"Buuuuut I also can't deny that he had it coming, so I'll let it slide, this time"

9:30 pm 23/08/2019

As the clock strikes nine thirty, I listen out for my ex-wife's snoring to ensure she doesn't hear our exit. Making sure to stay quiet, I stand up and get dressed into some less formal clothing, then walk into the kitchen, where Naomi is already waiting, while doing a little homework.

"Doing homework I see? I highly doubt you'll be going to school anytime soon," I lightly chuckle as she shakes her head, giggling quietly.

"I thought I may as well keep myself occupied and get ahead while everyone else is probably panicking," As we continue to talk, I hear the snoring stop for a moment, so I interrupt her and tell her to hide behind the couch just in case. Thankfully, I hear her start snoring again, and we both sigh in relief.

"I think it'd be best if we left now," Naomi nods as we walk to the car, quietly opening the garage door and back the car out, driving down the driveway only to see headlights slowly coming from the top of the hill around the corner.

"Fuck!" I immediately floor it and sneak around a side street, driving up the hill, only slowing down for the corner at the hill's base. 'Crap, I don't have a good enough reason to be out at this time of night, we'll just have to stay out of their sight!' I look around, only for a Police car to turn its headlights on in front of us. I immediately put my foot to the floor as we turn the corner and floor it down the road.

Several small hills make themselves known, so I decide to use them to my advantage. I slam my brakes on and look back at the cop car following us, which he doesn't expect. Moments later, I move forward as his car launches over us, landing hard as several sparks fly from the chassis. I quickly duck down a side street as I hear more sirens behind me.

I park in a driveway and turn the car off, as both Naomi and I jump in the back to hide. Moments later, a light goes past the car and past our hiding spot, not stopping or suspecting a thing. Breathing a sigh of relief, I step back into my seat, start the car, back out and start our journey once more.

Our journey is rather uneventful this time, not coming across any Police due to taking the same route I ended up taking last night. As we arrive at Shade's house, he comes bursting through a doggy door as an older lady tries to chase him, instead bashing her head against it, almost falling over while carrying a broom, and several beer stains littering her shirt. She opens the door and yells.

"AnD dOn'T yOu CoMe BaCk hic YoU sTuPiD fOx!"

As I look on in confusion, Naomi just stares in horror. "What is wrong with her!?" I open my door and let him in as he looks at Naomi in confusion.

"Ah, right, you two haven't met yet, Naomi, this is Shade, and Shade, this is Naomi, one of my daughters, as for what's wrong with her, she seems to be drunk…"

Shade seems unsure of what to do, since he is clearly still shaken up from his interaction with the old drunk lady, shaking a little with his eyes a mixture of shock and confusion.

"Would you mind sharing your seat Naomi? I think Shade needs help calming down and I doubt sitting in the back will help much," She nods as I help Shade onto her lap. As we back out of the property, Naomi starts to stroke his head in a calming rhythm. Shade at first seems a little jumpy, but as she continues he calms down and, I swear I hear him start to purr like a cat.

"Oh that feels nice!" Naomi giggles.

"Well I'm glad, you like my pats just as much as my brother did it seems." I look at her for a moment in shock.

'I'm not sure if she understood him or just guessed it, but I guess there's only one way to find out,' I stare back towards the road as I clear my throat a little. "So, what was all that about Shade? Why was she after you and calling you a stupid Fox?" He shakes his head.

"That was my mother, she's always used alcohol to 'handle' difficult-to-comprehend situations, and she's been drinking all day, constantly saying 'This is all your fault' or 'Why me?'. About half an hour ago, however, she started trying to chase me around. At first it was a used bottle, but it got smashed and she tried to stab me with it… I managed to get that out of her hands, but then she resorted to the broom… As soon as I saw you arrive, I bolted, scared if she managed to catch me, since she was still faster than me."

Both Naomi and I could tell it was stressing him out just talking about it, so she resorted to scratching him behind the ears, which immediately made him relax as his eyes rolled back in relaxation. "Well, you don't need to worry about that now Shade, she doesn't have that bottle anymore,"

That all but confirmed it for me, she understood him, but why was she able to understand Shade, when she clearly didn't understand Nova? 'I guess that's a question for Splinter,'

10:12 pm 23/08/2019

As we arrive at the gate, the gentleman from last night recognises me and Shade, but eyes down Naomi.

"Who might this be?

"This is my daughter, Naomi," I beckon him over as I whisper into his ear, "She is also able to understand Elementals, like Shade, but she couldn't understand her sister yesterday, so I wanted to ask Splinter about it," He nods as he points to the hill next to the farmhouse.

"Alright, go right ahead, Splinter should be in the house right now getting ready, so I would suggest waiting until after he explains what's happening tonight before explaining the situation, he'll probably help you then."

As we pull into our spot, I notice one of the duos who mocked Shade yesterday walking towards us.

"Oh well look who it is, the useless Zorua who couldn't and his business partner, find any good deals for him on eBay yet?"

"Oh, and I suppose you'll be looking for some better insults? Oh wait, I'm sure you could find some in the local Salvos," Naomi and Shade both giggle as we walk away, leaving a very red faced Zorua and a confused man. For those who aren't sure what the Salvos are, it's short for "Salvation Army" who accept donations for those less off.

Feeling good about that comeback, I made my way into the barn, followed swiftly by Naomi who was still holding Shade, but he didn't seem to mind. I spot Brian and Steler talking towards the back, so we make our way over as they finish their conversation.

"Why hello you tw- three? May I ask who this is young Galaxy? I wasn't aware it was 'bring your kid to secret club day'!" Brian gives a hearty laugh as Shade and Steler giggle. I shake my head with a smile.

"This is my daughter, Naomi, and she's just here to observe, and I also noticed she can at least understand Shade, so I also wanted to see if Splinter can see why,"

As we look back, Naomi has begun giving Steler pats as well, and I must admit the sight brought a smile to my face. Brian just laughs.

"Seems they're already getting along, that's good to see!" I nod as we look around. I notice that a few people still haven't arrived, but everyone then looks over to see Splinter enter the barn with a sombre look as he makes his way to the main stage.

"Alright everyone, listen up! I have some good news and some bad news… Some of the Zorua who were supposed to be here were captured last night, three to be precise, and unfortunately four of the Humans were taken in for harbouring those Zorua." I room turns to whispers, many small conversations making it hard to hear any specific one, except the one my group is having.

"That's horrible, I mean, it was to be expected that it would happen at some point, but you always hope it wouldn't." Shade says sadly.

"Indeed, 'tis a sad day when our own are taken away because of things out of their control," Brian agrees. Before we have time to say much more, Splinter clears his throat as we all look to the stage.

"That being said, we do have some more people joining us, specifically five new Humans and three new Zorua, please welcome them with open paws. Now, without further ado, onto what we'll be doing tonight."

"For the newbies, they will be doing what we did last night, except the little girl who is accompanying Mr Galaxy, she is here to observe if I have my facts right. As for the rest of you, it's now time to have the Humans find out what it's like to be Zorua."

"We'll be starting off by having the Zorua in each pair funnelling their aura into these specially made orbs, which will then allow those highly attuned to Aura, aka the Human in each pair, to transform. May I have Galaxy and Shade come up for a demonstration? Don't worry, it's fairly easy to do, but it may be a little exhausting the first few times."

I bend down to Shade, who looks rather nervous about this, and I can't blame him, as I too am fairly nervous. "Shade, it'll be fine, ok? I'll be up there with you, so don't worry about the others, and just pretend it's just us and Splinter like yesterday, alright?" He nods as we walk up towards the stage.

"Hey Shade, don't let the sheer embarrassment of yesterday eat at you, I'm sure you have a lot more mistakes to make t- ayeep!"

"I've had just about enough of that bratty Zorua," I say as we walk past where the Zorua was standing before I gave him some personal foot-to-the-face training, which he failed. As we get to the top of the stage, Splinter walks over and whispers in my ear.

"You know that as the leader here and a tutor, I have to tell you that what you did is not on… Buuuuut I also can't deny that he had it coming, so I'll let it slide, this time,"

"Alright everyone, pay attention but remain quiet, or I'll ask you to leave until we're done then get you to try it without a demonstration." A few grumbles can be heard in the crowd, but we just ignore them.

Splinter places a clear orb in front of Shade then steps back. "Alright Shade, I'll need you to focus your energy towards the orb, as you were doing yesterday to create your illusions." He looks around, a little unsure, so I kneel next to him and pat his head, which allows him to calm down a bit as he refocuses on the orb. After a few moments, I notice his body begin to radiate dark energy, which slowly seeps into the orb, turning it as black as night.

"Excellent! That's Shade's job done, now it's up to Galaxy to absorb the dark energy! So, first I'll need you to place your right hand upon the orb," I nod and do so,

I look to my left and notice Naomi looking a little concerned, so I just give her a smile as I put my hand on the orb. The orb feels warm, inviting, and somehow alive. "This is not quite what I was expecting,"

"Indeed, most people would expect dark energy to feel inherently wrong, evil, cold, but that's the thing with Aura, it isn't good nor evil, it all depends on how it's used, and it just so happens that dark types are more seen as evil than other types, which is sad."

"Now, I'll need you to focus on the energy from the orb, feel how it flows, and imagine it flowing into your body through your hand, but most importantly, stay calm, no matter what." I nod as I focus on the energy, feeling it radiate out of the orb and around my hand. As I focus more, imagining it flowing into my body, a slight heat spreads through my arm, which slowly spreads through the rest of my body.

I ignore the gasps from the crowd as my entire body feels more powerful, as though this energy is giving my body a boost to the strength of my bones. Then I hear a crack, and another, as pain slowly begins to erupt throughout my body. With Splinter's words giving me reassurance, I try to remain as calm as I can while I feel my fingers and toes slowly getting smaller. My arms and legs follow suit shortly after while also changing shape.

I feel my spine begin to extend next, the bottom of which extends beyond my skin which hurts for a moment before I begin to feel light headed. The last thing I feel is my face beginning to change shape, my ears beginning to change shape and position, along with my mouth and nose slowly fusing. Within moments, I lose consciousness, Shade slightly panicking as the void swallows me whole.

Well there's the end of yet another chapter. So, it turns out that Shade's mom is an alcoholic. I hope this doesn't affect Shade's ability to learn about his new powers. Also, Galaxy has now begun his first transformation into a Zorua, wonder how this will affect his views moving forward? I had a bit more fun writing this compared to last chapter, so hopefully I can get the ball moving a bit faster moving forward, we can only hope. Anyways, I hope you all enjoyed the chapter, and don't forget to R&R. Until the next chapter, Stay Frosty!