Chapter 19

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Donnie and I dove behind a small cart stall as Dracon fire shot past us, then above us, destroying what looked to be a flower cart. Stems and petals went everywhere, whatever wasn't being disintegrated by the beams. Not far from us, Mihra dove behind a structure beam, all of us screaming in frustration and fear.

(Dammit, we gotta fight back!) I growled, ducking as another shot went over us, Donnie curling up a little closer to me. There wasn't much room to hide for both of us behind this cart.

We had gotten separated from Leo and Rachel, the two of them running left as we went right, and now they were somewhere on the floor above us, as we tried to avoid Dracon fire on the second floor.

We had tried to set up an attack, finding that Controllers were now flooding the mall. I was surprised to see there weren't any Hork-Bajir yet.

Then again, it was hard to hide the seven foot walking razor bladed creatures in such a big city...

"Aah!" Donnie yelped, covering his head again, and it was then I made a decision.

(Donnie, push it!)

He looked a little confused, then nodded as he pressed his back to the small cart, using his weight to slide it back slowly. I pressed my head up against it, using the tigers weight to push as well, hearing the controllers shout in surprise.

I heard more shouts, before I moved back a little, coiling my muscles and jumping at the top of the cart, then straight onto two of the controllers, knocking them down and smacking a Dracon beam out of one of their hands. The other tried to fire at me, but I dodged, clamping my jaws tightly over his arm, hearing him scream.

I moved as a third started to take a shot, finding it was knocked out of his hands, and a sharp hit to the back of the head had him collapsing to the ground.

I saw Donnie smile at me, Bo in his hand, then started to yell a warning about the fourth. Before I could though, I saw a body hit her, sending them both sliding across the ground, a tail wrapped around her throat, choking her.

Mihra looked up at us, about to say something, before flashlights were lighting up the places around us, jerking around.

(MOVE!) I yelled, turning and powering my legs for all it was worth, hearing the others follow.

I dove around a corner, almost skidding and hearing Donnie yelp as more shots were fired.

(In here!) I saw an oddly open store of some sort, diving in and turning back, watching as Donnie and Mihra ran inside after me.

Donnie grabbed for the gate above us, using all his weight to bring it down as quickly as possible, with me grabbing it with my claws before it slammed into the ground, pushing as quickly and as quietly down as possible.

(Hide!) We all dove behind shelves or the counter, tucking ourselves as far as possible into the darkness.

I kept my body as still as possible, hearing shouts of confusion, seeing a light pass above me. I didn't move, too afraid that any movement would attract attention. I started to tense, finding it was still moving above me, then slowly down...

"This way!" Someone shouted, and the light vanished above me, then several footsteps thundered off to the right of us.

None of us moved until there was absolute silence outside, and I finally looked around, seeing we were in some sort of home-wares shop. Cutlery and plates and strange little new inventions...

Tigress in a china shop? I wondered as I moved to see Donnie stand up from behind a stall, Mihra from behind the counter.

(Everyone okay?) I finally asked, seeing Donnie nod as I went over to him, Mihra climbing up on the top of the counter, almost sitting on it like a pet.

"You still have not explained how you can change, human" Mihra looked at me, her head tilted sideways.

(And you still haven't explained how you ended up on earth) I shot back, looking over as Donnie pulled up his blue screen, shifting his glasses up as he now worked, and I saw little red dots appear.

"There are bogeys everywhere. We're surrounded" He frowned, looking down at me.

(Dammit Ithiell, where the hell are you!) I snapped, letting out a low growl. I felt Donnie put a hand on my back, looking up at him.

"I hope Leo and Rachel are okay"

I sighed (Me too. We should have followed-) I heard a thud outside, and all of us ducked a little. There was dead silence, before I looked around again.

(Let's see if there's a supply room in here. We can probably hide in there while we work out a plan) I told him, and he nodded.

Slowly, we made out way to the back of the store, with Mihra following, before we found a smallish room, possibly big enough for the three of us with a little moving space.

I shifted back, shutting the door behind us and locking it. It would buy us some time at least until we knew what our next move was.

"Okay, can you tell where Leo and Rach are?" I went back over to Donnie as he sat down, and I moved to sit next to him, a hand on his arm as he worked. Near us, Mihra looked confused again.

I'd had alot of respect for Serah's mum when I knew her. She was funny, sweet... and she always welcomed me in happily when I'd come over. Now, looking at her as a Chanaiben, I felt I didn't know her at all. She was acting strange, for one thing. And another... I was still a little annoyed at her for attacking first and asking questions later.

I think I now knew that fear Donnie had, when he thought I was going to die in front of his eyes. Watching as the fight was being drained out of him...

I didn't want to loose Donnie. I couldn't... I didn't think I could live knowing he wasn't there.

Was this was true love was? Always worrying?

"Okay, I got them" He said, and I turned to his little screen "They're still on the floor above us, but they're on the opposite end of the mall. They seemed to have stopped for the moment..."

We both knew that meant one of two things. Either they were hiding, or...

"Ithiell... who is he to you?" Mihra asked, and I looked over her.

"None of your business"

"He is a... Chanaiben...correct?"

"How about you wait to meet him and then you can ask him any questions you want" I muttered, staring at her.

"I understand your hostility Jade. But I could not have told-"

"Look...Mihra... I know there is alot of questions we both want answered from each other, but right now... we need to get out of here"

She looked confused, her ears half folded back against her head, those big grey eyes of hers wide, but then she nodded.

With that sorted, I turned back to Donnie.

"Okay, do we have any way to get to them, without running into too many-"

He shook his head "No, those controllers are everywhere. Even if we wanted to, there is no way we could get through without being seen"

I sighed, leaning half on him and half on the wall behind us, thinking.

"Are you...intimate... with this creature?" Mihra spoke up again, and I gave her a 'are-you-seriously-asking-that' look. She frowned, looking away.

"Okay... we need some firepower"

"Do you have something that you can shift-"

I shook my head "No, we need Dracon beams. It's the only way to level the playing field"

We both fell silent, and I looked around.

"Maybe... maybe we can lure some of them in here, and steal the weapons " I looked up at Donnie, who frowned down at me.

"What? You got a better idea sweetie?"

He sighed, shaking his head.

"This isn't the best idea you've had Jade"

I scoffed "I don't think any idea I've had recently has been good! In fact, I think they've all been terrible, wouldn't you agree?"

He laughed a little, going to say something, but instead hugging me a little.

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We lifted the big gate open, just enough to look like someone had slipped under. Donnie told me there were four controllers nearby, and we waited in the shadows, hoping they would come this way. After about five minutes though, it seemed like they hadn't really moved.

"Well, this isn't going well" Donnie muttered.

"Told you my ideas are terrible" I responded, standing up from where I'd been hiding.

"So...what now?" He asked. I knew he was worried about Leo, and the longer we waited the more they could be in trouble.

"I'll go out and-"

"Don't you dare" I saw him stand up, pointing at me, his eyes narrowed.

"Okay, okay" I put my hands up, shrugging a little as I did.

"Perhaps I should go. I am faster than either of you in your natural forms"

"I dunno about that" I muttered, looking at Donnie as he looked at me. Donnie was one hell of a ninja...

"Jade?" He asked me "What do you think?"

I looked over at Mihra, biting my lip and sighing.

"All right, do it. But don't die... Serah will never forgive me"

She nodded, and then was gone, looking over at Donnie. His Bo was out, and he frowned.

"Jade, I think you should shift. Don't want any more-"

"I know" I muttered, knowing he was right and closing my eyes.

I shifted into Rtaia's double, crouching down when I heard some commotion, seeing Donnie duck behind a shelf as well.

I heard a skid under the door, then a Dracon beam fired, hearing what sounded like glasses shattering.

"Under there!" Came the yell, hearing the gate sliding up and managing to peek over the counter as four people entered, Dracon beams leveled. One took another shot at Mihra, who I heard dive behind a shelf, hearing plates and whatever else hit the floor. I heard porcelain shatter, taking that moment and diving over the counter, watching as my opponent turned to look at me. But I was already on him, knocking him down and the gun out of his hands as I hit him with my tail as hard as possible.

I could see the others turning to me out of the corner of my eyes, but Donnie and Mihra were suddenly there, and I looked up as Donnie hit one of them hard, Mihra grabbing one by the throat and knocking him down and out in one hit.

TSSEEW!

The last one fired, and a sharp pain shot up my left shoulder, going to grab my arm and finding...

Well, I suddenly had one arm.

"No!" There was a hard thunk, then the last controller was down.

"Ow" I muttered, feeling Chanaiben blood spill as Donnie collapsed beside me.

"Return to your natural form" Mihra said, looking down at me. I nodded, grimacing and focusing on shifting back to myself.

When I finally had two arms again, Donnie threw his arms around me, muttering "And that's why you shift"

"I kno-"

"Hey, over here!"

Instantly we were all in motion, diving behind a large shelving unit, hearing more Controllers reach the front of the store. I pressed my back against it a little, shocked when it moved a little under my weight, instead just trying to crouch down as I saw the flashlights bouncing around near us, then "They were here!"

An idea hit me, and I tapped Donnie's arm, indicating to the shelf behind us, he looked confused, then he mouthed a silent "Oh" as I started to lean my back on it, pushing as well. I turned to my other side to see Mihra press herself against the shelf, and we all felt it start to tip.

There was a series of shouts before the whole thing crashed, and I turned to see feet and arms sticking out from under the fallen unit, finding that two of the controllers had managed to avoid the destruction.

Before they could move, I jumped over the unit, grabbing a silver tray and smashing it into one of their faces, seeing him fall back a little, disorientated.

The other tried to grab me but Donnie was on him, throwing him off me as the other righted himself, but I slammed the silver tray into him again, kicking him hard and watching as he collapsed, holding himself. I raised the silver tray above my head, slamming him hard with it and knocking him out.

"Well, that was fun" I pushed a stray hair out of my face, looking up at Donnie and putting my hands on my hips.

A strange smile crossed his lips as he shook his head at me.

"We need to move" Mihra was suddenly there, and I turned to her as she grabbed a Dracon beam, holding it loosely in her hand as she looked at the two of us. I shared a look with Donnie, and we both nodded.

"Couldn't agree more" I grabbed another Dracon beam as I shifted back to Rtaia, seeing Donnie awkwardly pick up one, the three of heading out of the mess of a store.

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