Chapter 8:
Enter the wolf
W e both saw Gatomon standing on top of the Penguin slide by the time we reached the park, looking out over the treetops at the quickly fading sun. As we approached, I was about to throw some clever comment at her when I quickly closed my mouth, studying her expressionless face. Something's on her mind, I mentioned. Kyra nodded and stepped forward, beginning the conversation. "Uh, you wanted to see us?" Gatomon's eyes flitted towards us before she turned her entire body, slowly. I gulped. Something must have been really bothering her for her to be taking her time like this. And things that bothered her kinda made me nervous. "Remember, Prance, what I had asked you about earlier?" Gatomon began quietly, looking at me. "About that one guy traveling between worlds?" I glanced at Kyra before replying warily, "Yeah, what about it?" Gatomon frowned uncertainly, looking down at the ground. "Well. I think I may have. seen him." "What!?" Kyra and I exclaimed at the same time. Gatomon glared at me scornfully (why only at me and not Kyra, I don't know. she's got something against me, I swear!). "Well, it was somebody! I'm not sure if it's the same guy that Kero-thing was talking about, but I know I saw somebody!" "Why didn't you say something about this earlier?" Kyra asked. "Yeah, we've been through, what, four worlds already?" I added. "You can't seriously tell me it just 'slipped your mind' for four days!" "Hey, shut up!" Gatomon screamed defensively. "I didn't think it was anything until Goku and Trunks mentioned about it yesterday, and even then, I wasn't sure if it was necessary to say anything about it because I didn't think they could switch between worlds like we could! I thought they were just confined to Goku's world!" "Hey, calm down," Kyra said gently. "We didn't mean to offend you. And you," she added harshly, looking at me, "stop picking on her!" "Wha-!?" I uttered before shutting my mouth and folding my arms irritably, ears involuntarily pressed against my head in anger. Ignoring me, Kyra turned back to Gatomon. "So, back to you. you had said you had seen somebody. Are you saying you didn't think you saw Rastal?" Looking uneasily between me and Kyra, Gatomon answered, "Well, if he's the guy Kero mentioned, then no, I'm pretty sure it wasn't him I saw." Despite my anger, my ears perked and my breath came short as I listened to Kyra's next question. "Well, just tell us when and how you saw him." "Well," Gatomon began, "it was way back in the beginning, while I was looking for you, when I saw. him. I just noticed him out of the corner of my eye, though, and when I turned to check, he was gone, so I had thought nothing of it, but now, I'm pretty sure I saw him." "What did he look like?" I asked, all contempt gone from my voice. "He was tall, I remember that. Probably almost as tall as Goku, maybe just a little shorter. I didn't have that much time to notice any specific details, but he did have dark hair, I think it was black. And I think I noticed a tail, too. Weird color. it was black, but when he moved and the light fell on it, it looked like it was bright blue." "That's not Rastal," Kyra said quietly, eyes slowly drifting towards me. "I know," I whispered. "Then, was the guy I saw the other one?" Gatomon asked. "Sirius?" I nodded, frowning. "So that means. he was after me from the beginning." "I guess so," Kyra said softly. Gatomon glanced at me, appearing to want to throw a comment at me before she decided otherwise and asked me blankly, "Tell me, why does this Sirius guy want to kill you, anyway?" "Well," I began slowly, "when I first came up with the story revolving around Sirius and Prance, obviously, since she was a cat and he was a wolf, they were supposed to fight. As to exactly why he wants to kill me, I'm not sure." "You're not sure?" Kyra scoffed, despite herself. "I thought you were the one who wrote the whole thing, weren't you?" "Well, yeah, but that was a long time ago, and I've done a lot since then. So long that I guess I've kinda forgot." Kyra sighed, shrugging as she leaned up against the side of the Penguin slide beneath where Gatomon stood. "Too bad. Would have been really handy information, you know? The whole 'keeping-you-alive' thing would be a lot easier with it." "You don't think I know that!" I spat. "Hey, calm down, I was only joking!" "It wasn't funny," I grumbled, sticking my hands in my pockets. "Why don't you try and see for yourself how you'd like being chased by three cartoon characters you've created and are trying to kill-" Suddenly, I stopped talking as I perked my ears and lifted my head. A cold chill ran down my spine as I scanned the darkness. "What's the matter?" Kyra asked. "Shh!" I hissed. "I heard something." Gatomon rolled her eyes. "You're crazy. I didn't hear a thing." "Seriously," I whispered, ignoring her insult. "I know I heard-" *crunch* "What was that?" I whispered hoarsely, ignoring my braid flinging in my face as I whipped my head around. "Did you hear that?" "No," Gatomon said flatly. "I still say you're hear-" *crunch* The startled expression crossing her face told me she definitely heard that! Suppressing the great urge to mutter 'I told ya so,' I swiveled my head around back and forth, searching for the source of the sound. "It sounds like footsteps," Kyra whispered. "Footsteps coming closer," Gatomon agreed, ears swiveling around quickly. I squinted as my eyes scanned the area, looking for any moving shadow possible. I did not like this. It was totally cliché. Outside in the pitch darkness. Nobody around at all. Footsteps softly moving along the pavement. Any minute, now, I was expecting someone to leap out at us from the shadows. Totally predictable. But with the knowledge that three dangerous cartoon characters were wandering around out there, currently unstoppable, didn't make the predictability feel at all reassuring. Suddenly, I felt it. What 'it' was exactly, I can't exactly describe. Not in a way that would make any sense, anyway. I mean, you know the feeling you get when your foot falls asleep? Well, multiply that times about a thousand and that would be close to what I felt. It was as if for that brief moment, all the blood in my body stopped rushing, for that instant freezing like ice. I gasped. "What's the matter?" Kyra asked. "S-sss-ss-" "What?" "S-ss-si-" "What are you doing?" Gatomon hissed impatiently? I gulped nervously, desperately trying to control my terribly trembling voice. "S-ssi-sii-rrusss-ss." I managed. "What did you say?" Kyra asked again, leaning closer. Before I could stutter again, a soft laugh interrupted me, sending the same, blood-freezing chill through my spine again. "She said Sirius." Next thing I knew, as Kyra and Gatomon were swiveling their head's towards the voice, I was suddenly jumping forward, tackling them both forcefully. We all landed with a loud and painful 'thump' on the sand in the sandbox, Gatomon unfortunately tucked beneath our combined weight. "What the heck do you think you're doing!?" Gatomon screeched, glaring up at me venomously. "Are you trying to break my-" To my surprise, Kyra had clamped her hand over the digimon's mouth, ignoring the death glare received and merely pointing behind me. I slowly rolled off them to allow Gatomon to get a better look. The spot where we had just stood only seconds before was smooth and pale blue in color. From our position beside it, the three of us could clearly see our reflection staring back at us, baffled. The ground was completely slicked over with ice. "W-where did t-that come from!?" Gatomon demanded nervously. Not paying attention, I instead threw my head up, looking into the shadows of the forest. "S-sirius, w-where are you!" I exclaimed in a much less intimidating tone that I was aiming for. A moment of silence followed before the same, chilling voice spoke up again. "So, you do know me. He said you would." "He?" Kyra repeated. "What do you mean by 'he'?" "You'd be better off hushing your mouth. You're not the one I'm after." I gulped. His words sent chills up my spine. Despite this, however, I took a tentative step forward and shouted, "Sirius, show yourself!" "As you wish. Afterall, you are going to die, soon, anyway." Again, I heard the rustling of decaying leaves underfoot and turned towards the source of the noise. From the shadows of the forest, a figure was walking slowly along the cobblestone path. It was scary how much Sirius looked exactly like the Sirius I had drawn- no, not quite, but more like the one I had imagined. But what was even scarier was. I don't know, I can't describe it. Not quite his appearance, but more. his presence. The Sirius I had made so long ago was strong and dangerous, and, of course, funny and a bit arrogant, but to me, he never felt. well, deadly. Now, however, was a completely different story. Everything about him, though, technically was the same. He was tall, probably standing about a head above me, and well built. Not nearly as muscular as Goku or any of them, but also, clearly not needing to be. He had long, raven black hair, somewhat coarse, but you couldn't really tell too much due to the fact that the majority of it was tied back into a low ponytail while the remaining few strands hung limply at the sides of his face. Set deeply into his mass of black was a pair of sharp, black ears. Like Gatomon had said earlier, his fur briefly flashed back and forth between black and blue in the glare of the street light. His jaw was squarely set, and unlike the Sirius I had dreamed of during so many math classes, his smile was nowhere to be found. Instead, the barest hint of a smirk played at the corners of his lips. But what scared me most about him- about this guy who was supposed to be Sirius- were his eyes. His cold, dark, almost apathetic blue eyes. Like the guy behind them was heartless, and truly. evil. But that couldn't possibly be true, could it? I mean, sure Sirius was bad in the beginning, but I never made him evil. did I? At first glance, he certainly didn't look the part. Save the ears and the similarly colored long tail, shaggy like a wolf's, sweeping the ground as he walked, he looked almost ordinary. He wore nothing more than a simple black tank top and loose fitting dark blue jeans in which he stuck his hands in the pockets, appearing as casual and laid-back as anyone. But to me, as he slowly walked closer, the daunting look in his eyes sent shivers up my spine and made my fur rise. Suddenly, a tap on my shoulder made me jump and I spun around, looking at Kyra questioningly. well, only for maybe a moment, for very quickly, the questioning look was replaced by one of utter astonishment. Kyra was staring at Sirius with eyes I had only seen while she was in the presence of one thing- chocolate. Something she absolutely, above all else, loves. And in the context of Sirius, I could already guess what was going on through her mind. Prance, are you absolutely sure he's a bad guy? she whined, not blinking even once as she absorbed Sirius's appearance into her memory. As stunned as I was, for some bizarre reason, I was not surprised. Maybe Kyra wouldn't behave this way, but there's no way Lacey, even in the face of danger, could resist shedding a few drops of drool over a hot guy- even if that guy was Sirius. no, take that back, try especially if that guy were Sirius! Looking back at him, I bit my lip anxiously. Sorry, Ky, but this time, I know it. I almost felt a sweatdrop growing on the back of my head as I heard a soft whimper erupt from behind me when I noticed Sirius stopped, now hardly six feet away from me. It took all of my strength alone to force my knees to not buckle in fear as I looked at him- at the look of malignant confidence he cast toward me. "Don't try to hide your fear," he said casually, parting his lips to show his tongue rolling over his teeth like a typical canine. "I can already smell it." I did my best to straighten, throwing a mild glare back at him. "Whoever said I was trying to hide it?" Sirius raised an eyebrow, grinning in spite of himself, which did nothing to ease the rapidly increasing uneasiness in my chest. "You've got a lot of spunk. or perhaps, it's just plain stupidity." Now, as scared as I was, this wry arrogance of his that I had originally thought of as charming was beginning to appear really, really annoying. "Call it whatever you want, jerk!" I hissed, anger forcing my confidence to grow. "Oh, really? Am I getting on your nerves, little kitten?" Sirius cooed curiously. All of a sudden, I felt my blood boil. Now, had the term 'little kitten' been used to describe me several days ago, I would react either one of two ways: 1) I would have blushed lightly and shyly turned away while on the inside, I'd be melting, or 2) I would have looked at the person strangely and felt their forehead for a fever. However, in this circumstance, especially since I was now a cat myself, I think it's safe to say, neither reaction applied. "Why you." I began, my voice threateningly low. I even heard Kyra slowly back away from me (eyes most likely still on Mr. Likes-to-Piss-me-off!) in preparation for the onslaught of insults she knew were to come. And believe me, they were coming! ".rude, pig-headed, obnoxious, over-confident, stuck up, idiotic, conceited, disgusting, dim-witted, pathetic-excuse-for-an- animal.. ugh, bastard!" As I sputtered out every wicked, offensive adjective I could think of, I stepped back, taking in a deep breath of satisfaction. Let the obnoxious pig 'witty-comment' his way out of that one! Suddenly, to my ultimate surprise and dismay, Sirius took a step back and began laughing. Laughing! I couldn't believe it! Laughing! After all that, he seriously had the nerve to laugh at me! "Uh, Prance?" Kyra whispered hesitantly, poking me in the back lightly, "are you sure it's really that good of an idea to be screaming verbal abuse to the guy who's trying to kill you?" I swirled around to face her, the steam from my temper still raging. "Hey, exactly who's side are you on, anyway!?" Taking the hint, she shrank away immediately, making me just about to feel bad about blowing up at her when Sirius began to talk again. "Hah, not bad for a little fur ball!" he retorted, calming himself down enough to look at me. "I'll at least give you that much. It's not often I get prey that actually has the guts to try and cheek me. But," he added, slipping his hands out from his pockets, grinning wickedly, "I suppose that'll just make killing you all the more fun!" Oh, great job, Prance, I chided myself. Once again, your anger just takes over, and you had to go and open up your big mouth! Before I had time to even register the tingling feeling in the back of my mind, I was suddenly in the air, looking down below at Sirius who had apparently lunged at me. Thank God for 'cat-senses'! Out of the corner of my eye, I noticed Gatomon and Kyra also getting out of the way. But my attention was hardly averted for a millisecond when Sirius was suddenly in my face, grinning evilly again. "Hello." This time, I was barely able to avoid his attack, a thin cut running along my cheek displaying such. This was certainly not going to be fun! "Prance, watch out!" I heard Kyra scream. No duh! "You don't think I know that!?" I yelled irritatedly, continually jumping backward as Sirius's attack pressed forward. After one jab in particular, I jumped up and forward, planting my feet on his back and kicking hard to propel myself. Of course, knowing Sirius, I'd be surprised if he even felt it. With the extra boost, I was able to thrust myself to the other side of the park, spinning around as soon as I landed. Sirius stood where he was, slowly turning around to face me. Soft footsteps behind me announced Kyra and Gatomon's presence. What are we going to do? Kyra asked, away from Sirius's well-adapted ears. We certainly can't face him now! We haven't learned any of our techniques, yet! I mean, at this rate, he'll.. Sirius will.. I grimaced. I know. Right now, the only thing we can really do is hope Sakura and Li get here soon to help us out. Wouldn't they have sensed his presence by now, though? I don't know. Maybe they- "Well, this isn't really fun," Sirius spoke up patently. "From what I had heard, you were supposed to have been able to put up more of a fight, but if all you're going to do is run away, I guess I'll have to end this, then." "No," I whispered desperately, glaring at him. "Not yet." "Sorry," Sirius replied, grinning, "all requests are officially denied." And with that, he began running forward, death fully expressed in his cold eyes. For some bizarre reason, as he approached, I suddenly started to see everything in slow motion. Like someone had pressed pause on the VCR, and was playing along the rest of the video very slowly. Sirius's body was a mere blue and black blur, slowly getting closer and closer. My heartbeat rang loudly in my ear, and my breath came short. It was similar to the feeling I had felt while I had fallen from the sky after leaving Mr. Carr's class. A single thought ran through my head. Is this what it feels like when you know you're going to die? As Sirius's form drew ever nearer, I exhaled a deep sigh and closed my eyes. There was nothing more I could do. I guess I won't get to see this all through to the end, afterall.. Some hero I am. Suddenly, I felt my body jerk. But no pain? It didn't quite make sense. Hesitantly, I opened my eyes. Below stood Sirius, looking up at me, for the first time looking slightly annoyed. And yes, I did say below. Way below. "W-what?" I said quietly, still too shaken by the near-death experience to speak right. "I certainly hope these things don't decide to pop out at the last minute like that all the time!" My head spun around. Kyra was looking down at me, grinning her head off. Behind her, I noticed Gatomon looking out past her head. Past her, I noticed something else- wings? Suddenly, it all clicked. Kyra held me up about a hundred feet in the air, her hands holding tightly to my arms. Apparently, just a fraction of a second before Sirius had reached me, her wings had pulled through and she grabbed Gatomon and me and took off. As I looked down once again, I was relieved to see the wolf-boy's figure rapidly shrinking, as we were lifter higher and higher. "Hello? Prance? You still here with us?" I blinked, shaking my head and barely managing a smile. "I agree." "What?" I looked up at her, smiling again. "As much as I'm happy they did work, I really hope those wings of yours don't decide to cut it that close all the time." Kyra grinned, nodding. From her comfortable position on her back, Gatomon rolled her eyes. "Sure, if you really call a simple glide like this 'working'." "Hey, it got us away from Sirius, didn't it?" Kyra replied cheerfully. "And at least I have an updraft to work with instead of dead air, like at Kami's lookout." I quirked an eyebrow. "Hmph, are you sure you're all that happy about leaving Sirius behind? For a second there, I was sure you were ready to turn to the dark side and join him." Cheeks bright red, Kyra opened her mouth to throw a comment back at me when Gatomon quickly shut it again. "Argue later, look out!" Nest thing I knew, I was swung to the right as Kyra quickly angled her wings, barely allowing room for a shaft of blue light to pass by. Even though the beam didn't touch any of us, I still felt the prickling of my skin as the cold blast passed us. Looking down, I saw Sirius with his hands outstretched, looking directly up at us. "He's firing at us!?" I exclaimed, watching as another sphere of light grew in each of his palms. "No duh, Einstein!" Gatomon snapped. "Kyra, dodge left!" Kyra obeyed, this time better prepared for the attack as the shot flew several feet passed us. "We can't dodge them forever!" I said, looking up at her. "I know. We have to get out of here!" "Can't you put on some speed?" Gatomon asked impatiently. "Like I said before, I'm on an updraft. It's doing the work, not me." "What if you were to break from it?" I suggested hopefully. Kyra shook her head. "I'm still too new on these things. Off of the security blanket of the updraft, I doubt I'd be able to hold myself up, much less the both of you. At this height, we'd probably suffer more from a crash than by anything Sirius could do to us." I cringed at the thought. "Gee, thanks for the image," I muttered dryly. "Kyra, watch out!" Gatomon screeched. "Wait! Which w-" She didn't have time to finish. I barely noticed Sirius's grin of satisfaction as Kyra's left wing turned to a block of ice and we slowly began plummeting to the ground. My mind began racing. "Kyra!" Gatomon exclaimed as our friend's face contorted in pain. "Gatomon, we have to jump!" The digimon looked up at me, shocked. "What!?" "I said we have to jump!" I repeated. "Are you crazy!? Didn't you hear what Kyra said? If we jump from up here, we'll-" "But we're cats, aren't we?" I asked persistently. "Besides, we're not as high up as we were before, and if we jump now, we'll be able to land just in time to turn around and catch Kyra!" Gatomon stared at me, clearly stuck between being surprised at my idea and surprised that I even came up with an idea. As irritating as this was, however, I glanced down at the quickly approaching ground, then back at Gatomon. "Come on, we don't have much time! Either we jump now, or die a horrible death like Kyra had said." Gritting her teeth, Gatomon didn't respond, but instead stood on Kyra's back and leapt off. With Kyra too absorbed in her pain to notice, I forced myself out from her grip and joined her. It was a very good thing I was already somewhat exposed to jumping from high places, because had this been my first time, I most likely would have peed my pants by now. Luckily, however, the height was about the same as the tree from the Digital World was, and both Gatomon and I were able to land on our feet with little more than a slight tingle in our feet from the absorbed landing. I didn't even have time to ask if Gatomon was okay, because as I looked up, Kyra was still plunging directly toward us with the weight of the ice- frozen wing to increase her speed. Before I could react, I was in the air again, crashing into her limp form about ten feet from the ground and using my own body weight to push her off course and slow her down dramatically. Falling in a new direction, I was barely able to land before her just enough to spin around and catch her, which, despite her lack of speed, still proved difficult because of the over-bearing wing. "Is she okay?" Gatomon asked, running up to us. I merely nodded, the wind slightly knocked out of me for the moment. In my arms, despite the obviously excrutiating pain she was going through, Kyra managed a weak smile. "C-come on. I'm not. that heavy, am I?" Despite me own weariness and exhaustion from the lack of adrenaline spent on her rescue, I set her down on the ground, coughing up a crude laugh. "Leave it to you to always try to make people laugh in the worst of situations." "Heh. just doin' my job," she replied hoarsely, rubbing her shoulder. Now, as I looked down at her, I noticed some of the side effects of her injured wing- her skin was bruised from the chunks of ice banging against her body, and her back and arms exposed to the ice were slowly changing from blue to purple. "We need to get her out of here," I said to Gatomon who also was examining Kyra's damage. "Wasn't there someone we met somewhere or other that could heal people?" "I don't know," the digimon admitted. "There might be some digimon who could make something to help her-" "Dende can heal," Kyra said carefully, trying to save her breath. "You guys didn't meet him, but he's from the Dragonball Z world. he can heal." Kyra's words were cut short as a blast of ice close to us averted our attention. About twenty feet away stood Sirius who had regained his confident smirk, a ball of blue light in hand. "You're a lot more troublesome than I would have thought," he said, addressing Kyra. "Maybe I should just take care of you, as well." Suddenly, as much a surprise to me as it was to Gatomon and Kyra, I stood up, ignoring my exhaustion as I locked eyes with Sirius. "You won't touch another feather on her!" Sirius looked at me skeptically, eyebrow raised. "Oh, really? And what makes you think that?" "Cause if you even think about it," I replied, my voice low and dripping with every ounce of strength in my body, "I'll kill you." Sirius grinned, even going so far as to emit a chuckle from between his lips. "You will, now?" Slowly, I began to walk forward. Where this newfound strength was coming from, I wasn't sure. Of course, it was mainly out of wanting to protect my best friend, but then again, it was. something else. It was as if deep inside me, a spark was made when Sirius had first hurt Kyra, and now, as his threats, and my anger, both grew, the spark was growing. With each step I took, I felt it blossom into a raging fire within my body, rising slowly to its peak which was yet to come. This strange fire, whatever it was, was all me- Prance, the warrior, and suddenly, I felt empowered enough to take on ten Sirius's. Now, I stopped, standing face to face with the guy who had said he wanted to kill my best friend and me. My eyes hardly came to his chin, but I looked him in the eye defiantly, all fear erased from my mind and replaced by one thing- rage. "Well, well, well, aren't we the tough little kitty, today?" Sirius taunted, unable to hide his cocky grin. "What's the matter, ticked that I plucked your friend's wings?" I clenched my fists, trying desperately not to punch him in the face. He'd probably expect it, and not only that, enjoy it. No, what he deserved was something that would wipe the stupid grin off of his face. Sirius's eyes gleamed. "Come on, you know you want to hit me. I can smell it right on you, the anger and the struggle to hold back. Why not just get it over with?" Then, in a complete surprise to Gatomon, Kyra, and even Sirius himself, I felt the corners of my mouth give into a slight smirk. "Because I have nothing to prove." "Nothing to prove?" Sirius repeated, briefly dropping his mask of security. "Nope, nothing at all," I continued, my voice low and calm, but at the same time. lethal. I was loving every minute of this. "You see, I already know who and what I am. It was something I've established not too long ago. I know I'm strong, and I know I don't need to go around taunting others or give into the temptation of kicking your sorry butt to prove this, which, by the way, I noticed was something you seem to enjoy a lot. What's the matter, Sirius?" I added, unable to resist myself. "Aren't you strong. wittle puppy?" No need for description, here. let's just say, I can now imagine what I looked like only minutes ago when he dared to call me a. grr. little kitten. Sirius's face slowly grew from a pale pink to a bright red, teeth clenched in fury. He glared down at me, his eyes blazing furiously. "Why you little." "What?" I taunted, enjoying my brief taste of power. "Little kitten?" Suddenly, Sirius whipped his hand forward, eyes narrowed. "Let's see how cocky you'll be when your friends are buried alive in ice!" I blinked. My smile was gone. It was replaced by a scream. "NOOOOOO!!!!!!!" Remember that tiny spark inside me?. Yeah, well, try turning tiny spark to raging inferno. *BOOM!* Next thing I knew, my entire vision was shrouded in flames. Of course, I was still so pissed off at Sirius, my brain didn't register the pain for another several seconds. But when my nerves finally kicked in. well, at first, I thought they weren't working because I didn't feel anything. Nada. Nothing. Zip. No burn, no scorching, no pain. Of course, I did feel really really hot, but. I guess it just merely didn't feel bad. Like how someone born in Alaska feels good in the cold temperature or someone in the Sahara desert with the heat. I was more like the latter. Normally, I never was one for the sun. I liked to be a little cool. But as swelteringly hot as I was, I strangely felt. comfortable. Almost even relaxed. Sirius, on the other hand, was not. As the brief shock of my discovery wore off, I looked up at Sirius through my. uh, 'armor' of fire. His right hand, previously outstretched before me, was now curled safely within his arms. I smiled- I could barely make out a hint of charred skin. I hurt him. "You. you fucking idiot!" he screamed, cradling his scorched hand gently. I hurt him good. Quickly, Sirius leapt back, away from my burning body, glaring hatefully at me. His ears were flattened against his skull and his tail was rigid- he was beyond pissed- he was infuriated. Not that I cared. All I cared about was that I protected Kyra and Gatomon and that he paid for what he did. Big time. "What's the matter, Sirius?" I demanded, feeling my anger rise, not for any particular reason more than the fun of it. "You wanted to mess with me, and so you messed with me. But remember this- don't pick on my friends unless you're prepared for major ass-torching, kapeesh?" "Shut up, you little tramp!" Sirius snapped, releasing his injured hand to crouch low. "No more messing around then. Time to take care of what I should have done in the first place!" I leaned low myself, tail lashing behind me, hissing venomously, "Bring it on, puppy dog!" With a fierce growl, Sirius leapt forward, another ball of ice already prepped and ready in his untouched hand. I clenched my fists, unable to resist a small smile. Was it really only minutes before when I was scared stiff of this guy? Now, fired up (literally) and ready to do some damage, I was ready for anything he could dish out. "Let's go."
Enter the wolf
W e both saw Gatomon standing on top of the Penguin slide by the time we reached the park, looking out over the treetops at the quickly fading sun. As we approached, I was about to throw some clever comment at her when I quickly closed my mouth, studying her expressionless face. Something's on her mind, I mentioned. Kyra nodded and stepped forward, beginning the conversation. "Uh, you wanted to see us?" Gatomon's eyes flitted towards us before she turned her entire body, slowly. I gulped. Something must have been really bothering her for her to be taking her time like this. And things that bothered her kinda made me nervous. "Remember, Prance, what I had asked you about earlier?" Gatomon began quietly, looking at me. "About that one guy traveling between worlds?" I glanced at Kyra before replying warily, "Yeah, what about it?" Gatomon frowned uncertainly, looking down at the ground. "Well. I think I may have. seen him." "What!?" Kyra and I exclaimed at the same time. Gatomon glared at me scornfully (why only at me and not Kyra, I don't know. she's got something against me, I swear!). "Well, it was somebody! I'm not sure if it's the same guy that Kero-thing was talking about, but I know I saw somebody!" "Why didn't you say something about this earlier?" Kyra asked. "Yeah, we've been through, what, four worlds already?" I added. "You can't seriously tell me it just 'slipped your mind' for four days!" "Hey, shut up!" Gatomon screamed defensively. "I didn't think it was anything until Goku and Trunks mentioned about it yesterday, and even then, I wasn't sure if it was necessary to say anything about it because I didn't think they could switch between worlds like we could! I thought they were just confined to Goku's world!" "Hey, calm down," Kyra said gently. "We didn't mean to offend you. And you," she added harshly, looking at me, "stop picking on her!" "Wha-!?" I uttered before shutting my mouth and folding my arms irritably, ears involuntarily pressed against my head in anger. Ignoring me, Kyra turned back to Gatomon. "So, back to you. you had said you had seen somebody. Are you saying you didn't think you saw Rastal?" Looking uneasily between me and Kyra, Gatomon answered, "Well, if he's the guy Kero mentioned, then no, I'm pretty sure it wasn't him I saw." Despite my anger, my ears perked and my breath came short as I listened to Kyra's next question. "Well, just tell us when and how you saw him." "Well," Gatomon began, "it was way back in the beginning, while I was looking for you, when I saw. him. I just noticed him out of the corner of my eye, though, and when I turned to check, he was gone, so I had thought nothing of it, but now, I'm pretty sure I saw him." "What did he look like?" I asked, all contempt gone from my voice. "He was tall, I remember that. Probably almost as tall as Goku, maybe just a little shorter. I didn't have that much time to notice any specific details, but he did have dark hair, I think it was black. And I think I noticed a tail, too. Weird color. it was black, but when he moved and the light fell on it, it looked like it was bright blue." "That's not Rastal," Kyra said quietly, eyes slowly drifting towards me. "I know," I whispered. "Then, was the guy I saw the other one?" Gatomon asked. "Sirius?" I nodded, frowning. "So that means. he was after me from the beginning." "I guess so," Kyra said softly. Gatomon glanced at me, appearing to want to throw a comment at me before she decided otherwise and asked me blankly, "Tell me, why does this Sirius guy want to kill you, anyway?" "Well," I began slowly, "when I first came up with the story revolving around Sirius and Prance, obviously, since she was a cat and he was a wolf, they were supposed to fight. As to exactly why he wants to kill me, I'm not sure." "You're not sure?" Kyra scoffed, despite herself. "I thought you were the one who wrote the whole thing, weren't you?" "Well, yeah, but that was a long time ago, and I've done a lot since then. So long that I guess I've kinda forgot." Kyra sighed, shrugging as she leaned up against the side of the Penguin slide beneath where Gatomon stood. "Too bad. Would have been really handy information, you know? The whole 'keeping-you-alive' thing would be a lot easier with it." "You don't think I know that!" I spat. "Hey, calm down, I was only joking!" "It wasn't funny," I grumbled, sticking my hands in my pockets. "Why don't you try and see for yourself how you'd like being chased by three cartoon characters you've created and are trying to kill-" Suddenly, I stopped talking as I perked my ears and lifted my head. A cold chill ran down my spine as I scanned the darkness. "What's the matter?" Kyra asked. "Shh!" I hissed. "I heard something." Gatomon rolled her eyes. "You're crazy. I didn't hear a thing." "Seriously," I whispered, ignoring her insult. "I know I heard-" *crunch* "What was that?" I whispered hoarsely, ignoring my braid flinging in my face as I whipped my head around. "Did you hear that?" "No," Gatomon said flatly. "I still say you're hear-" *crunch* The startled expression crossing her face told me she definitely heard that! Suppressing the great urge to mutter 'I told ya so,' I swiveled my head around back and forth, searching for the source of the sound. "It sounds like footsteps," Kyra whispered. "Footsteps coming closer," Gatomon agreed, ears swiveling around quickly. I squinted as my eyes scanned the area, looking for any moving shadow possible. I did not like this. It was totally cliché. Outside in the pitch darkness. Nobody around at all. Footsteps softly moving along the pavement. Any minute, now, I was expecting someone to leap out at us from the shadows. Totally predictable. But with the knowledge that three dangerous cartoon characters were wandering around out there, currently unstoppable, didn't make the predictability feel at all reassuring. Suddenly, I felt it. What 'it' was exactly, I can't exactly describe. Not in a way that would make any sense, anyway. I mean, you know the feeling you get when your foot falls asleep? Well, multiply that times about a thousand and that would be close to what I felt. It was as if for that brief moment, all the blood in my body stopped rushing, for that instant freezing like ice. I gasped. "What's the matter?" Kyra asked. "S-sss-ss-" "What?" "S-ss-si-" "What are you doing?" Gatomon hissed impatiently? I gulped nervously, desperately trying to control my terribly trembling voice. "S-ssi-sii-rrusss-ss." I managed. "What did you say?" Kyra asked again, leaning closer. Before I could stutter again, a soft laugh interrupted me, sending the same, blood-freezing chill through my spine again. "She said Sirius." Next thing I knew, as Kyra and Gatomon were swiveling their head's towards the voice, I was suddenly jumping forward, tackling them both forcefully. We all landed with a loud and painful 'thump' on the sand in the sandbox, Gatomon unfortunately tucked beneath our combined weight. "What the heck do you think you're doing!?" Gatomon screeched, glaring up at me venomously. "Are you trying to break my-" To my surprise, Kyra had clamped her hand over the digimon's mouth, ignoring the death glare received and merely pointing behind me. I slowly rolled off them to allow Gatomon to get a better look. The spot where we had just stood only seconds before was smooth and pale blue in color. From our position beside it, the three of us could clearly see our reflection staring back at us, baffled. The ground was completely slicked over with ice. "W-where did t-that come from!?" Gatomon demanded nervously. Not paying attention, I instead threw my head up, looking into the shadows of the forest. "S-sirius, w-where are you!" I exclaimed in a much less intimidating tone that I was aiming for. A moment of silence followed before the same, chilling voice spoke up again. "So, you do know me. He said you would." "He?" Kyra repeated. "What do you mean by 'he'?" "You'd be better off hushing your mouth. You're not the one I'm after." I gulped. His words sent chills up my spine. Despite this, however, I took a tentative step forward and shouted, "Sirius, show yourself!" "As you wish. Afterall, you are going to die, soon, anyway." Again, I heard the rustling of decaying leaves underfoot and turned towards the source of the noise. From the shadows of the forest, a figure was walking slowly along the cobblestone path. It was scary how much Sirius looked exactly like the Sirius I had drawn- no, not quite, but more like the one I had imagined. But what was even scarier was. I don't know, I can't describe it. Not quite his appearance, but more. his presence. The Sirius I had made so long ago was strong and dangerous, and, of course, funny and a bit arrogant, but to me, he never felt. well, deadly. Now, however, was a completely different story. Everything about him, though, technically was the same. He was tall, probably standing about a head above me, and well built. Not nearly as muscular as Goku or any of them, but also, clearly not needing to be. He had long, raven black hair, somewhat coarse, but you couldn't really tell too much due to the fact that the majority of it was tied back into a low ponytail while the remaining few strands hung limply at the sides of his face. Set deeply into his mass of black was a pair of sharp, black ears. Like Gatomon had said earlier, his fur briefly flashed back and forth between black and blue in the glare of the street light. His jaw was squarely set, and unlike the Sirius I had dreamed of during so many math classes, his smile was nowhere to be found. Instead, the barest hint of a smirk played at the corners of his lips. But what scared me most about him- about this guy who was supposed to be Sirius- were his eyes. His cold, dark, almost apathetic blue eyes. Like the guy behind them was heartless, and truly. evil. But that couldn't possibly be true, could it? I mean, sure Sirius was bad in the beginning, but I never made him evil. did I? At first glance, he certainly didn't look the part. Save the ears and the similarly colored long tail, shaggy like a wolf's, sweeping the ground as he walked, he looked almost ordinary. He wore nothing more than a simple black tank top and loose fitting dark blue jeans in which he stuck his hands in the pockets, appearing as casual and laid-back as anyone. But to me, as he slowly walked closer, the daunting look in his eyes sent shivers up my spine and made my fur rise. Suddenly, a tap on my shoulder made me jump and I spun around, looking at Kyra questioningly. well, only for maybe a moment, for very quickly, the questioning look was replaced by one of utter astonishment. Kyra was staring at Sirius with eyes I had only seen while she was in the presence of one thing- chocolate. Something she absolutely, above all else, loves. And in the context of Sirius, I could already guess what was going on through her mind. Prance, are you absolutely sure he's a bad guy? she whined, not blinking even once as she absorbed Sirius's appearance into her memory. As stunned as I was, for some bizarre reason, I was not surprised. Maybe Kyra wouldn't behave this way, but there's no way Lacey, even in the face of danger, could resist shedding a few drops of drool over a hot guy- even if that guy was Sirius. no, take that back, try especially if that guy were Sirius! Looking back at him, I bit my lip anxiously. Sorry, Ky, but this time, I know it. I almost felt a sweatdrop growing on the back of my head as I heard a soft whimper erupt from behind me when I noticed Sirius stopped, now hardly six feet away from me. It took all of my strength alone to force my knees to not buckle in fear as I looked at him- at the look of malignant confidence he cast toward me. "Don't try to hide your fear," he said casually, parting his lips to show his tongue rolling over his teeth like a typical canine. "I can already smell it." I did my best to straighten, throwing a mild glare back at him. "Whoever said I was trying to hide it?" Sirius raised an eyebrow, grinning in spite of himself, which did nothing to ease the rapidly increasing uneasiness in my chest. "You've got a lot of spunk. or perhaps, it's just plain stupidity." Now, as scared as I was, this wry arrogance of his that I had originally thought of as charming was beginning to appear really, really annoying. "Call it whatever you want, jerk!" I hissed, anger forcing my confidence to grow. "Oh, really? Am I getting on your nerves, little kitten?" Sirius cooed curiously. All of a sudden, I felt my blood boil. Now, had the term 'little kitten' been used to describe me several days ago, I would react either one of two ways: 1) I would have blushed lightly and shyly turned away while on the inside, I'd be melting, or 2) I would have looked at the person strangely and felt their forehead for a fever. However, in this circumstance, especially since I was now a cat myself, I think it's safe to say, neither reaction applied. "Why you." I began, my voice threateningly low. I even heard Kyra slowly back away from me (eyes most likely still on Mr. Likes-to-Piss-me-off!) in preparation for the onslaught of insults she knew were to come. And believe me, they were coming! ".rude, pig-headed, obnoxious, over-confident, stuck up, idiotic, conceited, disgusting, dim-witted, pathetic-excuse-for-an- animal.. ugh, bastard!" As I sputtered out every wicked, offensive adjective I could think of, I stepped back, taking in a deep breath of satisfaction. Let the obnoxious pig 'witty-comment' his way out of that one! Suddenly, to my ultimate surprise and dismay, Sirius took a step back and began laughing. Laughing! I couldn't believe it! Laughing! After all that, he seriously had the nerve to laugh at me! "Uh, Prance?" Kyra whispered hesitantly, poking me in the back lightly, "are you sure it's really that good of an idea to be screaming verbal abuse to the guy who's trying to kill you?" I swirled around to face her, the steam from my temper still raging. "Hey, exactly who's side are you on, anyway!?" Taking the hint, she shrank away immediately, making me just about to feel bad about blowing up at her when Sirius began to talk again. "Hah, not bad for a little fur ball!" he retorted, calming himself down enough to look at me. "I'll at least give you that much. It's not often I get prey that actually has the guts to try and cheek me. But," he added, slipping his hands out from his pockets, grinning wickedly, "I suppose that'll just make killing you all the more fun!" Oh, great job, Prance, I chided myself. Once again, your anger just takes over, and you had to go and open up your big mouth! Before I had time to even register the tingling feeling in the back of my mind, I was suddenly in the air, looking down below at Sirius who had apparently lunged at me. Thank God for 'cat-senses'! Out of the corner of my eye, I noticed Gatomon and Kyra also getting out of the way. But my attention was hardly averted for a millisecond when Sirius was suddenly in my face, grinning evilly again. "Hello." This time, I was barely able to avoid his attack, a thin cut running along my cheek displaying such. This was certainly not going to be fun! "Prance, watch out!" I heard Kyra scream. No duh! "You don't think I know that!?" I yelled irritatedly, continually jumping backward as Sirius's attack pressed forward. After one jab in particular, I jumped up and forward, planting my feet on his back and kicking hard to propel myself. Of course, knowing Sirius, I'd be surprised if he even felt it. With the extra boost, I was able to thrust myself to the other side of the park, spinning around as soon as I landed. Sirius stood where he was, slowly turning around to face me. Soft footsteps behind me announced Kyra and Gatomon's presence. What are we going to do? Kyra asked, away from Sirius's well-adapted ears. We certainly can't face him now! We haven't learned any of our techniques, yet! I mean, at this rate, he'll.. Sirius will.. I grimaced. I know. Right now, the only thing we can really do is hope Sakura and Li get here soon to help us out. Wouldn't they have sensed his presence by now, though? I don't know. Maybe they- "Well, this isn't really fun," Sirius spoke up patently. "From what I had heard, you were supposed to have been able to put up more of a fight, but if all you're going to do is run away, I guess I'll have to end this, then." "No," I whispered desperately, glaring at him. "Not yet." "Sorry," Sirius replied, grinning, "all requests are officially denied." And with that, he began running forward, death fully expressed in his cold eyes. For some bizarre reason, as he approached, I suddenly started to see everything in slow motion. Like someone had pressed pause on the VCR, and was playing along the rest of the video very slowly. Sirius's body was a mere blue and black blur, slowly getting closer and closer. My heartbeat rang loudly in my ear, and my breath came short. It was similar to the feeling I had felt while I had fallen from the sky after leaving Mr. Carr's class. A single thought ran through my head. Is this what it feels like when you know you're going to die? As Sirius's form drew ever nearer, I exhaled a deep sigh and closed my eyes. There was nothing more I could do. I guess I won't get to see this all through to the end, afterall.. Some hero I am. Suddenly, I felt my body jerk. But no pain? It didn't quite make sense. Hesitantly, I opened my eyes. Below stood Sirius, looking up at me, for the first time looking slightly annoyed. And yes, I did say below. Way below. "W-what?" I said quietly, still too shaken by the near-death experience to speak right. "I certainly hope these things don't decide to pop out at the last minute like that all the time!" My head spun around. Kyra was looking down at me, grinning her head off. Behind her, I noticed Gatomon looking out past her head. Past her, I noticed something else- wings? Suddenly, it all clicked. Kyra held me up about a hundred feet in the air, her hands holding tightly to my arms. Apparently, just a fraction of a second before Sirius had reached me, her wings had pulled through and she grabbed Gatomon and me and took off. As I looked down once again, I was relieved to see the wolf-boy's figure rapidly shrinking, as we were lifter higher and higher. "Hello? Prance? You still here with us?" I blinked, shaking my head and barely managing a smile. "I agree." "What?" I looked up at her, smiling again. "As much as I'm happy they did work, I really hope those wings of yours don't decide to cut it that close all the time." Kyra grinned, nodding. From her comfortable position on her back, Gatomon rolled her eyes. "Sure, if you really call a simple glide like this 'working'." "Hey, it got us away from Sirius, didn't it?" Kyra replied cheerfully. "And at least I have an updraft to work with instead of dead air, like at Kami's lookout." I quirked an eyebrow. "Hmph, are you sure you're all that happy about leaving Sirius behind? For a second there, I was sure you were ready to turn to the dark side and join him." Cheeks bright red, Kyra opened her mouth to throw a comment back at me when Gatomon quickly shut it again. "Argue later, look out!" Nest thing I knew, I was swung to the right as Kyra quickly angled her wings, barely allowing room for a shaft of blue light to pass by. Even though the beam didn't touch any of us, I still felt the prickling of my skin as the cold blast passed us. Looking down, I saw Sirius with his hands outstretched, looking directly up at us. "He's firing at us!?" I exclaimed, watching as another sphere of light grew in each of his palms. "No duh, Einstein!" Gatomon snapped. "Kyra, dodge left!" Kyra obeyed, this time better prepared for the attack as the shot flew several feet passed us. "We can't dodge them forever!" I said, looking up at her. "I know. We have to get out of here!" "Can't you put on some speed?" Gatomon asked impatiently. "Like I said before, I'm on an updraft. It's doing the work, not me." "What if you were to break from it?" I suggested hopefully. Kyra shook her head. "I'm still too new on these things. Off of the security blanket of the updraft, I doubt I'd be able to hold myself up, much less the both of you. At this height, we'd probably suffer more from a crash than by anything Sirius could do to us." I cringed at the thought. "Gee, thanks for the image," I muttered dryly. "Kyra, watch out!" Gatomon screeched. "Wait! Which w-" She didn't have time to finish. I barely noticed Sirius's grin of satisfaction as Kyra's left wing turned to a block of ice and we slowly began plummeting to the ground. My mind began racing. "Kyra!" Gatomon exclaimed as our friend's face contorted in pain. "Gatomon, we have to jump!" The digimon looked up at me, shocked. "What!?" "I said we have to jump!" I repeated. "Are you crazy!? Didn't you hear what Kyra said? If we jump from up here, we'll-" "But we're cats, aren't we?" I asked persistently. "Besides, we're not as high up as we were before, and if we jump now, we'll be able to land just in time to turn around and catch Kyra!" Gatomon stared at me, clearly stuck between being surprised at my idea and surprised that I even came up with an idea. As irritating as this was, however, I glanced down at the quickly approaching ground, then back at Gatomon. "Come on, we don't have much time! Either we jump now, or die a horrible death like Kyra had said." Gritting her teeth, Gatomon didn't respond, but instead stood on Kyra's back and leapt off. With Kyra too absorbed in her pain to notice, I forced myself out from her grip and joined her. It was a very good thing I was already somewhat exposed to jumping from high places, because had this been my first time, I most likely would have peed my pants by now. Luckily, however, the height was about the same as the tree from the Digital World was, and both Gatomon and I were able to land on our feet with little more than a slight tingle in our feet from the absorbed landing. I didn't even have time to ask if Gatomon was okay, because as I looked up, Kyra was still plunging directly toward us with the weight of the ice- frozen wing to increase her speed. Before I could react, I was in the air again, crashing into her limp form about ten feet from the ground and using my own body weight to push her off course and slow her down dramatically. Falling in a new direction, I was barely able to land before her just enough to spin around and catch her, which, despite her lack of speed, still proved difficult because of the over-bearing wing. "Is she okay?" Gatomon asked, running up to us. I merely nodded, the wind slightly knocked out of me for the moment. In my arms, despite the obviously excrutiating pain she was going through, Kyra managed a weak smile. "C-come on. I'm not. that heavy, am I?" Despite me own weariness and exhaustion from the lack of adrenaline spent on her rescue, I set her down on the ground, coughing up a crude laugh. "Leave it to you to always try to make people laugh in the worst of situations." "Heh. just doin' my job," she replied hoarsely, rubbing her shoulder. Now, as I looked down at her, I noticed some of the side effects of her injured wing- her skin was bruised from the chunks of ice banging against her body, and her back and arms exposed to the ice were slowly changing from blue to purple. "We need to get her out of here," I said to Gatomon who also was examining Kyra's damage. "Wasn't there someone we met somewhere or other that could heal people?" "I don't know," the digimon admitted. "There might be some digimon who could make something to help her-" "Dende can heal," Kyra said carefully, trying to save her breath. "You guys didn't meet him, but he's from the Dragonball Z world. he can heal." Kyra's words were cut short as a blast of ice close to us averted our attention. About twenty feet away stood Sirius who had regained his confident smirk, a ball of blue light in hand. "You're a lot more troublesome than I would have thought," he said, addressing Kyra. "Maybe I should just take care of you, as well." Suddenly, as much a surprise to me as it was to Gatomon and Kyra, I stood up, ignoring my exhaustion as I locked eyes with Sirius. "You won't touch another feather on her!" Sirius looked at me skeptically, eyebrow raised. "Oh, really? And what makes you think that?" "Cause if you even think about it," I replied, my voice low and dripping with every ounce of strength in my body, "I'll kill you." Sirius grinned, even going so far as to emit a chuckle from between his lips. "You will, now?" Slowly, I began to walk forward. Where this newfound strength was coming from, I wasn't sure. Of course, it was mainly out of wanting to protect my best friend, but then again, it was. something else. It was as if deep inside me, a spark was made when Sirius had first hurt Kyra, and now, as his threats, and my anger, both grew, the spark was growing. With each step I took, I felt it blossom into a raging fire within my body, rising slowly to its peak which was yet to come. This strange fire, whatever it was, was all me- Prance, the warrior, and suddenly, I felt empowered enough to take on ten Sirius's. Now, I stopped, standing face to face with the guy who had said he wanted to kill my best friend and me. My eyes hardly came to his chin, but I looked him in the eye defiantly, all fear erased from my mind and replaced by one thing- rage. "Well, well, well, aren't we the tough little kitty, today?" Sirius taunted, unable to hide his cocky grin. "What's the matter, ticked that I plucked your friend's wings?" I clenched my fists, trying desperately not to punch him in the face. He'd probably expect it, and not only that, enjoy it. No, what he deserved was something that would wipe the stupid grin off of his face. Sirius's eyes gleamed. "Come on, you know you want to hit me. I can smell it right on you, the anger and the struggle to hold back. Why not just get it over with?" Then, in a complete surprise to Gatomon, Kyra, and even Sirius himself, I felt the corners of my mouth give into a slight smirk. "Because I have nothing to prove." "Nothing to prove?" Sirius repeated, briefly dropping his mask of security. "Nope, nothing at all," I continued, my voice low and calm, but at the same time. lethal. I was loving every minute of this. "You see, I already know who and what I am. It was something I've established not too long ago. I know I'm strong, and I know I don't need to go around taunting others or give into the temptation of kicking your sorry butt to prove this, which, by the way, I noticed was something you seem to enjoy a lot. What's the matter, Sirius?" I added, unable to resist myself. "Aren't you strong. wittle puppy?" No need for description, here. let's just say, I can now imagine what I looked like only minutes ago when he dared to call me a. grr. little kitten. Sirius's face slowly grew from a pale pink to a bright red, teeth clenched in fury. He glared down at me, his eyes blazing furiously. "Why you little." "What?" I taunted, enjoying my brief taste of power. "Little kitten?" Suddenly, Sirius whipped his hand forward, eyes narrowed. "Let's see how cocky you'll be when your friends are buried alive in ice!" I blinked. My smile was gone. It was replaced by a scream. "NOOOOOO!!!!!!!" Remember that tiny spark inside me?. Yeah, well, try turning tiny spark to raging inferno. *BOOM!* Next thing I knew, my entire vision was shrouded in flames. Of course, I was still so pissed off at Sirius, my brain didn't register the pain for another several seconds. But when my nerves finally kicked in. well, at first, I thought they weren't working because I didn't feel anything. Nada. Nothing. Zip. No burn, no scorching, no pain. Of course, I did feel really really hot, but. I guess it just merely didn't feel bad. Like how someone born in Alaska feels good in the cold temperature or someone in the Sahara desert with the heat. I was more like the latter. Normally, I never was one for the sun. I liked to be a little cool. But as swelteringly hot as I was, I strangely felt. comfortable. Almost even relaxed. Sirius, on the other hand, was not. As the brief shock of my discovery wore off, I looked up at Sirius through my. uh, 'armor' of fire. His right hand, previously outstretched before me, was now curled safely within his arms. I smiled- I could barely make out a hint of charred skin. I hurt him. "You. you fucking idiot!" he screamed, cradling his scorched hand gently. I hurt him good. Quickly, Sirius leapt back, away from my burning body, glaring hatefully at me. His ears were flattened against his skull and his tail was rigid- he was beyond pissed- he was infuriated. Not that I cared. All I cared about was that I protected Kyra and Gatomon and that he paid for what he did. Big time. "What's the matter, Sirius?" I demanded, feeling my anger rise, not for any particular reason more than the fun of it. "You wanted to mess with me, and so you messed with me. But remember this- don't pick on my friends unless you're prepared for major ass-torching, kapeesh?" "Shut up, you little tramp!" Sirius snapped, releasing his injured hand to crouch low. "No more messing around then. Time to take care of what I should have done in the first place!" I leaned low myself, tail lashing behind me, hissing venomously, "Bring it on, puppy dog!" With a fierce growl, Sirius leapt forward, another ball of ice already prepped and ready in his untouched hand. I clenched my fists, unable to resist a small smile. Was it really only minutes before when I was scared stiff of this guy? Now, fired up (literally) and ready to do some damage, I was ready for anything he could dish out. "Let's go."