Where There's Smoke...
Author's Notes: This story is NON-CANON from Journey of a Bastard Son, and it's also completely clean. No sex, not even nudity. I still hope you guys enjoy.
Windthor Pryas always tried to stay out of drama, due to the fact that he always ended up getting beat down, as he was now. The hybrid canine leaned against a streetlamp, panting heavily. He was in a lot of pain. "How do I get myself into these messes?" He just couldn't leave well enough alone.
It all started a little while ago. Wind had just stepped into the limits of a small town. He didn't know what town it was or where in the state it rested, but the moment he stepped in, he heard a scream. At first, he thought it was himself causing the pandemonium. But he soon realized that it was a bit deeper into town. He ran toward the noise, his red electric guitar thumping on his back and his wings folded tightly to his back. What was it causing the trouble? Residents ran in the opposite direction, nearly running into the canine quite a few times. He noticed one or two of them were injured.
As he emerged into the center of town, he caught sight of the problem. A wolf, fur as white as Windthor's himself, and long, black ears. He saw two tails, which was the first thing that Windthor found odd, but what happened next made him cringe. The lupine wielded a large scythe, and swung it at the large fountain of a female deer in the middle of the square, shattering it like glass. There was a frightening aura emanating from this wolf, and it made Windthor's fur stand on end. He unbuckled the strap around his torso, placing his guitar on the ground and leaning it against the wall. In all the confusion, he hoped no one would steal it. There were a few residents here and there, watching as the wolf rampaged in the middle of their town.
Windthor stepped up to someone who looked like a cook, wearing a white, rather dirty apron. "Hey, what's going on?" he asked the lizard.
The male looked up. "I don't know. He checked in to the hotel last night, and was very friendly, even gave me a tip for cooking for him, and the next morning, he woke up in a rage."
Windthor shook his head. Just what happened that put this wolf over the edge? "Do you know his name?" asked the hybrid as the wolf threw a piece of debris at a wall.
"Aero. That's all he said."
Windthor nodded and stepped forward as the wolf was about to take another swing at what little was left of the fountain. "Hey! Aero!" he shouted. The lupine froze, and everything went quiet, all eyes on the two of them.
The wolf turned slowly to Windthor, his fangs bared. His eyes were both of different colors; Left was an amber yellow while the right was a black color, but with some odd smudges around the iris. They were actually rather pretty.
Without answering the hybrid, Aero gripped his scythe and growled, running at Windthor at full speed. "Oh, shit!" swore Wind, jumping back to avoid the first swing, the edge of the blade barely grazing his chest. The cut was shallow, but it was long. Trying to recover, the hybrid grabbed the wolf's wrist, pulling him around so that Windthor had him in an arm hold from behind, his other paw gripping the lupine's scythe so that he didn't try to get him that way. "Calm down! I don't wanna fight you." As if to respond, the lupine slammed the back of his head into Windthor's face, nearly breaking his nose. "Agh!"
The pain blinded him briefly, but squinting through his watery eyes, he was able to see the wolf rear back and slam his foot into the canine's midsection, making Wind stumble back, giving Aero the chance to throw a powerful punch with a spiked glove, catching the canine right on the side of his face. The small spikes punctured his skin and he fell to the ground, groaning. Some of the residents gasped as they watched from a distance. Windthor heard one yell, "Get out of there! There's no point!" He coughed softly, then suddenly cried out as the wolf grabbed his long braid, pulling him roughly up to his feet.
"Stop me," growled the Aero, his elbow colliding with the back of Windthor's head. His eyes watering in pain, and his nose bleeding, the canine countered with his own elbow, his covered with hard, sharp scales. It caught the wolf right above the eye, and he let go, the canine dropping to the ground. He took the brief distraction and swept his leg at the lupine's ankles, causing him to lose his balance. Windthor rose to his feet, panting, the claws of his wings retracting.
"What the hell is your problem!?" shouted Wind at the wolf. The lupine pulled his legs up, then sprung back to his feet, his gums showing as he snarled. Windthor held his ground, his fists clenched as he lowered into a fighting stance. "Right... You wanna fight? Fine, show me what you have, wolf."
"Stop me," the wolf repeated, his chest rumbling with a deep growl. Windthor's ears perked up from their previous position flattened against his skull. It didn't seem like a challenge to him. Was it a request? Windthor didn't have time to ponder that as the lupine lunged, spearing the canine in his stomach and knocking the wind out of him as they both fell. Aero threw two punches with his left fist, both colliding with the right side of the canine's face, then rose both arms, holding his scythe up to cleave the hybrid's skull in two. Wind took that chance to throw a punch of his own, the knuckles landing right on the wolf's nose. The lupine cried out, stumbling back.
"Now we're even," growled Windthor, taking the opportunity to bring his feet up and like a cobra strike, kicked out at the wolf's chest. Aero slammed into the remains of the fountain, his eyes watering, but he wasn't done. The twin-tailed wolf rose up, gripping his scythe in both paws as he rushed at Windthor. Holding his ground, the hybrid caught the handle of the blade with his paws, then fell onto his back, using the wolf's momentum and weight, along with his feet kicking out at his stomach, to throw him back into the outside wall of a building.
He'd managed to pull the weapon from the wolf's paws, and threw it at another building, where it stuck into the stone. There were cheers from the audience, crying out to the hybrid. "Let's have a fair fight, shall we, Aero?"
Aero wasn't happy, his fangs once again bared in a snarl. He was clenching his fists so hard that his leather spiked gloves creaked. The lupine lunged forward, throwing a punch at Windthor's face. The canine dodged, countering with a powerful uppercut that caught the wolf's chin, making him stumble backwards. Wind tried to spear the wolf in the stomach, but Aero had recovered faster than the canine expected, the wolf's elbow landing hard on his back in between his wings.
Coughing, Windthor retracted the claws on the top of his wings, then struck out, both of the wings colliding with Aero's temples, making him yell in pain and stumble backwards, holding his head in agony. Windthor turned his back on Aero and took off, but again, the wolf was recovering and he took off after him, leaving his scythe behind. The hybrid leaned against a lamppost, groaning. He was getting tired... "How do I get myself into these messes?" The loud footfalls told Windthor that Aero was closing in. He had to think... How could he get Aero to tire out? He glanced at the streetlamp, then looked up at the building that it rested next to. "That's it!" He gripped the post, pulling up onto it and climbing upwards just as Aero rounded the corner, growling.
Windthor gasped, spreading his wings and giving a good flap, getting enough air to catch onto the edge of the roof, climbing up. Aero wasn't going to give up. The wolf climbed after Windthor, who smiled. Perfect. The hybrid ran off, happy that the rooftops were built close to one another as he leaped from roof to roof until he stopped for a moment, looking back to see that Aero wasn't far behind. He didn't claim to be good at parkour, but the wings came in handy to keep air. The wolf was panting heavily as he slammed into the edge of the roof just before reaching Windthor, who looked down on him as he held on. "Stop it, Aero, you're too tired to fight me." The wolf snarled in response, pulling himself up with a growl.
"Stop me," he said for the third time as he struck out at Windthor, his claws slashing across the hybrid's chest, this time quite deeply. Three long gashes bled freely, and the canine cried out in pain, turning tail on the wolf and running back along the rooftops again, Aero hot on his heels. They were both exhausted, but Aero didn't show any sign of stopping. Adrenalin was fueling both of them, their feet pounding on the roofs.
Windthor slid to a stop at the edge of the final roof. The other buildings were too far away for either of them to jump to. The canine turned slowly to the wolf, both of them were exhausted, their chests heaving, but Windthor had a feeling that Aero still had some steam left. The wolf stepped forward, pulling back a fist. The canine dodged that first blow, but the followup caught him right on the chin, leaving him open for an onslaught of blows on his stomach, face, and ribs, each punch pushing him closer and closer to the edge of the roof. The audience below was gasping at every blow the hybrid took, threatening to knock him off fifteen feet to the ground. Three times he felt a rib crack.
The left side of his face was starting to swell from the puncture wounds the spikes on Aero's gloves left, not to mention a black eye. Windthor gave an air of a dazed boxer, barely able to stand, but doing it anyway. His eyes were closed, his left one not having much choice in the matter. Aero, letting out a frustrated roar at Windthor, who utterly refused to go down, lifted both paws up, clasping them together to bring them down onto the top of the hybrid's skull.
The canine suddenly opened his right eye, throwing a quick jab at Aero's nose, this time feeling cartilage and bone cracking from the blow. Howling in pain, the wolf stumbled back, grasping his now broken nose for the second time. Though beaten and weary, Windthor gave all he had with each blow, giving back each punch, backed with a bit of his draconic strength. Aero, squinting through his tears, bared his fangs, catching Windthor's wrist and snarling. The hybrid snarled right back, challenging him.
"Now's when I get pissed," he hissed, almost literally, as he brought his knee up into Aero's stomach, then brought down his elbow onto the base of his skull. The hard scales would have brought any normal being down for the count, but it was quite obvious that Aero was far from a normal being. Windthor could tell he was on his last rungs, which could be said about himself as well. Grabbing Aero's vest, he pulled the lupine up onto his feet, dragging him along the roof to the edge.
Wind's vision was starting to blur. He was going to lose consciousness soon... Aero was growling, trying to grab Windthor and stop him, his paw grabbing the canine's fluffy curled tail and pulling hard, making Wind cry out in pain and release his grasp upon Aero's vest, giving the wolf the opportunity to throw a powerful hook across Windthor's right cheek. The canine slipped off the edge, the audience below them gasping as he caught on with the very tips of his fingers. The wolf, exhausted and beaten as Windthor was, looked down at the canine with anger, frustration, and a little guilt as he brought up a foot to bring down onto the canine's fingers. Suddenly, with the last of his strength, Windthor pulled up, grasping the raised ankle of the lupine. "I ain't goin' down alone," he growled, and let go.
The residents of the town scattered as the two of them fell, both landing heavily on the cobblestone walkway. Windthor, blackness starting to cloud his vision, opened his eye to see Aero attempting to stand, getting about as far as a crouched position before falling onto his paws and knees, his chest heaving in pain and exhaustion. "...Th-thank you," he said before falling face-first onto the ground, Windthor barely half a second later losing consciousness as well.