FeralGator

Chapter 4: The Meet Killa had left her pack to tend to Thorn’s strange injury and was now running through the streets to where she’d been told to go. She ignored the trainers and made no attempt to hide herself as they looked on, curious and scared. She could hear mothers gasping, children in awe, males grunting curses, and everything else as she pushed through the few crowds that existed. She was told to go all the way down towards where the train station was. She had no clue why her packmates had gone there, seeing as that territory belonged to Wella and not her. Her land strictly resided around an old factory that was abandoned, but impossible to penetrate, along with a few ally ways (one being which her pack resided in). Why had they gone to the train station?! Her mind raced with thoughts on this as well as instinct to both protect and abandon Euca and Derek. Granted she only thought of Euca as a captive, while Derek was probably trying to bargain his way into getting him back, still it wasn’t ignored that he too could have been captured. She didn’t stop, she didn’t slow, and she didnt’ waste any time. All she did was run as fast as she could, jumping over cracks in the ground and making her way through fallen rubble from collapsing buildings. Once she arrived near the gates that separated a few homes from the station, she came to a halt. He breathing was rampant as she stared through the greats of the old rusted fence, ears back as she put herself on alert. She was in the thick of Wella’s territory now, and easily capable of being taken down by whatever members of Wella’s pack still remained. She could feel her heart beat begin to slow as she cautiously looked around. Through a low growl, she called out to Wella and waited. The she-yena was formidable in combat, yet a bit too naive in leadership. It was true that Wella always had her packs interest at heart, but the actions she tended to take often overshadowed the good she was hoping to achieve. Killa had to keep all of this in mind. If it came to negotiating with her, she’d have to take all of that into account. “Bout’ time you showed,” snorted a female voice. Killa turned to look over towards an old abandoned house. She saw Wella walk out in all her disgusting glory. The female was tattered all over, even more so than Albert, and spoke with an incredibly raspy voice. Her color was paler than normal, showing both signs of age and illness. Her eyes were layered with bags as her body showed signs of what could only be mange. “Why did you attack my patrol? You know very well that my pack is stronger than yours!” started Killa with a defensive grunt. Her fur stood on end as Wella began to make her way over. “Stay back you flea bitten mongrel,” she threatened. “Temper, temper, Killa. I only wish to speak with you.” Wella’s voice was harsh to Killa’s ears. Like nails on a chalkboard, it tore through Killa’s head and caused her fur to lift even more. Her breath was none the better either. Like a rancid stunky, this female was truly the definition of walking trash. “Where is my beta and Euca? Show them to me Wella, or I will assume you attacked them and return the favor to you!” Killa didn’t back away despite her urge to do so. She had to stand her ground despite the filth that came ever closer to her being. “They’re fine. The only one that suffered any kind of injury was that Thorn of yours. He was such a handsome pup too. Strong willed, brave, silent, I rather do enjoy those types. Either way, the poor boy came into a heap of trouble with a Hoppip. Got himself covered in a stun spore attack. I simply just took the advantage of the moment and had my boys take that pretty little plant down before shuffling your two dogs past my border. After all, the rest of the hoppip weren’t too pleased and I had to make sure that no Mightyena fell victim to their attacks again! Aren’t I just the nicest?” “About as nice as a Garbordor in the heat of summer,” muttered Killa as she watched the female. Wella had begun to circle her, keeping her pinned to the spot she’d taken a stance in. Wella’s voice was disgustingly riddled with pride and over confidence, her steps coursing through satisfaction and joy like a pup. She was so proud of herself and didn’t hesitate one bit in showing it off. “Why bring my pack here? Are you wanting to start a fight?!” Killa asked her. “Please. I know better than to start a fight with the all mighty Killa!” Willa retorted. “Oh no. I brought them here because I know that I couldn’t get a private meeting like this with you otherwise!” “That’s a load of crap and you know it!” Killa retorted back quickly. “I would have seen you if you’d have asked! You didn’t need to go to these ridiculous lengths to get me here! How do I even know that it wasn’t your dogs that startled the Hoppip into releasing Stun Spore in the first place?!” “Why, Killa..!” started Willa with shock as she lifted a paw to her chest, obviously hurt by the assumption. “You think I would honestly stoop so low?! No my girl I simply had no reason to trust a simple conversation could be had otherwise! You know as well as I that my pack couldn’t fight you, and with the way food and water is, I couldn’t even BEGIN to imagine you and your pack being civil enough to want to hold a meeting between us! Especially when the meeting meant you and I had to be alone!” “Cut the act Wella,” snorted Killa in a calmer tone. “You want to talk? Fine. We’ll talk. But first you let my beta go, and you let Euca go. Once I see that they are safely able to return to our land, you and I can talk one on one.” In a way, Wella did have a point. Food and water was so scarce that seeing her in their territory would have prompted an attack first over words. Still, the lengths Wella had gone to were far from easy to deal with in Killa’s mind. Wella had only one more step to make incorrectly before Killa would act out. All that remained was the time spent getting there. Wella gave a simple call and looked over towards the old house. Killa too looked over and saw both Derek and Euca coming out with a couple of Mightyena around them. Euca looked exhausted while Derek remained tall and strong. It may have been for show however, as Derek was no better off than Euca in terms of health and strength. She nodded to them and watched as Derek’s ears were thrown back. He disapproved of this situation completely, but didn’t act on it. He instead nudged Euca to follow him, and the two were allowed to leave without any problems. Once they were out of both earshot and eyesight, Killa turned to Wella and asked with a stiff voice, “What is it you want to talk about?” ______ “Derek, ye’ be actin’ more like Killa since ye’ came back here with Euca. Yer beginin’ te’ worry me there lad,” Albert remarked as he walked over to the beta. Derek had taken vigil at the foot of the alleyway (while still keeping out of sight of humans), and was only reacting to what was being said through twitches in his ears. Every so often the beta would react to an itch, scratching his fur quickly, but that was the heaviest extent of movement he offered since his vigil began. Albert was now next to Derek, sitting down as he too found an itch almost impossible to ignore. Through his scratching, he spoke again. “Ye’ best be havin’ more faith in our alpha. Ye’ know that Killa can handle herself against that pack. Trust her.” “I do trust her, Albert,” Derek told him. “However I DON’T trust that pack of Wella’s. Even with their small numbers, they outmatched the alpha five to one. She could get out of it yes, but not without injury. Injury that we can’t afford for her to gain.” “Especially from that rat pack of Mightyena,” Percy broke in. He snorted again and added, “That flea bitten mongrel pack is better off dead than alive. All they do is spread disease like walking plagues!” He got no argument from anyone. Not even Morrison spoke against him. Prince and Johanna just remained still, both laying on their stomachs next to one another as they listened intently to what was being said. In their minds, the pack Killa was up against looked nothing like Mightyena. Instead they resembled figures that were more formless than anything else. How could you picture something like they were describing anyways? Walking plagues? What were those? Euca shuttered just then, catching the two’s attention. “You okay, Euca?” asked Johanna as he lifted up his head. “Yeah you don’t look so good,” remarked Prince. “Just nauseous is all,” Euca answered. “Get over it you big baby,” pestered Percy. “You weren’t the one that suffered stun spore! You’re not even hurt either!” “You try staying at their base then and come back feeling dandy as a rose!” barked Euca as he looked back to Percy. “Their home borders the water. Do you even realize how strong the rank smell is coming from that poisoned ocean? Combine that with the mangey way they live and… ugh…. it’s enough to make even a Skuntank shutter!” “It’s not like we live any cleaner,” retorted Percy. “I bet we stink just as much as they do. After all it’s not like we have any proper ways of cleaning ourselves. We’re not cats.” “Cats?” Pricne asked confused. His ears twitched as Morrison sighed and answered for Percy. “He means we don’t lick ourselves clean. Cats do that. Liepard, Meowth, Purrloin, Skitty, the lot of’em. They can clean themselves by licked their bodies with their tongues.” “Blech!” responded Prince as he stuck out his tongue. The pack began to laugh a bit, save for Derek and Percy that is. Derek found no humor in their situation, but like Killa, was able to just brush it aside for the moment. He focused strictly on keeping watch in his vigil for their alpha to return. What was she remaining behind to do with Wella? Were they talking? It wasn’t obvious for Derek seeing as how him and Euca weren’t spoken to about the reasons they were taken there. The real reasons that is. All they were told was that it was to protect them from the Hoppip’s attacks. Derek knew better however; able to pick up on the type of tone that Wella had been using while she spoke to them. “Were you scared, Euca?” asked Johanna soon after the laughing had stopped. “You know.. being in enemy territory and all?” It took Euca a moment to answer, looking up a bit as he thought about it. “You know… not really. Despite the smell, they didn’t threaten me or Derek all that much. The only threats that they gave were just sending us back out into the stun spore without any help or protection. A few of them know how to use the attack Protect, shocking enough. It’s strange. It makes me wonder if some of them were trainer raised and abandoned or something..” “It doesn’t matter,” Derek chimed in. “Trainer raised or not, their threat was still a threat. I don’t care their intension or anything else. They made that threat and it could have easily costed us our lives if it were put through!” Agitation was in Derek’s voice as he remained in his stance. He was twitching a bit, his legs shifting ever so slightly from how long he’d been waiting. The sun was just due to set after all and their alpha was still no where to be seen or smelled. He hated this. He absolutely hated this! He should have stayed with Killa and let Euca go back alone! He shouldn’t have left her to deal with Wella’s pack on her own like that! Glancing back though, he knew Euca wouldn’t have made it back on his own. Euca was considerably weak for his age. He was fast that much was true, but the Mightyena lacked a lot of skill in physical strength. They were lucky that the Hoppip didn’t continue their assault when they left. Sheer dumb luck probably rather than luck, but either way it made no difference. He looked away again, his body aching from how badly he wanted to just dart off. Where was she? ____ “My pack isn’t up for trade,” growled Killa. “They aren’t up for mixings or anything like that.” “Come now Killa! You consist of mostly males! I consist of mostly females! It just makes sense that we form an alliance between our two packs! Don’t you want your legacy to continue on?!” The two female leaders had been at it for hours. The females of Wella’s pack could tell that Killa wasn’t going to budge on this issue. It aggravated them to no end. They wanted to mate and have pups. They wanted to expand their pack and their bloodlines. It didn’t matter who the males were anymore. They simply wanted to survive and Killa was keeping them from it! “The packs have never before formed alliance before and I don’t feel like starting it now!” barked Killa. She stood up and pushed herself forward towards Wella. Her teeth bared themselves as she continued on, “How many times must I tell you that I refuse to let MY pack mate with the filth of yours?! I don’t care about how many of this or that we both have, I care for the health of my pack! Allowing your kind to step in could cause serious issues and trust me when I say that I’d rather my legacy end with my boys than continue with your blood contaminating it!” Her ear twitched just then as her attention was thrown to her backside when a deep and booming voice asked her a question. “Then how about you do so with us?” ____ Night had fallen. Derek remained in his vigil while the rest of the pack slept. He wasn’t going to close his eyes until Killa was back safe and sound. The two pups were the only ones barely asleep, Johanna waking up every hour or so from presumably nothing. His dreams didn’t exist and the night was quiet. His stomach wasn’t churning and his nerves weren’t shot. Still he woke constantly, getting more and more agitated by the minute. His brother also seemed to be doing this, though not as often. He’d wake up and yawn, look over to Derek, and just slowly try an lull himself back to sleep. Johanna played it differently. After so many times of waking up, he gave up on trying to sleep again and walked over to Derek. “Back to sleep, young one,” Derek initially said. “You don’t think I’ve tried?” returned Johanna. He sat down next to Derek whom gave no indication of pushing the Poochyena away. With one more yawn, the brown and white colored pup found himself waking up even more. “I can’t sleep, Derek. I don’t know why. I thought it might be because I’m still hungry but… I don’t think that’s it. I think it’s something else…” “You’re worried, most likely. Our alpha still hasn’t returned from her time with Wella. It’s only natural that you’d be worried seeing as she’s-” “I guess…” interrupted Johanna. Derek looked at him a bit intrigued. Why would he interrupt like that? “But she’s the alpha. I shouldn’t be worried for the alpha. I really shouldn’t!” “I sympathize with you, Johanna,” began Derek. “I too feel like I shouldn’t worry, yet here I am, sitting here in vigil, doing just that. I want to know she’s okay, but I can’t. I want to act for her, but I shouldn’t. I want to rush in after her, but I won’t.” Johanna looked up to Derek as he spoke, listening as the frustration came pouring through Derek’s words like a waterfall. “I need to remain here and just hope for her safe return. Despite knowing how strong she is, I will not stop worrying. It’s nothing to be ashamed of despite how we think it may be. It isn’t us showing weakness or even a lack of faith. We are just worried over someone we care so very deeply about.” Johanna looked away from Derek, his ears falling back as his eyes took to the ground. Someone he deeply cared about? Did he deeply care for the alpha? He obviously did care, but it was hard to really say just how much that care reached. She was his alpha that much was true, but she never felt like anything more. She felt nothing like how the others felt. he was proud of her and loyal to her, yes, but personally… did he really have the level of concern that Derek obviously had? He’d never had to think about something like this before, and now that it was happening, it was making it even harder for him to find the sleep that he craved so much. “Brother?” whispered a small voice. A yawn came soon after as Prince walked up to the two. Sitting down, the pup found himself in the middle of both being awake and being asleep. He only headed over because Johanna was here. “What’s going on? Are you okay?” he asked sleepily. “Yeah I’m fine. Just… worried I guess? I don’t know…” answered Johanna. he didn’t outright say what he was thinking, worried that Derek would probably scold him or something, so instead he tried to brush off his unease as best he could as just nighttime jitters. “Alpha still hasn’t returned. I’m worried but… I’m also not? Like… she’s super strong. She can handle herself. Still though…” “Yeah. I’m worried as well. I keep dreaming about her when I fall asleep. She’s never been out this long before..” Prince was obviously much more concerned than Johanna was if his dreams were even teaming up with him. “They aren’t really nightmares but… they aren’t good dreams either. They just start and then end with no explanation as to how they ended. Like… I see her but then everything just black’s out because I open my eyes.” The two continued to speak as Derek focused on his watch. He only half paid attention to their conversation, jumping back and forth from it to his own thoughts. He prayed silently to Arceus for her safe return. He prayed that their bad luck was finally going to end. That they would be able to finally find food the next day, find a suitable drinking source, and get their leader back unscathed.

Yay I was right! If only you were too. ;n; Honchy ouo

Not in the slightest. Honchy? ouo

I'll remind you then. My name is FeralGator! ;3 micky

Nah more like followed by the gator wars. Honchy next?

Happy birthday MDE!!! Make the most of it!!! 8DD

Quick little update, the next chapter will be put up tomorrow. I needed a small break for personal reasons, but I'm itching to get back into writing again. So expect a new update! Maybe even two if I can find the time for it!!!

Nope it's Feral. Juu

Nope again it's me! 8D mde

Nope it's Feral! 8D mde

HECK NO LUKE ISN'T! Bam. Hi. lol TRHS

.5/10 That also isn't my style. ;3

watching this and a lot of other Starbomb stuff. Hehe.

Here is my team post version seven!! 8D Yaaaaaaay best team evurrrsssss!!! I am so ready for the E4 now. E8. E-whatever.