cast-the one so much like a smile-radiated as the fire pushed against him.

No… Sauru thought ferociously. You won't touch them, demon…

I won't let won't touch a single one of them…OR devour this boy!

YOU'LL HAVE TO KILL ME FIRST!

Miyu blinked. "S-Sauru?!"

"GRRNNNGGHHH-! Keep-back-ALL of you-" The SharpClaw shouted through thick gasps, the fire growing to push back against his hands. "It's-It's too strong….even… for me…"

"Sauru what are you doing?!" Mason shouted.

The ground under Sauru's coils cracked under the weight of the atmospheric tension he was juggling. He grunted, his rasped panting growing into a determined growl. He drove his quaking hands deeper into the fire, causing the swirling flames to shriek and coil further and further away from his hands.

The papers flying around them burst into flames. Jars exploded into a fit of shards, and cracks began to erupt in the stone walls.

Veins popped in the muscles in his arms, his scaly skin making a stretching sound. Slowly, Sauru's growl of effort drew out into a roar of pain.

He couldn't hold it off much longer-

"It's hurting him," Mason muttered, heaving his rifle up. "SAURU, GET AWAY FROM IT!"

Twisting his neck around through the strain tearing at his muscles, Sauru turned around achingly. "NO! Keep back, you fool-KEEP BACK!"

Suddenly, he grunted, and his stance slipped. The distraction had cost him his hold on the fire, and it expanded instantly.

The invisible field had that blocked the fire from his hands seemed to shatter instantly, as the flames, now unbarred and with their target exposed, coiled down and completely devoured Sauru's hands.

"GAAAAAAAAAAAARRRRRRRRRRRRGHHHHHHHHHHHHH!"

By the time Sauru had screamed, the fire was already eating up the flesh on his hands. Through the sizzling, purple hue, the scales enveloping his fingers bubbled and withered sickeningly. His skin curled up and smoldered like a layer of flaky paper, pus and raw flesh disappearing under the flames.

The TRU members stared in horror, the sight his scaly flesh smoldering into charred black sending numb chills through all of them.

"OH, MY GOD!" Miyu screamed.

"SAURU, STOP!" Mason yelled. "YOUR HANDS-!"

"No! DAMMIT, I TOLD YOU TO STAY BACK!" Sauru commanded.

"YOU OLD FOOL, JUST GET AWAY FROM IT!" Mason screamed at him. "That thing's going to burn you to death!" He walked forward, preparing to pull Sauru away.

Sauru, his hands bound in the fire's grip, barred his serpentine tail in front of Mason, shaking in fierce tremor.

"STOP! If I don't hold this back-if I even move a muscle-these flames will kill the boy- we need him alive!" His voice sank beneath an agonized groan and wheezing. "NONE OF YOU HELP ME… I'LL KILL THE FIRST PERSON WHO TRIES TO PULL ME AWAY, UNDERSTAND? I'LL KILL YOU!" But his threats weakened behind the mar of pink coating his tearing eyes.

When Mason realized what Sauru was saying, a pang of helplessness and guilt stung his throat. He would've torn Sauru to bits with scolding and malice in any other situation…but standing there, in front of the monstrous inferno, armed with only a useless rifle and stunned look, he was just as helpless as everyone else.

"Sauru…"

The Snow Leopard fixed his pained look on both Sauru's hand…and Fay sobbing as she clutched the burnt flesh on her arm…and then at Wolf's writhing silhouette.

All of this…all this destruction and pain…

Cold rage bubbled in his stomach.

…for HIM?!

Sauru's groaned at the faint outline of his charred, skeletal hands in the fire, but he pushed them deeper into the molten core of the inferno, roaring defiantly.

As the fiery hands shrieked and began to dissolve… Wolf slumped up slightly. The blood had stopped flowing from his eyes and nose…but its abundant loss had left him weak and dazed.

Through the searing pain, Sauru managed a look of relief. It's working…he's free!

"STAR WOLF! I can't hold this off much longer-"

Wolf looked up feebly. "Wh—What…?"

"You have to use this chance-to get into the next dimension-while you're free from the pain-" Sauru forced, his voice waning thin. "YOU MUST DO IT!"

"What?!" Leon uttered in disbelief. "Are you insane?! You just got him free of that thing-and now you want to put him BACK?"

"LISTEN TO ME!" Sauru groaned over him. "Your Inner Power's already too strong to be stopped-I'll direct it towards me long enough for you to enter the void without experiencing the same pain again-"

"Sauru?!" Miyu exclaimed. "What're you saying-?"

"PAY ATTENTION!" Sauru screamed to him."THERE WILL BE A NOISE FOR YOU TO FOLLOW-THAT'S THE ENTRANCE TO THE INTERDIMENSIONAL GATE-gargh-THAT WILL ALLOW YOU ENTRY INTO THE NEXT WORLD! Listen for it! Do you hear anything?! Anything?! STAR WOLF!"

"Wh-a sound…?" Wolf's eyes swerved around in confusion. "I don't hear a-" Then, he stopped.

"Wait…."

His eyebrows started to furrow. The noise crept into his tall ears, obliterating sound of the crackling fire and the roaring wind from his hearing…

"I-I hear…"

"Yes?!" Sauru asked desperately. The fire was expanding…and was eating up his arms… "What is it-WHAT DO YOU HEAR?"

"It sound like…humming…"

Suddenly, the study was starting to disappear, everyone's horrified faces becoming faint. Voices were reduced to a faint, ringing noise…as Wolf's eyelids started to become heavy. A watery, chilling feeling slipped into his sapped bloodstream, as the noise grew louder….

Sauru watched as Wolf's shoulders began to slump. His face had become blank and expressionless. The red stone's wicked glare disappeared, replaced with a gleaming white hue.

It's happening… Sauru thought. His mind's parting from his body…It's transcending to the gap between dimensions!

Sauru looked from the fire to Wolf, his senses determinedly rejecting the pain of his charred hands.

"Miyu…" He called out slowly, without turning. "He can't go in alone…he's going to need a nudge to get there. You—argh-you're in charge here while I'm gone-"

Miyu looked up instantly, eyes wide. "Wait, WHAT? What do you mean, 'while you're gone'? Where're you going? SAURU?!"

The SharpClaw didn't answer, his voice reducing to a raw scream as he tightened his outspread hands into fists.

FWOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOMMMMMMMMMMMM!

The fire seemed to implode on itself, its raging winds shattering the air and causing a rupture of papers and shards of glass to engulf the study. Miyu and the others buried their faces into the protective sanctity of the ground, shielding their eyes from a fierce light that was strong enough to burn its presence through their closed eye-lids.

There was a thunderous ring in the air, like the faint growl trailing the impact of an ending storm.

Everyone raised their heads gingerly, ears pounding at the eerie silence from the sudden lack of deafening noise. Each of them gradually let out gasps that their throats had bottled through the apprehension of the moment.

Ember-lit flakes of paper drifted in the air like leaves, gracing the sparkling glass shards and burnt paper that had somehow made the study seem even more of a wrecked than before. The mountains of dusty books, by some stroke of defying luck, had been buried under the safety of numerous collapsed shelves. Their yellowed, precious pages were unscathed by the fire's wrath.

Steam coiled from the scorched bars of the cage, and the TRU members all slowly regained their feet. They approached the battered cage slowly.

Sauru and Wolf hadn't moved. They were dead still, frozen in the stances they had taken before the fire imploded. Wolf was still shackled and on his knees, hunched over and looking ahead. Sauru still had his arms out and hands outstretched like he was still pushing the now non-existent fire. Everyone cringed sickeningly at the sight of his hands, which were reduced to long, charred-black, skeletal fingers…coated with burnt and contorted bits of flesh.

But neither moved, and not a single bystander in the room attempted to move them. They were like statues, with blank expressions and wide, non-blinking eyes.

Wolf and Sauru were gone: their minds were now in the dimension beyond this one…and only their bodies remained.

Somewhere…no trace of time, nor location…

It was like falling through water…only faster, and no viscous slow-down of the water's weight.

It might've been like falling from the sky, but there was no deafening roar of the wind. On normal circumstances, it would've sent a ripple through Wolf's fur…

But he couldn't feel his fur…he couldn't feel anything. He couldn't see, for that matter. It wasn't cold, and there wasn't a breeze…but there wasn't an inch of warmth, either.

All he could feel was the direction he was falling. Falling up, falling down…warm, cold, neither existed…

His eyes were already closed, he was already lying back, and the falling didn't seem to end…

He wanted to sleep-

"WOLF!"

His eyes shot open instantly, and air returned to his lungs. Suddenly, he felt really cold, like he had been doused in some freezing water.

He still couldn't see anything…but that voice…?

"Sauru?"

"Don't give into that feeling, the one that's telling you to sleep," the voice commanded. "You do that, and you'll slip through this dimension…and fall through the next, over and over."

Wolf blinked and looked around in the emptiness.

"Where are you…?"

"I'm in the barrier outside the gap…I couldn't get through. This is the world of your Inner Power, Wolf. Only you could get through. I merely followed you...until I could follow no more."

Wolf furrowed his eyebrows…or at least, he thought he was, he couldn't see…

"But…you don't have Inner Power. How're you -?"

"Never mind how or why I'm here, you stupid boy!" The voice snapped. "We don't have time to waste! Your Devourer won't stay weak for long…"

"My…" Wolf straightened with a jolt. "My Devourer?!"

The voice grew louder. "Yes…that was him causing that fire back there. Those were his hands. He was attempting to break free of your Inner Power's hold of him why'll you were weak and vulnerable. You're lucky I was there to block him."

Suddenly, a contemptuous urge scorched Wolf, boiling his blood and making the falling sensation slower.

"Where is he?" He demanded instantly. "Tell me where he is-"

The voice's impatient tone quickened.

"Peace, Wolf-enough of that! Don't forget why you're here." The voice paused, like it was looking around. "One of your memories are around here, someplace. The only way to detect their presence is through a noise. Once the noise is loud and clear enough, this world will disappear…and process of you reliving that memory will begin.

"But, Sauru-"

"There's no time, Wolf. Just stop…and listen. Can you hear anything?"

Almost immediately after the voice said it, Wolf heard that noise…the same noise that lured him in here. It grew louder, its reach extending like it was passing right by him.

"Wh-yes…yes, it's humming…it sounds like…"

The voice waited. "The memory's passing by Wolf…you need to grab ahold of it, quickly. What's that noise sound like? What does it remind you of?"

"It's…it sounds just like…the sound of a ship's engine…"

The humming grew louder. Everything became cold again. The voice yelled fruitlessly as it faded away-and transform into someone else's voice-

"Wolf? Wolf-!"

Corneria City Orbit, 7 BLW (Twelve Years Ago)…

"Wolf!" A voice scolded reproachfully. "Get away from the window! It isn't safe!

But Wolf kept his nose pressed against the window, not bothered by the intense churning and shuddering of the space shuttle's engine that shook the passenger hold. Both his purple eyes scanned the colossal, glittering cityscape, watching the massive wave of tiny airspeeders and hovercrafts zooming about below.

"Didn't you hear me, Wolf?" Peppy repeated. "There aren't any parachute pods on board. Do you want to fall through the window, and end your life at age twelve?"

Wolf stopped pressing his nose against the window and looked back. He had spent the last three years living with Peppy since he and the others rescued him from Venom…and all that time, he was just as worrisome as an old mother.

"Weren't you the one bragging about how advanced these new shuttles are?" Wolf retorted. "Besides, what kind of a ship has windows so fragile you could fall through?"

Peppy folded his newspaper and sat up in his seat.

"Accidents can happen, bud. Technology can advance to the skies, but still find a way to malfunction." His maroon eyes glanced uneasily at the screws lining the ship's window. "My friend Beltino taught me that. We passed his building earlier, remember?"

"Mmm," Wolf agreed, his attention locked on the sprawling cityscape below.

"Anyway, just sit back down…and buckle your seat-belt." Peppy snuggled comfortably into his seat, yawning so his two lapis teeth showed. "We're a good ten minutes away from the Academy, and scanning your eyeballs out the window won't make it show up any faster."

The Hare may have been tired from the trip, but Wolf would need a wormhole to contain his overflowing happiness. Today was finally the day.

His eyes shone with the reflection of the sun beaming off the glossy windows of passing skyscrapers. The buildings here were huge…much bigger than any of the homes he'd seen around Peppy's home up in Fichina (not to mention the only snow was on the mountains in the distance, which was a relief).

Peppy's care of Wolf should've made up for whatever lack of knowledge he had of the modern world after a lifetime of seclusion on Venom…but that didn't stop Wolf from gaping at everything he saw, and peppering his guardian with questions.

"How many people are in Corneria City?"

"How many? Oh, more than I can count, boy…" Peppy sighed, rubbing eyes tiredly at all the gleaming windows of passing buildings. "You'll feel right at home here, though. Corneria's the Canine Homeworld, just like Katina is the Feline Homeworld…plus, no one would know you're a wolf. Most people here haven't seen a wolf in more than two decades. They'd probably think you were a large Husky, or somethin' similar."

"Wh-Peppy, LOOK!"

Wolf's ears perked up and down excitedly at the sight of passing starships, his heart skipping excitedly. His heart sped up every time a Cornerian Warbird or Defense Ship soared past their shuttle.

Peppy smiled at the young boy.

Twelve years old, but staring out the window with eyes wider than a child of three.

I miss that naïve, oblivious look…Lucy stopped having that look when she turned eight. She's too grown up now, that girl…

His smile faded, his saddening slightly.

He looks so much like his father…

Peppy crinkled his newspaper with uneasy hands. He wondered when James was finally going to tell Wolf. It wasn't fair to the boy…not knowing the truth. Was he to grow up and become a pilot, never knowing?

But Peppy knew for a fact that James had become cold and callous towards Wolf…ever since he found out his last name was "O'Donnell." He had begun to notice it quickly, and so did Pigma…and it became further evident when James had flat-out refused to take in Wolf himself, let alone bring him home and have him associate with Fox.

Peppy knew why. And Wolf had a right to know why, too…

"Look! Is that it, Peppy? Are we here?"

Shaken out of deep thought, the Hare blinked and looked out the window.

Down below, looking just as majestic and hope-inspiring as the day he first looked down on it as a young recruit himself, the Academy sat perched on the shores of Corneria City, with the Arwing Prototypes flew over it almost on cue. The colossal building with jutting spires, gleaming in the sun, stood with a massive, palace-like garden sprawled in the front, decorated with exquisite hedges and a copper-colored fountain with a bronze Arwing statue.

The entrance was guarded by towering golden gates, with Flight Academy Emblem emblazoned on the racks.

Peppy looked at Wolf's astonished and overwhelmed expression. The young boy's eyes shimmered with wonder.

"That's it, isn't it, Peppy? That's where it all begins?"

The boy's wondrous, excited look sullied Peppy's heartstrings with guilt. He wouldn't tell him now, and fill him with discouragement…not on his first day.

He'd tell him eventually…when the time was right. When Wolf was older, and ready.

Peppy smiled and nodded. "That's right, Wolf. That's your future down there."

End of Chapter

…review, maybe?