I would like to take this time to dedicate this story to someone special. She's touched my writing and has encouraged me to go places where I never would've thought possible. Like Crimson Fire, she helped me get to where I am today. Kae Noel, this one is dedicated to you!
Chapter 12: Hidden Powers, Wild WolfKat could feel the changes all ready happening as she started to run. Her body shrunk, her muscles became larger, the hairs on her body became longer and thicker, her bones reconstructed along with other changes. It all happened in a flash though she was morally disturbed by the sounds of her body reconstructing itself. One second she was a girl the next she was fully wolf.
Coarse, dark gray fur covered her wolf body; her eyes were a bright sky blue, her body longer and more powerful and her tail very bushy. She knew that Nicole and Alex were staring at her, aghast.
She powered her hind legs and ran off into the forest, making better time then she would have thought. With her sensitive wolf hearing she was able to pick up on the sounds behind the explosions. She could hear men yelling, people moving, excited cries as whatever they were firing hit its mark. The smell in the air was foul, the stench of burning flesh filled the air and she wondered why she hadn't smelled it before.
As she moved easily through the dense trees and shrubs she noted that she could smell burning metal mixed in the flesh smell. Something must be overloading, she thought as she steered her way towards the front, dodging heavy clumps of trees and bushes. In what would've taken a day to cover she was now at the point where the tree thinned out into a clearing: the same clearing where she had been days… hours… weeks before.
Kat slowed her ongoing run to a jog as she approached it. When she did reach it she held back and hid in a clump of trees. From her hiding place she was able to see what was going on in the clearing; though what she saw made her sensitive wolf eyes widen in an unnatural way.
A huge battle was going on, Zaibach troops were falling against men in red and gold. She caught sight of the far off flag held by a man in red and gold armor, it had the Nazi symbol on it, only instead of red and black there was red and gold on it. Gaean Nazis? Is this the evil I'm supposed to fight? She wondered as she watched the battle.
She carefully sniffed the air, trying to smell if someone was near her and would be able to attack her. However she only smelled blood and sweat-such a disgusting smell, part of her brain said as she snorted.
The battle was absolute chaos. Men were slaughtering each other without mercy and what looked like small cannons were going off every few minutes, the cannon ball hitting their desired target and making the ground explode.
Suddenly something inside of her just popped and rage ran through her veins, and her wolf face morphed into a growling beast's ready to kill. She let out a loud howl, catching everyone's attention, that contributed pain, anger, need, passion and hate in its tone. She heard one of the nearby red and gold soldiers say something in another language that she actually understood. "The White Wolf! Our leader is back!"
She launched herself from her hiding place and ran headfirst into the battle before her. Without warning she attacked the nearest man, a Zaibach soldier, and bit down on his leg. He howled in pain and managed to get a few good curses in as she clamped down harder until the satisfying taste of blood rushing into her mouth alerted her that she needed to let go. The enemy's blood was in her mouth, pouring down like small rivers as she let go and took a small step back. She knew that he wouldn't be able to use his leg ever again.
The Nazis suddenly gave a roar of pride and rushed the remaining Zaibach soldiers. Kat stood there among the fray, her heart beating fast and her mouth constantly tasting her enemy's blood as she killed without mercy. Fanellian troops came to Zaibach's aid along with people from Austruria and Freid but it was no help. Her side was winning.
Glee filled her head as she ripped out a young man's throat. Nothing could stop them, they would take over Gaea and they would suffer under her control! The battle is ours! We have claimed our victory! She cried in her head, giving a joyful howl.
Inside Kat could feel her body and mind thinking and doing things that she didn't want them to do. Why was she killing all these people? She had to stop this! What am I doing, she wondered?
More like what I'm doing, replied a voice.
Who are you? Get out of my head! You're hurting the people I'm supposed to help protect!
I don't think so, Destroyer. You've chosen a side and now you're mine. Oh, I'd like to thank you for using your anger to fuel yourself. Because of you I was able to grow stronger with each passing thought of yours. Quite the fire starter you are.
There was an explosion above Kat as she started towards the next man. She stopped and looked up. There, above her, the Vione floated, getting hit by invisible things.
Cannons! Kat thought as she howled again. Get out of my head you!
I don't think so, dearie. You've made me stronger and I thank you for that. Now, let's go kill some more.
NO!
She
turned and ran back towards the forest, forgetting about her sudden need to
kill the enemy. She had to tell the
others. The battle was here, and they
were needed.
"Did you see that?" Alex asked Nicole.
"I think?" Came the reply.
"Should we go after her?"
"Duh! She just turned into a wolf, I think we should go with her to the battlefield," Miguel said, standing next to Alex. "Nicole you can use your powers to get us there. Like you did before, when Dallet fell off that cliff and you wrapped your ribbons around him and he was transported back to us."
"But I don't know if I can," Nicole whimpered, fear filling her mind. When she had done that to save Dallet's life she had sensed the pure power within her and it scared her. She didn't think she'd be able to handle that sort of power.
"Come on, Nikki! Kat doesn't just turn into a wolf any day! We have to go after her because that's not normal!" Alex said.
"But…"
"Nicole," Chesta said suddenly, coming up to her and laying a hand on her shoulder.
Nicole turned and stared into his eyes. There was something inside of them that gave her instant hope…
"Nicole, you have to try. I know the power scares you but you've got to embrace it. Kat's life my depend on it."
There was silence before she nodded. Everyone gathered around and Chesta took a hold of her hand. "I'm here and I won't let you slip into the dark," he whispered as she closed her eyes and focused her powers. Suddenly ribbons shot up around them and enclosed them in a tight cocoon. There was a slight jerk and seconds later the cocoon disappeared, leaving them on the edge of the clearing that they had left just days before.
Only now it was a battlefield. Blood and dead bodies littered the field with pools of sweat and blood everywhere along with huge gaping holes where cannons had made their dent. They saw Kat, in wolf form, covered head to paw in blood, and, what looked like pieces of human flesh, fighting hard. In her wolf form she was able to do a lot of damage to the… Wait, is that right? Alex questioned.
She looked again and saw that Kat was attacking the Zaibach, Fanellia, Austruria, and Freid forces that had apparently combined. "Why's she attacking the opposite force?" Asked Miguel.
Nicole did a quick scan of Kat's aura and was blasted back by the sheer force of the evil inside her friend's body. She stumbled backwards and Chesta caught her. "Nicole?" Alex asked, looking at her friend, a worried expression on her face.
"That's not Kat… that's the ancient evil," Nicole whispered.
"Oh damn."
Kat saw Nicole, Alex and the Dragon Slayers all standing on the edge of the forest. Oh, they're afraid to go into battle, thought the voice.
Kat watched as Nicole suddenly fell back in Chesta's awaiting arms. What did you do to her? She demanded.
Nothing. She wasn't prepared for my aura in your body.
Get out now!
You've been taken over before Kat, what makes you think you'll survive this one?
Because I've got a job to do, that's why!
With all of her strength she thought of the evil disappearing from her mind. She could feel it fighting her but she fought harder, thinking of what would happen if she didn't win. You aren't… going to win… she said to it. Because… I'm stronger… and you're still weak… even with my anger as your energy!
Suddenly she regained control of her body, the evil thing escaping. We're not done yet, you understand me? Gaea will fall! It yelled at her as it disappeared into the air. It was figureless and was invisible so she wasn't sure if it was still around or not.
Go into battle, she thought as she spotted Nicole and Alex, running up to them and stopping. She morphed her vocal chords back so she could speak to them for a second. "The thing… gone… don't know…. disappeared… fight!" She said through a cracked and breaking voice.
Nicole nodded and together everyone drew their swords that they had scavenged from fallen soldier, attacking the nearest Nazi men. Kat herself turned back to the battle, baring her teeth and growling loudly, as she launched herself at the nearest Nazi man. She pounced on him as he cried out something that she didn't understand.
Now that the evil was out of her she couldn't understand a word that the men said. She clamped down on his neck before he had time to react, tasting his blood in her mouth, which made her sick and tried her best not to release him.
After a few minutes of struggling the man fell to the ground. He finished squirming underneath her teeth and finally stopped moving, his soul all ready at its final resting place. She released his neck and spit out (the best a wolf can) his blood. If there was one thing she was certain of, it was that after this was over she would never bite another person again. The taste of blood in her mouth was overwhelming and if she could've she would've barfed.
A sudden clash of metal against metal brought her attention back to the battle. Turning to her left she saw Dilandau fighting off two soldiers, with a third sneaking up behind him. With a low growl she charged the third soldier. Luckily she was only a few feet away from Dilandau and was able to attach herself and teeth to the man's sword arm just as he raised the sword to strike.
Without thinking and a howl of pain later he dropped the sword, missing Kat's head by inches-why was she doing this? Kat released the man's arm and went for his leg, clamping down on and making him loose his balance in the pain and fall over. She released his leg and went for his throat, attacking it and holding onto it until he stopped squirming.
Panting heavily, Kat went back to her normal form. She stood up and took a step away from the dead man, spitting out the rest of the blood in her mouth; she couldn't stand the awful taste any more. The sound of clashing metal behind her made Kat jump and whirl around. Two men with locked swords, only a couple inches away from her, stood, glaring at each other; one of the men was Dilandau. "A little help?" He growled under the strain.
Kat shook her head. "I've all ready done too much," she said just as a voice rang out across the battlefield.
"KAT!"
Kat turned her head and saw that Alex was on the ground with Nicole by her side. It didn't look as if Alex was moving. Miguel was fending off the attacking Nazis while Nicole shook Alex. She wasn't waking from her sleep. "ALEX!" Kat screamed as she ran towards her friend.
AN: What am I doing? I am being so mean! Another cliffhanger AND about thirty more questions! Agh, my brain works in odd ways. Did anyone notice the cool little signature thing at the end of the last chapter? I just made that up so now it's my little quote thing… signature or whatever. Okay, if anyone DIDN'T understand the whole evil inside Kat thing either email me at WildHunterKat@yahoo.com OR keep reading because I believe I do explain it in later chapters… whichever you prefer. So, review and tell me what you think!
~The Shadow That Takes Form as a Kat~
~~ShadowKat~~
