FSE

Furry search engine

formerly SoFurry search engine

Okay, chapter/part/book/whatever four, lets go! I'm excited about this 'un! There's plenty of action in it so, don't expect to see any yiff in this one (sorry). Oh yeah, hope this un makes up for the fiasco that was the third. Minors get out, blah blah blah.

"So this is Lunaval..." Bash said in awe. They rode into the huge city, gaping at it's skyscrapers and narrow roads which wrapped around the buildings going high into the air.

I've never seen a place this big." Song said. "Those buildings are like mountains. Wow!"

Bash pulled over to the right lane, which was abandoned in comparison with the others, vehicles speeding up and down the streets. They cruised slowly, admiring the sights, the various statues that towered above them reducing them to a state of awe. The coyote stopped the bike, pulling over in front of a shop.

"Hold on a sec," Bash said, hopping off the bike. "I wanna get a few things before we go to a inn." He ran into the shop, leaving Song to look around at the scenery. Green was absent from this city, unlike the town she had come from, there were no trees in it. Everything was covered with concrete and steel. Despite this, the city was beautiful in its own way. Bright neon lights decorated nearly every building, reflecting from the spotless glass in their windows. The roads and sidewalk were remarkably clean; there was absolutely no litter here.

Despite the cloudy sun, which in her town would have signaled that everyone should head indoors for fear of rain, all manner of furres were out, crowding the streets. She wasn't used to seeing so many furres out at the same time. The town hall at her old town never got this crowded even.

"You wanna drive?" Bash asked, taking her by surprise. She hadn't even noticed his approach.

"Sure." He had allowed her to drive a few times in the wastelands and she had quickly gotten the hang of it, enjoying the speed and power she wielded. He hopped on behind her as she pulled off, driving down the street at a reasonable pace.

"I want to go on that bridge." She nodded towards one of the bridges that went high into the air. They took a few turns and found their way on to it, driving higher and higher up, until they were on level with several tall buildings. "Amazing." It was. They felt like they were almost touching the clouds now. To a winged creature, or one who had dwelled in this city for any space of time, this wouldn't be that impressive, but to two that lacked wings and had never been here, it was amazing.

Of course, peaceful, moments of awe never last long.

Suddenly a beautiful noise reached their ears and Bash was suddenly knocked off the bike.

"Bash!" Song veered around and stopped to see Bash, standing, apparently unharmed, just a little shaken, facing down a white dragoness. She carried a large electric guitar, and wore silver robes that, had Song been a little more informed, would have told her the dragoness was a breaker.

The dragoness wore a snarl that made her face look quite mean. Her auburn hair was fairly long and her eyes were bright violet. She was much taller than Bash, towering about two and a half feet above the coyote, who was just shy of six feet.

"Song... head to the edge of the forest at the east edge of town. I'll meet you over there." He jerked his head in the general direction.

"But-"

"Just go Song. I've just got to take care of some old buisiness and I'll be there." He smiled at her. "No need to worry."

Song considered protesting, knowing she probably could convince him to let her stay, but decided against it. He would be fine, he obviously wanted to be alone for this fight. She nodded, then drove away.

Bash turned his attention back to the dragoness who had knocked him off the bike. "Avale, is that you?" He hardly recognized her through her white skin and her fury. A wave of sound suddenly hit him, the attack only visible in the large gash it created on the ground. He was shaken by the attack, but didn't wait for Avale to attack again. He rushed at the dragoness, getting hit by her attacks each time and knocked away. He stood, rushing her head on and took another wave of sound head on, then several more without halting his progress as she strummed a beautiful, if not frenzied, melody out of the guitar.

The coyote neared her then scratched through the strings on her guitar, rendering it useless. He grinned as she drew her guitar back, too late but suddenly it came around and hit him over his head, hard enough to shatter the weapon and drive him into the ground.

He rolled over, narrowly avoiding claws that would have crushed his skull like an overripe fruit. She roared, shattering the section of the large bridge they were on and Bash began to fall.

The coyote fell, looking up at the dragoness, who remained above him, flapping her wings and watching him. Quickly thinking, he hopped on a thick section of bridge and stood on it as it fell, a temporary solution. Suddenly Avale swooped down, punching the concrete into smithereens. He hopped to another piece and she did the same thing, and he sprang away, each time getting closer to the ground.

Now Avale was aiming for him, she punched and kicked at him, the coyote having hardly any room to work with. He hopped away, but this time Avale was right on his tail. He grabbed a chunk of road and pulled it between himself and her but she smashed through it easily, nailing him in his gut.

He fell, crashing into the ground, soon accompanied by much concrete. He managed to stand, aching, and Avale landed a distance in front of him. Suddenly a paw grabbed his forehead and slammed him into the ground, the back of his head crashing through even more concrete. He hopped away, seeing the one who had attacked him was a stag. He was huge, taller than Avale and extremely muscular. His muscles bulged beneath the black shirt he wore and below black shorts were powerful legs. Atop his head were horns, sharpened to deadly points, almost as long as a sword.

"Cain!" The dragoness yelled at the stag behind him. "What are you doing here? He's mine!" She bared her teeth ferociously.

"Ah, ah. It's the duty for every breaker to catch this suspect. You know what he's done, you expect me to let you fight him on your own?" The stag's tone was calm, almost as if he were talking with a cub.

"Don't get in my way Cain."

"I should say the same thing about you Avale." A figure stepped out of the shadows, a male dragon with black scales except for those over his ventral area, which were bright green. A dangerous looking pair of horns sat atop his skull almost large enough to rival the stag's. He wore a green robe with a hole cut out of the back for his long tail.

"Jades, you're here too?" The stag asked, slightly amused.

"Of course, I'll be the one to have the honor of catching the fugitive and bringing him to the arbiters."

"I'm this one's arbiter!" Avale said, gritting her fangs.

"We'll see about that." Suddenly the black dragon rushed him, taking Bash by surprise with a fist across his muzzle. Bash hopped away, swinging his fist in reply but was cut short as the ground before him exploded in flames, blowing him away.

The coyote landed some twenty feet away, barely managing to land on his footpaws. He was blindsided by Cain, who charged, head first so he slammed his horns into Bash. He didn't stop there, running till the coyote was slammed into a wall which crumbled at the sheer force of the attack.

The stag walked out of the dust dragging Bash's limp form by the collar of his jacket. He had beaten the coyote.

Or so it seemed. Down but not out, the coyote sprung up to his feet, kicking the stag in his side. The stag flew over, surprised at the attack. Bash wasted no time, rushing to Cain's momentarily downed form, raising his leg in preparation to perform an axe kick, but a black claw gripped his leg.

"What the-" Jades appeared in front of him, then chopped his right shoulder with an iron paw, nearly felling him. The dragon slammed his head into the coyote's making him see stars, then flung Bash as far as he could into the side of a building, where he then fell twenty feet to the ground and was still.

Jades wasn't done yet, walking to the fallen coyote, then kicking him up into the air, wrapping his tail around him and slamming him into the ground.

Through some kind of miracle Bash slipped out of the grip of the dragon, kneeing him in the gut, bringing the dragon to his knees. "Draegon's skull!" It was Bash's turn to crack Jades' skull, slamming his own into the dragon's hard enough to nearly knock himself out.

The dragon fell, unconscious but Bash's fight wasn't over yet. A wave of sound knocked him over and he fell, sliding over to the side. He sprung to his feet, shaken by Avale's attack but saw Cain coming out of the corner of his eye. He ran up the wall behind him, narrowly avoiding the stag's attack, letting him crash into the wall. Unexpectedly, the wall exploded, blowing Bash away again, this time into Avale's waiting attack. She put both of her claws together and knocked Bash down into the ground, creating a crater. She landed on top of the coyote, her claws digging into his back.

"He's mine Cain!" He heard. His vision was fading fast, it kept going black at times and he could feel his body, ready to collapse. He coughed, weak because of the dragoness atop him, and tasted blood.

He felt heat and a weight lift off him as Avale was knocked off by a sea of flames. Bash stood, seeing the stag running at him full speed, head down and charged back, lowering his.

Wham! The two collided with a loud thud, Bash's head meeting Cain's at full speed. They stayed there for a moment, locked in place but the coyote fell, completely drained of his strength. The stag laughed, rising. "And you thought you could beat me."

The black dragon walked next to him, wrapping his tail around Bash's torso, lifting him up so his paws dangled a foot from the ground. He groaned, one of his eyes barely open. Blood clouded his vision but he didn't need to see to realize that he had lost. Out of the corner of his eye he saw Avale lying a distance away, still smoking.

"You didn't need to hurt her." He said weakly.

Cain laughed. "You mean you didn't need to hurt her. You're the only fire breaker here with any reason to. At least that's what everyone'll believe."

Jades laughed too, tightening his grip on Bash to a point where it was difficult to breathe. His grip grew tighter and tighter until he felt one of the coyote's ribs crack under the pressure. Bash's head dropped down and he fell unconscious.

Suddenly Bash's head snapped up, his eyes shining. The shadows grew around them and the light shining from his eyes grew brighter.

"What the hell?" Jades eyes grew in fear and he squeezed tighter, trying to crush this newfound life out of the coyote but failed. It was like trying to squeeze an iron bar into submission.

With a single swipe of his paw, Bash broke free of Jades' grip, snapping his tail in the wrong direction and the dragon staggered back, clutching his broken tail. Eyes still shining, the coyote grabbed the dragon's throat and lifting him into the air, despite the fact he was much shorter, so the dragon's footclaws still scraped the ground as he tried to escape the grip on him.

Jades punched and kicked, trying to break free, but it was futile, he might as well have been punching a wall. Bash didn't even flinch at the blows. Then something even stranger happened. Jades felt almost as if something was being taken from him, pulled out of him through the coyote's paw. He struggled, turning his head to Cain as if to plead for help, but the stag was rooted to the spot, frozen with fear.

The shining in Bash's eyes ceased but the coyote's eyes weren't the same. These were different, one redder than the blood covering the other. The other was the same as it had been before but something flickered behind it. His red eye had strange marks around the pupil, similar to those that dotted his own...

No, he couldn't be... an iris breaker? But he was already a fire breaker! He didn't have time to consider the possibilities as the coyote dropped him, then roundhouse kicked him, sending him to the ground, hard.

Cain seemed to snap out of his state of horror at this, flinging flames at the coyote but Bash seemed to see every attack coming, slowly approaching the stag, step-by-step, dodging each attack with ease. Then he was gone.

What the hell! Cain looked side to side, where did he go? He felt the paw at his back too late and didn't have time to dodge the burst of flames that coated his back, blowing him away. Somehow Cain managed to recover, landing on his hooves, turning around, wasting no time in sending a barrage of flames at Bash that were impossible to dodge.

Well, nearly impossible. The coyote ran straight at the balls of fire, easily dodging them, seeming as if he didn't move at all, passing those flung after. A foot away, Cain drew back his fist to attack, but the coyote disappeared again, using almost god-like speed. He looked up just in time to get punched directly on the front of his snout, knocking him into the ground hard enough that he was fixed there.

Avale looked on, watching the seemingly beaten coyote recover and make fools out of Cain and Jades. She didn't like either of them but what if he turned that same force on her? She gritted her teeth, remembering how angry she was at him.

Bash turned, seeing the dragoness coming, her attacks a mile away. He hopped over her sweep almost too early, then dodged a kick with ease. She twirled on her tail, hoping to catch him by surprise with a second kick, but he evaded that attack just as easily. Her claws only raked air and her fists only caught air. She roared but every place that should have been crushed under sound waves was where he wasn't. It was like he saw everything coming. He ducked under a kick and rushed her while all her balance was on her other foot.

Damn, he had her and she knew it.

He closed the space between her and wrapped his arms around her, gripping her in a bear hug. Wait... no. He was hardly squeezing her at all. She looked down to see him holding her

in a tight embrace, his head against her bosom. He was hugging her?

"I'm sorry." He said and she felt all her anger towards him melt away. "I said I'd be there for

you... and I wasn't."

Avale felt a tear trickle down her cheek. "You jerk." She closed her eyes and held him back. Her skin slowly turned pink, then grew darker red, going back to the color Bash had known her by those years ago. Suddenly he collapsed in her arms, completely exhausted and she was left holding him.

~*~ A few years ago...

He was dreaming, remembering that time that seemed so long ago, but really wasn't, just a few years ago. He was sixteen, a little more than halfway to seventeen, and he and the others, Erit, Avale, and Gene, all rested in the woods they had met in just under a year ago. They had grown a lot, in strength and wisdom thanks to Ayana and Baxter.

This Bash was very different than the one he was last year, and the one he would later become. He was much more powerful and carried a large sword in a sheath on his back. His ears were pierced and his hair cut short. Avale looked up at this Bash, her head resting in his lap. He had been so different ever since...

He sat, back against a tree, looking off to the river which still remained the same. Erit rested above, lying on a branch above them as if it was a bed. "I'm sorry." Bash said suddenly.

"Hmm? What for?" She asked.

"For what happened... before. I just wanted to tell you again, I'm sorry. I... I never would have... if I could've-" The words were so difficult for him to say. He never wanted to think about that time ever again but he felt he had to say something, anything.

"Shhhh." Avale covered his mouth with a paw. "I understand. It wasn't your fault. Bash, nothing will ever change between us, any of us. We'll always be friends, through thick and thin."

"Avale, I swear I'll always be there for you, no matter what. Whenever you need me, I'll be there. This I swear. Even if it costs me my life, I'll protect you." His words were so sudden they surprised her. She smiled, knowing he meant it.

"Thanks Bash."

Of course that promise wouldn't last very long. In about half a year Bash would break his vow.

~*~ Present...

Avale carried in her arms the same one who had been responsible for the death of half her family. No, she had to stop thinking like that; the one who was really responsible was long dead. The dragoness soared over the city, away from the destruction she had caused. If she wanted, she could drop him... she would be avenging the ghosts of her family. Or, if she'd rather not kill a defenseless creature, she could just turn him in to the breakers. Then he would be punished and her conscience would be completely clean.

No! She shook her head. He had betrayed her, twice, but she wouldn't do the same thing to him. Avale landed at the edge of the city, near the woods. That vixen would be around here somewhere...

"Bash!" Song rushed out from behind a tree, holding his sword. "What'd you do with him?" She snarled, revealing a completely different side of herself.

"We... were attacked." Bash said, taking Avale by surprise. He climbed down out of her arms slowly. "Right?"

He was talking to her? "Oh, uh yeah. A couple of breakers attacked us." Well, she wasn't lying entirely.

"Bash! What happened to your eye?" She rushed over, examining the change to his left eye.

"I'm not really sure..." He said, completely honest in saying that.

She hugged him, making him gasp in pain. She released her grip. "Are you okay?" She asked. "Come on, sit down."

"I'm fine, just a coupla scratches." He replied, shrugging her off. "We should get moving. I'm not sure how they caught up with us so fast..."

"You need to rest," Avale grabbed him, throwing him over her shoulder like a rag doll. "And don't argue with me. If you keep traveling with those injuries it'll only make things worse."

"I'm fine." He said weakly. "Don't treat me like a pup."

"I will as long as you keep acting like one. Now sit and rest." She put him down by a tree. "Now take off your shirt." He did, wincing as he pulled his shirt over his hurt areas.

Song got close, gently running her paws over his chest. "Yep, you've got a broken rib 'r two. Jeeze, how'd you beat them after they did that to you?" He shrugged. "Well it doesn't matter, as long as you're okay now. I'm gonna need to find some herbs to help you heal and bandage this up, then you'll be right as rain."

~*~

"So you're Avale?" Song asked, speaking in a low tone so as to not wake the sleeping Bash. The coyote had quickly drifted into unconsciousness after having his chest bandaged, exhausted by his fight.

"Don't worry, you can talk as loud as you want, I can keep him from hearing us. Yeah, I'm Avale, I guess he told you about me?"

"Yeah, a little about how he first met you and when you fought Baxter and Ayana, but not much more than that. He definitely didn't tell me why you were so pissed off at him. You wanna explain why you attacked him?"

Avale smiled. "You don't fool easy, do you?"

"No, but I could see he was trying to protect you for some reason, that's the only reason I didn't attack you already. You did bring him here, but I still have my doubts about you."

"Okay, you wanna know why I'm so mad at him? Oh, I still am, but I don't think I'll ever completely stop being mad at him. As long as I remember I'll be mad and I'll never forget." She sighed.

"Okay, it was a long time ago..."

~*~ A few years before...

"Sweet, our fifth mission!" Erit said. "After this we get to enter the tournament, right?"

"Yeah." Baxter said.

"So let us hear it!" Bash said, Erit's excitement spreading to him. They were in the same clearing they were in when they first met. The group were all in the same spots they would be in later, Erit sitting on a branch above Avale and Bash, except now Bash's head was in the dragoness' lap. Gene stood in the shadow of the tree, cool, his ears perked up so he heard every word of the conversation going on.

"You might not be so eager after you hear what it is." Ayana told them.

"Please, we can take anything that comes our way!" Bash stated.

"Fine," Baxter said, shaking his head. "Go ahead and tell them."

Ayana pulled a scroll out of her long-sleeved shirt and read it. "Our mission is to find a will breaker. He is wanted for murder and driving many insane. He's killed entire villages by himself. Once he is found he must be killed, he's too dangerous to be kept alive. This is a B-rank mission."

"Are you kidding!" Avale said. "A B-rank mission? All we've had so far are D-ranks and then they give us this?"

"We have to kill him?" Erit asked.

"Don't worry about that." Baxter reassured them. "Listen, if you don't want to do this mission, we don't have to. We could just trade in this one for another one. But we never would have chosen this mission if we didn't think you kids could handle it. So, do you want to back out?"

The breeze stirring the leaves was his only reply. "Great, we'll have to leave now then, if we want to get back in time to rest a bit before the tournament."

~*~ Present...

"That's where I need to go if I'm gonna find Ayana." Bash suddenly interrupted, taking Song by surprise. She hadn't even noticed him wake, let alone listen in on their conversation.

"You're still after her?" Avale asked.

"What'd you think I was traveling for?"

"I thought you were running, that you didn't want to own up for your crimes."

"Does that even sound like me?" He smiled, raising a brow. His eyes were still mismatched but his red one was much darker now, and the markings on it had disappeared.

"It sounded a lot like you to keep your promises and never betray your friends, but I guess even a sound breaker can be wrong sometimes." The smile disappeared and was replaced by a pained look.

"I'm sorry. I'll never be able to say how sorry I feel, but I want you to know... I never meant to hurt you the way I did."

"It doesn't matter if you meant it or not, you did and nothing changes that." This felt terrible, the way she spoke to him, cold and hurt but not accepting his apologies. He'd rather if she was mad at him, kicking him into a tree rather than this.

"We should get going." Bash said, standing.

"What?" Song asked, "You're still hurt."

He shrugged, "Us breakers heal up pretty quick, I'm all right to travel. See ya Avale, maybe one day I'll be able to make it up to you."

"I'm going with you." The dragoness stood, locking her violet eyes with his incompatible pair. "I'm going to see if the things they said about you are true."

Bash turned away, picking up their things and smiling to himself, "Okay. Where's the next tournament?"

"Of breakers? You're going there? Everyone there'll be trying to catch you. That's probably where they'll be looking for you. You'll be walking into a trap."

"It's not like me to run away from danger." He said and started walking.

~*~

"How bad are you hurting?" Song asked.

"Ha, what makes you think I'm hurt?" Bash asked, grinning. They had been walking for a while, following the forest southwest after what Avale had told them about the location of the breaking tournament.

She poked his ribs where they were bandaged and was rewarded with a yelp. "That." She replied dryly. The vixen had seen how badly he had been beat up and wondered how he could even walk.

"What, that? Oh, I'm just ticklish." He lied, grinning.

Avale watched the two of them, following in their paces a few steps behind. He was still the same Bash, the one she had known before, the one she knew would never betray them. The pair were like them when they were younger. Song, that's what he had called her, apparently was his mate, not that the two acted like it. Not that it mattered, she quickly told herself, she could never be with Bash after what he did. He had changed though, somehow.

Into what? She wondered. The dragoness recalled how easily he had broken Jades' tail and how he had taken all those blows without flinching. She recalled the light that shone from his eyes and shivered. The coyote was something else, that was for sure. But maybe that was just what she hoped.

"Why did you leave the motorcycle behind?" Song asked.

"Well, for one it might've been a tight squeeze for the three of us on that bike, second, it's hard to move with any speed on a bike, through the forest, last, cause it would probably lead a trail straight to us, it's too easy to track."

"Oh." They were silent for a while.

"What happened with Erit an' everybody else?" Bash asked her casually, "Or d' you know?"

"Erit has been training, entering these tournaments. He's really strong now, he ranked fifth last time. He'll definitely be at this one."

"Hmm, I'd like to see him fight."

She nodded, "Gene is a top ranked member of his tribe, the second highest member of his clan. He's one of the breakers out looking for you, but he said he'll be at the next tournament. Last time I saw him at one, he ranked third."

"Baxter is now officially a grand Hukumetsu, he guards Aerae Flachon, not that he needs it. And well, you know about Ayana. There are some rumors floating around about her, like that she spoke with some of the elders and they offered to help get rid of you, that she would lead you into a trap, but she turned them down. Really what's going on is general distrust."

"What d' you mean?"

"You really have been out of it, haven't you?" She shook her head. "Ever since you left, strange things've been happening. A lot of breakers've left, a lot of breakers, and even more non-breakers have disappeared. No one has any idea what's happened to them, or no one wants to talk about it. No one trusts anyone. There's a buddy system for breakers when we leave anywhere, and there's a curfew for civilians in most cities. They have all the Hukumetsu on their toes now, just recently Vilon Kaios disappeared. It's pretty easy to say that his Hukumetsu were found the next day, dead." She shivered. What had happened to them was too terrible to mention.

Bash could hardly believe what he was hearing. How long had he been out of the loop? Vilon Kaios was missing. He was one of the strongest breakers there were, head of the frost breaker's clan. Not just anyone could take someone as strong as him captive and kill Hukumetsu without anyone noticing. Last time he remembered Vilon had three Hukumetsu, no easy feat for any assassin to kill.

"Sorry if I'm interrupting, but what exactly are Hukumetsu?" Song asked. "I'm not exactly familiar with the hierarchy of breakers."

"Hukumetsu are the equivalent of bodyguards. They protect the strongest breakers. I'm not really sure what they were actually supposed to protect them from, but I'm sure it had something to do with so they wouldn't have to waste their time on petty fights. Political leaders have em too, so Hukumetsu are just bodyguards. They're always pretty strong too. I guess you could buy one if you wanted but it would cost a lot." Bash stated, his mind on the news he had just heard.

"What's this tournament thing about?"

Avale answered, "It's a thing for breakers where they duke it out. It's a good place for those who have scores to settle, so they can duke it out. There are actually a lot of events at these tournaments, races and stuff, but the thing that everyone focuses on are the fights. This one'll be really big though, they're trying to get everyone to forget what's going on, the disappearances, that is. You might've seen some machine breakers in your town installing big screens in your public hall. Yep, that's the idea they've come up with, make a show out of these tournaments to please the public."

"So this one should be pretty exciting, huh?" Bash grinned. "You entering?"

"I don't know... maybe." She said halfheartedly.

"I am."

"What!" Song and Avale exclaimed at the same time. "Do you want them to catch you?"

He shrugged. "I'm sure Ayana'll be in it, she's expecting me there."

"So? She's not wanted! What makes you think she'll even be at this thing anyway?" Avale asked. She knocked on his head, "You sure your brain didn't take too many knocks back there?"

"I just know. She'll be there. She won't miss this. This'll be bigger than even they expect."

"I'm sure it will be, especially when I drag you in, Bash." The three of them stopped, surprised at the sudden intrusion into their conversation.

"Who's there?" Bash said. "Show yourself!" He was sore; he couldn't believe he was getting attacked again, the second time in the same day. No problem though, he'd had worse days.

"But that'd ruin all the fun." Laughter rang out through the woods.

"Where is he?" Bash asked the other breaker in their group.

"Behind that tree." She pointed at a nearby tree. "Wait, something's wrong. He's not the only one here. I can hear it, another heart beating."

"Aww, you're no fun." Another furre dropped down out of a tree branch before them. This one was female, a golden retriever. Well, she wasn't really golden, having dyed her fur a distracting shade of blue. "I want the little coyote to myself." She said, licking her chops.

"Fine." The other voice said, sounding disappointed.

"If you want him, you'll have to go through me." Avale stepped forward.

"Ooooh, a fallen breaker?" She said as if just noticing the dragoness. "Do you really want to fight? Zeros, you think you can satisfy her?"

"No problem." The voice behind the tree said, this time sounding like he was smiling.

Suddenly the shadows around her footpaws grew, traveling up her legs and pulling her down into them hungrily. She struggled, trying to flap her wings and break free, but it was futile.

Bash started to move to aid her but before he knew it the retriever had gotten behind him and held a dagger-point to Song's throat. "Ah-ah. Don't worry about her, Zeros 'll take good care of her."

Bash turned around, knowing he was caught between a rock and a hard place. "You'll be okay?" He asked the dragoness.

"Don't worry about me." Was her reply before the shadows swallowed her entirely.

Song was released and roughly kicked to the side. Bash started moving to aid her but noticed a trap almost too late. A web of near invisible razor-wire cut him off from the vixen.

"Kudos Bash, that wire's supposed to be invisible. But I guess they did say you were something else.

Who's they? Must've been pretty easily impressed." He laughed. "Wire's supposed to stop me? I could just burn this stuff y' know."

"And kill your little friend. This whole area's been spiked with gas, odorless and colorless but highly explosive. One spark out of you and this place goes up in flames. You might survive, of course, but your pretty vixen here wouldn't be able to say the same."

"Bastard." He cursed. "You might just be bluffing."

"No, Kayla's the name, but nice try. And go ahead and try it if you don't believe me. I dare you." She smiled. The coyote turned to face his opponent and looked her up and down. She wore shorts, not quite knee length, and a belly shirt, strange clothes to go to a fight in.

"Like what cha see?" She asked coyly, blowing a kiss at him.

He drew back, his ears turning a bit red. He sure did, but not in this context. Maybe if she wasn't so crazy... She attacked him while he was still considering the possibilities.

His Draegon's claw went up to block the knife that nearly gouged his eyes. He ducked her second slash and tackled her, shoving her to the ground. Suddenly there was another one of her, slashing at his face. The coyote reacted too late and was rewarded by a gash across his muzzle. Kayla hopped back, the one on the ground having disappeared. She licked the blood off the edge of her blade and grinned. "You taste good."

"I don't know whether I should be flattered by that or not." He wiped blood off his cut. She attacked again, hacking with her knife. Her assault caught him off guard again and pushed him back. Suddenly he stopped, somehow knowing there was another web of razor wire behind him. He grabbed her arm and drove her into the ground, rolling away from the wire.

He hopped to his feet only to be attacked by two more Kaylas. He kicked through both with one spinning kick and realized they were both illusions when the real one appeared behind them and kicked him under his jaw, up into the air. Yet another Kayla appeared above him, kicking him in the stomach and driving him down, into the ground. He rolled over, clutching his wounded ribs.

Bash rolled over again to avoid another attack, then sprung back to his paws, going on the offensive, a whirlwind of kicks. Kayla easily dodged them all, sometimes replacing herself with an illusion to gain a step of distance, or simply moving out of the way.

Song looked on in amazement. Why wouldn't Bash use his sword? She looked back on the

times he had used the blade and realized she had never seen it used in combat. Why though, it appeared to be a formidable weapon. She had seen his paw brush it twice already during this fight, as if he were about to pull it from its sheath, but he always put it down. Why wouldn't he use it?

~*~

Avale found herself in another part of the woods, almost identical to the area she had just been pulled from. "Show yourself, whoever you are." A fox stepped out from a tree, grinning. "Who are you? Why are you attacking us?"

"Isn't it pretty obvious? I'm a breaker."

"In name only. I've never seen you before, you can't be. I wouldn't forget someone like you." Indeed he was hard to forget, with jet black fur and a crimson tipped tail, not many foxes shared his coloration. "You might have the powers but you and that girl aren't part of any guild I know. So you shouldn't have anything against us."

"You're pretty sharp." He said, smiling. "I would tell you, but your brain wouldn't be able to understand the complexity of it. You're right though, none of this is personal, just fun."

Avale didn't wait for him to attack, clapping her paws, sending a wave of sound in his direction. He disappeared into the shadows, then reappeared. "Is that all? Disappointing."

The dragoness launched herself at him, slashing with razor-sharp claws. He stepped out of the way casually, kicking her up into a tree branch. His next attack was a roundhouse kick that nearly crushed her arm when she blocked it. This guy was no ordinary breaker. He punched her gut, slamming her into a tree so hard she felt the bark splinter around her.

She tried to sweep his legs out from under him with her tail but the fox merely stepped on her appendage, painfully trapping it beneath his footpaw.

"Pitiful. Your friend better be stronger than this if he has any hope of killing Kayla. You're lucky I'm merciful, I'll teach you a lesson in sympathy instead of one in pain."

"Thanks." Avale spat out sarcastically, falling to her knees. He had hit her so hard... it was like he drained her of all her strength. Her left arm was jello, it kept shaking whenever she tried to put weight on it. Or maybe that was just her. She had to admit she had never seen anyone this powerful up close and personal. He could kill her without breaking a sweat.

~*~

She was so vicious! Bash sported several more gashes now, all minor, a few that cut his shirt open across his chest, a new one across his cheek, and more on his arms. The canine showed no signs of slowing down, she retreated without even breathing heavily. It looked as if he hadn't even touched her. Song was out of sight, he had been pushed far back by Kayla's assault. There was no going back, at least not the way he came, deadly wire surrounded him on three sides.

He sensed something behind him and turned around just as she dived on him. She was on him before he knew it, slamming him to the ground roughly. He put up a paw in defense for the attack he knew was coming.

But none came. The canine seemed to have changed tactics, burying her muzzle in his neck, licking and sucking. What was she doing? A second before she had nearly killed him! He couldn't help his body responding as she slowly licked her way up. He saw the attack coming just in time. Her other paw, the one that wasn't buried in his pants came down, slashing at him. She did it so casually Bash would have thought she was trying to hug him, if not for the blade in her paw.

He blocked it and pushed her off, scrambling away. She grinned, "You've never fought with a girl, have you? You could have hit me a dozen times but you never did." She stood, "Don't you know chivalry's dead?"

"Always was a slow learner." She rushed him again, but this time he was prepared, knocking her paws out of his way and quickly jabbing her in the stomach. "Sorry bout that." He said. She was on him again, except this time she reverted to her other strategy.

She seemed to be aiming for his genitals now, slashing furiously. He blocked and dodged with more skill than he had earlier. If she would have looked up she would have seen his eye was changing, getting brighter and brighter red by the second.

He could hardly breathe. The air was thick with her scent, it was distracting him, slowing down his reactions. Her attacks were getting closer than he would have liked. Did fighting turn her on? Her scent was getting stronger by the second. She slashed his pants and he could feel the blade cut through his pants, narrowly missing important err, organs. That was exactly what she was looking for. She grabbed through the slit in his pants, gripping her prize.

Bash tried to step away but found his balls in a firm grip. "Damn." He said. She pulled him towards her, the coyote having no choice but to follow her paw. He expected this though and turned her move into his own.

He went with her, pushing her on the ground, falling atop her. In his right paw he held her arm, being much stronger than her, with his left he massaged her breasts, nibbling on her ear. Song would kill him if she saw him doing this, good thing she was safe, out of sight. He ran a paw down the soft fur on her belly, slipping it into her pants.

"Ahhh," She sighed as he stroked her lower lips, making him grin. She was putty in his paws now.

"Sorry again." He said, releasing his grip on her knife paw, chopping her neck and rendering her unconscious and making her release her grip on his balls. He stood. "Not quite the worst fight I've ever been in, but I would've liked to end it differently." He shook his head and walked in the direction he had come from.

~*~

"So you want to know why we're attacking you?" He asked. "While I am extremely disappointed by your fighting prowess, I am impressed by your deductive ability." He stroked his jaw thoughtfully. "Let's see what I can tell you."

"Well, we're attacking you because of your friend Bash. While I was lying when I told you it was so we could catch him, well at least now, it is true he intrigues us. You know why too.

You saw what happened earlier."

"You were watching? Why didn't I hear you?"

He laughed. "We have been hiding from breakers for a long time and in that time we've grown skilled in staying that way. You're probably the only breaker, living breaker, to ever know of us, and because I like you, I'll let you live. You can tell those two, but everyone else may not know. You even consider letting the thought cross your mind and you'll be dead. Understand?"

She nodded. "And what do you want in return?" Avale asked.

"Hmm? What makes you think I want anything?"

"You wouldn't tell me all this without a reason, you want something, don't you?"

He laughed. "I didn't, but on the off chance you decided not to, I want you to protect Bash. Make sure he fights, make sure he gets stronger, but make sure he doesn't die. You'll also be entering the tournament."

"Or what? Why?"

"I'll kill you of course." He laughed again and disappeared, leaving Avale for one of the first times in her life, very afraid.

~*~

"Bash, you okay?" Avale asked when she saw him, sitting next to Song, waiting for her. She nursed her injured arm, her forearm hurt; it made her wince just to move her paw. She scrutinized him up close, eyeing him. "You smell like sex."

"It's not my fault," He grumbled. "She jumped on me."

"Uh huh. And she cut your pants open while she was at it?" Song asked skeptically.

"Yeah! That's what I keep trying to tell you." The coyote now wore a new pair of pants, black instead of his traditional red.

"Sure, let's just keep moving." The vixen said. "We don't need any more fights today."

"You okay?" Bash asked the thunder breaker.

She quickly dropped her arm, waving him off with it, a motion that caused her excruciating pain, but the dragoness concealed it well, smiling. "Oh, me? I'm fine." He shrugged, walking after Song.

~*~

Zeros strode up to his partner, who still lay on the earth. Her eyes were closed and she was smiling, probably thinking about her recent fight. "You decided to let him win?" Zeros said, surprised. "And it looks like you didn't really try too hard, all your clothes are still on."

She grinned. "He's pretty good. I went easy on him at first but he kept up surprisingly well. The faster I went, the better he got. Now I know what she sees in him."

"You sound impressed."

"I am, at least by his ability to learn. How was your fight with the dragoness?"

"Disappointing but I wouldn't expect anything else at this point." He shrugged. "The pieces are finally in motion. I wonder when she is going to stop with that front? I liked her when she was who she used to be, even if she did turn back to that path she would be a lot more dangerous."

"And if that happened we might have to get serious."

~*~

The three had walked a distance away, Bash hoped a few miles separation and darkness would make their pursuers give up, if at least a while. He quickly heated his blade, now free of its sheath, to the point where it glowed bright red and gave some heat, protection from the cold that was settling on the forest.

"Let's rest." He said, plunging his sword in the earth, flopping down on the soft grass near it. "Song, we'll have to start taking turns being on watch, I don't like how close they are."

She nodded. "Alright, I'll take first."

"And me second, that leaves you on last shift Avale." The three ate, a silent meal filled with tension. Bash had changed a lot in the past day, his eyes now roved the shadows, his eye hovering between its bright red and dull forms.

"Bash, your eye..." Avale suddenly said. "You have an Iris breaker's eye. When you and Jades fought, I think you took his power, at least a little of it."

He raised a brow, "My eye?"

"Haven't you noticed?" Song asked. "It's red now. It's so... strange looking." She handed him a bowl and filled it with water out of a flask, letting him see his reflection. He looked at himself wordlessly, examining his new feature.

"You think... Nothing." He said, stopping his thought. He suddenly grinned. "It does look pretty crazy. I like it."

Avale smiled. No way he could be a... He was the same Bash she had known so long ago, not somebody else. It was probably a fluke or some kind of accident. Not many things were known about Iris breakers, Jades probably accidentally transferred his features by accident. "G'night." She said, rolling over so her back was to the warm sword.

"Bash." Song said quietly. "What did you do that made Avale so angry at you?"

"You don't have to whisper, if she wanted she could hear us, but I'm pretty sure she's blocking out the sound so she can get some sleep." He smiled, closing his eyes. "Uh, I was a jerk." He said, receiving a look in return that told him to stop joking. His face grew somber, "Well it depends what you're talking about. She's been really mad at me twice."

"Like that? Two times? I'm surprised you're around to tell the tale."

He laughed dryly. "The first time she was mad at me because I killed her parents, not to mention a whole bunch of innocent furres." Song stopped smiling. "Of course I was being controlled by a will breaker at the time, but it still goes without saying that I was responsible." His voice was almost depressing; it made the vixen want to cry just hearing him.

"But she forgave me. I killed her parents, attacked her and the others and she still forgave me." He chuckled humorlessly. "Makes you wonder who the bad guy really is. I mean, all of those breakers have been doing their jobs; I'm the one resisting capture. Maybe I'm the bad guy..."

"Don't think like that, what you did then wasn't your fault. I know about will breakers..." She shivered, "and you couldn't have done anything. If that guy controlled you then anyone else in that same position would have done the same thing. Don't feel bad."

"Thanks." He mumbled, not really meaning it. "I betrayed her the second time." He suddenly said. "Ayana was my personal master then and she was teaching me things that... I suppose I would have found unscrupulous if I thought about them. But, I was in love with her so she could have just as easily told me to jump off a cliff and I would have obeyed.

"Avale and the others tried to warn me and I pushed them away for her. I left my friends, in favor of her." His teeth were gritted and his fists clenched. "The closer they tried to get, the harder I fought until we finally did. I fought them, betrayed my friends, especially Avale. I won, using her teachings and through that, when I had seen what I'd done I went after Ayana." A hot tear fell halfway to the grass and disappeared in a puff of steam. "Night." He said, turning his back to her and lying down.

On the other side of the blade another had shed tears. Ayana cried silently to herself, remembering what he had just spoke of in vivid detail.

Song was the only one awake within a few minutes. Is that why he won't use the sword? Because he didn't want to kill again? Because Ayana gave it to him? She had realized while he spoke of the enchanting Ayana he seemed so angry. He hated her, maybe even wanted her dead.

She sighed. The coyote was so complex, sometimes she forgot how young he was. He had experienced so much, in just a few years. She vowed to herself to try to keep Bash from ever being hurt, at least emotionally, ever again. He had protected her, she would make it her duty to protect him.

Hope I did good on the action. Sorry if you were looking for yiff, but I'll see what I can manage for the next un'. Err... I don't know how to put this, I'm kinda embarrassed askin', but what's a dewclaw? I saw it in one of Chrismukkah's stories (which I enjoyed very thoroughly : P *grins mischievously*) and I wanted to know.

~In its silence we forget, and in its perversion it binds our hearts firmly.~

just a quote I like : P