Welcome back! A lot of action took place last chapter so on with the next! This chapter might be a bit longer since I have a lot of things I want to include and also, I was busy typing away at this story, making tons of progress, at least 3000 words, went to click save and it tells me that an error occurred so I lost everything... Iv'e still got the notes though so it's all good! hope this doesn't upset any of you who were hoping for a new chapter sooner than this! Anyway, enough from me, hope you enjoy!
(Beneath the wreckage)
Pain. Pain cold and darkness. He wasn't sure how much time had passed but he only wanted to do one thing...Sleep. "Wake up..." No... He was too tired, everything hurt, if he woke up then he would lose this fragile feeling of relief. "Wake up...Or they'll find you..." The voice was a mere whisper, calm and comforting but also stern and demanding. "I want to sleep..." He told the voice inside his head, there was a moment of silence, "You can't sleep...They'll find you..." He became angered, "I'll kill them!" The voice seemed to retreat into the depths of his mind slightly, "To do that...You'll have to wake up..." He didn't have the energy to put up a fight, the sound of distant mummers of voices brought him back to reality, he could hear the thuds of heavy footsteps, the deep breaths of exhausted individuals and the metallic clanging of armour. One person was barking orders, "Find it! That beast has to be around here somewhere, nobody saw it leave the premises. "Wake up..." The voice was more desperate now, "Run! Or else they'll find you!" Now a pleading cry instead of a quiet whisper, his hand flexed, it was cold with no coat of fur to keep it warm. The weight on his entire body was incredible, he kept his eyes closed but began to force his back upwards, lifting the weight off of his back and then crawling out of its tight grip. Now was the part that he was dreading, he had to open his eyes...And wake up...
(With the gang)
Two days had past, Ash still hadn't woken up, he now lay motionless in his bed. The twitches that happened during what must have been his dreams had ceased ages ago, he now looked dead, this point only proven wrong when May saw the shallow rising and falling of his stomach. Cynthia's condition hadn't improved, she was unresponsive, only ever moving to take a single bite from a piece of bread that May had been trying for ages to get her to eat. The rest of her time was spent simply staring out of the misty window into the rain, no doubt waiting for a certain brunette to turn up at the door with a goofy grin and a few scratches here and there, if that did happen then she would never let go of him again...
The thought of the two childhood friends reuniting brought a sad smile to May's face, she missed Jack as well, the fact that he had planned all of this from the beginning made her feel even worse... He was prepared to get hurt for the sake of his dear friend, it was thanks to him that Jack was back to the way he is now, the brunette directed her gaze back over to Ash's sleeping form. His usual comical face and stream of drool were now replace with a face void of emotion, "Why won't you wake up..." She whispered sadly as she put her hand on the raven haired teen's forehead.
(Ash's mind)
He was floating in a pure blue sea looking up into a sky of the exact same colour, with a few wisps of white here and there. Nothing to do, empty... "Why won't you wake up?" He heard a distant familiar voice ask in a sad tone, the teen frowned, he was awake...Wasn't he? He moved his hand and pinched his arm, the small amount of pain he felt confirmed what he was thinking but then he noticed something, whenever he pinched himself, the sky briefly changed colour. From deep blue to dark red and then back again...
(With the wolf)
The searing pain that coursed throughout Jack's body whenever he moved was unbearable, His bones had healed but for some reason...His burns had not... The brunette cursed as he reached for another rock that was blocking the pathway for his slowly lengthening tunnel out of the rubble. He had been digging for what seemed like forever, frequently dropping in and out of his conciousness from the amount of pain his injuries were causing as he dragged them across the rugged ground. Jack heaved one more heavy chuck of rock out of his way and finally broke through to the surface, a small glimmer of hope lit up in the back of his mind, "Here we go..." He whispered to himself as he braced himself for the oncoming storm of pain, "1...2...3!" At that the brunette used all of his remaining strength to wrench himself from the grip of the debris that had been keeping him prisoner in its clutches. The sharp rocks cut at the moon shifter's underbelly, letting him go but not before giving him a few nasty gnashes. "Ahh!" He cried in pain, suddenly gaining a large amount of strength in his legs, wriggling further out of the pile of rocks and tumbling roughly down the hill.
"Ugh..." Jack groaned as he slowly opened his slightly hazed over eyes, he rolled over onto his back and looked upwards to see a clear night sky with twinkling dots staring back at him, welcoming him back to the wide open expanse of the surface. After lying still for a few minutes he did the one thing he had wanted to to as soon as he woke up, he looked down at his bare chest...
His night vision allowed him a clear picture of the grotesque sight that was his torso, the top layer of skin had been completely burned off leaving the top part of his chest and half of his six pack as exposed muscle that glistened in the moonlight. The brunette wanted to scream, he lifted up his arms to see that they weren't much better either, the backs of his hands and all of the skin leading up his arm from them was gone too, shiny muscle that was stinging like fire just from being exposed to the air was everywhere. The pain began to intensify, the cold temperature of the wreckage that had kept his body numb was what must have stopped the pain before, the brunette cringed as he propped himself up and sat with his back to a wall. He moved a hand to put it on his chest but stopped and dropped it back to the ground, "Better not mess with it..." Jack looked to his left and noticed that a large group of tents had been set up in the clearing that was the stage for his and Ash's battle, several goblets of fire illuminated the huge amounts of guards that were patrolling the perimeter, searching for anything that was left behind...Or anyone...
"I need to move..." The brunette hissed as he spotted a patrol coming his way, he once again braced himself and grunted in pain as he heaved himself onto his feet. Jack staggered around slightly but eventually gained his footing, he placed a hand on his opposite shoulder and began to limp down a gloomy alleyway.
As the brunette rounded a corner he spotted a tailors shop, "Perfect...I'm freezing..." He stumbled across the open cobble street and up to the door of the closed shop, with a quick yank of the door wit his draining amount of energy, he was in. Jack scanned the several different rows of clothing, searching for a new set since most of his were destroyed in the earlier battle, the only piece of clothing he had now was a pair of raggedy black trousers. "Of course it's all fucking dresses..." Cursed the moon shifter as he hobbled further into the shop, making sure to close the broken door behind him.
After a while of searching the brunette had finally found a set of clothes that he figured would work. He took a look at his slumped over form in the mirror that had been hung up on the adjacent wall from the changing quarters, Jack was wearing a dark red tunic with a black belt that had been fashioned out of a piece of black cloth to hold the tunic closed, leaving his defined chest muscles visible in a 'v' that spanned down the middle of his chest slightly. On his legs were a pair of slate grey trousers that went down his legs and fed into a pair of black boots that went up to his knees. The sleeves of the tunic went down his arms and stopped at the end of his wrists where they were wrapped in the same black cloth straps as his belt over that he had a pair of black leather fingerless gauntlets. Jack then grabbed a wine red sleeveless cloak that didn't have a hood and stopped at the backs of his knees, it didn't completely close around his whole body, only spanning around his back and stopping at the insides of his shoulders. He nodded at himself, this outfit would allow him to move with much more freedom compared to his old outfit, the brunette donned the wine red cloak and made his way out through the back of the shop and into another dark alleyway. "Right...Now to find the others..." He said to himself as he started jogging towards the designated meeting place, becoming more used to the pain, having experience much worse in his lifetime.
(Ash's dream)
The raven haired teen was bellowing and cursing, slamming his fists into the invisible barrier that was holding him back from the people on the other side, "Stop it you bastards!" The teen screamed as he watched the horror that was taking place on the other side, his most trusted companions was backed up against the base of a huge cliff and were trying to defend themselves from an entire army of humans... Jack was taking the brute force of all of the attacks, using his body as a shield to absorb the arrows and spears that were raining down from above. May was doing her best to try and provide support, firing one arrow after another, her quiver quickly draining. Cynthia was was forming balls of water and turning them into sharp blades of ice, the blondette then was launching them into the chests of any warriors who tried to flank Jack. Ash could tell that they wouldn't be able to keep this up for long, the ground below Jack was coated with a thick layer of his own blood, the beast roared which caused the air to resonate and the attackers to back up slightly in fear, Jack took his chance and threw a deadly round house punch that shattered the chest of the nearest warrior. The impact shattered the victim's armour and sent him barrelling into the many troops behind him, Jack was heavily panting now and didn't even have enough energy to roll out of the way of the incoming axe slash from his left...
The attack cut straight through Jack's arm, causing him to rear his head back and howl in pain, "NO!" Ash bellowed, the teen heard Cynthia scream in terror and watched with the same feeling growing in his chest as he watched the blonde beauty run over to the fallen moon shifter who was writhing in pain, clutching the bleeding stump with his other gigantic hand. The moon shifter's eyes shot open as he heard a grunt from the same attacker, he was going for Cynthia! Jack launched up from the ground, pushing Cynthia behind him with his good arm and then grabbing the severed one off of the ground, the wolf then went for an overhead smash. The man who was attacking suddenly rolled out of the way to the left as the arm came down and shattered the earth underneath, Jack had failed...
A second warrior launched at Jack from the right and buried his oddly shiny sword into the moon shifter's chest, as soon as Jack felt the blow his face said it all, Ash dropped to his knees in synchronisation with the werewolf, the brunette slowly morphed back to his human form and collapsed onto his back with the silver sword still buried in his chest. "J-JACK! NO!" Cynthia screeched as she let loose a flurry of ice shards from her hands, a single arrow flew straight through the storm and impacted with her chest. The blondette slowly looked down at the protruding stick in the left side of her chest, her vision quickly became blurry and she lost all the strength in her legs, dropping to the ground and curling up into a foetal position next to the love of her life who was already deceased. Ash was frozen in grief, the only person left alive was May, who had been at knife point this entire time, an assassin had managed to sneak behind the group and place a cold blade against her throat and a hand over her mouth. Ash threw a desperate punch at the invisible barrier, nothing, "GRRRRR ARGH!" He screamed, forming two aura swords and launching a barrage of slashes and cuts, still nothing. May had pure terror in her eyes as she looked at the bodies of Jack and Cynthia, they had both died with their eyes open and looks of despair on their faces, as well as tears on Cynthia's face. "You put up an annoying amount of resistance" Complained the gritty voice from behind her, "Now tell us, WHERE IS THE AURA USER!" He bellowed the last part of his sentence straight into the young girl's ear, leaving a high pitched ringing that lasted for a painful amount of time. The brunette did nothing, the man scoffed, "So be it..." He said coldly as he quickly ,and professionally, slit the girl's throat. Ending her destroyed life.
(With May)
May was at the side of his bed, she was watching the raven haired teen's hand flex violently, aura was surrounding his clenched fist as his face twitched and his muscles flexed. "Ash..." She whispered desperately, "C'mon, wake up..." The brunette took his hand into hers, this instantly stopped all of the movements in his body, his aura disappeared back into his hand and he went back to his peaceful slumber. May smiled and brushed the hair off of his face, her face heated up slightly as she took her time to stare at his handsome face, there was a few beads of sweat visible on his forehead. May stood up and walked over to the corner of the room to pick up a metal pot, the brunette then turned to face Cynthia, who had been curled up under her bed sheets for almost two days now. "I'm going to get some water from the well outside Cynthia, I'll be back soon" She said, not really expecting a response, she didn't get one so the brunette stepped outside and headed down the hall after closing the door to their room tightly behind her.
(Outside)
May looked up into the stars of the never ending void above, a crescent moon was visible tonight. The surroundings gave off a cool and calm feeling as the brunette filled up the metal pot with crystal clear water, a welcome change after all of the chaos that had taken place not too long ago. May sighed as she lowered the wooden bucket down into the depths of the well for another top up of water, it was then that she heard a bottle break behind her. The brunette whipped around to face the direction of the sound and reached for her bow, she cursed when she found that the bow was not on he back but was still inside their inn room, she decided to be brave. "W-Who's there! S-Show yourself!" She demanded, although her trembling voice didn't help to add any intimidation, she wished that Ash was here to frighten whatever it was in the dark off with his glowing eyes or Jack with his massive roar.
(Earlier that night, near the top of a bell tower)
Jack grunted as he heaved himself up over the top side of one of the tall towers that were dotted throughout the city, the brunette had decided to take the higher ground since the many alley ways and streets were too confusing for him to find his way properly. Jack stumbled over to the centre of the slanted tile roof and dropped onto his rear, morphing back into his human form as he did. The burns were still visible on his chest and arms but they didn't hurt any more, the skin was healing as well, slowly...
The brunette looked up into to calm night sky, he chuckled and spoke to himself, "I'm still at it Krista...I'm not giving up yet.." The sounds of scuffling coming from behind him made Jack jump out of his thoughts and whip around to see what was going on. The brunette had nowhere to hide so he simply stayed squatted on his haunches as a cloaked figure pulled herself up over the opposite side of the roof to him. From its build Jack could tell that the person was a young girl, probably a year older than May, 18 ears old. The girl spotted Jack and froze as her eyes locked with his, "What the..." She quickly whispered to herself as she reached for the dagger that was strapped to her body at the base of her spine, she heard the unknown person speak up, his voice made her face go slightly pink. "Relax, I'm not hostile." She wasn't having any of it, the girl drew her dagger and pointed the end of it at the man, "Who are you? What are you doing up here?!" Jack sighed and stood up, "H-Hey, stop right there!" She shouted, becoming slightly desperate as the person began walking towards her, his face was hidden since the moon had disappeared behind the clouds.
He was an arms reach away from her now, "Aren't you supposed to say your name first before asking someone else for theirs?" He said in a dreamy voice as he folded his and tilted his head slightly, the girl gulped, "N-Not when Iv'e got you at knife point!" She said whilst poking the dagger towards him slightly, Jack frowned, "Put the dagger away..." He said firmly, a bit too coldly, the girl backed up and took a battle stance. "I don't take orders from anyone..." She said menacingly, Jack growled, "Very well, let's battle this out, first one who is knocked off of their feet loses." The girl nodded although she wasn't sure if the guy had seen her do it so she spoke up, "Fine, draw your weapon!" Jack simply put up his fists and bended his knees a little, the moon broke out of the cover of clouds and finally revealed his face to the girl, causing her to go bright red. She was looking at a very handsome man who had extremely defined muscles and beefy arms, his strong chest was visible which caused her to blush even more and she had a hard job to tear her eyes away from his face. He had a cocky grin plastered on his face and a glint of determination in his scarlet eyes. "Y-Your not...U-Using a w-weapon..?" She stuttered, still trying to stay composed, completely failing. Jack chuckled, "I don't need one, it's more fun this way..." The girl felt her knees tremble, "Now! Come and get me!" The brunette taunted as he spread his arms out to his sides, causing steam to erupt from the top of the girl's head.
(5 minutes later)
Jack laughed with glee as he strafed backwards to avoid yet another dagger slash, this was quickly becoming his most favourite fight he had ever had. So many things were here to give him a welcome challenge, his injuries meant that his skin had seized up and his punches were slower, the lack of space on the tower top meant that he had to be careful where he stepped, his opponent wasn't very strong but her speed compensated for that, she was also dodging everyone of his hits in movements that looked more like a type of dance. Of course, the brunette could just turn into his wolf form and rip her to shreds but he wanted to savour this moment, this was a great opportunity for him to get back into action.
The girl went for a roundhouse slash which Jack ducked under and then he launched a powerful uppercut with a growl of effort, the brunette's fist fist smashed into the dagger and snapped the blade like a twig, Jack then spun around so that the girl was to his right hand side and thrust his leg out in that direction whilst lowering his torso so that his body was horizontal to provide balance. Jack's foot impacted with the girl's chest and made her cough up a splatter of saliva before tumbling to the ground and rolling roughly to the edge of the tower with her arm hanging over the edge. The brunette straightened himself back up and sighed, he then walked over to the wheezing mass and checked to see the damage he had done, she seemed fine, "I didn't kick her that hard...Right?" He thought to himself as he squatted down next to her on his haunches.
The brunette rolled the girl over so that she was facing towards the sky, he could see with his night vision that she not only had a hood on her head but also a black cloth around the bottom half of her face, her eyes were emerald-grey and were staring straight into his deep scarlet ones. Jack raised a brow, "You okay there?" She was panting heavily but slowly nodded, "Sorry about that..." Jack said with a goofy grin that would make any girl's knees wobble, the girl blushed as she was pulled onto her feet by the man's arms. A sweet smell that the brunette hadn't noticed during the fight wafted into his nostrils, "What the-? Are you wearing perfume?!"
(Ash's dream)
"Okay everyone, form the weapon you are most comfortable with and get ready for the upcoming sparring!" Announced a very pumped aura combat instructor, another action packed day was about to take place that the aura training institute. Ash raised a brow as he witnessed his best friend form a glowing aqua coloured bow, "A bow?" He questioned, Gary nodded with a grin on his face, "Gramps taught me how to form it, better than gettin' in too close, I'd rather staying in one piece than getting sliced up into little chunks." Ash crossed his arms and frowned slightly, "Ehhh? But it's more fun that way..." Gary rolled his eyes, "Maybe for you doofus, not enough sense to properly take caution" the brunette said tauntingly, a dark grin appeared on Ash's face, "How about I prove you wrong in today's tournament? That is if you make it to the finals!" Ash mocked as he strolled away from his best friend whilst giving him a wave, Gary scoffed as he took aim at the nearest target box.
(10 minutes later)
Ash was currently standing across a battle field from a boy who was the same age as him, he had dark brown hair, a yellow t-shirt, blue shorts and a pair of black shoes. there was an orange head band wrapped around his forehead which he stretched out as he began to speak up, "You better get ready for a heck of a battle! I'm gonna show you who's b-ACK!" His hand slipped from out of the head band causing it to whip back onto his head with a loud crack, a chorus of chuckles sounded from the audience, Ash smirked slightly, "You okay?" He had a small blush of embarrassment on his face, "Y-Yeah! ahem, anyway, my name's Cameron!" Ash grinned, "My name's Ash!" The boy smiled, "Let's make this a fun fight Ash!" Cameron shouted as he formed a blue metallic spear, the crowd "ooed" as they saw Cameron's weapon, bigger weapons were harder to form and there were only a few students who could successfully form anything bigger than a short sword.
Ash's eyes lit in a bright blue up as a cobalt coloured mist began toe radiate from his body, the aqua glow that was being produced by Ash had the crowd mesmerised, it was no secret that Ash was one of if not the most powerful student at the school. There were rumours that he could even give the village elders a run for their money. Part of his strength came from that fact that his father was the legendary Aaron Ketchum, a man rumoured to be capable of destroying an entire army with a single aura beam, where the other part of Ash's power came from was a mystery. Gary had teased him by saying that he was probably favoured by a horny goddess or ate a funky plant when he was a toddler and got super powers.
Ash grinned as he held out his hands and formed two very sharp swords that were as long as his arms, everyone in the crowd had completely lost interest in Cameron and were now fixed on the raven haired teen, everyone could literally sense the pure power flowing out of him. Ash moved his eyes onto the instructor who was still staring at him with a gaping mouth. He shook his head and spoke up, "O-Okay! You all probably know this from this morning's registration but for any of you who didn't listen here's a reminder!" The man pointed at Ash with one arm and Cameron with the other, "These two gents have been picked to fight each other from all of your votes, two of the strongest students will be fighting here today so be ready!" The crowd let out a deafening cheer, Cameron laughed loudly and began spinning his spear over his head like a windmill blade, Ash simply flicked his swords up into his hands so he was holding them like normal swords and then back down so he was holding them backwards like daggers.
"We don't have much time today lads! We've got a lot of students to test so make it a quick fight!" Ash chuckled coldly, "Oh don't worry, he won't last long..." Cameron pouted, "Hey! I'm just as strong as you! You know what? I'll prove I'm stronger today and kick your butt!" The instructor's shout dragged him out of his pouting spree, "Begin!" He was caught off guard as Ash launched towards him with the speed of a bullet, "What-" The raven haired teen had reached him in seconds, bringing his swords around in a full circle and cutting straight through Cameron's failed block attempt with his spear. "The-" Ash hit the ground and squatted down low, thrusting his outstretched leg into Cameron's ankle, knocking him sidewards off of his feet and onto the ground with a heavy thud. The dust finally cleared as it was taken away by a silent and ominous wind. "Heck..." Ash stood back up so he was side on to Cameron and pointed the end of his cobalt sword at his defeated opponent's neck, "I win..." He said with a taunting face, the crowd was in utter silence until Gary piped up, "Well teach?" He said, getting the stunned instructor's attention, "Next battle?"
(After the tournament)
Gary groaned as he slumped against a tree in the courtyard of their school, Ash was sat next to him on a bench munching on a loaf of bread that was filled to the brim with cheese, the raven haired teen chuckled. "I still can't believe you got beaten in the first round!" Gary's body went limp and he slid down onto his rear, "Shut up man! That guy was totally cheating!" Ash's chuckle turned into a laugh, "That's what you get for using a bow against a mace and shield!" The brunette groaned yet again and buried his face into his legs, "That tournament sucked..." Ash stopped laughing and took another bite of his bread, a smirk still evident on his face, he was enjoying his time with this new Gary who wasn't always flaunting his ego in the raven haired teen's face.
Gary slowly lifted his head from his legs and spotted a group of girls at the other side of the courtyard staring at him, his ego began to rebuild itself as a grin appeared on his face. "Hey dude..." He said to Ash, who had now finished his lunch and was led down on the bench with his arms folded behind his head and his eyes on the over passing clouds in the clear blue sky. "Yeah?" He said, not fully paying attention, Gary chuckled "Those babes over there are totally checkin' me out" This automatically got Ash's attention, whenever Gary went after girls he always failed and it was hilarious to watch. The raven haired teen looked around for these 'babes', he spotted a huddle of girls that were giggling and whispering to each other, all with their eyes on him. A grin appeared on Ash's face, "Nah man, it's me their checkin out" Gary scoffed, "Yeah right, everyone knows I'm better looking than you." Ash chuckled, "Have you forgotten who won the tournament?" That shut him up, the brunette folded his arms, "Fine then, prove it!" Ash raised a brow, "How do I do that?" Gary rubbed his chin for a while and then an idea popped into his head, "Wink at them, if you get a reaction then they're checkin' you out, if not, then they made the right choice and picked me." Ash laughed, "Okay sure."
The raven haired teen looked over to the group of girls who began chattering excitedly when he made eye contact, he gave them a quick wink causing them to squeal and gain red blushes on all of their faces. A flurry of swoons came from the group, "I'm so going to marry him..." Was all that the spiky haired brunette heard.
Ash fell backwards laughing so hard that his stomach began to hurt, Gary's face was priceless, after a while of laughing Ash sat up and wiped the tears out of his eyes. "O-Oh man...I wasn't...Expecting a reaction as good as that!" Gary simply huffed and slumped back down against the base of the tree, Ash grinned, "Heyyyy, don't worry buddy! You'll find somebody some day!" He said with a growing laugh, the teen stood up and walked over to his childhood friend. He offered a hand, "C'mon, lets go hang out at our favourite spot." Gary's mood improved slightly at the mention of their favourite spot, eventually he turned back into his normal self, "Y-Yeah, yeah! It wouldn't be half as good without me there!" Ash chuckled as he pulled his best friend up and gave him a high five, "So true." The two began to walk away from the school, "He's so caring!" Gary turned looked over his shoulder with murder in his eyes, "WILL YOU QUIT THAT!" Ash simply laughed as the two left the school.
The raven haired teen's eyes slowly fluttered open. The darkness of the cold room was dimly lit by the tender beams of the crescent moon outside in the night sky.
(With Jack)
"So let me get this straight..." Said a very confused brunette as he rubbed his forehead, "You wear perfume whilst you go out to steal things to sell so you can get money for you and your grandfather." The girl nodded as she sharpened her dagger with a small stone that she had in her backpack, "Uh huh, what seems to be the problem? The stealing?" Jack shook his head, "No no, I used to do that too, it's okay as long as nobody gets hurt when you do it..." He went silent for a few seconds, "But why wear perfume?" The looked at him and shrugged, "Because I wana smell nice?" Jack scoffed as he hopped down from the chimney he had been squatting on, "And give someone a chance to track you? Pretty risky if you ask me... You do realise that there are races that have strong senses of smell" He was one to talk, the only reason that Jack hadn't noticed the scent of perfume before was because he was so focused on the fight.
The girl looked at him, "I've never had any problems before..." Jack scratched his chin, "What race are you?" At first the brunette had thought that this girl was a scout because of her speed and agility, but when he had gotten close enough he had seen that her eyes were indeed green but not pure green. Her ears weren't visible either, most likely hidden by her light blonde hair.
The girl reversed the question, "What race are you? I know for a fact that your not a human, the amount of strength that was in that kick earlier was way more than even the strongest human warrior could muster." Jack mentally cursed but then an idea popped into his head, "I used a might spell" He hoped that this girl didn't know too much about magic, unfortunately, she did. "Nice try, only attack spells don't require you to chant the words of the spell before using them. A might spell isn't an attack spell." Jack growled slightly, "Your too smart for your own good." The girl grinned, "So? What race are you?" Another idea popped into Jack's head, "I won our fight earlier, you tell me your race first." The girl rolled her eyes, "Oh fine..." She didn't say anything, simply flipped down her hood, Jack's face lit up.
"Ah ha! A cat sith! That explains your agility!" The cat ears on the top of the girl's head flicked slightly as a night breeze drifted past and wafted the hair inside of them around. The girl folded her arms, becoming slightly impatient, "I've told you my race now you show me yours." Jack chuckled, "Oh man this is ironic..." He morphed into his wolf form, making the girl jump back with her cat-like agility. "A moon shifter? You're a dog!?" Jack growled slightly, "Hey! I'm a wolf! Not a dog!" The girl jumped again as she looked into his deep scarlet eyes, they seemed to express more emotion now that he was in his wolf form. "Y-You can still talk?" Jack rolled his eyes, "It's telepathy." The girl nodded as she looked at the big sitting do-I mean wolf. "I don't think I've ever seen another moon shifter before..." Jack's ears slumped down on his head, "I think I'm one of the last..." The girl raised a brow, "Think?" The wolf's ears perked up again as he remembered the words of a certain fortune teller, "My kind came up with the idea of us all living together as one big society to keep track of out numbers, I see now that it was the worst thing we could have chosen... But not everyone that got the message actually went." The girl became curious, "What happened to the society?" The wolf looked up into the stars and stayed silent for a while, "Humans...Humans happened..."
(With Ash)
The raven Haired teen slowly sat up and looked around, his entire body ached and was stiff. He rotated his legs over the edge of the bed and flinched as his bare feet made contact with the freezing floor boards. "How long was I out for..." He whispered to no one in particular, the teen froze when he heard a small squeak of a voice answer him, "3 Days..." It said nothing more, Ash searched for the source and spotted a bump in the bed of the adjacent room, it was Cynthia. Ash looked around but didn't see May anywhere...Or Jack...
The teen slowly stood up and staggered backwards slightly, once he had regained his balance he made his way over to a wooden chair that his clothes had been folded up and placed on. The teen donned his black shirt trousers and boots, once he was clothed, he stumbled over to the counter whilst trying not to trip over in the darkness. There wasn't a bucket of water in the basin so he decided to step out of the inn room and into the hallway, "I should leave Cynthia alone... She's been through enough..." He thought to himself as he closed the bedroom door, but not before grabbing a certain weapon and its quiver that was propped up against the chair that his clothes were on.
Ash looked around, to his left were more rooms spanning down the hallway to a dead end, to his right were also more rooms but at the end of the hallway there was a window and a set of stairs. Along the opposite wall was a long row of small windows that spanned all the way down each side of the teen to the end of the hallway. Ash walked over to the misty window and looked up into the night sky, the crescent moon was beginning to make its descent, "Nobody would be awake at this time of night..." He whispered to himself, adding another layer of mist to the cold glass.
Ash took a step backwards and held out his palm as his eyes lit up with a light blue glow, a small sphere that was about the size of an orange quickly formed in his hand, the raven haired teen then spread his fingers and the ball began to slowly orbit around his body. It provided a small amount of light but not enough so Ash created two more spheres that also began to orbit around his body. The balls formed a large enough area of light around the teen for him to see where he was going.
Ash reached the end of the hallway and took a peak through the steamy window. He noticed the figure of somebody in the courtyard outside, they were standing next to "A well!" The teen exclaimed as he quickly headed down the stairs, looking forward to his long awaited drink of crystal clear water.
(With May)
May's heart was in her throat and was beating like a drum. She could hear them. The creatures in the darkness. They scurried around, keeping to the darkness of the shadows. The squeaks that made up the communication for these horrible creatures suddenly broke out into menacing hisses. Two of them were fighting over something... May was wondering why they hadn't attacked yet when she noticed a bottle come rolling out of the darkness, there were scratches all over it... One thing happened that made May feel terrified, the squeaks and hisses all went silent at the same time, the teen dreaded the worst as she felt goose bumps rising up on her skin. The silence dragged on for a few minutes that felt like a few years, it was deafening. The brunette thought she spotted a light out of the corner of her eye but as soon as she snapped her head in that direction, it was gone. What ever was watching her had gone silent, but why? Her question was answered in one sound, a far off howl. A sound that made hope build up in her chest. It resounded through the still air of the night, telling anything that threatened its source's friends one thing. "I'm coming for you..."
(With Jack)
"What are you doing?! Do you wana alert the entire city's garrison?!" Whined a very panicked girl, Jack morphed back into his human form and led down on the tiles of the roof with his eyes looking into the night sky. "Just lettin' some people know that I'm still breathing." The girl scoffed, "The whole city? Your letting the wrong people know..." Jack took a look at the girl, he watched her ears twitch nervously at every little sound, he chuckled slightly, the girl rolled her eyes. "Let me guess. Your gonna say that they're so fluffy! Or they're so big! Or ask if you can touch them" She said each example in a goofy voice, Jack laughed, "Are you kidding? I hate people messing with my tail, I know what it feels like, it's weird..." The girl scratched the back of her head, "Oh yeah..."
Jack struck up a conversation, "So what's a cat sith doing so far from her homelands?" The girl sighed as she sat down and threw a piece of broken tile over the edge of the tower, "Haven't you heard? The desert Kingdom is in turmoil..." Jack raised a brow as he looked into the girls distressed eyes, "How so?" He questioned, she sighed again, "People are saying that a curse has been laid upon the land, the crops don't grow properly and even when they do they're poisonous... Ancient warriors are being raised in their tombs by some unknown force, they wander the deserts and slaughter anybody they come across. the only safe places are the towns that have churches and the desert capital itself since they are protected by the blessings of the goddess of the earth. There's a problem though, since the towns are the only safe places, merchants can't make a safe journey without being attacked and killed. People are starving to death..."
Jack slowly nodded, "Sounds bad..." She scoffed, "Yeah no kidding... The people are blaming the king, they say he's become tinted with evil or something- I don't know, it all sounds stupid to me..." Jack looked into the stars, "And what do you think?" The girl reclined backwards, "I just want things to go back to the way they used to be, my village was attacked... 'Archers of old' is what I think the people were screaming before they were killed. By the time the soldiers got there, only a few people were left alive..." Jack thought for a moment, "I'm gonna put two and two together here and suggest that the capital is swarming with refugees." She nodded, "Yep, and the worst thing is, the king is only letting people in if they have money. Anybody who tries to get in without money is killed, even woman and children." She shuddered, "Although...Not all woman are turned away..." Jack got the point, "I was actually heading that way with my group..." He said after a while of silence, the girl sat up, "You should seriously reconsider, me and my grandfather barely made it out alive!" Jack was contemplating of whether to tell this girl about his group's quest or not, he grinned. "Hey, if you got through it then it'll be a breeze for me!" She pouted and was about to counter but the girl suddenly yanked her dagger out of its sheathe as a cold look appeared on her face, "You hear that moon shifter?" Jack was already in a squatting position, ready for action, "Yep, below us, in the street."
The two of them peaked over the edge of the tower, "I can't see anything..." She whispered, it was true that cat siths had good eye sight but it as meant for range in the wide open deserts of their homelands. It was the opposite for Jack, he could see clearly into the street below, there was a huge pack of sewer maggots surging past the base of the tower. The brunette had to cover his nose from the rancid stench, a feeble attempt to block out the smell.
Sewer maggots were disgusting creatures that thrived in the underbelly of big cities, making their home in the muck and filth of the disease ridden sewers where nobody dared to venture. "What? What's wrong?" Asked a confused girl when she saw Jack covering his nose, "Sewer maggots, tons of em'" "What?! What are they doing on the surface?!" Jack shrugged, "I don't know but they're heading in the direction that I'm going so I gotta go!" The brunette stood up and turned to face the blondette, "It's been an honour meeting you..." He scrated the back of his head with a goofy smile, "I didn't catch your name..." Th girl rolled her eyes as she shook his outstretched hand, "I'm Korrina, and you are?" Jack grinned, "Jack Nightblood" Jack's grin turned into a determined smile, "You know Korrina, I'm heading towards the desert kingdom at some point during my journey." She didn't like that but Jack continued anyway, "If you're interested in winning your homeland back then I'm sure our paths will cross again!" A smile slowly broke out on her face after a while, "Ha...Yeah! Okay! When we next meet we'll spar again! I won't lose to you twice!" She said excitedly, Jack laughed as he stepped backwards and gave her a two finger salute before morphing into his werewolf form, taking her by surprise. Jack took one step forward, growled slightly and then let loose a longer more high pitch howl than before, he then launched off of the tower and onto the roof tops below.
"And stop doing that in cities!" Was the last thing he heard his perfume wearing friend shouting at him as he bounded towards his destination.
(With May)
May screamed as she watched a massive maggot creature launch out of the shadows towards her, she saw her life flashing before her eyes, just when she thought it was all over an aura sphere came barrelling from her left and directly into the creature's side. The impact blew the monster to pieces, May looked for the creature's attacker and spotted Ash, he had a grin on his face and another aura sphere ready between his palms. "May duck!" He shouted, May didn't hesitate, she dropped down to her knees as another sphere flew over here head and took the life of yet another gigantic maggot creature. They were all coming out of the shadows now, there were hundreds of them...
"May" Ash said getting the brunette's attention, "Use this!" He shouted as he threw her weapon to her, the brunette caught the bow and its quiver perfectly, instantly pulling an arrow ready as she did. "Thanks Ash!" She shouted back as she let the arrow loose, sending it deep into the flesh of an incoming maggot. The two teens moved so that they were back to back, "I suppose you can use this to get back into shape..." May said, trying to lighten the mood, Ash chuckled as he stabbed an approaching maggot with an aura sword.
(10 minutes later)
Ash and May were both becoming exhausted, Ash because he hadn't eaten in ages, May because she hadn't been sleeping properly for the past three days. Ash sliced yet another enemy, ha had lost track of how many he had killed, the teen cursed as another maggot launched into the air from behind it. He didn't have enough time to react, was this it? His question was answered when a wooden barrel came flying from his right and smashed into the maggot, it hit the ground and turned into little more than a sack of jelly. "Was that you May?" The brunette looked over her shoulder at the raven haired teen, "Like hell I could throw that!" She shouted as she shot three maggots at once with three arrows. Ash looked up to the roof of the surrounding buildings and spotted a towering humanoid figure that was covered in hair and ad glowing red eyes. It let off a chest rattling roar and launched itself straight into the swarm of maggots that were to the left of May and Ash. The impact from its landing either crushed many of the maggots flat or sent them flying limp. "You two need some help?" "Jack!" Both of the teens shouted happily, the beast growled as it grabbed the nearest maggot and squeezed it into jelly with its immense strength, it then went to work throwing deadly punches that shattered the bodies of anything that they hit or claw slashes that tore through the flesh of their victims like knives through butter.
(15 minutes later)
Ash, May, and Jack were all panting. Scattered around them were the corpses of all of the maggots that had dared attack them. Ash dropped to his knees, "P-Please...*Pant*...Tell me...*Pant*...That the well...Is clean...*Pant*" The teen said as he pointed weakly over to the cobble stone structure, Jack raised a brow as he morphed into his human from and walked over to the cobblestone structure. Both of the teens instantly took note of his new outfit but both silently agreed to bring it up later. Jack arrived at the well and took a peak over the edge, he instantly recoiled backwards, "Awww man! Ugh! That's disgusting!" Ash groaned, "AGGGHHH Don't tell me!" Jack nodded with a distressed face, "Yeah man, there's totally nothing in there" Ash dropped to the ground, "Awww... I'm so thirsty..." May looked at Jack to see him with three fingers up, two, one, "Hey! Wait a minute!" Jack and May both broke out into laughter.
OH MAN! My fingers hurt... Ow ow. This chapter was always there in the back of my mind... But now it's done! Happy days! Thank you all for reading! Don't forget to review and let me know what you think of my story so far! Sorry for any typos, I tend to get so sucked up in the story that I forget to check every so often. Until next time!