Chapter 3: Speechless Redemption
The lit orange sky had engulfed the afternoon with a sunset that glistened on the water's surface. The metallic plane flew in the skies descending its altitude closing into the secluded island that it was heading toward.
Inside the plane resided three-fourths of the team that were accounted for crimes. The huge feline sitting by his lonesome..arms crossed and eyes closed. The fox..was the same way but besides with crossed arms he held onto the sheets that were provided by the personal flight attendants. As for the wolf..his gaze looked out onto the sunset. His wounds were starting to heal as he moved his arm around more efficiently.
"Is everything alright Master Zero?" A flight attendant had said while she walked more into the interior of the private plane shocking Zero out of his thoughtless gaze.
After a slight shake of his head he replied. "I'm find thank you."
"Do you need anything?"
"No thank you. Why don't you and the rest of the girls get some rest? You've been working your heart out taking care of those two."
"But if Master Jata sees us then..." The flight attendant said as her gaze went to the sleeping feline.
"Don't worry about him. If he happens to wake up and say something I'll say it was all my fault. I can shoulder his sissy fits better than anyone. Now go on and get some rest." He smiled as the direction of his eyes went right back to the sunset.
Zero hated the idea of a sunset. To him..the sunset symbolized the ending of anything really. The day..a good time and even the bad times. It all just reminded him about the day he lost everything and the day that caused him to be the way he was today.
With a crack of his neck the huge feline awoke as he saw the lupine just staring into the sunset.
"You do know you're not suppose to stare at the sun for long." Jata said as he approached the side of his wolf friend.
"I know." Zero sighed. Jata put a encouraging hand on his shoulder as they both looked toward the sunset together from the plane.
"It must be hard for you." Jata assured.
"I know they're out there somewhere. I won't stop until I find them. Even if I have to go through everyone who stands in my way." Zero said surprisingly calm.
"I have something for you." The jaguar went to his bag..grabbed something from the inside of it and returned to the lupine's side. "I've had this ever since we joined together even before we made this forged this team. I think it's only appropriate for you to have it."
In his offering hand was a folded piece of paper with another piece in the crevice. The wolf opened the paper only to reveal what was hidden was an old photo that the gang had taken in the front of Jata's place. Jata himself was regally dressed in a sleeveless dashiki donned in red..black and yellow diamonds and strips. His paws on both the vulpine and lupine's shoulders. Karishad had his original attire on which was basically nothing and his paws on the back of his head. Zero on the other hand had a little female wolf cub holding her in one arm and hugging another female wolf around the waist with the other. The cub was a spitting image of Zero and had some of the same features as the other lupine. In all honesty..it wasn't that rare back then to see Zero so happy. All of them had huge smiles on there faces smiling at the camera. A single tear fell onto the photo.
Jata saw that the lupine's hair had casted a shadow over his eyes. The feline knew that in this moment it was wise not to say anything that might upset him even more. So he did what he always did and put out his arm..grabbed Zero and merged him into a one armed embrace as if he was comforting his own brother. But like always..even locked in the hold nothing was heard. No whimpers..no sniffles..nothing.
"We all know that you're strong Zero but you have to let it out sometime."
"I appreciate it Jata." Zero said as he backed away from the embrace. "Even though my daughter and mate are out there somewhere..I can never break down. What kind of father would I be if I just continue to cry and not do anything about it? I admit I'm not that guy that could move on from the past that easily but I'd be damned if I were to go before I hold my daughter in my arms again." With the last statement his eyes shined as the shadow casted by his hair vanished.
"We are going to that island of yours right?" Jata nodded in response.
"Then why not have a good time while we wait for this all to blow over. Like I always say; why watch a sunset's ending when you could experience the beginning of a new sunrise?"
With a smile on his face Jata just nodded looking back out the window the sunset finally setting across the horizon. With a mighty yawn the fox woke up.
"What's with all the standing?"
Days passed as the Edge Race Tournament was coming around the bend. The pressure was at an all time high for everyone. Every team felt as if they had something more to prove. But with the races coming around the corner the last week of practice were the toughest. All teams were practicing..some on course..others on their tactical methods. For Grape..her instincts drove her to the outside. Everywhere was her course and she was going to utilize every bit of it. With a kick in her step she started trotting on the building top. Soon her trotting became fast paced..then it became a jog and on from a jog to a full blown sprint.
Her first obstacle was a basic wall-run which she did flawlessly. Then a simple slide under some pipes that resided on top of the building. Her pace wasn't slowed by anything that was in her way. Whether the lavender purple feline had to leap over something..climb to get to a higher point or just manage to keep her breath intact when the impact of a high fall she was doing so with ease. There was a reason she was named "Speed Queen" and she intended on keeping it. Soon her thoughtless free-run had ceased as a light brown blur passed her before her very eyes.
It was so fast she had to double take but with no luck she didn't exactly catch a good glimpse of it.
"This could be fun." Grape said as she ran after it.
With the sudden change of pace the cat's thoughts had focused more on catching up to what had passed her. Getting closer to her target she started seeing it's figure..but before she could make it out the figure jumped to a lower building roof. Not losing sight of where it was Grape kept to a higher plain. This chase was a difficult one as to where they were placed but not so difficult that the feline had the thought of not being able to catch up.
The light brown figure jumped from the building and grabbed onto a horizontal pole that was hanging from another building closer to it. With its body weight..it was able to swing itself to the other roof. Making a sharp right to another gap between building the figure once again jumped but this time grabbed a vertical pole that was placed on the building's wall usually for structure purposes. To Grape's surprise the figure climbed faster than she had thought. Almost in record time the was almost on the same height level as the purple cat.
Grape had to find out who this was. Whoever it was was good. There's no way you can fake those kinds of skills and perform them almost flawlessly. As Grape watched the figure..her attention for the obstacles came to her like a sixth sense. Being on a higher platform than the figure that meant more wider gaps and a higher chance of falling. But with precise footing and a couple of wall-runs from the many billboards that crowded the city she was able to clear most of those.
An active construction site was in the path which meant more things to dodge. But lucky the figure had made a sharp turn and zip-lined down to the street floor. It wasn't until then that the feline noticed that she had mistakingly ran into the course set-up for next week. Why else would there be a zip-line for?
Not losing her target..the cat leaped from the roof of the building to another and repeatedly doing that until she was closer to the street. She still couldn't see who exactly was that figure. But as she got closer she started to see that the figure was indeed male as its physique was bigger than a female. She landed on a chain fence and continued her pursuit without trouble. But everything went downhill when...
"Down Below!" Still running a little close to the construction site a loose cable had broke causing a beam to fall. Grape looked up then back to the figure and noticed that he was right under it the falling beam.
"WATCH OUT!" Grape eyes shut closed as she thought of the impact. But she heard nothing at all. Her eyes slowly reopened as she saw that the construction beam was slightly levitating in the air with a light tangible green aura around it. Grape knew who it was controlling it but her eyes couldn't lock onto who she was looking for as her sight went all over the place.
A truck driver who was driving 70 on a 60 mph route had noticed the levitating beam and lost control of the steering wheel as he freaked out. Even though the feline was on a fence that was on the sidewalk..it still didn't mean she was in the clear as the truck drifted to to the left now aiming straight for the cat. As her eyes wandered she failed to notice that the truck was coming sooner. Frozen in place Grape saw her whole life ahead of her.
The sheer impact on her body was much more softer than she thought it would be. So much in fact that the blasphemous thought of dramatization of deers getting stuck in a head light came to her mind. With her body hitting the floor..her eyes immediately shut as she started rolling down the street but only by a couple of inches. Not sure what she would see when she opened her eyes..she half expected being alongside a nice fireplace taking one of her catnaps to the smell of Christmas morning and upon awakening she will see Santa handing over her very own halo. But harsh reality was gifted upon her instead.
Before she opened her eyes Grape felt the concrete floor beneath her back and something with weight upon her. Her eyes finally opened as they shot open wide to the sight of who was on top of her. With half lidded eyes he smiled weakly.
"Are you alright?"
Grape was still in shock. She tried to make words but was only able to mouthed them. It seemed as if the dog have finally got the tongue instead. Soon..even if it was only one word..she was able to speak.
"P-Peanut?"
It seemed once the beam from above was caught in the air the Canadian Pointer Mix had noticed both the truck and his best friend and acted accordingly. With only a limited amount of time his feet carried him over to Grape and just in time to bring them both out of harm's way. The truck crashed causing some of the glass from its windshield to spread all over. Taking most of the impact from the floor Peanut's back had hit his back on a large glass shard causing his back to be scraped and bruised.
Very weakly he responded. "Finally I get to say this. 'Dog got your tongue'? You know caused the phrase is..."
"I know Peanut." She assured as she brought the canine's head to her chest in a hug. "You've saved me. Thank you." Grape's eyes filled with joyful tears.
Her paws went to his back as she felt his fur with more moisture than this situation called for. With a quick gulp she looked at her shaking paws as the crimson liquid only slightly coated her fingers.
"Peanut?" With no answer she started to freak out a little. "Peanut!?"
She looked at him only to find him eyes close. His breath while shorten still was good enough to cause his body to rise and sink. Grape took a giant sigh of relief as she held him tightly against herself.
It took time for the paramedics to arrive but others started to arrive to help out. Maxwell in fact was one of the first to come to Grape's aid then followed by the rest of the team.
"Thanks goodness your safe." Max said as he hugged Grape close to him as she did her.
"If it wasn't for Peanut I wouldn't be here. If he didn't jump in the way in time..."
"I'll be sure to throw him a bone later but for now are you hurt?" Max said as he looked Grape up and down.
"Maxie I'm fine but Peanut took a nasty hit." Grape said escaping Max's hold as she went over to Peanut who was lying down on a mat that Sabrina had brought.
"I don't know what happened. It all just flashed before my eyes. First the beam falling then out of no where it starts to float in mid-air. That reminds me Sabrina!"
"Yes Grape?" The black feline said as she got closer kneeling down to observe the canine's back herself.
"Do you know where Tarot is? I've could've sworn it was her who levitated that construction beam and save us both."
"I'm sorry Grape. Lately I've had trouble getting in contact with her myself."
"The paramedics are here to take Peanut you guys." Marvin said as he moved away for they could have space.
"You should go with him Grape. You were in that scuffle as much as he was. Who knows maybe you don't feel any pain now but later in the week you might start feeling worst." Sabrina assured Grape putting a paw on her shoulder.
"But what about the..." Grape said but was quickly interrupted.
"You shouldn't worry about that right now. You should focus on getting better for you can be able to race next week. Even if you can't I'll win the whole thing just for you." Max winked at her as if that was to make his comment stick.
Grape looked at Peanut once again as he was put on a stretcher. Her chest felt heavy as she saw the two paramedics carried him into the ambulance. But right before they put him in the back a card fell from his collar and onto the floor. The purple feline walked over to it as she just wanted to give it to one of the guys for they could give it to Peanut when he comes to but upon inspection of the card she froze.
In her paw was a Runner's License with the Pointer Mix's photo on it. On the side of his photo it showed his team name..position and year that it was issued. The cat was stuck came to realize that the one she was chasing was definitely Peanut and he was good.
"Plans changed." Grape said as she walked the opposite way of the ambulance.
"But you're..." Marvin tried but was shut down.
"I'll be fine. Right now we have to prepare for the races. Starting first thing tomorrow."
"Grape what's with the sudden change of attitude? Not that I don't mind by any chance." Max questioned.
She looked at the license once more and saw the title position Peanut was as she clenched it in her paw. "It doesn't matter. Let's get going!"
Her heart was wrenching in all different directions. Out of all things that this dog had to do was to get involve with this race. She was going to protect him in this race..even if it meant tearing through Peta's whole organization she would. It was the least she could do.
"Team Lunar is going to win at any price!"
Not to far from the crash site a tan furred Pomeranian sat a top of the building looking down toward the crash site. She looked up to the sky as a certain thought hit her head. "So that's what's gonna happen? Better get to the others." The Pomeranian lad left the area leaving nothing behind.
Soon the race will begin as all the teams are getting closer to their places.