New home (Chapter 4 of part 2 of my Yu-Gi-Oh series)
#4 of YuGiOh Series pt 2
Jane woke up with a start, waking up from a nightmare she had just had. It took her some time to calm down and remind herself of where she was. Stone walls and floors, several mattresses in a row, with two blankets and a single pillow, and two doors, one leading to a bathroom, the other leading out to the rest of the complex. She sighed softly before yelping in surprise at feeling a soft paw on her shoulder. She turned to see Starfire looking worried. The hybrid waved to her friend to reassure her, the nightmare still clinging to the edges of her mind.
It had been only six months since her father passed, and she still was grieving. Her teacher wouldn't stand for it, and kept at her to complete her studies, as well as her new training. She now held a lean, but toned, body, with her chest starting to bud into a nice bust. She was so stressed from her studies and training that she didn't have time to mourn Jake properly. She only had the few glimpses of Flamewarrior and Starfire to rely on for occassional comfort.
She grabbed her MP3 player and her deck and headed out after dressing herself in her 'new' clothes. Despite being one of the furs to pass the first surprise test, she was given rags by her teacher to show she was still in training. Jane still hated the wolf, and wished only to beat him into the dirt they trained upon outside. She made it to the mess hall and quickly devoured her meal before rushing outside to the training grounds, feeling her footpads make barely a sound as she ran, knowing that he enjoyed surprising her.
Her ears alerted her to a sound just off to the left, and her trained body reacted, just before a hood fell down over the twelve year old and her arms tightly pulled behind her back. She struggled greatly with her newfound strength, but finding her resistance futile. Feeling she was being dragged away, she felt the grass still fresh with dew on the bottom of her footpaws. Jane calmed down long enough to control her breathing, knowing this has to be her second test now.
She soon felt her feet leave the ground, as was the powerful grip on her arms. She wondered briefly if she was tossed before feeling a sharp shot of pain spring upon her back, knocking the breath out of her. All she could see now was flashes of bright red, struggling to regain herself before taking off the hood. She finally managed to stand up and remove the black hood, only to see Phillip, the mouse, looking well toned in his clothes, standing across from her in a cement pit.
She looked up and around to see whoever had grabbed her, only to see that two ladders were waiting to drop down. Jane looked back to her fellow initiate, and saw the seriousness in his face. His paws were clenched tightly into fists, suggesting this was a test of how well she could fight. Knowing she didn't have a choice in this do-or-die situation, she slowly fell into her stance, waiting for him to make the first move. She saw a white and black blur in front of her eyes, and blinked in surprise.
"This is to test your combat skills. Only one can leave the pit conscious, therefore, you are to either incapacitate your foe, or make them lose consciousness, do NOT kill," was all she heard, then the figure disappeared up the fifteen foot wall and out of sight. She looked back to the mouse and felt a strong hook to the left side of her face, catching her balance in time to barely dodge the rodent's left hook. She punched Phillip's chest with both paws, pushing him back to gain some space.
The mouse wasted no time and rushed back at the hybrid, but this time, she was ready and ducked under the next swing, delivering a strong blow to his gut, then a strong elbow to the back of his neck. Expectedly, he fell and she lept back, putting her earbuds in and quickly hitting play on her MP3, hearing Broken, Beaten, and Scarred by Metallica play. Jane felt a large surge of rage well up in her, remembering her father, and letting the song drive her on.
Everything became a blurr to her as she moved to the rodent as he stood and got ready. With unbound rage driving her, she grabbed his throat and pinned him to the closest wall, driving her other paw into his stomach and face, roaring with a fury so strong the unseen spectators grew worried. Phillip finally pushed her away, but it was futile, she drove her fists back into his body, until a final blow knocked him out and dislocated his jaw. The figure swiftly came back in and pulled the earbuds out of Jane's ears, bringing her back to sanity.
She fell to her knees, panting in exhaustion, not even remembering what had happened or how Phillip lay unconscious on the pit floor. The fox/cougar hybrid felt drained, the figure disappearing back up the wall, the ladders dropping down to let her out. Although she won the fight and was barely able to carry herself, she struggled to pick the broken mouse up over her shoulder, taking slow heavy steps to the ladder closest.
Sweat dripped from her brow as her legs trembled under the added weight and the exhaustion. With her shaky free paw, she grabbed a rung on the ladder, slowly ascending, Phillip over her shoulder weighing her down. Several times, she felt like she was going to pass out, but she willed herself to climb. She didn't want Phillip to lay down in that combat pit, his blood a testimony to how he was beaten into a pulp. When she reached level ground, she laid Phillip onto the grass just before she passed out, returning to that nightmare the morning she found her father dead from a heart attack in his bed.
Flamewarrior had watched how Jane changed when she put those earbuds into her ears. Whether it was something within her bursting to be brought out, or by some demonic power, fire and lightning erupted from her body as he watched her pummel the poor mouse. After stopping her by removing her earbuds, he somehow knew she'd be weakened, but he was awestruck as she managed to pull the mouse out of the pit with her. Her inner rage had shocked him, but Jane's will was astonishing.
After excusing himself, he walked towards the guild's graveyard, seeking out a specific grave. He walked past lifelong members, ones who were loyal, even after death it seemed. He passed the tombstone of his former teacher and the last guild master, looking determined as he neared the tombstone he searched for. He kneeled down, letting his burnt paw caress the engraved letters in the stone, his eyes welling up with tears.
He stayed there, letting his tears drop onto the sacred ground. He needed this, needed to mourn. The powerful tiger had fallen hard from his humbleness and needed to grieve. He kept his paw on the grave marker, letting out his sorrow, knowing that he had to get this out if he was to recover. Dusk came, then the moon stood high in the sky, indicating it was midnight.
Jane woke up in the hospital wing and groaned, sitting up to see the Romanian wolf, her teacher, looking at her with that same scorn. She sighed heavily and rubbed her cheek, it bruising under her fur. Slowly, she got out of the bed, seeing the time was three in the morning, then looked at her teacher. He just glared at her before opening his maw.
"You have the rest of the day off, congratulations for winning," was all he said before walking out. She blinked and decided to head outside into the cool summer air. She wondered around before seeing the graveyard, feeling a strange pull from it. The hybrid slowly walked into the cemetary, looking between the markers, careful not to let her feet fall onto a grave. She felt a cold chill creep up her spine as she saw something against a tombstone, but she couldn't flee now.
As she neared the figure, she felt her nerves firing warning signs out of fear. She didn't want to have a nightmare about this, thus, she willed herself towards it. Jane saw that the figure was cloaked as she grew closer to it, then kneeled down to get a better look. Her heart lept into her throat as she saw it was Flamewarrior, asleep against the marker, his facefur showing signs of crying. Gently, she woke the tiger, who jolted slightly.
"What are you doing here?!" he growled angrily, his head and paw still covering the name on the marker.
"I just woke up awhile ago, then I decided to pay my respects to the ones who passed."
He studied her eyes, and found that at least she had a reason. The tiger closed his eyes to reflect what happened before he had came here. He opened them again, his green eyes peering into the curious eyes that stared at him.
"Shouldn't you be asleep?"
"Shouldn't you be in your bed, sir?"
Flamewarrior couldn't help but chuckle at the boldness Jane had. He pointed back to the complex, which she walked into quickly, heading to her bed. The tiger sighed and stood up, gazing onto the headstone. He said a few soft words, then said his goodbye, walking back into the complex as well, leaving Therena's grave alone, who had died of a stroke two months ago from having to raise six hatchlings.