But yeah, I'll try to skip pleasantries because I know how much all of you want to read the story, if you even still are this by…but regardless, I just found out that "Better Than This" is my most popular story, so thanks so much for that. But I hope you all know that my main series is in the Happy Feet archives.

Better Than This

Chapter 16

Gone Too Far

The Alphas were off, and every Omega and pup had taken refuge in their dens by the time Age finally gathered up and hustled every member of their team. He was constantly reminded how strong they all were, but their time was limited.

"We all set to head out?" Age asked. Everyone had turned into a squad team, and Age was sort of like their Skipper.

"We seem like we're ready to go, as soon as Hutch stops kibitzing with that Alpha over there." Humphrey pointed out to everyone and looked in their direction. Hutch was talking to an older wolf, and by the looks of him, very battle worn. Humphrey walked over to Hutch and tapped on his shoulder, "Hutch, it's time to go…"

"Oh sorry Humphrey I was just talking to my teacher from Alpha school when I was a pup, see?" Hutch introduced him to the elderly wolf he was talking to. "His name is Royce, he is responsible for the Alpha's Alpha everyone says I am today." Hutch gave and waved his pawed in front of Royce.

"Oh stop it Hutch, you're making me look bad." He gestured away to Hutch.

"Puh…nothing can make you look bad Royce!" Hutch snickered at a sudden thought he had, "Not even the Great Mujer fiasco three seasons ag…"

"Okay that's enough of that!" Royce suddenly stopped him, clearly trying to cover up something. After he shut Hutch up, he turned back to Humphrey. "You must be Humphrey; Hutch has told me much about you. You and your cousin…"

"Well gee, I had no idea Hutch had such a great trainer, perhaps you'd even be…"

"I want to come with you…"Royce stopped Humphrey, he wanted to go with them? Out into the forest where J-Dog, and possibly Blood were lurking around? "I'm old Humphrey, and believe me when I say, I want to die on my feet, not lying down in a den waiting for some whack-job of a wolf to come find me and take me out." Hutch looked at Humphrey, it seemed as though he had already been told. "I could even teach you a few things along the way. What do you say, may I go?" Royce was very polite, and it was his time anyway.

Humphrey nodded and the three walked back over to Hayley, Age, and Kate with him. At first, during the talk with Age to let Royce go, he was still determined to keep every wolf he could safe, but Royce made him notice that on his own, he was growing fast and he wouldn't be around for much longer anyway, he was one wolf that Age wasn't going to save.

"Alright, fine…he can come with us." After Age finally agreed, an Alpha ran up to him and whispered in his ear,

"All the Omegas and Pups have been moved to their dens, and the Alpha patrols are already roaming the woods."

"Good, my team and I are moving out now." The Alpha nodded after Age told him this, and he ran off. Age took a deep breath and huffed, and began to walk with his five companions. "Listen everyone…" He spoke to them as they entered the dark of the forest. "I got a feeling J-Dog has set up some kind of surprises for us in here, so if you heard even the slightest thing, take cover." Everyone nodded, and Royce spoke out.

"That's right, remember Age, sometimes even small signs can be the signal for real danger." Age turned to Royce as he said this, and he nodded his head, gratefully accepting the tip.

"Thanks Royce, seems like you're already becoming like a teacher to all of us."

"Well I was a professional Alpha trainer in my day, and that was one of the very first, most basic lessons I taught, the art of surveillance." Royce decreed.

A snicker and seal of approval escaped everyone's muzzle, and after that, they felt like they had been walking around for hours. The stayed together and nothing happened; J-Dog had been secretly following them the whole time though, he had split into Blood and sent Blood off to take care of the other patrols however he liked, while J-Dog tried to handle his little brother and the rest of his posse on his own. J-Dog knew very well how to cover up his scent from Age and Humphrey's trained noses, and he assumed that if they couldn't smell him, none of the other Alphas in the group could pick up his scent. It wasn't long after that they passed a rock cliff that was slanted, so much that it was going up at about a 45 degree angle, of course, it still had all the nasty crags and jagged stone sticking out of the sides.

This was seen as an opportunity for J-Dog to try and strike them. He silently moved his lightweight body to the top and calculated the stones and boulders to see which one would cause the most havoc if disturbed. After careful and quick study, J-Dog flicked a small pebble with his tail down onto a larger boulder and watched it roll across the surface and fall down into a crack, and after that the cliff side just rumbled. Down at the bottom, our group knew instantly that this was some sort of trick, and Humphrey was aggravated that he couldn't hear J-Dog moving around. They all saw the avalanche of rocks coming down their way and Age sprinted in front of them and leaped beside the rocks and hollered,

"Get out of the way! Side step…!" Humphrey climbed up a tree, Kate got behind a solid rock, and Hutch leapt over the rocks that came his way. Hayley however had no idea of what to do, Age saw her, and the rocks were closing in. "Hayley…!" Age screamed as he saw his lover about to get crushed.

This was the time for Royce, he wanted to go out on his feet. He ran away from his leaping spot near Hutch and knocked Hayley over onto the ground. She was stunned and when she saw who was standing over her, she just gasped. "Keep your head down!" Royce yelled at her over the noise of the approaching rocks. Hayley just covered her head as the two disappeared under the slide of falling earth. J-Dog watched the incident and growled knowing his brother's betrothed was safe; Royce on the other paw, J-Dog couldn't have given two damns about. He huffed and stalked down the side of the rock and watched the event unfold.

Everyone ran over to them and began to dig through the small stones and the larger rocks, but it was only until a whimper was heard that they knew Hayley was okay, but what about Royce? "Royce…" Hutch exhaled after he saw the ravaged body that had been covering Hayley, in the short time he had been with the group, Royce had given numerous lessons to everyone about hunting, prowling, stalking, and scent finding, and now he was in no condition to move on, Age grabbed Hayley scruff and pulled her up onto the rocks and then helped Humphrey and Kate pulled Royce out while Hutch looked over Hayley.

"She's a little shaken, and she's got a few bruises…but she'll be fine. No permanent damage. Now how's Royce?" Hutch said and then asked Kate specifically, after he turned to her, Royce was lying down on his side, and Kate just shook her head. Hutch, Age, and Humphrey leaned over Royce,

"Boys boys boys…there no need for this…" He said very weakly. "I knew I was going to go soon, and I did it on my feet like I had wanted."

"But Royce…" Hutch started, "You were like becoming part of the team, you even saved Hayley, and she's engaged to Age." Hutch whimpered, but Royce seemed satisfied with himself.

"Well them I'm glad I was here…" He said and laid his head down. Age leaned into him and whispered,

"You'll always be a real, true teacher to me Royce, even though you taught me so little, it was more than anyone has ever shown me. You are my teacher…"

"I'm proud to have taught you Age, use what I showed you to bring down that brother of yours!" Royce said and kept his head still.

"I will Sir…" Royce wasn't moving, "Let's go…" Age declared and reluctantly, they all moved out, leaving Royce to his fate, the fate he wanted.

There we're denials, but with the current circumstances, the odds we're against them, they we're forced to move on, and coupled with the occasional moans and groans from everyone, the instance was becoming no better. "I can't believe he's gone…just like that…" Hutch complained, the other four wolves wanted to tell him to stop, but they shared his sympathies. Everyone had really been grown on by Royce, he had taught them so much in such little time that having him taken away so fast was just another thing they were suddenly fighting for. It was shortly after they walked away, when J-Dog began to get aggravated, that he was through simply playing with them.

He tip toed for a while, but shortly after he chose to be outright, and by outright, he snuck up behind them and followed them around for a few second, and then Age called for a halt. "Wait…" He stopped everyone, "I smell…him…" Everyone got on their guard, and it was only a snicker from J-Dog behind them that alerted them to his presents.

"Glad to know you haven't lost your touch bro…"

Age, Kate, Humphrey, Hutch, and Hayley all didn't blink as they turned around to watch J-Dog split into himself and Blood, apparently he was feeling extremely cowardly, so much he had to call out his doppelganger to do his work for him. "You're such a coward!" Kate yelled at him, J-Dog and Blood both smiled in a deeply malicious way, and then they spoke at the same time.

"I know, now…which of you will fight me?" "I know, now…which of you will fight me?" No one stepped up, but Age naturally defended his friends by stepping past them and facing J-Dog head on.

"Face me Joe…" J-Dog nodded his head, and shushed Blood to go away. Blood ran off into the woods, but Age wasn't so kind to let his double get away so easily. He turned to everyone else, "Think you can take him?" Hutch was the one who was burning the hottest, he ran off after Blood first, and then Humphrey, then Kate, Age eyed Hayley, but she ran off too.

It was now, just the two brothers, alone in the woods, ready to fight one another. They started traditionally, just circling and growling at on another, but J-Dog pounced first. He soared through the air and tried to grab Age's throat, but Age rolled off to the side and leaped of a tree and aimed for J-Dog's back, he cut him, but only a little blood can up through his dense fur. J-Dog looked at the mild cut on his back and shot Age a look with wide eyes. "Very good…now let's see…" He said and charged him with bare teeth, Age ran back and they both leaped and cut each other's side with their fangs.

While that fight was happening, the others had chased Blood down to the section of the woods where Blood was keeping Eve and Tony prisoner. Hutch bolted and he came into the open space with wide eyes, and when Humphrey and Kate followed, "Mom…!" Kate yelled at Eve, and Blood by this point was the one who was circling around her, tickling her neck and chin with his tail. "Stop that you creep…!" Kate demanded and rushed in to fight Blood, knowing what she was getting into. Hutch ran in and so did Humphrey and they tried to surround Blood, but Blood leapt over their heads. After he landed, Humphrey ran at him and aimed for his paw, he managed to grab onto it, seeing as how Blood was a copy of J-Dog, Blood didn't have all the same abilities as J-Dog. Blood tried shaking Humphrey off, but Hutch jumped up onto this back and bit down as hard as he could. This was paralyzing Blood, but Kate came in and grabbed his throat, this was it, Blood was pretty much done for. Blood was quick, he was silent, but when it came to face up fighting, he was worthless, he was an assassin, nothing more. After everyone let go of Blood, he slowly disappeared into a dark cloud of smoke, and he was gone. Kate ran over to Eve and cut her loose.

"Oh thank you dear, I just wish I could've grabbed his throat with my jaws; I would've…"

"Not right now Ms. Eve…" Hayley stopped her as she just then came to in the open. Hutch got Tony out of his trap, and instantly tried taking charge of the situation.

"Okay, now that we have that guy taken care of, what about the other?" He asked, trying to ignore his aching back.

"Age is fighting J-Dog right now, and hopefully he's winning." Hayley whimpered, fearing for her love.

"Alright, Eve…you and I will check the more southern dens for safety, we'll be back as fast as possible." Eve snarled at him, but ran off with Tony nonetheless.

The four remaining wolves all looked at one another, "Well now what?" Hutch asked.

"I said we head back to the main canyon, if I know Age's fighting style, they won't stay in that one spot for long." Humphrey said, everyone nodded and ran off.

Back with Age and J-Dog, we're only mildly scrapped or cut, neither had dealt a serious blow. A ringing noise blew through J-Dog's ears, and a roaring inferno burst out of his eyes. "Your friends killed my double…" J-Dog was mad, once your doppelganger is killed, it's not coming back, "Now you'll pay…" As he said that, he was there, and then he was gone. Age was alone in the forest, no smell, no scent, no noise. Age then heard a deathly whisper in his ear, Your girl will pay for this using her blood…J-Dog was trying to get inside his head, You wanna save her? Find me…The whisper disappeared and Age frantically began sniffing around for J-Dog's scent, and this time, he wasn't holding back.

Sorry if the thing with Royce felt so sudden, but you'll see why that made sense in the next two chapters. You'll also see why the story is called "Better Than This", and my apologize for not using the song, it was an inappropriate time. I'll put it in the Moonlight Howl instead later. Also, the next two chapters are already typed, so they'll be up in a snap!