The chapter title is the prompt :))

PLEASE READ THE FICS IN THIS SERIES BEFORE READING THIS! THANKS!

Tbh I'm not super happy with how this turned out, specifically the very beginning and end. But oh well

Em was starting to think her plan was flawed from the beginning.

She had intended to lead Sun away into the forest circling the Pureheart valley; and while he was looking for her in the brush, she would loop around him and go pick up her stash of stolen jewels back in the village. By the time he realized she wasn't in the trees anymore, it'd be too late, as the arctic fox would be running into the sunset with thousands of dollars in stolen goods.

It probably would've worked if Sun hadn't been so diligent. Realizing her scheme, he had made sure to instead chase her away from the forest; instead corralling her towards the jagged cliffs near his house

So with her back to a hundred-foot drop, the trees behind her barely visible with how high up they were, and being cornered in by the rocky hills on either side of them, Em began to have doubts about her plan. I suppose it's a little late for that.

With sweat beading at her forehead, she forced her gaze to meet Sun's, who was slowly walking over to where she stood at the edge of the cliff; taking his time. It was obvious he had the advantage here. With the steep hills on either side of them, the cliff behind her, and with the canuki blocking the only way out, it was clear she had nowhere to go.

"Let's just end this now." He yelled over the wind, "I don't want to drag this out any longer than I have to."

She couldn't help but silently agree with the canuki, although her expression stayed calm, "I've been in worse situations before, Sunny. I'll get out of this."

He frowned, "Your luck won't help you here, Em. You don't want to have a literal fall from grace, do you?"

Sun pointed his Dice, which was in the form of a dagger, behind her at the hundred-foot drop; yet she refused to look, her eyes still glued to his own.

"Hm, I've never really been a fan of heights." She admitted with a shaky smirk, she really did hate them. "But that won't stop me from getting away."

Sun groaned, looking awfully too tired for a sixteen-year-old, "How many times do I have to say this, only a miracle could save you right now! And the chance of that happening... is…"

Sun's voice trailed off, as his nose wiggled; clearly taken back by an unexpected scent. Before she could question what he was doing, the canuki flicked his wrist and his dagger changed from its Dice form to a shield; as he turned to face the rocky hill that towered over them to their left.

With the canuki suddenly looking a lot more worried as he gazed up the hillside, with his shield out, Em felt her smirk coming back into place; as she sniffed at the air. I can't smell any monsters… so what is he so scared of? Maybe… this is the impossible miracle he was speaking of! Ha! Perfect...

Em was brought out of her thoughts at the sound of Sun's whine, as he got into a battle stance, "Oh you gotta be kidding me."

Suddenly, without much warning, a figure dropped from the top of the hill; sliding down the cliff face before pushing off the rocky wall, landing squarely onto Sun's shield. The canuki let out a gasp at the sudden increased weight, stumbling back at the figure once again pushed off his shield, landing a few meters away.

Em's eyebrows furrowed at the sight of the mysterious masked feline, standing across from Sun. Who the hell is that?

"Panther!" Sun hissed out, holding his shield squarely in front of him; clearly on the defense. He seemed frazzled. "What do you think you're doing?!"

The helmet-wearing feline, Panther apparently, silently pulled a cylinder from his long jacket; pressing a button on the top, causing the device to pop into a long staff. Sparks seem to come from the top of the device, where two metal prongs poked out; Sun flinched at the sight of it as if he were familiar with the weapon's abilities.

Panther cocked his head to the side, his expressionless mask reflecting nothing but Sun's worried expression, "You know why I'm here, Sun."

Sun hesitated for a moment, biting his lip, before letting out a soft sigh, "Yeah, you're here for your weekly beat up Sun session, but you couldn't have come at a worse time."

Em froze as the mysterious feline glanced in her direction, although he quickly swiveled his attention back to the canuki, "Unfortunately, my duty cannot wait."

"Sounds fine by me." Em chuckled, hoping she sounded confident. To be honest, Panther's mechanical voice unnerved her, alongside that electric staff, but she couldn't let them see that, "Why don't you two do your little battle thing, and I'll just head out-"

"Hold on!" Sun yelled out, taking a step towards the arctic fox, "You're a wanted-"

Unexpectedly, Panther slid behind the canuki, and thrust his staff forward; the two metal prongs making contact with the teen's back as electricity ran through his body.

"Gah!" Sun screamed as his posture went stiff; his merlot fur puffing out.

Em Fatal watched as Panther finally pulled his staff away, letting Sun collapse to the rocky ground; withering in pain as the electric current continued to make his limbs shake. She cringed at the sight.

"Keep your focus on me, Sun." Panther spoke calmly, taking a few steps back to surprisingly allow Sun to recover, "You will never defeat me like this."

"I-I-I don't even know who you are." Sun managed to hiss out, slowly lifting his face from the ground to glare at the mysterious feline; he was covered in dirt. "I-I don't even know your real n-name!"

"And it will stay that way until revealing such a fact is beneficial to me." Panther replied, nonchalantly spinning his staff in his left hand, while his right sat comfortably in his pocket. "Now get up, we're not finished yet."

Sun muttered something that sounded awfully like "that's unfortunate," before slowly pulling himself off the ground; his fur still puffed out thanks to the static. Picking up his shield from where he had been laying, he glanced up to where Em still stood.

She had been inspecting the hills surrounding her, clearly looking for a way to escape, since the dueling pair blocked the only way out.

"Em, stay where you are." Sun mumbled out, "This will be finished shortly."

The fox sighed, raising an eyebrow at his appearance, "If you say so, Sunny. But it's rude to keep a girl waiting."

He couldn't help but snort at that, as he finally straightened his posture; allowing his shield to poof back into a dice, before flipping it once again.

Transforming onto his arms were a pair of golden gauntlets, which Sun inspected with a sigh.

"Close combat isn't ideal in this situation, but this will have to do." He muttered to himself, before turning back to face Panther; who was watching him quizzically. "Let's do this then."

Em was surprised to hear a soft chuckle come from the taller feline, as he spun his staff leisurely, "Your move then, Sheriff."

With one final sigh, Sun gritted his teeth together and sprung forward; his metal-encased fist raised.

Panther easily sidestepped the punch, before reaching out and snatching up the loose end of Sun's scarf. With his momentum being used against him, the canuki let out a gasp as the cloth around his neck became tight; as he came to a sudden stop.

"Cat got your tongue?" Panther asked, his voice monotone and devoid of humor.

Letting out a choked groan, Sun managed to pull himself out of the feline's grasp, and fall back a few steps; as he rubbed sorely at his throat, glaring at his opponent.

"That was a dirty move." He huffed out, his voice strained.

Panther shrugged, "Why should it matter? Your family has done much dirtier things."

With that, the plum furred cat struck; jabbing his electric staff at the canuki. Sun let out a grunt as he managed to step back and avoid the hit, although he couldn't avoid the second attack.

Once again, electricity ran through the teen, and he let out another ghastly scream.

This time, however, Panther didn't hold the prongs to him for long, and he quickly fell back; freeing Sun from his electric torture once again.

Thanks to the shortened attack, the canuki managed to stay on his feet this time; although he was swaying gently, and his fur was steaming.

"I'm disappointed." Panther sighed, even through the robotic filter he sounded mildly upset, "You seemed to have made no improvement since our last meeting."

"I-I've been busy." Sun admitted, raising his fists shakily in a fighting stance, "B-besides, I wouldn't exactly call these meetings, that implies c-compliance. It's not like I asked you to attempt to kill me like you seem to do every single week."

"As I stated before, it's my duty to eliminate false heroes," Panther shrugged, taking in Sun's beat-up appearance, "and it seems like my job is almost done."

Letting out an angered growl, Sun bolted forward on his shaky legs, his gauntlets raised. Quicker than a blink of an eye, the masked feline raised his staff and thrust forward; although it was clear he had missed his mark.

Grabbing onto the end of the staff by the prongs, was Sun; his body once again running with electricity. Yet, he somehow managed to stay standing, as he gripped the metal with his gauntlets; his face pained.

Panther cocked his head in confusion as he watched the canuki grappling with the end of his weapon, "You really are something, Sun."

The canuki glanced upwards, his eyes slit in agony and confusion.

"Yet," Panther looked down at the base of his staff and clicked one of the buttons there. "You will never be enough."

Suddenly, the electric output dramatically increased, causing Sun to break his silence and howl in agony; just as the taller feline threw back his arm, and punched the canuki straight in the jaw. Causing the teen to fly back away from the staff, and onto the ground.

He didn't get up.

Panther watched Sun's unconscious body for a few moments, seemingly taking in how the boy's scarf was smoking; or how his gauntlets had poofed back into a dice. Yet after a few seconds, the feline sighed and his staff popped back into a small cylinder; which he slid into his jacket.

What the… Em had watched the whole exchange, her eyes wide with fear. He… beat Sun? But how?! I never even get close to winning a fight against that stubborn boy!

"I-Is he…" She couldn't help but mutter to herself, her eyes falling to his still body; although she immediately knew this was a mistake when Panther turned to face her.

She felt her blood go cold.

"G-g-go near her and you'll regret it!"

Em jumped at the quiet, yet fierce voice of Sun; who had grabbed onto Panther's leg, seemingly still unable to stand up, barely even able to lift his bloodied face off the floor. Her heart swelled at the act. Heh, classic Sun. I guess I should've known better than to doubt him.

The feline looked down at the canuki silently, before glancing back at her; easily kicking Sun off in the process, "You are in no position to make threats right now, Sheriff."

And just like that, she felt her metaphorical hope balloon pop, as Panther took a step towards her.

Feeling panic beginning to settle deep in her stomach, the arctic fox stepped back…

Into thin air.

Before she could even register the shocked, blooded expression on Sun's face, or even the sudden rigidness in Panther's shoulders; the arctic fox was falling backward.

"EM!" She faintly heard a familiar canuki scream.

It took a few moments for the fox to register what was happening, as she spun blindly, free falling.

It was only until she had fallen roughly twenty feet did she realize she had eighty more to go; as the forest below her got closer and closer.

Em had made the mistake of stepping off the cliff, and now, at the age of seventeen, she was falling to her death.

That was when she began to scream, fear tearing out of her throat. NO NO NO! This can't be it! What about everything I wanted to do?! Everything I needed to say?! This can't be it! I'm not ready to die!

I'm scared.

Sunny… Adorabat...

I'm so so scar-

"OOF!"

Something collided into the girl's side, painful enough that for a second she had thought she had already hit the ground. It was only when the thing wrapped itself around her did she realize what was happening.

"HOLD ON!" The robotic voice yelled over the rushing wind, urgent; she did what she was told, grabbing on tightly and sealing her eyes shut.

Suddenly, and almost painfully, they came to an abrupt stop; the sound of crunching metal and rock echoing around them, as they hung from the cliffside.

There was silence for a few moments, all except for the sound of heavy breathing; although Em couldn't tell if it was her own or the person's she had wrapped herself around.

It was the smell of machine oil and sugar that finally convinced the girl to open her eyes.

She had wrapped her arms around Panther's neck, even unconsciously holding her legs around his waist tightly as well. The feline had his left hand on her back and was pressing her against him to make sure she stayed hanging alongside him. Meanwhile, his right arm was what had stopped their decent; he had forcefully smashed his hand into the rock and had made a ledge to grab onto so they could hang freely.

From his hand, leaked a mysterious black liquid.

Wait, is that… machine oil? She blinked. Oh, his right arm is mechanical. I guess that explains the smell and why he was able to stop us without dislocating his shoulder.

But if it's leaking oil, it must be damaged…

Em's brows furrowed.

Wait… why did this guy even save me in the first place?!

"Are you okay?"

Em couldn't help but flinch at his voice, it sounded much less robotic this close; she could even feel the reverberation of his question through his chest where they were pressed against one another.

She glanced up at him through her eyelashes, still panting as adrenaline continued to flow through her veins. "I-I'm...fine."

Panther looked down at her, although it was difficult to know what he was thinking with the helmet and all, "Alright. Can you continue to hold on?"

"Y-yes." She said softly, not in the mood for any of her usual games.

He nodded and looked back up the cliffside, "I am going to climb back up. Continue to hold me like you are, or you will fall to your death. Do you understand?"

"Yes." She repeated, fear still pounding in her chest.

Panther fell silent, as he continued to stare up; clearly planning out his rock climbing route.

Nervously, Em shook her bangs out of her face, before glancing below them; her eyes widening with panic at the sight of the trees below. If he let's go, we'll both die. The only thing holding us here is his broken mechanical arm for goodness sake! Oh God, I hate heights!

Suddenly, his free hand pushed her face softly into his chest, obscuring her vision; as he continued to gaze upwards. "Don't look. It will only frighten you."

Em let out a surprised gasp at the action, but didn't resist it; even burying her muzzle into his jacket after a few moments. Heh… I can feel his heartbeat through his coat. It's racing. Maybe he hates heights too...

And then Panther saves Em and they go their separate ways while leaving Sun bleeding out and unconscious (Jk… kinda)

I probably could've (and should've) given this a better ending but… I didn't feel like it lmao.