NightRain0: Sorry for the late update! I was on a movie watching spree! (I don't own the Final Fantasy characters!) Happy holidays!

Something to Life For

Chapter 4

"Daisuke's…a dog?" asked Kadaj before he could stop himself.

When Asano had kicked the garbage can, a grey, rather dazed dog popped out. After giving its head a shake, it looked at them with its shining silver eyes. Asano and the others ignored Kadaj and began to talk to the dog.

"Sorry about that, Daichi," apologized Ken. "We…"

"You and that stupid mutt switched again didn't you?" questioned Asano.

"Did you have to wake me up like that?" whined Daichi. "I was having a nice dream…"

"So Daisuke's in there, correct?"

"Yup, now if you'll excuse me, I'm going back to sleep!"

With that, Daichi disappeared into the darkness of the garbage can. Asano gave the garbage can next to Daichi's a kick and out tumbled another dog. This one was yellow and had a pair of goggles strapped around its neck. Kadaj was sure that it was still asleep because he heard it snoring…

"Wake up you!" ordered Asano as he kicked some snow onto the dog.

"Huh?" replied a rather groggy Daisuke. "Oh, good morning…yawn…and good night…"

Daisuke crawled back into his garbage can, but that seemed to infuriate Asano more. He gave the can a swift kick to its side which sent it flying all the way to the other side of the alleyway. The dogs all started whining and barking in protest.

"Quite fooling around!" yelled Asano. "It's time to go!"

To Kadaj's surprise, a dog wasn't what emerged from the battered garbage can at the end of the alleyway, but a fifteen-year old boy! But it still had the same sapphire eyes as the dog, not to mention his blonde hair was the same shade of yellow as the dog's fur. Also, the goggles that were around his neck were in fact, the same ones the dog was wearing.

"Ow…Asano that hurt…" whimpered Daisuke. "Why are you always so mean?"

Asano gave him the all too famous Death Glare and that sent the mutt scampering for a place to hide. Daisuke transformed swiftly into his dog form and took refuge behind Ken and Kadaj.

"Who's he?" asked Daisuke, who finally noticed Kadaj.

"Oh, right," said Ken. "Daisuke, this is Kadaj. Kadaj, this is Daisuke! Now that's you've been properly introduced…um, Kadaj, why do you look so surprised?"

"How did he…He was a person a short while ago wasn't he?" questioned Kadaj a bit confused.

"What about it?" asked Asano. "This isn't the first time you've seen a Shifter."

"What's a Shifter?"

"How could you not know? You were attacked by some a short while ago!"

"I really think he doesn't know, Asano," said Ken.

"Long story short," barked Daisuke (literally). "A Shifter is what you see before you now! That is, me and the other dogs around here."

"To be precise," said Akira without any trace of emotion once again. "A Shifter is a person whose appearance can shift between a human form and a beast form."

"Daisuke!" yelped many of the dogs. "Go away! We want to sleep!"

Soon the group was chased out of the alleyways by a whole pack of dogs. Daisuke, being the fastest of the five, managed to get out of the way of the flying coke cans that came there way. Kadaj, on the other hand, chose a bad time to look back and got an empty tin can to the face.

"Believe it or not," panted Ken as he ran. "The Shifters who can turn into dogs are the nicest ones around!"

After they've caught their breath, Ken led them to his place. It was hard to believe that anyone could live in such a place. The walls of his apartment were covered with various steel weapons and he barely had a floor.

"Sorry about the mess," apologized Ken. "If I had known I was going to have some guests I would have cleaned up ages ago. Oh dear, how rude of me… I'm such a terrible host, do you all want anything to eat or drink or…"

"Shut the hell up!" ordered Asano. "We've already wasted enough time."

"Oh right! Anyways Kadaj, we can't have you wandering around here without some sort of weapon or… you get the point. So you can choose any weapon you want from what I have here, or if you can draw it out for me, then we'll be able to make it for you right here!"

Kadaj hastily drew a picture of his souba on the piece of paper Ken had offered to him. The sooner he had a weapon of some sort, the sooner he could go off on his own.

"Uh…that's a….um, really nice picture!" said Ken.

"I can't tell what it is…" stated Akira.

"You've never taken a drawing lesson in your life, did you?" asked Asano.

Daisuke didn't say anything; he was on the floor laughing. In fact, he had laughed so hard that he nearly passed out due to the lack of oxygen.

"Not to insult your artistic skills," said Ken nervously. "But it would probably save some time if you…chose something from my stock…"

Strangely enough, while digging around the various metallic weapons, Kadaj found his souba mixed in amongst the other swords! He didn't know how to explain it, but he some how knew that this sword was definitely his. How it ended up here was a mystery to Kadaj.

"Over here!" called out Asano as he led them out the back door.

In the back yard, there was a small wooden shed. When they entered it, the only thing in the entire room was a narrow tunnel. To be exact, it looked more like the bottomless pit to nowhere, however, Ken, Akira, and Daisuke all jumped in without hesitation. Asano snuck behind Kadaj and shoved him into the hole and then jumped after them.

"What was that for!" yelled Kadaj after the ride was over.

Asano ignored him and asked Akira, "Anyone else here?"

"My sensors indicate some other life forms in the area…My hypothesis is that the Knights are here as well…"

"Then let's go!"

The abandoned laboratory showed little signs of life when they entered it. Broken wires littered the area and for some strange reason, sand covered up most of the floor. Gigantic crystals attached to various machines provided the only source of light in the entire area.

"Don't touch anything," warned Asano.

This warning was directed to everyone, but Kadaj also noticed that Asano was directing the warning particularly to Daisuke. Daisuke, in human form, was just about to press a button when Asano gave him a death glare for a warning. Smiling sheepishly, the Shifter slowly inched away and hid behind Ken.

Kadaj slowly approached one of the crystals and place a hand on it. The stone suddenly came to life and emitted a blinding flash of light. A rumbling sound was heard and before they knew it, the ground below them was starting to sink! Ken and Akira were on safe ground, but Kadaj, Asano, and Daisuke were about to be swallowed up by the sand.

"Don't worry you three," stated Akira in a monotone voice. "You're just going to end up in one of the lower levels of the building…"

"Oh that's good!" said Ken happily. "For a minute there I thought that they were going to be dragged down to their deaths!"

"I told you not to touch anything you stupid spoiled brat!" yelled Asano, who was obviously pissed.

"We'll see you downstairs in a bit!" said Ken as the other three disappeared beneath the sand.

NightRain0: Happy holidays and please review: ) More explanations coming up in the future chapters!