Awaken
Luz found herself in the woods again, navigating through the darkness. At some point, she was startled by an owl, but the trip was mostly uneventful until she was alerted by a pair of golden eyes peering at her from the shadows. All of a sudden, something pounced out , and Luz narrowly dodged, skidding backwards with wide eyes. “Who’s there?!”
With a chuckle, a familiar golden wolf revealed himself. “Quick as usual, huh, luz?”
“Hunter! What are you doing here?”
Hunter shushed her. “Don’t make a sound. Follow me.” He whispered, turning and padding away. She silently followed him towards a large, shallow pit in the ground, where a small group of wolves stood.
“Who are those guys?” Luz wondered in a hushed voice. They’re definitely not normal wild wolves …”
Hunter murmured. “All right, let’s find out what’s so special about ‘em.” He said with a smirk.
“How?”
“Just leave it to me, okay? We’ll make those guys take us to their boss.” With that, he stood up, threw his head back, and howled.
The wolves immediately turned to look, and Luz recognized the ones from before among them.
“It’s the kid!” the purple one gasped.
“Stop it, Hunter!” Luz hissed. “They have many allies that they could call at any second!”
He scoffed. “Go back if you’re scared, little lady.” With that, he leapt down to meet the dogs, ignoring Luz’s shout of warning. He ran towards the purple wolf first, letting out a challenging growl.
“Does this guy want to fight me?” Daruis wondered aloud. To answer his question, Hunter lunged, snarling with his fangs bared.
“Hunter!!” Luz cried.
Darius made no move to dodge, but wasn’t knocked over when Hunter latched onto his neck. Luz gasped. Inuyasha moved his head side to side, trying to drag the lab to the ground.
Darius only moved slightly, and hunter’s blood boiled when a chuckle escaped him. “Hey, that tickles. Geez, kid, if you’re going to attack, do it properly!” His tone hardened at that, and with one swing of his head he threw hunter off. Though he was shocked at the purple werewolf’s strength, Hunter twisted in the air to land on his paws.
“Heh. Not bad.” Hunter scoffed as he faced his opponent once more.
“Watch out, kid.” Darius warned. “I won’t go easy on you again.”
“Hunter,” Luz whispered again, and hunter realized she’d come down to stand just behind him. He then noticed the warning tone to her voice, and heard the distant barking of more werewolves approaching. He looked at his surroundings, and found that the pit was now completely surrounded.
“I told you there were more!”
“What’s wrong, Darius?” a fluffy brown werewolf asked as he stepped into the light. “Who are those two brats?”
“Think you can fight all these?” Luz murmured to hunter. “You’ve gotten us into a real mess!”
“Y’know, , it’d be interesting to test these dogs out!” Eberwolf continued, grinning.
“Don’t interfere with this, Eberwolf !” the purple wolf who must have been Darius , barked. “Hurry back to your post! You’re supposed to be guarding it!”
“Okay, okay.” Eberwolf sighed. “Let’s go, everyone.” With that, he and all the wolves that had surrounded the pit turned and ran off.
“I’ll see if you’re good enough a fighter.” Darius said to a now thoroughly confused hunter.
“A fighter, eh?” Hunter echoed, his cocky pride returning. “Hmph. You’re no match for me. Bring your boss here.”
“We’re gathering soldiers for a mission, but only real fighters.” Darius told him after a brief pause. “If you defeat me, I’ll take you to the boss.”
“Deal. Luz, don’t interfere.” Hunter said, and he and the other wolf began circling each other, growling.
Hunter rushed forward to attack, but before the two werewolves made contact, a piercing yelp split the air, making both skid to a halt. “What was that?!”
Just as suddenly, Hunter saw something horrifying: the severed head of a wolf flying through the air. It bounced between hunter and Darius.
“What on Earth…?!” Luz gasped.
Oh gods they killed Kenny!
Those bastards!
A clamor of barking followed. “It’s one of belos’s henchmen!!” Eberwolf , from before, shouted as he and his group dashed towards the pit.
“What?!” Darius yelped.
The next sound was the splitting crack of a tree being broken. A massive black bear appeared, forcing two trees apart with its talons as it let out a terrible roar.
Luz knew right away that she, Hunter , and every wolf present were in deep trouble.
____________ part 2 jump of truth.
“That damn bear huh?” Darius growled, seething at the sight of what was definitely the head of a fallen comrade. “Did he only manage to get one of us?”
Eberwolf nodded. “I’m sorry. He ambushed us.”
“That’s why you shouldn’t have left your post!” Darius said in a hard tone, not taking his eyes off of the monster bear.
“I’ll get revenge for our friend!” the mint wolf snarled, already rushing towards the monster.
“Stop, sapphire!” Darius barked, causing her to halt. “Have you forgotten the boss’s orders? No more casualties.”
“But we just can’t let him get away with this!” She argued.
“We’ll get revenge one day,” he assured her, “but not now.” The bear growled again, and Darius stepped back. “Let’s retreat!” he barked, and with that, all the dogs in the pack followed him away from the bear.
Luz huffed. “What kind of mission can they accomplish if they can’t even get revenge for their friend?” However, despite her words, she began to run after the fleeing werewolves.
“Luz, where are you going?” Hunter called.
“I want to meet their boss!” Luz shouted back. She pushed her speed to the limit to chase the group, until they came to a massive chasm in the ground. Luz skidded ot a halt, gasping in shock.
“Ready, everyone? We’re going to jump!” Darius called to his comrades. As luz watched in amazement, the purple werewolf came to the edge of the ravine and jumped. As he soared across, sapphire and Eberwolf followed, along with all the other wolves. Despite the ravine’s impressive width, the werewolves all landed safely on the other side as if they’d done it hundreds of times before.
Carefully, luz padded up to the edge of the chasm, looking down into it. She could hear wind howling inside, but couldn’t see the bottom.
“Don’t do it, girl!” Eberwolf called over the rush of the wind. “It’s impossible for you to jump!”
However, Darius didn’t look nearly as worried. Luz couldn’t quite read the expression he wore. “ Chibi girl , if you can clear this ravine, you can come with us to meet the boss!”
“What are you saying, Darius? She’ll die!”
Luz stared at them for along moment, before turning and walking away from the ravine. She saw hunter waiting for her at the edge of the woods, clearly expecting her to follow her back to the pack. Once the distance was enough, luz stopped and turned around to rush back at the ravine with a snarl, brown eyes turning bright white.
“Luz, stop! It’s impossible! You aren’t strong enough to cross that ravine!” Hunter barked frantically.
Luz paid him no mind and kept running. The others watched with wide eyes, but Luz could see that darius was smiling.
Once luz came to the edge, she leapt high into the air, rocketing towards the other side, using her wind power lifted her up, carrying her to the other side was taken farther than the other wolves, landing behind them on the other side.
“That was beautiful, kid.” Darius said quietly, looking surprised despite his confidence in the young wolf.
“Now, we had a deal.” Luz reminded him. “Take me to meet your boss!”
Eberwolf laughed lightly. “What an energetic little lady.”
“Did everyone see what this young girl did?” Darius asked his group. “Any objections to having her with us?”
“No way! She’s an amazing!” Sapphire replied.
Eberwolf nodded. “I agree.”
“All right.” Darius turned back to luz. “You’re a real fighter.”
Luz suddenly gasped at what she saw on the other side of the ravine.
“What is it, pup?” Darius asked, following his gaze to see Hunter facing off with the giant bear from before. “What a nuisance, that bear …” he growled.
The bear shrieked, and hunter snarled back at it, baring his teeth, then lunged, latching onto the bear’s neck.
“Hunter!!” Luz shouted.
The bear screeched and shook its head wildly, but Hunter held fast. That was, until the bear lifted its clawed foot to pry hunter off.
The golden wolf was thrown off, crashing to the ground and narrowly rolling out of the way of another attack from the claws of death. He got back on his paws once he was a safe distance away, baring his teeth again.
“Hunter ! Hurry and jump over here!” Luz called to him.
He shook his head. “I’m proud that I’ve never turned my back on an enemy! I can’t run away from this bear!””
“What a stubborn boy …” Darius muttered.
“This damn bear is nothing compared to the wild animals I’ve brought down in the woods!” Hunter continued. With that, he lunged again, biting down once more on the bear’s nose.
The bear reeled with another shriek.
“What’ll we do, Darius?” The others asked.
“We can’t let that boy get killed.” He said.
Hunter had been dislodged once more, and was facing off with the bird, waiting for it to make a move.
“He’s got more guts than I thought.” Eberwolf observed.
Luz couldn’t listen to this talk any longer. Barking out a battle cry, she rushed to hunter’s aid.
“What are you doing, Chibi ?!” Sapphire called.
“Stop! Don’t rush in blindly!” Darius called, but Luz jumped right over him, in her desperation leaping to the other side of the ravine without the help of the wind this time.
When she landed, she turned to face Darius. “Remember this: I’ll definitely meet your boss!” She called.
As luz turned back to face the bear, Hunter was thrown to the ground once more, but he didn’t get up right away this time. He just lay on his belly, panting.
The bear plunged its sharp claws towards him , but Luz bolted forward to pull him away by the tail, making the bear’s claws score a deep line in the ground. It jerked its head up, spitting dirt from its mouth , before facing luz with slaughter in its eyes.
Luz released hunter. “Are you okay?”
“Sure I am. I’m just a little out of breath, that’s all…” he puffed, though he still didn’t stand.
“Take a breather, then. I’ll tag in for you!” With that, luz pounced, curling her whole body around the bear’s face.
“Stop it, luz! That’s not a normal bear!” Hunter warned.
Luz continued biting and clawing at the creature’s head, only temporarily being thrown off and leaping out of the way of the monster’s incoming attack. Once she’d avoided it, she attacked again with a furious wind attack and cutting one the bear’s paws off.
“First Platoon!” Darius call rang out, and Luz realized that the werewolves had crossed back over the chasm to assist them. All at once, a multitude of werewolves swarmed the bear, biting any body part they could reach. The bear screeched in pain.
“Second Platoon!” Eberwolf howled, and the clamor of barking intensified.
“Third Platoon, don’t fall behind!” Sapphire snarled, and even more wolves attacked.
The force of the attack dislodged luz , and she landed on her paws near hunter, staring in amazement at the fight.
Within seconds, the fight was over. The bear threw off its attackers, limping and fleeing the fight. Eberwolf began to lead his platoon after him, until darius yelled after them, “Wait! Don’t chase him!”
Eberwolf heeded Darius’s words, heading back to stand next to everyone. “Even with all that force, we still couldn’t kill that bear…” he growled in frustration.
With the coast clear, luz turned back to hunter. “Did he hurt you, Hunter ?”
“It’s really nothing.” Hunter assured her. “Just a little scratch.”
“Allow me to welcome you to the pack, comrades.” Darius voice alerted them.
“‘Comrades’?” Luz echoed.
“I’m the commander of the First Platoon.” Darius said.
“I’m the commander of the Second Platoon, sapphire followed.
“And I’m the commander of the Third Platoon!” Eberwolf concluded.
“I’m hunter .” He told the wolves.
“And I’m luz. It’s nice to meet you.” Luz added.
“Our pack has over twelve groups in it, and we’re all on important missions.” Darius explained.
“I understand that, Darius, but please, hurry and let us meet your boss!” Luz urged.
“All right, Chibi … No, Luz .” He corrected himself. “You’ve proven yourself as a fighter, so I’ll keep my promise. Follow me.” He was about to take off when a familiar howl rang out, alerting everyone present. “It’s the boss’s gathering signal.”
Luz pricked her ears, letting the familiar voice fill her ears. He turned in the direction of its source, and found the silhouette from before perched on that same cliff, with the wolves already gathering under it. He was so close that Luz swore she could smell the boss, and the scent… she knew she’d smelled it before!
Without caring who followed her and who didn’t, luz took off, running straight towards the shadowed wolf that had occupied her thoughts so much as of late. Without taking her eyes off of the silhouette, she leapt across the ravine, thankfully being carried by the gusts of wind blowing through it.
That wolf was so close now, and Luz would finally get to see if the suspicion a he’d been shoving down all this time had been correct.
As luz drew closer still, the dark clouds moved away from the shining full moon, shedding some light on the boss. As the boss wolf features became clear, luz skidded to a halt, frozen with astonishment.
Could it be…?