The roar couldn't have come from that too far away. Not if it was that loud.

A moment later, there were a couple of loud thumps, followed by another roar that was even louder than the first had been.

Yup, definitely close.

Tiger hurried toward the exit doors. Just as he was getting close, they slammed shut. He looked around wildly and saw Sparky clutching a gold gauntlet. The rack beside him was glowing red. It must have been rigged with an alarm that Sparky triggered.

There was another loud roar, and its owner started banging the wall on their left. Two dents the size of dinner plates appeared where the creature made contact.

Finding an unguarded room full of weapons? Tiger knew it had been too convenient.

He glanced at Sparky out of the corner of his eye. He still had his doubts about him. As far as he knew, Sparky could be almost anybody. He might stab Tiger in the back the moment he let his guard down. But knowing what the other option was...

Tiger didn't have any more time to think as the door came down with a loud crash, and what he could only describe as a monster came through.

It stood on two feet, and easily towered over both of them, with its head scraping the ceiling. If asked what it was, Tiger would have called it an ogre. It had scaly green skin, and wore a ragged brown loincloth. Giant horns jutted out of its white hair- covered head, and its mouth, which was filled with what looked like shark's teeth, looked too big for its head.

With yet another roar (it seemed really fond of roaring), the ogre slammed a huge hand toward the two prisoners. Tiger dodged to his right, and not a moment too soon, as the ogre's fingernail nicked his armoured boots. The creature pulled back, drawing itself up to its full height. Tiger's heart pounded in his chest as he waited for it to strike.

And strike it did, but not at Tiger. Sparky barely had time to get out of the way of the huge flying fist before it left another huge dent in the wall.

Huh, so it was smart, along with being big and fast. That certainly made things difficult.

The monster lunged again at Tiger, who managed to duck before his head got smashed in. Sparky took the chance, while the monster's back was turned, to pounce on it.

The creature gave a loud cry, but it sounded less like a mighty roar and more like a cry of agony. It whirled around, which threw the lion into the stack of crates. Tiger spotted the handle of a dagger embedded in the creature's shoulder.

Sparky now had the beast's full attention. Like a boxer in a ring, the creature, waited for just the right moment to strike out at its opponent. But the feline warrior was no pushover. Sparky never seemed to stay in one place for long, making the big ugly guess where he would end up. Ducking behind the racks, Sparky came out holding several weapons. The monster seemed to be actually intimidated.

Sparky swung a large broadsword right at the greenie's head. It managed to duck at the last second, which, along with the momentum of the swing, got the blade stuck in the wall. Sparky retaliated by throwing two javelins straight at the creature's head. The first one was dodged easily. The second one was caught by the creature and broken in half. The creature then aimed a blow at Sparky's head.

The lion managed to move just in time so that the green fist smashed into his shoulder instead of his head. From Tiger's perspective, it looked like it just grazed the shoulder pad of Sparky's armour. But the split- second grimace of pain on Sparky's face told him that it was more serious than that.

He needed Tiger's help. But Tiger himself wasn't sure how he could defeat such a huge creature. It could easily out muscle him; the destroyed wall behind him was proof of that. The thing's strategy wasn't that hard to guess- it was currently trying to corner Sparky into the stack of crates marked Dangerous - but its fighting style kept changing based on where Sparky moved or how many weapons he currently held. It was too big a gamble to try and outsmart it.

That meant that Tiger simply had to improvise.

Picking up the first heavy thing in reach-the strange blue box-Tiger threw it at the creatures head.

He missed. By almost a foot.

That plan was a bust. Considering how Sparky was faring, it wasn't a good idea to grab unfamiliar weapons off the rack. Maybe there was something on his suit that could act as a weapon.

There! On his left wrist there was a big white button. Hoping for the best Tiger pressed it. Almost instantly a string of holographic blue numbers appeared out of a small projector.

"It is now 5:40 pm." an artificial feminine voice proclaimed.

That got the beast's attention.

It turned toward Tiger, a scowl of irritation on its face. A scowl that felt kind of familiar although he wasn't sure why. He didn't have time to worry about it, though, as the creature made his way toward him.

But with the beast's attention focused on Tiger, Sparky had time to take advantage of his surroundings and hurl an explosive crate at the beast's head. It did exactly as the label promised, and Tiger was blown right out of room.

Tiger got up again, feeling only a little sore. The armour that he was wearing must have been well-made. The thought made him wonder why his armour hadn't been taken, but he pushed it out of his mind. He couldn't worry about that right now.

When the smoke cleared, the monster had vanished. Tiger checked the ceiling to see if the beast was waiting in ambush. It was not.

Funny- That's what he would have done if the situations were switched.

The explosion had almost totalled the room. Bits and pieces of the ceiling had fallen out revealing what looked like another stored room. Most of the weapons had been buried under the rubble. What wasn't buried appeared to be useless.

There was still no sign of the big green thing, which puzzled Tiger. Had that thing been vaporized in the still smoking explosion? It was possible. That thing had been closer to the source of the explosion then Tiger, and that blast had been powerful enough to hurl him several feet. The green creature could have easily been killed.

Wait a minute: smoke; thick black smoke had started to pour back into the room. There was to much to be just the aftermath. There must be a fire somewhere.

A groan of pain alerted Tiger to Sparky's half-unconscious form. Not wasting any time, he picked up the injured warrior, being careful to support his head and shoulder, and proceeded to get the hell out of there.

The halls were still dark, but thankfully there were less loose objects to trip over. The halls were still difficult to navigate, so it took them far longer than Tiger's frazzled nerves felt it should have.

After a long walk. they finally emerged into daylight. Tiger dropped onto the grass, knees weak with relief.

Sparky didn't share his sentiments.

"Please go of me."

Tiger, obeyed, releasing the warrior.

Sparky stood up and brushed himself off. He somehow got back the dagger that he had used against the ogre, as Tiger saw him sheathe it into his new gauntlet, which Tiger could now see was shaped like a lions paw. Said gauntleted hand was then offered to him.

"Thanks for the help." Sparky said You saved me back there."

Tiger waved him off. "It was nothing."

"No, it wasn't. That thing had destroyed the wall behind you. You had the option to run, but you stayed behind to fight. That took guts."

"A hero doesn't run from someone in need."

The answer had just flown off his tongue as easily as if he had said the sky was blue. But almost as soon as he said that, something burst inside his skull.

Lights. Bright lights are everywhere.

A man in a fur coat is laughing into the cameras.

Ice forms over the harbour stopping a ship from crashing.

A young girl, cheering him on.

A woman's voice.

Please…Never stop being a hero.

"Tiger? Tiger? Tiger wake up."

"Ugh, what was that? My head…"

"You passed out all of a sudden. Scared the heck out of me"

That part made Tiger smile. "Aw… I knew you cared."

"Well, we're allies. We need each other to stay alive," Sparky said. "Besides, I don't know you well enough to hate you or like you. But if it weren't for you, that thing would have killed me."

There was honesty in his voice. Strange. He had been getting a gut feeling that this kid didn't trust him. Not that it wasn't mutual.

Why did he tease the boy, anyway? They had barely known each other for more than a day. His head was still throbbing however so he didn't think about it anymore.

To clear his mind a bit he took in the view. On his right there was a forest, thick with trees. He and Sparky were sitting on top of a small hill. Other, bigger hills surrounded them. In this distance Tiger could see mountains. There was no clear sign of any sort of civilization. That meant if they headed way they would have quite a bit of walking to do if they wanted to get back home, wherever that was.

As Tiger looked to his left, he commented "Some sort of aircraft? That's where we came from?"

The thing was hard to identify as an aircraft though. Its wings had been broken off, and its nose was buried in the dirt. The belly, of the machine was huge, barely big enough to fly. The outside was covered in dirt and burn marks.

"What's an aircraft?" asked a baffled Sparky.

"Really? you never heard of an aircraft before?"

"I just said I haven't."

"Well…" Tiger said, scratching his chin in an effort to look thoughtful. "It's a type of craft that flies through the air."

"I figured that part out, thank you very much."

"Well, I don't how it flies. I mean, this thing looks too heavy to fly as it is. Whoever runs it must be investing in really good engine technology."

"Technology."

It was really more of a statement then a question.

Tiger shot a concerned glance at his road buddy. The lion looked really weak, barely able to stand on his feet. That explosion must have shaken him more then he let on.

"Come on," Tiger said softly. "It's been a long day and we both need rest. We can figure more things out in the morning."

Sparky didn't protest.

A forest clearing was located not too far from the plane. Sparky declared it to be "good for tonight."

Those words made Tiger wonder yet again about their identities. They had spent only one day without their memories and already there were too many unanswered questions.

Tiger managed to find berries that looked edible. That was a good thing, as they had left the plane in a rush and the storage rooms had been set on fire.

A brief argument broke out involving Sparky's dagger ("Sword," the cat insisted) and some firewood. It was settled peacefully, as Sparky didn't want to sleep in the cold any more than Tiger did.

Soon, they were resting peacefully in front of a small campfire.

Okay maybe Tiger didn't know Sparky at all. Maybe he was a long way from home. But at the rate things were going, Tiger had the feeling that this adventure might actually be kind of fun.

Then it started to rain. And rain hard.