[[Don't miss the Epilogue! It's important, and leads into the sequal!]]

The powerful Enderfemme rushed Kuu and Evan with all the fury of a dragon. She couldn't even be called an Ender anymore; her face had twisted to something else, muzzle long with a powerful jaw armed with razor sharp teeth. She crouched onto all fours and spun around, her tail whipping out at them.

The spiked tip hit Kuu in the side, making him let out a sharp cry of pain. Evan's sword came down on her tail. It bit into her flesh and made her scream in rage and pain. Blood stained the blade of his sword.

Good sign; she still bled. She was still mortal; she could be defeated. But it was just a scratch, and it healed quickly.

Shaking himself, Kuu positioned himself again. He expected the tail this time. He prepared himself. Next time she lashed at them with her tail, Kuu grabbed Evan and teleported into a tree to buy them some time.

'I will teleport you.' Kuu said quickly. 'I must keep you safe.'

"No." Evan said. "We are in this together. I won't let her kill you."

'But I can't let her feed you to the...'

She crashed into the tree with a draconic roar and a blast of flame. The tree shuddered, before searing heat rose up. Kuu winced and teleported again, shaking his leg, which was on fire. The searing pain made him leap into another paniced teleport. The fire did not diminish. It kept licking at his flesh.

"Roll!" Evan said. Teleporting was not helping! Kuu paused momentarily before dropping onto the ground and smothering the flames in the grass. He limped, his leg burned badly.. The burn had to be at least a third degree; his flesh bubbled and blistered.

'We have to weaken her. Tire her out...' Kuu frowned.

"Stay out of the way, I'll distract her!" Evan told Kuu.

'What... but... you...' Kuu frowned, before dodging the raging dragon-morph once again.

"Go for the back of her neck!" Evan said. "If she is trying to get me, you will have an opening!"

Kuu nodded, before teleporting aside. Evan rushed the twisted creature, striking out with his sword. It glanced off her scaled side.

Her teeth snapped inches away from his hand. She was fast, given supernatural aid by dragon-magic.

A streak of shadow rushed past her, making her hiss in pain. It was Kuu! His claws left bloody tracks in her side.

She spun around to snap at him but he was already gone. Evan charged with his sword again, and this time he hit his mark. It dug into her side making her scream in rage. But she stumbled a bit. Some of that devilish red glow leaked out of her wound.

As she was distracted by him, Kuu came at her other side. His claws once again hit their mark. He drew blood again and she hissed and snapped at his retreating form. She missed.

Evan couldn't help but smile. They could tag-team her. And if they could just keep their endurance up, if they could just keep the upper hand... they could keep her distracted. They had a chance.

It was a chance they had to take. Kuu had learned a lot from Vyyr, and it showed. He had pushed all doubts and insecurities out of his mind, and he was fighting like a devil. He never stayed in one place for long; he used the trees and landscape to his advantage. Evan glanced towards the lake, which shimmered in the early morning sunlight. The Enderfemme seemed to have gone berserk. Her eyes were blind with rage, she attacked more and more clumsily. She was ruled by her fury. Dangerous... but it gave them a chance. He had to try it!

"Kuu!" He called. He glanced towards the water. Kuu got the signal. Perfect! Lure her towards the water... He hadn't thought of that through his own fear of the liquid.

Kuu grabbed Evan and teleported towards the lake. He let go of him a few feet from the shore, and teleported a few feet away.

Evan stood with his sword drawn. The scar-handed Enderfemme attacked, sending a blast of dragonfire. Evan leapt aside. She was so blinded by rage, she seemed completely unaware of the water behind him. And he could use that to his advantage. He took one look at Kuu, and dove into the water. She lunged after him. As soon as her skin touched the water she screamed and thrashed, before jerking back, hissing in pain and panting as she teleported in a panic back to dry land. She shook her bloodied body. The dragon-magic glow melted away. Her twisted form fell away leaving her as a normal Enderfemme once again. She no longer had the strength to keep channeling the strange power. Her legs and hands bleeding heavily, it looked like she had jumped into acid. Her eyes narrowed and she snarled. She charged Kuu, who jumped aside. She was clearly tired, and injured. And she knew it. If she was going down, she was going to take him down with her!

The two fought, trading blows, before she snarled and lunged at him. She pinned him down. As she was about to go for his throat, he screamed and bit down on her arm. Her screams grew louder as she tried to jerk out of his grip, and she finally did, though her hand was still clenched between his fangs.

Kuu had torn her hand clean off. She shrieked her horrible agony as she made one last attack. She leapt back and sent a shattering blow that sent Kuu flying.

Right at the lake.

The next thing Evan heard was agonized screaming.

"No!" Evan shouted. Kuu thrashed as Evan rushed to him. He dove into the water, quickly swimming to his panicking friend. "Teleport!" He shouted. But Kuu was too busy trying to get to shore. His screams grew louder and louder in pure agony. He already bled horribly, his blood staining the water purple-black. Evan gasped as the panicked Enderman's claws slashed his cheek, then his shoulder. But he shoved Kuu towards the shore. As soon as his feet touched ground under the water, he teleported to shore. He was hurt... far, far worse then the female. He had been in the water deeper, and longer. He was shaking and gasping, his eyes wide. He looked like he'd just tried to swim in acid.

Evan had to end this. His friend was losing blood, and fast. The scar-handed female stood over her prey, gloating.

'You put up a good fight...' She growled. 'But it only ended in failure. You are weak, stupid, small. Nothing more then a child.'

Kuu, stumbling, landed on his side with another scream of pain as his raw, burned flesh hit the ground. He stared at her, his vision fading. 'No...' He whispered. 'Take me, leave them.. please... I got them into this...' His body shook as tears welled up. They were not made of water; not like human tears. They were a bit thicker; having a faint glow to them. They hardened to tiny little purple gems and fell to the grass, shining in the sunlight.

'Too bad!' She growled. But she was distracted. She forgot abut Evan.

She screamed as the soaking wet man tackled her with all his weight and strength. He had taken a chance; he had taken off his armor so his clothes would soak up all the water. And it did its job.

It distracted her. She leapt away, spinning to meet him. But she felt something else. Her side was in searing agony as the wet sword dug in.

She lashed out, her claws sinking deep into Evan's side and slashing it open. He screamed in pain. She vanished with another scream. The last glimpse he saw of her was her leaping into a portal that appeared before her, leaving a trail of her blood behind her.

He fell to his knees, then to his side as he slumped to his side. Everything faded to black as he lost consciousness.

Sunlight. Bright, glaring sunlight. Right on his face. Evan shifted, then winced. First, he noticed he was in his bed. He looked around in panic. Kuu... where was Kuu!? But he felt something solid beside him. His hand touched smooth claws, before he looked to the side. There was Kuu, beside him. He was bandaged up, and smelled strongly of salve. They'd... done it. They'd all survived. He touched his face, and winced. He felt stitches, and salve. But the pain in his side was worse then the pain in his cheek.

'You finally woke.' He heard Vyyr's familiar cooing and chirping. His two clawless fingers shone with salve. The Kitsune was curled up in her small fox form by the fire, as was the big werewolf, who had his head resting on his forepaws.

"Kuu... will he be allright?" Evan asked in worry.

'Poor boy just has to heal. He got hurt so badly it's slowed his natural healing. There will be scars. He hasn't woken yet.' Vyyr explained. 'I have given him a strong sleeping-drug, to keep him from waking up and aggravating his wounds. If he woke now he'd be in constant searing pain.'

"How long?" Evan asked weakly.

"You've been out almost all day." Leanna said, holding little Devrik in her arms. Evan slowly looked towards the window, finding the sun was getting near the horizon, at the perfect height to shine directly into his window. "You lost a lot of blood... Those claws cut you right to the bone. One of your ribs was cracked. Vyyr saved your life. He woke up right as the last enemy escaped. He brought us all in here and started treating the two of you right away."

Evan shifted, before looking at his side. He noticed Vyyr's fingertips were bandaged, though no longer bleeding. He just hadn't taken the bandages off yet.

"Vyyr..."

'You were wet.' Vyyr said. 'But I will heal. You were dying; a little burn won't kill me.' He cood softly. 'You were both very brave.'

"T-Thank you..." Evan said. He couldn't help but feel bad that they had all gotten a bit hurt, and that Vyyr had been hurt himself saving them. He hadn't thought of that when he jumped into the water to use it as a weapon. He winced again.

'Don't move!' Vyyr chided. 'You'll rip your stitches out and aggravate your cracked rib.'

"Do you think that was all of them?" Evan asked. "Will we be attacked again?"

'Not likely.' Vyyr said. 'Even if that was all of them, the fact that we killed five of them and survived might scare others out of coming after us. But I will be visiting frequently just in case. One did escape... She was badly damaged from what I could see, but I don't think she will be back. We won.'

After that it took about five days for Kuu to heal enough for Vyyr to stop giving him the sleep drug. But finally the bandages came away revealing healthy skin once again. There was some scarring in places, especially where he'd received his most grievous wounds. His right eye had scars around it; the only thing that had saved his eyes was his rapid healing, Vyyr's skills, and the fact that the wound to his eye had been superficial.

There was some worry as Kuu shifted a bit, let out a quiet chirp, and opened his eyes. Then, there was relief. His eye had healed up nicely; his vision would not be effected. His face was scarred up from claws, similar, actually, to the scars that marked Vyyr's face. His skin was slightly discolored where it'd been burned by the water.

"How are you feeling?" Evan asked his friend.

'Tired.' Kuu said. The soft cooing and chirring almost sounded slurred. He was coming off of a potent sleep drug; it was expected. He felt too tired and out of it to move. 'And glad I am alive.'

Kuu looked around slowly, concern on his features. 'The others?' He questioned.

"Everybody survived." Evan said. "We were all hurt, but Vyyr knew what he was doing." He winced a bit. He was still bandaged up, though he was healing. "I seem to be the worst off out of all of us. Got a cracked rib... and my side was sliced open pretty good."

'What about your cheek?' Kuu asked, looking to the stitched up, salved up wounds on his face. The scars would look like he'd gotten three knife slices to the face.

"That happened when I got you out of the water." He said. "But I don't blame you, you were pretty scared and in a lot of pain. It was worth it to keep you alive."

'I'm sorry... I didn't mean to hurt you.' Kuu looked a bit ashamed.

"It's alright." Evan said, reaching over to give his friend a gentle pat to the shoulder. "It happens, sometimes. Besides, it's healing up nicely."

Kuu nodded a bit. He was relieved that Evan was healing up fine; even if he felt bad it had all happened. Despite all that, he was happy everybody had lived.

Evan's full healing took almost two and a half weeks. The stitches were removed two days after Kuu woke, and were fully healed by the next week; Though Vyyr told Evan to take it easy for several more days just to be sure.

The cracked rib healed as well; though it did give him some dull aches over the days that followed.

Once Kuu was able to move around on his own, Leanna went back home. She left Devrik with Evan and Kuu. She'd sort of disappeared recently and hoped nobody had gone looking for her; finding two Endermen and a hybrid would not be a good thing. Her father was worried about her, but hadn't gone looking. She said that she had been helping Evan with his crops; and he believed her.

After everybody healed, life went back to normal. Kuu and Evan raised little Devrik together. Leanna came to visit frequently. They went to visit Vyyr frequently as well. His cave was well furnished and comfortable and he always provided them with tea, even if he couldn't drink it himself, and cookies or other baked goods. All in all, life returned to normal for the Woodsman and his shadowy companion.

~Fin~