A/N After becoming a fan of the movie, Osmosis Jones, I made an OC: a pet hyena for Thrax, named Almira. I decided to introduce her by telling her life story. Her picture can be found in my DeviantART gallery; I go as DarkraixCresselia there.
I own only Almira and any other characters you won't recognize. The ones you DO recognize from OJ are owned by Warner Brothers.
Similar events happened for days after. I still had my bandages, but I was fed and exercised more, so I built up fat and muscle.
Thrax repeatedly tried to tame me, but didn't touch me without me looking again. His right hand was still bandaged from the first and last time he tried that. When he'd come up to the fence, I'd show my teeth and eye his injured hand. But that didn't scare him.
"Hey, Baby Girl." He said one day, calling me by my new nickname. "You hungry?" He rolled his eyes at himself. "What am I thinkin', you're always hungry." He leaned against the fence, holding a bag of scraps of meat. I noticed he wasn't wearing his coat today; just his turtleneck sweater, pants and boots.
I backed away nervously, as I always did. I had seen that claw glow, and was scared of what it could do. "Where're you goin'?" Thrax tossed a piece of food into my pen. I grabbed it and gulped it down, backing away. "Yeah, that's good, huh?" Thrax smiled. "They didn't feed you much, did they?"
Sitting down with my ears drooping, I shook my head. Sometimes at night, my stomach would still feel empty.
"You and Preemer ain't on friendly terms, hmm?" He tossed another piece of meat. As I gulped it down, I shook my head. "Nasty fella, ain't he?" I growled at this.
"I don't blame you." Thrax tossed me another piece. "If he treated me like that, I wouldn't like him either. Then again, I really don't like much of anyone, and vise versa. Heck, most cells and germs are afraid of me."
I rolled my eyes in a "Gee, I wonder why." manner. Thrax just chuckled as he tossed me another piece of meat.
I grew used to Thrax's comings; it didn't mean I looked forward to them though. I still didn't trust him, and honestly...I was a little scared of him. I mean, come on! That claw glowed sinisterly, and I had a feeling he had to do with my old opponents yelp of pain and burning fur. But now that I thought about it, as I lay in my uncovered cage, Thrax didsave me. If he hadn't gotten the dog off of me, I probably wouldn't have survived; heck, I'd probably be dead.
*Grrrr.* I lifted my head up at a growling. I looked around, scowling. As you could imagine, I didn't like surprises. Three dogs came out of the shadows towards my cage. One was small and scrawny; another was a bit bigger and bulky. The last one was big; bigger than me. And that was saying something, as the tips of my ears lined up with the bottom of Thrax's ribcage when we were both standing. I was big, but not too big and heavy.
I growled deeply. Go away!
The bigger dog gruffly barked in laughter. What if we don't want to leave?
Yeah, what if we don't want to leave? The small dog barked in agreement.
Yeah. The bulky dog growled.
The bigger dog, obviously the leader, growled for them to shut up. I examined them closely. Their eyes were a bit lopsided, their pupils were tiny, and their mouths foamed slightly. Rabies dogs. I growled softly.
Correct. Big Boss smirked. Came from a jackal that bit Jack, we did.
Tiny and Bulky nodded, shaking slightly. Sounds fascinating. I growled sarcastically. Now bug off! I barked loudly at this.
The dogs just laughed. I probably looked pitiful and weak bandaged up like this. Leave now, or suffer my wrath!
This only made them laugh harder. Oh, like we haven't heard that before. Tiny snickered.
I'm serious.
Oh? Bulky smirked. Then maybe you could take on Boss.
Or better yet, all three of us. Tiny giggled insanely.
Let's, boys. Big Boss growled as they stalked towards my cage.
I'm warning you! I snapped. I reached out and grabbed Bulky by the neck. I pulled him into my cage and scratched his neck with my glowing claws. Growling savagely, Big Boss grabbed my front and middle bangs and pulled, while Tiny pulled Bulky's body out of my cage through the bars. I yelped and howled and pulled against Big Boss, but he didn't let go.
Suddenly, there was a slight flash of orange as Big Boss fell back. Looking up while rubbing my stinging head with a paw, I saw that Thrax was standing in front of my cage protectively, claw glowing.
Big Boss stood up and arched his back, growling. Thrax beckoned him tauntingly with a crooked finger. The dog tackled him, but the red virus just kicked him aside. Then he picked the dog up by the scruff and threw him away and to the ground. Big Boss shook himself off and leapt at Thrax again. Big mistake.
Thrax backhanded the dog to the ground and slashed at his side with his glowing claw, humming the tune he habitually hummed. The dog began glowing orange with orange bubbles popping. As he screamed in pain, he exploded in a poof of fire.
Seeing how dangerous Thrax was, Tiny abandoned Bulky's body and made a run for it, yelping like a wimp.
Scoffing in the little dog's direction, Thrax dimmed out his claw and turned towards me. I was cowered back against the cage. I had just witnessed Thrax's true power: he could melt objects, and cause them to explode if he wished. Now I was scared out of my wits.
He crouched down by the cage. "You don't need to be afraid, Baby Girl." He said softly. "Unless y'all get on my bad side, I'll leave you alone."
Slowly, I stood up and walked up to the wall of the cage until my nose practically touched the bars. I just stared at him, dumbfounded, with wide eyes. He saved my life. I said to myself over and over. He saved my life...again.
He held out his fingers towards me through the bars. I shrunk back, but kept my mouth silent. After a moment's hesitation, I sniffed at his claw tips, and finally nudged at the bottoms with my nose.
With his fingers on my nose, Thrax's other hand went through the bars and stroked behind my ears. I tensed up, but relaxed as he began scratching behind my ears. Smiling, I licked at his claws and wagged my tail. Thrax just chuckled, "Good girl."
A/N Thrax feeding and talking to Almira in the beginning of this chapter was inspired, yet again, by White Fang. Only I didn't have Almira warm up to him so quickly.
The dog scene was one of my own. The rabies dogs came from animals usually being the ones transmitting rabies. I haven't heard of a human with rabies biting someone else XD I did the scene so Almira would have a reason to trust Thrax. She was nervous at first because she hadn't ever been petted or scratched. But once she got used to it, she liked it :)