I'm having fun. *G* -- The Middle of Nowhere

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Date Posted: 13:38:43 12/29/02 Sun
Author: Shifters and K'anta
Subject: I'm having fun. *G*

"Sachi! No! You'll die!"

Tari yelled, horror widening his jade-green eyes, throwing knife forgotten as it clattered to the hard, frozen ground. The young Cheetah, in human form, tensed to stop the Wolf, but another K'anta attacked just then, and he was hard-put to stay alive in a furious exchange of blade-play.

Sachi hovered mid-air, eyes closed, body battered, blood staining her clothing and skin. Her sturdy belt was the only unmarred thing about her, and that held her most precious weapon - her Crazouli knife, a six-inch blade made of half-alive Crazouli crystal. Silver energy whipped wildly about her like a spray of snowy wind, flickering and dancing in fiery patterns. With a sudden jolt, her eyes snapped open, a pure silver light radiating outwards.

"Your strength dies now!"

With almost effortless speed, the white Wolf drew her knife, gripped its short hilt in both hands, and pointed it like a gun at the one remaining K'anta ninja, a Raptor of such skill that he had defeated even the deadly Thero. Without hesitation, Sachi sent every last bit of her waning energy in a violent blast through the blade, which tore more energy than she had intended from her body and left her with precious little life-force.

"SACHI!!! NNOOO!!!"

Tari lurched forwards, delivering a knife-handed blow to the last Raptor plaguing his existance, just as the silver light exploded forth in an unavoidable beam for the K'antan ninja. The Cat lunged, the Crazouli jewelry wrapping his lean frame aiding him in catching the unconscious Wolf as she fell through the air limply. It was a rough landing, but he didn't jar her much, and panic stained his green eyes as he searched frantically for a pulse.

Jay awoke just then, face buried in the dirt and blood half-frozen and matting his long, black hair. Muscles aching, he pushed himself up and staggered to his feet, taking stock of the battlefield. The twenty K'anta ninjas were all dead, but the fifty-some regular Raptors weren't all defeated. His cold eyes settled on Tari, who cradled his bloodsister's body close to his lean frame. The smell of her energy was everywhere in the frigid air, and Jay stumbled forward, picking up The Beast -his six-foot broadsword- and almost casually lopping the head off an attacking K'anta. Five more surrounded him, weariness slowing their limbs but wounds pained Jay as well, so the male Wolf doggedly set his mind to slaughtering them... then he could check on his sister.

Rahfa opened his eyes in time to see Sachi's last self-sacrificial strike. In Tiger form, for he had had to Shift and heal fatal wounds before they could kill him, he rose, thick muscles rippling under his white-black striped pelt. A snarl ripped from his throat as he lunged for a few Raptors advancing on Tari and his precious burden. The nine-foot Cat had little trouble tearing those K'anta to shreds.

Jay finished with his Raptors, turning his head automatically to check for more enemies. And it was then that he saw it.

The ninja that Sachi had possibly given her life to kill rose, bruised and bloodied, but still alive and able to fight.

"Tari. Rahfa."

Jay's voice growled out of a scratchy throat, thick with rage. A massive Tiger head and a weary human face turned as one to look in shock at the Raptor. The Wolf snarled, the Beast heavy in his big hands, its shining length tilted downwards so that the tip rested on the cold ground.

They were done for. If Thero, and even Sachi, could not defeat this Raptor... there was no hope that Jay and Rahfa, no experts in energy compared to the aforementioned, could. And Tari was exhausted, his weak Cheetah endurance belying his power in energy-use. There were no more energybeans to restore strength, health, and life-force either.

"You are beginning to annoy me."

A surprised hiss came from the Raptor as he spun his muscular frame around, grey-striped tan hide criss-crossed with wounds. Who dare talk to the mighty ninja Akik as though he were some piddling fighter incapable of real harm!?

A frigid wind picked up, blowing a loosely-ponytailed mass of curly ebony hair backwards dramatically. Malicious jade eyes were startlingly light in contrast to dark mocha skin, which in turn was set off by the matte-black leather outfit the human-formed Panther wore. Leather gloves, almost like driving gloves, were bald around the knuckles and fingertips, where attacks had decimated even the tough material. Tall, pointed-toe boots were blood-stained, as were jean-like black pants. Where a leather vest and a thickly-woven tunic had been, there is now bared skin, wind-burned and bloody.

"You...! I killed you!!"

Akik protested aloud, shock tinging his olive green eyes. He knew of Shifters' notorious ability to Shift and heal in the most inconvenient (for K'anta) circumstances, so he had made sure to kill this one, the most dangerous one he had fought today. He should be dead!

Thero laughed, a cold, low laugh.

"You are a fool, and an annoying pest. You have insulted my race today, and far worse, you have insulted me."

The Panther's slim form tensed, lean muscles bunching as red energy suddenly surged into a fiery maelstrom surrounding him. A steady, dagger-like glare was leveled at the confused and angering K'anta.

"Now DIE!!!!"

Thero's scream cut right through the Raptor's senses, and though the Panther had been beaten to within a millimeter of his life, the energy that still lay within was immense, and it took one single blast for the K'anta's body to dissolve in the power of the Cat's blow.

Calmly, Thero floated back down to land lightly on an upturned rock. He folded his arms impassively, pain still radiating through his form, and watched as the last molecules of the ninja were blown away in the wind.

Tari half-grinned at his fellow Cat, before turning a very worried gaze back to Sachi. But her pulse was there, if weak, and though her energy level was literally below zero, though seemingly impossible she had survived lower levels.

Rahfa used the last of his own energy to Shift to human form, making his way to the Cheetah and Wolf just as his good friend Jay did the same. Jay crouched and took his sister from Tari, gently rocking her unconscious form in instinctive comfort.

"Tari."

Thero's still-cold voice brought the Cheetah around sharp, blinking. The Panther flipped a small object at him and, before Tari could even catch it, teleported back to Rummaen, his own planet. Rahfa reached out a broad hand and snatched the tiny bean out of the air, almost grinning as he handed it to Jay.

"Good thing he hates her," the Tiger mused humorously, "or he might insist on actually making sure she's alive."

Jay snorted, but Tari laughed weakly in relief as the Wolf ingested the energybean and her wounds and energy rebounded into the healthy range. Sachi's eyes fluttered open, and she quirked a grin as she slipped out of her brother's hold, squeezing his shoulder once in thanks.

"Let me guess. Thero had one left, and gave it to me so he could still kill me himself later?"

Rahfa laughed quietly and nodded,

"That's about the sum of it, though in a look instead of words."

Sachi rolled her eyes good-naturedly, hand still resting on Jay's shoulder. She and Thero were rivals in the extreme, and though she considered him an ally, he would like nothing better than to kill her in one supreme battle. Or so he maintained, though the Wolf had seen nothing to suggest that the Panther wasn't sincere in his enmity. The only thing stopping him from carrying out his wish to destroy the most powerful Wolf he knew of was Sachi's catring - it would be nigh treason for him to kill her when she had the blatant, all-inclusive friendship of his race.

"Let's go home. You guys look like bloody steaks."

Sachi grinned again as she felt Tari's and then Rahfa's hands on her shoulders, and through a bit of energy-play, she too teleported back home, dragging her three companions with her through time and space.

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