Well, here is chapter twenty eight. Thank you for all the well wishes, my sugery went well. Enjoy!

"I SWEAR THAT THE NEXT TIME I SEE THOSE RABBITS I WILL GRILL THEM WITH MY OWN HANDS!" Sanji bellowed as we ran down the mountain at full speed, the avalanche hot on our heels.

'I'll help! Those things are going to die!' I snarled mentally as my paws flew through the snow, still holding the position behind Luffy.

"WHAT ARE WE GOING TO DO SANJI!" Luffy demanded to know.

"How should I know! The only thing I know is first, we must protect Nami, second, third, fourth, and even fifth, we must protect Nami with our own lives!" Sanji pointed out to us and I couldn't even find the energy to bark in agreement as I ran.

"I know but how can we protect her?" Luffy cried.

'IT'S ALMOST ON US!' I yelped mentally as I felt the rumbling get closer to us. 'RUN LUFFY! RUN!'

"THERE!" Sanji cried as he pointed out a little cliff ledge in the snow. "CAN YOU SEE THAT CLIFF?

"Cliff?" Luffy asked as he looked around for it.

"Let's run there! As long as we stay there, we should be okay!" Sanji informed us and we quickly changed our course.

"IT'S COMING!" Sanji cried as we pumped our legs to reach the spot, the fury of falling white snow only meters from us.

"AHHH!" Luffy screamed out.

'JUST JUMP!' I encouraged them mentally although they couldn't hear me so I think it was mostly encouragement for myself.

I watched as both of them managed to jump up onto the cliff ledge, following shortly behind them as the cold snow brushed past my tail.

"OKAY, WE'RE SAFE!" Sanji pointed out but as I turned around I noticed that he had spoken too early. There was a wave of white snow looming above us, ready to crash down right where we were. "WHAT! WE'RE NOT HIGH ENOUGH!"

"AHH!" Luffy cried out as we all jumped up in the air at the same time to escape the snow that rushed over where we were just standing. I twisted awkwardly in the air, white all around me. "WE'LL BE COVERED WITH SNOW!"

"AHH!" Sanji yelped as he fell back into the snow and I angled my body to thump down into the snow next to him. It wasn't as easy as it seemed though; I got sucked under the snow like it was quicksand, not snow. I felt my body flip over a few times before I felt a hand latch onto the back of my scruff, yanking me back up to the surface. I spluttered for a few seconds mentally thanking Sanji for saving my ass yet again.

"SANJI! Grab my hand!" I heard Luffy cried and saw Sanji clutch Luffy's outstretched arm with his other hand that wasn't holding me up.

"We're safe!" Sanji gasped and he was pulled up onto of the pine tree Luffy was riding. Sanji quickly pulled me up with him and I settled down on the log behind him, my nails digging into it as I tried to cling on. Luffy was squatting on the log behind me, trying to direct it.

"That's right! We are safe but we're going down the mountain!" Luffy pointed out over the roar of the falling snow.

"ARE YOU KIDDING!" Sanji ranted. "We spent ages trying to climb this mountain! We were so close! Can you find any way to stop this? Damn those rabbits, I swear that I will put them in the hot pot next time!"

I noticed sudden movement all around us and my eyes widened to see over 20 lapins surrounding us as they rode their own trees like snowboards.

"WHAT THE..!" Luffy yelped as both his and Sanji's jaws dropped.

'This… This is not normal!' I mentally muttered in shock. 'NORMAL ANIMALS CANNOT RIDE TREES LIKE SNOWBOARDS!'

"GRR!" Two of the lapin's growled as they swerved their boards to try and swipe at us.

"RUN!" Sanji order as Luffy just managed to angle the tree we were sliding on to dodge the swipe of the two lapins.

We need to do something! I need to do something!

"WHAT'S WITH THEM ANYWAY!" Luffy yelled out loud as they swiped at us again. We all managed to duck down low to avoid the swipe.

"GRR!" One of the rabbits cried as it lunged for me, mouth first. With a yelped I pressed myself flat down against the wood, its teeth snapping a hairs length away from my back.

"LUFFY! LOOK OUT!" Sanji cried out as he pointed in front of us.

'OH, FOR FUCKS SAKE!' I snapped as I saw a large rock in our path and with the rabbits surrounding us it didn't look like there was anything we could do!

"A ROCK!" Luffy gasped. "WE'RE GOING TO HIT IT!"

"BUT YOU'RE CARRYING NAMI, IT'S GOING TO HURT HER TOO!" Sanji yelled at Luffy as we seemed to get closer to it. I looked nervously back and forth between the two. What were we meant to do!

Suddenly both Luffy and I were picked up by Sanji and thrown off the log, flying into the air as we both watched him with large eyes. I felt the air swishing all around me as I tried to control my flight.

'SANJI!' I cried out.

"A gentleman should always be gentle with a lady," He told Luffy and then I watched in horror as the log he was on hit the rock as shattered into many little pieces. Sanji's body was tossed into the air like a rag doll as he went flying away.

A lot of the lapins around us also went flying off their logs as they were also thrown into the air with us. When I saw one aiming to hit Sanji as he went flying through the air, I quickly jolted into action. He had saved me more times than I care to count, it was time to try and repay him.

I flipped my body around in the air by kicking my legs, purposely flinging myself in the path of one of the falling lapins. It saw me coming and took a swipe at me with its massive paws, just what I wanted.

"SANJI! MAMORI!" I heard Luffy calling from the background and I saw Sanji get kicked by one of the rabbits. Damn, I needed to get to him fast!

I continued to angle my body into the right position as the rabbit's paws hit me. I took the blow with my legs, sending me shooting forward like a bullet to where Sanji was falling. I gritted my teeth when I felt a jolt of pain spread up my sore leg again.

I watched as Sanji hit the snow, slamming into the snow right next to him as it rushed around us in a torrent. Before I could sink, I lashed out with my teeth and managed to latch onto the sleeve of Sanji's jacket; sinking my teeth deep into it to keep my grip.

"Mamori!" I heard him gasp weakly before we were both sucked under the current of rushing snow, the lapin's falling all around us.

"YOU IDIOTS! WHO TOLD YOU TO DO THAT!" I heard Luffy yelled at as we sunk, my body being flipped and swung around under the snow. I kept a firm grip on Sanji, even as my head thrashed and pulled against the current as it tried to separate us. I was not letting go! "SANJI! MAMORI!"

I lost track of what was up and what was down quickly, the snow choking me all around. We seemed to tumble along in the snow for a fair distance at an insane speed, my thick coat protecting me from the biting cold and the rough impacts.

I got so dizzy and disorientated that it took me a few minutes to notice when I had finally come to stop; every part of my body numb.

'Fuck…' I groaned mentally. 'Let's not do that again.'

I tightened my mouth and mentally celebrated as I still felt Sanji's coat sleeve in my grasp. That alone gave me the strength to wiggle around and weakly dig closer to him. I tunneled through the snow to Sanji's side, whimpering when I saw that he was unconscious. I knew a human wouldn't last long in these conditions and that I needed to get him out of the deep snow quickly. I needed to dig him out, but which way was up?

I twitched my nose as I tried to gather the scents of the area, it was hard because my nose was frozen and being buried under snow did not help at all. Finally I smelt where the fresh air was coming from and started to dig that way. It was a lot easier to dig through snow than it was to dig through dirt but it was still damn tiring. Add that to getting carted down a mountain by an avalanche and it equals one tired ass dog.

I made sure to dig diagonally so that I could drag Sanji out when I reached the top. With every stroke of my paws I flung snow back, digging to the surface while being careful not to throw snow on Sanji. As well as digging, I also wiggled my way through some parts of the snow, creating a rounded tunnel. It was only a few meters to the surface and when I finally broke through I stuck my head up to glance around like a meerkat. I didn't see any of those damn rabbits around, so I dove back down into the snow, crawling back to Sanji on my stomach.

I snagged the back of his jacket in my jaws and slowly began to drag him through the snow and back up the top. A few times I had to stop and dig a part of the tunnel a bit wider so that I could fit his body through. When I finally managed to drag him out into the open, dragging him across the snowy ground and away from the hole. I then collapsed to the ground on my side next to Sanji. I whined as I squeezed my eyes closed, my chest heaving as I took short, gasping breaths.

Every part of my body ached now that I had stopped, I couldn't feel the pads on my paws now that I had stopped digging.

'No!' Part of my mind snapped at me. 'Don't you DARE give up now. If you stop and lay here in the snow you'll both die; dog or not! And what about Nami and Luffy? Are you just going to leave them to fend for themselves! Get off your ass and keep going! It is NOT time for you to give up!'

I snapped my eyes back open at my conscience's harsh words, looking at Sanji. He was still passed out laying in the snow, unmoving. If I left him like that he'd die pretty quickly…

I sighed once more, dragging myself sluggishly to my feet, not even bothering to shake all the snow off my coat. I stuck my nose under Sanji's shoulder, awkwardly wiggling myself under him as I tried to get him on my back.

With a bit more wiggling, thrashing, and mentally swearing I managed to get Sanji sprawled across my back, his arms and legs dangling in the snow. For a skinny guy he sure weighed a ton. Just the weight of him on my back already had my paws sinking deeper into the snow.

I took one step forward, dragging him with me. It was shortly followed by another, and another, my mind zoning out as I labored through the snow back up the damn mountain to find Luffy and Nami.

"MAMORI! SANJI!" A voice called out and my head shot up to see Luffy jogging towards me. I had only been walking a few minutes but every part of my body was still protesting.

"Good..." He sighed seeing that we were both still alive as he reached down to pat my head. I rubbed the top of my head against his hand, my tail giving a lifeless wag. I then let out a whine at him when I noticed that he didn't have his jacket on anymore and that Nami wasn't with him. "I left Nami back on rock to come find you guys. We better hurry back and get to her to the old witch! Here, let me take Sanji."

As Luffy's hands reached out to grab Sanji off my back, I let out a growl and snapped at the air just before his fingers, making sure not to actually bite him.

"Wha!" He spluttered as he pulled back. "Mamori!"

I let out a pissy snort as I glared at him, my tail giving one dismissive flick. I then began to walk forward again, taking Sanji with me as I headed back the way Luffy had come. I wasn't about to let him carry Sanji AND Nami. I wasn't sure he would make it to the mountain if he had to do that. I'd carry Sanji.

I heard the snow crunching besides me as he caught up; staying silent. I think he'd gotten the meaning of my snap pretty quickly. Good, I'd trained him well.

"Grr!" I heard a small voice snarl just in front of Luffy and I as we walked towards it. We had gone back and picked up Nami and then Luffy and I had silently continued our journey up the mountain. Luffy hadn't tried to get Sanji off me again either. "Grr!"

A frown crossed my muzzle as we got closer and I noticed that it was the fluffy, cute little bunny digging at the snow where a large paw was just sticking out. Its parent must be buried in the snow…

I lengthened my stride, dragging Sanji with me as I walked up the tiny bunny. It didn't seem to notice me until I started to dig at the snow where the larger rabbit paw was and when it saw it me it growled loudly, flashing it's sharp little bunny teeth. I ignored it and dug up the paw a bit more before Luffy walked up behind me and grabbed onto the paw that I dug up. I took a few awkward steps back as Luffy pulled the giant rabbit up out of the snow before dropping it and continuing to walk on. I sent the rabbits one last look as the little bunny threw itself at the larger one with a cry before trudging on into the snow after Luffy.

The wind battered against Luffy and I as we continued to battle against it to carry on. My body was way beyond the point of tired by now. I could no longer feel any parts of my body, they were all numb. I think the pads on my feet might even be frostbitten, but now was not the time to worry. For all I know Luffy, Sanji, and Nami could all be frostbitten too.

I glanced up in time to see Luffy send a determined glance at the mountain, "We will get you there so don't either of you die!"

I brushed my head up against Luffy's leg as he said that, a comforting rumbling sound producing itself from my chest. Luffy looked down at me and smiled but both our heads snapped up as a voice yelled out across the snow.

"LOOK! LORD WAPOL! LET'S KILL THEM!" I heard a creature come thundering up to us, tearing straight past us before spinning around stopping right in our path. I snarled lowly, swishing my tail at them. It seemed the hippo man was back and he brought a chess piece, an afro man, and a demented half black and half white clown with him.

"Wait! You've disrespected me too many times you little brat!" The hippo man spat at us from on top of his snow camel thing.

"Get out of my way!" Luffy called out and I backed it up with my growl. I couldn't fight now because I had Sanji! How were we going to get out of this?

"Are you dreaming?" He laughed at us. "Why do I have to let you go? Those things that you are carrying are about to die anyway."

'Not if I can help it!' I snapped at him but of course he didn't hear me and I was ignored.

Luffy just silently turned around and began to walk off in the opposite direction causing me to follow him obediently.

"Hey! Stop!" The hippo cried after us. "I've come up with a new law. Write it down, Chess. Whoever turns his back on the king shall suffer death. NOW GO AND KILL ALL OF THEM! WHETHER THEY ARE WEAK OR NOT!"

"Yes, my Lord!" Three voices called out as they launched themselves at Luffy and I.

"What the..?" Luffy gritted out in anger as we both turned around to face out attackers.

"BIKKURI MĀRIMO*!" The afro man called out, throwing his iron, spiked ball fists at Luffy.

"TSUME HAYASHI*!" Another voice called at the same time and I had to throw myself to the side as an odd looking weapon sliced through the air, quickly followed by another swipe with the same weapon in the other hand, ducking to dodge it this time.

"DAMN IT!" Luffy yelled as he straightened back out. I quickly jumped back and over to Luffy's side. I looked back to who had just attacked me and I saw the demented clown, half his suit in black and the other half in white. Even his face, skin, and hair were painted white or black in a symmetrical line. In his hands he held two identical weapons, the looked like a stick with a mini curved blade coming out of the top. Attached to the bottom was a chain and a small anchor looking ball of metal. (A.N. Kusari-gama)

I knew what I had to do now… It's not like I could have climbed such a steep mountain with Luffy anyway.

I stepped in front of Luffy, tipping my shoulder so that I gently lowered Sanji onto the ground by Luffy's feet.

"Wha!" Luffy yelped in confusion. "Mamori!"

I angled my head back to look at him before shaking my head and flashed him an impish smirk. I then jerked my head roughly in the direction on the mountain.

Luffy's eyes widened quickly in comprehension, "But…!"

"You can't get away from us!" The chess piece called out as he fired several arrows at us. Luffy quickly scooped up Sanji and jumped out of the way as I slid around the arrows neatly to avoid them, I felt so much lighter now that I had gotten rid of Sanji off my back. I then spread my weight out on my legs, my nails digging into the snow.

'GO NOW LUFFY!' I begged him.

"Mamori!" Luffy's voiced called out from behind me. "You'd better come back!"

A ghost of a smile crossed my jaw as I let out a loud bark at Luffy. I dearly hoped I would make it back alive to him. But maybe, just maybe, I'd bitten off too much this time.

I heard Luffy running away from behind me, taking Nami and Sanji safely with him.

"Winter empire's secret technique: Yukigesho*," The hippo man called out and without me even blinking they all seemed to disappear. Shit!

I swore mentally as I spun around, slipping my knife away again as I took off after Luffy. No doubt they were going to aim for him!

"This is weird? Did they give up?" Luffy's asked as he turned around to face me as he ran. I sent him a look or fear as a huge mouth popped up out of the snow right in front of Luffy. Seeing my look he spun around in time to jump away when the hippo man snapped his mouth closed.

"AHH!" Luffy yelped as he went flying up into the air just as I reached the hippo man. I jumped up onto his face, using it as a jumping point to launch me up into the air after Luffy as the other three men appeared in mid-air, their weapons aimed at Luffy.

"This is our fighting technique: Yukigesho!" They cried as the same time as they aimed their attacks at Luffy. The afro man had his arm pulled back to punch Luffy with his iron-ball spiked hand and the chess man had an arrow pulled back. The clown had his arms crossed over in an 'X' shape, his weapons at the ready.

I knew that I couldn't exactly shove Luffy out of the way due to the fact that Nami was still seriously ill, so instead I latched onto his foot, using my weight to spin him around and send him flying away from them with me in his place. I closed my eyes and waited to get hit but I heard three identical thuds and felt no pain. I opened my eyes to see three lapins had jumped in and sucker punched the men back to the ground.

I landed on the ground at the same time the lapins did, pivoting around to face off with the chess, clown, and afro again with a lapin on either side of me and one behind me. I wasn't even going to ask why they were helping. I didn't want to know; I was just glad they were.

"Polar bears?" I heard Luffy mumbled from the back as he also landed safely on the ground.

"LAPINS!" The hippo man yelped.

"Are they protecting that kid and dog?" Afro man asked.

"That's impossible! Lapins have never liked us humans!" The chess man argued as they both stood back up.

"Damn animals!" The clown man groaned as he got up as well.

"Grr!" One of the lapins cried as it flexed its muscles and turned its head back to Luffy.

"Thanks for helping us!" Luffy cried out as he finally took off running again, leaving me and the lapins behind to deal with these guys.

"DON'T LET HIM GET AWAY!" Hippo cried after Luffy.

"Yes Sir!" His minions cried out but more lapins appeared to block off their escape route.

"What are they doing!" The hippo man yelped as I took a threatening step forward whilst snarling. I heard some of the lapins around me growl in response, ready to back me up. I felt a lot better that I had someone to fight with now. I still doubted I'd fare well against these guys though…

I took a deep breath in through my nose, my eyes narrowing dangerously in concentration as I shifted into a fighting stance. I plucked my knife up again as I charged at them with a battle cry, the lapins following my example.

I ran straight over the snow, my paws dragging in it to slow me down. I made a direct beeline towards them, the chess man pulling back and letting lose an arrow aimed at me. I dove to the side at the last second, the arrow sliding past me. One of the lapins jumped straight past me, swiping at the chess man.

"KUROSU KIRU*!" The clown cried as he lunged at me, slicing his weapons in an 'X' shape as he tried to strike me. I jumped up and over him to avoid the blow, yanking out my knife in mid-air. The clown jumped up in the air after me, swinging his left blade in an arc as he tried to cut me.

I flipped my body around somewhat awkwardly, just managing to catch his weapon on my knife. I grunted and shoved my paws out, catching him the stomach as I used it to push myself away from him.

I landed on all four paws, slipping into a defensive position automatically as the clown landed crouched in the snow. I saw a lapin go flying through the air over my head as the afro man punched it away, with more lapins launching themselves at the other two men.

"You're mine dog, I need a new snowsuit and your fur looks perfect for it," The clown jeered at me, quickly jumping forward to attack me again.

I swore mentally and threw myself backwards as the blade whooshed past my chest, just missing my bandanna. Before I managed to recover he swung the blade in the other hand causing me to dodge back again, then he repeated that with the hand he used to fist time. He kept swiping at me like this as I continued to dance backwards through the snow, ducking and sliding to the side and back as I avoided the blows.

Back. Duck. Back. Dodge. Back. Slide. Back.

THUMP

A breathless gasp escaped my throat as I felt my hinds connect with something solid, grinding my dodging to a stop. My eyes flicked up to see branches looming above me, signaling that I had run into a tree. I saw a smirk cross the clown's face as he swung his weapon at me now that I had nowhere to go to. I brought my blade up to block the attack, sparks flying as the blades met violently. While he held back my knife with one of his weapons he swung his other blade at my side causing me to drop myself in the thick snow. He stumbled forward slightly, his blade sinking into the trunk of the tree.

I jumped back up, driving my deadly knife forward, aiming for his stomach but he managed to pull his weapon out in time to dodge my blow. He jumped back, skidding to a stop in the snow in front of me.

"Hmm, you're going to be harder work than I thought. You fight well, for a dog that is," He sneered at me as he quickly unfurled both the chains on his weapons.

He spun the chains around once before letting them fly right over my head. I had tensed only to cock my head in confusion as the chains completely missed me, only to wrap around the branches above my head.

'What in the world…' I mumbled.

He slipped his right foot back through the snow, leaning his body back as he roughly yanked back on his chains. My head shot up as I heard a large rustling sound only to see a ton of white coming straight for me. He had purposely done that so the snow from the branches would fall on me!

I couldn't dodge this one on time, only being able to tuck my head in as a heavy load of snow was dumped on me. It was a lot heavier than I thought and my legs gave out on me, my breath rushing out of my chest.

I waited until everything seemed to settle around me, giving me time to catch my breath. I then wiggled around the snow a bit before shoving myself back up to my feet, the snow showering all around me as it was thrown off.

The sight I was met with was two blades on poles coming straight at me, giving me no prior warning or time to dodge. I tried to dive to the side as one of the blades was raked across my left shoulder, leaving a huge bleeding line. The other blade flew straight for my head, slicing a thick cut right above my right eye.

I stumbled away to the side slightly before launching myself back at the clown, my blade sinking into his thigh this time. He cried out in pain, driving his, what I now figured to be, kusari-gama point down at me. I didn't feel like getting stabbed again and I wouldn't have enough time to pull my knife out so I let go of the knife and darted away to the left of him, backing up as I snarled.

He grunted, holding both his weapons in one hand and wrapping the other hand around the blade in his leg. He then crudely yanked it straight out, crying in pain as he did so. His shoulders rose and fell as he tried to control his heavy breathing brought on by the pain, his fist clamped around the hilt of my bowie knife as blood ran down his leg.

His eyes lifted up to meet my own, fury boiling behind his pupils as he glared. The muscles on the top of my muzzle twitched as I ran my tongue over my guns teasingly, clearly issuing a challenge.

"You are going to die now dog!" He spat at me as he threw my knife away, sending it flying through the air and far away from both of us.

Something wet ran down over my right eye causing it to clamp closed as the wet substance continued to trail down my cheek. The smell of blood burnt my nose, making me realize the cut above my eyes was bleeding and blinding that eye. My shoulder also had a huge cut on it that was bleeding, the red substance staining and matting my orange and white fur.

He threw his other kusari-gama back into its original hand, spinning the sticks around as the chains dragged loosely in the snow. Damn… I had no knife to block his attacks anymore and he had two weapons with blades and chains. Fun.

'Come on!' I chided myself. 'Think, what can you do now!'

I came up blank… Every plan I made had risks higher than the chance of it succeeding. If I tried to bite him it would leave me open to both his blades and chains. I can't keep dodging him for ever because he does have chains on that weapon. I couldn't try and get my knife because I would have to go past him to get it, leaving myself completely open again.

A took a deep breath in an attempt to compose myself somewhat and to clear my train of thought. My eyes fluttered shut as I calmed down. I ground my paws into the snow, my legs slipping into a balanced position as my heart rate seemed to slow down.

I won't think. That's my plan of strategy. It worked back on the boat, why not now?

"What the…" I heard the clown muttered as he watched me.

'Calm. Calm. Calm,' I mentally chanted.

"Haha, well if you really want to give up and die that easily, I'll be happy to kill you," The clown laughed as he began to charge forward, his feet crunching against the snow.

'Calm. Calm. Calm!' I continued to tell myself, my eyes still squeezed closed.

…..Thump

"GAHHH!" I heard his battle cry as his footsteps got closer.

….Thump

'Calm! Calm! Cal-NOW!' I snapped as my left eye shot open, my right still glued together with blood.

My body jumped straight into action seeing both blades being brought down at me, throwing myself to the left side of him. I vaguely saw shock covering his expression at my sudden movements but I quickly blocked it out. I landed on his left side, my front paws slapping down into the snow first. I used the motion of the jump and the position of my paws to pivot my body around in a twirl. When my back feet brushed against the snow I launched myself off again, jaw opening as I flashed my teeth.

Thump

He began to bring his left arm up to block with his weapon but I moved too fast, my front paws slapping down on his arm and shoving it back down. My head lashed out like a snake striking, my mouth closing aggressively around his left shoulder.

CRACK

The sound of breaking bones echoed numbly in my ears as he cried out in pain, stumbling back in the snow. His left weapon dropped limply out of his grasp, his right hand swinging up to attack me with his other weapon. I braced my paw against his chest, shoving back roughly with some force. Pain sprung up my cut shoulder but I kept my grip on his own shoulder as I pushed back, my sharp teeth shredding through flesh like a blade.

Thump

As my teeth slid their way out of his shoulder I dropped to the ground, ducking under his weapon, I then pressed my stomach flat against the tickling snow. Due to the force of his swung and his inability to transfer the created energy onto another object, he stumbled forward, his feet coming down towards me.

Thump

I quickly rolled to the side, flipping over on the snow, purposely shoving my back legs in front of him. His feet connected with my legs, causing him to trip over, falling into the snow on his stomach. I quickly scrambled back up and jumped onto him before he could move, my front paws pressing down his shoulder while my back legs pinned his hips down against the ground.

Thump

My head shot out and I clamped my jaw around the back of his neck, my needle like teeth sinking into the flesh to draw blood. I heard the clown cry out from under me but I drowned his cry out with a booming growl, tightening my grip to stop his struggling. I pushed down on my paws, my claws sinking into his clothing as another warning. The growl continued to rumble out of my chest as my sides heaved, my senses slowly surfacing again.

…Thump...

The tense air around us was only interrupted by my continued growling as I considered what to do with him. I didn't want to break his neck; I'm not that cruel. I couldn't whip out my blade and knock him out because he had thrown it away. I need to knock him out but the minute I moved he would try to attack me again.

'1… 2…' I counted down to myself.

'…3!' I threw myself off him, letting go of his neck, landing in the snow besides him. In a spilt second he had flipped over onto his back, slicing his blade towards me. I had anticipated this and had already angled my body so that I could lean back just in time to doge his weapon. I then dove forward, slamming my forehead against his own.

CRUNCH

The sound of flesh hitting flesh and bone smashing into bone echoed across the barren landscape. His eyes flickered shut as he slumped against the ground, a trail of blood gathering against his forehead.

I stumbled back a few steps before I tripped dizzily over my own feet and ended up sprawled into the snow.

'Oh my, OUCH!' I flailed mentally. 'Not your fucking smartest idea!'

I laid quietly in the snow as the world spun around me, my eyes squeezing closed until the spinning sensation passed.

My left eyes shot open after a few seconds as I suddenly realized that I hadn't seen the other three men and the lapins since I had gotten into a fight with this guy! In all the dodging I had done I had gotten further away from them than I thought! I couldn't even hear any other sounds of fighting anymore either.

I was still so damn tired, not one muscles in my body wasn't hurting at least a tiny bit. I bit back my irritation and heaved myself back up to my paws. I sent a look at the clown, glad to see him still passed out. I then skittered past him, scooping up my knife and gently putting away. The wound on my shoulder was rather close to the knife holder and it looked slightly deep too. Oh well, it was only a flesh wound, right?

I hesitantly trotted back to the area where I had last seen all the lapins and the sight that met me had my blood boiling in raw fury.

The lapins were all spread around in the snow, all of the covered in some sort of injury or another. The hippo, chess, and afro man weren't anywhere to be seen. They must have already left. I ground my teeth together in frustration, my one working eye narrowing dangerously. I saw the tracks of that odd snow creature that they had come here on made and noticed that the tracks led towards the mountain. I pressed my ears back against my skull and took a few steps forward before my whole world spun again. Everything turned black for a second as I spaced out and when I gathered my wits I noticed that I was sprawled on the ground. My body had finally been pushed far enough to shut down and seemed to be giving out before I could do any more damage to myself. I tried to swim to the surface but it seemed like I kept slipping further and further into the black abyss, eventually loosing myself. I was dragged away from the cold white landscape to a warm black world.

*Surprise Marimo (or Marimo's Surprise in Funimation/Viz)

*Swift Claw

*Literally means: Snow-Covered. Funimation/Viz: Snow Powder Makeup

*Cross Cut

What does everyone else think of the new review button? I personally love it, they need to make more of the buttons on the site like this! xDD