A Fox Among Cats
0
Naruto x Cheetara
0
Author's Note
0
Story Start
0
The serpent opened its impressive Maw as a figure stalked out with the blade that was lodged in the creature's throat in its paw. It was a bipedal creature with black fur and sharp yellow eyes. It was a kitsune, a Yako to be exact, but swishing behind him was five, twisted, large tails who end fur curved like scythes. ''To think any creature could send you running.'' the Yako stated. ''It appears you're losing your touch. I didn't think Cats would give you so much trouble.''
''It was one of your kind that did this.'' The serpent hissed as the Yako turned and raised his head in interest.
''Really?'' the Yako prompted. ''I guess the rumors are true.'' the yako added as he began to darkly chuckle. ''If that is the case then there might be hope yet.''
''What are you planning Yako?'' the Serpent asked. The reason why they even bothered dealing with each other was that both had need of the other's services.
''Let me tell you a story serpent. You see, my followers and I were once part of the roaming foxes clan. We were banished once our King stumbled upon a ceremony to summon our master. Our master Byakkono was an adversary and dark spirit like the ancient evil spirits that the accursed Mumm-ra follows. My followers and I grew tired of having to flee like cowards when faced to that accursed beast. In order to bring our master to the mortal plain there was a requirement of one thousand souls, fifty from twenty different species. Of course we saved our own species for last and we were one short before we were banished and cursed.'' he said as he darkly chuckled and looked at his own fur. ''They took away our power of foxfire but that only allowed a void of power to recieve a gift from our master, powers of darkness and illusions.''
''And what has ssstopped you from killing one of your former brethen to sssumon this master of yourss?''
''What our kind lacked in military power we make up in evasion, cunning, and trickery. We can't get within a hundred kilometers of any Fox settelments before the mystical gems that repel Yako activate. But now, a grand opportunity presents itself.''
''You wish to go after this fox that is traveling with those catsss?'' the Serpent guessed.
''No,'' The Yako shook his head. ''If word gets out of our attacks then the Romaing Foxes will do everything in their power to keep him safe in one of their settlements. That leaves me to believe they are unaware of his exsitence, but if you were to go after him it would just be another case of a predator seeking prey.''
''SSSSay if I do go along with thisss little plan of yoursss?'' The Serpent hissed. ''What do I get out of it?''
''Bringing me the Fox, alive, and I will allow you all the Cats, Foxes, and even Lizards you can feast on. I can even tell you where the group will be traveling next. The surviving cats have been sold to Ratilla to work as slaves in his mines. I assure you that you can handle this task?''
''I assssure you Yako that the little pessst will be brought to you.'' the Serpent hissed as it moved up and began slithering away.
00000000
Elsewhere with the Thundercats and Thunderfox. WilyKat circled around his sister with a sly smirk, "Well, you don't have to if you're scared."
"I'm not scared!" WilyKit snapped at him, she looked away, "It's just…"
"Scaredy cat! Scaredy cat!" WilyKat taunted, pointing at her.
"FINE! I'll do it!" WilyKit shouted, getting him to be quiet. WilyKat stepped back as WilyKit looked down at the froog, a creature that resembled a normal frog in only the way that they were both amphibious. It was a tall creature with big, yellow eyes, six sticky legs, and covered in orange bumps. WilyKit grimaced as she picked it up and, mustering up her courage, put her lips to the creature's mouth. The froog let out a croak as its long tongue shot out, and WilyKit let out a shriek, dropping the creature and quickly wiping her mouth to get rid of the slimy residue left behind.
"I knew it!" WilyKat said with a smile, before singing out, "WilyKit loves the froog~! WilyKit loves the froog~!"
"No, I don't! You dared me!" WilyKit snapped at her brother. She started to chase after him, and he ran away with a cackle, going past where Cheetara and Lion-O were resting by the fire they had made.
"In the blink of an eye…" Lion-O said quietly, watching them run around.
"What?" Cheetara looked up at him.
"Nothing." Lion-O said, looking down at the ground, "It's just… I keep thinking about my father." Cheetara looked at him sympathetically, "I know it sounds dumb, but I… I thought he'd live forever. He gave his life, and for what? We have nothing left."
"Nothing… it's just… I keep thinking about my father… and it's dumb, but… I thought he'd live forever. He gave his life, and for what? There's nothing left." Lion-o said. Cheetara looked at him, and then she placed her hand on his.
"We have the sword… we have each other… but most importantly, we have hope." She said. Lion-o looked at her.
"Do we?" he asked. She smiled, and then suddenly Snarf jumped at his face, meowing.
"Are you kidding me, now! This better be important Snarf!" He said. Snarf went to his chest and pulled on it, making noises as he did. Suddenly, Cheetara turned her head and jumped to a branch. In the distance, she could see lights heading straight for them, and only one thing it could be. The other's jumped up to see.
"It's the entire lizard army… just say the word Lion-o," She told him, looking at him, the others doing the same. He looked at his gauntlet, the memory of his father clear in his mind.
"No… If we stay here, we die." Lion-o said.
"Thundercats do not retreat!" Tygra shouted.
"With the situation this hopeless, I'll make an exception!" Lion-o spat.
"Hope comes from action! Isn't that what father said?" Tygra argued.
"And look what happened to him!" Lion-O snapped back. "Now, come on." He jumped down from the branch and the others followed him as he led them away from the lizards. Eventually, they came to a huge briar in a dome-like shape. "They won't be able to follow us in there."
"You're asking us to, what? Hide among the brambles until the lizards go away?" Tygra asked, "This is not how we're going to win this war."
"I'm not asking." Lion-O said, he jumped down and headed to find a way inside the briar.
"You may be king," Tygra said as everyone started jumping down, "But I'm still older than you!"
"And, what, that means we should follow an obviously suicidal tactic?" Naruto asked as he arrived out of the trees with firefood in his arms. He let it dropped, ''...We've been running for days, tired, and low on food. If we fight now we'll die.'' Naruto cautioned as he wiped his brow. He was still rather weak from the venom and wasn't ready to fight.
Lion-O directed them to a small entrance they could go through and went in first, his sword cutting through the brambles to make a pathway for them to go through. As they walked through, they heard a soft, lulling sound.
"What is that?" Naruto asked, as they seemed to get closer to the sound.
"…It's music." Cheetara said, hearing a soft, beautiful tune among the sound. When they got close enough to the source, Lion-O looked through a small hole in the thorny briars and saw a large circle of tiny people dressed in leaves that were singing a song to a small seed sitting in a basket in the center. Each one was singing a sweet tune, and the seed was quietly listening, a content look on its tiny face. Lion-O cut through the branches so he and the others could get through. The small people heard them, and stopped singing, all of them looked up in fear at Lion-O and the others, while they looked stunned to see them. One of the tiny people, who seemed to be pretty young, with a little purple, flowery head and leaves for his body, came crawling through the crowd, and started firing off excited questions.
"What are you? I've never seen people like you before! Are you from here in the briar?" He quickly walked up a briar branch, talking a mile a minute, and he pointed to Lion-O's sword, "What's that in your hands? Did you make it?" He climbed up to the top of the branch where he could make solid eye contact with Lion-O, and happened to catch a glimpse of Snarf, "You're not the same as the others, are you some kind of pet?" When Snarf didn't reply, he fired off more questions, "Do you grow from seeds like us? What's that red crystal? How tall are you anyway? Why are you covered with hair? What kind of—" Lion-O cut him off by putting his pinky finger to his tiny mouth.
"Okay, slow down." Lion-O said with an amused laugh, "You sound like me when I was your age."
''That's definitely true.'' Naruto added and Cheetara couldn't help but giggle at his words. ''He wasn't the only one.'' she added as Naruto looked away, his cheeks burning red.
The little people, seeing that Lion-O and the others meant them no harm, smiled and welcomed them. They asked them to come and sit, and tell them about themselves, if only to satisfy the young one's questions. They all introduced themselves to the people, and the little one looked up at them with wide, awed eyes as one of the people of the village came forward.
"Well, since you've already met young Emerick," He said, introducing the little curious one, "We are the Petalars. We come from a far-off paradise called The Garden. One day, long ago, a great disaster befell our people. A terrible wind, like none recorded in all our history, whipped through our homeland, and swept up the entire Petalar race. Carrying us across the sky, and bringing us here, to Briar Woods, and here we have remained, stranded, for generations."
"Generations?" Tygra repeated, "Is this place so big that you couldn't find your way out in all that time?"
"But, we've got a map!" Emerick said as he and his friend held up a leaf that was their map, "It's very, very old. And it will lead us out of the briar to the Cliff of Winds. If we can find it, we'll be able to ride the winds all the way home." Lion-O reached down and picked up the old leaf, looking over the map.
"We'll help you." He said, "And together, we're both gonna find a way out of here, Emerick. I promise." The Petalars all cheered loudly as Emerick jumped up and grabbed onto a piece of Lion-O's hair, swinging back and forth on it, and because he was so light, it didn't cause Lion-O any pain. He only laughed as he started cheering, "Hooray for Lion-O! Hooray for Lion-O!"
Cheetara smiled, "Seems like Emerick's found a hero."
"Hmph. He's too young to know better." Tygra said.
Naruto couldn't help but feel stunned by the comment. He didn't know why but those biting comments always struck a chord with him. They always felt familiar, yet they weren't directed at him. 'Did I...did I use to have a brother? And was I second best as well?' he thought as pained filled his heart. The thought of having a hostile relationship with a family member that was no longer alive or wanted to claim him began to cloud his thoughts.
''Naruto,'' Cheetara's voice cautioned him out of his thoughts.
''Right, sorry.'' he said, trying to focus his mind on other thoughts. ''Have you made out anything on the map?''
''No, I don't recognize a single landmark. Can you make sense of it?'' she asked, handing him the leaf.
''I'll try,'' he said as he gave it a glance over. He scratched the back of his head. ''I...I'm not really making sense of this either.'' he admitted as he looked up. Emerick, one of the pettlars was using one of the briar needles as a sword.
Lion-O watched in amusement as Emerick was practicing with his sword. He looked up at Lion-O after a couple swings, "When I grow up, I want to be like you, Lion-O."
"Enjoy your childhood," Lion-O told him, "Trust me, you'll miss it when it's gone."
"But I want to be a hero!" Emerick said, "Can you give me sword lessons?"
"Well, first, you can't just wave a weapon around like that." Lion-O said, he took out his own sword to demonstrate, "You need to concentrate. Be more precise."
"Be more per… preh… pre-size." Emerick repeated, having a little trouble pronouncing 'precise' as he copied Lion-O's movements, "Right."
Suddenly a huge, six-eyed bird came down and snatched Emerick up in its claws.
"Help me Lion-O!" Emerick shouted. Lion-O ran after the bird.
"Emerick! Fight back!" Lion-O shouted up at him. Emerick jabbed at the bird's feet, and it dropped him. He ran to where Emerick had fallen, looking for the little, purple-headed Petalar. Finally, they spotted him a few feet away, and sighed in relief.
"Emerick, you scared me half to death!" Lion-O ran over to him. When he got closer, he noticed that it wasn't Emerick. He was taller, leaner, and looked a little more mature than he was supposed to be.
"Lion-O!" He said happily when he saw them, "I thought I'd never see you again."
"Who are you?" Lion-O asked him, "Where's Emerick?"
"What are you talking about, Lion-O?" He asked with an amused smile, "I'm Emerick. Don't you recognize your old friend?"
"But… Emerick is just a child…"
"Maybe the last time you saw me." Emerick said, "But, I suppose I was lost in the woods a long time."
"Uh, not that long." Lion-O said. Emerick smiled up at them.
"You never gave up trying to find me." He said.
"No problem." Lion-O replied. Emerick jumped over a briar branch and started walking back to the main group of Petalars as Cheetara came up to him, holding a small Petalar that was just a child, much younger than Emerick was when they first met him.
"As the ancient Thunderian philosopher said, 'Time is relative'." Cheetara put the child down on the ground, where he instantly began running around, chasing after a low-flying butterfly.
"This child was just a baby hours ago." Cheetara said, Lion-O looked at her in surprise, "The Petalars entire existence seems to pass in the course of a single day." When she mentioned this, one of the older Petalars fell, his body turning to old, colored leaves that floated around into the air, "But from their perspective…"
"It's a lifetime." Lion-O finished.
''Thinking about it from that perspective a few days of our life time would be generations for them.'' Naruto concluded.
"That's right." She said. Naruto looked down at the little race of people in amazement. He couldn't imagine only living for a day. So many stories beginning and ending in a single day. What happened if one ever got lost? Who would tell their story? It may him think of all the other creatures out there and made him began to think about his own life expectancy.
''Are you sure nothing is wrong?'' Cheetara prompted him, jarring Naruto from his thoughts once more. She couldn't help but fear that the venom was still affecting Naruto and he was being stubborn and not saying anything about it.
''I'm fine.'' he admitted. He smiled, trying to reassure him. ''Nothing to worry about.'' he said, looking up in time to see that same bird to return but for Lion-O to slice at the bird, hitting its beak once and scaring it off. Emerick saw this and scowled at Lion-O, running up to him.
"What are you doing?" Emerick demanded, "I had him!"
"That was dumb, Emerick!" Lion-O scolded him, "You could have gotten hurt!"
"You're not the boss of me!" Emerick snapped, "So don't tell me what to do!" He ran off to join the other Petalars.
"Teenagers…" Lion-O sighed, shaking his head.
''The irony.'' Naruto mumbled and shook his head.
It was dusk, now, and everyone was exhausted from walking around all day. Lion-O caught glimpse of one of the older Petalars, who was just a young man when they first met him, fall to the ground, his body disintegrating into tiny leaves that floated off into the air. Lion-O looked at where he had fallen sadly.
"What's the point of it all?" He asked quietly, "Kingdoms rise and fall, lifetimes come and go. Are any of us here long enough to even make a difference?"
"You sound like an old man, talking like that." A voice said. They looked to see one of the adult Petalars was the one who said it. His purple, flowery head having a familiar face to it.
"Emerick?"
"With so many great adventures ahead of us," Emerick said, coming up beside them, "We still have a chance to make our marks." Lion-O smiled.
"Yes, my friend." He said, "Many adventures, I hope."
"It can't be…" Emerick breathed, looking ahead of him. He ran up and jumped up high enough to get the map out of Cheetara's hands, and looked it over. He smiled when he looked at six, curling branches in the briar that formed an archway, "This is it! The gateway to the Cliff of Winds!" He turned to the other Petalars, "Once we get through this pass, we'll be free!" The Petalars cheered loudly and all started running towards the archway.
"Then let's go." Lion-O said to the others, following the Petalars inside.
''Wait!'' Naruto suddenly exclaimed as he picked up the sound of something. The crack of a twig set off his senses and he did a spin-kick, landing his leg against something sending it flying against a tree and the lizard being uncloaked. ''It's the lizards, they're using some technology to hide themselves!''
A second lizard came down from above, knocking down both Tygra and Cheetara down. A third lizard shot out a pair of electric weights at WilyKat and WilyKit, tying them together as they fell to the ground.
''Hang on!'' Naruto shouted only for him and Lion-O to both be blasted from behind by laser fire.
The lizards laughed at their catch, one of them putting his big foot to Lion-O's face.
"You were fools to try and outrun your fate." One of the lizards said with a smirk.
"Outrun this!" Emerick shouted as he ran towards the lizard, needle sword at the ready. The lizard easily knocked him away with his tail and he went back to where the other Petalars were.
The Petalars ran towards the lizards, suddenly turning into some kind of golden dust that resembled pollen. The lizards began to hiss in pain as it filled their eyes and clouded their noses. Seeing the chance, Cheetara got up and knocked one of the lizards out with her staff. Tygra got up and knocked his head against one of them, knocking that one out. Naruto recovered and like usual began making use of the enemies own weaponry against them. He didn't know why, but how to use these items seemed second nature to him. A clue of his past some sorts perhaps?
"You can't fight what you can't see!" The camouflaging lizard said, blending in perfectly to the area around him."We can take care of that!" WilyKat said as he and his sister threw two pieces of fruit at the lizard, the juice of it exposing him.
"I can see you now." Lion-O said, he raised up his sword and knocked the lizard down. Emerick climbed up on his body and pointed his sword towards the gateway.
"Charge!" He shouted, all of the Petalars ran towards the gateway, going through it, Cheetara, Tygra, WilyKat, WilyKit, Snarf, Naruto and Lion-O following. It was too small for them to walk through, so they had to crawl through. Lion-O was just behind Emerick as they went through.
"You were great out there, Emerick." Lion-O said to him, "You've really grown into quite the young man."
"Well, I had a pretty good role model." Emerick replied with a smile. He ran forward, needle sword high, "Now, the Cliff of Winds awaits!" Excited shouts came from the Petalars as they kept running through it. At the end of the tunnel, though, their smiles fell, and it wasn't hard to see why. It was a dead end, with only one of the briar branches curling up from under the ground.
"Uh, there's no cliff here." WilyKat said.
WilyKat quickly put her finger in her mouth, then pulled it back out, holding it up in the air, "Or winds," She said, "Just more woods."
"I… I don't understand." Lion-O said, looking around them.
Night had fallen, and it was too dark to travel anywhere in the briar, so the group decided to stay at wherever it was they ended up and get some rest, and figure out where they went wrong.
Naruto and Tygra looked over the map, trying to decipher it.
"Maybe I misread the map." Tygra said.
"Or maybe the way the Petalars decipher is different from our own? Different perspective from height issue or how its different by life spans, maybe?'' Naruto questioned.
"Or maybe there is no Cliff of Winds." Lion-O said from where he was sitting, "Maybe the map is a lie."
"Perhaps our forefathers wanted to provide us with hope." Emerick said, "Hope so we'd never stop looking for our way back home."
"Is that all hope is, then?" Lion-O asked sorrowfully, "An illusion?"
''Is something burning?'' Cheetara wondered after sniffing the air.
Emerick gasped, and they all saw that the briar was burning, the fire was spreading slowly and small embers from the fire falling carefully over them.
"Things are about to get a little more hopeless." Tygra said, seeing the fire.
"We have to retreat. Again!" Lion-O said in exasperation as he turned and headed for the exit. Emerick stepped out in front of his feet, stopping him.
"No, we must go toward it!" He said.
"Toward the flames?" Lion-O asked in shock, "Are you crazy?" Emerick stepped closer to where one of the briar branches had curled up.
"Can you feel it, Lion-O?" He asked with a smile, "Do you know what this is?" They watched as the branch slowly uncurled, going up higher and higher until it was completely unfurled, going as high as the briar itself.
"The updraft from the fire…" Cheetara breathed when she saw it, then she smiled, "It's making wind!" The Petalars all began to stand up and looked at the Cliff of Winds in awe.
"This is why you never give up hope!" Emerick said, he raised his sword up high, "We're going home!" The Petalars all started running towards it, picking up leaves, flowers, and other various things that would help to keep them afloat if they needed it.
Naruto began helping them, using both hands and even his tail to scoop up multiple Petalars at a time. WilyKat, WilyKit, and Snarf all helped with some of the others, and helping the youngest ones to get going up the branch.
''I think that's all of them.'' Naruto stated, watching as the steady train of Petalars walked up the branch to the top, floating away at the top and riding on the winds.
"Not quite everyone." Lion-O said, pointing to one of the elder Petalars who was sitting still, watching the others leave. His petals were a pale, faded shade of purple, and he was simply being still, doing nothing. Lion-O knelt down and picked the old man up in his hands. "Hurry, there's not much time. Literally." The old man fell onto his back in Lion-O's hands.
"This, I'm afraid, is the end of my journey…" The old man said quietly. He shifted slightly, and a small needle sword fell from his hands.
"Emerick?" Lion-O gasped, looking at the now old and withered Petalar.
"It's all right… old friend." Emerick said.
"In the blink of an eye…" Lion-O murmured sadly, knowing Emerick was dying.
"In the end, what matters isn't how long we've lived," Emerick said, "But how fully we've lived." The other Petalars gathered around, singing, "The good we've done, the friends we've made… the love we shared along the way." Lion-O's eyes began to fill with tears at the sight of him.
"I'm sorry I couldn't get you to the Garden." Lion-O said.
"It's the journey, Lion-O." Emerick said, "Remember that…" He let out a soft sigh, and his body went limp in Lion-O's hands. They watched as his body disintegrated into small, purple leaves that flew up into the air. WilyKit began to cry, and WilyKat comforted her, even though he was crying, too.
"It's time to go home." Lion-O said. They went up on one of the risen, unfurled branches and watched as the Petalars floated up into the air on the wind. The Petalars waved and shouted their goodbyes as they floated up into the air as they had made flew off to their home.
Once they were finished, they went back down to the ground, the fire still spreading around them.
"So, what now?" Tygra asked Lion-O.
"We have to escape.'' Naruto suggested.
"Retreat?" Lion-O asked, turning to them, "We've been running for days. The enemy won't quit and if we keep on they'll run us down to the point where we'll be easy pickings. We don't have much of a choice but to face the lizards," He smiled at them, "And hope for the best." Everyone smiled back at him, glad to see that Lion-O had his hopefulness about the situation again, "We're all leaves passing in the wind, here and then gone, but while we're here," He reached up and grabbed the hilt of his sword, "We live to the fullest!" He drew out his blade, a battle cry sounding, and the crystal in the sword lit up into the sky, making the ThunderCats crest on the smoke from the fire. Using the sword, Lion-O carved a path for them through the briar straight to where the lizards were. They all ran in, ready to fight. Lion-O cut down every lizard that stood in his way. Tygra used his gun and shot down one soldier after another. Cheetara, using her staff, knocked away five lizards at a time.
Knocking one of the Lizards over Naruto stamped on its chest to keep it held down as he used its flame thrower to shoot out flames at the enemy.
Despite all their work, though, they were all soon surrounded by the lizards, with all of the weapons pointed right at them. They all stood in a circle, back-to-back, as they waited for the lizards to fire off at them.
"There are too many of them." Lion-O said to the others.
"Father would have been proud of your bravery, Lion-O." Tygra said.
"A glory I'm honored to share with all of you." Lion-O returned, smiling at the others.
"My service to the crown has always been a cherished privilege." Cheetara said.
''Even if my journey ends here, I don't regret it. I'm just thankful to have made friends like you.'' Naruto admitted.
As one of the lizards' robots fired up its huge gun, a shot came at it from nowhere, causing it to explode. In the distance, a loud engine could be heard as another shot was fired, causing a second robot to explode, a third was fired, and a third one exploded. The lizards began to run away in fear.
"Hold your position!" The lizards' general, Slithe, shouted at them, "I said hold your positions! You miserable cowards!" The machine that was taking them all down came closer and closer to them. It easily avoided one of the shots coming from the last robot standing. It fired back, and it exploded like the others. The lizards, terrified by this new enemy, ran away from it in fear.
"Hope that thing's on our side!" WilyKit said as the machine came to a stop in front of them. The top of it opened, and a huge, muscled form stepped out. One of the braver lizards who had stayed behind ran towards him, and he easily knocked it away with a pair of nun-chucks. They all looked up at this newcomer in amazement.
"Who are you?" Lion-O asked him.
"Panthro." Naruto stated in surprise, answering Lion-o's question for the newcomer. It seemed things were finally starting to look up.
0000
Chapter End
000000
And that is another chapter. Having just finished reading the new chapter of Firefoxes I do admit the Yako thing struck me interesting and I decided to add the concept to my story, but in a completely different direction, charactrization, and along with the fact I'm using completely original characters instead of just doing adaptions of previously existing characters. Once again people, I'll only do the Pumyra story if I get a lot of positive reception. I'm not going to do the story if I'm not going to be drawing in a lot of reader fanbase.