Well….I went a lot more intense with this that I originally intended. XD thank you Marcus for putting the whole "White El Tigre" idea into my head. XD
Manny and Lady rushed out of the cave and towards the ruins, they could already smell the smoke. There were the sounds of engines in the distance, and wheels spinning through the dirt. There were bright lights through the trees, slowly disappearing into the dense jungle. The two of them quickly climbed and struggled through the jungle until they came to the clearing of the temple. The temple was broken apart, statues and other important bits of it missing. Stripes was nowhere to be seen.
"Stripes! Where are you!" Manny began looking around the ruins for the little cub, Lady jumping up some rocks and then behind them, searching for her cub.
He suddenly heard Lady make a strange growling noise. He quickly scrambled up the rocks and peered over. His heart dropped. Lady nuzzled at a motionless cub on the ground, a cub that Manny hoped wasn't Stripes even though he knew it was. Manny slid down the side of the boulders and sunk to his knees next to Lady, who was still sniffing at the cub.
He petted the little cub, in hopes of him moving. Stipes wouldn't. Stripes didn't breathe, and his heart didn't beat. Lady nuzzled her cub and growled in distress. Manny's face went dark and he stared at ground.
"All…of this…" Green sparks of electricity ran across his body, the cracks on his belt buckle glowed a bright green. He slowly stood up, shaking with rage.
"for SOME STUPID ROCKS!" He screamed in rage at the sky, his pupils turning to slits and an electrical bright green glow surrounded him.
On a path some ways from the temple, a caravan of trucks drove, their headlights spooking the wildlife. Suddenly the truck in front stopped dead, forcing all the cars behind it to hit their breaks. The leader and his assistant got out of their truck and went to investigate the sudden stop.
"What's the big deal stopping all the sud-." When the leader got to the truck, he saw the door open, the driver missing without a trace.
"What the hell…?" Suddenly there was a scream behind the boss, he turned around in an instant to see his assistant had vanished.
He whipped around his flashlight in hopes of seeing something, he caught the gleam of something green but it was gone instantly.
The man jumped into the empty truck and locked the door behind him. Suddenly the car shook and was lifted up, The man grabbed onto the sides in terror. The car was then thrown on it's side. The car shook again, the man looked in horror as a black shape was crouched on the now upward facing door. The shape looked humanoid, but with green cat like eyes, that glowed menacingly in the dark. Suddenly the figure ripped the car door off its hinges, throwing it somewhere behind him without care. With intense speed he reached down and yanked the leader up by his shirt collar, the man gripping onto the figures arm in hopes of prying himself free.
The car lights behind them gave the leader a good look at the figure that had attacked him. A boy of about 16, in a slate grey padded suit with white gloves and matching cow boots. White tiger like stripes when across his suit. He had a grey mask with fur on the sides and white stripes across the forehead and cheeks. He had a dark green belt and a sliver belt buckle that glowed the same bright green that his cat like eyes did. He had the ears and tail of a white tiger.
"What-the hell do you want? Are you with those animal hero freaks!" The leader spat out in a mock confidence.
The boy did not speak. He stared intensely and rose his hand, claws made of green energy formed around his fingers.
The man's eyes when wide. "T-this kids gonna k-kill me!"
Suddenly rang out from the other poachers, who had gotten out of their cars and started shooting at the tiger boy. The kid growled in pain, throwing the leader on the ground and leaping into the dark jungle.
The jungle went dead quiet, which was never a good sign. The jungle only became quite when all the other creatures felt in danger. The temple robbers looked around the darkness frantically. The leader getting out his gun and looking around in terror. He didn't know who the hell this kid was, but he did know one thing; They were being hunted.
Suddenly there was another scream. The kid darted out of the jungle like a shadow, his green claws slashing a gunman across the chest, making the man fall to the floor in agony. The leader watched in horror as his team tried to fight the wild creature off. Gunshots filled the air, green and white sparks of light showing glimpses of the dark battle.
Finally, the shots stopped, along with the green glow. The leader searched pitch black for a sign of movement. A pair of green eyes turned to look at him through the dark. Green started to light the scene again, it was coming from the boy's energy claws. The claws casting a dim ghostly green around the monster. The leader turned and ran. The man was so scared that he didn't even see the cliffs edge, falling off it with a scream. He would never scream again.
The greened eyed monster blinked, and the energy claws faded away. He stared blankly at the cliff for a few moments. The car lights turned back on, filling the area with light. The monsters colors went from greys and whites, to blacks and browns. The tension in him finally went and his body relaxed, his eyes going soft. Manny was back to himself.
"Where…?" He asked himself quietly. He was back in his El Tigre form, no longer in that strange half way form.
He looked around the area when he noticed a strange blotch on his clothing. It was dark and wet. Flashes of moments played back in his head. It was blood, and not his ether.
"I…I did this?" He looked around, his night vision showing him a scene of dead men laying of the ground, blood across their clothing.
Manny was overwhelmed. Lost in the jungles of freaking India, saved by tigers, a magic temple, explosions, baby tiger killed, and now he was a murderer. He couldn't just stay there on the road, he had to find his friends. But how do you just move past killing 6 people? Granted they weren't good people, but murder is still quite a big deal.
He looked around frantically, and then saw something move of the corner of his eye. He turned to see the tiger mother, Lady, walking down to road towards him. She looked at the bodies but kept walking gently towards him. He could feel her sorrow. She just lost her baby for dumb reasons; she had every right to be in pain. He knelt to her level and put his forehead against hers.
"I'm sorry about Stripes. I tried to do right by him, but…I think, I just became a monster." He stated quietly, not sure how to feel.
"You dragged them to hell."
Manny sat back and looked at her with surprise.
"Thank-you."
He raised a brow and stood back up, still feeling very conflicted. He then caught a scent in the air, it was familiar. Sniffing the air, he focused in on it; "Marcus!" He knew that scent anywhere! And there was another scent too, must be Eric.
"I have to go...Thank you for saving me, and showing me the temple, and just…thank you. I won't ever forget you or Stripes, I promise." He patted her head and turned to leave.
"Goodbye El-Tigre."
He stopped and looked back to see just her tail slinking into the dark forest.
"How did she…?" Manny had a lot of questions, but no time to ask them.
He ran in the direction of his friends, still conflicted at what he had done. What made it worse was how he did feel. He felt no guilt for killing them, and that horrified him beyond words.
Now if you will excuse me, I shall sit here and wait for all the horrified comments XD
