My eyes shoot open as I discover that something was indeed biting my tail. I then leap over the back of the sofa as I whip my tail as hard as I can. The thing that was biting me then flies off of my tail and crashes into the stereo that Robin was listening to a couple of days ago. The thing then falls behind the countertop as the stereo system rocks for a moment and then falls on top of it, as indicated by the shrieking noise it made when it landed.

I walk through the darkness and around the side to see what it was that was biting me. A feeling of panic washes over me as I look down to see what looked like a large grub. It was pink and fleshy-looking and it was large enough to be cradled like a baby.

"Oh, shit", I said as I realized what I had done to Silkie. The little grub began to wail as the stereo system lay on top of it. I had just finished pulling off the stereo system when Starfire flew into the room and hurled a star bolt at me. The blast knocks me into the wall behind me, chipping off a large chunk of the plaster in the process. Before my body could drop to the ground, Starfire already had one hand around my throat, with the other poised and glowing, ready to fire another star bolt.

"You dare attempt to strike down my Silkie?"

"It was an accident, Starfire", I said as I struggled in her grasp. Her fingers dug into my throat so intensely that I unintentionally Changed back into my human form.

"One does not accidentally squash a pet with a booming box!" Unable to take much more of her assault, I Change my left hand into a paw and claw Starfire across the right side of her face. She screams in pain as the blow was enough to send her flying onto the sofa. I massage my throat briefly in an attempt to relieve it of the pain. Starfire then lifts herself up to face me as she sat at on the back of the couch. I gasp at the sight of her as I discover that I left three rather large claw marks across her face, one of which went across her right eye.

"Oh, shit. Raven", I called out. But before I could wait for a response, Starfire lunged at me, screaming in rage as she did so. Starfire's alien strength crashes us through the wall and out of the tower as she then throws me towards the ground below. "Lobomon digivolve to…. Gizamon", I shout as I Change into my armored form and pull up with one flap of my wings. I pick up speed as I ascend in an attempt to ram into her. Starfire however flies out of the way as I begin to brush past her. Before I completely missed her, the alien princess then wraps her arms around my neck and climbs onto my back. I frantically fly in circles as fast as I could trying to buck her off all the while.

"The more you struggle, the more you cannot escape", said Starfire, confident that she had me trapped.

"Then how about this?" I shoot up to a quick ascend then open my wings and fall back as we then plummet towards the ground. Before Starfire had the chance to let go I shouted, "Thundershock", as volts of purple electricity surged all over my body. Starfire screamed as the massive voltage completely immobolized her, making it impossible for her to let go. We were just about to crash into the ground like a bolt of lightning when we heard a familiar spell being chanted.

"Azarath Metrion Zinthos", shouted Raven as we were then pulled into another shadow portal. The portal brought us back to the living room inside the tower, where Robin, Beast Boy, and Cyborg were waiting for us. As we dropped from the portal I landed on all four of my paws, with Starfire, her grip on me now loosened, lying on her stomach on my back. I look back towards the hole in the wall to see Raven fly through to join us.

"Yo, what happened in here", asked Cyborg in reference to the damage we made to the walls and the broken stereo. Starfire responded by punching me in the back of the head as she floated off of my back. I yelp in response as her punch was strong enough to knock me onto my forearms. She then grabs her pet Silkie and retreats to her room.

"She's got a few scratches on her face", I said as I turned to Raven in reference to her power to heal.

"Cyborg asked you a question, Wolfman", said Robin with a hint of aggression in his voice. I responded with a bit of aggression of my own. I was in no mood for this.

"Correction. He asked both me and Starfire a question."

"Do I look like I'm in the mood for games? Just tell us what happened!"

"What does it look like? Starfire and I got into it, that's all!"

"What's your problem", asked Robin now getting in my face.

"Well if you must know —", I began with a growl in my throat.

"Enough", shouted Raven. Upon hearing Raven raise her voice like that, Robin and I's arguing ceases immediately. "We just ended one fight. Now is not the time to start another like a couple of idiots."

"She's right, y'all", added Cyborg. "I'm thinking we all just woke up on the wrong side of the bed this morning." At that moment, as if on cue, the sun began to rise over the ocean. "Boo-yah! Sunrise! You know what that means? Chinese!"

"For breakfast", asked Robin. "It's only 6 am."

"And they open at 7, so we'd better get a move on or we'll get beat by the rush", said Cyborg as he lifted up Robin and Beast Boy by the backs of their shirts similar to how one would pick up a puppy by the scruff of their neck. "Be back in about two hours", said Cyborg back to me and Raven as he walked towards the elevator with Robin and Beast Boy flailing in his grasp.

Once the elevator had closed and began its trip down, I began to walk out of the room to head for the roof. I jump a little when Raven levitates in front of me, blocking my path. I look up to see her staring down at me with her monotoned look in her eyes. I break eye contact with her as I attempt to walk around her. I growl slightly in response when she blocks my path again. I attempt to walk around her again, and once again, she blocks my path. At that point I got ticked off as I rose to my hind legs and snarled at her. Raven then grabs me by my hips and spins me back around to face the sofa. The shocking feeling of her hands touching my fur caused me to Change back to my human form. She then gives me a small push. After I stumble forward a few steps, I turn back to see Raven's face now having a stern look on it.

She didn't even wait for me to respond or say anything as she then turns around and says, "I'll be right back." Another growl rumbles in my chest as she flies out of the living room and heads down the hall towards Starfire's room. I reluctantly walk over to the couch and have a seat. I look over at one of the pillows hungrily as I wanted to bite into it and shake it in my mouth, and then follow that up with a loud roar as if to let the world know not to mess with me today. However, Raven wanted me to stay there and be a good dog, and if Raven asked me for it, she was gonna get it.

Man, she's not even your girl and you're whipped, I think to myself. I rise to my feet for a moment to grab the remote to the t.v.. I plop back onto the couch as I flip it on. I look down at my gut as I watched as I thought to myself, even I don't want to see that. I then immediately sit upright and then look behind me to make sure Raven didn't see me.

After flipping through the channels, I stumble across a news report from Kenya about a disturbance in a city square. The reporter was speaking in Swahili so I was forced to read the subtitles underneath. My attention was immediately pulled away from it as the footage taken from a random citizen's cell phone started playing on the screen. The video was only a minute or two long, and it was interrupted before the event concluded, but I already knew what the outcome was.

The video showed a grizzly bear, fighting a fleet of armed men in masks. I growl in anger as I remembered Andre's words about my friends being attacked by men in masks. Though outnumbered, fifteen-to-one, the bear was holding his own rather well for the most part. The massive mammal knocked the men around like rag dolls. When the men retaliated by firing stun guns at him, the bear rose to its hind legs and slammed the ground with its front paws as hard as it could with a mighty roar. A small tidal wave then appeared at the bear's paws and surged across the square, washing away anything that got caught in its path. Though the wave splashed over a few innocent citizens, including the camera holder, it wasn't enough for it to be fatal. It was moreso to knock his enemies off balance, which he used to his advantage as he then goes on to bite into one of the armed men's shoulder while giving bear hugs to two others at the same time.

It was at that moment that more men arrived firing stun guns at the grizzly. The bear then drops to all fours as one by one, his enemies climbed onto his back trying to drag him down. Sensing it was in trouble, the bear then surrounds itself with its blue aura and roars at the sky. He was trying to call for help, but something was preventing him from summoning his aurora. Upon seeing this, I Change my ears into their wolf form just in time to catch the dialogue being said that the humans couldn't translate.

"Osomon digivolve to…. Baryomon", screamed the grizzly as he Changed into his Ultimate form. The men foolish enough to climb onto the mutant's back were suddenly tossed through the air as the grizzly had transformed itself into a baryonyx. The humans close enough to the action to witness this screamed in fear as the large dinosaur then opened its mouth to prepare for attack. "Ice Beam", he shouted as an icy blast escaped from its jaws and swept across his fleet of enemies. Upon seeing the large reptile, for a moment I had forgotten that the dinosaur was going to lose.

Upon remembering that fact, one of the men equipped with some kind of energy whip sneaks up behind the dinosaur and wraps it around his neck. As energy is being drained from the large animal, it roars in pain as it is then yanked to the ground. The video ended with people bumping into the camera holder, causing him to drop it, ending the video.

I immediately turn the t.v. off as soon as the video ends. Seeing my best friend being attacked, and then hearing him scream as he did before being captured, all while knowing that he called for my help and I didn't even know it, was more than enough to shake me up. I rise back to my feet and walk over to the hole in the wall that me and Starfire made. As I look out over the ocean, I think to myself, Adryen, I'll get you back, buddy. You, Taiyo, and Asia, too. Wherever you are, be strong, and never give up. A single tear rolls down my cheek as I then remember the first day I met Adryen.

We were only two years old at the time, but I still remembered that day completely. It was one of the few memories that I can vividly remember from being that young. As Elementals (though we had no knowledge of the Elementals and their respective legends at the time), we both were gifted with extraordinary powers at birth, one of which was the ability to imitate and mimic. When Adryen and I met, we along with Ryan, were the only mutant children in the daycare center. I remembered how most of the adults would actively avoid interacting with us more than necessary (which is odd when you consider that the three of us were a wolf, tiger, and bear cub, and dammit, we were cute), and how the other kids all thought we were pets as they would always try to pet us, hug us, and yank on our tails as if they were toys. Even then, life was rough for three mutant cubs.

On that fateful day, I was introduced to both Adryen, and then Ryan as they were transferred from another classroom to mine. I guess the staff figured the best way to keep us out of trouble was to stick us all together. Man, were they disappointed. We eventually managed to sneak out of the room and make our way to the music room. Once we got there, we found a little baby-sized piano for us to play with. We then sat around it and began playing our then favorite song, "Elmo's Song", while Adryen, Ryan, and myself imitated the voices of Snuffy, Big Bird, and Elmo respectively. I remember seeing the shocked looks on the staff's faces when they saw the three of us in our cub forms singing and playing the piano as if we had been taking lessons for years. We were pretty impressive for a bunch of two-year-olds. I then suddenly wake up from my flashback upon hearing Raven returning into the living room.

"Anything permanent", I asked her in reference to my treatment of Starfire's face with my back still turned to her.

"No, it was just a few scratches. The stinging will eventually wear off, but the scratches themselves have already been removed."

"Good. Now I don't suppose you can fix this wall, too, can you?"

"I usually just wait for Cyborg to do it." I chuckle a little at her joke. Raven then walks over and places her hand on my right shoulder. I look back at her as she says, "follow me". She then turns back around and walks out the living room once again towards the elevator. I follow her as instructed. We walk into the elevator in silence as Raven hits the button for the roof.

As the elevator rises, I look over at her out of the corner of my eye. She stared straight ahead, patiently waiting for the doors to open. I took advantage of the fact that she didn't notice me looking at her to look her up and down. Her cloak parted towards the bottom, revealing a glimpse of her beautiful legs. Upon seeing them I could feel my tail wagging, which in turn caused me to panic a little because I was still in human form. I look back at my rear to see my black wolf tail materialized outside of my jeans and wagging up a storm. As I noticed Raven looking over towards me, I turn my back to the wall on the other side of me so that she couldn't see my tail. She raises an eyebrow in suspicion as I tried to play off my sudden movement by putting my hands in my pockets and leaning against the wall in hopes that my weight would restrain my tail.

After what felt like a long ride of awkwardness, the elevator finally stops and the doors open. Raven turns and walks out as I lift off of the wall and reach behind me to check if my tail was still there. When she was out of sight, I quickly spin around to see for myself. Once I saw that my rear was tail-less, I walk out after her. As I walk onto the roof, I look to my right and notice that Raven never noticed I stayed behind for a moment. I quickly pick up my pace a little as I power walked to catch up, returning to my normal stride when I got close enough.

Raven then led me to the side of the basketball court, the one that I didn't help to destroy upon my first visit to the tower. With her back still turned to me, she then sits Indian-style on the ground. I stood there for a moment feeling a bit puzzled as to what she was doing. Upon noticing that I said and did nothing in response to her action, she then turns back at me and simply says, "sit". Assuming she was sticking to the whole pet-relationship theme, I then Change to my wolf form and lower myself to sit where I was standing. She chuckles upon seeing my instant response to her command. Raven then levitates, her legs still crossed, off the ground and floats over towards me. She then lowers herself back to the ground only inches away and facing me and says, "I meant with me".

"I knew that", I said as I chuckled nervously. I then Changed back to my human form and shifted my body so that I was also sitting Indian-style. "So uh, now what?"

"Meditation", said Raven as she connected her index fingers with her thumbs as if she were making the signing gesture for "A-OK". She then levitates off the ground once again and hovers motionless as she stares back at me. When I hesitate, she then asks, "is there a problem?"

"I uh, don't know if I can."

"Have you ever tried it", she asks raising her eyebrow again.

"Once when I was younger. My mind wanders too easily."

"Well you didn't have me to help you back then, now did you?" I then shrug my shoulders as if to say, "eh, what the Hell?", as my wolf tail makes a return appearance, this time under my control. I then lift myself into the air, my legs still crossed, using my tail, as if I were Jackie Chan's character from that animated DreamWorks movie, "Kung Fu Panda". I then arrange my fingers to match Raven's. It was then I noticed my heart began to race for about the millionth time.

As if on cue Raven then says, "take a deep breath", so I did. "Now follow my lead." She then closed her eyes and began chanting her already infamous mantra, "Azarath Metrion Zinthos", over and over and over again. At the risk of looking ridiculous, but still wanting to obey, I close my eyes and repeat her mantra as well.

At first this task, along with balancing on my tail (that's what I get for being a showoff), and trying to keep a clear head, was very tedious and exhausting at first. However, I soon noticed a familiar sound. It was Raven's heart, once again staggering my own. It was at that moment that the image of two hearts, the biological kind, not the lovey-dovey kind, appeared through the darkness of my closed eyelids. I watched in amazement as the two heartbeats staggered one another endlessly. The hearts soon began to disappear as I notice the darkness beginning to lift.

The next thing I knew, I was back in that strange outer space world, once again floating on a random asteroid in the middle of a red and black void. This time, the rock I stood on was a lot smaller. I walk over to the edge and look over it. A chill rolls down my spine as I look into the dark abyss down below.

"O-kay. So what happens now?" It was then that I noticed something white floating past my right eye. I look over to see a single white feather floating down into the abyss. I look up expecting to see that dove from before, but she's nowhere to be seen. I look back down at the feather. My ears twitched as I heard Raven's heartbeat yet again, and it was also at the moment that I noticed that the feather was floating back and forth in time to her heart. After several minutes of watching and listening in both amazement and confusion, the feather disappears into the darkness, and Raven's heart falls silent.

I step back a bit and try to Change into Gizamon, but to know avail. I then awkwardly look at my back as I try to focus on just obtaining Giza's wings, but that too failed. I then step back a bit further.

"*Sigh*. This is crazy, this is crazy, this is crazy", I chanted to myself as I swung my arms around and around as if I were doing group exercises at a high school sports team practice. I then drop to the ground as if I was about to run to 100 meter dash. "Risking death in three, two, one, go", I shout as I sprint towards the edge of the rock. I hesitate at the last minute and attempt to stop, but ended up tripping over my foot in the process. "Ah, crap", I say to myself as I unintentionally fall head-first over the edge and into the abyss.

At first I'm yelling as if expecting to meet my untimely end, but after ten minutes of falling into nothing, I soon grow silent, and bored. I felt less scared about meeting my end, and more irritated and annoyed that I became trapped in a bottomless pit.

"This is ridiculous. "Come join me", she says. "Try meditation", she says", I said in sarcasm as I manage to "straighten myself" to where if I were to land I would land on my bottom and cross my arms.

"I heard that", said Raven from an unknown location.

"What the? Raven?"

"The one and only." I hesitated for a moment wondering if she was referencing my "Beauty and the Beast" dream.

"Where are you?"

"Over here."

"Oh, that's helpful. Where's "here"", I ask as I twitch my ears trying to focus on her voice. The rushing sound of air as I fell made it a bit difficult. I then scan the darkness and notice what looked like something moving over to my left, as if my eyes had finally adjusted to the darkness and was slowly showing me what was there.

"Over here", said Raven as she waved her arm at me, though it was weird that she appeared to be upside down, but I couldn't tell for sure through the darkness. As if I was in water and not falling, I awkwardly move my arms and legs as if trying to swim. This tedious and embarrassing movement slowly managed to propel me over to Raven. Once I was close enough to her, my eyes had adjusted completely to the darkness that surrounded us, and she was indeed falling while upside down. Her arms were pinned to her sides as she fell like she was doing a head-first pencil dive.

"But that doesn't make any sense", I said feeling utterly confused.

"What doesn't?"

"How are we falling together when I'm spread on my stomach, while you shoot down like a rocket?"

"You ask as if I'm gonna know."

"Don't you? Didn't you bring us here?"

"I don't even know where "here" is".

"I see. Should I be concerned? Because you don't seem to be."

"I'm just gonna let this play out, see what happens." She then turns to face straight out and continues to fall motionless and upside down. Having started to get the hang of "air swimming", I flip myself over and mirror Raven's position. I look over at her and gaze at her cloak as it completely hid every inch of her body except for her face. As I looked at her cloak, I chuckle a little to myself. "What", asks Raven as she notices me staring and laughing at her.

"You kinda look like a foxtail toy", I said struggling to keep a straight face. Raven then "lowers" her head and looks "down" at herself. She then chuckles for a moment and then flat out rolls her head back and laughs. Having never heard Raven laugh before, I was amazed at how cute it was. It was high pitched to a point where it almost didn't sound like Raven, but a different person all-together. Her strange and bizarre laugh was also so cute and adorable that I couldn't help but laugh as well. After a few moments of uncontrollable laughter, Raven then stops herself from laughing and then reaches out and grabs the front of my shirt with her hand and pulls me into her face. My laughter also comes to a halt when I notice the irritated look on her face.

"Don't, ever, make me laugh", she said kinda angrily. I raise my eyebrow in confusion.

"Um, why exactly?" She then shoves me as she releases me from her grip.

"Just don't", she says as she looks "down" breaking eye contact with me, now feeling more bashful, as indicated by her face as it started to blush. I was about to pry further when that all-too-familiar white light appeared below us. "Brace yourself."

"Same goes for you", I responded as the light swallowed us.

A few blinding moments later, we found ourselves in the air over a forest, but plummeting fast. Without even thinking I reach over and grab Raven around her waist with my right arm and pull her towards me. I then flipped us right-side up just before we made contact with one of many extremely tall pine trees. I land on a branch, and it immediately breaks. I land on another below it, and it also breaks. We were falling too fast and too hard for the branches to catch us so I improvised. Rather than expect the next brach to catch us, I quickly jump from it as it breaks and launch myself, Raven still in my grasp, to another tree. I aimed at the trunk rather than the branches. Right before making contact, I Changed into my wolf form and tract my claws from my left paw. I then dig my claws into the trunk of the new tree as we begin to slide downwards. Chips of bark flew everywhere as my claws scraped against the large tree. When I noticed we were still falling too fast, I dug my hind claws into the tree as well to slow us down further. When I felt we were close enough to the ground, I then launch off of the tree and scoop up Raven's legs with my left arm. I then immediately Change once again to my armored form. With one flap of my wings, I gently lowered us to the ground and came to a smooth, vertical landing.

I look down at Raven, preparing to ask if she was alright. However, I found myself trapped in her eyes as they looked up at me while in my arms. Her face blushed once again, and once again, our hearts began to stagger each other. That moment was almost as intense as when she and I had first met, to a point where as I stared into her eyes, I lose my grip on myself and unintentionally Change back into my human form. We remained like this for a few minutes, silent and motionless, when we heard a bird calling out somewhere in the forest. Upon hearing it we break eye contact and look around as if trying to find its source.

"Um, you can let me down now", said Raven as she looked back up at me. It was then that my face began to burn again for having realized I'd man-handled her yet again.

"Oh, whoops! Sorry", I say bashfully as I lower her feet to the ground and help her to stand. Not sure what I was supposed to do with my hands after releasing her, I stick them back in my pockets.

"Welp, guess we'd better take a look around", suggested Raven as she began walking towards the direction in which the bird was calling.

"Y-yeah. Yeah, sure", I said, once again bashfully. I then clench my right hand into a fist and quietly punch myself in the forehead as I remember that I could've simply teleported to the ground or levitated rather than grab Raven the way I did. Or for that matter, since Raven could levitate herself, I didn't need to assist her at all. Stupid, stupid, stupid, I chant to myself as if I were scolding myself. We walked in silence through the forest, which we quickly discovered was on a large hill, for about ten minutes before she spoke again.

"O-kay. Any chance you know where we are", asked Raven, further uphill than me as she turns back to ask me.

"Sure, I do. We're in the forest."

"I'm aware of that, but what forest?"

"If I knew that we wouldn't be walking…. walking", I interrupted myself as I had just realized that we were walking when we could've been flying. "Stupid, stupid, stupid", I chant again punching my forehead for a second time.

"Uh, are you okay", asked Raven. I look back up at her awkwardly to see her with a raised eyebrow.

"I'm fine. I just realized that we could've been flying this whole time."

"You only just realized this?"

"Obviously it didn't occur to you either", I said taking a step towards her.

"Says who", asked Raven as she took a step towards me. Upon seeing her do this, I instinctively begin walking towards her without even thinking.

"Well then why didn't you suggest we fly", I asked as I noticed Raven beginning to move even closer to me.

"I have my reasons."

"Oh yeah", I ask in a half-sarcastic, half-cheeky fashion.

"Yeah", she replies with the smallest grin.

"Really", I ask in a similar fashion.

"Really." It was at that moment, a pinecone falls and hits me on the head.

"Ow", I exclaim as I rub my the top of my head with my hand. Raven then giggles for a moment upon seeing me act out several different movie cliches, which in turn causes me to laugh as well. It was then I remembered what Raven had said about making her laugh. I then grew silent expecting her to retaliate, but instead I once again got lost in her eyes.

As my brown eyes locked with her gorgeous violet eyes, I could quite literally feel myself being drawn to them as my eyes suddenly started to feel heavy and my face felt like it was a car and the driver was cruising it towards Raven. I could feel my tail materializing behind me as I notice Raven mirroring my actions. At that moment, I could once again hear Raven's heartbeat as well as my own. They staggered and raced one another yet again as chills ran through my body upon realizing what was about to happen.

This escalated quickly, I think to myself jokingly as my face, only inches away from Raven's still continued to move closer to her. It was then that a couple more pinecones fell from the trees. One of which hitting Raven on the head, and another in my left eye. Our faces pull away from one another in response to this surprise ambush. Angry and irritated at being cock-blocked for the second time, I look up into the trees with a growl rumbling in my chest.

Up above were two squirrels, one male, one female. She had a nut in her mouth and was flirtatiously playing "hard to get" as she wagged her bushy tail, urging the hyperactive and horny male to follow her. He chased her in circles around the branches as the pinecones and needles fell off the trees in the process. Now feeling a hint of jealousy, in addition to my irritation, I growl once again at them. The two squirrels stop in their tracks and look down at me, curiously. Upon seeing their little faces directly head-on, I immediately recognized them.

Wait a sec, I remember you two, I thought to myself. However, I then noticed how relatively young they both were, like they were in the prime of their squirrelly lives. "That's impossible, you're dead", I said aloud with a hint of shock and surprise in my voice as I focus my attention on the male squirrel specifically. The two squirrels, as if they neither saw or remembered me, then turn and break to my left as they scampered from branch to branch further uphill. "Hey, wait up", I shout as I Changed into my wolf form and climbed the nearest tree to follow them.

As the pair of small rodents scampered and leapt from tree branch to tree branch, I followed them by mirroring and imitating their movements. I would also occasionally swing from branch to branch with my two front paws and sometimes my tail whenever the branches became to thin or "bendy" for me to run on. After a few minutes of pursuit, I look ahead to see that a minute or two uphill, the forest just cut off and ended. Beyond the border of the forest was a bit of an open field, that went on for about three yards to the top of the hill.

I drop back to the ground and return to all fours upon seeing another familiar sight. I look back into the trees to see the two squirrels as they disappeared into one of the trees that formed the border of the forest. I slowly walked over towards the tree as I noticed Raven hovering beside me as I approached.

"I know a part of you is canine, but do you really have to chase a squirrel simply because you looked at it?"

"It's not that", I said as we were only inches away from the squirrels' tree.

"Then what?"

"Those squirrels…."

"Yeah?"

"They should be older. Hell, one of them died already."

"You lost me, Fernando." Though she wasn't what I was focusing on at the moment, upon hearing her say my real name my fur began to stand up and chills once again ran down my spine.

Once I reached the tree, I circled around to the other side, where the border of the forest began. Towards the bottom of the trunk, right about where my eye level was, I saw five claw marks, tiny ones. They started left, and moved towards the right in a downward diagonal. Counting from left to right, the first claw mark was further spaced than the others were, like a thumb. I look down at my right paw as my "weird wolf thumb" that sits halfway up my arm towards my elbow kinda slides down to join the rest of my fingers on my paw, while at the same time becoming opposable.

Usually, due to years of practicing Changing my paw to either look more paw-like or more hand-like, this process was quick, immediate, and flawless. However, since I was looking and drawing direct attention to it, it looked slow, deliberate, and kinda gross looking. The same thing could be said whenever I Changed, usually quick and mystical-looking, but if dragged out and having attention drawn to it, it looked gross and painful to watch.

With my paw now with an opposable thumb, I tract my claws and imitate the suggested movements of the tiny claw marks as I "air claw" over them. I then place my paw on the trunk beside the claw marks. I looked in amazement how much bigger my paw was to the scrawny puppy-sized paw that made the claw marks. I then return my paw to the ground as I press my nose against the claw marks. I then close my eyes and inhale deeply.

It was then that visions of a small, black wolf cub flashed in my mind, sort of like a black-and-white flashback cliche from a movie. I saw the small cub growl awkwardly in anger as a teenage growl rumbled in a puppy's body. I then saw the pup rise to his hind legs, who on two legs stood at a mere three feet, my current eye level on all fours, and angrily drag his right paw across the trunk as his claws rip into the bark. The pup then turns to "me" as if I were watching him through a camera, to reveal that it had a pair of eyes that burned a bright yellow, like mine. My eyes shoot open as if I had woken up from a nightmare as I gasp for air.

"What's wrong", asked Raven. Without responding I wheel around and make a break for the top of the hill. I could hear her groan behind me as she flies after me. Once I reached the top of the hill, I come to a halt and look down at the road that led to the small town down below. I could feel my tail wagging as a smile stretched across my muzzle and my tongue hung out as I panted. It had been so long since I stood at the top of Radar Hill.

"Where are we", asked Raven as she joined me to my right.

"Box Elder, South Dakota", I said with a cheerful voice. "Raven, I…. I'm home."