A/N 11/11/2016: Edits have been made to hopefully make this chapter stronger in some way.

The Tragedy that Started it all

Hiten Mitsurugi Dojo, night, June 7th, 2001

The moonlight shines upon the Hiten Mitsurugi Dojo, which was located about half-an-hour away from the Tri-Burrows Correctional Boot Camp on foot. The moon's reflection can be seen on the small lake along with some of the wet rocks near the lake. Nothing but the cricking of crickets, the nightly crowing of the crows, and the peaceful howls of the wind blowing through with tranquility. And in this peaceful environment, a lone wolf sits upon the sitting stone with a stone bottle of saki next to him, and a small cup in his hand-paw. Taking a sip of the cup as he did, the saki travels directly into his stomach before he looks up towards the moonlight.

The wolf fur was of a snow white color, and bore a physique that was phenomenally developed, one that wolves didn't usually bear. His hair is jet black and long, and most of it was kept in a pony tail, his eyes also bearing a color almost identical to the color of his hair. The attire he wore consists of a set of black cargo pants with European styled combat boots, and a blue, short sleeved, Japanese styled kimono shirt. Attached to the left side of his pants was a fairly long katana, with the heft and sheath of the sword being made of wood and bearing no hilt whatsoever. Lastly, a floor length, red and white cloak is worn over the blue shirt. The red and white cloak served as an heirloom of the Hiten Mitsurugi Ryu, serving the bearer by maintaining his or her strength during peace time. But tonight, the look the wolf wore on his face says otherwise.

"The moon peers down upon a diseased world", the wolf thought in his mind, standing up from the sitting stone and grabbing the bottle of saki by the rope attached to it. He walks along the designated path inside the dark forest and follows the moonlight at the end of the pathway. His look remained unchanged, the seriousness of his eyes gazing towards the path that lies ahead of him. The darkness of the forest vanished once he was out in the moonlight, using the light as a guide to follow along the path. "There is no cure for the disease. An entire race walks mindlessly into its destruction. Not even a mammal of colossal power would be able to prevent the inevitable", the lupine continues his train of though, moving towards the direction where the Correctional Camp site was coincidentally located. With his right hand-paw gripping the hilt of his long katana, he continues to walk along the path with caution.

On the Road in the Tri-Burrows area, earlier that afternoon

The countryside was rather quiet, as there isn't many people driving on the road through the heat wave. Spring was coming to a close, and Summer was just around the corner. And the only sounds that were being made in the countryside a few hours away from Zootopia was nothing but the rustling of the leaves, the quiet howls of the wind, and nothing more. Though within a matter of minutes, that began to change, for a blue 2001 Hounda Civic Si was driving through the open road at a rather fast speed.

The occupants inside the car were two foxes, a vixen and her nephew to be precise. But one thing was certain: the vixen inside the car was NOT in a very good mood right now. Roughly about two weeks ago, the mother of the kit had received a call regarding the amount of trouble her son had gotten into that day. And unfortunately for the vixen driving the car, she was with her sister at the time it happened. Since then, arrangements were made and the two had left Zootopia a few hours earlier to take care of some business.

The vixen herself was roughly within her mid to late forties, yet bore the appearance to that of someone in their late twenties to early thirties. Her green eyes that were usually peaceful were lit up with a fiery rage, yet was able to remain calm. Her clothes consisted of a purple T-shirt, a pair of khaki pants, and a pair of brown heels, with holes crafted on the toe area to help give the shoes a unique design.

As for the male kit, however, he was about the age of nine, with the appearance matching the same age. His green eyes were usually lit with excitement, but in this situation, the fires were not lit in them. In fact, they were staring blankly towards his own feet paws, which were covered in a pair of black and white Chuck Taylor's. The clothes he wore consisted of a dark gray tank top with a white fox head design on the chest area, along with a pair of sanded blue jeans with holes on the knee area. The small kit lets out a soft sigh before looking towards his mother with a soft, genuinely saddened expression on his face.

"Sorry, aunt Karen…." the young kit said softly towards his mother before turning away from his aunt. The vixen lets out a heavy sigh from her muzzle.

"Matt…. I don't wanna hear another word out of you", the vixen replied calmly, yet with a firmly angry tone in her voice. She wasn't expecting to take her nephew out to the countryside for a camping trip. But its not the usual camping trip, however, but one that a parent or legal guardian is required to attend after their child had gotten into a certain amount of trouble somewhere. Speaking of getting into trouble, though… "I'm already aggravated with the fact Marian had to work today, and I was left with no choice but to take you to the correctional camp myself. I just wished you could've avoided getting into trouble on the last day of school, Matt. I could've been on the west coast visiting my boyfriend, but no! Now I'm having to cancel the trip and attend an outdoor correctional program because of YOU!" she growled before slamming her right fist on the steering wheel, the kit flinching, shutting his eyes, and even whimper next to his aunt in response.

"Sorry…." Matt apologized for a second time, a couple tears beginning to stream down his face and a couple sobs escaping his small muzzle. The mother manages to pull up at a red light and turns to her son, letting out a soft sigh before placing her right hand-paw onto her nephew's left shoulder.

"Look, I know you feel bad about what you've done, but I wish you could've handled things differently", The vixen said softly, not out of anger, but with a calm tone. "I just wish things could've turned out differently, ya know", she added following a soft sigh, recalling the events that lead up to this point.

Last week, May 30th, 2001

The last day of school was usually the day that would lighten the hearts of all students, whether its from the last day of preschool to the last day of their senior year in high school. Though that wasn't the case for Zootopia Elementary school, particularly those in the third and fourth grade classes. Around lunch time, Matt and several other third and fourth grade students have gotten into a serious fight in the middle of the cafeteria. A few teeth were knocked out, several cuts and bruises were laid upon, and one mammal was stabbed on the leg with a switch blade knife one of the fourth graders had brought with them. However, one of the students was able to knock the fourth grader out our of pure adrenaline. And that student was none other than Matt Wilde. While he suffered a few cuts on the arm as a result from being slashed from the knife, that was one of the prices he had to pay in order to stop him from potentially killing somebody. Although suffering a few injuries was the price to pay, that wasn't the only price he had to pay…

Now he, along with most of the other students involved were sitting inside the office waiting to talk with the Principal of the school, one of the students having been sent to the hospital after being suffering multiple stab wounds on non-vital regions, and the fourth grader having been arrested for possession of a weapon and assaulting another student on school grounds. However, explaining the situation was no easy matter, for the principal had began scolding them about how wrong it was to fight on school grounds, regardless if it were offensive or defensive. And to make matters words, the principal phoned the parents of the students involved and informed them to meet in his office right away. And holy hell was one hectic meeting about to unfold.

Within a matter of ten to fifteen minutes, the parents (single or not) arrive to the school and met with the principal's office to discuss everything that had happened. The students involved tried to explain to their parents what had transpired, but the parents were too infuriated to listen to what they had said. After all, this was a rather shocking event to transpire on the last day of school, almost to the point where the parents couldn't comprehend all of it at once.

The meeting lasted for a couple of hours, most of it having being nothing but arguing amongst who had started the whole mess, how their kids were good and who was expected to apologize. Fortunately, the students were given a chance to explain everything that had happened during lunch hour, deciding to let them explain from their point of view on what had happened. Many other students were called into the office after they had explained what had happened, deciding it was time to hear the eyewitness accounts and hear what they had to say about it. The students arrive and they began to explain from their point of view on what had happened, from the cause of the fight, to the end of it with Matt knocking out the fourth grader who brought the knife to school. After explaining their case, the witnesses were dismissed and allowed to return to their class.

Now it came to the conclusion to what the punishment must come for the students: all of them must be required to spend half of their summer vacation a correctional boot camp site located about three hours away from the city. Man, if you were at the meeting, you could see the eyes of the students getting as large as medium sized kick balls due to the amount of shock they received after hearing this. All of the parents of the students have left the building for the remainder of the day, all except for Matt Wilde, his mother, Marian Wilde, and his aunt, Karen Longstride, since the principal had asked them to remain in the room to discuss the matter further.

"Alright, Marian, I asked you, you sister, and your son to remain here, since I want to discuss further details regarding your son's punishment", the Principal, whom was a black spotted jaguar, said calmly towards both the motherly vixen and the other who had accompanied her.

"What do you mean?" Marian asked as calmly as she could, already having been stressed out enough after everything that had transpired.

"What other details did you want to discuss with us now?" Karen asked all while she crossed her arms and glared at the other m

"After hearing much of the students' explanations and witness accounts, I've decided to cut the amount of time he would be required to stay at the camp in half", the principal replied, with Matt looking up towards him with a surprised look on his face. Not one of horror, however, but one that was out of relief.

"Well that's good to know, at least", Marian replied calmly, despite the angered look she bore on her face. And although she was genuinely relieved to hear this, she still wasn't happy about the whole ordeal. She turns to face her son with her arms crossed, her glare being as stern as a martial arts master. "But that does not excuse the fact that you got into got into a fight with the others. And you're in for a world of trouble when we get home, Matt!" the vixen added sternly, her son winching and whimpering upon hearing her tone. She raises her right index finger and pointing it towards her son. "Do I make myself clear?"

"Yes, Mom", Matt replied quickly, picking up his backpack and placing it over the shoulders. The principal dismisses the Wilde family from the office so they can continue with their day.

Speaking of their day, how eventful did that get. Upon arriving home, Marian practically got onto her son a lot more verbal than she normally would. From there on, he was told he had to clean up the house and was restricted from playing any games until after he served his time at the camp. And the day would come much sooner than he wanted it too…

June 7th, 2001

Alas, the day to head for the camp has finally come, having felt late in the afternoon after unexpectedly having overslept. And after a few quick hours of driving to the location (fortunately with very little traffic on the way), the two arrive to the camp and began searching some potential locations to park at. But during the search, Karen couldn't help but begrudgingly recall the events that led her to this situation.

The night before Matt were to depart, Karen had already made flight arrangements to the west coast to see her long distance boyfriend. But those plans were abruptly cut short, however, when her sister, Marian had called her and informed her of her situation. She had explained to Karen she was required to work mandatory overtime hours at her second job and was unable to take Matt to the Tri-Burrows Correctional Camp. Marian had pleadingly asked her sister if she could take her son to the Correctional Camp in the morning. Although highly reluctant, she agreed and was forced to cancel her planned trip to the west coast, along with making an unwanted phone call to her boyfriend and inform him of the last minute situation.

Now, here she was at the Correctional Campsite looking about the entire parking lot for a parking space. After discovering the front lots being occupied, she was forced to search the lots farther from the front parking spaces in order to find an appropriate spot. Fortunately for her, the wait wasn't long, for about a minute after their arrival, she spotted a parking spot in one of the middle rows and immediately drove into the vacant space. Karen kills the ignition to the car and pulls the keys out of the slot, stepping out of the car with Matt following suit.

"C'mon, Matt. The sooner we get to orientation, the better", Karen grumbled, not wanting either one of them attending orientation for the correctional boot camp. But unfortunately, fate had chosen otherwise. Karen grabs a hold of her nephew's hand-paw and walks towards the orientation meeting as quickly as she could in order to avoid being late. But one thing for sure was they weren't the only ones trying to get inside quickly, lines already getting packed by the second. Man, this is gonna be one hell of an evening for the two…

Getting into the Correctional Boot Camp Orientation meeting wasn't an easy job for many families, especially for the Wilde family themselves. The lines were rather hectic to say the least, with the workers being inefficient with trying to get them inside for orientation. Hell, many of the families were even debating if whether or not waiting in line to get to the site was even worth it because of such a monstrous line. However, despite the impatience many of them had built over the past few hours, all of them remained in line until they were all registered to enter the camping grounds. Now it was time to attend the meeting, a meeting in which should've began hours ago.

All the families having required to have their children attend to the Correctional Boot Camp were preparing to get seated, their eyes gazing towards the stage right in front of them. Unlike the registration workers at the front, at least the mammalians on stage were completely prepared ahead of time. Or was it perhaps they were needing to finish making the preparations at the last minute and the registration workers deliberately stalled for time? Who knows. But either way, they were completely prepared to give out the orientation once everyone's been seated. Fortunately, the large outdoor lights were turned on brightly to provide enough light for the mammalians to see.

On stage, a dozen predatory mammalians were standing in front of a crowd of roughly about two hundred mammals before them, most of them predator and a few being large prey. One thing the mammals on stage had in common were the military uniforms they wore, all consisting in various shades and tints of green, the only thing that wasn't green were the shoes they wore, which the combat boots were made of a black, shiny leather of sort. What kind of leather, nobody knew. However, now was not the time for such a question, as a well built orange Siberian tiger walks towards the microphone stand and clears his throat, the noise echoing loudly through the provided Marshall speakers behind the mammals on stage.

"Good evening, ladies and gents! We apologize for the unexpected delays of trying to get everything together. We were not notified quick enough about the date in which the orientation was to be held", the tiger greeted, a slight hint of a Russian accent apparent in his voice. He places his hand-paws behind his back and looks upon the large crowd in front of the stage. "But despite the delays of the orientation, allow me to introduce myself. My name is Johan Rascalov, and I am the Commanding Sergeant who's running this facility, and for those attending this program, it is in your best interest to become acquainted with my name", the male added, the audience looking directly at the male with mixed emotions on their face, whether it be calm, curious, or even frightened. "Now then, before we begin, is there any questions any of you would like to-" the feline began, only to be cut off when the field lights suddenly shut off unexpectedly. Many parents and children were beginning to panic because of the unexpected outage. But one of the predator privates, a German Shepherd, walks towards the audience with a megaphone in hand. Pressing the trigger with his right index finger, the German Shepherd raises the megaphone towards his mouth.

"Everyone please remain calm!" The German Shepherd Private exclaimed calmly through the megaphone as an attempt to calm the newly frightened audience down as much as possible. "Some of our officers are about to check the generators to find out the cause as we speak!" he exclaimed again with a reassuring tone before he turns to face towards three other predators, a lion, a wolf, and an arctic fox respectively. He moves his left hand towards the direction where the generators were located. The three nod towards the male and pull out their flashlights attached to their belts, where they immediately rush towards the generators with haste. But what the trio was about to find out would be enough to cause panic amongst the mammalians.

About a minute after rushing towards the generators, which were located at a two story building about a hundred meters away from where the stage was located. They Make a left turn behind the building and point their flash lights towards the generators. Their discovery would lead to the real cause of the generators' sudden outage. They discover the generators themselves weren't tampered with, but the power lines attached to the them have been cut… and rather cleanly at that. The arctic fox grabs a hold of the radio and presses the button to it, while the lion and wolf grab a hold of their 9mm Glock pistols, aiming them towards the fields and woods around them.

"Commander, the power lines were cut!" the arctic fox exclaimed towards the speaker, suddenly turning to face the other predators, seeing them aiming their weapons at various directions in a mild state of panic. "Someone must've-" that was all he could say before feeling something sharp pierce right through his neck, his eyes lowering towards the object that pierced his neck. Alas, the blade that appeared to belong to a katana was what stabbed right through his neck, and was the last thing he saw before the blade suddenly slashes upward, hacking his skull in two and emptying the bloody contents inside. The other two predators turn to face the perpetrator behind the sudden attack, only for the two to suffer a similar fate as their comrade. The lion was decapitated by another swordsman while the wolf was vertically sliced in two by a third assailant. And when the two bodies collapse onto the ground, its bloody contents spraying about like a fountain, the radio began to make static noises and the recipient on the other line began to speak.

"Leon, Richard, Johnny! What's going on? What the hell happened?!" Johan exclaimed on the other line, the assailants grinning towards the radio on the ground before disappearing in the darkness of night. On stage, the Tiger's eyes widen slightly upon losing contact with his men before turning towards the audience. "Everyone, remain calm and please evacuate the premises in an orderly fashion!" the commanding sergeant ordered, with everybody beginning to rush out of the camping site and towards the exit, including Matt and his aunt, Karen. But as some of them reached it, their bodies were suddenly hacked by the blades of numerous assailants. This caused everyone to turn around and flee from the scene as fast as they could. Johan immediately noticed this and turns towards his fellow predators. "We have intruders on the scene! We must protect the others from the assailants!" he exclaimed before turning to face the exit and rushing towards it, the other predatory corporals and officers following suit. But as they drew close, half of the corporals and officers were suddenly butchered by the blades of the katana wielding assassins.

While the commanding sergeant and the corporals and officers engaged in battle against some of the assailants, many of the attendees began to rush around the registration venues to try and find alternate pathways to get to their vehicles. Unfortunately for them, despite their best efforts to avoid the assailants, many were sliced, diced, and brutally murdered by the hands of the assassins who had come out of nowhere. Nobody expected a tragedy like this to happen, not even the Matt and his aunt. How could've anyone expected this to happen. Just as Karen and Matt were able to spot an opening, a random assassin, a brown, black, and white furred timber wolf dressed entirely in black and red, suddenly appears out of nowhere and prepared to strike the two. But instead of being hacked by his blade, however, a 9mm bullet pierces through the left side of his skull, causing the assassin to drop dead onto the ground. The two foxes turn to face the direction where the bullet had come from, discovering it was one of the officers from the stage, a brown and white husky, that took care of the job.

"Thank you!" Karen exclaimed graciously towards the husky, grabbing her nephew's hand-paw and running towards the parking lot as fast as she could. Unbeknownst to her, Matt had grabbed a hold of the heft of the dead wolf's sword and took the blade with him, just in case….

"Don't worry about it, ma'am! Get your kit out of here before-" the officer was about to finish before getting stabbed right through the stomach region, the assailant turning the sharp end of the blade upward and pulling the sword up quickly. The husky's bloody contents suddenly spray out of his body like a fire hose shooting out water rapidly, painting the grassy soils a crimson red.

Luckily for the family, Karen and Matt manage to make it to the parking lot without any further interference from the assailants. Despite them making it to the lot, however, they were greeted with a handful of other survivors who were trying to escape in their vehicles. However, there was one major problem that all of the survivors have in common….

"Dammit! Those bastards cut the engines to all of our cars!" One male, a Thompson's Gazelle shouted with a panicked tone of voice, his kids whimpering in a similar tone while trying to hide within the safety of their car. However, the Gazelle quickly grabs a hold of his kids and begins sprinting towards the road. "We gotta hightail outta here, kids!" he shouted, sprinting closer towards the road with each step he made, his kids quickly following suit. "We have to get-" unfortunately, he wasn't able to finish what he was saying thanks to another assassin beheading the father right in front of his own kids. Their kids began to scream in horror, but they didn't last much longer themselves, as they, too, were butchered by the same assassin in a similar, horrific manner.

Shortly after the assassin dispatched the Gazelle family, he was soon joined by several more assassins, all marching towards the remaining survivors at a decent pace. They weren't in a rush to kill them. No, they were taking their sweet time trying to get to the remaining survivors. Somebody had to do something quickly if they were gonna make it out of this alive. And the only person who was willing to fight back was none other than Matt Wilde, taking a few steps forward and raising the sword he picked up. With a loud roar, he began rushing towards him, only to be pulled back by three pairs of hand-paws and accidentally cause the kit to drop the sword onto the concrete lot. His aunt and one other female, a raccoon dog, shielded the kit from the approaching assassins, while a third and final surviving adult, another raccoon dog, had approached the assassins as an attempt to plead with them.

"Please, don't hurt him! AH!" The female raccoon dog screamed in horror right after she was brutally sliced diagonally by one of the assailants. The second raccoon dog immediately stands up and rushes towards the other, freshly killed raccoon dog, leaving Karen to shield her own nephew from the approaching assassins, her right hand-paw being placed behind her son's head.

"Sister no! AH!" The second sister screamed in horror right as she was suddenly stabbed right through the chest area, with the assassin twisting the sword upward and pulling it in the same direction, with Karen and her son watching in horror upon witnessing what had transpired. Blood began to splatter from the second raccoon dog's newly deceased body and towards their direction, with Karen leaning forward and covering her nephew from the upcoming blood splatter. She was able to prevent the blood from hitting Matt by shielding him with her back. Tears were now streaming down her face, and she knew the inevitable was bound to happen…

…and she's accepted that fact. But she couldn't let that same fate that befallen on the others happen to her nephew. No, she must do something about this quickly. She choked back a few sobs before closing her eyes, leaning forward and planting a kiss on her nephew's forehead, reopening her eyes right after she kissed his forehead.

"Matt! Matt, you must listen to me! Your life hasn't been written yet, and you've got to stay alive!", Karen exclaimed, choking back another sob before gently planting a second kiss on his forehead, hearing the sobs coming from her own son. "Listen to me! Our fates have already been set tonight, but you have to survive to honor those who died", she exclaimed, right before she felt one of the assassins, a silver fox, pulling on the back of her hair, a loud scream escaping her muzzle. "Run! Save yourself!" she exclaimed, right before the assassin holding the vixen pierced his blade right through her neck, Matt's eyes widening in horror upon witnessing the assassin stabbing her neck with a katana. Slowly, the silver fox pulls his blade out and drops the nearly deceased vixen on the ground. But the vixen's will to live prevented her death, her final words beginning to escape her muzzle in rasping, dying breaths. "Please, Matt…. Live for me… please…. Never give up…."

"Silence, you wench!" The silver fox growled aggressively before striking the vixen down by piercing his blade through her skull, killing her in an instant. Matt was outright shocked, no, terrified of what he had just witnessed. His aunt, the only relative who helped his mother raise him and his siblings shortly after his father left the family when he was younger, was now lying dead in a pool of her own blood.

Unless he found a way out of this mess, he knew without a doubt he would be next on the list! His eyes gaze towards the assassin who had killed his aunt and notices him raising his blade for the next kill. But right as the older vulpine was about to go for the kill, the cries of his fellow assassins ceased his actions, causing him to turn around and notice most of them getting eliminated with one swing of a swordsman's blade, the blood of his comrades splattering across the parking lot. And his eyes widen upon who it was who killed his comrades.

The mammal who had killed the assailants was an arctic wolf, whose fur was of a snow white color. But if anything was intimidating, it was definitely the phenomenally developed physique he bore, one that wolves didn't usually have. His hair is jet black and long, and most of it was kept in a pony tail, his stern eyes also bearing a color almost identical to the color of his hair. The attire he wore consisted of black cargo pants, European styled combat boots, and a blue, short sleeved, Japanese styled shirt. Attached to the left side of his pants was a fairly long katana, with the hilt and sheath of the sword being made of wood and bearing no hilt whatsoever. Lastly, a floor length, red and white cloak is worn over the blue shirt. And despite the intimidating image of the arctic wolf, the silver fox raises his sword in preparation for battle.

"Who are you?!" the silver fox growled, clutching on the hilt of the blade tightly with his hand-paws.

"You won't be alive long enough to remember my name", the arctic wolf answered with a calm tone of voice. The silver fox rushed towards the wolf with great speed, but his life was suddenly taken with several horizontal and diagonal slashes, his body literally being hacked to several pieces in a fraction of a second. Despite the bloody contents spraying across the concrete lot, Matt's eyes were not focused towards the remains of his mother's killer. No, his eyes were focused on the mysterious wolf who had slaughtered the assassin. And one question was forming inside of his head….

"How could he hack somebody within a mere fraction of a second?" Matt thought in his mind, his eyes as wide as they could possibly get. The wolf, on the other hand, raises his blade and grabs a hold of the white cloth of his robe, using it to clean the blood off of the blade he bore in his possession.

"I do not know why I have been by this place. Be glad I did", The arctic wolf said to the kit with a rather calm tone, cleaning the blade with one swipe before placing the sword back in its wooden sheath. "You may hate these murderers, but that will not bring your mother back", he continued before beginning to walk towards the kit, passing by him within a mere few seconds. "Let your survival be your family's memorial", the wolf finished, turning his head to the left and looks back at the kit a few feet behind him. He turns towards the front and continues walking along the path he had taken. "Death no longer terrifies mammalian kind. The smell of blood is as common as the smell of white plums. So, he creates savagery and slavery, which surpass the horror of dying. These could only be fought with more bloodshed… and the cycle never ends", the wolf concluded in his mind before entering another path in the dark forest, using its pathway to lead him to a local town and into the darkness of night.

The next day, sunset

The evening has come rather quickly for the wolf, and was unsure of what came of the vulpine kit he had saved earlier. He did not see him in the small town he had went to last night, concluding to the possibility he may have committed suicide. He was now walking back towards the camp site where the horrific bloodshed had taken place. With a bottle of saki being carried by a rope with his left hand-paw, the arctic wolf walks through the same pathway he took last night to get to the said town. Thoughts began to course his mind, and his expression remaining as calm as it has been last night.

"My sword is guided by the reason of Hiten Mitsurugi, yet when all is said, a sword is nothing but a tool of destruction, not salvation", the wolf thought within his mind, walking past the signs leading to the Tri-Burrows Correctional Boot Camp Site. "The only way I can maintain the sanity of the Mammalian race is to bury its victims", the male concluded before arriving upon the concrete parking lot, all of the cars remaining at the location since their arrival here, But as he walked towards the field where the stage was once set, what he saw next surprised him greatly, much to the point where his eyes widen to a good degree.

On the massive field before him, roughly two hundred crosses were placed in twenty neat rows of ten. However, in the far left, middle, and far right rows, those ones bore nine graves on each one. The last three graves bore the best rocks that were available in the area, stacked neatly next to one another in front of the rest of the graves. Telling be these graves, these three must've been of higher significance than the rest of the graves. But that wasn't the only thing he discovered. No. Not only did the wolf see this, but he also noticed the vulpine kit from yesterday standing in front of the stone graves. One thing that the wolf's expression bore on his face was calm, genuine surprise. With his eyes set towards the sight, the wolf began walking towards the kit standing in front of the stone graves.

"You made graves for your family and the others, victim and murderer alike?" the wolf asked with a calm tone of voice.

"Most of these mammals didn't deserve to die..." Matt spoke with a slight whimper in his voice. "Everybody came here for orientation about the Correctional Boot Camp…. But none of that matters anymore…", he added, choking back a sob before taking a few deep breaths. "Last night, everyone who died stopped being attendees and murderers. They were all victims…."

"And these stones?" The wolf asked.

"The grave in the middle is for my aunt, Karen..." Matt answered as calmly as he could, despite bearing a whimper in his tone. "The other two are for the raccoon sisters, both of which I do not know… but despite that, they protected me like I was their own", the fox kit explained, a couple tears streaming down his face as he continued to speak. "I'm only just a kit, but I feel I should've done something to protect them… and now they're gone..." the vulpine kept talking, tilting his head up and looking towards the darkening sky. "I have to live for them, because they died for me. I wanted their graves to be beautiful, but all I was able to find were these horrible stones, but its the best I can do", the kit added before choking back a sob, the wolf slowly approaching the three graves and lifting the bottle of saki upward. "I wish I had flowers to give them… they all deserve flowers..." the fox finished, the wolf twisting the cap of the bottle and pulling it off, raising the bottle of saki over the graves and begins pouring the liquid onto the first grave on the left.

"No one should reach paradise in the afterlife without the taste of good saki", the wolf claimed, moving the bottle to the middle grave and pouring saki onto it. He moves the bottle to the third and final stone grave and began pouring a similar portion of the alcoholic liquid onto the grave. "This is my tribute to them", he finished, the fox's eyes widening slightly with surprise before turning to face the lupine next to him.

"Thank you, uh..."

"Hiko Seijuro", The wolf, Hiko, introduced himself before turning his attention towards the kit before him. "Tell me, do you have any other relatives who can care for you?" he asked with the same expression on his face, yet bore a curious tone in his voice.

"I would..." Matt answered before tilting his head down and looking upon the grassy soil before him. "I have no way of contacting either one of my brothers, Nick or Terrance… since my aunt's phone died while we were in the registration line..." he explained, whimpering softly and choking back a few sobs. Hiko lets out a calm sigh before gently placing his right hand-paw onto his shoulder.

"Listen, you were unable to save the lives of your aunt or of the other two women who protected you last night. Now your inner self is latent within their memories. Your small hand-paws can attest to the weight of their lifeless bodies", Hiko began. "However, you will learn that their memories are heavier, and carrying them will make you stronger. This new strength will be your defense and aid you in the protection of that in which is important. But this can only happen if you are properly trained", the wolf finished, a series of thoughts beginning to form inside the young kit's mind.

"Properly… trained? What do you mean?" Matt asked, now curious on what the wolf meant by his words. But what the wolf was about to say would answer his thoughts.

"Yes, I shall teach you the ways of the Hiten Mitsurugi style, and it is important to remember the name of your new master", Hiko replied. "Tell me your name".

"Matt…. Matt Wilde", Matt answered, using his right arm to dry his tear-stained face. The wolf closes his eyes for a moment before reopening them, a soft smile forming on his face.

"I have found a pupil", Hiko replied with a calm tone, retaining the soft smile on his muzzle as he looks towards Matt. "Consider yourself fortunate, Matt", the wolf finished, turning to face the setting sun as the kit did the same. And one thing the kit now had was the one thing his green eyes glistened with.

Hope.