The scent of the pizza kept changing, so we eventually became lost in what looked like another forest.
"Great, just great!" Xavier yelled.
"Man... We're lost in a forest, with fog, and to top it all off, it's turning night!" I exclaimed.
"Hey, look! The moon's coming out! We'll have at least some light," Xavier said as he pointed toward the sky.
I looked around. There was fog everywhere. Not a sign of life anywhere. The air smelled like musty pine. The wind cut though me like a blade made of sheer ice.
"Dang, it's so freaking cold!" I yelled, as I started rubbing my arms, trying to keep them warm.
"No it's not," Xavier pointed out.
"Yeah it is. How can you stand there and say it's not cold?" I asked.
"Because it's not."
"Fine, forget it. I'm usually cold anyhow."
It turned silent for awhile. I sat down on the ground and stared at the sky. It was so big and empty, for only the moon was in it. No stars nor clouds.
"Which direction?" Xavier questioned, finally breaking the silence.
"Huh?" I replied. I must've been day dreaming, even though it wasn't day.
"Which direction?" Xavier repeated.
"I don't know. What direction do you think we outta go?"
"I dunno, why do you think I was asking you?"
I sighed. Maybe we ought to just started wandering around. Hopefully, we'd find somewhere eventually.
"Man, my ears hurt again, really bad," I said, as I put my hands over my ears.
"Great..." Xavier said, sarcastically.
"I guess we just should stay here for the night."
"Alright, fine with me."
I crawled under a pine tree, and layed there. I didn't say anything, but I had a feeling something was going to find me if I slept in the clearing. Not only had my ears been hurting, but my hands too. I thought it was just because of the cold. I desperatly tried to go to sleep, but I couldn't. Something was keeping me awake.
"Xavier? Are you asleep?" I asked in a shushed voice.
No answer. He must've fallen asleep. Man, he can sure sleep.
I layed there, under the tree just thinking about random things. I wondered what my mom was thinkin, if she knew I was missing. I wondered about Benji, and wheather or not if he was cuddled in my mom's bed instead of mine. I wondered about my friends, if they had missed me. But the thought of what happened to InuYasha out did them all. No matter how hard I tried to not think about him, the thought came right back.
I must have fallen asleep, for I awoke to a noise in the distance. It was still night, so maybe I hadn't been asleep after all. I moved a few pine needles out of my sight, and peered into the clearing. Nothing was there. I guessed maybe a few miles down the road was where the noise had come from.
I let a few more minutes pass by before I decided to go for a walk. Why it never occurred to me that it would probably be close to, if not impossible to get back, I really don't know. Anyhow, I started walking north. I strained my ears to listen for sound, any sound at all, even just owls. That was when I realized that I didn't have to strain them. Slowly, I put my hand up to my ear. It was pointed again.
"Not again..." I moaned. My ears seemed to become like InuYasha's when there was a moon out. Then I looked at my hands. I had a habit of biting my nails, so I usually only had little stubs on my fingers. It was dark, for the moon was behind a tree, so I had to strain my eyes so I could get a look at my nails. They seemed somehow longer, and looked like claws, not nails.
"Holy cow..." I said. A rattling noise came from behind me. I threw myself on the ground in panic. It was only an owl lifting into flight.
"Ha ha... it was only an owl," I said to myself. I resumed my walk. It was more of just wandering around. Then I heard the noise again. I took off sprinting towards it.
I seen a river along the way, but I didn't stop to investigate it. I wanted to find out what that noise was. It seemed to get louder, until eventually I was right on top of it. I ducked behind a bush and struggled to look throught it's branches.
From what I could see, there were 3 guys with strange hair-do's. Suddenly, I remembered the goons back at the hotel. They looked just like them! Duh, that was because they were them! But where was InuYasha? I figured out I better listen to their conversation.
"So, has Master Jade done anything with Mut Boy yet?" the tallest one, who I nicknamed Tower in my mind asked.
"No, he has him chained in the Torture Chamber," a short, fat one replied. I nicknamed him Fatty.
"Ouch, the Torture Chamber. Hope I never have to go there," the shortest one replied. I was calling him Midget.
"Well, he plans to move him to a special "dorm" in the morning," Fatty said.
"The dorm, eh? Not a nice place to be. Say, speaking of the dorm, what happned to those two little brats that were with Mut Boy?" Tower asked.
He was referring to Xavier and I when he said brats. I wasn't a brat, and neither was Xavier.
"Well, Master Jade has pizza waiting, and I'm starving," Fatty said.
"Fine, let's go eat," Midget said.
The tree of them started walking. I couldn't let them get away. It was payback time. I decided I would ambush them. I quickly crawled out of the bush and scurried alongside the path in the brush as fast as I could until I was far enough ahead of them. I climbed into the nearby pine and crawled out onto a branch as far as I could, so that I was overlooking the path. I sat and waited. In the back of my mind, I knew I probably couldn't take on 3, but I ignored that thought.
Almost an hour went by before I seen their shadows. I got up from my sitting position on the branch and got into a crouching position, so I could tackle them. It never occurred to me that I wasn't exactly a good fighter, but I had taken karate when I was little, and I still knew some moves. I was filled with too much anger and rage for anyone to stop. As soon as I seen Tower's head, I jumped.
I landed square on his back. I pushed him to the ground, and fisted the back of his head until I was sure he was knocked out. Fatty and Midget stood there, frozen in fear. I gave them a glaring look, and showed my teeth. I charged square at them, but Fatty kicked me in the stomach, making me fly backwards into a tree. The trunk of the tree buckled, and fell backwards. I stood up, paying no mind to my arm or leg, which had been severly injured, and charged back at Fatty, hitting him in the gut, knocking the wind out of him. I kicked him in the back of his knee, causing him to buckle and fall, knocked out. Two down, one left.
Midget started running, but I caught up to him, and pinned him down. His faced was mixed, between a blank, uncomprehending look and fear. The blank looked was more than fear. I glared right at him, showed my teeth, then punched his face until he was knocked out. I left a big gash in the left side of his face, and some weird gooey licked like slime gushed out. It wasn't blood, but slime. They weren't even real people! Just some sort of slimy creation.
I waited a little while where I was standing. A few minutes passed by, and the three goons got up, seen me, and started running. I didn't bother chasing them, as I had had my revenge, and all the anger and rage inside me was gone. I started walking back to the clearing in the fog.
"I wonder why those guys were so afraid of me when I showed my teeth," I said. I put my finger against one of my teeth. They all seemed pointed, like fangs.
"What happened to me? I mean, first the ears, and now claws and fangs!" I exclaimed as I approached Xavier's sleeping body.
"And I somehow am back here!" I added onto my earlier statement.
I looked at my leg. It was cut up, but not bleeding. And the same with my arm. And they weren't sore either, like they usually were if they were cut. I decided that I'd try to get a few hours of sleep, even thought I wasn't really tired.
I tossed and turned before I gave up sleeping again. I decided I would go and find some firewood so we could at least have something cooked to eat. I walked off into the shrubs and started gather twigs. Every now and then, I'd break one, so I eventually stopped gathering twigs. I started picking up logs, which were probably twice my weight, and carried them back to the clearing. I threw them in a pile once I was back at the clearing.
I started rubbing two of them together until I got a fire started. I never could do that, so I was proud of myself. Xavier must've either smelt the smoke or the sunlight hit his face, because he awoke.
"Morning!" I said cheerfully.
"Morning..." Xavier replied groggily as he stood up. "Where'd you get the firewood?"
"Found it myself!" I said proudly. "And I even started the fire! I was getting sick of not eating, so I decided that I'd cook."
"And why are you so happy?"
"I dunno, just am," I replied.
"What are you gonna cook?" Xavier said. He seemed more awake now.
"Dunno."
"Dude! What's with your ears? They're pointed!"
"Still? I thought that they'd gone away since the moon went down. I bet my fangs and claws are still here as well," I replied.
"Claws? And fangs? You serious?"
I showed Xavier my hands and then smiled to show him my teeth.
"Dude, that is freaking awesome!" Xavier glanced down at my arm and leg. "What happened there?"
"Oh, nothing. Just a fight. The three goons were out wondering about, so I ambushed them. They aren't even people. Some sort of substitute."
"Oh, well, let's get something to eat. I'm starving!"
"Alrighty, how about some fish?"
"Teal, you hate fish."
"But I'm starving. Right now, I'd eat anything."
"Fish is fine with me!"
"Okay! I'll go get it! You stay here and watch that the fire doesn't get out of control," I said as I hurried to the river I had seen.
The way to the river seemed different than it was the night before, but then again, it was dark. Once I got to the river, I found out that it was actually a lake. Calling it huge would've been an understatement. Maybe it wasn't even a lake. Maybe it was an ocean. Anyhow, I grabbed a stick and plunged it into the water, hoping to catch a fish. I pulled it out. Nothing.
"Guess I'll just have to try again!" I started into the water. It was crystal clear. I looked at my reflection. It showed a young girl, caked with mud, ears erect, fangs hanging out of her mouth, and claws dangling at her sides wearing tattered jeans around the bottoms and a muddy shirt with the sleeves shredded.
"Dang, that's what I look like? No wonder those guys were afraid!" I jumped into the water just to wash off. I threw water on my face to get the dirt off and tried my best to get the dried mud off my jeans and shirt. Once I was pretty clean, I got out and looked for fish. A few small ones came and went, probably running away from a bigger fish below.
"This is going to be awhile..." I said as I sat down and started at the water. Waiting for a fish to leap up. I tossed the stick aside. I was going to use my claws to catch it.
I waited for what seemed hours before I seen light reflect off a fish. I threw my hands into the water, and pulled out a fish nearly as big as myself.
"This will feed us both!" I exclaimed as I struggled to carry the fish back to the clearing. It was my second time fishing, and the first time I went, we just threw the fish back into the lake, so I didn't know I was supposed to kill it all the way.
Once I got back to the clearing, Xavier hurried over to help me with the fish.
"Dang, is that just ONE fish?" he asked.
"No, it's ten," I said sarcastically. "Of course it's one!"
"Didn't you kill the damn thing?" Xavier asked. The fish hit him the face with it's back flipper, nearly toppling him over.
"I didn't know I was supposed to!"
"Gosh, you retard! How else are we supposed to cook it?"
"Oh well won't it die from not being in water anyhow?"
"Yeah..."
"Well then why are you yelling at me? It's gonna die, just watch it!"
It took half an hour for the fish to suffocate. Then another hour to cook it, but it was well worth the wait.
"Gosh, fish tastes exactly like chicken," I said, putting another piece of fish in my mouth.
After we were done with the fish, we set off north, where I had fought the goonies.