Legend of The Chezamon

Chapter 10- The Deal

Announcement: I asked Starart132 to include my Chezamon in his story, so I might use the predators he created for Mist Forest, if he gives me permission, of course.

Shaoran waited for Luna to arrive. She had said she would port near Mist Lake, so he headed in the direction Kaya had taken them when he had given them the said 'Mist Forest tour', as he later dubbed it.

This was the first time humans were interrogated, and the first time Hukaro didn't use one of his… 'Methods' to make them spill the beans. But after the humans claiming that if their captors attempted to kill them, their 'codes' would disappear forever, and they would never be able to return to Chaotic, let alone Perim. Kaya, upon hearing this and, not wanting to lose his new friends, immediately 'put his paws into the fire' and convinced Hukaro and Siena that it was not of their convenience to lose such valuable information.

Still, Ryuu ordered two of his Clawders to accompany Shaoran, in case Luna attempted something, despite Kaz and Kaya's insistence that she was just a 'pup', and was incapable of harming a Tortoisel.

Clawders. The elite guard of the Alphas, the strongest, most powerful warriors in the Tribe. Their fur was completely jet black, with no kind of markings or spots. Pups were always born with baby bluff, which could vary in color, but the most common baby fur were brown tones, light or dark. Other, uncommon colors were greenish, grayish, bluish or purplish tones. The rarest colors a pup could be born were yellowish tones, or even red, which had been Kaya's case. Often, baby fur gave adults a clue of what color the youngling's adult fur would be.

Clawders were a different case.

They could be born with any baby fur tone, but for some reason, when they started to grow their adult fur, it always turned out sable black. No matter if their baby fur was brown, or blue, or orange, they always grew black fur when they came of age. Most attributed this to the training and experiences they went through to become Clawders.

Unlike most other ranks in the Chezamon Tribe, the Clawder status could not be inherited from your father, or you could not be promoted to one. No, Clawders were carefully chosen at birth from Noble, and in some occasions, Hunter's litters; the smartest, strongest, most advanced newborn was chosen and had a short bandanna wrapped around their necks to distinguish them from their siblings until they could live without a mother's nourishment. After that, the selected pup would be taken away from his parents and siblings to be trained apart in all kinds of combat. All Clawders were male; there had never been reports of a female being chosen for being a Clawder.

Official Clawders often wore golden armor, which to humans would look almost like a samurai armor for dogs or wolves. It was red and gold in color, with some pieces of black leather. It protected the Clawders' chest, back, legs and there was also an additional piece of armor for the tail. Most of the helmets had a more medieval design, and they sported a feather-like tuft of hair on their heads, always green in color.

The Clawders instantly reacted when they heard a branch twitching, and took a fighting position, just in case a Chamil attacked. Shaoran did not move a paw, however; he already knew the scent of the creature coming out of the bushes. Before the Clawders could strike, Shaoran lifted his left paw and spoke, "No. It's her."

The Clawders calmed down when they saw as the female human 'pup' came out of the bushes with a face of worry drawn in her features.

"Where are my friends?" she asked in alarm, approaching the trio, but growing uncomfortable with the Clawders staring indifferently at her.

"They're in the Den, on the Court Chamber. I am to take you there, but I have to warn you; Hukaro is the Beta Male and one of the most powerful Chezamon in the Tribe, so try not to make him angry." The Hunter rested so that Luna could climb on his back, "Syena is not as stern, but still she distrusts outsiders."

Once on top of Shaoran's back, Luna nodded, now with a serious expression. Shaoran turned to the Clawders and muttered a single, "Let's go."

Tom was very uncomfortable when a few of the present Chezamon walked closer to them and sniffed them. By the looks on his friends' faces, he could tell they didn't like it at all either. But Kaya had whispered to them that in their Tribe, stepping aside when you were being sniffed was rude, as if saying ' Stay away from me.' So, he had to comply when the Chezamon sniffed even some 'parts' in which he couldn't help but shudder when he felt the Creatures' hot breath.

When the one named Ryuu walked closer to inspect them, he gave them a curious stare, his pupils completely dilated, giving him a rather 'funny' look. He was wagging his tail in curiosity, and his ears were up, almost making him look like a…

No. They had learned the bad way that you should never refer to a Chezamon as 'dog' a few minutes ago, when Peyton accidentally called Hukaro a dog.

In fact, it was only thanks to Syena that Peyton was still breathing.

"So…" Kaz spoke up, deciding to bring up the reason they had gone there in the first place, "If we told you what you want to know, would you let us see your leaders?"

The red-haired human soon regretted having asked that, because Hukaro and Syena gave him an almost aggressive look.

Ryuu, on the other hand, raised an eyebrow, "The Alphas? Why would a pack of strange creatures like you want to see the Alphas?"

Sarah spoke, "We'd like to ask them something concerning the other Tribes-"

She was interrupted abruptly when Hukaro lunged at her and pinned her to the ground, putting his massive paw over he throat and snapping his teeth at her.

"What do you know bout the other Tribes?!" he snarled, but was quickly pushed aside by Ryuu before he crushed the female human.

"Be more respectful to a female!" Ryuu snapped, baring his fangs

"She is not a member of our Tribe!" Hukaro snarled back, "Why should I show respect to her?!"

"Member of our Tribe or not, she is still a female!" Syena stood between the two males before they could start to fight, "And please, Hukaro, don't embarrass yourself and us by acting this way just for a single human!" She narrowed her eyes, "you wouldn't want her to find out through the Nobles what you are doing to a girl?"

Sarah didn't understand any of it, but she could tell that females in this Tribe were respected and treated as such. She was starting to like these guys. Hukaro leaned his ears against his skull and grumbled something about 'being ordered around by a lieutenant' before going back to his place.

Syena stared at the four humans as Ryuu went to take a place next to Hukaro (to annoy him, of course). He didn't get his eyes off the humans for a second.

"While Shaoran and the pup arrive, I hope you don't mind I start questioning you right now," Syena spoke after a while, "First of all, how did you find us?"

The group was not sure of who should answer the questions, but Tom decided it wouldn't help trying to figure that out in that moment; Hukaro was not the patient type of Creature, and if they took too long to answer he might attempt to attack again. The black-haired human gathered his courage and stepped to the front, ignoring his friends' worried looks.

"When we came here for the first time, we were simply looking out of curiosity. We had heard about you from the other players, and we figured we could get some scans, but we had to port out to avoid being coded. Luna was the one who met a Hunter and befriended him."

Kaya's ears went flat, and his eyes opened wide in shock; was the human actually going to say the Hunter had been him? Hukaro would have his head! At least he hoped the humans would not give the others away; he was already used to Hukaro's punishments, being subjected to them almost daily, but Rocket and the others were not.

"A Hunter befriended her?" Hukaro's fur bristled, and his lips curled into a snarl, "Who?! Is she met him, that means you must know about him! So tell us! Who?!"

"Excuse me, miss, but we'd rather not tell the Hunter's name unless he wants to. We wouldn't want to cause him any trouble," Tom preferred speaking to Syena; at least she didn't snarl at him when he made a wrong comment.

Syena nodded, "I understand."

Kaya, Jerome and Rocker discreetly sighed in relief.

The lieutenant continued with the interrogatory, "How many are there in your pack?"

This time it was Kaz who answered the question, "Only the four of us and Luna, we swear!"

Syena accepted the answer, but her ears twitched when she caught the sound of paw steps just outside. She turned towards the entrance of the chamber and saw Shaoran and the two Clawders trotting in, the human pup in the Hunter's back. Kaz didn't care if Hukaro chased after him, he ran towards the trio and as soon as his sister got off the Chezamon's back, he started checking for any injuries.

"Luna, are you alright?!" he frantically stuttered, "Weren't you hurt?! What happened?!"

Ryuu rolled his eyes and Hukaro let out a frustrated sigh; they had assumed the orange-furred human was a weakling, but this was ridiculous. Not even pupsitters were that panicky.

"I'm fine, Kaz!" Luna finally stepped away from her brother and walked towards Syena rather calmly, which surprised the Chezamon, "Excuse me for being late, miss."

The lieutenant couldn't help but smile, "It's okay, dear. There's one more question I'd like to ask-"

"Actually, my dear, there's something I'd like to ask our… guests." Ryuu spoke up, interrupting the female again; he knew she hated being interrupted, but this was important, "If you don't mind, of course."

Syena gave him a hard stare before sighing, "Fine, I'll take it."

Ryuu's fiery red eyes set on the group of humans, "The same question I said earlier, pups. Why do you want to see the Alphas?"

The humans didn't like being referred to as pups, but they were in no position to complain about it. Luna just stared at the group in confusion. Whatever had happened while she was in her drome match, it surely didn't sound like they had a tea party.

Hukaro and Syena didn't comment anything; Ryuu had every reason to ask that to outsiders. After all, as Captain of the Clawders, the Alphas' security was almost always resting on his shoulders. The gray-furred Chezamon himself was actually examining the humans' physiology.

"Bipedal, no claws or canines, they don't seem to be the hunting type of creatures, they're probably vegetarian," he thought, but he couldn't help taking a look at Sarah for a few minutes before resuming with the others, "They have no tail, their ears are small, as well as their noses. Why they only grow fur on their heads, I can't tell."

The four teenage humans nodded at each other, and Peyton decided it was his turn to speak.

"Well, I don't you guys don't want the other Tribes to know about you, but…" Peyton gulped nervously, "… They kinda know about you now."

Alarmed gasps echoed through the room, coming mostly from the nobles on the side. The Clawders kept their indifferent faces, though they did open their eyes a little as soon as they heard it. Even Hukaro and Ryuu couldn't help but open their mouths agape and lean their ears back; Syena was the only one who kept her calm, although she did show a hint of alarm. Kaya and Rocket looked at each other in worry, while Jerome gave Shaoran a quick look; the red and lilac Hunter had the same expressionless face as the Clawders, as if he had expected this from the humans.

"You…" Hukaro started growling, and bristling his fur like a cat, approached the group menacingly, "You spread it out, didn't you?!"

Luna spoke up, "You guys promised you wouldn't tell anyone!"

Kaz gulped, "Sorry, Luna, but they were very persuasive!"

Sarah took word, "Listen, it was not out intention at first! But the M'arrillians could attack anytime, and so we figured the other Tribes could use your help! But we didn't tell to the entire Tribes! Only some of the Creatures we know, and they swore to keep quiet, but they did ask us to mention a possibility of a treaty with you!"

This time, the Chezamon were speechless. The name the female had just spoken was unknown to them.

"Who are these…" Ryuu struggled to pronounce the word correctly, "… M'arrillians?"

Now it was the humans' who were speechless. They didn't know about the M'arrillians? Perhaps the Chezamon had not been present when the M'arrillians first attacked, or they didn't remember them at all. Anyway, they would have to explain it to them.

Faash couldn't sleep.

This time of the year made him feel especially forlorn and sorrowful. It had been her favorite time of the year; she had loved the season when the pink, sweet fungus was sold, and it was the only time of the year Mandiblors were given a few free days…

A female Danian was extremely rare, they were only born about every 100 hundred years, and when they were, they were raised to succeed the Queen. However, this time a not only a female was born, but two.

Initially, one of them was going to be destroyed, but for some reason, the Queen decided otherwise. While one was raised to succeed the current Queen, the other was raised as a hatchling caretaker: apparently, Lore had a theory that females were much more efficient at caring for infants than males were.

Faash was just a child when she hatched.

From the moment they met, they had been very good friends, and they grew up together, even though she had been taken aside a few years later to be raised in a different way. For about 5 years, they didn't see each other at all; Faash was busy with his work as Mandiblor, and she was busy training for her future job. When they reached adulthood, they were allowed to see each other again; and surprisingly, Lore's theory had been correct. The hatchlings adored the female Danian, and they worked even harder than the hatchlings raised by a male caretaker.

Faash sighed sadly; it turned out that his affection for her had turned into love, and she loved him back. Some nights, they would secretly meet at Oipoint's lookout when the winged guard went to sleep, and they would talk about simple things like what they had been doing or if they could hang out some time.

Then the day arrived.

A squad of Mandiblors and their Squadleader were sent to the Forest of Life, without consulting Raznus, in order to find a potential resource of Roth shards for making more Stingblades, and she had been chosen to accompany them as a healer. The last day before the squad departed, they had met at the Reservoir one last time… that night, she became his, and his alone. The next day, she departed.

Faash could swear he felt tears forming in the corners on the corners of his eyes; he would never forget the day he learned the squad sent to the Forest of Life disappeared… after three long days, the team never answered the Hive Calls, as if they had simply disappeared. She was never heard from again…

The Danian Elementalist closed his eyes, not wanting to recall any more painful memories.

She wouldn't want him to be lingering on the past.

She wouldn't…

There was an eerie silence across the chamber, and the group of humans felt rather… uncomfortable with all the Chezamon's stares fixed on them. They often hoped the present Chezamon eventually left the room to resume their business, or at least get their stares off them. But no, the Creatures would not removed their eyes from the humans, it seemed as if they wanted to see what they were thinking. In fact, some Nobles would even walk towards the humans, but when they attempted to 'smell' them (Kaya and the others explained to the group earlier that it is a custom to smell strangers to learn their scent, so that the Prey Drive would not target them in the future), the Clawders got in the way and asked the members of nobility not to walk any closer.

After explaining to Ryuu, Hukaro and Syena about the M'arrillian invasion, and how the tribe of mind-controllers could return anytime to strike back, the trio of Chezamon left for the Alphas' chamber to discuss what to do, or if they should intervene.

"I'm getting bored, guys," Kaz sighed, staring at the Kaya, Rocket, Jerome and Shaoran, who had been told to keep an eye on the humans, "Do we really have to stay here until they decide what to do?"

Jerome frowned, "Well, since you revealed our existence to the Tribes, and that has not happened since 9 solems, it is normal that they take long in deciding what to do about it."

Luna gave Kaz a small punch on the shoulder, "You promised you wouldn't tell anyone!"

"Wait a minute! Look, like we told that… Hukaro, guy… we didn't tell the entire Tribes, only the Creatures we know. If the M'arrillians strike back, you could be a great help." Tom spoke firmly, but started to tremble when Shaoran set his slit pupils on him.

"Again with those M'arrillians!" Shaoran bristled his fur, "What's so important about those M'arrillians that you had to disclose our secret to the… Creatures?"

Sarah crossed her arms, "Weren't you listening?! The M'arrillians can control the minds of Creatures and turn them against their Tribes!"

Rocket raised an eyebrow, "And what makes you think our Alphas would want to fight against a Tribe that can do that?"

Before Sarah could reply, a flash of pink flew into the room, followed by four Clawders, who were running hot on its heels. All the present Chezamon set their eyes on the flash of pink.

"Princess! It's not safe!" one of them cried

"I just want to take a peek at the outsiders! Besides, I can take care of myself!" a female voice replied in annoyance.

A female Chezamon of a moderate cherry pink landed a few steps away from the humans. However, unlike most of the Chezamon they had seen, she had feathered wings, like Kazehana, but she was obviously not the same type of winged Chezamon as the Skyguard, judging by her size and body. Her tail was like a wolf's but long and sleek; she had a cake pink underbelly, face and paws. She had light yellow paws, followed by small specks of purple in her front paws and pink in her back legs. However, what made her stand out from the other Chezamon was that she had hair –not only fur, she had a mane of long, wavy hair cascading from her head. It was divided in three colors; dark violet, moderate rose and pale gold. Her hair covered the right side of her face slightly, but her moderate blue eyes could still be seen. It was very long, almost reaching the floor on the right side of her face, while on the left side, her hair barely reached her shoulders.

In other words, she could be called hot in Chezamon standards.

"Princess Fen!" The group of humans saw that all of the present Chezamon bowed before the pink-furred winged female, so they did the same, just in case.

The Clawders finally caught up to the princess and stood between her and the human, baring their teeth at them.

Fen rolled her eyes and gently pushed her guardians aside with her wings before folding them, "It's alright, they are not that dangerous! If it was a Chamil, it's one thing, but these…" Fen examined the humans curiously, "… Outsiders don't look like they can hurt a fly."

Tom trembled when the princess walked close and started sniffing him, her pupils dilated and her tail wagging slightly, "Wow…" he heard her say, "I have never seen an outsider this close. I had heard they walked on two legs, but…." She targeted Tom's hair, "Why do you only grow fur on your heads? What about the rest of your body? I don't want to imagine how you protect yourselves from Zimaburya's blizzards."

"Who's is Zimaburya?" Luna inquired, but Kaya gave her a soft nudge with his paw.

Fen stared at the human pup in surprise, "He's the Spirit of Winter, of course."

This time, the Chezamon Princess started sniffing Luna, much to Kaz's dismay, but he was in no position to complain.

"Which tribe are you from?" Fen inquired, "You don't look like Mipedians or Danians, so I guess you must be from the Overworld, am I right?"

"Well, actually, princess, we're not from Perim, we're from-" Peyton stopped abruptly when he realized something, "Wait, you know about the other Tribes?"

Fen smiled slightly, "Well, I don't have much to do with them following me around," she discretely motioned to the Clawders, "So I usually spend my time reading the archives in the Library. It doesn't hurt to know about the outside word, if I can't actually go out without escorting."

The pink-furred Chezamon sighed slightly and muttered in low voice, "Sometimes I feel like a bird in a cage…" she set her sapphire blue eyes on the group, "Oh, where are my manners? My name is D'Aurora Fenniris, but you may call me Fen." After saying this, she gave the group a smile.

Suddenly, the large doors that led into the Throne Chamber opened and Syena and Ryuu walked out. Luna and the others repressed a laugh when Ryuu spotted the princess and discretely freaked out.

"P-Princess! What are you doing near those humans?! We don't know if they can be trusted yet!" he stuttered in shock, "They might be assassins!"

"Seriously?!" Tom spoke outloud in irritation, "If we were assassins, don't you think we would have to be strong enough to overcome a member of your nobility! You're way bigger than us, for goodness sake!"

Fen giggled when she saw the look on Ryuu's face; eventually, Ryuu peered his ears down in embarrassment, but gave glare to Kaya and Jerome when he noticed they were trying to repress a laugh. He didn't mind the Princess laughing at his sometimes overdramatic reactions, but Hunters? Never!

Syena rolled her eyes and addressed to Tom, "Are you the Alpha of the human pack?"

Tom remained silent, not knowing what to say, until Rocket whispered in his ear, "She's asking if you're the leader of the group."

"Well…" Tom gulped, "I'm not exactly the leader, but… you could call me that."

"Very well. The Alphas will see you, but only you." Syena warned, then pointed at the other humans with her paw, "The rest will wait here."

Kaz groaned in frustration, "Seriously? They'll make us wait again!"

Tom turned to see at his friends, who gave him reassuring looks, and followed Syena and Ryuu (not before the gray Chezamon motioned for his Clawders to take Princess Fen again, much to her annoyance). He heard the gates close behind, but ignored it when he stared at the Throne room more closely.

It was almost like the previous chamber, but it was adorned with tapestries, made out of various tones of emerald green, and golden trimming. The symbol of the Chezamon Tribe, the crescent moon with claw marks slashing it, was carefully trimmed in the middle of those tapestries. At the end of the chamber, there were large cushions, which served as seats for the Alpha Male and Female, and surrounding it were dark green, velvet curtains. Hukaro sat a few steps away from the thrones, staring at the human with a hostile expression. Tom trembled when he spotted Baojia and Dryla staring indifferently at him from their seats. What would be their verdict?

"So…" Baojia narrowed his eyes, "This is the alpha of the human pack?"

Tom felt a shiver run down his spine when the Chezamon spoke, he liked it better when he didn't talk at all. To enworse things, there were Clawders surrounding he Alphas, and he felt like they would tear him to pieces if he made a wrong move. Syena could sense the fear emanating off Tom, and so decided to answer for him.

"Yes, he is, Your Majesty," she said.

Dryla stared at Tom for a while, before speaking, "We've come to the decision that, while the concerns of the other Tribes are not our concern. If they go at war with the M'arrillians, it's their problem, and theirs alone. The last time we attempted to meddle in the other Tribes' business, our Tribe was almost wiped off the face of Perim."

Finally, Tom gathered the courage to speak, "With all due respect, your Majesty, I don't mean that you should stick your noses in others' business…" he trembled when he saw the Clawders bristling their fur and snarling, "… I just mean that you should give them another chance. Whatever they did to you in the past, it's all happened, and it can't be changed. They have changed, and there's no reason to fear being ostracized."

Hukaro bristled his fur and walked towards the human, "You expect us to trust Creatures that we haven't seen for solems? That didn't know, or perhaps even care, that we existed at all? Besides, like Lady Dryla just said, It's not our problem whatever happens to Perim.

That was it.

"But it is your problem!" Tom shouted, earning shocked stares from the present Chezamon, and took a few steps towards Hukaro, "Listen carefully, pal! You don't know this, but the M'arrillians attacked not long ago and they nearly flooded all of Perim," when he said this, he earned shocked gasps and stares, "And believe me, Mist Forest is located in the Forest of Life, so don't tell me it wouldn't have affected you! The other Tribes barely managed to defeat the M'arrillians, but it they strike back, who knows what may happen!"

Tom attempted to approach the Alphas, but two Clawders stood in the way, baring their fangs, but the human didn't mind any longer, "... Please, your Majesties. Just think about it. One chance, that's all they ask. They can prove they have changed."

"…"

Neither Baojia nor Dryla said anything for a while, processing the information in their brains. The M'arrillians had tried to flood Perim… The human was right in that point, it would have affected them as much as the other Tribes. They were running low on resources as well, especially now that the Winter was coming. With a sigh of resignation, Baojia finally spoke.

"Very well, then." He said in a grim tone, "You may disclose the secret to the Tribes,"

Hukaro's eyes nearly popped out of his skull.

Ryuu sighed and closed his eyes shut.

Syena looked down, knowing there was nothing she could do.

Tom smiled in relief, but before he could speak, Baojia lifted a wing.

"But… on one condition." He continued, "Each Tribe of Perim will send a team of delegates, and they will spend three seasons here. We will judge if they are worth of our trust. If we consider they have truly changed their ways, then we will be open for the idea of a treaty. If they are still the same selfish, war-driven Creatures that we remember, they will be leaving Mist Forest and leave us alone. Forever. Am I clear?"

Tom thought for a minute. The condition was very risky, but it was better than nothing.

"I accept you terms," he spoke, "But if I may ask, what about me and my friends."

This time, Dryla spoke, "Since your species does not seem to be a danger to us, we shall allow you and your pack of five to roam the Underground Den as much as you please," she said before narrowing her eyes, "But if you are told not to go into an area, you are to obey with no protest. Also, the Inner Chamber and the Armory are completely off-limits for you."

Tom nodded eagerly, but before darting out, he decided to be polite, "Excuse me, may I go now?"

Baojia nodded, "You are free to go. And remember, if the Tribes can convince us that they are worth of making an alliance with, we won't object. But if they don't…"

Tom nodded before running out of the chamber, followed by Ryuu and Syena, not before the two gave the Alphas a respect bow. As soon as they were gone, Hukaro gave the Alphas an incredulous look.

"Your Majesties, with all due respect, I don't think this is such a good idea. We have isolated ourselves from Perim and been peaceful since then, but-" he stopped when Baojia lifted a wing.

"Hukaro, I know you don't want our Tribe to be exterminated, but I'm afraid that human was right. Whatever happens to Perim will affect us, and judging by how they described these… M'arrillians, they must be very dangerous. I doubt we would be able to defend ourselves on our own; perhaps a treaty would be the best course of action if that were to happen."

Knowing he had no way of dissuading the Alphas, Hukaro sighed in defeat and walked out of the Throne Chamber.

"Bao…" and the Alpha Male turned to his mate as the childhood nickname left her lips, "I hope we are not making a mistake,"

"Me too, Dry…" he replied grimly, "Me too…"