Meeting the Human Torch

The next morning, everyone slept in, tired from the battle and the journey here. Maya slept near Zeve, their tails touching each other. Leo was muttering in his sleep, saying, “No, I didn’t steal the candy, my sister forced me, sir.” Joy was just waking up, stretching her long body. She yawned and shook her head sleepily, then she pawed at her sister’s shoulder, trying to wake her up. Hope groaned and swatted her hand. “Let me sleep,” she mumbled, opening one eye to stare at Joy. “But our cousins are here! We need to get some breakfast ready for them,” she hissed. She pushed her sister off the bed and onto the floor with a thunk. Hope let out a surprised yowl as she struggled to get up while Joy hopped onto her back. “Come on. You can’t be a sleepy baby all the time. Let’s go,” Joy mumbled, grabbing Hope’s tail with her jaw and dragging her toward the door. “Fine, fine. I’m coming, just let go of my tail,” she muttered, ripping her tail away. “Can’t you guys be quiet? We’re trying to get some rest,” Lily yawned, rubbing her eyes. “But I can’t wait to show you Madison. It’s a really nice town,” Joy explained, her excited yowl waking up everyone in the room. Leo woke up with a start. “Don’t throw me in jail!” Leo shouted, leaping into the air. Then he looked around and saw everyone staring at him like he was nuts. Leo blushed and licked his paw, feeling very silly. Maya yawned, blinking her eyes slowly. Zeve stretched his legs as he crawled out of bed, looking around. “Morning, Leo. Thanks for being the alarm call this morning,” Maya said, teasing her brother as she stood up. “Please don’t push it,” Leo muttered. “Can we show you our town today? You’ll love it; it looks so pretty in the snow,” Joy explained, her older sister finally looking excited to show them. “We’d love to. But wouldn’t that make it easier for the dark hybrids to find us?” Zeve asked, looking at Maya, who nodded. “There are barely any black-haired people here, so it’s probably okay to go out. Besides, we can blend into the crowd. What more can we do to hide?” Hope replied, licking her chest. Maya looked at Zeve, who frowned. “How about this? We can leave most of the humans here; only Bruce will come with us. We’ll also leave Zeve’s soldiers here to defend this place in case the dark hybrids find out where we are hiding. The rest of us can go to town,” Lily explained. Zeve nodded in agreement, clearly impressed with Lily’s ability to solve problems. “Okay then. Let’s eat breakfast, and then we will go,” Maya announced.

Meanwhile in Tiere Leben, deep inside a large dark cave with torches, Kai was walking down the long hallway with two other soldiers at his sides. “Varian won’t be so pleased when he hears about this,” chuckled a dark human-snake who was walking toward a large wooden door. Kai growled. “I didn’t do anything wrong, Sharpfang. You got the wrong guy,” he grunted, struggling against the other soldier who was gripping his wrists tightly. “We’ll let the boss decide. Either way, you are dead meat,” Sharpfang said, smiling wickedly as he opened the large door.They stepped into dark room filled with sharp black rocks that has blue veins that pulsed repeatedly. There was also a red carpet that reached to the end of the other side of the room and at the end of the carpet was a throne made of sharp black rocks. And on the throne was a human-wolf with dark hair with a bit of blue that also pluses the same repeating of the rocks. His eyes were icy blue and hardened with anger, he stood up when they reached his throne. “Well,well. I never thought that you would turn your back at me one day. Stumpytail told me that you let Maya’s sister go, would you like to tell me what was that all about.” The human-wolf growled, his blue hair pulsing even faster. Kai stood up tall and looked at him with no sign of fear. “Yes, it’s true Varian. I told him to let go of her so I can deal with her, but before I did… a light soldier attacked me and she flee away like a frightened kitten.” Kai lied, his tail twitching angrily. Varian stared at him for a long moment, then he motioned the other two soldiers to leave. They nodded respectfully and left the room without any further words. Varian slowly stepped down the stairs and walked along the carpet, finally he stopped a few feet away from Kai. “You know that I’m your leader here, right?” He asked, looking at his claws. Kai didn’t say anything, but he gave a tiny nod of agreement. Varian frowned, looking up from his claws. then, without warning, he lifted his hand upward quickly and a sharp rock exploded out of the floor. It’s sharp point barely touching Kai’s neck, Kai looked at him fearfully. “ you know that I can control the black rocks and I can use them to impale my enemies.” He explained, his eyes twinkle with dark satisfaction. “I can impale you without a further thought, but I need you now.” He grunted, lowering his hand downward slowly, the sharp rock disappearing from view and Kai let out a sigh of relief. “You are being assigned with Shadyfur to go out and find them. But do not let them see you, be undercover till the time comes to cut them down.” Varian snarled, throwing a dagger at a picture on the side of the room. Kai eyes filled with fear again and he raced away from Varian,slamming the door as he ran. Varian turned around to face the picture, the picture was Maya in a blue dress and was holding a red rose. “ I will going to get you one day,miss Howler. And when I do, nothing will be able to stop me.” He said, laughing.

Hours later, long after breakfast. The group walked down the street of the town, shivering in the cold. “How long has town been here?”Leo asked, wearing a red puffy jacket. “This town has been here since 1836, it was named after Jame Madison, known as the father of the constitution.” Hope answered, pointing to a statue of him. “It was during the civil war, when the Americans declared freedom from the king of England. It was a very bloody war, a lot of the soldiers from both sides were killed. The Americans won of course, that’s how this country was created.” Joy said, shaking some snow of her head. “ I would like to explore this place, can I take Bruce with me? I want to talk with him privately.” Maya explained, glancing at him. “Sure, we’ll take the others to see to the Wisconsin state capitol not to far from here. Call us when you are done.” Hope mumbled, already walking away. Maya went the opposite direction with Bruce close behind. They walked down a narrow road full of shops and restaurants, ignoring the sellers. “Bruce…why did you become so nice to us after the battle?” Maya asked,staring at him. Bruce was about to answer her when a large teenager crashed into them, Maya stumbled backward and Bruce crashed into a chair. “Watch where are you going, nitwit.” The teenager growled, already getting up to his feet. Maya shook her head, and looked at the large teenager. He has messy orange hair and his eyes were fiery orange. He was wearing a fiery red jacket with dark grey jeans. Maya couldn’t help but noticed that he has metal rings on each finger. Bruce pushed the chair away and helped Maya to get up. “You can’t just blame us like that, we’re new to this area. So let us through, sir.” Maya explained,accidentally revealing her sharp teeth to him. His eyes widened in surprise, then he smiled, making Bruce feel uneasy. “How rude of me, I didn’t tell you my name. My name is Mag, and today is your lucky day.” He smirked, his eyes glowing brighter. Bruce suddenly remembered Glitch’s warning and he pushed Maya down onto the ground as flames burst out Mag’s hands, nearly touching them. “Run!” Bruce screamed, scrambling to his feet. He grabbed Maya’s hand and raced down a narrow alleyway. “Awww, aren’t you two cold? I can lift up the temperature to warm you two up, you be so toasty.” He chuckled, chasing after them. Maya gasped as a fireball shot past her, nearly scorching her hidden fur. Bruce leaped over a wooden box just as it burst into flames. “Let’s go this way!” Maya explained, turning left into a dead end. “Nonono! We’re trapped.”Bruce wailed, just as Mag reached the corner. “Come out, I just want to play.” Mag cooed, stepping toward them slowly, his orange hair ruffling in the air. “Leave us alone. What did we ever do to you?” Maya asked, getting ready for a fight. “Oh, I know that. But I just love burning things down, i’ll be doing a little favor for you.” He muttered. Suddenly he rushed forward and pinned Maya down. Maya struggled to get loose, but he was too strong. “Stay still.” He hissed, his cold metal rings rubbing against her skin. Maya glanced at Bruce, asking for help. But Bruce’s eyes harden and he leaned against the wall. “Get rid of her, she is no longer useful to me.” He grunted, glaring back her. Maya gasped, her anger flared up. “You weren’t going to help us this whole time? I thought you were trustworthy.”she hissed. “I used you as a shield from those creatures and now that I’m clear of danger, I don’t need you anymore.”Bruce explained, turning his head away. “ Traitor! I trusted you!” Maya screamed, trying to get away from Mag. “Oh, this is getting delicious. Get ready Missy, to be set on fire.” Mag exclaimed, his hand slowly getting hotter, causing blisters to form on her arms. Suddenly, out of nowhere, an orange figure flew down and slammed into Mag, knocking him away. Mag head spun around to faced a orange human-fox that has feathers on its arms. “W-what it’s that?”he screamed as the human-fox pinned him down,it’s claws digging into his skin. “Windy! What are you do here?” Maya asked, looking as shocked as Mag. The human-fox ignored her, “stay away from the princess!” He hissed. Mag smirked and he was about to burn the unexpected human-fox, when someone hit him on the head. Mag smirked disappeared and his eyes rolled back as he fell unconscious. Maya looked up to see Bruce standing next to the unconscious Mag with a metal pole in his hands. “Thank goodness for this. He was getting on my nerves.” Bruce muttered tossing the metal pole back into it’s pile nearby. “Bruce! I-I thought you had betray us.” Maya explained, stumbling to her feet with the help of the human fox. “Naa. I was trying to trick him so I can hit him with the metal pole I found. I trust you, you already proved me that I can trust you. Why would I throw that away?” He mumbled, glancing at Mag’s face. “Would you mind telling me who is he?” Bruce asked, pointing to the human-fox. “That’s Windy, he’s my messenger while I was on earth. He used to be a dark hybrid when he was younger, but now he turned to the light side.” Maya explained. Windy reached out and shook Bruce’s hand. “Nice to meet you lad. Nice job fooling this fiend.” He said, giving him a warm smile. “Thanks, I have a question, how did you get up there?” Bruce asked,pointing to the roof of the building. “Oh, I flew. I can transform into a falcon whenever I want, Maya was lucky that I was there when it happened.” Windy explained. Then Mag groaned. “We better get out of here before he wakes up. He’s not going to be happy when he finds out that I hit him.” Bruce said, already speed walking away from the alleyway. Maya and windy nodded in agreement and followed him.

meanwhile with the other group, “wow! This place is amazing.” Leo commented as looked up at the ceiling that covered with pictures of clouds and naked people. “What’s up with naked people on the ceiling?” Zeve asked, tilting his head. “It’s a long history, I don’t remember when it first started.” Hope answered. Lily looked at a statue of a man holding a sword, then she looked behind the statue. There was two teenagers that was standing near a glass box that had a sword in it, whispering to each other. Lily’s eyes widened as she recognized one of the boys face. “Carson! I mean Kai!” She explained in her mind. “But who is the other teenager next to him?” She wondered. She couldn’t help but noticing that Kai was looking miserable and that his eye’s keep darting to the teenager’s waist, she guess that there was a small dagger hidden there. The teenager was talking roughly at him and Kai flinched, looking away from him. His eyes lit up when he met her eyes, but then his face turned into a look of sheer horror. She wonder what had caused him to look like that, then the other teenager stopped talking and followed Kai gaze. Lily turned her eyes away and tried to act normal, looking at the tour book not realizing that it was upside down. The teenager grumbled loudly and turned his head back to Kai, who looked relieved. Then the teenager turned away and started walking toward the stairs case, Kai stayed where he was for a few moments before moving. He hesitantly walked toward her, his eyes darting around if the grumpy teenager would appear any moment. “Lily.” He whispered, finally reaching her. “What are you doing here? Varian sent me and Shadyfur to spy on you and the others.” He explained. Lily looked at him, about to explain what had happened when Leo spotted them. “Mouse dung! Lily, what you doing with him?”he hissed, walking up to Kai, thrusting his face into Kai’s. “He betrayed us, we don’t want anything to do with him.”Leo growled, Kai flinched. “Leo stop that. Listen, I know that he is a dark hybrid, but he didn’t attack me at school. He really doesn’t want to hurt me.” Lily assured, trying to calm Leo down. Leo stared at Kai for a long moment before turning his head to Lily. “That’s no excuse. Drive him out now, or I’ll will.”Leo snarled, baring his teeth at Kai.Suddenly, without warning, lily’s eyes rolled back and she fell onto the floor. “Sis!” Leo yowled, already rushing over to her. Then he stopped, standing over Lily was the teenager that talked to Kai earlier, holding a bloody dagger. “There. That one pest rid of.” He said, clearly satisfied. He kicked Lily over, revealing a deep gash that was steadily flowing out dark blood. Leo gasped in shock and he dragged his sister away from the teenager, checking for a heartbeat. He sighed in relief when he heard her heart beating, but it was rapidly growing fainter as every moment passed. He looked up and saw Kai standing in front of them, his back to them as he faced the teenager. “Shadyfur! What were you thinking about, attacking Lily in a public place?” He hissed, baring his teeth at the teenager. “The boss wants us to get rid of them at all cost, or are you too timid to do it?”Shadyfur snarled, raising his dagger to hit Leo. Kai whacked the dagger away, knocking it onto the floor. Shadyfur growled as he leaped at Kai, “Traitor! You have no loyalty to Varian, you are nothing but crow-food.” He spat, biting Kai’s shoulder. Kai kicked his hind leg and Shadyfur flew off and landed near the dagger. Kai stared at him, his ears full of hatred. Then without thinking,he grabbed the dagger and plunged it into Shadyfur’s neck. Shadyfur fell down dead. Leo opened his mouth in shock as Kai pulled out the dagger,dripping with blood. Kai stared at the bloody dagger realizing what he had done, he let go of the dagger,letting it clattered onto the floor. He turned his head to Leo, still in shock. Then he shook his head and ran over to Lily who started gasping for air. He collapsed next to Lily, not sure what to do. Leo looked at him, just as the rest of the group rushed over. “Leo! There you are, what are you doing here… oh!” Hope exclaimed as she spotted Lily lying on the floor with Kai next to her. Leo looked at her, “we need to get her to Ashpaw, now!” He explained, motioning Hope to help carry Lily. Kai watched them, unsure what to do. Leo looked at him again, and he sighed. “You can come with us, for now.” Leo mumbled as they walked toward the door. Kai slowly walked towards them, glancing back at Shadyfur’s dead body as they went out.