Chapter 7: Battle of Bears and Wolves (written on October 31st, 2022)

"Runt!" Lilly exclaimed. The Grand Pack wolves converged at the edge of the forest.

"Take the pups to the west side!" Winston recommended. "There's a route where the Rogues won't think to look."

"The human roads?" said Kate.

"It'll be okay," Winston assured. "Stay over there for as long as you have to. If things get dire, don't come back for us."

"Come on, pups! Quickly!" Humphrey ushered them westward.

"Well, what about me?" said Khanyue.

"You can come with us," Kate replied.

"Lilly, go with them," Garth ordered. Lilly stamped her paw.

"I'm staying here. I may not be strong, but I'm smart."

They both looked to the south. The Rogue army was closing in fast, a wall of teeth and claws seeking to obliterate them.

"Paddy, we have to do something to help!" said Marcel.

"Uh, let... Let me think. Hmm. Ah-hah! I have an idea!" The birds took off. They headed for an unknown location.

"The best we can do is slow them down," said Tony.

"They have a hundred times as many," said Garth, "so we'll fight two hundred times as hard!"

"Wait! Wait! STOP!" yelled Stinky.

"What do you have?" asked Humphrey.

"I smell a grizzly. A very... large grizzly!"

"Great! The more the merrier!"

The grizzly soon appeared from the forest.

"Heh, heh! You were saying?" said Kate. The Omega gulped in fear.

"It's my mom!" yelled Khanyue. The bigger bear stood on its hind legs while the cub jumped into its arms. "Mom! Stop!" Khanyue pointed at the wolves. "They made sure that I was safe!"

"Uh, hi there... I'm Humphrey. This is Kate, and those are our pups."

"And now they're in trouble," Khanyue added. Her mom appeared to nod as if she already knew.

"We can only mess the Rogues up, Winston. We won't be able to stop them," said Tony.

It was too late to outrun the Rogues. The battlefield was set. King and Princess took their place on a boulder. The army lined up behind them, waiting for their command to strike.

"They can't handle our numbers! THEY ARE WEAK! PURITY WILL WIN!" He turned to his daughter. To his surprise, she seemed on the verge of tears. "Princess... lead the rest of the pack to Winston's home and CLAIM IT!"

"No, Father... Not this time," she replied. She jumped off the boulder and ran back to where they came from. King was utterly dumbfounded.

"Princess? PRINCESS!" he screamed.

"You are not going to get my grandpups or our home!" Winston declared. Suddenly, he felt the puffs of multiple breaths over his shoulders. The old wolf turned around. "What the...?"

A wall of fifty bears formed behind the Grand Pack wolves. They couldn't believe their eyes.

"Mom, they're our friends!" said Khanyue, riding on her mother's back.

"Ha, ha! I'll be darned!" said Tony.

"And she is too!" Khanyue added, pointing at Lilly. The white wolf smiled. "But everyone else... they're fair game!" The adult bears then made a rallying roar. The Rogues looked at themselves nervously.

"I'll take good care of him," said Lilly. Khanyue hopped down and landed on the Omega's back.

"I think the playing field just got a bit more even," said Winston.

"This is going to be fun!" said Tony.

"READY TO BATTLE!" Winston cried. The old wolf led the charge.

The two sides met in a ferocious clash. The biggest bears were ten feet tall on their hind legs, swatting the Rogues one by one. Not holding back, each hit was instantly lethal. Bloodied bodies were sent flying tens of feet in the air. The fear of being brutally killed fractured King's army and wolves began crisscrossing all over the field. The bears were more organized than the Rogues expected. They formed a circle around the Grand Pack wolves and assisted each other whenever they faced an onslaught of bites. A few Rogues were able to squeeze through the circle, including Shaun and Blader. They chased Garth out and cornered him against a precipice.

"If it isn't the infamous Garth," said Shaun. "The strongest Alpha in the Grand Pack."

"I hear he is married to an Omega," Blader taunted. "A weak Omega!"

Garth then ducked as he heard a rolling sound. A log fell from the ledge above and landed on the Rogues' backs, shattering their spines. Garth looked up to see Lilly standing prominently.

"I could've handled them!"

"I know, but I prefer my Alpha without scars," Lilly replied.

"Bombs away!" yelled Marcel. Numerous flocks of blue jays led by the golf birds unloaded a rain of excrement. They made sure to aim for the eyes. Dozens of blinded Rogues collided with each other.

"Well, it was that or a windshield," said Paddy, chuckling.

The scene in front of King was complete pandemonium. A troop of his was either screaming in a random direction, a lifeless body soaring over the field, or falling victim to the claws of the Grand Pack wolves who were far more skilled than them at an individual level. Because of the bears, Winston, Tony, and Garth were limited to one-on-one fights that they could win easily. Regardless, King pushed his army to continue the battle, but with Princess gone, his mind was too jumbled with emotions to think of a strategy.

Soon, most of his forces withdrew, defying his commands. Going through the bears wasn't worth it. They accepted it as a loss but King could not.

"Stop! Stop! I ORDER YOU TO STOP!" His own wolves ran into him and knocked him off his feet. King gave one last glance at the Grand Pack wolves before joining his decimated army.

"Oh, look," said Paddy. "They're running away. Those cowards."

It took a few minutes for the dust to clear. The field was covered in bodies. Roughly three hundred Rogues had died. The bears' claws dripped with blood, and every part of their skins had punctures, scratches, or gashes. Miraculously, not a single bear died, but many collapsed from exhaustion.

Winston approached their leader, Khanyue's mother, as she licked her wounds.

"Thank you, whoever you are," said Winston. "You saved us... and Jasper as well."

The bear shook her head and pointed at Killers' Hill in the distance.

"No, it was the one he called Princess," said Khanyue, translating her mother's grunts. "Her betrayal made them fall apart."

"Who are you bears?" asked Garth. "We've never seen bears as smart as you."

"That's because we normally stay out of lupine affairs. We are the Bear Kingdom of Northern Banff. My mom is the current monarch."

"And you're a princess too?"

"Princess Khanyue to be exact," she clarified, "and my mom helped you because we have our issues with the Rogues too."