Disclaimer: I do not own any Klonoa characters… The others are mine, though.

Chapter 2: Contact

"This is terrible."

The brown haired woman sighed as she strode down the dark sidewalk. "Good thing I always keep a spare umbrella at work," Nikki remarked, holding the shielding object over her head as rain slapped the top repeatedly. "I can't believe I wrote all of that junk today," she said to herself, sighing again.

"If only I could meet that pangolin man… or that other black cat creature I heard about. Everyone keeps saying they're violent… maybe it'd better if I didn't meet them. But of course I'd like to know why they're here."

She laughed slightly at herself. "Yeah, me and everyone else… Though, who knows? Being people, New York City people, they might bluntly try to catch them and accidentally hurt them. Though it won't be accidental if my dad meant what he said today… What's he thinking…? Wanting to send people out to hunt these creatures? We don't even really know if they're real… Great, my life's really going swell now… I'm even talking to myself."

A loud clank noise in a cornering alleyway made Nikki jump slightly. She stopped, staring ahead, wondering if she should take back wanting to meet the strange creatures. A cat ran out suddenly, yowling sharply. Nikki sighed. "Cats…"

She started walking again, but froze with a slight gasp when something else emerged from the alleyway. It was certainly no cat, though it looked somewhat like one. All she could see was part of its face as it peaked from the side of the building. From what she could tell, it was either a really tall animal or standing up like a human.

When the creature finally noticed her, it twitched in alarm and fled back in the alleyway. Nikki didn't move for a moment, not sure if she really saw what she just saw. She slowly walked forward and looked into the alleyway. She gasped impulsively again, though she wished she hadn't.

In the shadows, backed up against an old fence as much as possible, stood the creature. Nikki could barely point out any features it possessed with it being so dark. All she could easily see was its wide bright yellow eyes. It looked more terrified of her than she was of it.

Nikki remembered hearing about how a lot of wild animals are more afraid of humans than humans are of them. But this was no time to reminisce about some nature show. This obviously wasn't a normal animal; if it even was an animal at all.

Nikki snapped out of her thoughts when the creature moved. Its eyes shifted quickly, probably looking for a way to escape. "Oh, wait… Um…" Nikki tried to suppress her uneasiness and sound friendly. "I'm not… going to hurt you." Was that the right thing to say? Perhaps this creature wanted to hurt her—though it was unlikely considering its expression.

The creature blinked, and Nikki was beginning to wonder if it even understood her. Probably not; let alone could it probably talk. She wasn't sure what to say next. What should she say to such an odd creature? Should she say anything at all?

The creature staggered slightly, closed its eyes tightly, and leaned against a building wall next to it, as if in pain. Nikki took a step forward and felt something wet under her heels. Looking down, she saw that red drops led in a trail to where the creature was now. The rain spread them out, making it look like there was more blood than there really was.

"Are you… Are you injured?" Nikki hesitated. The creature only opened its eyes and looked at her. She just noticed that it was breathing a bit heavily. "Here… let me… help you," she said slowly, reaching out her hand. She lowered her umbrella, realizing that it might've been scaring the creature.

It stared at her hand, as if not sure if it could trust it or not. An emerald light started shinning next to the creature. The light revealed only a little more of the creature's traits, and all Nikki could see was that it was furry and wore clothes like a human. The light seemed to be coming from a rather large ring in one of the creature's gloved hands.

It looked at the ring, as if it were telling it something. Eventually, the light dimmed and all was dark again. The creature looked back at Nikki and she twitched, not knowing what to expect. It straightened and took a small step toward her. Slowly, it reached out its hand and placed it on Nikki's.

For a moment, Nikki was baffled at how large the creature's hand was compared to its body, but she quickly came back to reality. "C-Come with me, then… Can… can you walk?" She felt stupid. It was like talking to someone who spoke a different language, but the creature nodded, hinting that perhaps it really could understand her.

Without another word, Nikki grasped the hand and spun around. The creature let it take it with her, though she sensed that it was having difficulty keeping up with her fast pace. Still, she couldn't slow down. She had to get to her apartment as fast as possible without passing any people. She also, despite the urge, avoided looking back to see exactly what the creature actually looked like.

They were both out of breath by the time they reached Nikki's apartment room. Luckily, little to no people strayed around on dark rainy nights in New York City. Nikki gulped as she slowly turned around. She almost forgot to breath. The creature was even odder than she had thought.

Nikki stared at its thick, damp black and white fur, long ears, and somewhat short tail. It wore clothes anyone could probably find in a shop. Currently, it was hunched over, either in pain or to catch its breath. It noticed her gaze. When Nikki saw it looking at her, she quickly looked away.

"Um… Oh, right! Your wound." With rapid steps, she made her way away from the doorway and into another room. "You can, um… sit on the couch if you like," she called back. Was she crazy?! A furry, wet creature like that on her couch? Not only that, but it was bleeding. Her couch would be ruined.

Still, Nikki had to be… "respectable." This creature, though it was a crazy idea, could've possibly come from another world. She wanted Earth to seem hospitable, right? Though it obviously hadn't come here with that wound already there.

Nikki absently searched for a wrap of bandages and any antibiotic creams. She had treated a few wounds before, for she had once hoped to become a doctor, but she had never treated a wound on an animal. Was it any different? She hoped not. Though the fur would be hard to deal with.

When Nikki found what she was looking for, she left the room and entered her living room. Her heart skipped a beat when she saw the creature sitting on the carpeted floor, leaning against the side of her couch. Its eyes were closed and a hand was on its bloody side. For an anxious moment, Nikki wondered if it had just died, or something.

But when the creature opened it eyes and looked at her, she sighed. She walked over to it and kneeled beside it. She smiled, though it was hard. "I'm going to have to treat that wound. So if you could... um… take off your shirt…" Nikki paused, feeling very awkward.

But the creature acknowledged her words without protest. It took its wet, bloody, ripped shirt off, making Nikki a bit baffled all over again. It could understand her, that was obvious now. But could it speak? There was also the debate she was having with herself whether this creature was male or female. So far, she was leaning toward male.

The creature's wound was on its left side. It was a pretty big cut, if not deep. The rain had made it bleed less than it would have normally, luckily. Carefully, Nikki dabbed an antibiotic cream-covered cotton ball on the creature's wound. She kept an eye on its muzzle, though. What if it bit, like a lot of animals did when they were in pain?

The creature wasn't looking at her, though. Its eyes stared at nothing ahead, its mind elsewhere. She wondered what it was thinking about. Maybe there were more like it? Maybe it had gotten separated from them, or something?

Almost finished, Nikki wrapped the bandages around the creature's body. It seemed in good shape, from what she could tell, so it probably hadn't been wondering around for long. "I'm done," she said quietly, leaning back slightly. The creature looked at her as she looked down and sighed, as if the job had been hard.

"Thank you."

"Huh?"

Nikki looked up again to see the creature looking at her, smiling. She blinked incomprehensively. Suddenly, she jumped to her feet, hands raised. "Y-You can talk?!" She stammered loudly. "Yes." The creature looked a little confused.

From its voice, it sounded male, which Nikki had guessed on anyway. It also sounded young. She sighed. "Jeez. And all this time I thought it'd be such an issue." She brushed a hand through her hair. Exasperatingly, she dropped herself on her soft couch. The creature slowly stood up and looked at her.

"What's your name?" He asked. Nikki was a little surprised, but answered anyway. "Nikki. Nikki Madison," she said. "I'm Klonoa." Figured; weird creature, weird name. Nikki said nothing about it, though.

She had the urge to just blurt out a bunch of questions, but held it in. Perhaps rushing things wasn't the best approach. A long, quiet, familiar noise outside caught her attention. It caught Klonoa's, too, apparently, for he lifted his large ears higher than Nikki would've guessed he could.

Quickly, he limped to her window, which she had stupidly left opened all day. Nikki got up and walked over. "It sounds like… a wolf? No, that's impossible. It must be a dog," she commented thoughtfully. "It's Guntz," Klonoa corrected quietly. "You mean… there are more like you?" Nikki asked incredulously.

When the howl faded, it was only a moment until another sounded. "Can you… howl back?" Nikki hesitated. "No," Klonoa answered simply. Nikki raised an eyebrow curiously, for Klonoa looked like he was about to do something else instead.

"GUNTZ!!"

"No—Stop!!"

Nikki pulled Klonoa's head out of the window so suddenly they both almost fell over. She quickly took her hands away when she felt the wet fur on her skin. Klonoa paused, apparently noticing this. "Do I disgust you?" He asked. "No! It's just—Well… your kinda… just… strange…" Nikki answered quickly, then slowly.

Klonoa looked back at the window. "Listen, you can't just make a bunch of noise and attract attention like that. People will… well, freak out if they see you," Nikki tried to explain. "I know… the people before… they screamed when they saw me." Nikki felt kinda bad. Klonoa sounded as if the people's surprise in his appearance was his fault.

"Maybe we can look for your friend tomorrow. After all, if he looks anything like you, he won't be hard to find… He is a 'he,' right?"

"Yes."

"Are there any more?"

"I don't… know."

Klonoa's reply was slow and thoughtful. The urge to ask more questions still lingered on Nikki's tongue. A grumbling sound caught her off guard until she realized what it was. She couldn't help but smile slightly. "Are you hungry?"

Despite his fur, Nikki could still oddly see Klonoa blush slightly. "A little…" He replied. "What do you like?" Not like she had any food he was probably used to. Klonoa seemed to think the same thing, for he hesitated. "I like… hamburgers."

Nikki blinked. "Hamburgers. Now that's one thing New York has plenty of, including hot dogs," she said, almost not believing how simple this was all turning out. Klonoa looked at her. "New York… is that what this world is called?" Well, that answered her question if he was an alien or not.

"Um, no. That's what this state is called. And this city is called New York City. This is planet Earth," Nikki answered awkwardly. "Earth," Klonoa echoed thoughtfully, looking down. "Well, I'll start on that hamburger now," Nikki said, changing the subject. Klonoa suddenly brightened. "Okay!"

Ho-hum… not much to say. Reviews are nice… I like to know if there's anything I can improve on, ya know? Anywho, stay tuned for Chapter 3: Struggle!