Monday, November 8, 2010

Kingdom of Terror- Chapter 2

Chapter 2

The jourey towards Horleri was cold, long, and very dangerous. In a single day they trekked over two hundred miles without stopping to eat. The bare winter attacked them by sending gusts of winds as low as fifty degrees Celsius into them and this continued to slow them down as the blizzard strengthed and blinded their vision with snow blowing in every direction. Often a geyser would explode near them as they trekked through the Rytolik Fields.

“This is crazy!” Requiem yelled over the howling of the wind, “We should turn back!”

“No, we move forward!” Wayne denied her proposition, “Donryu, why don’t you change this weather to something more appreciative?”

“This is not natural weather; I have negative control over it!” Donryu replied, “It’s like someone is trying to make sure we don’t make it to Horleri!”

“Well in that case, we have got to reach the city!” Diamond yelled.

“I’ve never seen weather so treacherous before!” Ryo growled loudly, “I’m not even convinced we’re going the right way!”

“I’ve travelled in a storm like this,” the Sound Lewtiko terrier said to Diamond, “But as quickly as it came, the quickly it left. We should start to see a starry sky very soon.”

Wayne was right. As quickly as it came, the wind died down, snowflakes slowly glided to the ground, and the clouds began to part leaving a bright winter night sky shining down on them. The moon shone brightly and basically lit up the night to more like daybreak.

Exhausted, the Lewtikos lay flat on the snow-covered ground and relaxed, gazing at the beautiful midnight sky in awestruck wonder. Despite the heavy air pollution from the major industrial cities, the air in the wild remained clear, crisp, and breathable with a fresh wilderness scent. Wayne breathed in the cool air deeply and with a big yawn, it all came out.

“Diamond, I’m hungry,” Tobi whined, “When are we gonna get something to eat?”

The other Lewtiko looked over at the young Dalmatian who smiled weakly. They too were hungry, since they’ve had no breakfast, lunch, or any little snack along the way.

“I don’t think there’s any food out in the wilderness, sweetie.” The red Siberian husky brushed her tail in the pup’s face to wipe off any excess snow covering his half-frozen face and licked his face to try to warm him up, “My goodness, you’re frozen to the bone!”

“I think we all are,” Ryo snarled and started to walk away, “I’m starving and I’m not going to run any further without getting something to eat!”

Avro, Sergei, Shayla, Sirrus, Yellissa, Jazz, Kisper, and Donryu went to follow him, telling the others not to leave because they would bring food back with them.

“Will they find food?” Tobi asked.

“We’ll find out when they get back,” Wayne answered and then started getting his face warmed by Diamond’s tongue, “Whoa! What are you doing?! I’m not a puppy!”

“I promised Connor that I’d look out for you, while you looked out for the others,” she replied, caressing his face with her tongue, “I’m just following orders.”

The Sound Lewtiko terrier growled in embarrassment as Diamond continued to lick his face until it was nice and warm again. After his face was warm, she blew a warm breath all over him, which immediately melted the snow off his body. Tobi and Requiem also received the same treatment.

“If you plan on being mates with me, get used to the way I am, ok?”

Wayne was about to say something relatively rude when the others returned from the hunt with food. Immediately they all started eating whatever the hunting party had scavenged. They didn’t have to worry about Kaityln not getting food though because she was surrounded by grass and mustangs eat lots of grass and other plants. They all ate an ate until they couldn’t eat no more despite having food left over.

“I never expected crow to taste so good,” Tobi mused as he finished a whole crow.

“Deer tastes much better though,” Ryo mutter as he used a stick to clean the areas between his teeth and licked his chops clean of blood.

“Now is everyone satisfied?” the Sound Lewtiko terrier asked, “We all had a sufficient amount of food, so let’s get a move on.”

“But it’s nighttime, can’t we rest here for the night?” Requiem, a Nature Lewtiko Persian cat asked.

“Alright, but we’re up at first light and resuming course before sunrise.”

Immeidately all the Lewtiko fell fast asleep as they waited for the first light...
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Night passed by quickly and the first light was bright enough to wake up Wayne who awoke with a yawn. They had not slept long and he was quite tired and still very exhausted from the long run they had ran yesterday, covering much ground. As he woke the others awake, the breeze brought a peculiar scent with it and he detected it as his keen nose took a deep breath of the dawn air.

“Dreads!” he exclaimed, “Get up! Diamond! Tobi! Ryo! Everyone! We got Dreads coming!”

“What in tarnation!” Ryo growled, “Why the yelling at this hour?”

“Quickly! We have to leave now! I can sense Dreads coming from the east!”

At the word ‘Dreads’, everyone was standing and alert in an instant, and they began to run far and faster than they did the previous day. Everyone of them knew that every encounter with a Dread was a matter of life and death always, no matter the current situation. The humans created the Dreads to purge all Lewtiko from the face of the world. They were bred to kill, to pursuit, to capture, and to destroy anything that was not human. Only a highly experienced Lewtiko could defeat or possibly temporarily disable one.

“Out of all things that could possibly go wrong, why Dreads?” Jazz asked, “It was never my plan to combat against one but I don’t think anyone was planning that!

“That’s why we’re running!” Ryo snarled.

“If we can communicate with one another that means we are not running fast enough to out run however many Dreads there are.” Wayne snapped.

Suddenly a terrible siren rang out through the still-quite dark sky which caused all the Lewtiko to halt dead in their tracks and look behind themselves as massive, black objects appeared over a huge snowbank.

“DREADS!!!” Shayla screamed in horror.

“RUN!!!!” Diamond yelled.

Despite no one actual seeing or remembering a Dread, they had heard stories about them. Dreads apparently were half-vehicle and half-wolf. Apparently they were captured when they were young and genetically modified to be able to shape-shift into all-terrain SUV emergency vehicles. It has been said that they were treated brutally to create hostility within them and trained them to kill, to pursuit, to capture, and to destroy. Some were modified with machine guns, Gatling cannons, and blasters while others had switchblades, daggers, and katana-like swords. Their teeth were enlarged into fangs which hanged out of the mouth in a frightening way and their claws resembled built-in daggers. It seemed that because the only reason to create them was to hunt animals and Lewtiko, the humans would’ve discarded them. However the military had other plans for them and they continued having them in their service.

The Lewtiko began to run as fast as they could but the Dreads kept pace with them, gaining on them very quickly and overtaking them. Soon all the Lewtiko were surrounded by four Dreads.

“Ryo... some time-freezing might be helpful...” Requiem said as she backed into the Time Lewtiko wolf.

The four Dreads shape-shifted into their wolf-like form and savagely lumbered over to the Lewtiko who each looked at Ryo for him to do something. The groping claws reached out and their huge mouths opened revealing their dagger-like fangs... when suddenly they became frozen under ice.

“Nice work, Kisper,” Wayne said, “Now let’s get outta here. That ice ain’t gonna hold them forever.”

The others followed Wayne as he led them back on course and they continued down the path towards the city of Horleri, running at a faster pace to gain more distance from the Dreads. Normally Dreads did not operate alone, so they knew that other Deadhands were not too far behind. ABIED, the military organization that specialized in killing Lewtiko, created five types of Deadhands: Blackouts, Destroyers, Dreads, Fractures, and Starquakes. Blackouts were Heavy Hitters, half-transport helicopter and half-Kodiak, and programmed for destruction. Destroyers were Ground Assaulters, half-main battle tank and half-tiger, and their main purpose was for combat. Dreads were Medium Hitters, half-SUV emergency vehicle and half-wolf, light, durable, fast, and mass-produced in the thousands. Often Dreads would be working with a Blackout. Fractures were Light Hitters, half-motorcycle and half-leopard, and served as scouts. Starquakes were Aerial Hitters, were half-fighter jet and half-eagle, made specifically for aerial invasion and other aerial purposes. A living nightmare was to find a Deadhand invasion force which typically was a force of ten Blackouts, fifty Destroyers, two thousand Dreads, thirty Starquakes, and several Fractures.

Most Fractures could easily be disabled along with Starquakes but anything larger was harder to destroy or disable and took a lot of experience. Dreads were not too complicate to disable, but the main problem was that they were programmed to be relentless and would keep on pursuing their target until it was successfully detained or destroyed. Destroyers were stronger than Dreads but it was rare to see one since most had been destroyed in the Great Purge by those that refused to fall. However Blackouts were the toughest, strongest, and most impossible to destroy; in the Great Purge maybe one was defeated but none were destroyed as far as records had shown. General Mikhail Lubiako, the shadowy leader behind ABIED, was responsible for the design and creation of the Deadhands, being inspired to create them from an idealist essay that he had found by a mistake and it gave him delusions of grandeur and generated fear of the Lewtiko to revolting against humans. But he was playing into the Mokh Bahr’s hands along with a majority of humans...

As soon as experiments with the Deadhands were successful, Mikhail proceeded to carry out with his evil plans: world domination and Lewtiko extinction. Leading an attack on the Royal Family, he forced the queen to abdicate her rule and authority over the world and began the Reign of Terror. He ordered the capture of a Lewtiko wolf shortly after and applied its blood with his, granting the nefarious general eternal life, and that wolf became the first victim of the Great Purge with began immediately after the slaying of the first one. Most humans had already been corrupted into believing that all the Lewtiko were dangerous and had to be purged from the face of the world, so they gave Lubiako permission to by whatever means to kill them all. In sheer numbers, Mikhail unleashed his Deadhands and soldiers into all the Lewtiko villages and had all the inhabitants slayed.

Wayne could remember being just a pup when the Great Purge started in 3454 and he had endured watching his parents be slaughtered by Dreads and then his whole village be obliterated by a Blackout and several Destroyers while Starquakes surveyed the skies for any surviving Lewtiko who escaped the destruction. He had narrowly eluded the Deadhands and the human military overseeing the destruction of the village and the execution of all the Lewtiko living there. Being no older than two back then, he had travelled for a long time, hiding from humans and their evil war machine-animals. It wasn’t until the year 4280 when he met Diamond and it was the year 4700 when they met Connor Williams who was only a small boy, no older than four than. Even though he was in safety with Connor, the Deadhands remained a strong threat so Wayne and other surviving Lewtiko became humans to evade their enemies.

Diamond’s story was a lot more different. At the time of the Great Purge, she was a rebellious teenager who ignored the wise words of her father and defied all rules; she hated laws and despised anyone who created them unless it was herself. It wasn’t until the year 3455 when the Purge came to her village and eradicated all who were alive and then they burned it to the ground. As she came to adulthood, she had increasingly became politer and more motherly to younger Lewtiko who she met while hiding from the military and the Deadhands. When she met Wayne, she acted like the boss over him and kept a close eye on him, being very protective whenever he ran into trouble. And when they travelled to Ahtuli, she quickly took to Connor who was an orphan when they first met and she helped him find a family which got him into a school and granted him a good education. It was her idea to change into humans to escape detection of ABIED and any other Lewtiko-haters.

Tobi was not even born during the time of the Great Purge. All he could remember was being captured by ABIED and was scheduled to be terminated when a Heat Vision Lewtiko dog assisted him, breaking him out of the military stronghold in the city Beugharah. However that Lewtiko was captured and put into permanent sleep, containing his still-alive body within a special sealment area; and Tobi barely evaded the enemy who had tracked him for two days until he found a friend with Cathy Cummings, who allowed him to stay with her since he was so cute. Later he met up with Wayne and Diamond, and the three became good friends with the Fire Lewtiko red Siberian husky acting like the mother of both canines.

Ryo abhorred remembering the past, but seeing Dreads again opened old wounds and he became lost in his memories that he had buried deep within himself. He remembered having a wife and a son before the Great Purge and after being the soul-survivor of the cataclytic event. His village was ransacked and all the inhabitants were slaughtered by Destroyers. The whole world turned upside down that fatal day when hoardes and multitudes of Deadhands and soldiers stormed into his village and he remembered trying to save his wife and son but they were shown no mercy and died at the brutal hand of General Mikhail Lubiako, who had ordered the Destroyer to do its merciless work. Enraged with himself that he wasn’t fast enough, Ryo ran far away and vowed to always hate humans and laugh whenever one died because a human could only live a mere few hundred years, but a Lewtiko could endure forever, only succumbing to illness or injury. Nonetheless their numbers were kept under control since they were restricted to birthing one child every fifty years. He had took the form of a human long before anyone could think of the idea and work as a criminal and saboteur to kill them all.

The only other two Lewtikos who could remember seeing Dreads were Requiem and Shayla. The two had been sisters long before the Great Purge because Shayla was an orphan and Requiem’s parents gladly accepted her into their family. At first a young Requiem was defiant to get along with a Water Lewtiko golden retriever but their relationship tightened after the Great Purge ravaged their village and the two barely escaping with their lives as the village was laid to waste. A few Dreads pursued them for more than five days until the bitter winter of Kilopaleq forced them to give up. They fled to the nearest city, Ahtuli, in search of sanctuary, and that was where they became friends with Martha Jenkins and Megan Kelley who further hid them from persistent patrols and Deadhands.

No matter how fast they ran, the Dreads quickly gained on them and surrounded them. This time when they did shape-shift, they did not attack, instead they made sure that of the Lewtiko could escape.

“I thought they wanted to kill us,” Tobi said, cowering behind Diamond.

“I think they want us alive for reasons unknown,” Wayne replied as he glanced over at the Dreads who showed no signs of immediate attack.

Suddenly the powerful noise of a helicopter turboshaft ripped through the air as two massive Blackouts descended from the sky, following a military VIP vehicle. The Blackouts landed and shape-shifted into half-transport helicopter and half-Kodiak bear, standing menacingly behind the vehicle. The doors opened and Ryo growled with anger and hatred at the sight of the military officer: General Mikhail Lubiako, the self-proclaimed ruler of the world and the anti-Lewtiko movement leader.

“I have no idea how you despicable creatures managed to evade the Great Purge those centuries ago.” Mikhail said brutally, “But I know that now there is no escape for any of you Lewtikos.”

“Before you execute us, I have a personal question to ask you,” Diamond asked, “Why the hell do you want to kill us in the first place? We’re peaceful to you humans; we have not harmed a single soul!”

“Your species is demonic and must be purged from the face of the world.”

“We ain’t demonic! That’s the Mokh Bahr!” the Sound Lewtiko terrier protested.

“Indeed.” The general’s voice was cold and full of disdain, “I could never sleep at night with your kind roaming about, being a potential threat and plotting against human society.”

“We have a mandate to protect it,” Sirrus growled, wanting to strangle the general and punch him in the gut a few times, “You have no proof that we have intentions on doing so.”

“Humans are so easily manipulated that they can function as tools while the hammer does all the work.”

“You’re a human yourself,” Ryo snarled, “How the hell did you survive all those years? You should be dead and gone along with the other dead military officers you had under your order.”

Lubiako smirked evilly at the Time Lewtiko wolf, “Your miserable species granted me eternal life. I had one of your species’ blood come in contact with mine which makes me half-human and half-Lewtiko, and  then shortly after I slaughtered him.”

“I still don’t have a clear reason why you want to kill us all!” Wayne growled, manipulating the sonic frequency of his voice to make it boom.

“Foolish puppy, it was only your species standing in my way from achieving total world domination and in order to continue with my plans, I had to remove a barrier so I gave orders for the Great Purge to come under way.”

The Lewtiko went silent. They never knew that the humans turned against them because they had been decieved by the Mokh Bahr; in fact the enemy was the military general the whole time!

DO YOU WISH TO HAVE THEM TERMINATED? one of the Blackouts inquired in a deep voice.

“Negative. Have them detained and bring them to Pluynarskov,” Mikhail walked back to his vehicle and got inside, “Things have changed since the Great Purge ended long ago so we’ll start new plans for the remainder of the surviving Lewtikos.”

As soon as the order was given, the Dreads sprayed a sleeping gas onto the Lewtiko and detained them, while the two Blackouts stood guard. Once the task had been completed, the general’s chaffeur started the vehicle’s engine and drove off, follwed by the Deadhands...
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Dr Connor Williams gazed out of the Barquerely Mansion dining room window sadly as he watched another snowstorm rip through Ahtuli. He wondered whether or not his Lewtiko friends were safe or not. What if the weather was too terrible to proceed in? What if they were lost and freezing in the cold? What if Lewtiko haters found them? So many questions and such little time to carry out drastic and rash measures to ensure the survival and safety of his friends. Without wasting another second, he put on warm winter garments and packed food and water. He hauled everything into his truck outside and put the keys into the ignition to warm the car. Despite it being nighttime already, he didn’t need to fear the Mokh Bahr because the never attacked when the weather was rough and they wouldn’t attack him anyways since the strong scent of the Lewtiko covered his entire body due to the fact of him being with them ever since he was four years old. Quickly he wrote a note and left it on the kitchen table before he shut the mansion door, got into his truck, and drove off, with hopes of finding his friends.

The snowstorm was worse than he orignially anticipated and shortly after leaving the city of Ahtuli, his truck was blown off-course and soon he found himself going in a completely wrong direction. As the weather intensified, he tried to gain control until his vehicle struck a patch of black ice and it spiralled out of control and crashed in a ravine.

Connor’s vehicle was destroyed and he had been thrown out of the front windshield, despite having his seatbelt on, and he lay unconscious on a thin layer of ice. Vomitting blood, he lay motionlessly as his vehicle exploded in a ball of flame. Blood gushed out of an abrasion in the head he recieved after crashing out of the windshield and his leg was mildly burned from the explosion, that knocked him even farther from the crashsite. Fortunately the explosion was large enough to attract the attention of a military patrol, doing their routinely night checks to ensure security, and loud enough to attract the  attention of a white Lewtiko dog who had just escaped a Deadhand landsweep.

Spotting the explosion, the Lewtiko rushed to the site, slipping on the patch of black ice himself and sliding down into the ravine right past the burning wreckage. Getting up, he spotted the severely wounded Connor and noticed the patch of thin ice he was lying on. Carefully lying flat on his belly, he crawled over to the scientist and grabbed the jacket in between his teeth and started pulling as hard as he could. After two minutes of painful hard work, he successfully got Williams onto the top of the other side of the ravine. Panting heavily, he could detect and find out information about Connor by just using his nose: he discovered that the injured human was a scientist due to interesting chemical scents over his body, he determined that his left leg was broken and his ribs were smashed, and found out that he had a huge aroma of Lewtikos all over him. Could this be a scientist who worked with them or assisted the military with putting them down?

None of that matter now; all the Lewtiko could think about was getting Connor to a place where his wounds could be cared for. Once again, getting a firm grip of the scientist’s jacket with his teeth, he pulled the motionless body deep into the forest until he reached a clearing. Panting, he pounded on a tree until the trunk opened and he was staring face-to-face with a Lewtiko polar bear.

“What is the meaning of this, disturbing my sleep time?” the polar bear rubbed her eyes, “Oh, it’s you!”

“No time to explain, Snowflake,” the white dog spoke through his heavy panting, “I found a human who is in very poor condition and requires immediate medical attention.”

“A human not in a city? That’s odd...”

“Yeah, it looks like the weather confused him and his vehicle slipped on a patch of black ice which led to the vehicle crashing into a ravine and throwing him out the windshield. I didn’t see it, but I saw the explosion after the vehicle disintegrated.”

The polar bear looked over the small Lewtiko and gazed at Connor who was still vomitting blood, “I’ll see what I can do. Bring him inside.”

“Yes ma’am,”

The Lewtiko polar bear watched as the white dog dragged Williams up to the entrance of the secret hideout, and shook her head in disbelief.

“No Thunderbolt, you’re only hurting the poor fellow even more. Here, let me take him inside before you wind up giving him brain damage from these stairs.”

Thunderbolt stopped and allowed the large Lewtiko lift up the unconscious human and carry him inside, before following her into the secret hideout, shutting the door behind them...
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The military patrol just arrived at the scene of the accident and shined a huge spotlight over the burning wreckage of what appeared to be a truck. They shone the light over the ice where Connor’s body once lay and observed how the blood meandered to the other side of the ravine.

“Interesting,” the captain remarked as he turned off the spotlight as some soldiers began to put out the flames, “Very interesting.”

“What was it, Captain?” his right hand officer asked.

“It appears to be a Lewtiko attack and I don’t believe the poor fellow survived it. Looks to me as if the vile creature dragged his body away to feast on safer grounds. Lieutenant Kippersoff, file it as a Lewtiko attack and notify HQ.”

“Affirmative,” the lieutenant wrote something down on a notepad.

“And when you call HQ, request immediate Deadhand assistance.”

“As ordered, sir.” Kippersoff began to punch in the communication frequency for their HQ, “Hotline Quill? This is Dark Moon Patrol. Requesting to file a Lewtiko assault in the southern Drake Region... Affirmative... This did not occur to any military personnel... Negative... We have reason to believe that the wun victim was killed following assault... Affirmative... Requesting immediate Deadhand assistance... Negative... send a couple of Dreads and wun Avenger... Wilco Hotline Quill... Dark Moon Patrol out.”

“Well?” the captain asked impatiently as the lieutenant turned off the microphone.

“Immediate Deadhand assistance ETA two cycles, sir.”

“Excellent...”
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“Will he live, Snowflake?” Thunderbolt asked curiously as the polar bear finished examining Connor’s wounds and injuries.

“If you are going to ask questions every five seconds, I suggest you head to your room.” Snowflake replied, “No, he is not going to die; his injuries are not as life-threatening as they appear. I’m just going to prepare him for the healing process.”

“You the healing process that you used on me?”

“Yes, the exact healing process that I’m regretting using on you,”

“Oh, sorry...”

Remember Snowflake, she thought to herself, He’s still only a baby. Don’t be too harsh.

The Healing Lewtiko polar bear ignored the Lewtiko pup and proceeded to cover Connor’s wounds with a thin piece of nypolth, a plant native to the frozen tundra of the Dality Region. After she was done doing so, she spread out her huge paws over his body and shut her eyes in concentration. Suddenly her paws began to glow as well as the nypolth pieces and soon Connor’s whole was glowing from the healing power that was emitted from her paws.

“That should do the trick,” Snowflake said as she removed the nypolth off Connor’s body and all his wound were gone, vanished as if they were never there in the first place, “He’ll wake up soon, but we’ll let him sleep, ok?”

“You’re the boss,”

“Alright, now because you’ve been outside in the freezing cold you’re going to have a bath in order to prevent plertosimenia.”

“But... but... I’m not even cold...” Thunderbolt protested.

“Not being cold is a sympton, and nonetheless you’re taking a bath no matter what.” Snowflake lifted him up and carried him out of the healing room, leaving Connor sleeping soundly...

Kingdom of Terror- Chapter 1

Chapter 1

Night, the most dangerous time for the city of Ahtuli as demons would sweep into the streets and kill all those who were wandering around past midnight, ripping the flesh from their bodies and devouring the blood of their victims. They were known as the Mokh Bahr, invisible winged creatures from the Abyss. A thousand years ago, the persistent efforts of the Lewtiko, the animals with powers, were able to defend the humans from the demonic creatures that scoured the city at night, but these days there were none. Most people believed that with the disappearance of the Lewtiko and other animals, the Mokh Bahr would also fall into legend to be passed on as scary campfire stories. Alas, the Mokh Bahr never did and they ravaged the city nightly, with no one to stop them.

As soon as the time was exactly one cycle before midnight, the city became under martial law and everyone was forced back into their homes. However if one was ever thrown out of their house to be eaten by the Mokh Bahr, the homeowner would be cast into the dungeons due to the fact that it was strictly prohibited to commit such a crime. Only the foolish would leave their doors and windows opened at night but most never survive to tell the tale. The Mokh Bahr could never enter a home that was fully concealed with no openings but they were free to enter homes where the windows may have been just a fraction opened.

As midnight struck, immediately the Mokh Bahr swarmed into the city streets, gouging down on whatever fool was wandering at the hour. But the Mokh Bahr could sense the presence of a Lewtiko and never would attempt to attack the human with the presence around it. If it was absolutely critical for one to leave their house at night, they’d do so right when the dawn lights up the darkened sky. The Mokh Bahr abhorred the light and would flee as soon as dawn arrived.

Just as quickly as midnight came, the sunrise appeared in the sky and the Mokh Bahr were gone within nano-cycles. As soon as they were gone, Ahtuli became very crowded and busy as everyone ventured from their homes once the All Clear signal was sounded. People rushed from place to place and enjoyed themselves with no worry of the Mokh Bahr threaterning the city...
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Despite being a human himself, a young adult with crisp blonde hair and steel blue eyes feared humans and was always hiding from them. He would always wear black pants, a white T-shirt, a leather jacket, and shades and was often questionable whenever he was spotted. No one knew his name, since he never engaged in conversation with them, and was often referred to as The Dark Wolf. Due to the fact of animals being vanquished, any term made directly to another human was a quite offensive term; depending on the lethality of the animal was how harsh the term. The Dark Wolf never smiled at anyone and constantly was on the run from the law enforcement officers  since he engaged in the crime doing of Ahtuli.

“Hey there’s The Dark Wolf!” Constable Thomas Steinbock pointed out to his fellow police officers, “After him!”

As soon as his ears heard the officers’ running over to him, The Dark Wolf had took off running, darting down a dark alleyway, and leapt over a tall metal fence at the end. Sprinting through the puddles of the street, he quickly made his way through the crowded streets by hopping over them, crawling under them, or barreling his way through them. As he began to sprint down another road, a sharp zap of a taser ended the pursuit as The Dark Wolf collapsed to the ground in agony. The officer who tasered him immediately apprehended the young adult.

“Thought you could get away again, boy?” the officer sneered, “You didn’t make as far as you did the last time without bumping into me. But unlike last time, this time you’re going to the slammer.”

After handcuffing the young man, the officer brutally forced The Dark Wolf into the back of his police vehicle before climbing into the front and driving away towards the Jail…
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A young hardcore rapper and hiphop artist named Wayne, watched the way the officer brutally forced the young man into the police vehicle and he ran off in the direction of the jail, hoping to see if it were possible to get the officer put away for quarantine and The Dark Wolf’s charges dropped. Since he was built for speed, he easily sprinted down to the jail where he perched up on the ledge and viewed the interrogation. For a brief second, The Dark Wolf appeared to look like a wolf then returned to his normal human composition.

So this so called The Dark Wolf is truly one of my kind, Wayne thought as he shape-shifted into a terrier and then manipulated the sound conduction of the window until he was able to hear the interrogation quite clearly.

“So what is your name?” Constable Steinbock, a well-built, husky brunette questioned The Dark Wolf.

“Ryo,” The Dark Wolf answered very silently.

“What? Wee-oh?”

“No, My name is Ryo.” Ryo answered a little louder.

“Ryo? That’s a very unusual name for a human. Are you a Lewtiko is the form of a human?”

No reply.

“ANSWER ME!!!” Steinbock was pissed-off, “Open your damn gobhole and speak!”

After a prolonged silence, the officer picked up a baton and was about to beat the young adult when all the sudden he froze along with everone else in the room and outside. The time had even froze as well, leaving Wayne quite marvelled with the powers of this wolf-human. Ryo had shape-shifted into a wolf and froze time before standing up from the chair and rushed out of the jailhouse. Wayne shadowed him until he leapt right in front of the wolf as a terrier.

“What?!” Ryo came to an abrupt halt and stared at the terrier, “What… who are you?”

“My name is Wayne and I’m a Sound Lewtiko terrier. And it appears, Ryo, that you are a Lewtiko wolf.”

“You’re crazy. I’m not a Lewtiko… I’m just a wolf…”

“With power over time. Only animals with powers are Lewtikos.” Wayne explained, “However, our powers cannot effect one another.”

“I knew that; I’m not stupid. It’s just surprising to see another Lewtiko like me in this city... here I was thinking I was the last one.”

“Yeah right, bro! There’s actually a whole group of us Lewtikos in this city. We meet nightly at eight in the west wing of the Barqueley Mansion. Maybe you’d like to pop in tonight and meet some others?”

“I prefer to be on my own, thank you. Besides, why would an entire group of Lewtikos be in this cursed city of Ahtuli anyways?”

“We try our best to keep the city free of the Mokh Bahr…”

“And you’re assisting the humans?! Why? They’re the ones who hate our kind and purged it!”

“But let’s not forget that it was the Mokh Bahr who deceived the humans by creating the illusion of a human being ripped to pieces by a Lewtiko over 1000 years ago.” The terrier shrugged, “We were put on this world for a specific purpose: to protect humans from the Mokh Bahr, no matter how badly they treat us or how much they abhor our kind.”

“I think it’s stupid to protect humans when they’re the ones who…” the wolf growled.

“Just because of what occurred the past, it doesn’t mean we have to stop protecting to them. We have a duty to fulfill and we must remain loyal to that cause.”

“But what about the military? And our territory and homes have been taken over by the Mokh Bahr.”

“And doesn’t that tell you that the military are just trying to protect the people in the area where we were unable to? They’re just lost, but when they see the city safe at night and see us battling against the Mokh Bahr, maybe they’d remember.”

“I don’t know… humans are frightening.”

“And you don’t think that they’re not afraid of us? Think about it. Just come to our meeting at the Barqueley Mansion tonight if you do want in.” Wayne walked away, turning back into his human form, rapping a tune to himself.

Ryo turned back to his human form too, unfroze time, and shuffled away with his hands shoved deep in his pockets. Who was he kidding? His identity had been discovered by the Law Enforcement and he would be hunted down by ABIED, a specialized military organization for capturing and imprisoning all remaining Lewtikos and animals…
_____________________________________________________________________________________

“You must understand, Mr President,” a female with crimson red hair and sapphire blue eyes said before a huge conference, “We must take into consideration that these animals with powers, also known as Lewtikos, are still around but are not a threat to us. The BRD Institute has proved that these animals have no intention on harming us humans nor do they pose credible threat to our city’s security.”

“Ms Cummings, you do realize that these animals with powers have torn apart humans in the past. In fact they rip people to shreds nightly and we have proof of this,” another scientist replied, “Look at these pictures: claw marks, teeth marks… all with DNA that lead to animals.”

“Well then, Dr Coyman, these creatures must not be the ones that protected us humans…”

“Protected us from what? We had no need for them in the first place.”

“Well, if you noticed there has never been any invasions from any cities when they were around and now it’s all free game.”

“The last invasion occurred well over 300 years ago and there has been no signs of hostilities with any of our neighbours.”

“But what of the Radians? The hostilities between our sovereign nations have been increasing rapidly and signs of war are slowly showing.”

“That’s why we have a military, Doctor. And how is this proof that those creatures have no intentions on harming us?”

“Well we have been working with a few and are constantly monitoring all their moves and looking for even the slightest signs of hostility which is non-existent within them.” Doctor Cummings replied.

“You have live animals?!”

“Yes, but do not worry, they are well contained and seem to be quite trained...”

“But you are holding these animals in custody illegally without obtaining permission at all?”

“Yes, but...”

“My point exactly. You have violated the trust of the president and all federal agencies. Mr President, I say that you consider these vile beasts illegal because there is no evidence to prove that they are no threat to society.” Doctor Coyman sat down smirking, knowing that the president would be in full agreement with his statement rather than with the BRD Institute’s opinion.

“Mr President, please reconsider that these animals do not wish to harm us humans.”

“I’m sorry, Dr Cummings,” the president shook his head, “But you do not have rock-solid evidence to back up your theory. The state rules in the opinion of the ARG Establishment. Conference dismissed.”

“Dammit,” she muttered under her breath and left the conference, meeting up with Wayne.

“Well? How’d it go, babe?” he asked, “Are we allowed to wander as our true forms freely?”

“No, we need rock-solid evidence to back up the truth. They still believe what the Mokh Bahr do nightly is of our doing.”

“This will be complicated to get evidence of, Diamond,” He kissed her on the cheek slightly, “But I believe in you.”

“Thanks Wayne,” Diamond allowed him to wrap his arm around his waist, “So how was your day?”

“Quite productive. And your suspisions were correct on The Dark Wolf. He is one of the Time Lewtiko wolves and is named Ryo.”

“A Time Lewtiko? That means he’s one of the strongest of our kind.”

“But one of the most frightened of humans. He may come to our meeting tonight.”

“Let’s hope so. We could always use more Lewtiko in our cause.”

The two walked away from the streets and into an alleyway away from every suspisious eye, where they shape-shifted into a terrier and a red Siberian husky and ran off together with Wayne rapping a love tune to his girl…
_____________________________________________________________________________________

A gunshot rang throughout the city as Tobi ran for his life. The young teenager had gotten himself in trouble with the Scorpion Gang, a mafia who pleasured in mugging and raping young children, since he interfered with the raping of a twelve year old girl. Sprinting down a road and dodging a barrage of bullets, he bolted into an apartment building and climbed up the stairs that led to the roof. Once he got on the roof, he shape-shifted into a Dalmatian and started hopping from roof to roof. Panting heavily, he stopped running to catch his breath.

“Whew! That got ‘em!” he smiled, “Man, these gangs are really out to kill me. I gotta play cool and lay low for a while. And I need to change my disguise... the Scorpion Gang must already have pictures of me.”

Instead of shape-shifting back into his former dark-haired human form, he had light brown hair almost a dirty-blonde, elmerald green eyes, blue jeans, sneakers, a Sports Brand T-Shirt, and a zipper hoodie. Quickly he hopped off the roof into an alleyway and casually walked out until he bumped into the leader of the Scorpion Gang who was armed with a fully-automatic machine gun, switchblades, and a machete.

“Hey kid! Have you seen someone like this around here?” the leader snarled viciously, holding a picture of Tobi’s former human form.

To fool the gang leader, the Dalmatian-human studied the picture very closely and shook his head in disagreement. Scowling, the gangster shoved the picture in his back pocket and walked away, before he suddenly took off in a full sprint.

“Phew! That was a close one,” the young teenager sighed with relief and instead of going out onto the streets, he decided to stay hidden and head to the Barqueley Mansion where all the other Lewtikos gathered every day. It belonged to Doctor Diamond Cummings, a Fire Lewtiko red Siberian husky, but their group was headed by Wayne, a Sound Lewtiko terrier who sported shades for the hell of it. He liked hanging out with the other Lewtikos but especially loved being the only Earth and Rock Lewtiko Dalmatian, since he could start an earthquake whenever he pleased.

As he headed towards his home, he wondered whether Diamond was successful in convincing the president that they were not dangerous creatures and could finally come out of hiding. Along with the others he had been hiding in Ahtuli for more than 200 years, waiting for the perfect moment to deem themselves ‘safe’ to the public, though they already were. But every president was the same and listened to the teachings of the ARG (Advanced Research Gathering) Establishment which had no intentions on permitting the Lewtiko safe and was one of the key instigators of the Great Purge, that he barely survived. On the opposing side of the ARG was the BRD (Barqueley’s Research and Data) Institute headed by Doctor Connor Williams, a human who strongly believed that the Lewtiko were perfectly safe for all humans. Tobi enjoyed cooperating with the BRD and loved meeting Doctor Connor Williams who he got to meet every night at the mansion where they were constantly being monitored and seeing if they could uncover the slightest fraction of hostility in one of the Lewtiko. Their results proved negative towards humans but hostility was greatly discovered when it came to the Mokh Bahr.

“I hope that this meeting we’ll be told that we are free to wander around as our true selves,” he muttered as he opened the giant doors of the Barqueley Mansion and walked inside, admiring the carovagio and all the pictures hanging on the walls, “Hey guys, Tobi’s back!”

“We’re in the living room. Please come join us, Tobi.” The sweet, buttermilk voice of Diamond called.

Tobi closed the door all the way and locked it so no one or nothing could enter and interrupt with their important meeting. It was the eighth cycle and pretty soon the whole city would be under martial law. Coming into the living room, he shape-shifted to his actual Dalmatian form.

“Welcome Tobi,” Doctor Connor Williams extended his arms welcomly, “Please find your seat and we’ll begin our meeting.”

Tobi was happy to see all his fellow Lewtikos: Wayne, Diamond, Sergei, Shayla, Donryu, Avro, Requiem, Sirrus, Jazz, Kaitlyn, Yellissa, and Kisper; and all his human friends: Doctor Connor Williams, Martha Jenkins, Doctor Paul Vanderbrinke, Cathy Cummings, Jeffery McKheenian, Vladimir Kulvoskov, Megan Kelley, Doctor Shelby Tournier, and Doctor Wesley O’Brian. But there was a new face in the crowd and he was a wolf.

“Who’s the newcomer?” Tobi asked.

“That’s Ryo, a Time Lewtiko wolf, formerly known as The Dark Wolf.” Wayne explained, “He’s come to join our cause, it appears.”

“So Doctor Williams, what is on the agenda today?” Jazz, a Lewtiko red fox, asked.

“Well, how the conference went and other issues that concern the safety of ourselves and humans.” The doctor replied, “So Diamond, how did the conference go today?”

“Same as usual, Connor.” The Fire Lewtiko red Siberian husky replied, “The president still is in agreement with the ARG Establishment and we must have rock-solid evidence in order to persuade him to change the law.”

“Well, that could be problematic,” the Sound Lewtiko wolf growled, “Because we don’t even know what the president wants to see in order for him to declare that we are safe to humans.”

“That’s very true, Wayne. Also for some reason ARG is excellent with persuading everyone to believe that what the Mokh Bahr do nightly is of our works. In fact they never leave any remnants of their victims so I have no idea where they get the evidence from.”

“Perhaps they’ve fabricated false evidence with special computer applications,”
“That’s also quite possible too, but I was thinking along the lines that the Mokh Bahr may have possessed the minds of everyone at the ARG Establishment.” Diamond shrugged.

Wayne seemed to ignore the rest of the conversation as the others debated on how to obtain evidence to prove that all Lewtikos were perfectly safe for humans to be around.

“Whoa! You lost me after the Mokh Bahr part!” The Sound Lewtiko terrier started to rap, “After, I’ve been tunin’ into my heart. I don’t give a hoot o’ what ARG think, but all I know is that they gotta get off the brink! We’re gonna find a way to make it back, and we doin’ it no matter what’s on the stacks! So stop talkin’ about stupid jizz cuz it just ain’t my kind o’ show bizz. So whatever route it takes, we’re takin’ it till we get past the stakes. And as long as I get my chick’s ass in the end, it don’t matter how this gets bended.”

Diamond shot a glare at Wayne after he finished rapping; clearly she was not too enthused about the “getting his chick’s ass” part.

“And that’s exactly why you will never be free to roam about as your true terrier form,” Ryo growled sarcastically, “Besides, if this is all the crap you talk about, then I’m outta here.”

“Wait Ryo!” Tobi ran over to the Time Lewtiko wolf, “Where will you go?”

“I’ll just journey to some other city or something; maybe hide out there.”

“Not trying to sound like a nerdy know-it-all, but the other cities are farther than a four day run without a significant source of water; you’d never make it before you die of thirst.” Cathy Cummings pointed out.

Ryo started for the door then glumly returned and sat down on a sofa.

“Okay, so the sanity level still exist within us,” Doctor Shelby Tournier said after a period of silence.

“I think we should conclude this meeting,” Doctor Williams replied, glancing at his watch, “The city is now under martial law as of now.”

With nods of agreement, the meeting drew to a close and their human friends wandered out of the living room, leaving only the Lewtiko.

“We’re never going to gain freedom in Ahtuli,”  Wayne snarled, “We’ve been trying for over thirty years and we haven’t gained any status either than the fact we are viewed slightly above bacteria. Maybe Ryo is right, we should head to another city.”

“But...” Tobi whined, “We don’t know anyone in the other cities; we’d have no friends whatsoever!”

“That’s a possibility,” Kaitlyn, a Nature Lewtiko mustang stated, “But there’s an even larger possibility that other Lewtiko dwell within those places.”

“I’m bored of this living nightmare,” a water Lewtiko golden retriver named Shayla added, “I’m in favour of leaving this dump... maybe there won’t be any Mokh Bahr in the other places.”

“What’s the closest city?” Diamond inquired as Avro flew up to a shelf and brought down a map of the world, dropping right next to Wayne.

“Well, we’re here all the way in the Dality Region and all the other cities are quite far. I would say that the closest would have to be Horleri which looks like a five day run to me.”

“Should we tell Connor?” Tobi asked curiously.

“Of course we’re going to tell Connor and the others.” Diamond laughed, “We don’t want them to panic when we are gone.”

“So, who’s gonna bring the bad news to Cathy and the others?” Tobi asked.

“I nominate Donryu for the task,” Kaitlyn smirked at a Lewtiko Peregrine falcon.

“Jerk,” Donryu muttered under his breath.

But as Donryu was about to say one thing to any of their human friends, Connor and his friends were already wishing them goodbye (apparently they listened to the whole conversation). Cathy hugged Tobi tightly in her arms, gave him a special bracelet to remember her by, and kissed the Lewtiko Dalmatian on the head. Vladimir hugged Sergei, spoke something to him in a foreign language, and gave the Russian Blue a special ring with a red star on it. Jeffery gave Avro a special pouch that was able to be slung over his head and his wing fit right through it, as well as giving Donryu a pair of earplugs for occassions when Wayne decided it was cool to rap. Martha rubbed Kaitlyn’s nose and put a special flower sparkling tatoo on her thigh and put a beautiful pink Azayla flower beside Requiem’s left ear. Megan gave Shayla a tight hug and gave her an ankle bracelet. Paul kissed Yellissa on the head and gave her a bracelet and he gave Kisper a necklace that was made of rubies. Wesley gave Sirrus a blue scarf and she gave him a bearhug, literally. Connor, the human who discovered the existence of the Lewtiko and the man who found both Wayne and Diamond, was very tearful in the goodbye. He gave Diamond a sparkling diamond necklace and gave the Sound Lewtiko terrier a red bandana to sport around his neck. And despite no one really knowing Ryo, he was given a golden earring from Connor.

“Be careful,” he told them all, giving each of them a special container for carrying water, “Wayne, you look out for all the others, alright? And take care of my girl.”

“I will, Connor.” The Sound Lewtiko terrier was hugged once more, before he led the others out of the Barqueley Mansion and into the dead of night.

As Diamond  stepped out to leave, Connor stopped her, hugged her once more, “You take care of Wayne and assist him whenever you need to, ok?”

“Don’t worry, I will.” Diamond said between tears, “And you’ll take care of everyone here, right? Don’t anyone of you die till long after we return.”

“Be safe and Godspeed. And take care of Tobi as well.” The scientist watched as the Fire Lewtiko red Siberian husky ran off to catch up to her pack.