I dedicate this short story to Mohabi's Pack, a great Lupe pack that I have
known for a long while. They are currently recovering from a war against another
large pack that they defeated and destroyed. May the faeries be with you, and
may you live in peace.
I am a kind Lupe that expects to live life to the fullest, and help others
on the way. I may not be the tallest, strongest, or most popular of the bunch,
but I am who I am, and I am proud of what I am. To live is to have a seed; you
can plant it, and it may become a beautiful flower, a great tree, or possibly
a thorn-covered vine that destroys nearly everything in its path. And even then,
you will never know if a bee will come out of it and sting you, or if sap comes
out of it to make the sweetest syrup in the region. But what my point is, life
is what you make of it. You can abuse that seed and it may never grow beautiful,
or you can water the seed and care for it to the fullest and it may turn into
a great redwood tree.
Lately, I've been thinking about this quite often. I have always valued my
life, but not as much as I had since that experience. Sure, sure. I'm
Griffin L. Kingsley here for crying out loud, the Lupe that will put his life
on the line to rescue just one little Chia cub! The Lupe that has been on so
many life-threatening adventures that you've stopped counting them ages ago!
Yeah, well what happened a few weeks ago was different. A lot different.
It was just a regular day, right? The sky was darkened with clouds, yet no
rain or snow came down, but everybody was prepared with umbrellas and jackets
just in case. I had just set off a few hours ago to go to the supermarket back
in the closest town for some restocks back on the Property. I had my usual khaki
Stetson with the pull-string on it on top of my uncombed head, and my red bandana
tied around my rough neck. A bag of Neopoints were under that hat, where I kept
all of my other stuff in; a few Lupe treats, a picture of my daughters, a love
letter from my mate. I had a good life then, a pretty good amount of Neopoints,
a wonderful family...yet I had no idea that it may have all ended so soon.
Then, I had a feeling that something was following me. It happened quite often,
and I knew it may lead to danger, so I stayed alert. Phew. Just a white Lupe
on his way to the store, black sunglasses on his face and a jet-black leather
jacket. I guessed he was a biker, and almost admired it, as I was never allowed
to have a motorcycle before. I turned back around and continued along, as if
the encounter with the Lupe never happened.
Several blocks later, I had that feeling again, so I turned around. There was
the white Lupe! Was he following me? I doubted it, believed it was a huge coincidence,
but stayed tense and ever ready--just in case. This was getting creepy...the
Lupe seemed to follow me so close that only two feet were between us.
I started to walk faster. So did the Lupe Emotions ran through my body as if
they were in a race, and I knew something was unsettle. Fear struck over me
and took the best of me, so I gathered myself up into a run. The Lupe followed.
Fear struck through my heart like thirty icy daggers, steely and cold. I ran
faster, and the Lupe constantly followed. My soft feet pounded against the cold
sidewalk, my mouth open and my back arched. I was ready to fight if I had to,
but fighting was never my first priority.
The white Lupe caught up to me. He was too danged fast!! Eventually he pulled
out a large Ice Sword, the points of it razor-sharp and cold as the north pole.
The sword was clamped in his huge, powerful jaws, his gnarly, yellowish teeth
nearly piercing the steel end of it. The Lupe tried swinging it at me several
times, each time dodged. I kept my focus on the stupid white Lupe trying to
attack me...yet he seemed too obviously clumsy with the sword. Stupid me! I
didn't keep my eye on the road!!
THONK!!
I rammed my head into a large, metal van door at top speed. I collapsed to
the ground, obviously unconscious. A skunk Lupe and a female green Lupe dragged
me into the large, blood-red van and set me down in the centre of it, the white
Lupe hopping in and looking both ways before slamming the door shut. The vehicle
violently took off again at a fast pace, most likely breaking the speed limit,
while the other three Lupes got to work.
I woke up, still in the van, but my forepaws tied behind my back and my hind
legs chained to the floor. It was extremely dark, so I suspected it was dark
out. I eyed the skunk Lupe in the front seat at the wheel, and the green Lupe
resting her head on the white Lupe's shoulder as they slept. Dog dangit, where
was I? I peered out the windshield up front and saw nothing but trees and fields.
Ah, the countryside. Smart of them. Less Chia police on patrol there.
"Untie me...!" I said, attempting to sound fierce, but my pains got the best
of me. "I h...have a...a tiki bomb h...ere and Ahh...I'm not afraid to ah use
it!" I said, remembering yet another item I stuffed in my hat. There was no
reply. It was like I didn't exist. "Leggo of me! Leave me free now an...and
I won't erm...press charges against you!" I hoped the Lupes were stupider than
they looked.
It was then that I noticed I wasn't alone in the back compartment. A shadowy
figure about two feet in front of me shushed me. "Tried that. They're merciless
jerks, Griffin." Man, I was glad to hear a familiar voice for once!!
"Mohabi?" I said in a surprised tone. "They got you too, man?"
I remembered the kind Mohabi, a proud fire Lupe with almost the same stats
as me. He owned, and still does own, a proud pack of many members. He never
hunted Chias, but wasn't a Chia protector like I, and was somewhere in the middle
of the whole Chia/Lupe debate thing. He had friends on both sides, and I valued
that in a pet.
He nodded and smirked. "Yeah. I have no clue why. I was with my pack when it
happened...the others tried fighting them off, but they were just to powerful
and witty." He let out a deep sigh before continuing. "You don't happen to know
what they want, do you?"
I shook my head. "No idea. I don't have many Neopoints and have very few rare
items...I just don't understand this. Perhaps it's because we don't eat Chias,
and they fear that the non-Chia eaters will take over the Chia eaters!"
Mohabi gave a blank look. "To us, Chias are just like any other pet! There
are many more packs like that as well, and we happen to be the only ones here.
Besides, you don't have a Lupe pack, you have--"
I chimed in on the next verse that I had told him billions of times. "--my
family as a pack. I've only told you a million times!" We both chuckled as much
as we could muster, which was not much. My owner taught me to make the best
of a poor situation, and I thought that I was at least with an old friend.
"Ohhh..." I said, biting my lip. "If only I still had my Spy Watch...the laser
on it could burn through these ropes like butter. I had to leave it back at
the HQ, though..."
"...If only my teeth could get near those ropes, then I'd slice 'em off and
then finish off the slew of kidnappers, then get their smelly hides in jail,"
Mohabi said, frustrated as he tried to flex his neck down to the ropes, but
fell over in the doing so. There was a hollow thud, and the white Lupe woke
with a stir.
The Lupe turned around and looked at the two of us, then grunted. "Ya two foolish
Lupes Keep quiet and we'll let ya live longer."
"What do you want from us?" I retorted, furious. "You may get what you want
if you'll JUST TELL US WHAT IT IS!"
A smirk crept across the Lupe's face. "Face it. You two are some of the most
powerful defenders of the Mohabi pack..."
"And?" Mohabi said, a menacing look on his worn face.
"...and we obviously want you two unable to fight. Duh, even two idiots like
you could've figured that out."
"Huh?" I said, then recoiled a bit. "You wouldn't happen to be any enemy of
the Mohabi pack...would you?"
The white Lupe snorted and started his muffled, creepy laugh that ended in
a howl. "Of course, you idiot. My pack is trying to take over your puny gang.
Make us bigger. We have all Lupes in your pack with any statistic over 20 locked
up like you."
"Why? Because you're too weak to handle us and want us out of the way? So you
can leave the pups and weak ones there so you can pick them off like flies?
You truly are vile!" I hissed, and pursed my lips in anger. "You'll never get
away with this. Never!"
"SHUT UP!" The Lupe said, and walked up to me, his nose inches in front of
mine. "We'll get away with this, all right. And after we take over that little
pack, we'll move onto bigger fish--Seize the Night, the Champion Lupe pack...we'll
take them all. All!"
I spat on the foolish, selfish Lupe between the eyes. Mohabi chuckled and my
lips curled into a smile. "You can't even control your own hostages. I'd say
that before you lay a finger on the alphas of the greater packs--soulwolf, Mohabi--that
you'll have to deal with me, first. Now untie me. I'm warning you."
"HA! Now that's funny." The Lupe said, and started turning around to go back
into his seat.
Before the wisp of wind ruffled my fur, I got up on my tied-together hind legs.
I looked somewhat like an overgrown worm with a dog head and feet at the time,
until I swooped down and grabbed the butt of a knife I saw in the Lupe's belt
hook. Fumbling with the instrument, I rolled my head quickly with the knife
in my mouth as to cut the first rope. The ties slipped off of me, and I tossed
the knife over to Mohabi to untie himself. He caught the knife in his jaws and
got to work while I began to take care of the criminals.
I growled fiercely at the shrunken white Lupe and swiped a paw at his ugly
face, knocking the glasses off and leaving a scar. The Lupe yelped as I head
butted him in the side, then jumped onto the seat next to the green Lupe and
firmly bit her arm. She screamed in pain and tried to bite me, but I dodged
it and kicked her in the face just before falling to the ground with a thud.
I shook my head and got up once more, then glared at the driver.
The driver glared at me and took his paws off of the steering wheel, and attempted
to pounce on me, but I jumped over him and kicked his back before jumping out
the open window of the van. I landed in a heap as the van continued to speed
off. Dang, I was sore! I heard a clash and Mohabi smashed through the glass
window of the van, just five feet in front of me. The van swerved and collapsed
into a ditch, immobile as mud seeped into the engine. Both of us were panting
heavily and tired, until I finally spoke up in a labored way. "You okay?"
"Yeah..." Mohabi panted. "I'm okay." He breathed deeply again. "You okay?"
I nodded and rolled onto my back, then stopped breathing as my eyes widened.
The sight I saw was not exactly friendly. a hundred--maybe more--shadowed Lupes
surrounded me and Mohabi, glaring at is in utmost rage, I had thought. The largest
one pawed my side before a wide grin came across her face. "You're a friend
of Mohabi's, aren't you?"
Before replying, the voice of a young Lupe called out. "Here he is!!"
I rolled my eyes to where the voice came from and saw Mohabi, still five feet
in front of me. The Lupes cheered and bolted towards him, and at that point,
I immediately knew that it was none more than Mohabi's pack, glad to see their
Alpha alive. "Call the police..." I said, then smiled. "We have a few criminals
just fifty feet in front of us that need to do some time."
***
Later on, the entire pack came together once more, safe and unhurt. I was extremely
relieved to find that nobody was harmed too bad, and the worst injury was of
one Lupe with a broken leg--very healable. The pack that attempted to invade
the Lupe packs were a small group of only forty or so, and the Alpha had already
had criminal records of kidnapping and had broken out of jail. Mohabi and I
were both given large rewards, but once again, I refused it, as I was only doing
what I do: helping the ones that need helping.
The End | 
