Author's Note: Hello Lads and Ladies

I don't even want to say much about what'll happen here. You just gotta find out. It was a blast to write and needed a bit of sanding off the edges but it was very well satisfying

Edited by: SuperAverageFoxyboy, The dude Who Likes Tanks

Enjoy!

-Portal

Chapter 32: Kaibutsu

Legosi held his hurting stomach and moved forward. Juno stayed by his side, dutifully holding up her struggling wolf. Together they shuffled over to the flower fields. It had become quite a cold late October and all the flowers had wilted and died in anticipation for their seeds to sprout next year's spring.

"What are we looking for?" Juno asked as Legosi lowered himself onto his knees.

"I guess we're-" A coughing fit interrupted his sentences sending shocks of pain through his broken ribs along his chest. "-about to find out."

As Juno looked on worriedly from the side she was prepared to catch him collapsing at any time as he dug his hands into the cold dirt. After struggling with maneuvering himself for a minute with Juno almost stepping in to hold onto him he finally caught the brown paper bag and pulled it from it's grave. He brushed off particles of dirt from the bag, the cold spots falling to the ground.

Before Juno could even ask what it was, a question that Legosi himself had no answer to, he opened the bag and grabbed inside. The cool metal grip answered his suspicions in one answer. He pulled out the service revolver and already found he enjoyed the weight it had in his hand.

"Did you keep a gun just for killing Riz?" Juno asked as Legosi rose to his feet again.

"No… Bill gave it to me for safekeeping. Until now I didn't even know it was a gun." Legosi turned around to look at Juno and he saw the worried and tearful eyes of the most beautiful she-wolf he had ever laid eyes upon. He knew that he in some bizarre way loved her from the first moment he saw her. Maybe it was her fur color or her natural charm or maybe it was his protective instincts awaking at seeing a girl being vulnerable in front of him. But he loved her… dearly.

Legosi placed the gun in his pocket and stumbled forwards and hugged Juno. His chest ached with painful stabs and his hurt fluttered with adrenaline but it was a hug that was needed. The only difference between Riz and us is Love…

"Juno…" He grabbed her shoulders and released the hug, looking at her deeply amethyst eyes. Beautiful geodes under the midnight sun.

"I love you…" He was never the person for big words and probably never would be. But his word was true and that was enough. They kissed passionately whilst the cold breeze of fall blew past and ushered in the cold stillness of winter. When they separated Juno looked on at her mate and a single tear ran down her eye.

"For the good of our school…" Juno whispered. Legosi smiled at her, so proud of her courage even in the face of absolute desolation. His snout pointed at the ground and his eyes looked up at her. It was a last little sprinkle of hope he needed to give because no matter how they put it, this was the end.

"For the good of all Life."


Bill wandered outside of the Dormitory, following the plume of bear leading to the forest part of the school grounds. He felt air blow past his bleeding abdomen, his nose still smelling Riz forward. The winter time had come around and in the afternoon the light had started to fade and the murky clouds got closer and thicker together. Making the atmosphere seem dark, dark, darker and it kept on getting darker.

Bill limped past trees into the forest until the smell was so strong it was unbearable. And that was when he saw the clearing. Strightman furiously swung his baton at the bear, kicking and punching with all his rage. Bill found he had forgotten that he wasn't the only one harboring rage against the shadow. Seeing the Policeman lean into his strongest rage against the bear made him see just how much suffering Riz had caused.

Families were torn apart because of this monster. Bill's eyes fell on the bloodied neck of the shadow and he carefully crouch-walked forwards.

Bill's leg was in a worse condition than he found, making crouching impossible. As he painfully limped forward he stepped on a branch bringing Strightman's head straight to him. This moment of distraction was used perfectly by Riz to grab onto the policeman's jacket and threw him towards a tree. The cheetah crashed into the tree trunk, slid to the floor, and immediately dug out of the way at Riz's punch which landed on the tree's wood, leaves falling around them.

Even if he could evade an attack Strightman couldn't evade the mighty kick to the back which knocked him full front against a tree, dimming his lights for a minute. Dazed and confused he only halfway noticed blood flowing down his head as two incredibly strong hands lifted him off the ground and threw him deeper into the forest against another tree's trunk. As he lay on the dirt, falling unconscious due to a concussion his parting thought was that he was thankful that he called for reinforcements.

Riz approached the inferior clothed in blue. Righteous great old blue that thought itself to be keepers of the peace. Liars like no other, them inferiors… Them… Tem is ym dnierf

Maybe in another life some other time he would have all the answers he need or wanted but at this moment the thing most pressing in his mind were two things. Who Tem was and how he would kill the spotted cat laying at his feet.

A nasty burning fire ran through his neck as teeth delved into the flesh. A bitterly acidic boiling rage rose to his head as the pain in his neck was even stronger than any of the wounds from before. With a single swinging of the arm he grabbed onto Bill and hurled him forward away from his back, blood flowing from the newly exposed flesh. The wound had gotten bigger and Riz began to realize that he wouldn't be able to survive more attacks to his neck.

The thought was a short one however as his eyes laid onto the striped furry that had taken his fingers and maimed his neck. The inferior needed to die, the inferior needed to learn that life was defined by absolutes in power. They were stronger, others were weaker, that was the circle of life. Riz took a step forward and felt a weird limpness in his step.

He looked down in curiosity and began to feel the strength in his leg. He was getting weaker, the blood loss had made him more sluggish and he didn't have much time to waste. His neck was bleeding and the hole in his throat had just started to begin to close up. Riz looked at Bill and felt anger that reached deeper than the other. He already killed me the fucking inferior little crutch.

Bill raised his fists up to his face and opened his left hand wiggling his fingers at the bear. Riz felt pulsing in the bloody stumps of his fingers and Bill smiled. He smiled. He smiled with rows of teeth. He smiled with rows of teeth that never once had been used for the very thing that their jaws were made for. Riz growled.

"You're dead."


Legosi stumbled down the stairs with Juno at his side. The smell of Bill was halfway masked by the smell of sweat and blood that signaled Riz's trot over these hallways. Legosi stopped in his tracks and looked straight into Juno's eyes. What he now would say would hurt her but they needed priorities.

"Juno… I need you to go and call the police." He needed breaks between words in order to properly breathe. Juno blankly stared at him in a way that seemed so shocked and scared that Legosi regretted even saying it in the first place.

"No," Juno spoke firmly. Her fears struck through the entire situation and there was nothing left to hold onto anymore.

"I am not leaving you like I did in my nightmares." The last word was a bare whisper as the tears started to flow, the eye contact never breaking. Legosi's head dipped down to hers and he held her shoulders firmly.

"I need someone to call the police who can stay calm while I help Bill and end Riz." He held her close, as close as his injuries allowed.

"Please Juno… Get to a phone and call the police and then come right back. Ok, my love?" Legosi looked down at her and saw tears steadily streaming along her cheeks. She grabbed his suspenders and gave him a quick kiss. A fearful yet oh so courageous look in her eyes, true strength beneath them.

"Don't you dare die on me," Juno ordered her wolf who in return simply smiled and held her close.

"I wouldn't dare to desert you." They kissed and Juno departed in a desperate run, Legosi looking after her form grew smaller in comparison to the buildings, which looked like gigantic Golems of civilization looming over the proceedings of the afternoon shifting to the evening hours.

Truth be told he didn't want her around for the moment of killing Riz. He didn't want to put her through more nightmares than he had already caused by involving her in all this.

Legosi turned around and peered deeply into the forest side of the school grounds. A place made for animals to enjoy themselves in their natural habitat that had been abused by a monster that lusted for blood. Things would change after this, the school would never be the same. But maybe that's for the better. Legosi thought to himself.

Louis always showed great love and yet dismay over the school's potential and incompetence. Maybe this was a wake-up call. Legosi mustered his strength together and held onto the revolver, stepping into the gaping maw of trees and allowing himself to be swallowed whole.

After a little walk just deeper between the trees the musk of blood and sweat had become a thick cloud masking the smell of tree bark. And the sounds of growling, roaring, and punches were unmistakable.

Legosi saw the two fighting beasts across from himself in the tree line, both battered up and injured beyond belief. He was sure that Bill couldn't see through his black eye and Riz's row of teeth seemed to have gaps in places.

The tiger and bear fought with violent hatred for each, none of the two holding back any part of their innate brutality. They attacked with the intent to kill and didn't pretend it was anything else.

Legosi held up the revolver, trying his best to keep a steady hand while his breathing sent pain through his stomach and chest. The gun shook under his breath gliding over both Riz and Bill who in the vigor of the fight didn't notice the grey shape in the darkness.

He held out his hand and grabbed onto his arm to keep his aim steady. He never had shot a gun before, and as much as he knew Bill hadn't either. It was new territory and it was terrifying. Legosi exhaled and waited for a moment where both carnivores were separate from each other. And as the two shapes recoiled from each other Legosi pulled the trigger, the gun's recoil hurting in his palms.

Riz recoiled to the side as Bill plainly looked at the situation in shock. The bear had recoiled and slumped against a tree. His right side flowing with blood. The Shadow that once had been a student of this school yowled in agony as it clutched under its arm.

Legosi had managed to hit his side beneath his right arm, yet the single bullet still hadn't managed to put the shadow out of commission.

Bill on the other hand was completely shocked by the sudden turn of events that he had lost his focus. He had completely forgotten that he had given Legosi a Gun and the fact that Riz had just taken a shot to the side and was still standing was unbelievable.

And in the deafening silence except for the Bear's groans, he caught sight of a single black button eye peeking past the arm holding onto the tree. A deadly precise and focused eye that brimmed with a hatred more than anything. Riz's right arm shot forward, sluggish from the wound; it was just about slow enough that Bill dodged its grasp. Before Bill could be happy about the dodged grapple he instead felt a fist to his temple smashing him to the floor.

Legosi watched Bill topple over to the ground like the way you dropped your school bag after a long day of studying and rummaging through the city. He raised the gun again and pulled the trigger, the cylinder of the revolver turning but now bullet leaving the shaft.

One bullet… One god damn bullet you cocky tiger. He didn't have another moment of taking in the situation however as the hulking muscled shadow dashed against him with the power of a freight train.

Riz smashed Legosi's skull into a tree trunk, seeing the wolf sink to the floor dazed from the impact. But before he went to work on the pesky wolf the pulsing in his fingers grew more noticeable. He raised his left hand to his eyes and began observing the bloody pulps that had stopped bleeding. Every beating of his heart shot through the half-length fingers. Riz dully looked at the wolf laying at his feet. After evaluating his state of consciousness he raised his fist and hurled it down on the wolf's head, knocking the seated wolf completely onto the ground.

Riz then turned around to look at Bill, the tiger trying his best to push himself off the ground in futile strength. Riz walked over to the sad excuse of a carnivore trying its best to get on all fours, barely managing to raise himself off the ground. Riz leaned his knee onto Bill's back and his opponent crashed to the floor pinning his arms beneath him.

At first, Bill didn't even squirm, Riz observing the inferior in calm and collected curiosity. Like a child observing an anthill, so did Riz observe his heavily injured if not already dying combatant, laying on the floor where the dirty boot licker belonged. Then he started to wiggle slightly, growling at Riz.

"Get off me you savage piece of sh-" Riz's left Knuckles connected with Bill's head, silencing him. He lowered his left hand in front of Bill's face to let the tiger see his work. After a moment of daze, the tiger returned to clarity and Riz waited for his reaction. Bill puffed at the air trying his best to combat the stench of blood.

Riz then heard clear as day down from his opponent a noise he hadn't expected the Tiger would be able to produce. It was a chuckle. A damned terrible chuckle of victory from the damned inferior under the heel of his boot. Riz raised his hand still as Bill chuckled and chuckled at him.

"Don't like losing appendages huh? Tch… maybe you understand what Tem felt like when you tore him to pieces." Before anger could properly set in as a reaction to the arrogant and brash reaction from Bill the name shot through his head and came closer. Tem is my dneirf

"I will show you what lost appendages look like, you arrogant inferior!" Riz shouted and grabbed Bill's left arm from underneath him. Bill's eyes widened and Riz smiled.

"What? No no no stop you savage AAAAAAAAAAAAH" Bill screamed as Riz's teeth sunk into his arm. The tiger began thrashing beneath Riz who loved every second of it. The taste of flesh in his mouth was a delightful experience of joy.

"No wonder you inferiors love herbivores so much, you taste just as good as them." The name Tem went through his head for a second but with Bill's screaming, struggling jitter of his arm, and the sweet taste of gore in his maw Riz didn't have a hard time forgetting the thought entirely.

The screams went louder as Bill thrashed hard enough to tug his arm out of the rows of teeth, but Riz held hard enough to sink his teeth deeper into the arm. Riz bit deeper and yanked his head back, swallowing chunks of Bill's arm delicately like a fine meal.

For a little while, that was how the world was. Screams and a feast, the most pristine version of life. All curtains were pulled and nothing was hidden. There was him, Bill's suffering, and Bill's taste.

Riz enjoyed himself, humming tunes as the world around him seemed to lose color. The further he went into Bill's arm the weaker the tugging became. The screams gave way to instinct's ritual singing that crescendoed into triumphant angelic singing above all there was. Riz lashed his teeth deeper and felt the hard bone of Bill's arm.

Riz chuckled to himself as he started ripping with all his strength at the weakened appendage.

"So much arrogance, so little power." The screams grew louder one last time as Riz needed little force to hear the sound of flesh and bone ripping apart from each other.

Bill's screaming ebbed out as the other half of his arm fell to the ground, blood flowing freely from the open gore of the wound. Riz looked at his bleeding foe and then looked at the severed appendage he held in his hand. He wielded the arm like a club and bashed it into Bill's head, knocking him out. He let the arm fall to the ground and got back to his feet.

Riz scoffed at the striped inferior on the dirt ground, blood pooling around his arm.

"If you're lucky you'll bleed out before I come back to you." He turned towards the cheetah uniformed in blue. He found that at the moment feline was just what he craved.

A gust of wind against his back made his senses scream in alertness. Riz turned backward, Legosi's jump attack successful enough to bite Riz in the neck, taking a chunk of flesh off while in flight.

Riz fell to his knees as his entire neck hurt more than anything ever had. He sat there in agony as a part of his brain disconnected from the proceedings of the world. All he could think about besides the pain was the angelic alpaca dressed in white. A beautiful agent of change that transformed his dull and monotone world into a colorful explosion of feelings and freedom. His savior, his divide between him and them. Tem… his name is Tem.

The world began to become clearer again as the pain subsided and the name was clear in his mind. Tem is my friend…

Tears swelled in his eyes as the pain subsided, the memory of the night returning to him in extreme clarity. He had eaten him, he had consumed his best friend. The only figure that ever looked up to him. This is all my fault.

Riz rose to his feet, tears swelling in his eyes even more than before. They were laughing at him, they were judging him. They believed he was a monster without a heart. They believed he did it out of savagery. Riz turned around to look at Legosi, the wolf being almost startled by the flowing tears of the bear.

Riz locked eyes with the wolf and felt like he finally understood the world he was in. They believed him to be a selfish monster incapable of love. They believed themselves to be the highest beings simply by coexisting with their inferiors.

"You don't know what love means Legosi. And you never will." Riz said oddly in monotone for a crying bear.

"You will be protective and so careful around them always, never showing them who you truly are. Your fangs and claws you will always try to hide, never showing them what true power looks like…" Riz observed a shocked expression turn to one of almost understanding and yet partly anger.

"How is eating them, love? How is killing them something, not anything more than a selfish indulgence?" The wolf was ripe with passion and ideas, Riz had to give him that. Riz held up his claws.

"We cannot change what we are Legosi. And by pretending to be something else we only hide a part of us, and it will eat you alive to see them be careful around you because they can't change their instinctual fear."

"Only because we give them a reason to fear us! If we were to co-exist then no one would have to live in fear. We may feed off the dead or the parts that hospitals no longer need, but at least we give them the choice to live their lives in peace." Legosi held his ground to the surprise of Riz.

Tears fell to the floor and Riz balled his hands into fists.

"We both know we can't change each other's minds," Legosi responded with a nod. Riz held his half-length fingers higher and smiled.

"But no matter what you do, I'll always be a part of you. If not in person when I will soon bleed out from the wounds that Bill gave me, then I will always be a part of his mind. He ate part of me, and I ate part of him… no matter how this ends, Bill and I are equals in the end…" Legosi sneered at this, Riz looking ahead dully.

"Bill will never eat another just for the sake of doing so. He is so much more than just a monster." Riz's dull expression turned to a grimace of anger, his fists balled up ready to end this.

"Then let's finally end this." Both Opponents didn't need to be told twice before violently charging toward each other.


"This is Emergency services, how may I assist you today?"

"There is a student mauling other students on Cherryton School grounds. He's a grizzly bear, send a lot of help please!" Before the operator could say much more Juno had already hung up and started running out of her room again. Down the hallways to the stairwell.

As she ascended she thought that the quiet was so severe it was overpowering to everything else. If it's quiet, Legosi must have already shot him.

Although logically it made sense Juno couldn't shake the feeling of something going severely wrong. She made a turn and stepped onto the ground floor heading straight for the doors.

She wouldn't even dare to imagine what would happen if Legosi died. Of all things happening she thought she might just go insane right then and there in the dying light of the day.

The doors opened and she came to a stop on the school grounds. The distant skies on the horizon flashed with lighting, small bouts of thunder sounding over school grounds. The air was wet, rain approaching, yet it suddenly was deathly cold. The whole world was turning in weird ways today, and the sickening feeling in Juno's stomach was not relieved by it.

She dashed into the woods, running between trees further and further into the upkept forest ground. She ran while her mind was someplace else. Reliving the moments of desolation in the Lion's Den. She just wanted nothing else but to see Legosi alive. Her hybrid, her mate, her most precious thing that mattered most.

She heard them first, smelling their sweat only a second after the sounds of fighting broke out. She stopped dead in her tracks as she looked around unsure where to look. The smell of trees was strong enough to confuse her nose. But the noise was clear, so with a heavy heart, she moved forward through the junction into a small clearing and stopped in complete shock.

There was her nightmare, in front of her eyes. The shadow of a carnivore pushing down her Legosi, the wolf beginning to struggle with the enormous force the shadow used on him. And like always she stood there motionless, her body frozen with fear.

Move, Move, Move please move you dumb she-wolf. Attack that damned bear. MOVE DAMNIT MOVE PLEASE. Her mind screamed while her muscles tensed. Warm tears flew down her eyes. The world began to turn into set dressings, empty cutouts of real things meant to represent a place in a play.

Please Juno move, do something please don't let this become worse… please… Move…

Hot streams of tears burned her cheeks as the fear in her body turned her fur whiter and whiter. Riz grabbed onto Legosi's shoulders and opened his maw revealing his teeth.

YOU KNOW WHAT HAPPENS NEXT, MOVE YOU DUMB DOG… you can protect him now, don't let fear destroy your life.

Juno watched Riz's head snap back and as her fur had now turned completely cream-colored, suddenly the tensed muscles spasmed, kicking her movement into first gear. The energy and fear in her body released as if a key had opened the lock which kept them away.

In a sprint, she launched herself into the air as the two carnivores were still fighting. A pure white ghost gliding through the air as rage bubbled beneath and turned her face into a reddish hue under her fur.

Neither Legosi nor Riz saw Juno coming and were surprised by her sudden entrance and attack. Juno wrapped herself around Riz's head, her hand ramming full force into his right eye. The weird feeling of blood and gel around her finger gave Juno a weird animalistic kick of a ferocious fighting spirit.

Riz screamed louder than he had ever before, his arm darting up to grab at the wolfess. With a powerful hurl, Riz launched the wolfess forward, her claws tearing through his eye socket cutting along his face.

Legosi himself had in his surprise and shock no moment to react as a fist came crashing into his face sending him to the floor. Yet again he didn't have any time to recover as he felt the powerful right hand of Riz grab onto his shirt and hurl him towards his girlfriend.

Legosi crashed into the tree narrowly avoiding Juno by repositioning himself. With a heaving, aching chest, he pushed himself off the ground while Juno returned to her feet. Before she could react to the situation she felt a hand around her throat crushing it. She sucked in air and grabbed and clawed at the unresponsive hand around her neck, nothing in her power except looking into the snarling face of what was left of Riz.

Bruises went along his face and chest, bleeding wounds present everywhere, many teeth missing, and lastly the socket where his eye used to be had turned into a small blood fountain.

"You wolves think you know it all, don't you. You don't know what it's like to be avoided and shunned by everyone around you. You don't know what it's like to view yourself as a monster… but I understand what our claws are for now… I'm simply following Nature's call." He ended his sentence with a snarl while Juno clawed at the cramping hand more and more.

"Get your hands off my mate, you miserable excuse of a carnivore!" Legosi launched forward, Riz readying his arm for a punch. Riz's good eye saw his arm swing forward and miss the grey beast by half a centimeter. The wolf's fangs tore into his shoulder and Riz growled in irritation.

The hand around Juno's throat simply lifted her off the ground and his other hand grasped after Legosi. In a moment of Life's irony, the pain increased in his shoulder as the turn of his arm nudged the wolf's teeth deeper, yet his bitten-off fingers couldn't properly grab onto the wolf. He ripped the small bit he could get and saw in front of his face a patch of Legosi's shirt, his fangs now severely hurting his shoulder.

"Arrgh you pesky inferiors." Riz threw Juno forward against his tree, by his estimation knocking out the she-wolf. Yet the blood loss and pain had made his throw considerably weaker than first expected and Juno simply coughed violently when her back connected to the tree. He watched his enemy take in a breath again and he felt some of his rage returning.

His free hand grabbed over his head and yanked Legosi cleanly in the direction of the trees opposite himself. The wolf landed just as his mate had before, weaker than Riz had intended.

The blood loss had drained valuable life from him, and except for some of the Tiger's arms, his stomach was empty. His shoulder was flesh and gore and his senses were failing him. He looked forward and realized that they had just become his killers.

"I hate all of you and your self-righteous Bulls- rrrggggggh." Riz hadn't heard the footsteps, nor had he heard the distinct cracking that had made the wolves' ears twitch. But most importantly he hadn't smelled the deer that had approached the scene. Now the only thing going through his mind was the stabbing pain in his throat and the sudden inability to breathe.

Legosi and Juno witnessed Riz grab at his throat and realize the antler that had pierced it. Blood flowed through his mouth and he turned around slowly revealing the Antlerless buck, wielding his other antler in his hand like a knife.

Riz stumbled forward towards the trees, his eyes focusing on nothing at all. The pain was surprisingly mellowing out now. His urge to breathe was burning in his chest but his thoughts understood the situation now. I'm sorry Tem… I never meant to hurt you.

All three Animals watched Riz spit out blood, wander a few steps, and fall flat to the ground, finally dead. The shadow's Reign of Terror was over, once and for all.

Legosi looked across at Louis and smiled while clutching his stomach.

"You probably saved our lives… Thank you…" Legosi spoke in segments, drawing in breath while his chest hurt severely.

"I wasn't expecting for you to fight him right then and there… but at least it's over now." Louis dropped his antler and moved closer to the scene seeing Bill on the ground, his right arm only half the length it used to be.

"Oh Rex," Louis said under his breath, his face full of shock.

"The ambulance will arrive in just a moment or two. You two keep yourself together while I try to stabilize Bill… you took the worst of it, you brave soul." Louis knelt down and positioned Bill on his side, needing quite a bit of effort to properly move him.

Meanwhile, Legosi scooted over the Juno and embraced her as best as he could. She looked at him scared at first and then reverted back to simply looking shook. Legosi smiled.

"What should I call you now? Snowflake is already taken." Juno snickered at that comment but still continued to look quite shaken. Legosi just decided to keep quiet. After a moment Juno leaned her head on his shoulder while they both looked at the scene. A dead monster laying in the middle of the round while they were lucky enough to still be alive.

"Thanks for saving me." Legosi quietly muttered. Juno simply murmured in his arms.

"You are the most handsome wolf I've ever laid eyes upon, anyone would've done the same." Legosi smiled at the cheeky comment but decided to let it be. After everything, all he wanted was some levity.

"Will things ever be the same?" Juno asked him, Legosi pondered the question for a while.

"I don't think things will ever be the same, but I'm glad for that." Juno's head rose and locked eyes with his.

"What do you mean by that?" Legosi smiled at Juno, his right hand caressing the side of her face gently. His hand fell down to his side again and he looked at the sky.

"Because the way I see it the world needs some changing. And who will do that if not we do?" Legosi's smile widened when his pure white wolfess smiled back at him.

"Look!" Legosi pointed at the sky. The other two looked upwards to see white snowflakes fall through the clearing of the trees, the first snow of the year. And Juno understood that Legosi was right. Nothing would be the same but that was for the best. The world needed some changing and that right fast.