I currently have 15 fanfictions now so I'll be posting them all in here. I'll colour code each one. I'll also post what chapters are up here. Also, feel free to comment/review. They make me happy ^^
Captive's Heart - Eragon (7 up)
Crux of the Cross - Sonic the Hedgehog (2 up)
Here Without You - NCIS (3 up)
Part of the Pack - Star Fox (2 up)
Requiem for the Lost - Sonic the Hedgehog (2 up)
Seeker's Path - Loonatics Unleashed (2 up)
Sibling Rivalry - Danny Phantom (8 up)
Star Fox Adventure: Dinosaur Planet - Star Fox (6 up)
The Price of Life - +Anima (6 up)
Winds of Change - D.Gray-Man (3 up)
The Shadow Bearers - Yu-Gi-Oh (1 up)
Okami Amaterasu - Okami (1 up)
Remnants of a Forgotten Past - Dresden Files/Inheritance Cycle Crossover (5 up)
A Wolf In Shaman's Clothing - Shaman King (1 up)
Broken and Blinding Links - Pokemon (1 up)

I'll start with Captive's Heart

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Title: Captive’s Heart

Summary: Murtagh is in the service of the King, Galbatorix. He kills and betrays for him and whatever else the king commands, but does he do it by choice? Murtagh is a captive just as much as those in the dungeon, if not more. Forced to betray his only friend, he is hated by many, including himself. With the help and understanding of another unlikely captive, maybe they can both be freed, and Murtagh forgiven.

Chapter 1: From Across the Sea

A cloudless night with its three-quarter moon riding high watched the sea below as a deep mist spread to the shores. The stars twinkled and shined brightly but were unseen by those traveling through the fog.

The silence of the evening was broken now only by the soft sound of oars shifting through sea-water, pulling its host toward the land.

A small traveling ship emerged from the fog into the light of the moon revealing four figures on board, rowing slowly to shore. A fifth figure emerged from below deck, and old man with graying short hair that had begun receding down this scalp wearing a black traveling cloak. He walked to the bow of the ship, dragging with him by a chain in his hand a silver female wolf. The chain was attached to a muzzle over her head and a metal neckpiece with different coloured jewels and an inscription biting into her neck. She struggled against the pull of the lead making the chains rattle. The old man yanked hard on the lead, making her whimper slightly. One of the men on the oars, a man with medium build and shaggy brown hair wearing the same type of traveling cloak as the old man, shot him a sharp reproving look. They weren’t supposed to make any noise.

Another of the oarsmen, a tall, lanky man with red hair, straightened and fixed his sight on the horizon. “We’re here.” His voice was barely above a whisper and at his words the land came into sight. They had studied a map of Alagaesia so they new they were landing just south of Feinster.

Slowly all four men stowed their oars and hopped off the boat to help beach it, while the old man stood In the same spot at the front of the ship with the wolf. One of the company, a very large, burly man with scars criss-crossing his bare arms and chest and a bald head, looked up at the old man scornfully. “Move y’ur rump Wizard!” he called. “You’re part of this crew and y’ur gonna help!” The wizard stood still but looked down with distaste at the rather large man.

“I’m keeping this beast in check,” his reply came back with a sneer. “And I’m sure you don’t need the help of a frail old man.”

“At least get y’ur carcass off the ship so we can beach it.” The wizard grudgingly descended from the ship and waded to shore with the wolf in tow. The wolf shivered at the touch of the cold water but didn’t dare whine incase the moody wizard decided to hit her again. He did that quite often.

When the other four men had finally finished beaching their ship, they sat down on the rocky beach to eat. They didn’t want to risk a fire so they pulled out some salted meat, bread and ale.

The wizard dragged the poor wolf to a nearby tree and fastened the chain around the trunk then sat down with the other men. The wolf was hungry; she wanted some food, even if it was just a crust of stale bread. She whimpered quietly, hoping they would notice her and give her something to eat.

One of the men looked over to her and scowled. “Shut up you mangy mutt!” She decided to be quiet then. There was no need to provoke them into violence.

As the men finished, one threw a few scraps over his shoulder for the wolf. She hungrily went for the food and ate it quickly. She didn’t want to give them a chance to change their minds. As she ate greedily, the men went to the boat. Two of the men climbed aboard and disappeared below deck. When they reemerged, they were carrying packs which they tossed down to the men below.

Once all five packs had been unloaded, they disappeared once again below deck. After a few moments, the two men appeared again and left the ship.

“The holes are drilled,” one of the men reported to the large man.

“Good. C’mon men! Time to sink ‘er.” With that, all five men pushed the ship back out into the sea. As she slowly moved out further into the blue expanse, she began to disappear beneath the water. The wolf looked on with sad eyes.

There was no going home for her now.

The next day, they traveled north and west. They didn’t travel by the road but they stayed close to it. When the city of Feinster came into view, they began traveling west near another road. The whole time, the silver wolf was dragged along with no rest for her tired body.

When night reached them, they strayed from the road and found a place to camp for the night. After another cold supper of salted meat, bread and ale, and a few scraps for the wolf, they began to settle down.

Suddenly one of the men, a short guy enshrouded within his traveling cloak, stood up. “I’m heading to the road now.” His voice was a raspy hiss that seemed to come from no where. One of the men with medium build glanced over at his creepy comrade.

“If you talk like that you’ll scare away any of the caravans that come your way.”

“You know very well I can change my voice to accommodate my needs,” he replied coolly. He turned around and headed back towards the road.

The tall lanky man turned to his comrades. “Let’s hope it doesn’t take him too long.” There was strong distaste in his voice. “I don’t care to stay here longer then I have to.” All the men nodded in agreement.

Over a ways, the wolf was silent. She wanted to go back to her home across the sea, but if these men were able to go through with their plan, she would never see home again. She needed to think of a way to escape, but her brain was too tired to think properly, so for now, she laid down to sleep.

By the side of the caravan path, the man who had walked off from camp stood waiting for a caravan to come his way. Traveling with a caravan would be the quickest and safest way to reach their destination; Uru’baen.

They had their reasons for going to see the king and until they reached the king, they were going to interact with as few people as possible. He sat down and pulled his cloak close. Now, to wait.

For a day and night he sat there but didn’t bother to go back to the camp for food. On the morning of the second day, his patience paid off. A sound drifted to his ears and he turned to look down the road and was greeted by the sight of a caravan.

He rose and brushed himself off. Hopefully this caravan was traveling in the right direction. The caravan wheeled up to the small man and stopped in front of him. The caravan driver was a fat, jolly man with plain clothing. He didn’t climb down but turned in his seat to face the man. “Hullo stranger!” he greeted him with a wave of his chubby hand. “You alone? It’s not safe to travel alone these days.”

The small man, still hidden within his cloak, answered quite readily. “No, good sir.” His voice, instead of the hiss from earlier, was now strong and deep. “Four of my friends camp near here.” He gestured behind him without turning to indicate the general whereabouts of their camp even though it could not be seen. “Where are you headed to?”

“Uru’baen, the capital. We have some trading to do.”

“Good.” The small man nodded his satisfaction. “I was wondering if we may travel with you and your caravan.” The drivers face became unsure and he began to speak but the small man interrupted him. “I hear the bandits are becoming restless. All five of us are trained fighters. We can protect your caravan if you let us join you.”

The driver thought for a moment and then replied. “Oh, all right. Bring your men over here.” Beneath his hood, the small man grinned.

“Thank you sir. I shall be right back.” He turned around and started back towards the camp at a waking pace. When he arrived, all four men were awake and lounging, along with the wolf off a ways, awake yet silent. At his arrival one of the men stood, stretched and addressed him.

“You found us a caravan?”

“Yes.” His voice had gone back to a hiss and all four men were on their feet. “C’mon,” he urged them. “Our ride is waiting.”

They traveled with the caravan for three weeks without any problems or encounters with bandits. The whole time, the silver wolf was chained to the back of the cart and fed only scraps. The wizard rode while the other four walked along with some the stronger people from the caravan.

They were a week away from Uru’baen and they had yet to encounter any bandits so that night, once they had set up camp, the night watch slacked off and fell asleep.

But the silver wolf stayed awake. She lay down behind the cart, looked to the moon and prayed to any higher power that was out there to help her out of this.

In the distance, she could hear a pack of wolves howling. What she would give to raise her voice with theirs in a mournful song.

And then everything was silent. She sat up on her haunches, looked around and sniffed the air. Something wasn’t right. Where had the birds and all the other night creatures gone?

She stood up and walked forward until her chain stopped her. A crackling and whirring sound floated to her ears. She looked up and was greeted with the sight of burning arrows. They thudded into the wooden cart, immediately setting it ablaze. A group of bandits rushed out of the forest and quickly killed all five of the men from the shore and attacked the rest of them.

The wolf began to fear for her life. She had to escape or she too would be killed. Whining in fear, she pulled and pulled on her chain. She dashed about hoping to break the wood she had been chained to. She had to escape!

Finally the wood gave way and she tumbled to the ground but quickly recovered herself and began to run. She was weak from hunger and the beatings she had taken, but she had to run!

Her chain suddenly went taut and she fell painfully to the ground. She looked behind her to see a bandit standing on her chain. “Well, well, well,” he sneered. “What have we here? Looks like you’d fetch a nice price.” The silver wolf whimpered and lay down in defeat with the sound of screams in the distance.

At the camp, everyone lay either dead or dying. The bandit leader waked through the camp taking what he wanted and destroying what he did not. The bandit who had captured the wolf walked into camp. The bandit leader began towards the man but stopped as he heard the dying caravan driver moaning in pain. Now he went over to the dying man on the ground and picked him up by the front of the shirt. “What is this wolf?”

The driver choked on the blood running down his throat but managed to speak. “It’s not mine! It’s theirs!” he gestured with his head towards the five slain men from the shore. “They said it was a gift for King Galbatorix!”

The bandits gathered around their leader, all of them grinning like savage dogs. “Well then,” he chuckled coldly under his breath. “We’ll just have to bring the beast to the king won’t we?” All the gathered men laughed and the leader brought his long knife up and then down again in one swift motion.

Title: Crux of the Cross

Summary: When Crux wakes up in some ancient ruins on Angel Island, he doesn’t overly care. No use crying over spilt milk he says. But when he finds a mysterious cross and two people who are drawn to him for reasons unknown, for the first time in what feels like a long time he becomes slightly interested. Only slightly mind you. But perhaps the cross and the Chaos Emeralds are the keys to unlocking his hidden past.

Chapter One

When he awoke it was to utter silence and darkness. Perhaps there was no light where he was. Or perhaps he had gone blind. Yes, that was a distinct possibility. Oh, wait. His eyes were just closed.

He opened his eyes and dim light illuminated the room around him in muted tones. He lay on the floor in some musty old ruins. Other than that, he had no idea where he was. Come to think of it, he had no idea of anything. Sitting up, he tried to think of the last thing he remembered.

Nothing. He couldn’t remember anything, only his name, which he remembered was Crux. Oh ya, and that he was a wolf. Apparently he had…that memory thing. The one where you couldn’t remember stuff. What was it called again? Oh, yes. Amnesia.

Oh well. You couldn’t miss something you didn’t remember.

Crux stood up and took a better look around the room. The ruins were made entirely of stone. No surprise there. They were mostly brown with hints of yellow in them, but they appeared very old. Perhaps they were a different colour at one time. Carvings decorated the walls and there was a large set of stairs at one end of the room. Other than that, it was pretty bare.

Some light filtered through a small opening at the top of the stairs, leading outside. Perhaps if he went outside he would have a better idea of where he was, though he doubted it. He walked to the stairs anyways, his shoes clacking on the stone floor.

Halfway up the stairs he stopped. Something behind him was calling to him. He turned slowly and peered at the room again. From this position he could see an opening on the back wall with a set of stairs leading downwards.

He scratched with his claws behind one black and silver ear before going back down. Whatever was down those stairs was calling to him. Besides, it wasn’t like he had anything better to do.

When he reached the stairs he paused and looked down them cautiously before venturing forth. It was a useless gesture. Everything beyond the doorway was pitch-black. The feeling was getting stronger however, so he continued down the stairs.

During his downward spiral, he lost track of time. He felt like he was walking forever though he knew it couldn’t have been more than five minutes. The path changed directions every now and then and his face had met with a wall on more than one occasion, but he continued anyways. This could prove to be mildly interesting.

Without warning he emerged from the darkened staircase into a brightly lit room. His tail twitched slightly as his purple eyes adjusted to the light.

This room was much smaller than the previous and in far better condition. The stones in this room held a golden hue and were illuminated by fresh torches set in the wall. Well, they looked fresh but he didn’t know how they could be. Judging from the dust build up no one had been there for years. The carvings and engravings on the walls could actually be read here, but they held no interest for Crux. He couldn’t understand them anyway.

What did interest him though lay on the raised pedestal in the middle of the room. He couldn’t see from where he stood but whatever lay there was calling to him.

Slowly he walked towards the pedestal, ascending the few steps leading up. He finally reached the pedestal and beheld what lay upon it. There was a ringing in his ears and the thrum of power. What he saw, though, wasn’t what he had expected. Granted, he hadn’t known what to expect, but still.

Upon the pedestal lay a silver cross and five silver rings with different engravings on each. He looked at them steadily for a minute before picking up the middle ring, the one directly above the cross. The design etched in it was odd and its meaning escaped him. He turned it over in his fingers a couple times then carefully placed it on the middle finger of his left hand. It was a perfect fit.

After that he donned the rest of the rings. The first on the pinky of his left hand, the second on the index finger of his right and so on. When he wore all of the rings he held up his clawed hands and looked at them. They all fit perfectly. Odd.

Finally, he picked up the cross. It was lighter than he expected. It also had designs etched into its surface and a purple stone set into the centre. He held it in the palm of his left hand. It could have been his imagination or a trick of the light, but he thought he saw silver strings connecting the cross to the rings on his hand, if only for a second. But what if they had been real?

Well, one way to test that theory. He didn’t think the cross could be damaged from a drop that short. If it could…oh well.

He turned his hand over and dumped the cross on the ground. However, before it could fall too far, it stopped and hung beneath Crux’s hand. Three barely visible threads of silver light connected the cross to the rings and kept it elevated. He turned his hand back over and the cross began to float above his hand. Well. This was interesting. Actually, it was the first interesting thing that had happened since he had awakened.

He lifted his right hand and transferred the cross from one to the other using the threads of energy. When he was done playing around with the cross he held it in his left hand, unsure of what to do with it. He swung it back and forth beneath his hand absent-mindedly as he stared off into space. He heard a click and looked down at the underside of the wristband on his left hand and found the cross attached there. Huh.

Come to think of it, whose cross was this? Did it belong to some religion or maybe it represented an ancient deity or something else entirely. Perhaps it would be worth something to figure out more about it. He looked around the room for some clues to the cross but nothing jumped out at him. His gaze passed over the glyphs on the wall but turned away seeing as he still could not read them.

Well, now that he had found what was calling him and gleaned all he could from the ruins it was time to leave. He walked up the dark stairs, but this time the cross glowed to light his way. He passed through the room he had awoken in and climbed the stairs to the outside world.

Outside there were plenty of lush trees and fallen stones from the crumbling building. They were almost completely blocking the entrance and if he hadn’t already been inside he would have thought them inaccessible. He still had no idea where he was but that didn’t bother him. He was somewhere, which meant he was alive, which was all that mattered.

He wandered for a bit more before emerging from the trees. A short distance away the ground dropped away in a cliff. When he walked to the edge and peered down, he realized that ‘cliff’ hadn’t been quite accurate. Below him was ground. Far, far below. He seemed to be on a floating island. Well that was different.

He turned around to walk to the other side of the island and met with a fist, which connected squarely to his face with incredible force. He briefly saw a red being before he went tumbling off the edge of the island, followed down by a gruff voice.

“That’s what you get for trespassing on my island!”

Now Crux was falling. Not your typical sensation, mind you. Slightly exhilarating at first, then kind of boring. All there was now was waiting, and he didn’t like waiting. That was the boring part.

Then he noticed something different. His downwards pace began to lessen, there was a slight pressure against his chest and under his arms and he was soon upright. There was a flapping sound coming from close behind him.

Turning his head to look over his shoulder Crux saw that he was being carried by someone with white feathers. Well this was a turn of events.

The white-feathered bird set him down safely on the floating island once again. The sight that met him though wasn’t the one he had left. The one who had punched him, a red echidna, was struggling against a purple female dragon who was restraining him from behind.

“Unhand me!” he was yelling. “And what are you doing on my island?!” Off to the side a blue hedgehog was sighing with one hand on his head while a young yellow two tailed fox looked around, unsure of what to do.

“Would you cool it, echidna?” growled the dragon. “We don’t want anything with your stupid island. We’re just here ‘cuz something’s telling us we should be!”

“Hey, Knuckle-head,” the blue hedgehog called. “Why don’t you calm down so we can listen to these guys?”

Crux heard a fluttering sound beside him and the soft tap of feet landing on the ground. He turned to the side and saw a white dove, the one who had caught him, land beside him.

“Oh, boy,” he mumbled. “This is becoming something I hadn’t quite expected.” The echidna stopped struggling though and the dragon released him with a grunt of dissatisfaction. The hedgehog walked forwards, followed by the fox.

“How ‘bout we start with introductions?” he suggested. “I’m Sonic the Hedgehog! This,” he said, nodding at the fox, “is Tails.”

“Hi!” Tails chirped.

“And that’s Knuckles. He’s the guardian of Angel Island so he gets a bit hot-headed when other people come here.”

Oh, so that’s where he was. Angel Island. Though as far as he knew he had never heard of or been to this place before. Of course his memory couldn’t be trusted right now.

“Hmph. I’m Syria the Dragon, and don’t ask me why I’m here. I just felt like I should be.” Using her great bat-like wings she flew up to the upper reaches of a tree and sat there looking irritated. Sonic turned to the dove next, who smiled happily.

“I’m Poe the Dove and I believe my reason for being here is the same as Syria’s. Though I think I may know the cause.”

“Well then? What is it?” Knuckles growled.

“You!” he said turning to Crux. Well that was unexpected.

Apparently Syria had been listening. She glided down and landed in front of Crux and looked him up and down intently. “Hmm.” She walked around him, inspecting him. “You may be right. Who are you?”

“My name is Crux,” he said simply.

“What are you doing on Angel Island, Crux?” Tails asked.

“Dunno.” Crux was growing bored again.

“What do you mean you don’t know?” Knuckles demanded.

“I don’t know,” he repeated. “I just woke up here.”

“Huh?” Knuckles seemed confused by this.

“Where were you before you woke up?” Sonic asked.

“Dunno,” he sighed. Crux was now officially bored.

“You mean you have no memory?” Poe asked. He sounded concerned.

“That would be correct.” Knuckles seemed to calm down now. Maybe this Crux wasn’t as suspicious as he first seemed. Or maybe he was more suspicious.

“So nothing around here seems familiar to you?” Tails inquired.

Crux was about to reply, but he remembered the cross now attached to his wrist. He held up his wrist and looked at the cross. It had been calling to him, so perhaps it was connected to his past. Unfortunately Knuckles saw the cross as well.

“Hey! Where did you get that?!” he yelled.

“In the ruins,” he stated calmly. He saw no reason why he shouldn’t have taken it so he had nothing to hide.

“I didn’t know there was anything like that here.” Sonic sounded impressed.

Knuckles paused for a moment. “Actually, I didn’t either.” He shook his head. “That doesn’t matter! It belongs here on Angel Island. Now return it." He held out one spiked hand, waiting for Crux to hand over the cross.

Flicking his wrist, Crux released the cross from his wristband. He turned his hand over where it floated in the air. Instead of handing it over to Knuckles he stared at it again. Every time he used the cross, he was more intrigued by it.

He didn’t notice everyone staring at him. “It is you,” Syria half-whispered.

“Hmm?” The cross attached itself to his wristband again.

Syria’s voice had lost its disdain. “Ever since last night I’ve had this feeling that I should be somewhere.”

“So have I,” Poe added. “This morning the feeling was so strong that I, I mean we,” he corrected himself, glancing at Syria, “could no longer ignore it.”

“I had never met Poe before the island,” Syria said. “And now I find out we seem to be here for the same reason.”

“Do you know me?” Crux asked.

“Never heard of ya before,” Syria stated. Well there went that idea. Oh well. No use crying over spilt milk.

“What are you going to do now? Try to restore your memory?” Sonic asked.

“Perhaps,” Crux answered. “Though frankly that doesn’t hold too much interest for me.”

“Really?” Tails sounded very confused. “Don’t you want to know who you are?”

“Not especially,” he replied with a shrug. “I am Crux of the Cross. Not much else matters beyond that.” Now why had he called himself that? He hadn’t thought of calling himself that before. It just sort of popped out. He glanced down at the cross on his left wrist. Perhaps it was because it interested him. Since awakening nothing had held his interest except the cross and he had a feeling that even before he lost his memory nothing could interest him for long. It was a mystery while all other questions had been answered. It was unpredictable, and he liked that. Predictability was boring. He wanted to find out more about this mysterious cross.

“Yes,” he said, mostly to himself. “I am Crux of the Cross.”

“Then I shall be Poe of the Cross.” Somewhat confused Crux turned and looked quizzically at the smiling dove.

“And I shall be Syria of the Cross.” He turned to the dragon. Her too? These people were weird.

“Well I’ve made up my mind!”

“Huh?” Everyone said at once as they turned to Sonic.

What do yo mean?” Crux asked. He had an odd feeling about this.

“You seem to be a nice guy, Crux. So I’m going to help you get your memory back!”

“Hey! Great idea Sonic!” Tails agreed. Knuckles huffed but didn’t argue.

Hoo boy. He hadn’t expected that, though he couldn’t say it was completely unexpected. Sonic seemed like that type of person and Tails seemed like he would follow Sonic anywhere. Knuckles, well, he seemed quite brash but still friends with Sonic none the less. And the other two, well it looked like they might stick with him. As for himself, he was going to find out more about the cross. Crux looked over at the dove and the dragon. Poe smiled happily while Syria more or less smirked.

Sonic winked and hooked a thumb behind him, indicating Tails’ plane, the Tornado.

Crux sight and walked towards the plane. “Do as you wish.”

Title: Here Without You

Description: Through out the show of NCIS there have been several character deaths, the most memorable being Kate’s. In the following two episodes we see the other agents’ thoughts at her murder and her absence. But what about the others? This is the characters thoughts about their other fallen comrades.

Chapter One: Pacci -- Kate

When I was an agent of the Secret Service I was always on edge. I was part of the president’s security detail. We had our fair share of problems, though that was to be expected. We always managed to work it out together, my fellow agents and I. I can still hear my former boss saying to me “Expect problems Agent Todd, and with any luck, you’ll never lose a president.” He never did mention anything about losing each other.

That was all my fellow agents and I were really worried about though; the president. Sure, we were close friends outside of work but on the job we knew that one day we would have to lay down our lives to protect the president. It was a fact we had all grown use to.

I though that had changed when I joined NCIS, but I should have known better. We’re a closer knit group then the Secret Service, probably due to the lack of constant stress. The atmosphere was different too as were the types of jobs we took on. I knew this job could and would be more dangerous than my previous one, but I began to relax. I knew that someday we would probably lose someone, but I never thought it would be like this.

If I close my eyes I can still see Pacci’s still, blood covered body lying disemboweled in the elevator. I had been with NCIS for less than a year and I had already seen some pretty disturbing sights, but this one definitely took the cake. It was made all the worse by the fact that the man lying dead on the elevator floor was a friend.

We had solved the case, caught Pacci’s murderer (a pre-op transsexual that Tony tongued. I’ll never let him live that one down.), and brought justice to Pacci’s family. It wouldn’t bring him back from the dead though. As I sat at my kitchen table, staring at my untouched plate, I couldn’t help but wonder what else I could have done. Surely I could have made a difference if I had acted sooner. A day or two before that gruesome incident he had asked for our help on something, a cold case I believe he had said. There was no doubt in my mind that the case he was working then was the same one that had led to his death. Would I have been able to change anything if I had taken the time to help him on the case?

I stood, picked up my plate, brought it to the counter where I wrapped it in plastic wrap and placed it in the fridge. Reminiscing about Pacci had robbed me of my appetite. I walked over to the window and stared out into the gloomy dusk. I had gone with Pacci for drinks on an evening quite like this once. We had gone as friends, nothing more, but it had been enough to seal our friendship. It never had a hope of becoming anything more. I had learned my lesson in the Secret Service and I didn’t intend to repeat that mistake.

Still, I didn’t think losing him would hurt this much. Perhaps it was the different working environment of NCIS or something else entirely, but even now, days later, the pain of loosing a friend was still fresh in my mind.

And this wouldn’t be the last time. More people I knew would die in the line of duty and leave me here to mourn their absence. Surely God would welcome them all with open arms and a warm, loving smile. Even now, Pacci was safe in His embrace. Knowing this gave me some small measure of comfort, but his absence still weighed heavy on my heart.

I turned away from the window to the fire place. A wooden crucifix rested on the mantle, looking out over my small living room. I touched my fingers to my silver crucifix necklace at my throat and could see Pacci smiling down at us from above. I knelt down slowly in front of the fire place and the crucifix. I clasped my hands before me, closed my eyes and lowered my head and began to pray for my friend’s soul.

Title: Part of the Pack

Summary: Wolf’s rivalry with Fox started long before they actually met. There wasn’t any one event that turned Wolf into the man he was when he met Fox. It could have been his oppressed childhood; his rivalry with James; the loss of his eye; his service to Andross. Only one thing is for certain; no one knows what the future will hold.

Chapter One

“Wolf! Come here right now,” Serena snarled at the young wolf pup playing not far from the home where his family lived. They didn’t live in the city like the rest of the people. Instead, they lived just outside, on the outskirts, where they didn’t have to deal with as many of other peoples’ rules. His was a family that liked their own rules and wouldn’t settle for what others told them to do.

Wolf looked over his grey furred shoulder at his mother who was angrily beckoning to him. His brothers and sisters had gone inside ages ago when they had been told. Their father, the Alpha Male of the pack, had called them personally. He was a real tough customer, not taking any gruff from anyone, not even his own children. He was the boss and what he said was law. The only person who held anywhere as near as much power as Grane, Wolf’s father, was Serena, his wife and the Alpha Female. Of course, even she had to listen to what he said.

After a moments hesitation, Wolf began to walk sullenly back to his house and scowling mother. He knew she would be furious with him for disobeying. Even though he knew the rules, he couldn’t help but be defiant. He didn’t see why he should have to listen to someone else. His father didn’t have to, and eventually his eldest brother, Jace, wouldn’t have to either, because he would be Alpha Male after his father died.

Stalking past Serena, Wolf sat down at the table with the rest of his family. Grane barely paid him any attention; he never did. Jace however sneered at him along with his second oldest sister Fio. He didn’t like her very much. She may be older than him but he was stronger. In his mind, that meant he was better than her.

Jace was a jerk too. He was twelve years of age, putting him seven years ahead of Wolf’s five years of age. Just because he would eventually be the Alpha Male and was the favorite of Grane he bossed all the other pups around.

As Wolf picked sulkily at his food he couldn’t help but wonder what life would be like once Grane died and Jace took over. Even though Wolf was young he had no problem with death. It was something that happened, a part of life. It could happen because of some natural occurrence, or something environmental. Death could also be caused by something you did to yourself, or by something someone else did. Sometimes death could be messy, but that didn’t bother him; he liked the colour red.

Wolf’s appetite had deserted him but he wasn’t allowed to leave the table until his father was done his meal. On the subject of Jace being leader, that made him shudder inside. If anything, he would be worse than Grane. His father was indifferent towards him and the rest of his siblings – with the exception of Jace – and he was very stern, though not overly harsh, most of the time. Jace was like Grane except far extreme. He was indifferent to the point of pretending that other’s didn’t exist, or only existed for him. Where Grane was stern, Jace was cruel. Wolf couldn’t count all the times that his eldest brother had bullied him and tried to beat on him. Every time it made him seethe with anger. What made that damned pup so much better than him?

Out of the corner of his eye Wolf saw Grane leave the table. Wolf immediately got up from the table and left as well. He left without a word to his mother went outside again. Jace and Fio followed him out the door and even though he heard them clearly he didn’t try and dissuade them. For one, his father would probably hear about it and get mad at him for treating Jace badly. Secondly, no matter how much it irked him, Wolf knew that nothing he could do would intimidate them.

“Hey, Wolfie,” Jace jeered. “Having fun alone again?”

“Yes, I am,” Wolf replied coolly.

“You made dad mad again Wolfie.” Fio spoke this time. God, how he hated that nickname. “He’s gonna chew you out.”

“Father won’t chew me out,” Wolf countered. He mentioned his father with little warmth. “That would make me individual. The only one of us that is an individual here is Jace.” He felt his ear twitch as he said that. He had just acknowledged that Jace was treated better than the rest of them.

“Well I’m—“

Wolf cut Fio off. “Even you, Fio. To him, your just another member of the pack.” He could hear the snarl growing in Fio’s throat. She knew all the rules and obeyed them and what he had just said was nothing new to her but it annoyed her to hear it coming out of Wolf’s mouth.

Serena appeared behind the two older pups and placed a paw on each of their shoulders. “You two go inside now. Oh, and Jace. Your father wants to see you.”

“Yes mom,” they said in unison and turned around and headed back inside. Wolf glared at their backs as they retreated inside. He wanted so badly to be rid of them, but he knew that was a far fetched wish. After a moment he returned his gaze to his mother.

“What was that about earlier today?” she asked. She softened her tone slightly but it remained stern.

“I lost track of what I was doing,” he lied.

“No, you didn’t.” Serena sighed and knelt down in front of him. “This isn’t the first time you’ve acted like this,” she said. “Why are you so defiant?”

“I’m not.” He knew full well that he was but what was the use of admitting it to his mother. She would just try to get to the bottom of his actions and try to fix him. Wolf didn’t need fixing.

“Yes, you are.” She was more stern now. “This is no way to act, Wolf. You are a part of this family and you have to act like it.”

Wolf’s temper finally snapped. “I know that I’m part of this family! I know that’s all I am to you, to father, to everyone! Jace is the only one that is treated special and that’s only because he’s gonna be Alpha Male when dad croaks.”

Serena cuffed Wolf sharply behind his ear. “Watch your tongue.” Her eyes were narrowed dangerously. Speaking against Grane was next to blasphemy. Wolf rubbed the sore spot on his head and glowered at her. He knew that if he didn’t watch his words now he would be in for a lot more than a simple cuff on the ear.

“You are a member of a pack, Wolf.” Serena continued. “It is who you are, it is what you are. It’s about time you get used to it.” She stood up quickly and walked back to the open doorway. “Be in bed by the time the sun sets,” she called back to him before closing the door.

When he was sure no one was watching Wolf snarled and plunged his claws into the dirt in fury. He hated it here! He was no one, undefined, just a face in the crowd, and he hated it. What made Jace and Grane so special? Just because someone says he’s someone special suddenly he’s the next-best-thing to god. They weren’t born special, nothing happened to them when they were young. They were just like him in every way except in the way they were regarded. Well he’d show them. Someday he’d be better than any stinking Alpha Male, and he wouldn’t even need a pack.

Suddenly claws were digging into his shoulders and hauling him from the ground. Wolf would have cried out from the pain except he was stronger than that. He was spun around and found himself facing Grane’s flaming eyes. Wolf didn’t look away but he felt his tail sag and his ears begin to press flat to his head. It happened to him naturally, not because he told himself to do it. Despite what he was thinking earlier, Grane could be vicious when he wanted to be.

“You disrespected me today,” Grane said finally.

“I’m sorry,” Wolf replied solemnly.

Grane studied him quietly for a moment, his eyes fierce and unblinking. “No,” he said finally. “No, you’re not.”

This time Wolf didn’t say anything. His father was right. He wasn’t really sorry and he should have known better than to lie to him. Grane was like a living polygraph.

“I don’t understand you Wolf,” Grane said. “You were born from the same mother as everyone else and yet you refuse to act like them. You are the same as them Wolf.”

Not trusting himself to speak, he said nothing. If he said something, he would either lie and get caught or he would say something stupid and get raked across the face with his father’s claws. Though the words he had spoken were mild, there was a definite undertone of malice. Then there was the fact that his father still had his claws embedded in his shoulder.

“If you don’t start acting as part of the pack then you will be punished. No matter how much you want to be you are not an individual here. You are a small part of a bigger picture.”

Wolf was writhing inside. What his father had just said was one of the things that bothered him the most. Grane slowly withdrew his claws from his son’s shoulder and stood. He glared down at his youngest son for a moment before speaking to him. “This will not happen again.” Then he turned around and returned to the house.

After a moment Wolf’s hand strayed to his shoulder where he felt the slick wetness of his own blood. There wasn’t much, but the fact still remained that his father had drawn blood from his own son. Of course it didn’t surprise him. It was one of the rules of the pack.

He looked up to the sky and saw a Star Fighter shoot by. For some reason he was drawn to it. Up in space he was totally alone with no one to depend on but himself when it came down to it. Up there just because someone said something didn’t make them special. There all that mattered was how strong and skillful you were

Looking back to his house, Wolf scowled. He vowed that one day he would leave this dump behind and would take to space where he would prove he didn’t have to be part of a pack.

Title: Requiem for the Lost

Summary: After the ordeal with Iblis and Mephiles, Silver returns to his own time, still in mourning of Blaze. However, she did not perish. Now she too returns to her own time. Only, her home is not as she remembered; and neither is Silver.

Chapter One

The sun set on the horizon, casting the world in a golden hue. Lazy clouds with pink bellies floated in the sky, occasionally passing in front of the setting sun. In the nearby woods birds were setting down to roost for the night.

Silver stood on the beach alone, watching the sunset. He had accomplished what he had come back to the past to do. He had stopped Mephiles and uncovered the truth about the Iblis Trigger and had saved his future. Though what it had cost him still made him shudder.

When he had come to the past, he had left with his friend, Blaze the Cat. But now…now she was no longer with him. She had given her life to defeat Iblis. Silver had pleaded with her not to go, that he should be the one to make the sacrifice, but she had refused and now he was alone again…

Why? Why had she left him alone? It was her fault he was alone again. She had broken her promise. She had promised him he would never be alone again. So why?!

Overhead a nightingale called and snapped him out of his thoughts. He looked up to find the songbird winging into the sunset. The sunset reminded him of fire. Blaze…

“No,” he corrected himself. It wasn’t her fault and he had been wrong to blame her. It wasn’t anyone’s fault. She had given her life to protect his and it would be an insult to her memory for him to try and blame anyone, even himself. That would be cheapening her sacrifice. Wiping a stray tear from his eye, he smiled at the sunset. Blaze always enjoyed the sunset.

Footsteps approached from behind and he turned to see Sonic, Tails, Knuckles, Shadow, Rouge, Omega, Amy and Elise walking towards him. They had all come to see him off.

“Hey Silver!” Sonic called from a slight ways off.

“Sonic.” Silver nodded to him when he arrived.

Amy seemed concerned about Silver. “Are you okay?” she asked.

“I’m fine,” he smiled. And it was true. He had accepted Blaze’s death. Of course it still hurt. It would always hurt. He would also always grieve for her, but he wasn’t depressed or angry…not anymore. He knew now that he would be fine.

“So you’re leaving now?” Elise asked

“Yes, Princess,” Silver replied, turning back to the beach and the sky, which had now darkened further as the sun continued to set. “I came here to stop my future from being destroyed. I have accomplished that and it is now time for me to return home.”

“We’ll miss you,” Amy said.

He turned to her and smiled again. “And I’ll miss you.”

Using the white chaos emerald Shadow opened a rift in time for Silver, leading back to his own time.

“Goodbye Silver!” Amy called. Everyone except Shadow and Omega added their own goodbyes. They knew they would likely see him again.

Silver looked at everyone a moment before holding out his hand to Sonic, who clasped it in his own. “Thank you for everything Sonic.”

“No problem,” he replied with a smile. “If you ever need anything we’ll be willing to help.” Silver nodded to him.

He turned to the portal and was about to enter when he heard someone running towards him. He turned around in time to see Amy fling herself onto him in a hug. After a shocked moment he hugged her back, thankful for the friendly gesture.

“Goodbye, Amy,” he said to her. “And thank you.” Shadow twitched in the background and Rouge smirked at him. Amy stepped back, sad to see Silver leaving.

Waving goodbye, Silver stepped into the portal, back to his own time.

~oOo~

Nothing moved in the darkness and nothing had since she had arrived. Not that Blaze would know. She hadn’t been conscious for her stay here. The Chaos Emeralds had seen to that.

When she had used the chaos emeralds to seal Iblis inside of herself and place them both within another dimension they had sapped most of her life force. In order to keep her alive the emeralds had put her to sleep, removed Iblis while in a dead universe and sent her to another world to recuperate. They would never kill a willing sacrifice.

But now she had recovered and it was time for her to return to her own time…

~oOo~

Rubble littered the ground and fire burned in the sky. That sight was the normal. It was what everyone who still lived had been born to; chaos. It was all they had ever known and all they would ever know. Sure, a couple different people tried to fight the harbinger of chaos but most of them never came back alive. That didn’t stop them though. If there was even the slightest hope that they could take back their world, they would grab for it. But in the end, all they ever seemed to grab was thin air and death.

Blaze had grown up in this world and was one of those who tried to fight. She knew that whatever the outcome, she had next to no hope of wining. The fact that she was alone had never bothered her either. She managed just fine.

She wandered the ruins of Crisis City, searching for signs of Iblis. He was a giant creature of flame and rock that smelled of brimstone but he hid himself and appeared at random points throughout the city to cause more havoc. As Blaze walked, she saw a flash of silver out of the corner of her eye. She stopped and looked to the side to where whatever it was that had run to hide.

Peering around a rather large boulder, she saw a young silver hedgehog huddling alone. He was filthy… his fur smudged with dirt and matted in some places. But his yellow eyes stayed determined.

When he laid eyes on the purple cat he flinched and yelped. Motioning with one hand, a nearby piece of small rubble began to float in the air close to the young boy. His hand remained poised as if ready throw the piece of rubble at her, though he wasn’t even physically holding it.

‘Psychokenisis,’ she thought. ‘Interesting.’

“It’s alright,” she said to him softly. She bent down so her yellow eyes were level with his yellow ones. “I’m not going to hurt you.”

The boy hesitated for a moment then asked, “Really?”

“Really,” she replied, holding up a hand in a pacifying gesture.

After a moment he released the rubble, which fell to the ground with a thud. “What’s your name?” Blaze asked.

“Silver the Hedgehog,” he replied.

“Where’s your family Silver?”

“Mom and Dad died a while ago,” he mumbled. “I’ve been alone since then.”

Blaze hesitated. She hadn’t expected that. She knew what it was like to be alone, and while she could handle it well, not everyone could.

“Aren’t you scared?”

“It’s scary to be alone,” he admitted. “I wish I wasn’t alone.” He looked away but Blaze saw the tears forming in his now sad eyes.

Standing up, Blaze gazed at the burning sky. This child was alone and scared. He reminded her a lot of herself when she was that age though she was only about four years older than the boy. The fact that he had managed thus far was something of a miracle. Most children that were by themselves at this age didn’t last.

She glanced over at the building beside them, a large structure that looked like it used to house a business at one point in the distant past, maybe even a broadcasting studio. Then she looked back down at the boy. He had brought his knees up to his chest and had his arms around them, staring off into the distance.

“I have an idea,” she said. Silver looked up at her, confusion evident on his face. “Why don’t you come with me?” she suggested. “Then you won’t be by yourself anymore.”

It took a short moment for this to sink in. Would travelling with this strange girl be a wise choice? Should he learn more about her own past before trusting her? Coming to a decision, Silver’s face suddenly lit up.

“Really? You mean it?” he asked.

“Really,” she assured him with a warm smile.

“And you won’t leave me?”

“I promise you, Silver. I won’t leave you. You won’t have to be alone ever again.”

Silver was almost crying with happiness now. He had been on his own for so long he had given up hope that it would ever change. Now here he was, with someone he hardly knew offering him their hand, promising to be there for him and that he wouldn’t be alone.

She stood before him, holding out her hand. “My name is Blaze the Cat,” she said. Silver smiled and placed his small hand in hers.

~oOo~

When Blaze awoke, her dream forgotten, the first thing she remembered was Iblis. She sat upright and found herself in a bed. This wasn’t right. The last thing she remembered was…dying.

That’s right. She had supposedly died after using the Chaos Emeralds while sacrificing herself to seal Iblis within her body and save the world. Silver had tried to do it himself but…

Silver. Was he alright? Had he survived the confrontation in the past? Where was he? When was he? For that matter, when and where was she? Blaze knew this was not where she lived…everything was so confusing.

“Oh, you’re awake. Good, good.” Blaze looked up to see a kind looking old lady enter the room. “How are you feeling?” she asked.

“Fine,” Blaze replied after a moment. “Confused, but fine.”

“Confused? Have you lost your memory?”

“No, my memory is intact,” she reassured her. “I just don’t know where I am.”

“Oh, I see,” the woman smiled. “Well, this is my house,” she explained. “My name is May. I was on my way home from the park when I heard something behind me. I turned around and saw you lying on the ground. Thankfully we were right outside my house so I brought you in.”

Well, that answered a couple questions but still left some unanswered. She still did not know how she had gotten to this place from the battlefield with Iblis, where she was, or how she was alive. She also still knew nothing of Silver.

“Oh, yes. You were holding this.” Blaze looked over and saw May holding the Topaz chaos emerald. “I don’t know if this helps anything.” Standing, Blaze walked over to May who handed her the emerald.

When Blaze touched the chaos emerald she knew what had happened. She did not know how she knew, she just did. Silver, Sonic and the others had succeeded in stopping Solaris and their time had been saved. The chaos emeralds had sapped most of her life force and then sent her back to recover. Now she had returned to her own time. And so did Silver.

Blaze almost sobbed with relief. The elderly woman put a hand on her shoulder. “Are you alright?”

“Yes,” Blaze replied softly. “Yes, everything is fine.” She turned to May and took her hands in her own. “Thank you for your hospitality May.”

Looking slightly confused, she nodded. “You’re welcome.”

“I’m sorry but I must go now.” Blaze turned to the door.

“Wait!” May called after her. “Are you sure you’re alright?”

“I’m sure,” Blaze called back from the door. “Thank you again.” She then left the house and beheld her new world.

The sky was blue and the buildings of the city all stood. No rubble littered the ground and birds flew though the air. People bustled about the street and sidewalks, bringing the city to life. Their time had indeed been saved. Now, to look for Silver.

Unfortunately she had no idea where he would be. It had changed so much that almost none of Silver’s most frequented spots remained. Well, she wouldn’t get anything done just standing here, so she decided to check the few places that remained.

She searched around for several houses but to no avail. She had tried all the places that sill remained as well as a couple that had changed. She checked the tops of tall building and the open sky, where he often enjoyed flying and still…nothing.

Feeling defeated, Blaze wandered over to the beach. This was one of their favorite spots to stop and relax. Well, relax as much as you could in Crisis City. She doubted he would be here now. Sitting down the stone steps she sighed. Where could that hedgehog be?

Then out of the corner of her eye she saw a flash of silver. She turned quickly, yellow eyes searching. There! She had seen silver fur disappear behind a nearby building; the broadcasting studio where she had first found him. As she turned the corner she saw him standing by himself, facing away from her.

“Silver,” she called as she walked towards him. He turned to her, a slightly confused expression on his face. Other than that he had no reaction.

This stunned Blaze. She had expected him to jump up and down or weep with joy, but instead she got nothing.

“I’m sorry,” he apologized. “But… do I know you?”

Story Title: Seekers’ Path

Story Summary: She was lost in a myriad of despair, grief, and hate. The only thing she had left was her promise of revenge. When she was young, she was deeply betrayed and has never trusted again. Will she take her revenge or will the Loonatics teach her to trust and forgive again?

Chapter 1: Dreaming

She had loved it at their summer home. They hadn’t been rich, but they still had enough for some luxury items. Her older sister and younger brother had been looking forward to this trip for a while now. So had she.

Her parents drove them all the way from their home in the city for three hours until they reached their small wooden cabin situated on a secluded beach. There were several summer homes along the fringe of the forest surrounding the lake. One of them belonged to their family friend.

When they had arrived, they had been greeted happily and enthusiastically by the fellow cottage owner. The trip had been fun, yes, but the girl had been looking forward to swimming and spending time with her family. Despite her older sisters teasing and her younger brother’s annoying attitude, she still loved to spend time with them. Having the family friend around didn’t hurt either.

The first day they got there, they swam all day. Her parents watched on the beach with the family friend. The routine had been the same every summer. Throughout the time they were there, they did lots of different activities. On one of the last days there, her and her siblings had been playing hide-and-seek in the woods.

“Ready or not, here I come!” She heard her little brother yell the start of the game from her hiding place. She didn’t quite know where her sister was, but she was sure she was well hidden.

She heard the breaking of twigs and the scattering of leaves on the ground as her brother approached her. Quickly, she scampered away, making sure not to make a sound. She was quite good at moving silently. She always won the hide-and-seek games, both when she was hiding and seeking.

As she was running she saw out of the corner of her eyes her sister hiding in a bush. Their brother was coming and she didn’t seem to notice. She sniggered aloud accidentally. She quickly chided herself mentally for making a noise. She saw her sister look towards her and heard her brother calling. “Ha! I heard you! I’m gonna get you this time!”

She climbed the tree that was beside her to try to hide herself. Her brother’s footsteps were right below her now. She hoped he wouldn’t notice her. She had a record to uphold after all.

She could see him now; right below her. She held her breathe in vain hope that she wouldn’t be found.

Just as he was about to look up, the voice of the family friend rang out through the forest. “Children! Your parents want you inside now!” Her brother turned around and her sister stepped out of the bush. He looked over in disbelief at her. She sighed to herself. Saved by the adults.

She dropped out of the tree right beside her siblings. The both yelped in surprise and she just giggled. The three of them walked back towards the cabin together.

They hadn’t realized it but it had grown late. The sun was fading and the stars began to emerge. The odd part was, their parents never really cared how late they were out, as long as they got at least some sleep. Why did they want them in now? Her siblings were thinking the same thing.

When they emerged from the forest, the family friend was waiting for them. They smiled sweetly at the children and went into the cottage behind them. Their parents entered the living room from where the small children had entered. “Well hello there, what are you doing in so early?” The three children looked at their mother in puzzlement. Hadn’t she called them in?

“Well,” the voice of the family friend floated sweetly over the children’s heads, “I thought we could do a…little something together.”

The children turned towards her as she slashed downwards with a long knife. Her older sister screamed in pain as the knife pierced her flesh. Her brother and she screamed in terror and her parents gasp in horror. The friend had a demented look of pleasure on her face which was now specked with blood.

The two children ran towards their parents, trying to flee from the mad killer behind them. The older sister lay slain at the feet of the so called ‘friend’.

With their breathing ragged, she advanced upon the now terrified family. The mother was now screaming for her eldest daughter. The father was trying to shield the family from anymore deaths. “Run, everyone. Run!” Their father was yelling at them to run but his cries were drowned out by the rest of the family’s screaming.

The murderer now lunged forward at the father. He held off her first attack, but she was so savage that he was quickly overpowered. With several thrusts from the knife to his chest and sides, he also fell.

The mother now snapped out of her stupor, grabbed the children, and ran for the back door. Her younger brother tripped and fell. The murderer fell upon him as well. The mother dove onto the murderer with a savage scream, trying to protect her son. The mother tore at the murderer with tooth and claw.

The girl ran for the nearest door which happened to be a small cubby hole which she was just able to fit into. She slammed the door tight and hoped to dear god that she wouldn’t be found. She sobbed silently in terror for her family and herself.

Outside she could still hear the fighting and screaming. She could hear her brother screaming and the murderer laughing, and then she couldn’t hear him anymore. She heard her mother screaming in rage.

The girl was growing more and more terrified now. What was going on out there?! She shut her eyes and folded her ears tightly against her head. She hugged her knees as tears of fear poured down her face. She heard her mother’s final screaming and the last insane laughter of the once family friend.
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Rylie Wolf awoke with a start. She was covered in a cold sweat and was shaking slightly. It had been awhile since she dreamt of her past.

The light blanket she had been wearing was now only covering her left leg as she sat up in bed. She wiped a paw across her face, feeling the sweat running down her muzzle.

She swung her legs over the side of the bed and stood up. She was still a little shaky from the dream but she could walk.

Rylie stood still a moment, taking stock of her surroundings. It was approaching dawn outside so it was still dark within the abandoned shelter she had found. It wasn’t wood but it wasn’t as quality metal as the rest of the new world. The electricity bill hadn’t been paid in who knows how long, so the only light source was the sun outside which at this time, still hadn’t risen.

She proceeded to the bathroom next. The water wasn’t running here anymore either, but she had collected some the night before.

With a cloth she wiped the thick layer of dust off the cracked mirror. She dipped a second wash cloth into the water. She washed the sweat off her face with warm, refreshing water.

Rylie lowered the cloth and stared at her reflection with slate grey eyes. With a paw covered in teal fur, she brushed her raspberry red hair slightly out of one of her eyes.

Her eyes narrowed with determination as she clenched a fist and turned her attention to the window where she could barely make out the city of Acmetropolis. She would never forget the promise she made to herself; her promise of revenge.

Sibling Rivalry

Summary: When the Fenton Portal begins to break down, Jazz decides to help fix it, only she ends up getting zapped by it, just like Danny! While she was down there, Danny saw this happen and decides to keep it a secret from her. Now that Jazz has ghost powers, she decides to help Danny with his ghost fighting. Unfortunately, Jazz ends up getting tricked by Vlad and she may have made the biggest mistake of her life! Will Jazz ever fix her mistake? Or will she end up destroying her little brother?

Chapter 1: Jazz’s Concern

Jasmine Alexandra Fenton was as normal as anyone would think. But that’s not how she sees it. If anyone found out about her family and what they do, she’d be considered a lunatic. Jasmine, or Jazz as she preferred, tries hard to hide the fact that her parents are ghost hunters. She thought her parents were mad, trying to hunt something that doesn’t exist. Her little brother Daniel, or Danny as he liked to be called, could simply shrug it off and not be bothered by it.

But Jazz couldn’t. She wouldn’t accept the fact that her parents were ghost-hunting freaks. Jazz had never even seen a ghost. That was until, her parents created a machine that opened a door to the Ghost Zone. At first she was glad that the thing never worked. She just wished that her curious brother hadn’t gone into it to fix it.

She had no idea that Danny had been granted with ghost powers. She and her parents thought that he got a minor shock when he went to look at it. Jazz never would have found out that her brother was half ghost if she hadn’t seen him transform into his alter super fighting ego, Danny Phantom.

True, Jazz never told Danny that she knew about his powers. She figured it would be better if he told her himself. ‘It’ll be better for his psychological needs. He needs to be able to trust people he can relate to,’ Jazz told herself. Her only concern was that Danny would one day end up beaten to a pulp by some ghost. Or worse, captured by his own parents so they could do experiments on him.

Jazz wanted to help her little brother badly. Danny’s best friends Tucker and Sam were there to help him fight, but they still weren’t enough to protect him. Jazz needed a way to help her brother. She hated fighting ghosts or anything to do with them, but after the little experience she had with her father, she was beginning to have second thoughts. But how? How could she help Danny without her parents, Jack and Maddie Fenton, knowing that she had suddenly taken an interest in ghost fighting? She wanted to be as normal as ever, but she didn’t want Danny to be discovered. She needed to keep her identity secret from everyone around.

Shaking these thoughts out of her head, Jazz sat up from her bed and walked downstairs. She saw Danny at the dinner table. He was a mess! His raven black hair was messier than usual and his baby blue eyes were struggling to stay open. Jazz could feel tears coming to her crystal blue eyes, but she blinked them away. She could not believe her brother would go through so much suffering in one sitting.

Because of his ghost-hunting job, Danny’s grades have been declining slowly and his parents began to suspect that he was doing drugs. Jazz covers up for him a lot, especially at school. His English teacher, Mr. Lancer, is quiet strict and thinks that Danny is merely slacking off with his homework.

Her thoughts were interrupted when Danny spoke.

“What are you staring at?”

“Nothing,” she replied quietly.

Danny resumed eating his dinner while Jazz took a seat beside him. She picked up one of her psychology books and pretended to read. She looked at Danny through her strawberry blonde hair. She noticed that Danny had indeed, grown some muscles on his arms and chest. She had seen how built he was becoming when he came out of the shower one time with only his pants on. But then, that white t-shirt he always wore did a good job of hiding his muscles and bruises that he received when fighting spectral monsters.

He looked up from his food and saw Jazz staring at him.

“Danny, I’m really worried about you,” she said when Danny looked at her.

“Why do you care?” he grumbled. Jazz could tell he was in a bad mood.

“I care because I’m your sister,” she simply explained. “You sure you don’t want to talk about it?”

“Positive,” Danny said without looking at her.

Jazz sighed. She just wished that Danny would tell her about his secret. At some points, Jazz would almost let slip that she knew he sibling’s condition. ‘He needs to tell me himself,’ Jazz scolded herself. Sighing once more, Jazz returned to her book. Just before she read the first line, a thought struck her. ‘How exactly did Danny get his ghost powers anyway?’

But before she could ask, Danny gasped. Jazz looked up and saw a puff of blue mist came directly out of his mouth. Danny covered his mouth and looked at Jazz. ‘Uh oh,’ Jazz thought, ‘what should I do? He’s looking right at me!’ She saw the bathroom door and formed an idea.

“I’ll be right back Danny,” She said in a false voice. “I need to use the bathroom.”

Jazz quickly ran to the bathroom and shut the door, only to open the door a crack to watch her brother. Danny stood up and glanced around.

“I’m going ghost!” he shouted. Jazz covered her mouth to prevent laughing out loud. ‘He has a battle cry. That’s so cute!’ Jazz smiled and watched her brother transform.

Two bright rings of white light appeared at Danny’s waist. One moved up his torso, while the other moved down his jean-covered legs. After the rings disappeared, there no longer stood a human but a ghost. Danny’s t-shirt and jeans were replaced by a black and white jumpsuit. His China blue eyes were now neon green, and his hair was now snow white instead of black. She turned intangible and flew out through the ceiling.

Two hours.

That’s how long it took Danny to get home from fighting a ghost. Jazz had been sitting on the couch, tapping her finger, waiting for her brother’s return. She had grown impatient now. Truthfully, she was more worried than anything else.

She felt relieved when she heard him come through the door. She got up to see him only to stop dead in her tracks. Danny was supporting a black shiner on his right eye and his left hand was clutching his right shoulder. Jazz’s mouth opened when she saw that Danny’s shoulder was bleeding.

“Danny wha-“ she started to say but her tongue was all tied up. “W…what h-happened?”

“I-I fell w-when I went over to Tucker’s house,” he said nervously.

Jazz knew he was lying but she decided to buy his excuse.

“Here, let me help you.”

Jazz reached out to help him, but he pushed her aside.

“I’m fine Jazz,” he mumbled.

“Danny please, I just want to help…”

“I don’t need any help Jazz! Just leave me alone!” he shouted.

“Danny wait!” Jazz pleaded but Danny stormed up the stairs into his room. He slammed his door shut loudly, making Jazz flinch.

Jazz sighed deeply and slumped down onto the couch. She felt tears brewing in her eyes but she forced them back down. All she wants to do is help him. ‘I wish I could just help him. Any way possible,’ she thought sadly.

Little did she know that her wish would become her greatest problem.

Title: Starfox Adventure: Dinosaur Planet

Summary: This is a novelisation of the Gamecube game Starfox Adventure: Dinosaur Planet. A female fox named Krystal receives a distress signal from Dinosaur Planet. There, she finds out the planet is in ruins and is being torn apart as the forces that have held the planet together have been disrupted. However, before she can discover more about this planets fate, she is attacked and sealed inside a crystal. Fox McCloud is sent on a mission to Dinosaur Planet. There he finds Krystal’s staff and it is now up to Fox to save the planet, defeat the enemy, and maybe even get the girl.

Chapter One: Aboard the Galleon

From the depths of space, a girl named Krystal searches for the truth of her parents’ death.

Finding herself within a lost corner of the Lylat system, she receives a distress call from a world known as Dinosaur Planet.

Being of a kind nature, Krystal decides to investigate.

This night as she ventured forth to find the source of the distress signal, she rode on the back of a kindly CloudRunner who had agreed to help her. They soared through the sky, ignoring the storm raging around them. Flashes of lightning guided their way through the clouded sky. Krystal brushed rainwater out of her eyes with a blue-furred paw and peered into the distance. Something didn’t feel right to her. She drew her staff out from behind her and held it conveniently in her paw.

“I received a garbled distress signal. It said something about a mountain hidden in a storm,” she called down to the CloudRunner beneath her. Krystal was speaking in the language of the Dinosaurs. She was quite adept at picking up other languages and she already had quite a few at her disposal. She had to yell to be heard over the howling storm. With the winds whipping her voice left and right, it would be a wonder if the pterosaur even heard her at all.

The CloudRunner let out a shrill cry, letting Krystal know he had heard her. She looked up again, still yelling down to her ride below.

“Whoever they are, they sounded in great danger!” She was worried about these poor creatures who had called for her aid. How badly were they injured? Would there be hostile enemies there? What if they were already…dead? Krystal shook her head and took a deep breath. Even if they were, she couldn’t just sit by and not try to help someone in need.

From behind them, Krystal picked up the sound of something big flying towards them. She turned around in her seat and quickly ducked down again as several fire balls flew overhead. Turning around again, she tried to find the source of the assault. More fire balls had been fired and one was heading straight for her.

Instinctively, she threw her arm up in front of her face with her staff out in front. The impact of the fire ball wrenched her staff from her hand and sent it hurtling through the sky where it fell through the clouds below.

“My staff!” She wanted to reach for her staff, one of her few weapons and her most trusted source of protection.

The cry of a horrible beast ripped through the night. It was behind them, but getting closer. Beside Krystal and the CloudRunner, a giant shipped loomed. The helm of the ship bore the head of a dinosaur and it seemed to be alive and roaring for all it was worth. At first, Krystal was shocked by the sight of this monstrous vessel, but she quickly regained her bearings. By use of pressure on the pterosaurs shoulders, she maneuvered him downwards and behind the ship. This had to be HIS ship. The evil General the CloudRunner had told her about. Just the sight of the ship made her blood boil. No one should be able to do what this creature was doing and get away with it. She had to at least confront him. Also, maybe this was where the distress signal was coming from. Krystal readied her magic and prepared for battle.

There was a motor on the underside of the ship propelling it forwards as well as two cannons shaped as dinosaur heads shooting more fire balls. As the CloudRunner dodged around the flamming balls of death, she aimed her magic at her three targets. Several times they were grazed with the heat of the fire balls, singing her fur and burning the tough skin of the pterosaur.

She concentrated her efforts on the propeller first to slow the ship down slightly. It was so hard to hit! Its rotating motion made it almost impossible to hit and the evasive flying of the CloudRunner didn’t help either. Come on Krystal, she told herself. Concentrate! With a few more bursts of magic, she was finally able to destroy the blades on the propeller, effectively slowing it down. Yes! Her next target was the cannons.

These were a little more difficult to take care of, considering they shot back. While once again trying to dodge what would most certainly end in there death, she fired her magic at the cannons. Even after the second cannon was destroyed, she knew the fight was not over yet. There was definitely more to come.

With the destruction of the second cannon, the ship put on a sudden burst of speed, pulling away from them. When it reached a fair distance away, it began a sharp turn in their direction. As it turned to face them, Krystal pushed the CloudRunner forwards and headed straight for the head on the helm. Gathering all her energy and holding it at the ready, she took aim at the dinosaurs head which now shooting giant fire balls at them. When they were in range and she was sure she had a decent shot, she fired.

Her shot was perfect. It hit the ship right in the face and it let out a cry of anguish. Seizing her chance, she urged the CloudRunner towards the deck of the ship. When they landed on the rail, she slowly slid off his back and landed nimbly on the deck. Krystal wanted to have a look around and see if she could find the evil general. She turned back to the CloudRunner to thank him.

“Thanks for helping me,” she called to him. “I can take it from here.” The winged dinosaur nodded his head, let out another cry, and winged off into the storm. Krystal turned her attention back to the ship and began to explore.

As she maneuvered around the sliding boxes, a voice reached her ears. It was more of a chattering then actual speech but it seemed to be distressed somewhat. She whipped her head around, trying to find the source of the voice. She spotted it at the other end of the deck. A baby CloudRunner was trapped in a bird cage like a pet and she could tell he wanted out. Making her way towards the poor creature, she decided to help him.

When she reached him, she tried to talk to him. “Hello little fellow,” she cooed. “Are you alright?”

He looked up at her and nodded. “I’m fine,” he replied meekly.

“That’s good.” Krystal smiled warmly at him to show she meant no harm.

“If you’re looking for something, you should probably explore below deck,” he suggested.

“Bellow deck?”

“Mm-hmm.” He nodded his head towards an open door leading below deck at the opposite end of the ship.

“All right then,” she replied. “I’ll be back.” With that, she turned and made her way back towards the door. As she descended the stairs, the sounds of the storm diminished though they could still be heard. When she entered another room, something glittering on the floor caught her eye. It was a key that lay on the floor unguarded. Krystal, being the kind person that she is, decided to pick the key up for whoever had left it there. It was likely a tripping hazard and she didn’t want anyone to fall and hurt themselves. It didn’t look like it belonged to a lock on this ship, so she held onto it for its owner. Oh, I’m just too kind.

There were no other doors down here so she decided to head back up above deck. Now that she had had her look around, she went back to the front of the ship to free the baby CloudRunner.

As she approached his cage, the door in front of her burst open and a raptor dressed in armor stepped out of the flames behind it, took a running start and jumped down the stairs in front of him and landed before Krystal. “General Scales,” he spoke, savoring the name on his tongue. “Ruler, tyrant and dictator of Dinosaur Planet.” When he finished his introduction he looked directly at Krystal with his cold eyes. “What brings you to my world?”

Krystal clenched her teeth as she glared at the evil General. “I’m not here to fight you.” Her voice was defiant. She may not be here to fight, but she certainly didn’t have to like this guy. “I’m only here because of a distress call,” she continued.

General Scales turned around and walked back up the stairs while laughing cruelly. “A distress call? This whole planet is in distress.” Though he said this, he did not seem concerned by it. He truly was the evil general, and Krystal found him pathetic.

“The CloudRunner told me about you, the evil general,” she mocked while pointing at him.

“My girl, I am not evil,” he replied. He turned towards the young CloudRunner in its cage. “I rule over the many dinosaur trines. You see, I must control this planet with fear.” As he said this, he thrust the iron claws he was wearing through the bars on the cage at the young CloudRunner. “Otherwise,” he continued, “the tribes always try to fight against me.”

Krystals’ anger had finally reached its limit. She ran forwards and threw herself at the general, hoping to attack him. Unfortunately, the general saw her and quickly grabbed her by the neck in midair and began to gently squeeze.

General Scales looked down at the fox-girl in his claws, his eyes now blazing. “You dare challenge me?” he hissed. He stalked towards the railing, dragging Krystal along the deck, still holding on to her neck. She struggled in his grip, grasping at his claws to trying to free herself before he threw her over the edge, for she knew that was what lay in store for her.

When he finally reached the railing he held Krystal high over the edge and roared in her face. “No one can defeat General Scales!” With a mighty heave, he threw her over the railing of the ship into the stormy sky. His deep laughter rang out and followed her downwards.

A few seconds later, she landed on the back of the CloudRunner she had been flying with earlier. She whispered him a quick ‘thank you’ and they rose into the Generals line of sight again.

The General, upon seeing Krystal alive, glared at her in hatred. “Bad luck General,” she called to him in a very mocking tone. “Maybe next time.” The CloudRunner turned around and they set off in their original direction once again. General Scales’ angry voice followed them through the storm as her roared into the night.

“This is not over!”

Krystal bent closer to the CloudRunners head so she wouldn’t have to yell as loud. “Let us find the source of the distress signal.” They winged away into the night, leaving the General and his ship behind.

End of Chapter One

Title: The Price of Life

Summary: What is the price of life? To an assassin, its any payment their employer is willing to offer. To a anima, it is their freedom and feeling of belonging. To a girl who refuses to share her past, well, she won't tell.

Chapter One

The cold winter wind bit into her without remorse. It seared her skin where it was exposed and numbed the rest of her body. White frost had formed throughout her pale grey hair and on her long eyelashes. She couldn’t take a good breath because the freezing air burned her lungs as she inhaled, making her exhale again quickly. She wouldn’t last much longer in this weather and since she had no way to get back to her village, she would undoubtedly die here in this frozen mountain pass.

She curled up tighter, hugging her knees closer to her chest and burying her face deeper into her arms, bracing herself for the inevitable. At least with the cold her body would just slowly shut down and she would fall asleep and cease to move. It would be an easy passing.

It was the waiting that was killing her.

Not in a hundred years would she hurry her own demise but the waiting and suffering in the cold was becoming unbearable. She was sitting in with her back against an ice wall as far out of the reach of the wind as she could, which wasn’t far at all.

Just as she was beginning to feel comfortable with her fate, a noise made itself heard the crushed her hopes of an easy death. She heard the pounding of paws against snow, the heavy panting of an animal in the cold air, and the chilling howl that signaled their coming; Wolves.

She looked up in fear and saw the approaching pack through the blowing snow. They were coming for her. This isn’t what she wanted. She wanted to die peacefully by slowly freezing to death, not being torn apart by a pack of savage beasts! She felt panic rising in her throat as she stifled a terrified scream. She felt the cold talons of terror grip her heart, colder than anything the wind and mountains could summon, sending a chill down her spine.

They approached her slowly, heads close to the ground, sampling the air around them with their super sensitive noses. Their eyes were trained on her, waiting for her to move. She started to breath heavily, fighting down the rising panic. She was fighting a losing battle.

The lead wolf with fur as white as the snow that billowed around them and eyes as blue as the clearest morning sky walked calmly towards her.

‘This is it,’ she thought. 'I’m going to die here. A horrible, painful death!’

The other wolves took a few steps towards her as well.

‘I don’t want to die here!’ Her mind was screaming at her now, telling her to run, but her frozen legs would not respond. It wouldn’t matter anyways. There was no way she could possibly outrun this beautiful creature of the wild.

The wolves closed in on her now, their eyes intense.

‘I don’t want to die.’

The wolves suddenly stood erect, ears listening, as if they had just heard or felt something. The wind around the wolves and the girl began to move in odd patterns, patterns not caused by the wind.

‘I don’t want to die!’

Then suddenly, she felt something course through her. Something that had not been there before began to manifest itself in her being. The wolves stopped and were staring at her with bright eyes that reflected the moon now clear in the sky above.

She felt some of her physical features began to morph. Her ears changed, for one. They changed from the soft, pink flesh ears on the side of her head she was used to and turned into large, furry black ones on the top of her head. She felt her teeth begin to grow long and sharp, like fangs and her vision suddenly changed and revealed to her the secrets of the night. Her finger nails sprouted into long claws sharper than any blade she had ever seen. Her spine grew at the base of her back, sprouting into a long black tail. Lastly, her legs changed from the knee down. Her feet changed into large paws with long claws at the end of each tow. Sleek black fur encased her legs from the knee down, completing her transformation.

She stood now before the wolves in her battered clothing, no longer as a normal human, but a wolf +anima. The wolves looked up at her with respect now and not hunger. She still felt terrified but she knew now in her heart she was safe. These wolves would not leave one of their own to starve or freeze to death in the cold.

The wolves all turned to leave. They ran for a couple of steps before they turned back to her. They expected her to follow them. They would lead her to a safe place where she could live with them and wait out the storm.

Smiling happily, she used her new legs for the first time. The speed, power and agility they granted her was rivaled only by the wild wolves from which she had obtained her anima. Gliding gracefully over the soft snow, she took off after the wolves.

______________________________

Night fell silently and swiftly over the capital city of Stella as it always had. The city was next to lifeless. No people moved in the streets or within the palace grounds. The only stirring of life came from the guards patrolling the three towers of the castle. A soft breeze whispered through the branches of the trees in the gardens and courtyards of Stella, carrying the fresh scent of evening flowers and a refreshing respite after the heat of the day. The darkness within the city was nearly complete except for where the stars and the moon illuminated the soft ground.

In the Hall of Flowers the old man with the anima of a rat sat beneath the portrait of Lady Marein while enjoying some sake. The Hall had changed a bit recently with the death of the former King. His portrait had been taken down and replaced with the portrait of Sailand’s new young king, King Kean. While the many queens were not in fact married to the new king, they’re portraits remained until such a time as the new king had many wives of his own.

In the courtyard of the palace another light pervaded the darkness of the night as several people entered. A tall slender woman dressed in an elaborate dress of crimson and white that complimented the jewels strung around her throat walked in the center of the group of people. Three of the female guards carried lanterns encasing small flames that illuminated the grounds before them.

They walked for a ways in complete silence before the reached the ponds where she dismissed her guards. They protested momentarily but eventually left. Their mistress was not someone you wanted to cross. Especially since she was a queen.

Lady Dylana stared down at her dim reflection in the crystal clear waters for a moment. This was the place where she had finally secured her sons position as the future king. All it had taken was a simple push and her son’s future was set. And then he had returned.

Two years ago while the former king was still alive Myrrha, the boy she thought she had drowned, had returned to Sailand. With his arrival her son’s position as heir to the throne was in jeopardy. Myrrha and his mother Marein had always been the favorites of the king. If he was back then he would be the new heir to the throne.

Her fears, however, had been unfounded. As suddenly as he had appeared, Myrrha was gone. He had not been seen since. Two years had passed and Kean was now king. It no longer mattered if Myrrha returned or not. She had won.

For now, at least.

There was still more that could be done, so much more. She had barely begun to think on the possibilities when her thoughts were interrupted by a female voice that seemed to appear out of nowhere.

“You summoned me, Lady?”

Lady Dylana’s heart almost skipped a beat. She had not heard the other person approach at all. After she had dismissed her guards, she had thought she was alone. Now she wasn’t so sure. There was no telling how long the other woman had been there.

She turned towards the sound of the voice behind her. Through the deep shadows of the night Lady Dylana could not make out the figure of the other person. All that was visible of her was her slightly luminescent eyes that seemed oddly lupine.

Quickly composing herself, Lady Dylana addressed the young woman before her. “That depends,” she said quietly, just loud enough to be heard. “Are you the assassin known as the Claws of Night?”

“I am,” she replied. Her voice was flat, toneless, almost as if the one who possessed it held no emotions. It was somewhat disconcerting.

“I wish to acquire your services.” She placed a slight emphasis on the word ‘services’.

“Obviously,” was her only response.

Lady Dylana’s cheeks began to burn with the insult the assassin had just thrown her way. You should never insult a queen or imply that she was making some form of mistake. She fought down the retort that began to rise in her throat. For now she would just have to put up with the insults of the assassin. She would see that she was dealt with later.

“Yes. I hope you have no qualms about your targets.” It would mean trouble if she did. If she was unwilling to carry this out assignment, then she was a liability. She would know too much and would have to be silenced.

“My allegiance lies neither here nor there. I am my own governor and as long as the pay is good, I care not who my target may be.”

No one held her allegiance. Lady Dylana thought on this for a moment. If no one held her in check, then she could be dangerous. She could turn on her at any moment. She sighed aloud to herself. It was a risk she would have to take. She needed someone skilled for this job and she was rumored to be the best in the art of death.

“Fine,” Lady Dylana said finally. “As you know, my son Kean is now King of Sailand.” Her face twisted into a cunning smile. “However there is more than just Sailand available to rule.”

The assassin seemed to catch on then. “You’ll need more than just the King dead you know.”

“I know that!” she snapped. Lady Dylana did not appreciate being looked down upon. Many of the other queens did so because of her heritage. However, now that her son was King, things had changed drastically, but the feeling remained

She calmed herself again before continuing. “Of course there is the King to attend to, as well as his son and any other heirs to the throne. Having his queen gone would be helpful too. Also the commander of the military. What’s his name? Oh, right. Igneous.” The queen paused for a minute.

“Is there more?” the assassin asked.

“Yes,” she replied. “There is one last person. Prince Myrra.” She spat out the name venomously, as if it would poison her if she held it too long.

“And my payment?” she asked without batting an eye and who she had been asked to kill.

Lady Dylana withdrew a pouch from her robes and tossed to the assassin. She heard her catch the pouch smoothly but could not see it due to the shadows that enshrouded her.

“You will find enough gillers in there to feed a village for a week.” She heard the pouch opening and the money inside being shuffled around. Obviously the assassin was checking her spoils. “You will get the rest when you have completed your job.”

“I take my leave then.” The lights of her eyes blinked out and Lady Dylana was left alone again. A small wicked grin creased her thin lips as she turned back to the tower. Yes, so much to do.

Title: Winds of Change

Summary: Rie has always been spunky and outgoing but she has some reservations about the Black Order. When the exorcists come to her town to investigate Innocence, many things are about to change. Suck at summaries.

Chapter One

Hazy light drifted in through the half shuttered windows of the train. Outside the clouds were low over the land, enveloping everything in a deep fog. The sun was now rising though and the clouds would soon be gone, dissipated by the morning sunlight. Even now, the green grass still wet with dew was beginning to emerge from the fog, closely followed by the ancient trees of the forest through which they were passing.

Within a cabin on the train five people dressed in slightly varying black and white uniforms sat in silence, waiting out the train ride. The exorcists had been on the same train since yesterday afternoon and a couple of them were becoming quite restless despite the early hour. Allen was watching out the window, enjoying the sight of nature breaking free of the oppressive mist while Kanda sat on the opposite side of the cabin by the door, as far away from Allen he could get. Beside Allen Lavi was fast asleep against the wall, snoring away without a care in the world. He had flopped over onto Allen once or twice when the train ride became bumpy and sent him careening into Allen. Krory was watching the same scene as Allen, though with more enthusiasm, drawing the occasional glare from Kanda. Lenalee sat between the two, going over a map of their destination.

Krory, finally getting the hint from Kanda, settled back into his seat and looked over at the map in Lenalee’s lap. “Excuse me, Miss Lenalee?” he asked politely.

“Yes, Count?”

“What is our mission again? And where are we headed?”

Lenalee had to work hard to hold back her laughter. Count Arystar Krory was such a nice man with a good heart but he was somewhat forgetful and impossibly naïve. It probably came from living inside a castle his entire life, never being allowed to leave. Until he drank the blood of an akuma, that is. He became a completely different person under those circumstances.

“We’re headed to a town called Tharnis.” Everyone looked over at Lavi when he spoke. No one had noticed him wake up. He sat in his seat with his hands behind his head and one leg resting on the other. “We’re going to investigate rumors of increased akuma activity and some odd wind patterns.”

“Oh, that’s right.” Krory was silent for a moment before continuing. “I wonder what they mean by ‘odd wind patterns’.”

“Dunno,” Lavi replied with a shrug, returning his hands to his sides. He turned to Kanda with a big smile on his face. “What do you think Yuu?” Allen was hard pressed to stifle his laughter.

“Do not call me by my name,” he said to Lavi with all the warmth of the Antarctic. Allen laughed a bit more, drawing a glare from Kanda. “Something funny, Moyashi?”

Allen returned Kanda’s glare with equal force. “My name is Allen. Allen!”

Lenalee leaned back in her seat to study her map. She didn’t want to get caught up in their petty argument, even if it was funny.

Krory turned to Lenalee again. “How much longer do you suppose it is until we arrive?”

She was about to reply when the finder sitting outside their door piped up. At his voice, the other three fell silent. “We will arrive in approximately seventeen minutes. When we do, we will have to find a place to stay, as we were unable to secure a lodging before-hand.”

Allen thought for a moment before adding his opinion. “I think looking for a place to stay can wait. If there are as many akuma around as the rumors say then we should have a look around first.” The others agreed after a moment of thought, even Kanda.

They travelled the rest of the way in silence, though ‘the rest of the way’ only consisted of about seventeen minutes, as the finder had said it would. When they disembarked from the train they found themselves in a town slightly larger than they had expected. From everything they had heard about this village and the maps they had been looking at they had expected to find themselves in a bit of a smaller place. Apparently they had been wrong.

They emerged into a bright city bustling with morning activity. It wasn’t as busy as some towns at this time of day but it was busier than anticipated.

“There are more people around than I thought there would be,” Lenalee said. She sounded nervous. Allen knew it was because she didn’t want to involve innocent people in fighting the akuma, if only by accident. He felt the same way.

“Don’t worry, Lenalee.” He gave her a kind, gentle smile, conveying his unspoken agreement. She returned his smile, a wordless thank you.

Kanda agreed with them, but for different reasons. More people meant more possible akuma as well as more obstacles when the fighting began.

Krory broke into everyone’s thoughts. “So we look for clues now, right?” he asked. “Should we split up?”

“I don’t think so,” Lavi replied almost at once. “In this size of city it would be best to stick together. Safety in numbers, right?”

“Che.” Kanda seemed somewhat annoyed. “I don’t need people like you around.”

“Of course not,” Lavi said happily. “Yuu doesn’t need anybody.”

“Say that one more time and I’ll cut you.” Lavi, somewhat cowed by the murderous expression on Kanda’s face, decided that silence was in order.

None the less they stuck together as they struck out to look for clues of Innocence. They spent quite some time doing this and found a couple of useful tips. They confirmed the increase in akuma, though none had tried to attack them yet and also learned some more about wind.

“It’s very strange,” one old woman said. “The odd winds happen only on the outskirts of town and very rarely do they travel inwards.”

“Can you tell us any more about the wind ma’am?” Allen asked.

“Let’s see.” The old lady thought for a moment before continuing. “Ah yes. It goes against the rest of the wind, in somewhat of a shape.”

Lenalee looked somewhat confused. “Could you explain a bit more please?”

“Of course, dearie.” She looked so happy to be helping them. “In one place the wind will be blowing as it should but in some spots, and never the same ones mind you, the wind has changed. It’s not constant either. The winds move differently as well. It swirls and twists in a cylinder that bends and weaves across the sky. You can even see it, if the moonlight is right.”

“Moonlight?” Krory was the one to speak this time. “This only occurs at night?”

“Yes, only at night,” she confirmed. “And not every night either. There seems to be no pattern, really.”

Allen nodded at her words. “Thank you for all of your help.”

“Oh not a problem dearies. Happy to help any time.” She waved goodbye as they walked away down the street.

Once they were out of hearing range of anyone around them they began discussing what they had heard from the old woman. “Well this is definitely Innocence,” Allen said aloud.

“You expected otherwise?” Kanda asked with a sneer.

“Kanda, be nice,” Lenalee reproached him gently.

“Do you think someone already has the Innocence?” Krory asked.

“It’s possible,” Lavi admitted. “Probable, actually, since the wind is moving, though whoever has it may not know that they do.”

Before anyone could say another word a little kid of about eight of nine years old came barreling towards them. He bumped into Krory as he ran past, knocking him sideways a bit.

“Children have such energy,” he said happily. Kanda stared after the child suspiciously before turning back to the others.

“Krory, check your pockets,” he said. The others turned to him with confused looks.

“Pardon, sir Kanda?” Krory asked.

“I said, check you pockets.”

Without asking another question Krory began to search his pockets. After a moment be began to panic.

“What’s the matter Kuro-chan?” Lavi asked.

“My money!” His voice had raised an octave. “My money is gone!”

“What?” Allen seemed almost as panicked as Krory.

“It appears that child was a pick-pocket,” Kanda said calmly.

“What do we do?” Krory cried.

“We chase after him of course!” For some reason, Lavi sounded excited as he bounded off after the kid. The others followed close on his heels.

Though the young boy had a head start on them all five were much faster than him. However the kid was a local so he knew all the twists and turns to take.”

Finally he dodged down an alley and the exorcists had to take a sharp turn to keep up with him. The lot of them tripped over each other. They stood up as quick as they could and looked down the alley desperately, afraid they had lost the kid. What they saw wasn’t quite what they had expected.

At the end of the alley stood a girl with black hair in spikey pigtails reaching about midway down her back. Her bangs, thought, were dark blue. She had the boy by the arm and was looking at him sternly.

“How many times do I have to tell you, Kaleb? Don’t steal from people.”

“Ow! Let go of my arm!” he complained loudly.

“Give me the wallet,” she said.

“Look at them!” he told her. “They’ve got plenty of money. They could spare me some!”

“Kaleb!” She tightened her grip on his arm.

“Ow! Fine!” He handed the girl the wallet and she immediately released his arm. He took off at a dead run past her as soon as he was free.

She walked over to the stunned exorcists and held out the wallet. Her eyes wandered over each of them, pausing for a moment on Kanda before continuing. “So, whose wallet is this?” she asked.

Krory took a step forwards. “That would be mine,” he said sheepishly.

Smiling, she handed it back to him. “You should be more careful.”

“Yes, I will. Thank you.”

Kanda looked at her suspiciously. There was something oddly familiar about this girl. “Who--“ He was interrupted before he could say anything else by Lavi. He had managed to make his way through the others without being noticed and was now standing directly in front of the new girl.

“My name’s Lavi,” he said sweetly. “And what might yours be?”

She stared at him for a moment before smiling coyly and winking at him. “Hey there, cutie.” She added a little giggle at the end. For some reason, in the background Kanda was resisting, though just barely, a very strong urge to rip Lavi’s head violently from his shoulders. Strange.

Before Lavi could continue Lenalee interrupted him. “Thank you, again,” she said as she shot a glare at Lavi while dragging him back a pace or two by the back of his clothing.

The girl turned to Lenalee now, Lavi all but forgotten. “No problem. That boy has been doing that a lot lately,” she sighed. “I wish his parents would pay more attention to him.”

“His parents ignore him?” Allen asked.

“Yeah,” she replied. “But it’s not my place to get mixed up in their family affairs.” She looked at them again before asking “You guys got a place to stay tonight?”

“Not yet,” Allen replied. “We were going to find somewhere now.”

“You guys might be out of luck,” she said sadly. “We have a festival going on within the next couple of days so all the inns are filled.”

“Really?” Lenalee sounded worried.

“Yeah.” She thought for a minute before an excited look crossed her face. “Hey, I know! Why don’t you guys stay at my place? I have more room than I need.”

“I wouldn’t want to impose,” Lenalee said softly.

“This is too much of a hassle,” Kanda mumbled.

The girl gave him a funny look before replying. “I insist,” she said. “It’s been a while since I’ve had company anyways.”

Allen was unsure about accepting. This girl was just an innocent bystander. If there were akuma here and they stayed with her then they would only cause her trouble.

“We’d be happy to!” Allen looked up with a start to see the others already following the girl down the alley and Lavi walking beside her with his usual stupid grin. Allen gaped after them for a second before following. He didn’t necessarily approve but what was done was done. Besides, she seemed nice enough.

They reached her house shortly and at first they thought it was nothing more than a small, dingy apartment, but when she let them in, they were proven wrong again. From the outside it looked like several apartments, but inside they were all connected.

“How did you get a nice place like this?” Krory asked while looking around.

“Relatives, for one,” she replied. “Good job for another.”

“I see.”

“Do you want something to eat first or do you want me to show you to your rooms?” she asked politely.

“I would prefer to see the rooms,” Kanda replied coolly while looking around in mild approval.

“Only if you say please,” she teased. Kanda gave her a menacing glance which she returned with a cheery smile.

“C’mon, Yuu,” Lavi said, drawing out his name. “Say please!” Kanda didn’t even look at him as he began to draw Mugen from its sheath.

Swiftly the girl walked between them, preventing any further altercations. “Before I show you your rooms there is something I would like you to see.” All five exorcists looked at her with interest as she walked towards a large, dusty chest on the other side of the room.

It creaked and groaned loudly as she lifted the lid, scattering dust into the air. She got on her knees and began to rummage around inside the trunk. The others were becoming more interested now. Except Kanda that was, who was standing slightly back from the others with a bored expression on his face.

“Aha!” she exclaimed after a moment, drawing out what she had found in the chest. The exorcists couldn’t see what she had found, as she was blocking their view. No one saw the evil grin that played itself across her face before she turned around.

Captive's Heart
Chapter Two: Urû'baen

A soft summer breeze whistled through the leafy forest carrying the aromatic scent of summer blossoms. Sunlight bathed the earth in a golden radiance making crystal clear ponds sparkle happily, attracting many forms of beautiful wildlife. Somewhere nearby in the forest, a Chickadee called out, adding its voice to the beautiful melody of the forest.

The beauty and wonder of this summer day were lost on the bandits as they tromped towards the capital, not caring what they stepped on. Their silver captive, still being led by the chain, limped pitifully, just barely staying ahead of the pull. If she thought the five she was traveling with before were brutal, she had no words to describe these savage bandits. For three days they had beaten her mercilessly with cane and foot, usually for no reason at all. As well, she had been starved. She had not seen even a stale crust or a drop of water for three days. If she didn’t get at least some water soon, she would be dead long before they reached Urû'baen.

At the front of the procession of bandits the leader, Kradar, stopped. He turned his scarred bald head towards his crew, surveying them with devilish black eyes. His black eyes could strike fear into the heart of almost any man and give them nightmares of demons for weeks to come. His eyes were how he had earned his name; “Demon Eyes” Kradar, leader of the Hellians.

The small group of Hellians he was leading to the capital fell silent under their leader’s gaze. “We’ll rest ‘ere for an hour then continue on ‘till the dead o’ night.” The men and a couple of women began lounging around stuffing themselves with cheese, salted meats and candied fruits while gulping down brown ale. The female wolf limped towards a nearby pond. The water looked so inviting and she was so thirsty. Glancing over at her handler lounging on the grass with a few of his buddies, she crawled to the sparkling spring for a drink of the precious liquid.

Reaching the edge of the pool, she took a long, satisfying drink. She never thought water could taste so sweet! Never again would she take water for granted. She lapped it up greedily, finally getting her fill of the life-giving liquid.

Once she had drunk her fill, she sat back on her haunches and looker on the grass around her for something to eat. She spotted a clump of dandelions nearby and quickly nibbled off their heads. Despite wolves being typically classified as carnivores they are, in fact, omnivores.

A sharp tug on her chain sent her sprawling on her side. “Behave you stupid mutt!” She had developed a very strong hatred – and fear – of her handler, Canarn. He was “Demon Eyes” younger brother, but he could never live up to his Kradar’s reputation. Even though he was the leader’s younger brother, he was only third in command. Kreada, a nimble female with flowing auburn hair and eyes like chiseled ice had taken second in command and Kradar’s heart. This made Canarn burn with jealously for he too desired Kreada. Though Kreada was pleasing to the eye and no one would suspect any danger from her, she was an extremely skilled fighter whose daggers and wit were as sharp as she was beautiful.

When she was the way Canarn was treating their silver prize she quickly came over and cuffed him in the back of the head. “You dolt!” she hissed. “Do ya want the beast ta be bead ‘afore we get ‘er to Urû'baen? Give the mutt some meat ‘afore she starves ta death ‘afore we get ‘er ta the King.” Kreada’s accent was thick, but no one was quite sure where it came from. Most assumed it was from growing up around other ill-educated bandits, but since she was quite knowledgeable, they just accepted it as it was.

As Canarn grumbled while rummaging around for some spare meat, Kreada glided off to where Kradar sat surveying his crew. The wolf had heard Kreada’s remark and shuffled slowly up to Canarn for her food. Contemptuously, he threw it in her face then turned around and began drinking his brown ale again.

The wolf happily ate her food. It wasn’t a cooked meal or a fresh kill but what did she care? It was food! Watching Canarn, Kreada, and Kradar closely, she finished eating her food and lay down to the grass. They were just at the fringe of the forest and Urû'baen was still a good four days away, so she decided to rest before they pushed on once again.

For four days, they pushed on ruthlessly, only feeding the wolf enough to keep her alive for the king. It rained for a day and a half, but they continued on anyways. When they were a day away from the capital, they began seeing more people. For the most part, they ran when they set eyes on Demon Eyes, even the soldiers didn’t bother the small group of Hellians. Kradar passed where he pleased undisturbed and with overwhelming confidence. The only people who would bother him were a large group of soldiers and none were currently to be found.

When they reached the city limits they were stopped by the guards at the gate. Kradar muscled his way to the front of the group with Canarn and the wolf in tow. He stood smirking at the two pitiful guards who bared his way.

“What is your business here?” one guard questioned. His voice was strong but his eyes betrayed him. They shifted nervously, looking anywhere but Kradar’s eyes.

“We ‘ave a gift for King Galbatorix.” He motioned for Canarn to bring the wolf forward. With a sharp tug, Canarn dragged her forward to show the guards. “Unless, of course,” he continued, “you don’t want to let us pass.” The guards, not wanting to feel the wrath of Demon Eyes Kradar, cast each other a nervous glance before letting the bandits pass through the gates of Urû'baen.

Turning her head left and right, she took in the sights of the Capital while at the same time being afraid for her life. Now that they had finally reached their destination, they would surely take her to the king. From what she had heard though the hushed conversations of those around her, the king was a tyrant who enjoyed power and did not put up with any opposition. She had also heard that the Empire was at war with a rebel group called the Varden and that they had a dragon rider amongst heir ranks. His name eluded her, but she was sure that was bad news for the Empire. Of course, the Empire was said to have two dragon riders, including the King himself. For having been in Alagaësia for only a short amount of time, she was quite pleased with her knowledge of the area. Even so, she highly doubted that her knowledge would be of any use for this upcoming predicament.

As they walked through the crowded streets many people stared at them or shot them nervous glances. The common folk who didn’t travel very much were not accustomed to seeing bandits at all, let alone in their home city. A path cleared immediately with Kradar in the lead. Though some of these people had never heard of Demon Eyes or his Hellians, the mere sight of them told the city-goers that they were dangerous. Several soldiers walked along with them quietly, escorting them to the palace.

The wolf kept her head low and her tail down as she walked near the front with Kradar, Kreada and Canarn. As they approached the palace doors, she knew her fate was sealed.

Two guards opened the palace’s double doors to permit them entry. Once inside they walked down an elaborate hallway and off into a small antechamber. One of the soldiers turned to Kradar. “Wait here,” he ordered. Normally Kradar didn’t let anyone order him around, but he let this one’s impudence slide this once. Walking to another set of double doors the soldier spoke to a guard and then proceeded to enter, closing the doors behind him.

Kradar motioned Kreada and Canarn towards him. Since she was still attached to the chain in Canarn’s hand, she came along as well.

“You three will come see the King with me. This wolf must be worth a lot so I think we can ask for a lot.” All three eyed the poor female worth, thinking of how far they could push a deal with the King. “That…band thing on ‘er neck,” Kradar said, pointing. “I think it’s made out of gold with real silver inlaid in the engravings. And the gems. The colours are swirling so they must be magic or something.” The other two nodded faithfully along with their leader.

The wolf looked down at the large gold band around her neck. It was indeed pricey, but the trio had no idea of its true value.

Behind them the doors opened once again and the guard that had left reentered. He paused for a moment before speaking. “King Galbatorix will see you now.” Kradar smiled a menacing smile before the three followed the soldier into the throne room.

The silver wolf tried to resist the pull of the chain but a sharp yank from Canarn forced her before the King. Slowly, she lifted her head to meet the King’s gaze. Her violet eyes met with the King’s and she slowly looked away again. There was hatred and madness in those eyes. She could see now why he ruled over Alagaësia. She could also see why there were those who fought so hard to free their homeland.

The King’s sharp voice cut through the silence, forcing them all to pay attention. “What brings the great Demon Eyes Kradar to my humble castle?” Sarcasm was obvious in his voice as he mocked the bandit leader before him.

“So your majesty has heard of me.” The King looked Kradar right in the eyes. He didn’t flinch or turn away. He didn’t seem affected at all. This deeply unnerved Kradar.

“I, uh, came to deliver a gift.” He motioned Canarn forward. He had never seen his to brother act like this before. It was rather unsettling.

As Canarn brought the silver wolf forward the King’s frown grew deeper. “What is this filthy creature?” Kradar was lost. Hadn’t the King been expecting a gift? Even if he wasn’t, it still looked like it was worth something.

“Your highness, surely this silver wolf is a magnificent gift. And this gold neck band it wears is pure gold!” Kradar didn’t like the way this was going.

Galbatorix glared coldly at Demon Eyes. “All I see is a worthless mutt wearing a piece of scrap metal.” The wolf went cold inside and her legs felt like they had vanished beneath her. Galbatorix turned to one of his soldiers. “Escort them out of the city and take the wolf out back.”

“Yessir.” The soldier nodded his head then went about doing his King’s bidding.

Seething, Kradar allowed himself to be led out. The wolf on the other hand, stood deathly still. Canarn had dropped her chain but fear kept her in place. She knew what the King had in store for her; death.

A soldier approached her and grabbed her chain. Immediately she started resisting the pull. In her weakened state, all she could do was struggle.

By the time they were outside the wolf had worn herself out completely. Now she followed the pull of the chain obediently, resigning herself to death.

When they reached the designated spot, they stopped and the soldier turned towards her, drawing his sword. His face showed no emotion to the gruesome task her was about to perform. All the wolf could do was lower her head, exposing her neck, and close her eyes. This was the end for her. To think her fate would be to die at the sword of an errand-soldier in an unfamiliar land. Great Rain she didn’t want to die this way!

Unseen to by both the wolf and the soldier was a third person watching the proceedings. He had heard the King’s conversation with Demon Eyes and followed the soldier and the wolf outside. When he set eyes on the wolf, he couldn’t help but feel sorry for it, a feeling was a little unfamiliar to him. It was going to die just because it had been captured as a gift for a ruthless King. There was also something odd about the wolf. It seemed far more intelligent and aware of its surroundings and situation then any other wild animal he had seen.

When he saw the soldier raise his sword to strike a death blow, Murtagh called out to the soldier against his better judgment. “Soldier!” The startled man paused and turned in his direction. The surprised wolf looked up as well.

“What do you want dragon rider?” he answered back.

Murtagh didn’t say anything until he reached them. “The King has changed his mind,” he explained. “He ordered me to take the wolf back into the palace.” The guard looked at him skeptically. “Or, I can go fetch Galbatorix if you want and you can ask him yourself.” That settled the matter.

“That’s fine,” he replied hastily. Handing the chain to Murtagh he quickly sheathed his sword and headed back into the palace. Standing there with the chain in his hand, he started at the wolf for a moment. She looked back curiously. Was he telling the truth? Had the King really decided to keep her? She couldn’t decide which fate she cared for less.

Finally Murtagh turned back to the palace. “C’mon,” he said. He began walking and the wolf followed. Something in his voice erased her fears and she went after him without question. Besides, she was curious as to what was going on.

Inside, after they passed the throne room, she really began to wonder. She no longer had any idea as to what was going on. Eventually they stopped at a door and Murtagh proceeded to enter. When she was what lay inside her confusion left her. It was his living quarters. Now she understood what going on. He had saved her from an execution under no orders from the King.

Once inside, Murtagh kneeled down and removed the muzzle and chain. He deposited them on one side of the room then turned back to her. She just stood there staring at him with confused eyes.

Why had he done that?! Murtagh began mentally berating himself. It was just a wolf after all, just a stupid beast that belonged in the wild. He should have listened to the King’s wishes. If Galbatorix ever found out about this he would kill him for sure.

However, this wolf had no chance in the wild. She was starved, injured and exhausted. She wouldn’t be able to hunt and would almost certainly die within a few days.

Sighing, he walked over to a chair and sat down. The wolf limped over to him and sat in front of him, her eyes still questioning him. “You’re welcome to stay here until you heal,” he told her. He knew it sounded strange to talk to a wolf, but he also knew she would understand him.

At his words, her eyes shined and her ears perked up. She would live, and now she was somewhere she was welcomed. Murtagh looked around the room. A new problem had just presented itself in his mind.

“What do I do for a bed for you?” This question seemed to amuse her. By way of answer, she limped over to a corner of the room and curled up. Inwardly she smiled to herself. For the first time in a while, it was time for her to get a peaceful nights rest.

End of Chapter 2

Chapter Two

“Remind me again of what we are doing” Crux asked of Sonic.

“We’re helping you get your memory back!” Sonic replied feistily.

“Right. And what does this have to do with anything?”

“Nothing!”

“Uh-huh…” Crux leaned to the left slightly as a metallic fist flew past his ear, propelled forwards by a small jet-like contraption where the wrist should have been.

“Dammit, you stupid hedgehog!” Syria yelled at Sonic. “Why are we being attacked by a hoard of robots?!” She slashed at a nearby robot, her claws imbued with Dragon Thunder.

“No idea!” Sonic called back. “I guess Eggman is up to his old games again.” The group was surrounded by Eggman robots. They attacked from every direction with projectile missiles, flying fists, metallic lances and an assortment of other weapons. Syria attacked with claws, fangs and a breath weapon of Dragon Thunder. Crux stood in the centre of it all, doing nothing. His level of boredom was reaching a critical point. If he didn’t find something to do soon he would fall asleep and never wake up for lack of something better to do.

Poe had surprised him though, so he guessed it wasn’t completely boring. He hadn’t suspected the dove to be a fighter but there he was, dashing about the battle field firing projectile feathers at his enemies. Crux wasn’t going to ask where the feathers were coming from; he was just interested in the fact that they did.

“Would this have gone any faster if that stubborn echidna had decided to join us?” Crux mused, more or less to himself, but Sonic answered.

“Maybe, but he does his own thing.”

“I see…”

“Besides, I can finish this up any time I want. I’m just enjoying the exercise.”

Crux rolled his eyes. “I grow weary of this,” he said, tone flat. “I would greatly appreciate it if we could hurry this along.”

“Yeah, probably a good idea,” Sonic agreed. “Besides, it’s about time we figure out what Eggman’s up to.” Disposing of the nearest robot, Sonic dashed around the field, destroying robots left, right and centre, their metallic body parts littering the ground. It took but a moment to destroy over two thirds of their number.

Crux’s eyes followed Sonic’s movements, mildly impressed. He guessed that was why he was called the Blue Blur. Wait, how did I know that? He shrugged it off. He must have heard it recently.

The five of them – Crux, Syria, Poe, Sonic and Tails – gathered together amidst the wreckage while the remaining Eggman robots hesitated.

“What do we do now?” Syria asked. Despite her exertion she wasn’t at all out of breath.

“Give them a minute,” Sonic said confidently. “Since they’re so far out Eggman will recall them. Then we just follow them to wherever Eggman is.”

“Will he fall for that?” Poe asked. In way of answer, Sonic gestured to the robots. The lead robots eyes were now flashing red and all the other robots had their attention riveted on it.

The lead robot immediately turned around and, for lack of a better description, fled for the hills. The other robots followed suit.

“And now, we follow.” Syria groaned; more flying. Tails, Sonic and Crux pile into the Tornado quickly and flew off after the retreating robots. Syria and Poe flew along side the plane.

As high in the sky as they were, the robots did not notice that they were following them. They flew for quite some time, adjusting their altitude every now and then to keep them out of the clouds. Every now and then Poe or Syria would take a break by sitting on the top of the Tornado and resting for a while. While the plane was large and sturdy, it couldn’t hold all of their weight at once. It had originally been designed to only hold three people. As the sun began to set, Eggmans base came into sight.

“So that’s it eh?” Syria asked from atop the Tornado, arms crossed.

“Looks like it is,” Sonic replied with a nod, his face now serious.

“I guess he’s still going for the Eggman Land thing,” Tails sighed.

“Eggman Land?” Crux asked.

“I’ve heard of it,” said Poe from outside. “It’s his empire, right? In the form of a theme park.”

“Yep,” Sonic agreed.

“Che,” Syria huffed from above. “Childish.”

“Maybe,” Tails conceded. “But he’s really quite knowledgeable.”

“About some things,” Sonic cut in with a smirk.

Tails smiled before continuing. “His robots can be very strong and his fortresses elaborate.

“But don’t worry,” Sonic said. “We’ve never had any problems taking him down before.”

Right, thought Crux. However, he may think that but he wasn’t worried in the slightest.

They circled over the large ‘theme park’ once before a small section of the roof opened up.

“Hey, I think it’s opening for us!” Poe chimed.

Tails leaned forwards in his seat, peering at what was emerging from the opening. “I don’t think so,” she said distractedly. “I think that’s –“ He jerked back in his seat as the cannon that had now fully emerged shot a large beam at them.

“A cannon!” Poe cried.

Thankfully Tails had realized what was happening early enough and managed to just get out of the line of fire.

“Looks like he won’t make this easy,” Sonic said with a rueful grin.

“~Ho ho ho!~” Eggmans voice poured out of the loud speakers. “~Greetings, Sonic and friends! Welcome to Eggman Land! My vision of an empire will finally be realized! Ho ho ho~” Eggman continued with his pointless monologue and Sonic sighed.

“Some things never change.” The five companions made an easy descent to a landing close to the entrance.

Syria looked in amazement at the loud speaker as Eggman continued to talk, then glanced over at Sonic. “Does he always do this?” she asked in amazement.

“Pretty much,” he sighed.

“Wow. Egotistical much?” Poe chuckled at Syria’s comment.

Together, the five companions walked casually through the entrance. All were slightly amazed that they were going unopposed, though you wouldn’t hear them complaining; the less fighting the better. They were approximately half-way to what they suspected to be the control tower, where Eggman would supposedly be, when they met with an unexpected obstacle.

A large – a very, very large – robot ascended from the floor on a platform before them. What surprised Sonic the most though was that the giant robot didn’t resemble some form of animal; Eggman’s main robots usually did.

A slow smile spread across Syria’s face, exposing her sharp fangs. “This is going to be fun.”

“Ho ho ho!” Eggman laughed again. Can he start his thoughts any other way? Crux thought. “And now that you’re here,” he said, apparently continuing on from his unheeded monologue, “it’s time for the finale!”

“Bring it on, Eggman!” Sonic shouted back. Crux rolled his eyes. He could already see how this would end. Eggman was obviously going to lose this fight, once again underestimating Sonic and overestimating himself. It did not help that Syria would likely be fighting as well.

He sighed. Such is the way of the world; one predictability after another.

Sonic rushed the robot as Syria took to the air, her Dragon Thunder at the ready. Crux glanced to the side and saw Poe and Tails standing with him. Neither seemed worried; Tails probably knew that Sonic and Syria could easily handle Eggman and he guessed Poe suspected the same.

He looked slowly with little interest back to the fight and noticed something about the robot he hadn’t seen before. In its chest at what he expected was its power source, something was glowing. His ears twitched as that something began to call to him, though there was no actual sound. The cross on his wrist began to feel warm, as did the five rings. He looked down at the cross but for its temperature, it had not changed.

Crux heard a grunt and saw Syria land heavily beside him. Sonic, on the other hand, landed nimbly on his other side.

“Stupid robot,” Syria mumbled.

“This one’s stronger than his other ones,” Sonic confirmed. “I wonder what makes him so powerful?”

“There is something in its chest,” Crux said suddenly. “It is glowing and giving off a powerful aura.”

Sonic looked at the black and silver wolf in confusion. Crux just blinked at him. Couldn’t he see the glowing spot as well? No, perhaps he couldn’t. The object had the same feel as the cross, though somewhat different, so maybe it was only for him.

Syria and Sonic exchanged a look and then shrugged, figuring that maybe Crux had been hit on the head when they had not been looking. That matter settled, they returned to fighting Eggman’s robot, leaving Crux, Poe and Tails on the sidelines again.

“You said you can see something in the robot?” Poe asked.

“Yes,” Crux replied, his eyes on the robot still. “I think it is what is making the robot so powerful.”

“Do you know what it is?” Tails piped up.

Crux shook his head. “No.” After a moment he added “I think I shall go get it though.”

Without much else in the way of explanation, Crux ran forwards into the fray. He didn’t have much of an idea of what he was doing, but his instincts were sharp and he trusted them to guide him.

As he approached the robot he flicked his left wrist, releasing the cross to hang beneath his hand. The silver metal shone now, though the light wasn’t pure. When he was still a distance off, he leapt into the air, the light of the cross reflected in his determined violet eyes. Not knowing what would happen, but knowing it would work, he slashed at the robot with his left hand, the cross still attached.

Sonic and Syria both looked on in amazement as the cross, following its wielders motions, split into four giant silver claws and tore through the robot like it was made of tin foil. The violet jewel that had been imbedded in the centre of the cross now floated inches from Crux’s hand.

Landing softly on his feet, Crux looked down at the cross, once again whole, that floated above his upturned hand. Somehow he had known, subconsciously, that the cross would react the way it had. Deciding to test it out, he willed the cross to move fluidly as he moved it back and forth between his hands. Not surprisingly, the cross obeyed, turning into near-liquid silver with the violet jewel still at its centre.

With a shrug, Crux returned the cross to normal and walked to the heap of scrap metal that had formerly been a large robot. They glowing object was now exposed, completely unscathed.

Sonic looked at the object in understanding. “It’s a Chaos Emerald,” he said. “That explains why that robot was so strong.”

“But where did he get his hands on it?” Tails wondered.

Crux ignored them. It didn’t matter what it was. He just wished to answer its call.

Suddenly Poe and Syria were beside him and both seemed as tense as he.

“I feel its call as well,” Poe whispered. “But it does not call for me; it calls for you.”

“You are meant to have it. At the very least, hold it. Maybe it will help you with your memory,” Syria suggested.

Crux, knowing they were right, stooped to pick up the Chaos Emerald. As his fingers closed around the gem he was filled with a sense of familiarity. Something in the Chaos Emerald resonated with the cross and suddenly he realized that he knew more about the cross then he thought. He knew that the cross he wore on his wrist was older than the emeralds. He also knew that he could completely control the cross, that now that he wore it and the rings it was linked to his will. The last thing that he remembered was that there was more to the cross, something to do with the rings, but he couldn’t recall specifics.

“No!” Crux looked up to find Eggman in an escape pod. “Let go of my Chaos Emerald!” Crux looked down at the red gem, a comforting weight in his hand.

Sonic, now over his shock, looked up at Eggman with a smirk on his face. “Just try it, Eggman!”

“Why you…!” Crux could almost see Eggman steaming in his escape capsule.

“Now what does this do?” Everyone turned to Poe who had wandered a ways off and now stood by what appeared to be a control panel.

“No! Don’t touch that!” Eggmans voice now held a hint of panic.

“Oh?” Poe said with all the innocence of a baby lamb. “You mean I shouldn’t do this?” and he reached over and pressed the big red button.

“~Self destruct system activated,~” the electronic voice announced through the many speakers. “~Destruction will occur in five minutes.~”

“Oh no!” Poe cried in mock fear. He swiped a hand at the control box, as if fearing it might attack him or that doing so would reverse what he had done. Instead, he shattered the box, preventing anyone from overriding the self destruct command.

“Gah!” Eggman yelled in frustration. “I’ll get you for this, Sonic!” he threatened as his escape pod began to retreat.

“Smell ya later, Eggman!” Sonic called after him. He began to chuckle ruefully.

“Umm…” Tails hesitated behind them. “Shouldn’t we leave before Eggman Land blows up?”

Sonic fell silent and turned towards his friend. “Good point. Okay guys, let’s get out of here!”

After everyone had piled into the Tornado they were soaring safely away. They stopped a ways out, however, to rest and watch the spectacle from a nearby rocky outcropping. It didn’t take long. Shortly after they landed, the first of the five explosions started, each located at a critical point. Soon the explosions fused together to create one massive fireball which engulfed Eggman Land, thoroughly destroying it.

Crux stood apart form the rest, somewhat bored. Explosions were only fun if something interfered, in which case something unpredictable would happen. However, this one fell under the category of ‘predictable’.

Suddenly a shadow fell over Crux and he turned around to see the sun blocked by a black hedgehog. The others, noticing Crux’s change in focus, turned as well.

Sonic, recognizing the newcomer, greeted him. “Hey, Shadow. What’re you doing here?” Even though he asked the question, he could already guess the reason.

Shadow spared Sonic only a fleeting glance before he turned his red eyes back to Crux. “I require the Chaos Emerald,” he said. It was as close to a request as Shadow was going to get.

Crux stared at him for a moment before returning his gaze to the Chaos Emerald still in his hand.

“As do I,” he responded finally. “So I believe I shall have to deny you your request.”

Shadow’s eyes narrowed dangerously. “It was not a request.”

Crux did not react to Shadow’s threat. “My answer remains the same.”

“If that is the case, then I shall take it by force.”

“So be it.” Crux prepared himself for the fight to come. He realized, suddenly, that he could grow to like this black hedgehog. It would be a pity to defeat him utterly with his cross.

Here Without You
Chapter Two: Pacci -- Tony

I’ve been an agent in NCIS for a little over two years now and before that I was in Baltimore PD. Through these two jobs I’ve seen my fair share of deaths. In this field of wok, you’ll see the deaths of people you don’t know, as well as one you do. I can say with complete certainty that it’s the deaths of the ones you know that stay with you the longest.

It’s not like this is the first time I’d seen a friend die but each time it’s something different; a different friend, a different death, a different dirt bag. It isn’t something you can become immune to. It’s just something you can learn to deal with. It’s like all those old war movies – lots of them – but I won’t cite specifics.

Right now I was sitting in a bar, alone – I know, it’s weird – with a half full glass in my hand. I stared absently at the soothing drink, thinking of my late friend Chris Pacci. He had been a great guy. We had gone out for drinks several times, played a couple of rounds of poker. I almost laughed aloud when I thought of our poker night. Chris was so anal about where the cards and the chips were placed, as he was with everything. The other guys that were there and I had had fun teasing him about that. I swear he was OCD. Speaking of OCD, I really like that one move… no, I’ll stop myself there.

“Your wings, sir.” I looked up to see a waitress setting a plate of screamin’ hot wings on the table in front of me. Under normal circumstances, I would have started hitting on her in a heartbeat. She was absolutely gorgeous, with long chestnut brown hair, bit brown eyes, full lips, great legs and a perfect figure. But today I just wasn’t feeling in the mood. I’d have to come back here later though.

“Thanks,” I replied. She flashed me a gorgeous smile and walked away. I looked down at the wings my mind wandered back to the evening when we caught Pacci’s murderer. I had distracted them, taken a hit for the team. I had been at a table quite like this one with a ……man, I can’t even think it! Kate will never let me live this down. Well, the important thing was that the bitch… bastard… the dirt bag – there we go – was dead.

I reached for my glass and realized that the waitress had refilled it while I had been distracted. I lifted my glass in a silent toast to Pacci and drank to his memory. It was better than moping about like a little lost puppy. Instead I would drown my sorrows in surf and turf. Ninety five percent of the time, that was the better plan.

Instead of thinking about his death, I thought of his life. He always liked to joke around and have fun, but he took his job seriously. He was one hell of an agent. He had been working with a probie for a while – Agent Cassey – but she was off on her own. She had been transferred from Norfolk so she could work with a more senior agent. Apparently Pacci had been a great teacher, and Cassey had turned out all right so I guess it must have been true.

The only thing that really bugged me right now though, was that I felt somewhat responsible for his death. I remember just before he died he had asked for help on a cold-case – the same one that got him killed – but we had been too busy to help. I know it’s stupid to dwell on thoughts like this but I couldn’t stop myself. A little voice nagging me in the back of my mind kept saying that if I had taken just a moment out of my day to help him maybe things would have turned out differently.

I shook my head and turned my attention back to my chicken wings. Suddenly I felt a hand on my shoulder and I looked up to see Ducky, Abby and Kate. Ducky smiled at me sadly and I smiled back. Abby, completely decked out in chains and black- she even had Burt, her farting hippo – sat down across from me and snatched up one of the wings.

“Help yourself,” I said, though my remark came too late. The other two sat down as well and we ordered a round of drinks from waitress – yes, I was definitely going to come back here – and we all started having a good time. Once again we toasted Pacci and began to talk about old times.

Hey, that reminds me of a movie.

Part of the Pack
Chapter Two

Wolf wiped his hand across his eyes to clear away the sweat but all he managed to do was smear grease in his fur. He didn't notice or really care though. He was finished. After years of planning he had finally finished the project he had been dreaming of since he was seven; his space fighter, the Wolfen. He still remembered the day thirteen years ago when he looked up into the sky and saw a Cornarian Defense Force Space Fighter. It had nothing to do with wanting to be a hero or dreams of flying; he just wanted to prove that he could fly solo. Now he was one step closer.

“Hey!” someone called. Wolf turned around to see the owner of the garage he was using, a fat crow who always had a lit cigar. “You 'bout done here?” he demanded. Wolf didn't say anything for a while. He would love to stuff this crow. “You've been takin' up space here fer three months now an' I'm gettin' sick of lookin' at yer ugly mug.”

“I'll be out of your greasy feathers tomorrow, bird,” Wolf snarled back. They knew they didn't get along and they didn't even try. Wolf needed the space and the garage while the greedy crow always needed more money, so they tolerated each other.

The crow grunted then turned and entered his office. Wolf continued to stare at the door for a moment before he refocused on his Wolfen. His mood thoroughly ruined, he wiped his hands on a rag before tossing it on top of a set of tools that were due to be cleaned. He had planned to clean tomorrow when he came to pick up his Star Fighter, but he changed his mind and began packing things away. Wolf wanted to be on his way as soon as possible tomorrow.

When Wolf returned to the flat he had rented, it was already early evening though the sky still looked the same; it always did at the outpost, where the only landscape was space. He stored the tools he had brought back in their appropriate place inside a closet then began to walk over to a chair at one side of the main room. As he passed by the fire place, he stopped. He looked at the pictures on the mantle for a moment before grabbing one and sinking into his chair. The picture he now stared at moodily was that of his family.

Wolf wasn't sentimental by nature and spending so many years away from his family had done nothing to change that, but now that his Wolfen was finished, he couldn't help but think of them. In the photo, everyone was there. Grane stood dead centre, his face as serious as always, while Cerena stood on his left, as peaceful as always. He was there as well, looking sullen yet rebellious, but his gaze was pulled to his eldest brother and his lips curled into a snarl.

Jace, as eldest son of Grane, would inherit the title of Alpha when Grane finally died. In the photo Jace was sneering at the camera and brimming with confidence. Arrogant, pompous, self confidence. Wolf could barely stand to look at him but he was looking forward to a future where the two of them would meet again. In that future, Wolf was a pilot while Jace was a pitiful nobody; Alpha of a useless pack that would never accomplish anything while they remained tied down by each other. That future drew closer with every breath he took.

Suddenly he needed to get out. He couldn't stand sitting still at the moment so he decided to take a walk. The outpost where he was staying was fairly large, even as space outposts went. The inside was almost as large as a town. It had restaurants, stores, garages and apartments, as well as several other facilities. Throwing on a light jacket Wolf left his flat and began to wander around. His mind was still preoccupied with thoughts of his family so he had no planned destination. Eventually though, he found himself outside his favorite bar. He stared at the bar front for a moment before deciding to enter.

Inside the lights were low with only a few windows leading to the outside world. Many people frequented this bar but it was popular enough where there was someone new every day. Today, there was a group of Cornerian pilots sitting at one of the tables. A nasty looking chameleon was standing near them and though Wolf couldn't hear what he was saying, it was obvious he was taunting them. Over in another corner some ape was ranting and raving about how he was the nephew of the 'Great Andross', whoever that was. Wolf had never heard about this 'Andross' before and he assumed he was just a street thug or some crime lord. As far as he was concerned, that didn't exactly make him great. Most of the other people in the bar seemed to agree with him and were ignoring the stupid monkey.

Since it was none of this was his business, Wolf decided to ignore them and took his regular place at the bar counter. He ordered his regular drink, a light beer, and sat back and let his mind wander. Before, when he had finished his Wolfen, he was too excited to think clearly. Now that he had calmed down, a few new problems had presented themselves. He had dedicated the better part of the past seven years to building his Wolfen. Five years to the design process, two years to actually build. Now he wasn't exactly sure what to do next. He supposed he should take it out for a test flight, but he wasn't sure what he would test it on. He needed a challenge.

Out of the corner of his eye, Wolf saw one of the Cornerian pilots lunge out of his chair and throw a punch at the lizard who had started cackling insanely. The rest of the pilots soon followed the aggressor's lead and a fight quickly broke out. At first Wolf thought it would be over quickly, seeing as it was a six on one fight, but the lizard seemed to be holding his own. Wolf was willing to bet this wasn't his first uneven fight.

After a few moments the chameleon began to falter. He had been ducking rights, blocking lefts and throwing kidney shots and whatever other shot he could get in but his pace began to slow and now he wasn't able to dodge them all.

Until now Wolf had been watching the fight like some dinner theatre. The chameleon was good, he couldn't deny that, and he certainly had some balls if he provoked a whole group of Cornerian pilots. It would be a shame to have this guy thrown in jail. With a sigh, Wolf stood and moved to intervene.

He arrived at the fight just as one of the pilots threw a fist at the lizard’s face which he was too slow to block. Wolf caught the fist in his left hand and hit him under the chin with his right. The pilots head whipped back as he fell to the ground unconscious. Wolf kicked another of the pilots in the ribcage and he went down hard. He grabbed the back of the chameleon’s collar and hauled him out of the bar.

When they were safe in the alleyway behind the bar, they stopped to catch their breath. Since Wolf had barely exerted himself, he just leaned against the alley wall and watched as the chameleon looked over his shoulder, breathing hard. When he was sure they were in the clear, the lizard turned to Wolf. “Looks like you can fight,” he said. His voice nearly sent shivers down Wolf's spine. It was cold and devoid of nearly all emotion except for cruelty and a hint of something else.

“You weren't so bad yourself,” he replied calmly. He stood for a moment examining the chameleon. He looked like he could be older then him but it was hard to tell with reptiles since they aged a lot better then some other species. His eyes swivelled in two different directions at the same time while his six fingers, three on each hand, fidgeted with the need to do something. “Why'd you provoke those Cornerian pilots?” Wolf asked him.

Suddenly both the chameleon's eyes focused on Wolf. “Well why not?” he cackled. “Those scums are tyrants and need to be beaten down every now and again to keep them in their place.” His pale blue eyes narrowed to slits and scrutinized Wolf closely. “You don't agree?”

Wolf scoffed at the chameleon. He knew they were tyrants. They controlled everyone under their command with an iron fist and said it was in the name of 'peace and justice'. How he was sick of those words. He had heard them innumerable times over the past few years and had grown to hate them deeply. 'Peace' and 'justice' no longer held any sway over him.

“What's your name lizard?” Wolf asked finally.

The chameleon paused for a moment before answering. “I am called Leon Powalski. And you?”

“Wolf O'Donnell,” he replied. Wolf hadn't given out his name in a long time and he wasn't sure why he was doing it now. Perhaps it was because he had taken a liking to this cold, if somewhat psychotic, reptile. He doubted they would meet again any time soon, and Wolf didn't need the help, but it would be good to know his name either way. “Why were those pilots here anyways?” he asked. “Normally the Cornerian fleet is too spineless to send their soldiers out here.”

“Typically that would be the case, yes, but rumour has it that Star Fox is in the vicinity,” he cackled.

“Star Fox?” Wolf had heard mention of them before, but nothing more then that.

“You haven't heard of them before?” he asked, surprised.

Wolf shrugged. “I don't get out much.”

“Heh heh. Well they're a mercenary group led by a fox named James McCloud that works for the Cornerian Defence Force,” Leon explained. “They're ace pilots who could easily make the CDF if they tried and probably get inducted at a high rank but they seem to prefer the mercenary life.”

Leon’s chuckle irked Wolf a bit but he let it slide. “Who are the other members?” he asked. Something about this 'Star Fox' group made his temper rise. He wasn't sure why yet, but he didn't like it. It reminded him of his childhood.

“Let's see,” Leon made a show of thinking, rubbing his chin with one hand. Wolf's lips slowly began to turn into a frown that bared his fangs. “Only two others,” he said finally. “A rabbit named Peppy Hare and a hog named Pigma Dengar.”

Without another word Wolf turned around and left, deep in thoughts and struggling against his anger. “I'll leave you to it then,” Leon called after him with another vicious cackle. Wolf was once again too deep in though to pay much attention to where he was going. When he stopped finally he found himself in front of the garage where his Wolfen was.

For a while Wolf just leaned on the wall of the building opposite the garage, still in a foul mood. Something about Star Fox was really pissing him off. He had no idea what it was but it was causing him relive his childhood, and that was something he had done enough already today. He clenched and unclenched his clawed fists slowly, needing to do something.

Making his decision suddenly he pushed himself off the wall and began to walk at a quick pace to the closest truck rental site. He had been thinking of taken his Wolfen on a test flight and what better way to do so then to challenge Star Fox. The hour was late so the owner of the rental site wasn't very pleased about seeing Wolf but the lupine didn't care. It was the other guy's problem, not his. When the owner finally returned from grabbing paperwork, Wolf requested a truck big enough to haul a star fighter. It wasn't an unusual request since the rental site was near the garage as well as a launching bay, but hardly anyone came at this time of night. Grumbling, the owner filled out the paperwork and tossed Wolf the keys.

No unnecessary words passed between them so Wolf left without saying anything more. Getting in and starting the truck, he drove it to the garage. That fat crow wanted him out so badly? Fine. He would leave tonight and if he wasn't there to let him in, then he would let himself in. When he drove up however the crow was standing outside smoking a cigar. When he saw Wolf in the hauler he began yelling.

“What you doin' here?!” he demanded. “You think ya can show up whenever the hell you feel like? News flash ya dumb dog. You don't own this place, I do!”

Wolf got out of the truck as the crow yelled at him. “Quite your squawking bird or I'll stuff you,” he snarled. “Now open the doors so I can get my Wolfen outta here.”

The bird crossed his arms over his chest, cigar still in his beak and smirked. “Oh yeah? And why the hell should I? Come back tomorrow at a civilized hour and maybe I'll think about it.”

Wolf lunged forwards and snagged the crow by the throat. He squeezed slowly, cutting off the stupid bird’s airway. “How about I give you a choice then, hmm?” Wolf said softly, leaning close so his muzzle was just inches away from the crow's face. “Either open the door or I'll turn on my Wolfen and blast the doors open.” He then shoved the fat garage owner into the door behind him, releasing his grip on his throat. The crow sputtered and coughed for a moment before fumbling with his keys and opening the garage doors.

Getting back in the truck Wolf backed it up to the doors before getting out again and attaching his Wolfen to the hauler. He gathered up what was left of his belongings and tossed them in the truck. The last thing he did was take the last of the money he owed the greasy bird and placed it on a counter. He did all of this in silence and then left, leaving the crow to count his riches.

He had no troubles at the launching bay and was sitting in his Wolfen within minutes of leaving the garage. When he finally sat down and grasped the controls he felt a surge of excitement course through him. How he had dreamed of this moment, and now he had something to test his prized creation against.

The engines came to life with a reassuring hum of power and the controls lit up. Someone took that as a cue to open the launching bay doors and expose the Wolfen to outer space. Enclosed inside the white cockpit, he was immune to the lack of air and other ill effects of space. Baring his fangs in a wolfish grin, he throttled up and as the propulsion in the engines skyrocketed, he shot out of the launching bay. The controls were sensitive enough where he could make a hairpin turn with the slightest movement on the controls and the response time was quick enough to perform a barrel roll the same moment he twisted the controls.

Now in the darkness of space, he was finally alone, with no one to depend on but himself. This is how he had always wanted it. Out here no one knew anything about you except how well you fought, how strong you were. Age, appearance and social standing didn't matter. Nothing mattered except for survival, and he had become very good at that over the years.

Wolf had heard a rumour about Star Fox's current whereabouts that placed them near an area that had recently been dubbed Sector Y, which was near where he was now. Altering his trajectory slightly he shot through empty space towards his first confrontation in space.

For a while nothing reached his senses besides the sensation of his own Wolfen. The sound of the engine, the touch of the hard plastic, rubber and glass of the controls beneath his fingers; he was completely alone. That is, until three blips appeared on his radar screen. Taking a look at his infrared readings he concluded they had to be Space Fighters; Star Fox. He grinned and increased his speed, impatient to get on with the fight.

Eventually the three crafts came into view. They were agile looking and aerodynamics had been kept in mind during the design phase. They were blue and white and a red fox with wings had been painted onto each. A moment later a communications window appeared on the screen and the face of a hog appeared. 'Revolting,' Wolf thought in disgust. He could guess that the hog was Pigma Dengar, but how that fat pig ever got accepted onto an elite team like this was beyond him. He could tell just by looking at him that he was arrogant and confident beyond his skills. Just looking at him annoyed Wolf.

“Unknown vessel, identify yourself,” he commanded.

Wolf debated his answer before deciding to ask a few questions first. “Are you Star Fox?”

“I said identify yourself!” Pigma squealed. Wolf winced at the annoying frequency of his voice.

Wolf repeated himself. “Are you Star Fox?”

Now two more communication windows appeared on the screens, this time displaying a hare and a fox. He guessed the first was Peppy Hare and he grinned at the sight of the second; the leader of Star Fox, James McCloud.

“This is Star Fox,” James said in a gentle voice, like he was being condescending, acting like he was better then Wolf. “Now who are you son?”

“Son?” Wolf roared into the headset. “Listen up, mutt. I ain’t your son!” The Star Fox team had fallen silent, listening to Wolfs angry words. “And where do you get off talking to me in that condescending voice? You think you're so much better than me? You couldn't do anything if you weren't surrounded by your cronies!”

Wolf had finally figured out what had annoyed him about Star Fox. Actually, it was James in particular that seemed to piss him off; he reminded Wolf of his father. The bastard appeared calm, but he knew on the inside what he was capable of. He knew that the vulpine was capable of taking another life and causing harm and he would never bat an eye. He led these others like he was born to that privilege, like it made him special. He gave them orders, assuming it was his right to do so. He rigidly controlled every aspect of his little world.

Breathing heavily into the com, Wolf fought hard to control his temper. Finally he looked back up at the screens. “It's time I shut your trap.”

Pitching his Wolfen forwards, he began firing his lasers at the Star Fox team. He heard Pigma squeal in surprise before the com went dark and the Arwings began to move. Ignoring the others, Wolf immediately locked on to James and fired a charge shot. James pulled his Arwing up sharply into a loop and shot off to his right. A sudden impact and shock rocked the Wolfen as someone fired at him from behind. He grunted as he was jostled in his seat before pulling his aircraft down and to the left. This was becoming a dog fight.

James's voice came over the communication link again. “Why do you want to fight us?”

“Shut up!” Wolf yelled. He did a barrel roll, deflecting the shots being fired at him and targeted James. It was pointless to attack the others; they were just pawns and were no threat to him. However he couldn't get a good lock on the fox and they ended up in a chase. The turns and loops Wolf had to take to keep up with were throwing him around in his seat. He clenched his jaw and growled in frustration. Why couldn't he catch that damn fox?

An erratic beeping from his radar drew his gaze to the small screen where he saw something that made his gut churn; he had just been led into a trap. An Arwing was flying directly towards him, blocked from his actual line of sight by James' Arwing and another coming from the left. Ahead of him James did a loop and ended up behind Wolf. Gripping the controls tight, he braced himself for the impact of lasers.

Warning lights flashed through the cabin and alarms blared in his ears while lasers tore up his Wolfen. His left wing flew past the glass and one of the guns was ripped off. Pieces of machinery flew through the cabin and cut up his arms as well as the rest of his body. A tremor rocked his ship as the right engine exploded. The sound was so loud that Wolf was momentarily deafened.

Faintly he heard James calling for a cease fire and the barrage of lasers ended. They began arguing; Pigma was saying they should just kill him, while the other two said that was nonsense. “He's just a kid looking to prove himself,” James said.

James' words set Wolf's blood on fire. He was so furious, but at the same time ashamed. He had come out here to prove himself but instead he had been utterly beaten. As if that wasn't enough, now they were looking down on him; calling him kid and insulting his skills.

“We've hailed a transport shuttle for you.” Wolf looked up to see James' face appear on the communication screen. “You can't fly your ship in that condition so it will take you back to the outpost. Take care kid, and don't push yourself so hard.” He could do nothing except glare at the fox on the screen. Distantly, Wolf heard the three Arwings flying away, the sound of their engines dimming with each passing second until he was in complete silence once again.

“Dammit!” he yelled, slamming his fist down on the control panel. Why couldn't he beat him? Of course he was more skilled then that uppity fox. He didn't need anybody to make him special. There was no way in hell it was because of those other two. It just wasn't possible. Here, it wasn't about teamwork. When you got right down to it, you were all alone. So why had they beaten him?

Wolf turned his gaze in the direction Star Fox had taken. He swore then and there that he would become better then that damn fox or any of his cronies.

One day, Wolf would kill him.

Only the stars played witness to Wolf's cry of rage in the emptiness of space as the shuttle drew near.

Requiem for the Lost
Chapter Two

It took Blaze a moment to fully comprehend what Silver had just said, but when she did, it felt like someone had just ripped the ground out from under her. She could barely believe what she’d just heard. How could Silver not remember her, especially after what they had been through together?

“W-what do you mean?” She stammered. “Silver, i-it’s me, Blaze.”

“I’m sorry,” he said, taking a step back. The look on his face was skeptical, almost suspicious. “I haven’t seen you around before.”

“How can you say that?” Blaze blurted, desperation and fear colouring her voice. “We met right here years ago when Iblis still terrorized this city.”

“I have no idea what an ‘Iblis’ is,” he stated.

“Silver...” Blaze took a step towards the young hedgehog, reaching a hand out as if to touch his face.

“Back off, lady,” he said defensively. “I don’t know what your deal is, but I’ve never seen you before in my life. Now, if you’ll excuse me,” he said, turning away, “I have somewhere else to be.”

Blaze watched him go with a detached sensation. She knew this was happening, but it didn’t feel real. It felt like she was watching the whole thing from somewhere else; like she was a spectator in her own body. How could this be happening? Could she be in the wrong reality? If time travel was possible, then surely there must be different realities as well. But no, the Chaos Emeralds would not have sent her to anywhere besides her own world. What exactly happened?

Without thinking, she began to wander around what was once Crisis City. The city was barely recognizable from the burning wasteland she once knew. No buildings lay crumbling; no fires blazed in the wilted gardens of burning town houses and no feral animals running through the cracked streets. Instead, glass buildings stood tall, gleaming in the sun; flowers of all the colours of the rainbow flourished in neatly kept homes and she could see children played in the streets while parents talked, keeping a close eye on their young.

The purple feline was immune to all of it, walking in a daze, nothing fully registering. Eventually she found herself in a residential area she was not familiar with. The city must have expanded beyond the borders she knew when the city had been in ruins. The houses around her were of a post-modern style; very large with lots of glass and hover cars in each drive way.

“Excuse me?” someone called to her from behind. She turned around quickly. The voice sounded familiar and Blaze hoped beyond hope that someone here still knew her.

A young female cougar around her age jogged up to her, holding a sheet of paper in her hands. Blaze knew her from before she had gone back in time. Her name was Mythra and had been a friend of hers. They had worked together on several occasions to try and put an end to Iblis. She was kind and spunky with an outrageously optimistic outlook on life. Seeing another familiar face, this one seemingly relieved to see her, flooded her with relief.

Mythra reached Blaze and paused, catching her breath. Before Blaze could say anything Mythra cut in. “I’m sorry to bother you, but do you know where 326 Linkwood Road is?” When Blaze looked closer at her face she saw no hint of recognition in her orange eyes. To her, Blaze was just a passerby who may know her way around this part of town better then she did.

Blaze felt herself slip back into a daze as she mumbled a soft no and Mythra just shrugged and continued on her way. When she saw Mythra approaching her, she had hoped that Silver’s absent memory was just an isolated incident. Seeing her former friend like this though confirmed it… she was alone once again.

She had thought, after all those years she had spent alone in Crisis City, she would be immune to this loneliness, but something had changed. She didn’t know exactly when it had happened or why but she had become used to having people around her and had eventually come to rely on them.

Once again her feet began to carry her throughout the city. Slowly, without much thought, she passed by the places that had once meant so much to her. Eventually she found herself on the beach. It was the same beach where she had found Silver again in the past and where they had retreated to after their first battle with Iblis together.

Finding a concrete ledge separating the sidewalk and the sand, Blaze sat down and watched the waves slowly lap at the sand and retreat back in to the vast ocean. Gulls circled slowly and couples walked along the waters edge while children played. Blaze watched it all without really seeing.

She had never realized before this how close she had grown to Silver. Sure, they had been apart before but she always knew she would see him again soon. When they fought Iblis or went into any battle, there was always the possibility one of them wouldn’t return, but it had never seemed real. They had always pulled through in the end, so why wouldn’t they this time? Of course it was dangerous, but they were there for each other, watching the others back to make sure they were safe. Now there was no such assurance. This time Silver wasn’t with her and she didn’t know how to proceed. At first they were just a team, but now that had changed. Now it was hard for her to think of her life without him. Whenever she thought back the memories that stuck out most were those she shared with Silver.

Silver was lost to her.

Blaze looked around the now dark beach and was flooded with memories she had shared with Silver at the same spot. That’s when it hit her; a way to possibly restore Silver’s lost memory! If her theory was right, then the Silver that was in this city now was the same Silver she knew and had gone back in time with and his memories were still there, just forgotten. When he had returned to this time, he had immediately been reset – for lack of a better word – and it was like he had been living in this city the whole time, like he had never gone back in time. However, since he was in the past at the time the future had been changed and hadn’t changed around him, he was immune to some of its effects and he still physically had the memories of his past life. The Chaos Emeralds had protected her from all of the time changes effects so she could still remember everything. As for Silver, all she had to do was remind him.

Standing up, Blaze looked around the beach. She figured the best way to remind Silver of the past would be to bring him to places that had once been special to them or where important things had happened. There were several places around the city as well as outside of it that would work perfectly. She smiled as hope once again to warm her. Now she just had to find the stubborn hedgehog.

That was where her problems truly began; she had no idea where to find him. She could probably spend days wandering around this city and still not run into him. As she wandered through the streets now illuminated by floating electronic lamps that activated as she approached, she thought of how she might be able to find Silver. It would probably be best to stay in a popular sector of town, maybe even ask around and see if anyone knew him.

Yawning, she realized she had been up for hours and had no place to stay. That could be a problem. After thinking for a moment she decided she would go and see if that woman May, who had found her earlier, would mind her imposing upon her yet again.

It didn’t take long to return to her house, but when she did, she realized something was a little off. As she walked up the sidewalk, the lights failed to turn on and none of the houses’ windows were illuminated. Walking up the steps of May’s porch, she tapped softly on the door. A moment later, a slightly disheveled May opened the door.

“Oh, goodness,” she said with some relief. “Welcome back, Blaze.”

“I hate to impose,” Blaze began before May cut her off.

“Don’t feel like you are imposing my dear,” she said. “You are welcome here whenever you like.” Her face split into a grin as ushered Blaze inside the dark house.

“Why are all the lights off?” Blaze asked.

“Unfortunately there is a problem with the power in this area,” May sighed, drawing the shawl she was wearing closer around herself. “They say it should be back on soon but it’s starting to get a tad nippy in here.”

Blaze thought for a moment before speaking. “Do you have a fireplace?” she asked.

“I do, actually.” She led the way into the living room where an antique fireplace was built into the wall. “Unfortunately I don’t have any wood and even if I did, I don’t have anything to light it with.”

“I can help with that.” Blaze went and knelt in front of the fireplace. She removed the grate and swept away the few ashes that were lying on the metal bottom. Cupping her hands on the cold steel, she summoned the fire that was hers to command. It immediately burned to life in her hands, warming her but not hurting. She heard May let out a small gasp in the background. Spreading her hands, Blaze placed the growing fire on the bottom of the fireplace and closed the grate.

“That fire will stay lit until I will it to go out,” she explained to May. “The fire will not hurt me but to anyone else it is like any flame.”

May stared at her in wonder for a moment before smiling again. “You are truly unique. And I thank you for this. Not only do we have warmth, but light as well.” Moving across the room to a comfy looking easy chair she sat down and motioned for Blaze to sit down wherever she pleased. “You can sleep in the same room tonight but if you want we can sit here and talk for a bit.”

Blaze smiled at the kind old woman and sat down. She would look for Silver in the morning.

~oOo~

Blaze left May’s house early the next morning to look for Silver. As she planned, she headed to a busy part of town and began wandering around. She looked in shops and cafés, asking people here and there if they had seen a silver hedgehog around; no one had. She spent several hours checking everywhere she could think of.

At around noon, Blaze stopped for lunch, though it was not a happy occasion. She had spent hours asking around and not a single person had information on Silver. As she ordered her food from a café she realized she hadn’t been in here yet. It was just a hole in the wall really, but it was called Crisis Café and reminded her time in Crisis City. Looking up at the cashier, she decided to ask him about Silver, on the off chance he might know something.

“Have you ever seen a silver hedgehog around here?” she asked the man who had just finished taking her order. He looked up and paused for a second. “He’s about fourteen years old with five spikes on his head, two in the back and yellow eyes.”

“Oh, him,” the cashier said, recognition dawning in his eyes. Blaze’s heart leapt. “Yeah, he’s a regular here.”

“When does he come by?” Blaze asked, a little too quickly then was probably necessary.

“Right around now, actually,” he replied looking at his watch. Blaze’s spirit soared as she grabbed her food and dashed out the door. She finally found him. When she was outside the café she leaned on a wall and waited for Silver’s arrival. It didn’t matter if he refused; he was going with her either way. She didn’t have to wait long to find out which it would be.

About five minutes later, Silver walked up the street towards the café. When he saw Blaze push herself off the wall and turn to face him, he paused. “Hello, Silver,” she said, walking up to him.

“You again?” Silver sighed. “What do you want this time?”

“I want to remind you of your past,” she stated simply.

“I already know of my past,” he explained, talking slowly.

Blaze shook her head. “Not the past you think you remember,” she said. “There is another past you have forgotten; one we shared. I think I know how to remind you of it.” Her eyes were determined and burrowed into Silver’s.

He met her gaze for a while before finally looking away with a sigh. “Look,” he began. “I don’t—”.He was cut off as Blaze grabbed his wrist and started walking. “What the..? What are you doing?” he demanded.

“I’m going to show you around town,” she replied.

“I already know my way around town!”

“Not this town,” she said, finally stopping and turning back to him. “Crisis City.”

Something seemed to flash behind Silver’s eyes, but it was gone almost immediately. “And that would be?” he asked.

Blaze smiled at him before continuing to drag him along. “You’ll remember.”

----------

Seeker's Path
Chapter Two: The Hunt

Rylie stood outside in the crisp morning air, stretching her cramped muscles. Dawn had arrived and it was time to get on with her day.

She didn't have any food that morning but she didn't need any; she had eaten yesterday. Not that hunger would stop her. Besides, it was time to begin the hunt.

Crouching, Rylie studied the ground at her feet. She had been following a vague trail for a while now. She was pretty sure she knew who it was; the one she had hunted for several years now. She didn't have much to go on, but her skills as a tracker were surpassed by none.

Today's advanced tracking methods were useless to her. They never worked on her target… they were just too good at this game. She didn't have time for those malfunctioning pieces of junk people have the nerve to call ‘radars’. She had the knowledge, but not the time or equipment to make one herself. Her skills worked better than any other tracking method. Rylie's way was down in the dirt the old fashion way.

Rylie stood slowly, brushing off her jean-capries and gazing at the distant outline of Acmetropolis. She was almost positive she knew where her target was heading but she wanted to make sure.

The land around her was silent in the half light of dawn. With a final glance at the lightening sky, she crouched back down to the damp earth and set back to work.

Random beeping, buzzing and whirring noises greeted Rev as he entered Tech's lab. He wasn't really supposed to be in here, but the fast-talking road runner couldn't help but annoy his overly annoyable coyote friend.

He zipped left and right, looking at this and that, trying to find the new 'toy' Tech had supposedly been working on. Then again, that science-obsessed canine was always working on something.

Without warning, Rev bowled into something and in a flurry of limbs, found himself on the floor. When he looked up to see what he had crashed into, he found Tech glaring back at him. For some reason, he seemed rather annoyed by Rev's presence.

"Rev!" he barked. "How many times do I have to tell you? Don't come into my lab without my permission!" He seemed very irritated.

"Sorry-Tech-I-was-just-looking-at-all-your-cool-inventions-and-I-didn't-know-I-was-going-to-run-into-you-Hey-what-does-this-dohickey-do?"

"No! Don't touch-"

Too late. Tech was cut off as Rev pressed a button on an invention that had caught his eye, sending a blue ray straight into Tech's snout. His black nose was now half its original size. He actually looked kind of funny.

"Oops," was Rev's only reply to his actions. Tech snatched it back, turned a dial on the hand-held ray gun and shot it at himself, returning his nose to its original size.

"That," said Tech with an edge in his voice," is my molecular rearrangement device. It emits a high frequency magnetic wave that disrupts the magnetic field around the molecules of the intended target and rearranges the shape, size and density in the desired manner. I finished it last week. Now please, stop touching every thing you see."

"Sure-thing-Tech-I-was-just-wondering-what-this-thing-does!"

"No, Rev! That's my-"

Lexi, who happened to be walking by the closed door of Tech's lab at that time, was witness to a loud explosion followed by smoke seeping out from the bottom of the door. A curious expression crossed her face and she walked over to the door and opened it to peer inside. She was greeted by a small cloud of grey smoke. Coughing, she squinted and waved her hand in front of her face to try and clear away the smoke.

Once the smoke cleared and Lexi was able to see again, she saw Tech growling deeply at Rev who was standing over an unfinished and now charred invention. Rev gave a small, nervous giggle before saying a quick goodbye and dashing out the door past Lexi. Grinning, she shook her head and walked over to the once again tinkering Tech.

"He didn't mess it up too badly," he mumbled to himself. "At least I don't have to start from scratch."

"Well that's always a plus," said Lexi. She was trying to peer over Tech's shoulder at his new invention.

Trying to sound as patient as possible, he asked "Can I help you with something?" He wasn't overly succeeding.

"No, that's okay." She switched over to his right shoulder, still trying to get a look at the slightly charred piece of machinery. Tech's patience snapped.

He whirled on Lexi and started shouting. "Okay, that's it! Out! Let me work in peace!"

Lexi raised her hands in mock defense. "Whoa. Okay there Tech. I'm going." When Tech started growling she decided she better leave and let Tech get on with his inventing. When the door closed behind her she thought she heard a sigh of relief coming from the resident genius.

She walked down the hall from Tech's lab, deciding to go and talk with the others in the kitchen or where ever they might be. She ended up finding Ace and Duck in the rec- room.

Ace looked up as Lexi entered the room while Duck just kept on rambling about something or other. Possibly another get-rich-quick scheme.

"Hey Lex." He raised a hand in greeting. "Did Tech blow something up again? We thought we heard something."

Lexi sat down between Ace and Duck. "Well, technically it was Rev." Ace laughed a little at this. Of course it was Rev. This was always the situation between the two of them.

Duck suddenly piped up beside them. "Hey! Are you two even listening to me?" The indignant look on his face made Lexi giggle a bit.

"Of course we are Duck," replied Ace. With that he turned back to Lexi and they started talking again. Duck glared at their backs for a moment. Yes, they certainly seemed to be listening to him alright…

Duck was just about to set his beak flapping at them again when Rev dashed in. "Hey-guys-there-you-are-c'mon-Zadavia's-calling!" And he dashed out again.

Ace leapt up from his seat and started towards the door. "C'mon guys. Let's see what Zadavia's got for us this time." Lexi followed close behind and Duck sat still in a hug for a moment before following the two rabbits out.

When the three entered the communications room, they saw Slam, Rev and Tech already in their seats around the table. Ace, Lexi and Duck sat down and awaited the appearance of Zadavia's hologram. It came quite abruptly with the usual glowing eyes and crazy flying hair.

"Greetings Loonatics." Her voice had a very weird echoic quality about it.

"What's up Zadavia?" Ace asked. There hadn't been much going on in Acmetropolis for the last couple of days. It was nice to have a break but they were starting to get bored.

"There seems to be a disturbance in the sector of Acmetropolis." A series of images appeared in the holographic projector, showing the current situation. "She is a berserker and her only objective seems to be destruction. As you can see, she is doing a fairly good job of it." The Loonatics looked to the screens and saw the rubble strewn across the ground as the berserker continued down her destructive path. "You must stop her," Zadavia continued, "before she destroys too much or she switches her target from buildings to people"

"Don't worry sister," Duck cut in. "We'll take care of miss psycho."

"Good," she replied. "Zadavia out." As her hologram faded Ace stood up and addressed the others.

"All right Loonatics. Let's jet!"

Rylie Wolf had traveled closer towards Acmetropolis as she tracked her prey. It was now close to noon but she would not stop until evening. Perhaps later if she was getting close.

The boarders of Acmetropolis were in sight now. Her prey had probably gone in there. In the city, her prey could disguise itself and disappear. But now from her.

Or her prey could go berserk and start killing. You could never tell with some one like her prey.

About fifteen minutes later, Rylie found what she had been looking for. A partial footprint.

It was about the right size and the footwear was the same style as her prey would wear. As well, it was barely there. It was obviously made by some one who knew how to hide their tracks, and who knew they were being followed.

The final piece of evidence was there as well. A single reddish brown hair. It was the same colour as her prey.

Rylie Wolf bared her teeth in a wolfish grin and raised her grey eyes to the now close Acmetropolis. She clenched her teal paw around the hair. Finally, she had found her prey. The hunt was over. Now the kill could commence.

Sibling Rivalry
Chapter 2: Once Again

Danny lifted himself up off the ground where he had fallen. He shook his head and opened his neon green eyes too see a metal fist right in his face. It hit him hard and he flew back into a wall, or at least he would have had he not gone intangible at the last minute. “You will make a great treasure halfa. Why don’t you give yourself up now and save us both the trouble of this trivial game of cat and mouse.” Came a deep voice from the direction of the fist that had just struck Danny. A giant of a ghost with green flames for hair stepped forwards into sight.

Danny came up through the ground invisible behind the ghost know as Skulker. “Yeah, well then I guess you’ll treasure this gift then too!” yelled Danny as he turned visible. His hands started to glow green as he readied an ectoplasmic beam. Skulker turned around and Danny fired. The beam hit him square in the face. Skulker flew back into an ally way but stopped himself before he hit anything. Danny floated towards Skulker who was floating at the back of the ally way.

Danny didn’t see the girl with strawberry blonde hair dash across the street and hide around the corner of the ally way entrance. Skulker, who was facing the entrance, was far more observant. An evil smile spread across Skulkers face. At this, Danny was confused. He thought he was about to defeat Skulker, again. Without warning, Skulker fired an ectoplasmic ray at Danny who was just able to dodge it. When he looked back to where Skulker had been, there was no one there. “Huh? Where’d he go?” he wondered out loud.

Danny heard a shrill scream from behind and above him. “Some one help me!” Danny turned around to see Skulker holding Jazz in a chokehold floating in the air holding her high above the ground.

“Jazz,” he whispered to himself. Now that Skulker had Jazz, he couldn’t attack Skulker or he might accidentally hit Jazz. Sure they fought and he thought her a little nosey but she was still his sister.

“I can see your frustrated. Now if you come with me I’ll let her go,” he stated, but as he said this, he chuckled to himself. Danny scowled at him. He knew it was a trap, people like Skulker never played fair. Well, technically, he’s a ghost, he corrected himself. He stared at Skulker holding the helpless Jazz. Her blue-green eyes stared pleadingly at him, but there was also fear. Danny had no choice but to give himself up to Skulker. He lowered his head in defeat and started to float up to Skulker who was chuckling to himself. As he went to Skulker, an idea hit him. Maybe I can PRETEND to give myself up, he thought. I just hope it works.

When Danny reached Skulker, he was ready and knew what to do. When Skulker reached a big hand out to grasp Danny and take him for a prize. Danny quickly turned intangible. “What!” yelled Skulker. “You can’t do this or I’ll hurt the girl!”

“You mean this girl?” Danny yelled back and turned visible, holding a visible shaken Jazz who was holding on to Danny’s neck for dear life. Skulker looked at the arm he had been holding Jazz in to find it was empty. He turned back to Danny and scowled only to find Danny on the ground putting Jazz down. “Are you alright?” he asked her.

“I’m f-fine,” she stammered in reply. She looked past Danny to see the giant ghost who had grabbed her about to fire an ectoplasmic beam at Danny. Jazz pointed behind him and yelled. “Look out!” Danny turned around to see Skulker fire at him. He put up a ghost shield in time to stop the blast, but then Skulker was right in this face.

He lifted Danny by his neck and squeezed. Danny felt the cold sting in his lungs telling him he needed air. He needed to get out of this. He had beaten Skulker before so he would now. His neon green snapped open and he looked Skulker in the face.

Skulker stood there in disbelief. How come he was still struggling. He was only half ghost so he needed air like the rest of those humans. Why was he still fighting?

Danny had been grabbing Skulkers hands trying to pry them away from his neck and now they were in Skulkers face firing an ectoplasmic beam. As Skulker dropped him and clutched his face, Danny looked around for the Fenton Thermos he had dropped earlier in his battle. As he looked around franticly, he saw Jazz run towards a glinting object on the ground; the Fenton Thermos.

She picked it up and turned towards him. Danny looked behind him at the recovering Skulker. He then quickly turned back to Jazz who threw him the Fenton Thermos. Danny turned towards Skulker and opened the thermos, sending a beam of light at him that sucked him into the thermos and into the ghost zone. He quickly closed the lid, sealing him inside.

Danny didn’t turn back to Jazz. He turned intangible and flew through the ally wall. He knew it was getting close to the time his parents would be getting home. He had to hurry. He came across another ally and he flew inside.

Two blue rings formed around his waist, one went up the other went down. When they had reached either end of his body, they vanished. In place of the ghost with snow white hair, neon green eyes, and wearing a black and white jump suit, a normal teenage boy stood. His china blue eyes searched around franticly to make sure no one saw him. When he was sure the coast was cleat, he started to head back towards his house, which also happened to be the direction of which he had left Jazz.

As he walked past the ally way, he saw Jazz standing on the side walk, staring blankly across the street. She must have really freaked out, he thought.

As he approached, Jazz looked towards him. “Danny, hi. What are you doing here. You should be at home.” She said, trying to cover up the nervousness in her voice.

“Why should I be at home. It’s not like it’s late or a school day.” he replied.

“Ya but mom and dad will be home soon. You still have to clean the house remember.” Danny hit himself in the head. She was right. He still had a lot to do.

“Gotta run, see you at home,” he yelled a quick reply as he dashed past Jazz to his house.

Danny was home and safe, for now at least. Was he always facing ghosts this dangerous? She couldn’t think of her only little brother being constantly hurt and in dangerous situations. Only a few days ago, he had come in with a bleeding shoulder. He had said it was from falling down, but she knew the truth. He had been out fighting ghosts. She had to find a way to help him. What if something went wrong next time and he wasn’t able to stop the other ghosts. She didn’t want to think about it. She would just have to keep a closer eye on Danny. She would not allow him to be hurt.

Maybe she could watch him and help him when he needed help. But what can I do? she thought. I don’t know how to fight ghosts.

There hadn’t been any ghosts in a while. For that, Jazz was grateful. She had become more and more worried about Danny. She knew he could handle it, but she couldn’t help but worry.

She looked over at Danny who was eating his breakfast. He had been up all night doing homework and he was exhausted. He almost fell face down in his food, but caught himself just in time. She tried to suppress a laugh.

He looked at Jazz with a look that said ‘leave me alone’. She looked back to her book and continued to read while Danny continued to eat, well, at least try to.

In the other room, Jazz could hear her parents talking. They sounded very troubled.

“I don’t get it, why isn’t it working!” It was her fathers voice that stood out the most.

“Don’t worry dear, I’m sure we’ll figure it out,” said her mother. Apparently another one of their inventions had failed.

“It just doesn’t make sense. Why would the Fenton Portal stop working?” Whined her father. The ghost zone! she thought. If it’s not working, maybe Danny won’t have to fight! Her parents were leaving soon, so maybe she could go have a look at it then.

She heard the door open, her parents complaining on the way out, and the door closing. She waited a couple of minutes then put down her book and went down stairs. Danny didn’t pay her any attention.

The basement, or lab as her parents called it, was the usual mess. Test tubes lying all over the counters and small bits and pieces to build something mechanical lying all over the floor.

Then on the far wall, she saw the ghost portal. The door that was usually closed, was now wide open. The green swirl that usually lay behind the large metal doors, was gone and the Fenton Portal was empty.

Hanging on the wall, was a jump suit about her size. She put it on, remembering her parents rules about safety among their toys. She walked over towards the portal and stepped inside.

Upstairs, Danny was almost done his breakfast, when he gasped. A puff of blue air came out of his mouth. There was a ghost in the house. It was coming from downstairs. To himself he said “I’m going ghost!”

When the transformation was complete, he heard a scream coming from downstairs. It wasn’t a scream of fear though, it was a scream of pain. “Jazz.”

He went invisible and flew downstairs.

A bright green light was coming from the basement. When he peered around the corner, towards the location of the light, and he almost yelled out.

There was Jazz, standing in the ghost portal, being zapped. Just like me, he thought.

When it had stopped, Jazz lay unconscious on the floor.

He hovered forwards, towards Jazz’s still form.

She was still breathing and not harmed. How can I say that, he thought. She’s probably going to be half ghost, and have to learn how to use her powers.

He picked her up, and began to head towards her room. She felt so light. He went intangible and flew through the roof into her room. He placed her on her bed and pulled the covers up over her. He would let her sleep.

He went downstairs and turned back into a normal teenage boy. His parents walked in the door about five seconds later. Just in time, he thought. His parents walked in with parts to try to either build a new machine or fix one.

“Oh hi dear,” his mother said to him. “Where’s Jazz?” she asked.

“She went to bed,” he replied casually, hoping they wouldn’t go check on her.

“Ok Danny.” She walked downstairs with Jack.

He sighed and lowered his head. How would Jazz cope with this. Now she’s a half ghost, just like me.

Star Fox Adventure: Dinosaur Planet
Chapter Two: Distress Signal

As they winged through the night, a dim outline began to form in the distance. It was barely discernable through the rain and the clouds, but it looked something like a temple or a palace. From what she could see it looked a little run down. “I wonder if this is where the distress signal is coming from.” She spoke loud enough for the CloudRunner to hear but she was more talking to herself.

The CloudRunner landed on a small wall on the edge of the palace and Krystal slipped off his back onto the wet stone floor bellow.

“This is Krazoa Palace.” Krystal turned to the CloudRunner to listen to what he had to say about their whereabouts. “If you go inside, be very careful,” he warned. “This is the dinosaur’s most sacred place.”

Krystal nodded her understanding to him and he once again took off into the stormy night. She wondered if the poor creature ever got tired of flying around all the time.

She turned back towards palace and took a look around. There were metal grates on the floor surrounded by rust and there were what appeared to be flying brains with tentacles. Creepy… she thought to herself.

Looking a little farther into the distance, she noticed an EarthWalker lying nearly motionless on the ground. Taking care not to disturb the floating…squids…she ran towards him. When she reached him, she knelt down close to his face. Before she could say anything, he began to speak.

“The King EarthWalker sent us to protect Krazoa Palace. It’s not safe here. If you find yourself in danger, roll out of the way.” His breathing was slower then was normal and he seemed to be wounded.

“I’ll remember that.” Krystal no longer had any protection. She had used up all of her magic to defeat General Scales’ Galleon and her staff was now lost to her. Evading danger was the only sensible option left for her.

Slowly, she stood up. She had better check inside the palace as well. The EarthWalker had said ‘us’ so that meant there had to be more inside. As she looked around she noticed a locked door behind the EarthWalker. She took the key she had taken from the Galleon out of her pouch and headed for the door. Maybe this was the lock that the key went to.

It fit perfectly. She gently pushed open the door and peeked inside. There was no one in there so she opened the door all the way and stepped inside. The only thing the room contained was a small bomb-like cylinder. She picked it up and examined it more closely. She was pretty sure it was an explosive of some sort or a fuel cell which could act as an explosive anyways.

Krystal turned around and spotted a brain-thing gliding towards her with its tentacles spinning. That thing has got to go. She hefted the explosive device over her shoulder and threw it at brain-thing. Upon impact, it exploded, killing the brain-thing. Hmm. Handy.

An electrical buzzing emanated from the area she had landed at. From a pad on the ground, another explosive formed. That was definitely handy. Taking another explosive, she killed the second brain and blew up some boxes blocking a stairway leading down to a lower level that was also open to the sky. On the level bellow was yet another brain and another EarthWalker. This one looked in just as bad of shape as the other one.

Taking another explosive, she quickly took care of the brain hovering around and went to talk to the second EarthWalker. “What happened here?” she asked softly.

The EarthWalker looked up at her for a minute before responding. “General Scales and his SharpClaw army attacked. We tried to stop them but there were too many.” His voice began to crack in anxiety.

Krystal placed a comforting paw on his snout. “It’s alright. You’re safe now. Just relax.” The EarthWalker began to calm down and lay still once again. She could still feel him breathing so she knew he was only resting. She quietly stood up and headed inside.

When she reached to entrance to the palace, she spotted a third EarthWalker. How many of these poor creatures had been injured here? She knelt closer to hear what this one had to say.

“You should leave this place,” he whispered. “Scales has brought a great evil into the palace.”

“Don’t worry, I’ll be careful.” She stood up once again and went inside the palace. Or at least she tried to. There was no door, just a large crack in the wall. She peered through the crack and could see the light inside of the palace but no way to get through. She stepped back and thought for a moment. This wall seemed thin enough. Maybe she could blow it up with an explosive.

Turning around, Krystal headed back to where the explosives were. Grabbing one, she returned to the wall. She stood a fair distance away so as not to get hit by the explosion.

It worked like a charm. She finally entered the palace and took a look around. The hall stemmed in two different directions. One direction quickly ended in a dead-end while the other one curved out of her sight. She decided to go down the one that actually lead somewhere.

As Krystal was walking down the hall, she came across and second branch of the hall that turned a corner and lead into another hall with flame throwers built into the wall. There was also an EarthWalker just before the fiery hall. She crouched down to listen to his story.

“Scales attacked the palace so that he could capture the Krazoa Spirits for himself.” His voice was laced with hatred for the evil General of which he spoke. “The Spirits hold great powers and have been safe within this palace for a million years. We fought hard against the SharpClaw and were able to hide the Spirits throughout the planet.” Krystal breathed a sigh of relief. At least Scales hadn’t managed to capture all the Spirits. The EarthWalker continued. “Scales then unleashed an evil into the palace. In their hurry to leave the SharpClaw sealed me inside.”

“I have opened a hole in the wall,” Krystal explained. “If you have the strength, you can leave.” She stood up and turned away. Krystal was growing angrier by the minute. How could he do this?! Scales had tried to capture the ancient powerful Spirits, had unleashed an evil in a holy place and injured so many dinosaurs in the process. This was wrong. She had to help these creatures.

Before she ventured into the fiery hall, she looked down at the other end. There was another wall with a crack in it. She had to find an explosive to break open this wall. She continued down the first hall a ways until she found what she was looking for; another explosive generator. Grabbing one she returned to the fiery hall and slowly maneuvered her way through the flame throwers.

After blowing open the wall, she entered a room with a very large, sealed door at one end and a pressure switch at the other. In the centre of the room stood an explosive. Well this was simple enough. All she had to do was place the explosive on the pad and go through to door. No trouble at all.

When she entered the new room, she noticed an EarthWalker lying in the centre of the room. She approached him slowly so she could speak with him. Maybe he was the one who had sent out the distress signal.

He looked up slightly as she approached. Krystal knelt down and placed her hands on his snout. “The Krazoa…need your help…they are dying…” The EarthWalker’s voice was raspy and old; she could tell he was injured.

“Was it you that sent the distress signal?” she asked softly.

“When we were attacked, I signaled for help.” He shook his head sadly and sighed. “We were massacred.”

“But what were you doing here?” Krystal wanted to know why these poor creatures were here in the first place. No one should have to go through this without good reason.

“The King EarthWalker sent us to protect this sacred palace, home of the Krazoa.” That’s a good reason Krystal thought. “The Krazoa are Peace Spirits, powerful beings that bring life to our planet,” he explained. “Without the Spirits, our planet is dead.” Krystal closed her eyes and shook her head in dismay. Why would Scales try to harness these Spirits if he knew what it would cost the planet? Or maybe he didn’t know. Then again, this was General Scales they were talking about. Of course he knew.

“Is there something I can do?” Krystal stood up slowly and took a couple of steps back. She hoped there was something she could do. The old EarthWalker looked up at her.

“My girl, only the pure of heart can take the tests.” He looked over towards a door in the wall that slowly opened, revealing what appeared to be a portal. “Enter the Krazoa shrine.” His voice was becoming strained now. “Once inside, complete the spirits test and await your reward. If you succeed, then return to me.” He coughed and then looked back up at Krystal. “I’m not going anywhere.” He coughed again, this time more harshly.

Krystal took a few tentative steps forward. Was it really alright for her to enter this sacred place? She was an outsider. She looked back at the wounded EarthWalker behind her and then back to the door again. If it meant helping the dinosaurs, she had to. Crossing to the door, she entered the room and stood before the raised portal. Taking a deep breath she stepped up onto the middle of the platform.

She felt the energy begin to engulf her and light gathered closer to her body. She closed her eyes and spread her arms. It was so warm. Soon, calm, soothing thoughts began to enter her head. And then, she vanished.

End of Chapter Two

The Price of Life
Chapter Two

Two years had passed since Cooro, Husky, Senri and Nana had settled down at Mr. Harden's dwelling. He and his wife Margaret, a former +anima, had taken care of them earlier during their journey when the army had taken a disliking to them. When their journey was finished, they returned to live their in peace. They chose to live there because they felt at peace with Mr. Harden and his wife. They were tolerant of both +anima and children, not to mention the kim-un-kur. The commander of the Astarian army, Igneous, had a big problem with the kim-un-kur. Needles to say he didn't get along with Senri.

However, after two years, they had become bored with the quiet life. It was time for them to travel again. They had no destination in mind and they had no purpose either. They just felt like traveling again.

They had been traveling together again for a while now. They were now in Stella, traveling around. They had to keep themselves relatively hidden because of the slave situation there. If anybody found out they hadn't been claimed by someone, they would be taken and sold in the slave market. They had thought of making a quick stop in Stella to see Husky's mother but decided against it, remembering what had happened last time.

Next they thought of paying Crystala a visit, but no one had seen her in over a year. She had disappeared around the same time the king, her twin brother, had died. They had journeyed to her plantation and met up with Kazana again. He hadn't seen Crystala in a while either. They had tried to convince him to come with them. The king was dead after all now so he didn't have to pretend to be dead anymore. He had refused. Apparently he had lost his anima while working there. He had stayed on though to help the other +anima working their. It was fulfilling work he had said.

Now they were just wandering around. Cooro was his usual goofy self, Nana was getting more and more nagging, Husky still carried his 'Cooro Punishment Stick' and Senri was…Senri. They were doing nothing but enjoying each others company and the adventure of traveling again. They didn't anticipate any danger or real excitement this time around.

Then again, statements like that usually come back around to bite you in the ass.

They were in a forest now and evening was approaching. They were no where near a town or village so they had to find some place to spend the night in the forest. They hoped to find nice cave to spend the night in, some place out of the wind. If that failed, then they would improvise.

"I don't know why you guys are so against sleeping in the open," Cooro said. He was walking in front of the other three with his hands behind his head. He kicked his feet out as he walked, taking his time and enjoying the scenery.

"You know why!" Husky snapped back. He hadn't improved his temper in the past two years. If anything, it had become shorter. "One, there's going to be rain tonight. Two, it's still not good for Nana's nerves to be out in the forest at night." Nana smiled sheepishly. Despite his claiming that he hated girls he had always looked out for her. Behind her, Senri just nodded his agreement.

"Okay then!" Cooro was still as agreeable as ever. Living with Mr. Harden and what happened two years ago had done nothing to dampen his spirits.

Behind them Senri suddenly stopped and turned a ways to the right. The others stopped and turned to face him. "What is it Senri?" Nana asked.

He reached out one arm and pointed in front of him. "Cave."

The others turned to look. Nana sighed in relief when she saw the cave. She didn't fancy a night out in the open.

Cooro just ran for the cave mouth. "Yay!" Husky caught up with him before he could enter the cave. He stopped him with a nice hit to the head with his staff.

"Wait a minute you dimwit!" he scolded Cooro. "We need to check to make sure nothing's in that cave first!"

"Oh, right." Cooro stopped and let the others go first. Husky rolled his eyes as he walked past, holding his staff at the ready. Senri walked forward as well, his bear arm anima already activated. Nana walked in the rear with Cooro. She had her bat ears out to listen for anything. Cooro had his wings activated, mostly for the hell of it. He had never been ashamed or embarrassed about being a +anima like some others had.

They entered the cave cautiously, looking and listening for any signs of danger. There were plenty of wild animals that would stay in caves like this one. They looked around the dimly lit cave and found nothing. Nana didn't hear anything either.

Husky relaxed his stance and lowered his staff. Senri deactivated his anima and so did Nana. Cooro decided to as well, keeping with his friends examples. They all relaxed at bit, thinking they were safe.

"Looks like this place will do perfectly," Nana said with a smile.

Of course, that's when they were attacked. Out of a corner of the cave they thought they had cleared darted a figure, too fast for them to make out. It went straight for Husky, aiming its foot at his head. Senri blocked though, his bear arm catching the foot in mid air.

The person twisted their body around, wrenching their foot out of Senri's grasp. They landed on the ground on all fours and dashed for Husky again. He was ready for them this time though. He had his staff at the ready now. Their fist struck the side of the raised staff while their foot swept around to knock the staff out of his grasp. Disarmed, Husky backed up a step.

It was Senri's turn to attack now. He lunged at her, his claws outstretched and reaching for her neck. They dodged under his claws and went for his stomach. Husky had recovered his staff and intercepted their blow. Senri stumbled backwards before attacking again.

During the whole fight Nana and Cooro stood in the back. Nana didn't like fighting and Cooro, even with his hand axe, wasn't much of a fighter either.

Finally Nana had had enough. Her wings and ears popping out, she screamed at the fighters. "ENOUGH!"

Husky and Senri dashed backwards and stood still in a defensive position. Their attacker dashed backwards as well and stopped. They were finally able to get a good look at their attacker.

Their attacker was a girl about seventeen years of age. Her hair was silverish grey shot through with black and white. Her bangs were parted to the side that reached her chin. Most of her hair was long and loose, reaching her mid back but some of it was up in a half tail. This part of her hair was shorter and reached her shoulder blades. Her outfit looked almost tribal and she wore a necklace and anklet of beads and feathers. Her eyes were a very striking blue.

She stood with her feet planted firmly on the ground, shoulder width apart. Her hands were flat on the ground directly in front of her with her fingers spread wide. She was bent over with her back straight, staring straight ahead, looking at them intently.

"It's a girl?" Husky burst out. He didn't like girls in general so being attacked by one didn't sit too well with him.

"You got a problem with that?" she spat. That remark only seemed to anger her more.

Cooro walked forwards with his wings out. He walked almost right up to the girl. She tensed and almost seemed to growl at him.

"What's your name?" he asked simply.

Husky, Nana and the girl almost fell over. That's all he had to say? She had just attacked them and he was asking what her name was. Well, that was Cooro for you.

She looked up at him for a moment before responding. "Why do you ask?"

Cooro smiled at her and extended his hand. "I think we got off on the wrong foot," he said. "I'm Cooro. These are my friends Husky, Senri and Nana." He pointed at each of them in turn.

"The wrong foot?" Husky was almost livid. "We didn't get off on the wrong foot. She attacked us!"

After a moment the girl straightened and looked at the others. "I agree. I do believe we got off on the wrong foot." She extended her hand to Cooro for a friendly hand shake. "My name is Kiyrely Mykail. If you would allow me, I would like to explain."

They had sat down in the middle of the cave. It was becoming dark outside now, even more so because of the storm that was rolling in, so they decided to light a fire.

Kiyrely started to explain after everyone had settled down. "I am truly sorry about what happened. You see, when I heard you entering the cave, I thought you were going to attack me." She smiled sheepishly at them.

"You thought we were going to attack you?" Nana asked.

"Yeah. My nerves sometimes get the better of me."

"I see."

"Oh," Cooro said. "Well that's okay then." Husky shot him a nasty look. He didn't trust this Kiyrely very much. She seemed to notice this and looked down at her feet.

"Um, do you mind if I stay in this cave tonight as well?" Kiyrely asked. She had been there first after all but she wasn't going to say that to them.

"Sure!" Nana agreed readily. She was the only girl traveling with a group of boys so she would enjoy having another girl around. Cooro agreed readily and Senri sat down in quiet complicity. Husky, however, was not so quiet.

"No," he said right away. He didn't like the idea of having another girl spend the night with them.

"Yes, she can," Nana stated firmly. She gave Husky a cold glare and he finally submitted.

"Fine," he conceded.

"Yay!" Cooro shouted his elation. Cue Husky's Cooro Punishing Stick.

"Thank you." She said happily. She didn't fancy the idea of staying out in the rain for a night.

"So where are you headed?" Nana asked. She wanted to get to know this girl a bit before she left in the morning.

"Astar," she replied. "I've heard some nice things about the city so I thought I would go and check it out."

"Whatever," Husky mumbled under his breath. Nana elbowed him in the side to silence him. Senri just sat and listened, as usual.

They sat in silence for a few moments before the silence was finally broken.

"Hey!" Cooro piped up suddenly. Everyone looked over at him to see what his idea was. For all they knew his bright idea was that they should go running in the rain or something stupid like that.

"Why don't you come with us?" he asked. Husky's reaction this time was quicker coming then the last.

"Absolutely not!" He sounded dead set in his decision.

"Why not?" Cooro asked innocently.

"Because she's a girl!" He said it like that should be enough reason.

"Thanks for noticing," Kiyrely said bluntly.

"Aren't you over that yet Husky?" Nana asked.

"No I'm not," he replied. "I'm not having another girl come with us."

"But Husky," Cooro whined. "We're going to Astar too. Why can't she come?"

"I told you!" Husky seemed quite frustrated now. "I'm not having another girl join our group." With that, he turned away.

Nana shuffled up behind him. "Husky," she said firmly. He seemed to tense up at her voice. "She's going to come with us and you are going to be fine with it. Got it?" Her voice was very firm and demanding. She was twelve now and she was going to get her way.

Husky turned to her after a moment to meet her cold stare. He turned to Senri to ask his opinion.

"What do you think Senri? Should we let her come?" He was counting on Senri backing him up. For the most part he didn't seem to like new people and she had attacked them after all. He never took kindly to people attacking his friends.

"She can come," he said simply. Husky felt like pounding his fist into his face.

"Fine," he grumbled. "She can come."

"Yay!" Nana seemed very excited by this. She would finally get to hang out with another girl, even if she was a bit older than her. Nana turned to Kiyrely. "I'm so happy now!"

Kiyrely brushed at her bangs absently. "I'm sorry Nana," she said. "But I don't think I will go with you guys. Thanks for the offer though."

Nana looked crushed. "Why?"

"Well I kind of like to travel alone," she replied.

"But it's not safe to travel alone for one." Nana was starting to get desperate. She really wanted Kiyrely to come with them.

"I don't know." She sounded rather unsure.

"Please?" It was Cooro asking this time.

"Well…" She hesitated for a few moments. "Fine," she said finally. "I'll go."

"Yay!" Nana's former elation returned in full force.

"I'm going to bed," Husky grumbled.

"Don't worry about him. He's just a bit of a grump," Nana assured her.

"Okay then." Kiyrely nodded to Nana. She turned to the mouth of the cave to try and see where the moon and the stars lay, but they were covered by large storm clouds.

"Well I think it's time for all of us to call it a night." She walked to the back of the cave to grab her bags. The other three readied their things as well.

"I'm glad you're coming with us," Nana said happily.

"I know." Walking to the centre of the cave Kiyrely doused the fire, plunging the cave once again into darkness.

Winds of Change
Chapter Two

The girl stood slowly before turning towards the exorcists gathered behind her, the item she had pulled from the chest held securely in her arms. Looks of shock and confusion registered on the faces of the exorcists as they beheld the object. They hadn't known what to expect but it wasn't this.

Slowly and with a completely straight face she began to walk towards them. They were unsure whether they should start backing away. When she was right in front of them they backed away from her, all except Kanda who stood his ground. She walked straight up to him and held the object out.

"Mr. Teddy has missed you." In her hands she held a ragged old brown teddy bear with a silver bow around its neck. Everyone stared in shock. Had this girl lost her mind? She had seemed so normal a moment ago.

"Mr…" Kanda began before he was interrupted by Lavi's hysterical laughter.

"Mr. Teddy?" Allen asked, obviously confused.

"Do you know this girl Mister Kanda?" Krory asked.

Kanda looked from the others to the girl. She did look familiar but he couldn't place her. No…she couldn't be…

Suddenly she started sobbing and threw herself on Kanda. "Why have you been gone so long?!" she wailed. "And you didn't even send a letter! Don't you love me anymore? Mr. Teddy and I have missed you so much and you don't even remember me!" She clung to him and continued to sob as he struggled to reach his Mugen.

"Who is this girl?" Lenalee asked.

Her waterworks immediately ceased, replaced by a knowing smirk. "Yes Yutan," she said, giving Kanda a schoolgirl nickname. "Who am I?"

At the sound of his name used in such a manner he realized who this girl clinging to him was. "You!"

Krory more or less stared at them in confusion.

"Her?" Lenalee asked.

Allen looked on incredulously. "Yutan?"

Lavi was on the floor laughing again.

The girl finally let go of a steaming Kanda. "Allow me to introduce myself," she said to the other exorcists. "I am Rie Kanda. I am Yuu's younger sister.

"Kanda has a sister?" Allen and Lavi said at the same time.

"What the hell are you doing here?" A quite frustrated Kanda demanded of Rie.

"I live here of course," she said, turning back to him. "You went off with the Black Order by yourself all those years ago," she pointed out. "What's so shocking about me being on my own at this age?"

He didn't say anything for a minute then suddenly turned around. "I'm going upstairs."

"Your bedroom is the second door on the right!" she called after him. She turned around to a bombardment of questions.

"You're Kanda's sister?" Allen marveled.

"Where did you guys grow up?" Lenalee asked.

"Was he always a stick in the mud?" Lavi questioned.

"I'm tired." Krory mumbled.

"Yes, later, of course, and I'll show you to your rooms," she answered them all. She turned around, her pigtails bobbing behind her as she led the way to their rooms. The others followed without hesitation. They were entranced by her. So apparently Kanda really didn't just pop out of the ground, fully grown, temper and all. This girl, Rie, was living proof of that.

"So, Lenalee," she said, turning to the Chinese girl. "You can have this room here. And you three," she said, turning to the guys, "can have this room here."

"Hey, no fair!" Lavi complained. "Why does she get a room to herself and I have to share a room with these two?"

"Because I like her more," Rie replied bluntly. Lavi didn't have a comeback for that one and Allen just snickered silently. "Well you all get some rest," she told them. "I'm guessing you've had a long day. Don't worry, we can gossip about Yutan in the morning."

Lavi cheered before entering his appointed room along with Allen and Krory, the last of which was walking more like a zombie than a vampire.

Lenalee was about to enter her own room when she paused and turned back to Rie. "Thank you for letting us stay here," she said, bowing her head.

"Not a problem!" she shrugged it off. "In return, you have to tell me what Yuu's been up to these past few years. Deal?" Rie asked, holding out her hand to the other girl.

She stared at Rie's hand for a moment before smiling and clasping it in her own. "Deal." The two girls said their goodnights and parted ways, Lenalee to her room and Rie to the roof.

The roof of Rie's house had a raised ledge; a small wall pretty much. She liked to sit there and watch the city below and the stars above. She sat there now, thinking of what had happened today. All in all, it had been very interesting. She had expected everything to go smoothly, just a bit of running around to do before some practice. Now everything had been turned upside down.

Five exorcists had shown up in their small town for who knew what reasons. That one of them was kind of cute though was a bonus. What was his name again? The red head with the eye patch. Right, Lavi. He was definitely cute. Her parents had always accused her of being a flirt, but it was fun.

To top it all off, one of the exorcists that had shown up was her brother that she hadn't seen in almost nine years. It was nice seeing him again after all this time, even if he was just as closed off as before. But the look on his face when she had called him 'Yutan' was priceless. She would remember that expression for years to come.

"Nice night out tonight." Rie whipped her head around, looking over her shoulder for the source of the voice that had pulled her from her thoughts. Lavi stood behind her with his hands behind his head and was no longer wearing his headband or his jacket.

"Hey," Rie greeted as he approached her. "I thought all you lazy exorcists had run off to bed already, exhausted from your hard day of nothing."

"What can I say?" he chuckled. "Doing nothing can be a very tiring task."

Rie laughed. "So I've heard." They were both silent for a moment, Rie sitting on the wall with her feet dangling off the edge and Lavi leaning on it beside her.

"So you and Yuu are really related?" he asked suddenly, breaking the silence.

"That hard to believe, eh?" It was more of a statement than a question. She knew how much her brother talked about himself so it wasn't surprising that no one had any idea that he had a sister. "We have another younger brother, too."

"Really now?" Lavi seemed interested by this fact. "He wouldn't happen to be all antisocial like Yuu would he?"

They both laughed at this though the thought of a second Kanda was somewhat intimidation. "Now that would be unfortunate," Rie said. "Nah, he's a good kid. He was only one when Kanda left to join the order though so he doesn't really remember him too well."

"How old are you anyways?" Lavi asked, suddenly curious.

"Sixteen," she replied. "I was seven when Kanda left. Our younger brother, Daichi, is ten right now."

"So you got all this," he said, indicating the house, "from family ties and working?"

"Pretty much," Rie confirmed. "Our family is actually fairly well off, mostly from the work they do back home, but Yuu is no doubt a large part of it as well."

"So what do you do?" he asked. She had said she had a good job though he couldn't imagine what it could be. It wasn't that he thought she wouldn't be able to do any work; he just couldn't picture her in a conventional job.

"I'm a dancer," she said, still watching the stars.

"A dancer?" Now that was definitely interesting.

"Traditional and modern," she added. She turned to him now, smiling coyly. "I could give you a demonstration if you'd like."

Lavi was about to reply rather enthusiastically when he felt a murderous gaze pierce his back. He turned around and came face to sword with Yuu who had already drawn Mugen. "What are you doing here?" Kanda asked coolly.

"Nothing at all!" Lavi replied innocently. "I was just heading back down stairs." Normally Lavi would have enjoyed teasing Kanda, but tonight it seemed like he might actually kill him this time. Could he actually be an over protective older brother after all?

Kanda glared at Lavi's back as he descended the stairs towards the rooms. "What's up Yuu?" Rie asked. He turned his attention back to her now, trying to gauge how much of her flirting had been simply teasing Lavi. "I told you if you kept glaring like that your face would stick. It would appear I was right."

"How long have you been out here now?" he asked.

Rie tilted her head back a bit to think. "About a year now," she replied finally. "But before that I was traveling for about two years."

"You left home when you were thirteen?"

"What's the problem with that? You left us when you were nine." Her tone was indifferent but Kanda could detect the undertone. Even he didn't have a reply to her silent accusation. When he left he hadn't thought about how his family might react to his sudden departure. He had been approached by General Tiedoll who had told him the story of Innocence and the Black Order. It hadn't taken much to convince him to join them. Using the Innocence meant having power, but not everyone was capable of wielding that power. He knew he was capable though. He had the knowledge and capacity to know how to use it wisely and effectively. To prevent it from being used by incapable he would take up the Innocence.

"So what are the Black Order's exorcists doing here anyways?" Rie asked her brother, banishing the awkward silence between them.

"Business," he stated simply.

"Well I gathered that much," she scoffed. "I meant some specifics Yutan."

And people wondered why he hated his first name. "There have been reports of odd weather patterns recently; winds going against their natural flow, as well as a large number of akuma sightings."

Rie hesitated before speaking. "I've heard of that," she said.

"You seem concerned," Kanda observed.

"Yeah," she confirmed. "The winds have stayed at the edge of the city for now but there's no telling if that will change."

"You're worried about it harming the city of people?" he asked. She was so sentimental.

"That too, but my concerns are about the festival."

"And what does that matter to you?"

"Well I'll be dancing there and it's qui—" Kanda cut her off before she could continue.

"No," he said suddenly.

"What now?"

"It's far too dangerous to participate in that festival. There will no doubt be akuma everywhere."

Rie shrugged, unconcerned. "Even if there are akuma there, that's what you guys are for, no?"

"Rie…"

"Don't sweat it Yutan!" she said happily, giving him a sunny smile. "Like I'd let a stupid akuma hurt a single hair on my cute little head." Kanda didn't say anything and just looked at her gravely. She sighed. "Lavi's right," she said, standing up. "You are a stick in the mud." She could have sworn she saw him twitch out of the corner of her eye.

"Where are you going?" he asked as she walked towards the stairs.

"Bed," she replied. "I have a show tomorrow. You should probably get some sleep too. You look exhausted."

Kanda sighed. He knew there was no point in arguing with her. She was far too stubborn. So instead he took her advice and headed towards his own room.

Rie closed the door behind her silently and walked to the closet beside her bed. Opening it up she took the two large fans she danced with down from their holders. Her fingers traced the crest at the center of the fan as her mind wandered. She had told Yuu not to worry about akuma showing up tomorrow, but in actuality, it bothered her as well. She had no idea so many akuma had been spotted around the city. What if they did attack the festival tomorrow night? She tightened her grip on the fans for a moment before setting them back within the closet and closing the door. Either way, her dance tomorrow would be one to remember.

Captive's Heart
Chapter 3: Raine

Morning sunlight filtered in through the small window on the east side of the room accompanied by the sound of Empire soldiers beginning to go about their business. The silver wolf Murtagh had rescued the day before awoke when the sun fell on her face in the corner of the room. As she sat up, yawned and opened her eyes her heart gave a jolt. It took her a moment to realize where she was and what had happened the previous day.

She stood up slowly but winced when she put her weight on her left hind leg. She began realize how sore she was. There was hardly a place on her body that didn't ache. Her sides were bruised from all the savage kicks she had received, her legs were stiff and they ached from all the time spent on her paws. Those were only the parts of her that hurt the most.

One other thing she began to notice was the sharp pang in her stomach. She hadn't eaten a decent meal since she had been captured so long ago in her homeland.

Home. That single word brought to her a flood of memories. Some of them were happy, others sad. She had been captured in her homeland, shoved in a cage and shipped off to this strange land to be the tyrant King's pet. She had had no say in the matter and the Wizard had dealt with her immediately.

Before she could slip into a state of depression, a smell she hadn't noticed before drifted to her nose. She recognized its source before she could see it. It was food. Delicious, savory cooked meats. She looked around the room hungrily and found the plate of meats on the floor not far from her.

She stood up slowly and gingerly limped over to the steaming plate of food. After a quick sniff she quickly began to eat. The food quickly eased the pain in her stomach. The poor wolf hadn't properly eaten since she was taken captive. She was finally eating a proper meal.

When she finished she licked her chops and headed for the window. She sat down, being careful not to agitate her already injured leg, and placed her head on the window sill, looking out to the castle grounds below. Closing her eyes against the sun she began to think about her current situation. She was now stuck in a land not her own, restricted to a stone building and surrounded by cruel humans.

She opened her eyes slightly and corrected herself. Not all of these humans were cruel. The one who had spared her, Murtagh, had been the first human in her life who had shown her kindness, but she could see he held a heavy burden in his heart. Something was troubling him deeply and it plagued his mind constantly. From what she had seen of him, he had a cold exterior and did not show his inner pain. She smiled to herself. She had always been good at seeing a person's true self.

As to here current situation, well, it wasn't that bad, she guessed. At least she had a warm, safe (relatively), and dry place to sleep and she had received good cooked meat this morning. It could be worse. She could still be with the bandits, or she could be the king's pet. Worse yet, she could be dead. She sighed and resigned herself to the fact that she would be stuck here for a while. It wasn't home but it wasn't that bad either.

Once again, the thought of home brought back a flood of memories. Her homeland, Callore, had been a place of wonder for her. Everything there was ancient and each blade of grass, each insect had a story to tell. The land and all of its creatures were kind and generous (except the humans, but was a different story). The different creatures were all equal and the Emperor was not a tyrant to his people. However he was relatively cruel to the other races he shared Callore with, races such as her own.

How she missed her own people. Among them she had been respected, loved, and others came to her for wisdom. She knew more about Callore than most, but even she did not know every thing there was to know about the ancient land of Callore. Only the Spirit Gods had that type of knowledge.

The humans had their own god in which most believed, but there were those who didn't. Some of the other races worshipped gods created in their own image. The gods of her people were different. They were spirits of nature and elementals, guardians of emotion who created and guarded the lives they were responsible for. Unlike all the other gods who were alive solely in the beliefs of those who worshipped them, hers were real. She had met one before, the one from whom she had received her name.

When she came back to herself she noticed a storm was quickly gathering and it would break before long. She spent the rest of the day watching to process of the storm and drifting in and out of thought with the whipping winds outside.

When evening finally came and she was lying her head down on the window sill, the door opened. She turned around abruptly, ready to bolt or defend herself, even though in her weakened state, she couldn't do either very well. However, when she saw who it was that was entering, she relaxed immediately.

Murtagh looked amused at how startled she was. It was actually quite funny to see a wolf practically jump out of her skin. Despite his earlier mental self-beatings, he was happy to see her feeling at least a little better.

The silver wolf, now less startled and a little embarrassed, settled herself back down as Murtagh approached with another plate of food. Even though she had just eaten this morning, she hadn't eaten in days so she welcomed the food with, well, and open mouth.

As she ate her food, Murtagh sat at a writing desk against the wall and watched her. It wouldn't be much longer until she was ell enough to be on her won and he wouldn't have to worry about Galbatorix finding out what he had done. As he stared into space, a new thought occurred to him. What if this wolf had been raised in captivity? If that was the case then letting it go would be the same as killing it.

Murtagh sighed heavily. Why did this matter? It shouldn't matter. He didn't have time for trivial things like this.

Something touched his leg and he looked down and saw the wolf with her head on his leg. No, this poor creature wasn't raised in captivity. He could see it in her eyes. They were wild and independent. The sound of rain on the window was one of the only sounds that could be heard now. He placed a hand on her head and smiled a rare smile.

"I bet you can't wait to get out of here and back to the forest." He could have sworn he saw her smile. "I wonder if you have a name." he said this more to himself then her but her ears perked up immediately. Maybe this wolf could understand him.

The wolf stood up and gingerly limped over to the window, now blurred with the rain. When she reached the window she looked over at Murtagh and back to the window again, beckoning him over.

As Murtagh stood to walk to the window, he thought of how different this wolf was, physically and, quite obviously, mentally. She was larger than any other wolf he had seen and her fur was much softer. Also both her ears and her tail were longer that normal.

As for her mental capacity, it was quite amazing really. She knew what death was, he had seen that yesterday. She also seemed to have emotions like any other sentient being he had met and she possessed a sense of self. She even seemed to know her name. As far as he knew, animals didn't normally act like this.

When Murtagh reached the window the wolf motioned her head towards the window, indication something outside. He peered out the blurred window, trying to see what she was trying to show him. After a moment he could have sworn he heard her sigh. He looked down at the wolf, which was shaking her head sadly, incredulously. Now she looked up to the clouds and what was falling from them. It still took him a moment but he finally understood what she was saying. Murtagh looked down at her.

"Raine? Your name is Raine?" She smiled a toothy wolf grin, which looked very funny, and nodded her head. "Huh. You really are different." Murtagh was looking out the window again as he placed a hand on Raine's head. She growled happily, proud of herself for making a human understand her. It wasn't home, and even though she still wanted to return there badly, this wouldn't be a bad place to stay until she could.

Here Without You
Chapter Three: Pacci – McGee

In the quiet of my apartment I slowly worked on dismantling an old computer before putting it back together again. It was a hobby of mine; the older ones were harder to put back together again, but it was more fun that way. It helped me concentrate and focus. It also kept me from thinking about other things.

Now that my mind had returned to that subject, I couldn't think if anything else. Putting the computer away I sat down at the desk where I kept my typewriter and stared at the blank page. By this time I haven't been in NCIS for very long. I'm not even a full field agent yet, though I have helped Gibbs and his team on several occasions. And of course Abbey. I've worked with them on a few cases, assisting where I can, and I've seen some pretty bad things.

But this was my first dead comrade. Sure, I didn't know Pacci all that well, not like some of the other agents, but I had been helping him with the same case that caused his death. I knew that none of this was my fault, all I had been doing was getting him some files, but I couldn't help but feel that I should have done something more. Seeing someone who could have been a friend, dead in a pool of his own blood, had really jarred me. It wasn't something you got over quickly, if at all.

I tapped away a little on my typewriter, doing something I like to call 'free writing.' Just typing and letting whatever was in my head onto the page. My room was silent except for the soft tapping sound made by my typewriter as my fingers flew across the keys. When I finally looked back down at the page the details of Pacci's death were looking back at me.

Tearing the page out of the machine I quickly stuffed it in the shredder before placing my elbows on the desk and putting my head in my hands. After a moment I couldn't even do that; whenever I closed my eyes I saw Pacci.

Don't get me wrong, I'm not an coward or anything, but there are some things that no one should ever have to see. This was definitely one of them. But the others, the agents I sometimes work with, none of this seemed to get to them. That was probably what unnerved me the most. They didn't seemed phased or bothered by this in the slightest. They all took it in stride.

Sighing, I stood and went over to look at my record collection. Selecting a jazz ensemble, I placed it on the record player and turned it on. The soft music flowed through the room, slowly calming my mind. It worked for a moment, until I looked into the kitchen and saw my badge sitting on the counter. Now not even the jazz music could calm me down.

I turned the record player off, seeing as how it was just useless background noise, went into my bedroom and flopped down on my bed. As I stared at the roof, I thought about my future with NCIS. I wanted to be a field agent. I desperately wanted to be a field agent. But was I cut out for it? I didn't know anymore. I obviously couldn't handle things like the others, but did that really mean anything?

Slowly I rolled onto my side and once again thought about Pacci. It was no use debating whether or not I was up to being a field agent yet or not. For now, I would still do whatever it took, to keep things like this from happening to any more of my comrades.

Sibling Rivalry
Chapter 3: Waking Up

That evening, Jazz woke up to find herself in her room. How did I get here? She thought. She didn't remember coming up to her room. The last thing she remembered was, nothing. She couldn't remember what she had been doing earlier.

Jazz looked over at her alarm clock to look at the time. The clock read 2:00. Had she slept all through yesterday? Was it even possible for her to sleep that long? What happened to her yesterday?

She had a very bad head ache. Maybe she hit her head yesterday. That was very possible. She suddenly felt very cold. She wrapped her blankets around her only to find it didn't help in the slightest.

Wrapping up tighter in her blanks she tried to remember yesterdays events. She could remember her parents complaining about something, but couldn't remember what. A feeling of joy, and she could vaguely remember walking down stairs into the lab to look at, something. But what!

The more she thought about it, the less she could recall. "What's going on!" she yelled at herself. She immediately covered her mouth. She listened carefully to hear if she had woken anybody up. After a few minutes, all she could hear was her fathers snoring.

"That was close," she whispered. Once again, she covered her mouth. Her voice sounded hollow and almost seemed to echo. Now she was getting slightly worried. Something happened to her yesterday but she couldn't remember. Maybe if she went down stairs she would remember on sight what she had been looking for before, that is, if she had found it.

Picking up her blankets, she stood up and slowly opened her door. She peered outside to see if anyone was out. She looked left and right and saw nobody. She tip toed out of her room and silently walked downstairs. The kitchen was pitch black but she knew her house like the back of her hand. She raised her hand in front of her face, but she couldn't see it in the dark. She chuckled.

When she reached the door that led downstairs, it was still open slightly. She pushed it open to a loud squeak. She flinched and stood still listening for any signs of movement from upstairs.

After a few moments of silence, she breathed a sigh of relief. She walked down stairs as she drew the blankets tighter around her, begging for their warmth.

The lab looked normal to her. Papers strewn across the floor, beakers and spilt ectoplasmic samples all over the counters and the…

She suddenly remembered a swirling green vortex and mind shattering pain. Pain every where. All through her body. It felt like she was being ripped in half.

At the memories of such intense pain she fell to her knees. She remembered now. Her parents were complaining about the Fenton Portal malfunctioning, she thought that Danny wouldn't have to fight anymore. She went down to see if what they said was true.

Shaking violently, she looked down at the floor in front of the Fenton Portal. A solitary beaker lay there. She had tripped over it last night and fallen into the ghost zone.

This is what had happened to Danny. He had an accident and gotten shocked by the Fenton Portal. Jazz figured that must have been how he got his ghost powers.

Jazz, still shaking, felt a piece of hair slip from beneath her headband and into her face. Expecting to see her natural strawberry blonde, she was utterly shocked to see her hair was a light blue.

Standing up, she dropped the blanket and ran towards the nearest mirror. She ran upstairs, no longer caring about being silent, though she made no noise as she ran.

In the bathroom, when she looked into the mirror, she almost screamed. Her hair was now a light blue, and her headband and eyes were now a fuchsia. Her skin was pale and seemed to glow slightly.

She raised her hands in front of her face. She was still wearing the jump suit but now the colours were inverted. Her elbow high gloves, knee high boots, collar, and belt used to be a forest green but were now a light purple. She looked down at the rest of her body to find that it had also been inverted. Her once white jumpsuit was now black.

She backed up to the wall and sank down to the floor. She had become half ghost. Now she was the one who would have to fight the ghosts. She would be the one getting hurt and being blamed if others did. Just thinking about it made her scared. How could Danny handle it.

That's it! she thought. This is how I can help Danny! She had to make the best of what had happened to her. Now that she was a ghost too, she could secretly help Danny so it wouldn't be so hard on him. She smiled to herself at her brilliance.

The sound of a door opening made her jump up. Someone was coming!

She reached up and put a hand on the wall to help herself up. But instead of feeling the solid wall, she felt nothing.

Looking over, she saw that her hand had gone through the wall. She looked down at herself and was rather surprised to see that she was now see through and her feet were halfway through the floor.

The footsteps were coming closer to the bathroom. Franticly, she lunged at the wall, hoping she could get out this way. She flew right threw the wall into the hallway. Well that was…weird. she thought.

She looked down the hall and saw her father Jack just entering the bathroom. That was close.

It dawned on her that she wasn't able to tell her parents. If she did, they might start testing her. No wonder Danny never told them. They were professional ghost hunters. Professional might be an exaggeration.

If she wanted to help Danny, she would have to learn to control her powers. She walked over to her room and paused at her bed. How was she supposed to lie down if she was just going to go through it?

At that moment, she became tangible again. Good. "Now," she said aloud, still a little shocked at how her voice almost seemed to echo. "How do I go back to normal?"

Star Fox Adventure: Dinosaur Planet
Chapter Three: The First Spirit

Krystal felt herself being pulled by the energy surrounding her to a different location. The sensation of traveling through nothingness was a little weird, but she dealt with it.

Her feet touched cool glass and she could sense the air around her again. She had reached her destination. Krystal opened her eyes to find herself in a room very similar to the one she had just left. Just in front of her was a door. Stepping off the platform, she left the warping room behind and entered the shrine. In this room was a ladder leading to a ledge above. Grasping the rungs, she climbed upwards until she reached a stone floor again.

Now she faced a room with geysers of fire and more floating brain things. The geysers turned on and off so, timing her approach, she was able to make it through safely. In front of her now was a pit containing the brain thing and beyond was a door blocked by a seal of some kind.

Avoiding the monster, she approached the door. Upon further inspection, she realized what it was. It was a Life-Force Door, meaning she had to defeat a certain amount of enemies for the door to open. She had never fully understood how these seals were accomplished but opening one was simple enough.

Just a few feet away was an explosive. Using it, she killed the brain thing, opening the door. Entering the new room, she was once again faced with a pressure switch and flame throwers lining the wall. She sighed in annoyance. Why did everything always have to be deadly? She stepped on the switch, opening the door at the other end and, making sure her timing was right, she dashed across the room to the closing door.

When she entered this newly opened room, she spied what she had been looking for; the first Krazoa Spirit. Slowly, she approached it, hoping for the best.

"Test one: the test of observation." The spirits mouth moved but its voice did not seem to originate from there. It echoed from all around her as well as in her head. It was a little bit unnerving but she stood her ground. "Watch closely where I hide. When the urns stop moving, you must show me which urn I have hidden in. Find me three times in a row and I will be yours to return to Krazoa Palace." As the spirit finished, Krystal smiled. She had always been good at these games.

Six urns appeared around her and the Krazoa spirit floated over to one of them. Turning back to her, it lowered itself in and the urns began to move. Left, right, left again, across the room. Krystal's fast eyes were able to keep track of the urn that contained the spirit. After each time she found it, the urns moved faster and in more erratic patterns. They were becoming increasingly hard to follow, but somehow, she managed.

After she had found it the third and final time, the spirit vanished. What's going on? Wasn't she supposed to take it back to Krazoa Palace now? A sense of panic began to rise within her.

From behind her, Krystal heard the Krazoa Spirit's eerie mumbling again. She turned around to face what appeared to be a glass mirror. Suddenly ripples appeared, originating from the centre. Slowly, Krystal walked forwards as the Krazoa Spirit began to emerge from the rippling glass. Her mouth slowly opened in awe as the Krazoa and she drew closer. All of a sudden, the spirit rushed at her and entered her body. She gasped at the sensation of the spirit entering her body and filling her mind. She was lifted off her feet and suspended high in the air in the middle of the room with her arms spread wide.

The Krazoa Spirit began to subside until it was just a passenger in her body, along for the ride. Krystal was gently lowered to the ground where she fully became herself again. She had done it! She had successfully passed the Krazoa's test and was now able to return the Krazoa Spirit to the Palace.

When she had finished rejoicing she turned towards a mirror where she saw something that slightly shocked her. The whites of her eyes were now a deep purple. The shock subsided quickly. It was probably just the presence of the Krazoa Spirit.

Once again, she felt the energy and light envelop her body and she was transported back to Krazoa Palace. The old EarthWalker lay outside the door and, remembering his words, she approached him again. Seeing her approach, he smiled. Krystal knelt down by him again.

"The shrines keep the spirits safe from harm, but their powers are useless. Only when the Spirit has been released back into the palace can it be used to stop this war." Krystal took that as a subtle hint that she was now to release the Krazoa Spirit in her body into the palace. At one edge of the room were a small raised platform and a doorway high up on the wall. Perhaps that platform would rise up if she stepped on it.

When the platform had reached the hallway, she stepped off and continued down in the direction the hallway led. The hall branched off in two directions. One was sealed so it was obvious she could not choose that way. They other way, however, had a statue of a head of a Krazoa Spirit built into the wall with a mirror of rippling glass behind it and there was a glowing platform in front of it. Slowly, Krystal stepped on to the platform.

Suddenly she dropped to her knees in pain. The Krazoa Spirit was trying to leave her body and she felt like she was going to be ripped apart. Without warning even to herself, she flung her arms open and the Krazoa Spirit left her body. Krystal opened her eyes to see the spirit sink into the statue. She dropped her arms to her side and stood up slowly as the mouth of the statue began to open. She took a few steps back and a beam of purple light and energy burst forth from the mouth of the statue. She was breathing heavily, but she smiled. She had set the Krazoa Spirit free within Krazoa Palace.

Evening her breathing and using her paw to wipe some sweat from her brow, she began to turn back the way she had come. When she took her first step, a sound caught her ears; breathing. It was raspy and harsh. A footstep followed and Krystal whipped herself around to face whoever was there. Spying her assailant she cried out "It's you…Aaaaahhhhh!" He knocked her backwards into the beam of light and she was flung towards the other end of the hall. As she was flying, she lost consciousness.

When Krystal awoke, she found herself unable to move. She opened her eyes and looked around without moving her head. She was trapped inside a crystal! Outside of the crystal, she could see the sky and the rain so she knew she must be outside. Since she could see none of the Palace, she assumed she was at the top.

An image whizzing by outside caught her eye. As she followed it with her eyes, she realized it was the Krazoa Spirit she had freed. It was now circling the crystal she was trapped in. Panic began to set in. How could she get out? Would she be trapped in here forever? There was no one to realize she was missing so how was any one supposed to know what had happened to her?

She began struggling, or at least trying to. She could hardly move a muscle. When she tried to open her mouth to cry out, she found she was unable to.

After about ten more minutes of struggling, she finally stopped, resigning herself to the fact that she could not free herself. But who out there could help her? She had no friends of family to miss her, no one who would come to try to valiantly rescue her. Will I ever be freed? she thought before slowly lapsing into deep unconsciousness.

End of Chapter Three

Title: The Shadow Bearers

Summary: In Ancient Egypt, at the same time as the creation of the Millennium Items, another ancient magic came into being. They were called the Shadow Bearers and they existed for the sole purpose of destroying the Millennium Items and all the magic they held. In present day Japan, Learra meets Yugi again after spending nine years in Egypt. She has a mission to carry out now, but she soon realizes that the beliefs she has held for the past nine years may all have been a lie. Now she has to decide who's side she'll be on in the inevitable war to come.

Chapter One

His feet pounded against the sand as he ran across the desert, every now and then coming across low shrubs and grasses. Something demonic was chasing him through the dunes. It was after the precious artifact that he clutched possessively to his chest. He wouldn't let that thing have it though. It was his and his alone. He had worked hard to obtain it and now he would use its power. This creature from the underworld would not get in his way!

Not watching where he was going, his foot sank into the sand and he pitched forwards, tumbling to the ground. As he fell, he lost his grip on the artifact and it landed a small distance away. Scrambling forwards, he snatched it up again, panting from the exertion of running and the fear that kept him going.

Now that he was no longer on the move he realized he could no longer hear the creature chasing after him. He stood up slowly and looked around. There was no sign of his demonic pursuer. He sighed and began to relax. Hopefully it had given up.

Looking down he gazed obsessively at the item he was finally able to obtain from the crypt. It was rumoured to be an item of ancient power; power enough to rival that of the Millennium Items. Right now, he could feel no inkling of its power but if its demon guardian was any clue, the rumours were right.

Suddenly a shadow fell over him. He went cold with fear and his heart seemed to stop. He turned around to face the terror that had stalked him from the ancient temple where the artifact had lain hidden. The smell of death and blood descended on demonic wings as silver fangs of darkness approached to snatch up their prey and retrieve the item it was sworn to protect.

He screamed as death closed in around him.

**********

In the city of Domino, Japan, the sun beat down on the sidewalk and streets to the point where the heat was uncomfortable for most pedestrians. One girl, however, looked up to the sun with a smile on her face. The dark clothes she wore didn't seem to bother her; she seemed at home in this weather. The heat and the bright orb of fire in the sky reminded her of Egypt.

She had been born here in Japan but had spent the better part of the last nine years in Egypt with her father. It had been fun, but she had decided it was time to return home. Besides, there was someone she wanted to see.

Having not been back since she was seven years old, she was finding it a little difficult to navigate the city; it had grown a lot in the time she had been gone. Despite that, she didn't think it would be too hard to find her destination. It had almost been like her home away from home.

As she wandered through the streets she stopped every now and then at a few stores. She bought one of those magazines that teenage girls liked to read, trying to see if anything new was going on, but decided it was all trash and tossed it. She bought some new makeup, a CD she hadn't known was out yet and, of course, some ice cream. Couldn't go anywhere without ice cream.

For a while she just walked through the streets, taking in the sights and letting her feet remember the paths she had travelled as a child. It was coming back to her now. Her favorite ice cream parlour had been just around that corner, but it had closed down the year before she left. She had always gone to the restaurant she had just passed with her family on Wednesday nights, since it was the one day both her parents had off work.

Taking a left she found herself by the park, and she remembered this park very well. It had been here that she and he best friend had come for the game days they held on the first Saturday of every month. Now if she could just find said friend, she would be set. Having found the park though, she knew it wasn't far.

One block further along she finally found the building she was looking for. Grinning, she ran to the building and flung open the door. Seeing the old man standing behind the counter, her grin broadened. "Hey Gramps!"

**********

"Why is it so fricken hot out!?" Jonouchi complained loudly.

"It's a heat wave, Jonouchi," Anzu replied with a sigh. "It's gonna be hot out for a while. Get used to it."

"Well I don't wanna get used to it," he pouted.

Honda sighed. His blonde friend was acting like such a baby. "Grow up Jonouchi," he said. "Complaining isn't going to change anything."

"What was that?" Jonouchi spat, turning on Honda.

"Hey guys, stop fighting," Yugi intervened. The group of four friends were walking down the street towards the Kame Game Shop. "It's just the heat that's making you act like this."

Anzu waved a hand in front of her face, trying to fan herself. "How come this heat isn't getting to you Yugi?" she asked, though it was more like she was accusing him.

He shrugged before responding. "I've never been bothered by the heat." He left it at that and they continued to walk to the game shop.

Jonouchi groaned loudly and crossed his arms over his chest. "I can't wait to get to get a nice cold soda," he grumbled. Finally the Kame Game Shop came into view and Jonouchi jumped up in giddy relief. "Yahoo! I'm raiding the fridge Yugi!" he called as he charged forwards.

"H-hey, Jonouchi, wait up!" Yugi ran after his friend and the other two followed right on his heels. Jonouchi burst through the door before the others could reach him but stopped and turned to Yugi.

"Uh, Yugi? Isn't your Gramps usually here?" he asked

Yugi entered the shop and looked around. Jonouchi was right, his grandpa hardly ever left the shop at this time of day. Yugi doubled checked the door but the sign that hung in the window still declared the store open. Shrugging it off, he continued towards the back of the store. "He must be in the kitchen."

Seeing how there was no one out front Yugi changed the sign to 'closed' before entering the rest of his house. As he approached the kitchen he could hear his grandfathers voice. He appeared to be talking to someone, but Yugi had no idea who it was. "Grandpa, I'm ho--"

"YUGI!" He was cut off as the girl who had been sitting opposite his grandpa at the table jumped up and tackled him in a flying hug. "Oh my god I haven't seen you in nine years! You haven't changed a bit. At first I was worried that you may have moved and I would never be able to find you." The whole while she was talking Yugi was struggling in her grasp. This girl was so familiar but he couldn't quite place her. She said that she hadn't seen him in nine years. Still fighting her crushing grip he desperately tried to place her. If he could just get a good look at her face, but she didn't seem to want to let go of him.

"Hey, Yugi. Who is this chick?" Jonouchi finally asked. He, along with Honda and Anzu, had been watching the spectacle in confusion. Neither of them had the faintest idea who this girl was.

Finally releasing her hold on Yugi the girl stepped back and looked at the group still standing in the door. Yugi, now able to see her face, finally recognized her. She had changed a lot over the last nine years. Her skin was now darker from her time spent in Egypt and she had grown quite a lot, not to mention her fashion taste had become very unique. Her hair, which had been chestnut brown the last time he had seen her was now slightly lighter and streaked through with a deep violet and tipped black. Even through all this, he recognized her immediately. "Learra!"

Smiling brightly, Learra crossed her arms across her chest. "Good. I was beginning to think you had forgotten me." She sighed and turned away from him, rubbing the back of her head. "And after I came all this way to see you too."

"You didn't give me a chance," Yugi countered. "I was trying to stop you from crushing me."

Behind them Anzu cleared her throat loudly, getting Yugi and Learra's attention. "You know her Yugi?" she asked. She was obviously waiting for an introduction.

"Ah, I'm sorry guys," Yugi said as he turned to face them. "Guys, this is my friend Learra Shino. She moved to Egypt nine years ago with her father." He turned to Learra now and introduced his friends, gesturing to each in turn. "This is Katsuya Jonouchi, Anzu Mazaki, and Hiroto Honda."

"Yeah, I remember meeting Anzu a couple of times. Though we weren't that close, were we?" she said, directing her comment at Anzu.

Now that she thought about it, Anzu realized she had in fact met Learra on a few occasions. "No, we weren't," she confirmed. "Actually, I had kinda forgotten about you until now."

"Don't worry about it," Learra shrugged. "It's not like you and I hung out much." She then turned to Jonouchi and Honda, looking them over carefully. "And you two..." She paused for a moment, thinking. "Never met you." Learra then turned away from them without a second thought and headed toward the fridge. "You got anything to drink Gramps?"

Jonouchi and Honda looked a little stunned at being brushed off so easily and Yugi and Anzu both suppressed a small laugh at their expressions.

"So what brings you back to Japan, Learra?" Yugi asked as the girl continued to rummage through the fridge.

"My dad passed away a few weeks ago from a heart condition so I decided to come back to Japan, since we still have our house here, with all the utilities and whatnot paid for by the museum." Learra's father had been an accomplished archeologist and he had always made sure to send some of his most important finds to the local museum here. In way of thanks and pay, they had covered all of their living costs while they lived here, but they had decided to move to Egypt to be closer to her fathers work. Now that he was gone, she had decided it would be easier to live here.

"And I wanted to see you again. We've barely spoken in nine years and I missed you." Behind her she heard Jonouchi snicker, probably purposely mistaking the meaning of what she had said. Placing the drink she had just retrieved on the counter she turned around to correct him but then froze, her eyes finally falling on the Millennium Puzzle. Her face went completely blank and she clenched her fists at her sides, her knuckles turning white.

"Learra?" His friends sudden change in demeanour startled Yugi. Her face was blank but her body was tense. Had he done something to upset her?

"What's that around your neck?" she asked, her voice flat.

"Oh, this?" Yugi's face lit up as he held up the Millennium Puzzle. "It's called the Millennium Puzzle. It's a puzzle that was unearthed in a dig in Egypt. Apparently it's from ancient times." He didn't want to say much more then that, deciding to keep the true nature of the puzzle between himself and those who already knew. Silently Learra stepped forwards and reached a hand out, just barely touching the Millennium Puzzle.

And then everything stopped. Everything stopped moving; the people in the house were completely still, not even seeming to breath; even the air seemed dead. Then it was like a veil was being drawn over her eyes. All the colours in the room seemed to dim, as if shadows had silently taken over from the light. Moving her head slowly, she looked around, relieved she wasn't frozen in the same suspended animation as everyone else.

When she turned around, she was no longer standing in the kitchen of Yugi's house, but somewhere else entirely. Her instincts told her she was inside someone else's mind, someone else's soul. It was a familiar sensation, one she had first experienced almost nine years ago. Turning around again, she was faced with only Yugi, though he seemed completely different. She knew he was a different person entirely.

"Who are you?" she demanded, wariness making her voice hard.

"I should be the one asking you that," he said. "How did you come to be within my soul?"

"How did I..." She trailed off in disbelief. When she had touched the Millennium Puzzle she had felt something pulling at her mind, trying to draw her into the puzzle. She had been convinced that this was his doing. Or maybe it had been one of her Shadows. Then again, he could just be toying with her, trying to confuse her or throw her off her guard. She wanted to ask him which one it was, but instead she said "So you're the spirit of the Millennium Puzzle."

"You know of the Millennium Items?" he asked, sounding genuinely surprised.

Learra was shocked. He should know full well what she knew about the Millennium Items. "You have no idea what I am, do you?" she said, her voice quiet in disbelief.

The other Yugi studied her intently for a moment before speaking. "Here, in the soul, everything that you are is laid bare for all to see. You cannot hide what you truly are, even if you wanted to. In you, I see darkness covering everything, but your heart is pure. You would never cause harm to someone you deem a friend, and you definitely seem to think of Yugi as a friend. No matter what you think I should think of you, and despite the shadows that enshroud you, I will trust you. You won't betray your heart."

Then suddenly everything was back to normal, and no time seemed to have passed at all. Her hand still just barely touched the Millennium Puzzle as Yugi held it up, though the three behind them still looked at her with curious expressions. Withdrawing her hand, Learra looked around in confusion, a little disoriented from the sudden change in scenery.

"Is something wrong, Learra?" Anzu asked.

She turned back to the others again and this time her normal smiling face was now in place. "Do you know what time it is? There's an electrician coming over and I need to be there," she lied. In truth, she just wanted to be away from the puzzle. Seeing a clock on the wall, she glanced at it and pretended to read the time. "Sorry, guys," she apologized. "I've gotta go. I'll see you later though." She waved to them as she hurried out the door into the street.

Releasing the breath she hadn't realized she had been holding, she began to short walk back to her place. She was still a little unsettled from her meeting with the spirit of the Millennium Puzzle, as well as finding the puzzle in the first place. She had never thought that it could end up in her friends possession.

As she opened the door to her house, she felt her heart began to ache, but quickly forced herself to calm down and forget everything, at least for the moment. Stripping, she stepped into the shower and let the water run over her, clearing away her thoughts. She couldn't allow herself to linger on the minor details, like who was in possession of the puzzle, or how the spirit had reacted to her. None of that mattered.

She stayed in the steaming shower for a good half hour before finally shutting off the water, stepping out and wrapping a towel around herself. Looking at herself in the mirror she realized she had forgotten to wash the makeup off her face before she stepped under the water and now her face was streaked with black, purple and silver. Taking up a washcloth she cleaned away her ruined makeup before leaving the bathroom. She didn't bother to dry her hair and just left it down, dripping behind her as she walked.

When she entered the kitchen the phone rang and everything became all business. Picking up the phone she answered it quickly. "Learra." She was silent for a moment, listening to the voice on the other end. Behind her two men entered the house, each appearing to be at least five years older then herself. Their presence neither alarmed nor startled her; she had been expecting them since they had been sent with her from Egypt and would be staying at her house. "I've located the bearer of the Millennium Puzzle. No, we haven't found anything on any of the other items at this time." She looked over at the two men as she said this last part and they shook their heads, confirming what she had just said. Learra listened to the caller for a moment more before answering. "Yes, I will be able to carry out my mission. Consider the bearer of the Millennium Puzzle dead."

The Price of Life
Chapter Three

Morning came slowly to the forest of Sailand, still shrouded in the hazy clouds of the storm. The heavy rain and wind had passed and now it was just drizzling with a fine fog in the air. Dew hung heavy on the long grass and the tall trees of the forest. Few birds were out singing. Most were still in their nests, taking shelter from the bad weather.

Cooro emerged from the cave, stretching and yawning. He didn't seem to mind the slight rain and the fog. The other four emerged out of the cave slowly after him. Kiyrely hung back slightly, still unsure of the other's feelings towards her. Cooro and Nana, especially Nana, didn't seem to mind her. Husky had made his objections clearly know, but Senri hadn't said much of anything. She would like to think it wasn't her. Perhaps that was just the way he was. That's what she hoped at least.

From up ahead everyone heard Cooro's stomach growl loudly. Because of last night's excitement they hadn't actually had much of a chance to eat. Cooro twirled around to face Husky. He didn't say anything. He just stood there beaming at Husky with another of his stupid grin on his face.

"Fine," Husky sighed finally. He turned around and started walking while he continued to talk. "I think I saw a lake not too far from here."

Everyone started to follow him towards the supposed lake. Kiyrely caught up to Nana to ask her a question or two. "What is he doing?" she asked. It seemed obvious to the others but what had just conspired escaped her entirely.

"Husky's going fishing to catch us something to eat," she replied.

"But why does he have to do it?"

Nana smiled knowingly. "You'll see."

Kiyrely let it go at that. Senri had been a +anima and she was pretty sure she saw wings sprouting from Cooro's back so for all she knew Husky was a +anima as well. Perhaps he was a fish +anima or something like that. It would explain why they expected him to do the fishing.

When they reached the rain-swollen lake her suspicions were proven. Cooro and Senri looked around for some wood to use for a fire; the rain had been gone from here for a while now so it was pretty much dry. Nana sat down on the grass, motioning for Kiyrely to join her and Husky proceeded to the lake edge.

Husky shed everything except his skin tight pants and shirt before diving into the water. In mid air though, he activated his anima. The scales of a fish descended down his body from the makings on his neck. His legs bound together in a fish tail of bright silver scales. He hit the water and dove beneath the surface with barely a splash.

"Husky is a fish +anima," Nana said suddenly. Kiyrely turned towards her. "All four of us are +anima. Husky is a fish, Cooro is a crow, Senri is a bear and I'm a bat." Kiyrely already knew about Senri and she had just found out about Husky. The other two she hadn't know about however.

"I used to be ashamed of being a +anima," Nana continued. "I would never show people my markings and I wouldn't bring out my wings or ears while others were around." Her face now bore a sad smile. As she continued her story however, her face began to brighten. "After traveling with Cooro, Husky and Senri though, my perspective on things began to change. I realized I didn't have to be ashamed of being a +anima. It was what makes me who I am."

Nana now turned to Kiyrely. "What about you?" she asked. "What do you think about +anima?"

Kiyrely didn't say anything at first. She just looked straight ahead out across the lake. Behind them Senri and Cooro returned with wood for the fire. Kiyrely stood up and turned around. "I'll go help them start the fire."

A sinking feeling began to well up inside Nana. Perhaps Kiyrely didn't like +anima. Well, she had seen Senri's anima and she had still decided to join them so that couldn't be the reason. Maybe it was something else she had said. Nana hoped she hadn't said anything to offend her.

Kiyrely walked over to Senri and Cooro without another word. Cooro greeted her happily. "Hi Kiyrely!" he called. She smiled and raised a hand in response. Busily she began to help them build the fire pit with stones and set the wood while Husky continued to fish. Nana sat quietly brooding.

Once the wood for the fire had been set all that needed to be done was light the fire. Kiyrely was just about to ask how they were going to do that when Cooro reached behind him and grabbed his small hand axe. He picked up a stone and struck the two together, creating a shower of sparks. After a few tries they had success. The sparks set fire to the dried grass and small branches they had set down as a base. It wasn't long before they had a nice raging fire.

Husky was done his fishing shortly afterwards. Nana joined them as they set the fish to the fire to cook. After a moment or two of silence Cooro couldn't bear it any longer. He had never been one for silence unless he was sleeping or eating.

"So, Kiyrely, how old are you?" he asked. None of them really knew much about Kiyrely. She had only joined them last night and they didn't have much time for chit chat before they retired for the evening.

For a moment it didn't appear that Kiyrely would answer, but she eventually did. "I'm eighteen," she replied. That seemed to be the trigger to the floodgate. Cooro and Nana started rifling off questions left, right and centre. Husky watched the fish sizzle in a moody silence while Senri sat and watched the other three.

Just when Kiyrely thought she couldn't take anymore of Cooro's and Nana's questions, Husky cut in.

"The fish are done." Kiyrely sighed in relief. Saved by the bell. She reached over to grab a fish but Senri intercepted her. He grabbed all of the fish, took out his spices and seasonings from his pouch, and flavoured the fish. When he had finished he held one out to Kiyrely.

She reached for it hesitantly. She had never had seasoned fish before so she did not know what to expect. She need not have worried though. After her first bite, she fell in love. It was positively the best delicacy that had ever submitted itself to her senses.

The others ate their fish quickly while Kiyrely slowly savored her delicious meal. She hoped to dear god they would be having some fish again soon. When they were all finished their food they doused the fire and prepared to set off again.

"Do you travel a lot Kiyrely?" Nana looked up at her with curiosity pasted all over her pretty young face.

"Yeah." That was all she had to say. Nana waited for a moment more. She had been hoping for a more detailed answer but she wouldn't push her just now. Maybe when they knew her a little more.

The rest of their travels for that day passed in relative silence, besides the bickering of Cooro and Husky. Nana interrupted every now and then, telling them to behave. Kiyrely for the most part kept to herself. Nana would ask her a question about herself every now and then but she managed to evade them, usually by asking Nana something about herself.

During one such conversation though, the evasion failed. Probably because it wasn't Nana or Cooro who was asking the question. "Where are you from?" Husky looked at her coolly as he asked the question. His features were very feminine she noticed. He looked somewhat familiar to her but she brushed that off. She had seen many people in her travels.

"What about you?" she asked. "It's only polite to answer your own question."

"Nice try," he shot back. "I want an answer. You've been evading Cooro and Nana."

"Quick kid," she thought. "I'm from southern Astaria. I lived in a small village."

Husky watched her for a moment more then let it drop. He couldn't tell if she was telling the truth or not but it seemed true enough. Her hair colour along with the beads she wore suggested differently though. Her hair was a light grey with black and white in it. It kind of reminded him of the Kim-un-kur. Her eyes were different though. They were a very startling blue, clearer than the clearest summer day and brighter than any gem he had seen.

It was just after mid-day when they reached the village. It was a small quaint little place that seemed to have a pleasant atmosphere. The first order of business though would be to find a place to stay for the night. Actually, the real first order of business would be to see if they had the means to stay somewhere for the night.

"How much money do we have Husky?" Cooro asked. Husky had always been in charge of the money, though he did spend it on occasional jewelry splurges. He claimed it was his money and he could do with it what he wanted.

"It's my money. If you want to stay someplace tonight then you'll have to spend your own money." He was very selfish when it came to his money.

"Husky," Nana said sternly. Everyone stopped when Nana did. She regarded Husky coolly until he finally gave in.

"Fine," he mumbled. It was becoming harder and harder for him to say no to her. Nana smiled at him happily.

"Thank you Husky!" Nana was all smiles and giggles now. She finally got to sleep in a bed again!

They walked around the town for a while to look for some place to stay for a while. They would probably end up staying here for a few days. This news didn't seem to please Kiyrely. As soon as they had neared the village she had become edgy.

"What's wrong?" Cooro asked eventually.

She looked at him oddly. "What do you mean?"

"You've been on edge since we got here."

"No I haven't." Her reply came rather quickly.

"Okay then." Cooro picked up his pace slightly to join the others.

Kiyrely found it rather odd that he let it drop that quickly, but she supposed that was his personality. He seemed like that kind of person.

The town was rather peaceful as they walked through it. The people looked nice, and it was quiet. Nobody was brawling in the streets. Or at least, there hadn't been anyone brawling in the streets, and it had been quiet.

Just before they reached a corner they heard yelling and fighting.

"Get back here you little brat!" one man called.

"You listening in on us you little sneak?" There was another man with the first.

"Ouch! Hey!" This third voice unmistakable belonged to a younger girl. After the girls remark the sounds of a fight floated quickly to their ears. They rushed around the corner to see what was going on.

What they saw shocked them. A young girl no more than twelve was under attack by several grown men. Actually, she seemed to be fighting back quite well for some one her age, but she was still doing poorly. When Kiyrely saw what was happening she froze momentarily before dashing into the fray.