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Disclaimer: The Secret Saturdays does not belong to me.
Please note that this story is Major AU.
Summary: The Saturdays are sent to a town to investigate some black wolf sightings. They meet Zak, a kid who roams the forest next to the town. But Zak is the black wolf and also has Cryptid powers; can the young hybrid keep his secrets safe? Especially after Argost seems to know that he's hiding something. And on top of all that the Saturdays and the Secret Scientists are starting to get a little suspicious.
Howl Of The Wolf
Chapter 5: Of Powers And Cryptids: Part 1
"It's some kind of fur." Drew said as she carefully removed the fur from its thorny prison, and held it in the palm of her hand to inspect.
"I think it's some type of canine fur, and it's black, so I'm guessing that it's the black wolf's fur." She observed.
"So you're saying the wolf got caught in a thorn bushand got some fur stuck on the thorns?" Doyle said.
"Ouch." Fiskerton grumbled and, upon further inspection of a particularly large and pointy thorn, he immediately pitied any poor unsuspecting creature that found itself unfortunate enough to be caught in the pointy thorn bush. Zon cawed in agreement while Komodo merely gave a small hiss and returned to eating the multicolored flowers. (1)
The family was so interested in the piece of fur, they momentarily forgot Zak was even there.
Although that was probably a good thing because Zak was currently oblivious to the world.
'Ah oh no, no, no, no, no, I'm doomed! Doomed, doomed, doomed! WHAT DO I DO?' Zak was extremely panicked, but managed to come back to the real world.
"Um…... So …... What are you guys gonna do now?" Zak hesitantly stepped forward.
"Same as we were doing before we found the fur. Look for any signs of the wolf."
And thus, the search continued.
Although Zak was on edge the entire time, he managed to keep himself calm enough while the Saturdays searched for the rest of the day, so they wouldn't get suspicious.
It was now the middle of the night and the Saturdays had long since returned to their airship for the night.
Zak had so much pent up energy that even though he had ran around some earlier that day, he couldn't take it anymore. He had always been a very energetic kid with a lot of energy, and being half wolf only added more. So he now found himself racing around the forest, a mere blur in the shadows of the night, dodging in between the foliage of the lush forest.
Zak eventually returned to his cave, panting like crazy from his long run. He climbed on top of his cave, where he had a beautiful view of the moonlit circle made by the trees in Moonlight Peak. From the circle it looked as if Zak was standing on a cliff.
He stood on the cliff for awhile, gazing up at the shining moon. Once he caught his breath he raised his head, flattened his ears and howled.
Zak knew that the entire town, and probably the Saturdays too, could hear him, but apparently the townspeople were so used to his howling that they slept right through it. The Saturdays, however, were a little different. They woke up, but not enough to realize that the howling sound was being made by the wolf they've been chasing after. So they quickly fell asleep again. At least, the humans did. The Cryptids wanted to investigate.
They quietly slipped out of the airship into the dark night to find the source of the howling they where hearing.
The Cryptids, in a surprisingly short time, reached Moonlight Peak. They stood at the edge of the clearing to observe the circle of moonlight on the ground and the howling wolf perched on what looked like a cliff.
Zak had yet to notice his audience. He howled for awhile longer before stopping. That was when he finally noticed the Cryptids.
He stared at them. The Cryptids were staring at Zak's captivating orange eyes which seemed to glow in the darkness. (AN: His eyes in wolf form are the color of his Cryptid powers.)
Zak didn't want the Cryptids to see him for a long time, for fear they might start to make a connection between his human self and his wolf self. So he turned and trotted out of the Cryptids view and into his cave.
Fiskerton, Komodo and Zon went back to the airship and feel asleep again as if they had never left, but they would definitely tell their human parents about their encounter with the wolf in the morning.
Back in his cave, Zak yawned.
'It's been a long day.' Zak thought, as he started to drift off to sleep.
Zak was asleep in minutes.
~ Early The Next Morning - Saturday Airship ~
The Saturday family was sitting around a table eating breakfast while they listened to the Cryptids' story of the previous night. They didn't have to meet up with Zak to look for the wolf until later that morning, so they had plenty of time to hear the fascinating tale.
The Cryptids recalled their midnight adventure into the forest, though Fiskerton did most of the talking since he was the only one of them the family could understand. He described the sight of Moonlight Peak at night, the bright circle of moonlight that lights the clearing on cloudless nights, and, of course, the howling wolf.
The Saturdays listened intently to the story. Once Fiskerton was finished, and after Doyle shoved the remainder of his breakfast into his mouth, they started cleaned up the dishes from breakfast.
Once the cleaning was finished they thought about their next move.
"Why don't we go look for the wolf earlier today? Fiskerton, Zon and Komodo can lead us back to where they saw it. Our other search method doesn't seem to be working out very well." Drew suggested. "And once it's time to meet up with Zak we can go to the regular meeting point."
"Sounds like a good plan to me." Doc agreed.
So they set out on their search early that day.
Zak had finished breakfast, and was enjoying running around Moonlight Peak in wolf form. He still had some time before the Saturdays set out on their search for his wolf self… or so he thought.
Zak, who was standing on the edge of a wet mud puddle, had his attention currently being held captive by a bird flying overhead, so he failed to scent or hear the Saturdays' fast approach toward his location.
It was almost too late when he realized that the family was about to see him, and unlike at night, the white star on his black wolf head was clearly visible in the morning daylight and it was a dead giveaway for his human self's identity.
He had to think fast, he couldn't let the Saturdays suddenly stumble upon his human self in the exact location where the Cryptids had seen his wolf self the night before, but he couldn't let the Saturdays see his spot of white fur either. If they saw his human self they'd get suspicious, but if they saw his patch of white fur they would know that his wolf self was also the kid that has been helping them, and that would be really bad.
Zak remembered the dark wet mud he had noticed earlier at his feet, and thinking fast, he stuck his head in the mud. He hoped the mud was dark enough to hide the white star on his head.
He looked up just in time to watch the Saturdays enter the clearing.
They looked up and saw him for a brief moment before Zak bolted as fast as he could in another direction, he knew they would attempt to follow him, but they could never catch up with the speeding hybrid racing through the forest at an amazing speed.
Once Zak was confident he'd put enough distance between himself and the Saturdays, he slowed to a stop. It was almost time for him to meet up with the Saturdays, so he changed to human form, made sure to get all the mud off of himself, and headed towards the meeting place, desperately hoping the family hadn't seen his white star.
The Saturdays were already waiting for him when he arrived, and they quickly explained their encounters with the wolf. Zak wasn't really listening, since he had been there, he already knew the stories, but he had to at least look like he was listening.
Once they were done, Zak breathed a silent sigh of relief. They had made no indication that they had seen any white fur under the mud.
The Saturdays wanted to go back to Moonlight Peak and Zak knew there was nothing he could do or say to change their minds, so he followed them back, wondering to himself if the day could get worse.
After arriving at Moonlight Peak, the family split up and each headed of in a random direction to investigate the area. Zak decided to use this time to stare angrily at the thorny death trap bush he had been caught in the previous morning.
He spent several minutes glaring angrily at the bush, remembering the small scratch on his hand it had given him, before he scented something odd.
The first scent was rather foul, to say in the least. It reminded Zak of death.
The second scent wasn't as foul, but still foul none the less. There was a hint of… spider? Very odd.
He didn't recognize the first nor the second scent. These strange, foul scents were completely new to him.
The third, however, he did recognize. Three Tapire-Iauaras. Zak knew that a couple Tapire-Iauara families lived in a forest a couple forests away from his, he still wonders why they were there and how they got there. He knew that Tapire-Iauaras were supposed to be in the Amazon Rainforest, but either way, as far as Zak knew, they had never before set a paw beyond their own territory before now.
Zak's body was tense. He had no idea what was approaching. But it was close. Very close.
Zak: What's close? What's close? WHAT'S CLOSE!
Me: Calm down, Zak.
Zak: No.
Me: Yes.
Zak: No
Me: Yes
Zak: No.
Me: FINE!
Zak: *Smiles Victoriously*
Zak: By the way, why do you sometimes refer to yourself as a wolf?
Me: Because it's my story and I can be what I want! *Growls At Zak*
Zak: Ok… *Goes Back To Glaring Angrily At Thorny Death Trap Bush*
Me: *Victorious Howls At Moon As White Wolf*
(1) I added multicolored flowers! ^_^ I don't know why… I just did.
The last Chapter 5 was completely rushed and had several parts in it that I'm not happy with at all. So I rewrote it, added more and split the chapter into two parts! ^_^ It still follows the basic plotline that the other Chapter 5 had, but I also added more into it and changed some other things a little bit! ^_^
I'm really sorry at how slow updating has been….. I'm really gonna try to update more often! ^_^
Please review! ^_^