The sun beat down on the sandy cliffs of Cosmo Canyon. A large red colored cat-like creature stood looking up into the light blue sky. The animals fire tipped tail glowed bright even in the sunlight. Long brownish spiked fur ran from the top of his great head, along the ridge of his neck, to the top of his powerful shoulders. Silver rings hung from his red furred ears, along with the few black tipped feathers that were stuck into his small mane flittered lightly in the ever present breeze. Bands with beautiful patterns carved into the metal firmly fit around his thick, sturdy wrists, right above his large clawed paws. Tattoos stood outlined on his furry limbs. His eyes, like liquid gold were clouded with thought. He hardly noticed the fast rising moon and the stars appearing in the blackening sky. Like yesterday he could recall being locked in a cursed cell to be studied like a lab rat by that idiot, Hojo in the Shinra building. He snarled at the memory. He was the last of his kind, and that was the reason why he was taken into said circumstances. The Professor had called him, Red XIII, though the name his mother had given him was Nanaki. His mother... whenever he thought of her, his heart filled will pride, she had given her life defending her home against evil. His father had died a death even more honorable. He took on a whole horde of beasts, and even after his body was turned to stone by poison arrows, his spirit still fought on to keep them from reaching his hometown, where he, still nothing more than a pup sat cowering, waiting for their return. They never came home. He had earlier thought his father a coward, he had left before the battle when his mother also died even started, telling supposedly no one. Nanaki assumed he ran away, but returning from the Shinra lab with his friends, his grandfather brought him to the resting place of his fathers stone body. He cried tears with all the pain and sorrow of the dying planet that day. But now, he knew the truth and he was prouder than ever. He howled his sheer joy to the heavens at the very thought of being their son. He heard a small yelp of approval behind him. His two pack brothers, born of the life stream to keep his kind alive stood shortly behind him. Wagging his fiery tail, he turned and sprang on them. Affectionate licks greeted him. He got up, and raced home, not far after stumbled his more clumsy kin. How great it felt to be a pack again.