FSE

Furry search engine

formerly SoFurry search engine

this is part nine of my story and this is the part where i tell you all that i am in no way connected to the company that owns the digimon franchise and i do not own the renamon character, shifters and shadow/chad are my idea so if you would like to use them just ask and we'll talk. Well have fun reading!

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Chapter thirty eight

I was walking several pace's up wind of Serinity as we made our way threw the marsh, i however was more focused on yanking at the three foot chain that was connected to a collar the old man had somehow been able to slip on me when i wasn't looking.

I had tried to cut the thing off a few times earlier on after we had gotten out of the old temple but somehow i only succeeded in cutting myself and not leaving a scratch on the blasted thing, "Stupid old bastard and his tricks.....*grunt*.....damn it why won't this thing come off!!".

"Hey Chad what's this one called?" Serinity asked from behind me; however i never got the chance to answer her because for some reason i was yanked off my feet by the chain as it suddenly slipped from my grasp and went the other way I had been pulling on it.

The force of this act pulled me several feet in the opposite direction i had been facing only to land on my back with a hard thump and a groan of pain as i landed wrong on something hard, I heard Serinity start to giggle as she came over and bent down looking at me.

"Are you ok?" she asked me as she tried hiding her fit of laughter.

"How many time do I have to tell you NOT TO DO THAT!, gods Serinity that's the fifth time today what are you trying to do kill me?!" i said as i heaved myself up and started walking again, "Now come on we still have a ways to go before we reach Night City" I growled at her.

With that I started pulling muck and twigs out of my hair and started grumbling about the indignity of it all, it took several more hours of walking before I finally had to sit down and rest.

I looked around the gloomy place and tried not to think about my predicament until i spotted Serinity getting into something that she shouldn't, "Get away from the snag trees damn it!" I yelled at her.

She just turned and looked at me before she looked around and finally spotted what I was talking about, she carefully walked back over to me as I spotted a gator swimming in from the direction she had been walking.

She sat down next to me and I started breathing through my mouth so I didn't have to smell her heat, "Why did you call it a snag tree again?" she asked as she looked at me.

I pointed to the gator and she turned to look, as we watched it get closer some of the vines hanging from the trees started to slither around the branches until the gator was right underneath them then they shot down and wrapped around it before the thing even had time to react.

As we watched the vines wrap around its prey the gator began thrashing around trying to get free but to no avail, the vines started to constrict and the gator started hissing and growling as it thrashed around finally we heard several loud cracks and saw blood shoot out of the gators mouth as it went still.

After it was over the vines hefted the dead gator up into the limbs of the tree and made it vanish, suddenly she jumped off of the dead log we had been sitting on and looked around nervously as she spoke and flattened her ears against her head.

"Well I'm rested and ready to go how about you Chad?" I just glared at her and said nothing.

*That should teach her a lesson* I thought to myself as I got up and started walking again, unfortunately it didn't slack her curiosity in the least as she kept talking and asking questions about the marsh.

About two hours of this and I finally had a headache that felt like I had been hit by a truck, *If she asks me what something is one more time I'm going to toss her under the next snag tree I can find!*.

Suddenly the questions stopped and I let out a sigh of relief as i peeked back and looked at Serinity, I had to stop and snicker at the look on her face as she looked down at the water we were trudging threw.

"What's the matter cat got your tongue?" I asked.

She looked up at me then back down at the water before answering, "Something just brushed my leg!" she said shrilly.

"Don't worry about it, it's probably just a fish or something now come on before it gets to dark" I told her as I started walking again.

I heard her start to walk after me then suddenly I heard a shriek and the next thing I know I was face down in the water with something on top of me, I thrashed around until I finally pushed myself up out of the water and looked back over my shoulder.

I saw Serinity sitting on top of me looking around at the water until she spotted me, "Just what do you think you're doing woman?!"

She smiled weakly at me and looked around again as she spoke, "Sorry Chad but it brushed my leg again!"

I glared at her then started looking around until i saw something bubbling under the water, Serinity squeaked and quickly got off of me and i got up watching the bubbles the whole time.

I released my claws thinking it might be something dangerous and waited for it to show itself, we both watched as the bubbles came faster and I raised my right hand preparing to strike at what ever it was.

I could feel my heart beat quicken as I watched and suddenly the bubbles stopped and I was looking at a small set of frog eyes, "You....almost drowned me.....over a fucking frog!!" I said as I turned around to glare at her.

She just puffed up her chest and glared right back at me, "How was I suppose to know it was a frog and not something dangerous huh!!"

"Because if it had been dangerous it would have killed you or at least taken off your leg the first time it touched you that's why!!" I said as I poked her in the center of her chest.

She smacked my hand away and glared at me, "Well its not like I make regular trips into the ring Chad! How was I supposed to know it was only a frog in the first place?"

I was just about to yell at her again when I felt something hit my left leg, I blink a couple of times and we both looked. When i looked down I saw a piece metal about two feet long sticking out of my thigh, "Gimme a freaking break I just got this leg replaced!"

I heard Serinity gasp loudly as I looked around for the idiot who shot me, what I saw almost made me think I was seeing things so i blinked and looked again. When I looked again I saw what seemed to be a humanoid girl with tiger stripped fur running towards us at full speed, she was wearing what looked to be a shirt and a pair of breeches made from gator skin. Suddenly i heard the roar of an engine and saw what looked to be two humans on flat bottomed Jet Ski's with some kind of weapons mounted on it.

(What you thought human/digimon hybrids were the only thing created during the shift?)

The humans themselves were wearing some kind of armor that covered all of their bodies and they where holding what looked to be spear guns in one hand while steering with the other, I reached down and yanked the spear out of my leg and started stalking towards them and i saw the catgirl come skidding to a halt in front of me with a look of fear on her face.

The humans where still a ways off so i looked down at the girl in front of me and growled at her, "Get outta my way damn it". She didn't move so i grabbed her by the scruff of the neck and moved her out of the way before I started walking again.

The two on jet ski's didn't seem too worried about me as they came closer so i stopped and stood right in between them and waited, they just kept coming so I got a good grip on the spear and threw it as hard as I could at the one on my left.

I saw him pitch backwards off of the jet ski and hit the water and the other one just kept coming, I lashed out with my right hand and caught him by the helmet and pulled him off the thing. The jet ski shot past me and the human flopped around in my grip like a ragdoll, I tossed him up against a tree and watched him smack into it before I started to walk over to him.

I picked the human up out of the water by the chest plate and slammed them up against the tree; I used my other hand and crushed the helmet being careful not to kill the human inside.

The helmet cracked and pieces of it came off and fell into the water revealing the human beneath it so I stopped crushing the helmet and pulled my hand away and got a good grip on the chest plate again, I pulled the limp body forward as I spoke.

"One of you idiot's shot me in the leg and I wanna know which one it was!" I yelled as I slammed the human into the tree again, the rest of the helmet shattered and fell away showing me the face of a woman who's head was flopping around at an odd angle.

"Damn it, i broke her!" I said as I tossed the dead human off to the side and started walking over to the other one, when i got over to him I saw that the spear I had thrown had went through his neck and out the other side so it was a safe bet he was dead too. Out of frustration and anger I started slamming my foot down on the armored helmet until his head was buried in the muck and I was breathing hard.

After my little episode i looked around and saw Serinity glaring as she walked over to me, "Are you quite done Chad?" she said.

I looked back down at the human and stomped down on his chest before I looked back at her, "Now I am!" I told her.

She just glared at me more as she spoke, "Well now what are we going to do, you just killed the only lead we had to find any kind of town before night fall!"

"What did you want me to do ask them for directions? They most likely would have killed us before they answered anyhow!" I shot back.

"And how do you know that Chad, who says they wouldn't have helped us out huh?" she asked me.

I just glared at her before I spoke, "Are you really that dense woman! Let me spell it out for you! I am a shifter! Humans kill shifters for no reason other than we are different! Humans are ignorant and stupid I mean look at what they were doing when we saw them!"

Suddenly Serinity looked like she had remembered something then turned to look around; I was just about to say something about it when I heard the unmistakable sound of a weapon being cocked. I quickly turned towards the sound and saw the tiger girl holding one of the multi chambered spearguns and pointing it at me, she was shaking badly and the look of fear in her eyes told me that she only a little way off from shooting me with it.

"Great not even a day goes by and now I have a speargun staring me in the face, it's bad enough I have to deal with a clueless female and dark digimon but now I have to deal with a freaking cat girl who can't even be thankful that I saved her!" I said as I stalked forward to the girl.

"Gimme that!" I said as I yanked the gun out of her hands, using my right hand I slashed the gun in half and dropped it then I turned back to the girl and glared at her.

"Chad you stop that right now!" I heard Serinity yell.

I turned to look at Serinity and saw her standing next to me and glaring hard, we stood their like that for a few minutes before I stalked off towards one of the jet ski's floating in the water.

As I checked over to jet ski I listened in on serinity and the catgirl, "Are you ok little one?"

I heard nothing for a reply but Serinity continued talking, "Oh don't worry about him he's just a little upset someone shot him in the leg that's all".

The next thing i heard was a soft voice as it replied, "Your not gonna hurt me?"

"Why would we want to hurt you child you haven't done anything to us" Serinity said.

"By the way why were those two chasing you anyway?"

"They were trying to capture me because I escaped from their base" the girl said.

"You escaped? What were they going to do to you?"

The girl remained silent and I kept messing with the switches on the jet ski I flicked one of them and a net shot out of one of the weapons and stuck to a tree in front of me, I flicked the switch again and turned off the weapon and started messing with another as they spoke again.

"I can see you don't want to talk about it but can you help me and my friend? We just came through the wall earlier today and we're kind of lost, can you tell us where the nearest town is?"

"Ok but you won't find much their, most of the people have either gone deeper into the marsh, into hiding or they got captured by Serph's men" the girl said.

"Who's Serph?" Serinity asked.

"He's the one who rules this marsh, he's been taking the men, woman and children from the towns and killing anyone who resist, and he has destroyed several villages here in the marsh lands and keeps many others under his heel"

I hit one of the buttons on the jet ski and it roared to life, I climbed on and hit the gas and shot forward so I turned the wheel and headed for Serinity and the girl. After I reached them I got off and looked at the girl, "Do you think you can drive this thing?".

The girl just nodded and I let her have the controls then I started out for the other one, after I got it up and running I sat down on it and turned it around until I was facing the same direction as the girl.

Suddenly I felt something grab onto me and i turned around to find Serinity looking at me, I ignored her and idled up to the cat girl and spoke.

"Lead the way kitty cat."

She looked away and gunned the engine on her jet ski and I followed here.

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Chapter Thirty-nine

We followed the strange girl for several hours and Sernity asked me a few questions on the way.

"Chad what kind of creature is that girl?"

"I'm not really sure....i have heard about these kinds of hybrids in Night City.....but I never thought I'd actually see one"

"What do you mean?"

"My kind are a mix of different parts from both human and Digimon, her kind are a mix of animals and humans for the human world" I told her as I dodged around a tree.

"Do they get hunted like your kind?"

"From what all I've learned about them no, it seems when they came into being they were more excepted because of the fact that they pose less of a threat to humans or digimon than my kind do, That and the fact that some humans find them attractive didn't hurt their integration either"

"And just what do you mean by that!"

I shook my head, "Gods you really are clueless aren't you, some humans find her attractive in the sexual sense because of hey body and what she is and because of this they are more widely excepted unlike my kind who are seen as freaks with powers that could very well 'in danger' the lives of those around us"

This seemed to shut her up for a while as i drove on, "But what is she?"

This made me think for a minute before I finally answered her, "Honestly i don't know the humans call them Anthros but frankly I don't care what they are."

We rode along for awhile longer until it got dark, after a while we came to what looked like a village of some kind built on poles. We floated up to a pier with some boats around it and shut down the engines and got off, we followed the girl around the dock village until she lead us to what resembled a run down shack and stepped inside then we saw something like a candle light up.

We followed her in after she looked around and I closed and locked the door behind me looking around as I did, the inside of the little shack was pretty bare except for a rickety bed some shelves' on the back wall with some trinkets on them and a couple of doors one of which was opened revealing an outhouse type restroom inside.

I also saw an old wood burning stove by the back wall and some dried food hanging from the ceiling and a joke of a table made from what looked to be plywood and 2x4's, it also had a few ratty looking chairs sitting around it. After I was sure the door was locked I walked over to the table and started checking over my thing to see if any of them were damaged as I spoke to the tiger girl who had taken a seat across the table from me.

"So what is an Anthro doing all the way out here in the marshlands?"

I saw her glare at me from the corner of my eye before she spoke, "That's none of your business Shifter so why don't you just shut up and stop talking to me, and for your information we prefer to be called beastials"

I stopped what i was doing and glared at her as I spoke, "Your not very grateful to the person who saved you life earlier are you, maybe I should just take you back to this Serph guy and let him have you after all, then I can tell him you were the one who killed his goons and watch what he does to you" I said still feeling some what miffed about my whole situation.

"Chad cut that out right now can't you see your scaring the poor girl?" I heard Serinity say.

I glared at her for a few more seconds before i went back to inspecting my things.

"He does have a good point though, why are you out here and not in a city or something?" Serinity asked her.

I saw her glance at me from the corner of my eye before she turned back to look at Serinity, "This whole village use to be filled with beast men and women we even had a few digimon living here peacefully with us, that is until Serph and his men came..... after they showed up they started raiding the villages and taking things like supplies and food even one or two females at first. But as time went on their ranks grew and they started wanting more from us, they started getting more violent when it came to the raids and they started taking more things and more of my friends."

"That horrible! Didn't anyone try to set up some kind of defense or something?" Serinity asked.

I heard the catgirl sniffle but I ignored it, "We tried but everything we did failed miserably....we use to have a wall surrounding this village but Serph's goons made quick work of that and some of the village elders were taken and killed because of it".

"Didn't you live somewhere before you came here? Why did you not try and leave?"

The catgirl nodded, "Yeah I did.....at one time everyone that lived here did, but we came here to start a new life away from the humans and their ways......unfortunately Serph won't let anyone leave the swamp and anyone who tries to leave gets killed"

By this time i was looking through my card book so i could redo my deck and i was tapping my fingers on the table, I was starting to get annoyed with all these questions and the sob story wasn't helping me either.

Serinity was the next to talk as i continued to look threw my cards, "By the way little one I never got your name, my name is Serinity and this one here is Chad"

"Oh I'm sorry, my name is Kate", Suddenly I felt my arm go stiff as my nails dug into the surface of the table as the image of a Nekomon flashed threw my mind.

"Chad.....Chad what's wrong?"

I jumped when I felt some one touch my shoulder and looked around to find Serinity standing behind me looking worried, I quickly turned away and closed my card book then stood up and walked over to the door.

"I'm going out for some air don't wait up." then I walked outside and closed the door behind me.

I walked around the village for a little while before i found myself in the center of it looking into the water; I sat down on the edge of the planks and just stared thinking about the Nekomon.

I don't know how long i sat like that but after a while i heard soft footsteps walking towards me, "Are you ok Chad?, you seemed a little upset when you left is everything ok?"

"It's fine....everything is fine Serinity I just got a little over excited that's all"

Serinity walked over next to me and sat down, "You know it might help if you talked about it to someone"

"Why should I....it's not like someone who's had everything handed to them all of their life would even understand what someone like me is going through"

"Still Chad it could help....I know I would like to hear your story" she said.

Suddenly I felt angry at her, "Is that how you think of my life as a story?! It's bad enough the old man put you in danger by putting this collar on me so I can't be to far from you but now you think my life is nothing more then some interesting story!" I said as I looked at her.

She got a pained look on her face then looked down at the water, "....I'm sorry i didn't mean for it to come out like that Chad"

I took a few deep breaths and tried to calm down before i spoke again, "Why are you even interested in my life, your a digimon it's not like anything will come out of this damned trip anyway!"

I heard her take a deep breath then she looked at me again, "You know your not the only one with personal problems Chad, everyone has something in their life that follows them everywhere they go.....something they can't get away from."

I thought about this for a few seconds before I spoke again, "Maybe but how many people do you know that have my kind of problem, it's not like I can go down to the local shrink and talk all of my troubles away"

*Ooooo, now that would be interesting to see, i can just hear it now*

*Hi doc can I talk to you?*

*Sure son have a seat and tell me all of your problems*

*Well doc my problem is this when ever I black out I wake up in different place's covered in blood and entrails*

*Mhmm and how does that make you feel?, hahahahaha. Oh boy I'll bet Sigmund would just love to get his hands on us wouldn't he*

"True but that doesn't mean you have to suffer them alone either does it?" she said.

"That's the point I've been trying to make since this morning Serinity, it doesn't matter if your close or not if I don't have my drugs then your life is in danger and....I don't want to see you hurt." I said quietly

I heard a smile in here voice when she spoke next, "What's this? Are my charms finally beginning to work on the big bad mercenary?"

I gave her one of those yeah right looks as I replied, "Don't look to far into it Serinity, it just that if I let something happen to you then i won't get paid for protecting you" then I looked back at the water.

We sat in silence for a time not saying anything just looking at the water before us until i finally spoke again, "Serinity....why are you so nice to me?"

She seemed to think about this for awhile before answering, "Because of what I saw the first time I looked at you"

"What do you mean?"

"You're probably going to think this is strange but the first time i saw you when we were in the van you looked lonely, I could see it in your eyes even if one of them is fake" she said.

"You looked like you were carrying the weight of the world on you shoulders and I don't know why but I felt like I needed to help you"

"Your right." I said as I looked at her, "That is strange; the only other beings who have ever tried to help me are other Shifters."

She just smiled at me, "Yeah well not everyone thinks that Shifters are freaks you know".

We sat like that for a few more minutes before Serinity spoke again, "Come on Kate is waiting for us to get back"

I give a loud sigh and heaved myself up as I spoke, "Fine but I'm not being nice to that mangy cat just because you say so."

This got a giggle out of Serinity and I felt my heart beat pick up slightly at the sound, "Fine but we still need to find a way out of here so we can get a better replacement leg besides the one that strange old man gave you"

We started walking back as we talked but the whole time Serinity was walking in front of me and the scent of her heat was really starting to effect me, "So what are we going to do about this Serph guy anyway, I doubt he'll let us out of the marshlands with the furball and I seriously doubt that she would leave with all of her friends trapped by this guy"

As Serinity replied I noticed the way her tail was flicking back and forth and the way her hips moved and i could feel myself starting to get hard, "Well I did have a small plan about that but I doubt your going to like it much and neither will Kate for that matter".

I pulled my eyes away from Serinity's backside (thankfully), and looked at her to find she was watching me over her shoulder with a smirk on her face. I could feel my face heat up as i looked away from her, "What do you mean I won't like it?"

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Chapter Forty

I looked at Serinity in complete disbelief, "You've got to be joking, there is no possible way this plan is going to work! Do you honestly think we're just going to be able to walk in there and back out with the villagers?"

"Yeah the walking farm accident is right, this plan is never going to work there's no way Serph is going to fall for this!" Kate said.

I jerked my head and glared at her, "Who are you calling a farm accident you kennel reject, and since when did you get a say in this it's not like your part of this group"

She glared back at me and growled, "I'm part of this plan too you walking jigsaw puzzle incase you've forgotten! Besides these are my friends we're talking about and if I let you two go in alone ‘you'd' probably come walking out with a couple of new coats."

I growled right back at her and released the claws on my right hand, "If you have so little faith in me then why don't I start by turning you into a throw rug, I'm sure we can use it to give this place a little sprucing up!"

By now Kate and I where practically in each others faces glaring at each other and yelling, "Oh yeah well why don't you try me you side show reject."

"I've got a better idea why don't both of you sit down and shut up before i have to put you both in a corner"

We both turned to look at Serinity before glaring at each other again; finally we backed off and sat down around the table again. "So you're really going to go through with this plan Serinity? You realize it's suicide if we get caught don't you I mean even the walking hairball said that Serph's never shown himself to anyone so we don't even know what we're up against"

Serinity just rolled her eyes at me, "True Chad but this is the only way to get out of here besides I can't just leave knowing that I can help these people and not do anything"

I gave a loud sigh and rubbed the bridge of my nose as I looked at her then I turned and looked at Kate, "Is their anything you can tell us about this Serph guy, anything at all?"

She seemed to think about this for a moment before answering, "Well there is one thing but I don't know if it means much"

We both watched as Kate got up and walked over to a closet and pulled what looked to be a piece of cloth out then she walked back over to the table and sat down, she dropped it on the table and looked at me.

"When Serph's goons first attacked we killed some of them, after the battle I found this but I don't know what it means it was also hanging up in the base"

I picked up the cloth and spread it out on the table looking at it carefully, on the cloth was what looked like a strange symbol but I had never seen one like it before.

"Well I don't recognize it from anywhere, how about you Serinity?" i asked.

She took the cloth and looked it over for a few minutes before setting it down on the table again, "I have seen one like it some years ago, it was on the chest of a Devimon that tried to attack the palace a long time ago my parents called it the crest of evil"

"It is given only to digimon who have been to the dark region as a sign of their inner evil" she said as she looked between Kate and i.

I looked at her for a minute before picking the cloth up and looking at the crest again, "I heard about that place, it is said that any digimon who goes into it is instantly turned into a virus type it's also how the Devimon type digimon came into being".

I saw Kate look at me from the corner of my eye, "What do you mean?"

I took a deep breath as I tried to remember the legend, "Well its been a while since I've heard the story but I think it goes something like this, when the dark region was discovered some Angemon and Angewomon went into to face some great evil in it but the dark region corrupted them so much that before they got to their destination they had turned into Devimon and Lady Devimon and when they finally did reach their goal they pledge loyalty to the rulers of that region".

Serinity nodded at this, "It's true, that is the legend but since then the rulers have been defeated and their followers have since scattered to the wind, it is possible that this Serph could have become bonded to one of the Devimon or Lady Devimon don't you think Chad?"

I nodded to Serinity as I replied, "It's possible And it does seem like the style of a Devimon to keep people suffering, they take great pleasure in seeing the torment of those they consider lesser beings although i wouldn't put it past some humans to act the same way either. Trust me they're capable of creating just as much misery as any virus type digimon, I've seen it first hand".

This got a surprised look from Kate before she turned back to Serinity, "Really I can't thank you enough for your help Miss Serinity it really means a lot to me that you're doing this even if it does come with the help of a Shifter" she said as she glared at me from the corner of her eye.

I didn't even bother to look at her as I replied because I had suddenly developed an intense interest in the hole that the spear had made in my paint's leg, "Yeah well at least after this I won't have to worry about getting the fur out of my clothes from your nasty shedding you mangy feline"

Suddenly Kate jumped out of her chair and slammed her hands down flat on the table as she glared at me, "And just whom are you calling mangy?! At least i don't look like some kind of walking electronics accident!"

It was my turn to jump out of my chair and glare at her, "Oh yeah! I may be a walk accident but at least I don't go attacking the people who help me by sticking a spear gun in their face!"

"Will you two quit arguing for a few minutes so we can go over the plan again!" Serinity yelled at us.

We both jumped at the sudden rise in her voice and looked at her, "I swear you two are worse than a couple of kids! Now sit down!"

Both Kate and I sat down in our chairs as we looked at Serinity who was glaring at both of us, "Good now just so we understand each other there will be no more fighting from here on out do I make myself clear?!"

Both Kate and I glare at each other before finally nodding agreement, "Good now both of you shake hands and I don't want to hear another word about this or any more arguing".

We shook hands over the table giving each others hands a good crushing before we finally let go and looked back at Serinity, "Ok so you what part of the plan did you want to go over again?" I asked as I picked up what looked like a ring from my things and looked it over.

"Ok from what Kate told us it will take a few hours for us to get to Serph's base and we've got the plan pretty much laid out but what i want to know is if everyone is going to be ok with this" Serinity said as she looked between Kate and I again.

"If it helps to get my friends out of the hands of that bastard than I think I can put up with this for a while so yeah I'm good with it" Kate said.

They both looked at me and waited as I thought about it, finally after a few minutes I looked up at Serinity and studied her as i spoke.

"You realize that this is very risky and if we get caught we could very well be killed right?"

Serinity nodded at this, "And you also realize that this plan has almost no chance of succeeding in any way right"

Again a nod, "Alright I'm in"

This seemed to surprise both of them because their jaws went slack as i went back to inspecting the ring I was holding, I heard Kate speak as i turned it over.

"What that's it? No begging or pleading with her to change her mind, just ok I am in!?" she said in astonishment.

I just looked at her as i spoke, "Yep"

"You're not going to nitpick and point out all of the flaws in her plan or at least ask her to reconsider trying to get out of the swamp on your own?"

"Nope"

"Are you insane!?" she yelled.

"Pretty much, yeah."

She just looked at me in complete astonishment as I went back to studying the ring in my hand, suddenly I was tackled out of my chair to the ground as I was assaulted by a wet tongue on my face and a pair of arms around my neck as I heard Serinity speak.

"Thank you, thank you, thank you Chad!" she said in my ear happily.

I moved around under the onslaught until I was finally able to push her off of me.

"Alright, alright geez, get off me already!" I said.

I started wiping my face off as I heard Serinity giggle and got up, as I finally picked myself up off the floor I heard Kate speak, "Wait why are you agreeing to this? I mean she could very well get killed if we're found out not to mention what they'll do to her and me if they realize what we're doing!"

I righted my chair and sat down looking at her as I spoke, "True but as you saw before I can handle myself in a fight so i can assure you that I'll be able to take care of her since I won't be that far away from her at any point during the mission, not only that but I'm actually interested in seeing if the princess here can pull off acting like a straight up bitch."

This last comment got me a smack in the back of the head from Serinity, "And just what is that suppose to mean Chad?" she asked as she glared down at me.

I rubbed the welt she gave me and looked back at her, "Geez chill out woman!, all I mean is that it's going to be tough to fool these guys if you let your base personality get in the way of what needs to be done is all."

"Well I don't see why your worried Chad I was able to fool you when we first met wasn't I?" she replied looking a little smug.

"What fooling, I was almost certain that Taomon was going to try something and I knew you were involved some how I just didn't know how until you tried to have those soldiers kill me!" I told her.

She glared down at me as she replied, "I did not have them try and kill you! It's not my fault what they did!"

"Umm, guys"

"Oh, so maybe i should take it up with that moronic captain that tried to starve me on the way back to your home then?"

"GUYS!"

Both Serinity and I stopped and looked at Kate as she continued to speak, "Look as much as I enjoy watching you love birds go at it we still have to get ready for later ok?"

"Who are you calling love birds you mangy feline!" I told her.

This didn't get the response I thought it would because all she did was look at me for a minute before she looked at Serinity, "Miss Serinity if you don't mind a few houses down their are some water barrels and some buckets could you bring some water so I can cook us some thing to eat before we start getting ready for bed?"

Serinity just nodded at her, "How many do you want?"

"Two should be fine thank you and if you could get some canned goods from the house next to it too please."

Again Serinity nodded then made her way out the door closing it behind her, Kate waited for a few minutes before looking at me and speaking.

"What do you think your doing?" she asked.

I didn't even bother to look at her as I replied, "I don't know what you're talking about?"

I saw her fur puff up at this out of the corner of my eye, "Are you really that clueless? It's obvious that she likes you so why are you being such an ass?!"

I just stayed quiet and let her keep going, "Do you really think that just because she's a digimon you can push her off like that? I mean com-"

"Why do you care?"

Kate blinked a couple of times before closing her mouth, "What could some one like you possibly know about being a shifter or what we go through"

This seemed to piss her off some but she didn't start yelling like I had hoped she would, instead she took a deep breath and calmed herself before talking again.

"You think you're so different just because of what you are? By the gods I'm no different than you I'm a hybrid too!" she said.

This pissed me off so i glared at her, "You think we're the same?" I growled.

Kate just nodded and kept staring back at me, "What possible right do you think you have to even suggest something like that?" I growled.

"Have you ever walked down the side of a street cold and hungry begging for food from people only to get spit on or the crap kicked out of you, and when that happens have you ever asked for someone's help only to have them look at you like trash and laugh or join in?"

"Or let me ask you this, have you ever had to dig through trash trying to find food that was at least less than a week old and didn't have rat crap and maggots on it so you could take it back to you friends so they can have something to eat?!"

I stood up over the table and jabbed her in the chest as I continued to speak, "No you haven't you were probably nice and safe in your house as a kid, loved by your ANTHRO parents and friends you probably got to go to school just like all the other kids, then when that was done you probably got a job as some rich fucks cute little ANTHRO pet so you wouldn't have to worry about money!" I yelled at her and I saw her flinch every time I said Anthro.

"So don't you even begin to think you're anything like me! You may think you are but your kind is no different from those filthy fucking humans"

That got a reaction out of her and she glared at me, "Don't you even try to deny it woman your kind have done just as much damage to shifters as they have, and don't try to tell me that when you were young you didn't cross the street when on some rare occasion you did see a shifter walking down the same sidewalk as you"

"I'll bet I can even tell you what you were thinking when you did it too, by the gods it's one of those nasty shifters! I hope it doesn't come over here and try to touch me"

I saw the look in her eyes falter then she lowered her gaze to the table, "Yeah that's what I thought Anthro, you have no right to even try and tell me that we're no different I'll bet when you where in school you had all the boy's talking to you and asking you out on dates. I'd even go so far as to bet that when you did say yes to one of them and you went to meet his parents they welcomed you with open arms"

"We shifters on the other hand get nothing more than a gun in our face and a boot to our ass if we so much as look at one of the humans wrong and all your kind ever did was bend over and fucking take it from the humans so you could have a warm bed and a hot fucking meal, The only reason I didn't kill you when I saw you was because of the fact that I hate humans even more than I hate your kind for getting into bed with them!" as I said this I saw a few tears run down Kate's cheek.

Finally feeling a little better and somewhat guilty I closed my eyes and fell back into the chair not even bothering to look at her.

"You not entirely right you know." she whispered.

I cast a quick glance at her and saw her looking at me but I said nothing, "It's true when i was young I thought of shifters like everyone else did but I was a child and didn't really know any better....but my entire opinion changed one day."

This peeked my interest so i looked at her more closely, "I was about eight when it happened....I was walking home from school one day and some of the older kids were following me home, at the time I didn't know it but about half way home they cut me off and surrounded me".

I saw her start to fidget as she continued, "They acted really nice to me and gave me candy and things then they asked me if i wanted to hang out with them, something told me not to go with them but I was so happy that they had asked me that I ignored it and said yes."

"They pulled me into a back alley behind one of the stores.....after a while we came to this dead end and the kids pulled out this bottle and started drinking from it, they started to get really pushy after that and I got scared, I tried to leave but they wouldn't let me they said if I wanted to hang out with them then I had to give them something in return."

By this time the tears were coming more and more but she kept talking, "One of them pushed me down onto an old mattress and started to touch me, I tried to fight them off but I was to small to do anything. They started to tear my clothes off and ran their hands over me....I tried to call for help but they hit me and told me to keep quiet or they would hurt me."

"Around that time one of them....a human took off his pants and his friends held me down, that's when i knew they were going to rape me....I fought as hard as i could but they were to strong for me and I could only cry when he got down and started to touch me"

"I could only close my eyes when he started to put himself closer to me and pray that they wouldn't hurt me, as I waited I heard some one start fighting and the next thing I knew the humans where running off screaming and when I opened my eyes to see what was going on I saw another boy standing over me I thought that he had fought off the other humans so he could have me to himself so I was a bit surprised when he took off his coat and wrapped it around me and asked me if I was ok"

"I told him I was and asked what his name was but before he could tell me he passed out, that's when I noticed he was hurt badly so I did the only thing I could think of and ran to a phone and called my parents, when they finally came to help me they said he was a shifter and we should just leave him there that is until I told them what had happened and that he had been the one to save me from those boys"

"After that they put him in the truck and we took him back to our house and nursed him back to health to thank him for saving me, I remember when he got a little better he thanked us for helping him and I asked him if he would stay with us until he was all better but he said that if he did then the hunters would come and he didn't want to put us in harms way. After that he left with out a word....eventually my parents came to an agreement that if they found any more shifter kids that they would help them and we ended up running a safe house for them....that is until the hunters found out when I was about thirteen, they burned down my home and killed my parents but luckily they never found the shifters or me and when it was all over we made our way into the marshes here".

By this time I was seeing her in a slightly different light, "I've heard of some people that have been helping shifters but every time I tracked them down it was to late." I said to her.

She just smiled at me weakly before answering, "Yeah well for some reason it always ends like that, but I still don't see why you have to treat Serinity like that even when I can tell that you like her"

I looked down at the table and noticed the claw marks that I had left in it from earlier, I started to run my fingers over them as I spoke to Kate.

"You want the truth?" I asked her.

She nodded at me and perked her ears forward, "First off yeah I do like her......beside other shifters she is the only one who's ever been kind to me, but the simple fact of the matter is that I'm to afraid of what might happen if i let her get to close"

Kate tilted her head curiously, "You mean the hunters?"

I closed my eyes and nodded, "Among other things.....you've seen it first hand....the kind of horror they can cause, no matter where we go hunters always find us....always take everything from us even the digimon do the same thing when they find us....unless we were hired by them to do a job most of the time they would rather kill us than even consider talking to us....everything we shifters do ends up turning to ashes at our touch that's why most of us never get to have anything more than what we can get from the meager living we make doing odd jobs or working at the shift station."

"That is unless you take my path and become a mercenary.....even though the money is good being a shifter means I have to spend most of my life in run down rat holes in the ghetto or some abandoned building with none of the basic's of life, and even if Serinity does have feelings about me there's no way that anything could happen between us even if I wanted them to."

This got a scowl out of Kate as I looked at her, "Look I don't know much about shifters but one thing I do know is that if you don't let this whole lone wolf thing go your just going to end up face down in a ditch with no one to mourn you when you die I mean it's not like your actually going to hurt Serinity if you let her get close is it?"

Just then we heard a knock at the door making us both jump and turn to look, Kate got up and opened the door revealing Serinity holding two buckets and a burlap sack with something in it. She looked around as Kate took the buckets from her, "Is everything ok?"

Kate just smiled at her, "Yeah we were just talking that's all come on in and I'll get supper started then we can hit the sack and head out in the morning".

For the rest of the night i thought about what Kate had said, even as I ate I didn't even bother to listen to the girls converse unless they wanted my opinion on something and even then I only gave them a grunt or a whatever.

After we got done eating Kate set out some sleeping mats that she pulled out of the closet and set them out for us with some blankets before blowing out what remained of the candle and getting into her own bed, I put my coat and scarf over the back of the chair and went to bed as soon as I could hoping that i would have a clearer head in the morning.

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Chapter Forty One

I was running through the woods as fast as i could from something, i could feel my heart pounding in my chest and my lungs were burning. Sweat was dripping off of me like water from a faucet and my body was in pain but I couldn't stop running, I could hear it behind me that horrible beast that's plagued me for so long but no matter how fast i ran it was getting closer.

I pushed myself harder and picked up the pace trying to get away from it, I could hear it getting even closer and a soft chuckle reached my ears taunting me and driving me to go even faster.

"Hehehehe you can't get away from me Chad.....I'm always here.....I always have been and always will be......you'll never get away from me no matter how hard you try, you couldn't get away from me then and you can't get away from me now hehehehehe"

I pushed through the branches and the undergrowth and i could feel them lashing at me, trying to grab me and hold me still but i pushed through them.

"Your too weak Chad....I'm the only reason you're alive today"

Finally I managed to break through the trees but I came skidding to a halt when i saw a vast sea of water that seemed to glint crimson in the moonlight as it lapped at the ground before me, I turned around and looked back at the trees when I heard something crashing through them and saw a massive form cloaked in shadows looking back at me.

"I will have you sooner or later weakling you can count on that, you will always come back to me and I will be right here waiting for you to ask for my help.....for you to ask me to come out and play"

Its shadowed face split into an evilly grin and i saw large yellowish fangs glinting in the moonlight, my gaze traveled a little higher and I saw two glowing red eyes staring back at me.

I felt my chest tighten with fear and I bolted into the water and tried to swim for it but as I dove in I saw faces both human and digimon looking back up at me, dozens....no hundreds of them all of them with dead vacant eyes and rotting faces.

I tried to get out of the water but I felt hands latch onto me and begin to drag me down further in the warm murky depths, it slid over my chest as they dragged me down and i felt more hands grab me.

"Somebody......please somebody help me!" I screamed.

The water was sliding over my face now and as I called out some of it slid into my mouth, when it touched my tongue I realized what it was i was being dragged into......it was a sea of blood.

*No*

One of the hands grabbed my head and started pulling me down under the surface, I punched out and kicked with my feet trying to get back above the surface but the hands that held me wouldn't let go.

The blood was in my nose and mouth now and I couldn't breathe, all I could feel were those hands dragging me further down into its depths as i struggled to get free.

***********************************************************************************************

"NO!"

I sat bolt upright in the dark room and looked around, I could feel cold sweat soaking my shirt and i was breathing hard and shaking with fear.

It took me a minute to recall where I was but the dream still plagued me with after images and I could still taste the blood in my mouth and feel the hands on my skin clutching at me, I could feel something wet on my cheeks and realized I was crying.

"Chad what's wrong, are you ok?.....gods your shaking like a leaf!" Serinity said.

I still couldn't move because of the dream and I nearly jumped out of my skin when I felt her put her arms around me and pull me close, I was shivering uncontrollably and for some reason the feel of her fur was comforting.

I felt her move around until she was hugging me and when she stopped I wrapped my arms around her and held tightly, I couldn't stop my body from shaking as I sat there and held onto her for dear life.

After a few minutes I calmed down some but I couldn't let go of her because I felt that if I did I would be taken back to that place and they would get me again, I slowly forced myself to loosen my grip on her and started to pull away.

"Serinity i-"

"Shhhh it's ok, everything is going to be ok Chad" she said cutting me off and pulling me closer.

It felt good to have someone do that, it's the first time anyone since Claire had done it and I suddenly felt the tears rolling down my face increase. I renewed my grip and felt her start to lean me back until I was laying down again, we lay there like that for some time and I heard Serinity whispering reassuring things in my ear and telling me everything was going to be alright.

I slowly began to drift off again as she did this and soon I was drifting into a dreamless sleep, and as i did i heard a strange song floating around me as if keeping me safe.

I woke up the next morning to someone kicking me in the leg and when i opened my eyes I saw Kate standing over my with a shit eating grin on her face, I looked around and realized it was morning but I couldn't figure out why she was smiling like that.

Just then I felt something close to me move and looked down to find Serinity laying with her back pressed up against me, I quickly got up and moved away from her and grabbed my coat then put it on after I wrapped my wings around my chest.

After that was done I turned back and glared at Kate who still had that stupid grin plastered on her face, "What the hell are you grinning at you mangy feline?!" I growled at her.

"Woahohoho some body's cranky this morning, what's the matter shifter have a late night?" she replied still grinning.

I glared harder at her and replied, "That's none of your business furball so just shut up and drop it".

I saw the grin drop from her face as she looked at me then she turned to the stove and started making some food, I on the other hand walked out of the little shack that we were in and walked down to the water supply a few houses down.

When I got there I pulled off my coat and shirt and grabbed a bucket then dipped it down into the drum of water, I dumped the water over my head and felt it take off some of the sweat from last night.

I did this a few more times then grabbed my shirt and dunked it into the water then I followed it in as far as I could without actually getting into the barrel, I scrubbed myself down as fast as I could and pulled myself out and shook myself hard to get the water off of me.

After that was done I rang out my shirt, after I had it dry enough (which wasn't to hard since it was under armor) I put it back on and turned around only to find Kate there watching me.

She seemed to be thinking about something and hadn't noticed I had turned around, "What do you want furball" I growled at her as I pushed my wings through the holes in the back of my shirt then wrapped them around my chest.

I saw her jump some and look at me, "I came to tell you breakfast is ready and Serinity wants to know if you can help her out with a few of the details in her plan this morning" she said.

"I'll be there in a minute so go ahead and get back", she just nodded and turned walking back to her little shack.

*I wonder how much she saw* I thought as I reached up and pulled Serinity's ribbon out of my hair, I looked at it for a second before I shoved it into my pocket and grabbing my coat then I started walking back to the shack.

_______________________________________________________________

Chapter Forty Two

"Ok like I said the last two times, there are two ways this will go" I sighed.

"When we get there this Serph guy will either take Kate back without giving her to us for the damage to my leg or he will, if he does let you stay with us then that's fine but we'll still have to put you with the other slaves do you understand?" they both nodded.

"But the only thing that's wrong with your leg is a small hole in the casing Chad what could possibly be bad about that?" Serinity asked.

I groaned in frustration and looked at her, "Fine you know what, instead of trying to tell this to you I'll show you." I said.

I reached down and pulled up my pant leg then stuck a finger into the hole in the casing of my thigh and ripped it open creating a jagged rip in it's covering so that the mechanics where exposed then I jabbed the pointer finger of my right hand through the metal in a few more places so it looked like I got hit by some bullets, after that was done I put the leg of my pants back down and made it look torn and tattered like it had been there when I got hit.

After that was done I looked at the others and spoke, "Are we getting the general idea here?" I asked.

They both nodded again so I continued, "Ok regardless of whether or not he takes you back to be with the other slaves we'll still have to sell this so Serinity is going to have to wear the camo unit that I have here or this won't work" I said as i picked up the choker and handed it to her.

Serinity took it but didn't put it on yet, "Serinity I have to tell you this, if we're going to pull this off then you'll have to stop being yourself for now at least until we free the captive Anthros and take out Serph do you understand?"

She looked a bit uncertain but nodded, "I know you're not going to like this but you can't let what you might see faze you in the least so the only advise I can give you is this, block it out, ignore it and you'll be fine the only thing that leaves is the way you act." I told her.

"You won't have the luxury of acting like your normal self, instead you're going to have to act like a virus type Digimon which means you're going to have to think like one."

This made Serinity tilt her head and cock one ear up curiously, "What do you mean Chad?"

I sat back in my chair and looked her dead in the eye before continuing, "What I mean is instead of being kind you'll have to act like you actually enjoy causing others pain and misery."

"Dark types and virus types aren't known for being kind to others, instead they think only of what they can do to further their own goals or personal pleasure, like taking slaves and servants of lesser beings like Shifters, Anthros, Humans and even other Digimon do you think you can pull this off?" I said.

Serinity thought hard about this for several minutes before nodded agreement, "Yes I think I can" she said.

I nodded, "Just do your best to keep this in mind, your better then everyone else and that means you deserve to be in charge no exceptions, and this really shouldn't be any different than court politics for you ok? Just keep that in mind and you should be fine." I told her.

She nodded to me, "So basically you want me to act like a spoiled child who gets everything she wants no matter how badly it hurts someone else."

This made me grin, "That's absolutely correct Serinity."

I looked at Kate next, "Ok Kate what did you do when they held you captive before? Did you or the others make the food or did one of the goons under Serph do it?" I asked.

Kate flinched at the question and started rubbing her arm before speaking, "I....i was Serph's personal servant while I was their so I don't remember much but i do know that my friends are the ones who make the food not his goons." she told me.

Even I knew what she meant by that but the fact that she couldn't remember much bothered me, instead of pressing further I just nodded "Ok that's good it will make it easier for us when the time comes to take out Serph, but it also means that we're going to have to really sell this because if we don't then you could very well get hurt badly or killed for that matter." I said.

"The only thing you need to do is play along with us but we're going to have to ruff you up some before we go and you're not going to be able to wear your clothes there." This made Kate glare at me like she was going to attack, but I held up my hand to stop her.

"Let me explain before you decide to do anything rash" i said to her, "Slaves don't have rights and looking at this from a virus type point of view you are going to be Serinity's new slave and as such you will have to earn any type of privilege and that means clothes"

This made Kate blush and i almost laughed, "Fine but what about you Shifter are you going to do the same thing?" she asked as she shot me an angry glare.

I shook my head, "No but I will be going in there without my shirt on so that will help sell this little plan of ours" I told her.

"But we are going to have to get some sleeping herbs to make this easier on us." I said.

This made both of them look at me curiously, "What do you mean?" Kate asked.

"Well for starters we need to put as many of Serph's goons to sleep as we can otherwise we'll be fighting the whole base" I said.

They both agreed with me on this point so I continued, "Also if we can take out Serph then it will be that much easier to deal with his goons, after all if you want to kill a snake then you have to take off the head"

They seemed to except this but Kate asked another question, "Shifter why don't you wear the camo unit so we can make sure this goes off without a hitch?".

I closed my eyes and shook my head as I spoke to her, "It wouldn't work, if anything it would make us seem even more suspicious because of the fact that some of the humans have digimon, digimon can smell the difference between a shifter and a human so it would only blow our cover since I don't have anything to cover up my scent and make me smell human" I told her.

"Oh, that makes sense" she said.

I sighed loudly and looked between them before I spoke again, "Ok so the first thing we need to do is have Kate disrobe then one of us is going to have to ruff her up some then we need to pick some sleeping herbs before we get to the base is everyone clear on this....and Serinity your going to have to be the one who ruffs her up."

They both nodded as I got up and walked to the door but Serinity spoke making me stop and turn around, "Chad why do i have to do it?"

"Because I already smell of death Serinity we can pass that off as me trying to protect you as your personal slave, but if they smell her blood on me then it could through off the entire plan then we'd be screwed from the get go." I told her.

I was just about to leave when I heard Kate speak to me, "Shifter....thank you for your help, and if you check the building by the water supply you should be able to find some dried herbs in there, i don't know if they're what you want but it shouldn't hurt to look and there's also a couple of med packs in there as well".

I nodded to this and left making my way out the door to the building Kate had mentioned; when I got there I went inside and found what she was talking about. Luckily I did find a few herbs that would put someone to sleep but there weren't enough for a large number of people so I checked the med kits and was relieved to find some sleeping pills and other things that I could use luckily I also found some rope that we could use so I gathered everything up and walked back to the shack that Serinity and Kate were in and walked inside to find Kate standing in only her fur with a few fresh bruises and cuts like she had been in a fight, but not looking like she had been tortured.

Even I had to admit she was a highly attractive woman but I wasn't about to let her know that besides she was to much fun to argue with for me to say something like that to her although I did give her a quick once over just to check her out, she had a nicely toned body with no body fat and her breasts were a good handful to be sure however the blood on her white belly and tiger strip patterns didn't do much to flatter her. My gaze traveled down to her crotch and I saw the folds of her sex as the fur tapered away to soft pink flesh then i looked at her slender legs, Yep in all she was very attractive I could see why the humans found her kind so easy to get along with.

I set the stuff down on the table and packed everything back into the makeshift bag then slung it over my shoulder and looked at Kate, "Do you have a map or something to show us where Serph's base is?" I asked her.

I watched as she turned and walked over to the closet and opened the door then began digging around for a map, as I watched I saw she had a tight firm ass and her tail wasn't bad either. I was still checking her out when I got kicked in the shin by Serinity which made me grunt and grab the table to stay standing, I glared at her and she glared back at me accusingly then she huffed and turned away.

I looked at her while she had her back to me like she was nuts but then something occurred to me, *I think she was actually jealous that I was looking at Kate and not her* this thought actually made me smirk but thankfully my scarf hide this fact.

Right about this time Kate came back over and unrolled a map of the marsh lands and pointed to one of the little dots on it as she spoke, "Ok we're here in this village, the other villagers where taken about a month ago so there's nobody here to worry about but Serph's base is here." at this she trailed her finger North East of the village until she came to a point near the edge of the marsh where it had a symbol that looked like a castle.

"So Serph stay's in a castle near the edge of the marshlands?" I asked.

Kate nodded, "Yeah it's been there since we came to the marsh lands but it's still in pretty good condition" she told me as she rolled up the map.

"It should take us a few hours to get there but if we leave now we can get there by mid day so it won't take that long, but i still don't see how some choker is going to help us pull this off" she finished.

This made me grin and I looked over at Serinity and held out my hand, "Let me see the camo unit for a minute" I told her.

She handed it to me and I pulled out a small jack and pushed it into the input in my head then I messed with the configuration of the setup and gave it back to her, She looked at me for a minute and I nodded.

Kate and I watched as she put the choker on and hit the button in the eye socket, I heard Kate gasp as Serinity's fur changed to what it had been in the castle the only difference now was that she had the symbol of a white Orabaris on her legs instead of her normal Ying/Yang symbol.

I saw Serinity shiver then she settled down and sighed, "I really don't like that feeling" she said.

Kate walked around the table and touched Serinity's arm as if she was trying to wipe off the effect and when she realized that it wouldn't come off her eye widened in amazement then she looked at me.

"You....how did....what the hell is going on!?!" she said.

I pointed at the choker that Serinity was wearing as i spoke, "The choker actually changes the physical appearance of anyone who puts it on, I'm not to sure about how it works but it does so I'm not complaining about it and barring a direct hit it won't crap out on us unless we get it wet" I told her.

With that said i looked at Serintiy, "Come on we've got to get going so we can get this over with" i told her.

She nodded and we made our way out of the little shack to the jet ski's waiting at the docks, before we got on though I turned to Kate and stopped her.

She looked at me questioningly before saying anything, "What's the matter Shifter?"

"Unfortunately there's one thing I need to do before we go to Serph's base" I told her.

She didn't seem to understand what i was talking about so I explained it to her, "you have the appearance of someone who's been beaten but you don't move like them so I need to drain you of your energy before we get going you should be better some what by the time we get their but this will help to sell the illusion of what we're trying to do" I told her.

This seemed to connect with her and she looked a little worried, "So what are you going to do, bite my neck or something"

"Irk" I closed my eyes as i spoke to her, "No you idiot I'm not a vampire!, I'm going to use an attack ability on you to drain your energy so our story looks more convincing."

When I looked at her again I saw her give a weak smile before nodding, "Fine but you only get to do this once so make it quick." she said.

I relaxed a little and nodded, "It's going to hurt but it will only last for a second so don't worry" i told her.

"Close your eyes and take a deep breath and it'll be over before you know it", she did as i told her and i summoned the energy for my attack.

As she started to let out her breath I reached out and said the name of the attack I was using, "Claws of Darkness" as I touched her she went ridged then slumped forward.

I reached over and picked her up then slung her over my shoulder as I walked over to the jet ski and turned it on, After I was done I put her on the jet ski and climbed on then I gunned the engine and we shot forward into the marsh.

_______________________________________________________________

Chapter Forty Two

Kate was right about it taking a few hours because when we finally saw the old castle the sun was high in the sky, i gave a sigh as it came into view between the trees "this is so cliché" i said as we drifted near a tree.

The castle itself wasn't that big but it was a little run down because marsh plants were growing on the outside wall, it looked like Frankenstein's castle from where i was sitting and I could see a large wooden door in the outer wall close to some more jet ski's like the one I was on.

"Why do you say that Chad?" she asked me.

"Oh come on, Seriously?" I said to her "haven't you ever seen a monster movie?, it always ends the same way, in some big dramatic battle where the good guy beats the evil monster in the throne room or on the battlements and saves the day" I told her.

I felt her put her hand on my shoulder as she leaned a little closer to me and spoke into my ear, "So what does that make you Chad?"

I groaned at the thought, "Oh be quiet woman".

This made Serinity giggle some as I turned back to look at her, "There's some rope in the bag take it and wrap one end around Kate's neck and hold the other end like a leash" I told her as I slipped off my coat.

"If I see one bit of lightning we're outta here" I mumbled to myself.

I heard her digging through the bag as I pulled my shirt off, I waited until she was done then I slipped my shirt, scarf and coat into the bag then I hugged my wings to my back and looked back to see if she was ready.

When I saw she was I revved the engine and drove up to the dock in front of the old castle, I waited for Serinity to get off before I grabbed Kate's limp form and slung it over my shoulder and followed Serinity up to the front gate.

As we got closer I saw a human break away from a group of two digimon and another human, *Here it comes* I thought *I hope she can keep it together*.

The human walking up to us was wearing the same armor that the first two we ran into were, this time I looked the armor over more carefully.

He was wearing a partial chest plate that came to just above his stomach and stopped, on his arms the armor went over his shoulders to just above the elbow and he was wearing metal gloves that came up and covered his forearms, as I looked closer I noticed the fingers past the middle knuckle were cut short probably so he could handle his weapon better.

The pants where brown and made of some kind of cloth that seemed thicker that it should be, *probably has kevlar sown into it* I thought. I noticed that this cloth seemed to cover any part that didn't get covered by the armor.

I looked a little lower and saw he was wearing metal shin guards and on his feet were metal plates built into some leather boots, he was holding his helmet in his left hand and it looked like a metal helmet with a back plate to protect the neck and the face plate looked like it would cover from the bridge of the nose down to the chin but what caught my eye was the strange red lensed goggles set where the eyes go.

The two lenses seemed to glow somewhat as I looked at them and they looked like they had some serious tech behind them, *Possible night vision and thermal options maybe a targeting system too, this is some tough shit to get.....the only time I've seen stuff like this was that time i tangled with a S.W.A.T team in the human world because I'd just killed some high up corporate shmuck* I thought.

I quit checking out the guys gear and put on a blank face so I would at least look my part, as I did this the human sidled up to Serinity with a dumb grin on his face showing cracked and yellow teeth.

"What do you want virus?" he said to her.

*Gods please let this work* I thought as I followed him with my eyes.

"What I want human is to talk to the filth that owns this Anthro slave" she said in a commanding tone.

This seemed to amuse the human and his friends because they all started laughing, "That's funny virus but the boss don't see nobody unless he tells them to come to him, and even then they gotta go through us first." as he said this i saw his eyes slide over her body and for some reason it pissed me off that he did this.

I took a step forward and raised my right hand but Serinity held out her arm and stopped me, I looked at her quickly and settled down.

I watched as she smiled sweetly and slowly walked over to him, he chuckled a bit as she ran a finger across his chest plate then over his shoulder as she walked around him, "Is that so human? Well let me tell you something." she said as she put her other hand on his other shoulder.

Suddenly she grabbed him by the throat and i heard him start to struggle for breath as she put her muzzle close to his ear and spoke, "If i wanted to deal with trash like you then I'd go to the dump and take my pick, now either you take me to your boss or I'll give you to my slave here so he can have some fun."

"Now either do as I say or get out of my way before I change my mind and let him rip you apart" With that she pushed the human away hard making him stumble and fall on his face.

I saw his friends get ready to do something so I raised my right hand and released my claws making them think twice then I wagged my finger at them, they glared at me but did nothing.

I heard the human pick himself up and talk, "You got some nerve bitch you know that, this is the base of Serph the guy who rules this marsh and he don't take kindly to some virus bitch rolling up here and making demands"

i turned to look at the human and saw him take some kind of gun from a holster at his hip and my instincts kicked in, I dropped Kate to the ground and lashed out with my right hand piercing threw the armored glove he was wearing and making him drop the weapon.

I heard him scream when he realized what i had done and saw him fall to his knees making my claws slip out of his hand, the wound I gave him was bleeding heavily and he was cradling it in his lap.

I was just about to make the finishing blow when Serinity held up her hand making my stop; she slowly walked over to him and crouched down to look at him. He was still screaming from the pain of his hand as she put one finger under his chin and lifted his head up so they were looking each other in the eyes as she spoke.

"That was a very stupid thing you did trash, I had one simple request for you and that was for you to take my to see your leader and look what happened when you didn't do as I told you" she said.

I saw her reach out and take the humans injured hand in her other one and slowly run her thumb over it until it was covering the hole, "Now that you've learned your lesson are you going to take me to see your leader?"

The human gritted his teeth and spat in her face, "Fuck you bitch you'll never see the boss!"

I watched Serinity wipe the spit from her face then i heard an ear splitting scream come from the human I looked down and saw her digging her thumb claw around in his hand making sure to move it around to get the most pain in his screams, "That was the wrong answer trash....now this is what I'm going to do, I'm going to let you get up and then your going to take me inside to see your boss or I'm going to have my slave take you apart piece by piece" then she smiled evilly at him "and trust me there are a lot of pieces in the human body."

Even i had to shiver at the way she said this, the human nodded to her and she pulled her claw out of the hole in his hand then he jerked it back from her as she stood up.

I could see the anger for her on his face as Serinity spoke, "Come now it doesn't hurt that much so get up and do as I told you." she cooed softly.

Slowly the human got up and stumbled over to the gate and banged on it a couple of times then went back to cradling his injured hand, a few seconds later the large wooden door opened inward.

Inside I saw a few more guards in armor looking at us and these had their helmets on so i couldn't tell if they were male or female, we walked inside the door and I saw we were in a large courtyard with several gun placements stationed at key positions.

I took note of them as I followed Serinity and our guide to another large door, he opened this one and we walked into a large hall with several large tables set along the center of the room. I noted in all about thirty humans and digimon sitting at the tables some of the eating others drinking and still other were passed out on the table the one thing i noticed though was that the tables could hold maybe forty more than what was here, as we followed our guide i noticed several Anthro's standing around some of them had platters with jugs on them and others just had a look of fear in their eyes as we walked by.

As i passed by a female wolf in brown rags I heard a sharp gasp, *Possibly one of Kates friends* I thought.

The human lead us to a set of stairs and we followed him up to the second floor of the castle, after a few more minutes we were standing in front of a door and our guide had left us alone.

Serinity looked at me questioningly but all I could do was shrug at her, as she reached out for the handle of the door I noticed a chill in the air and looked around.

"What's wrong?" I heard her ask as I looked back down the hall behind us, I looked back at her before I spoke.

"I thought I felt someone watching us mistress", I told her.

She turned to look down both hallways then back at me, "I don't see anyone slave so do me a favor next time and keep it to yourself."

I bowed my head to her as if scolded, "Please, forgive me mistress".

With that she huffed and jerked the door opened and we stepped inside.

To Be Continued......