When You Fight for Your Dreams: Chapter 8: Confessions....(Part 1)

Story by wolfy22 on SoFurry

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#8 of When You Fight For Your Dreams

This is the 8th chapter of the 2nd arc of my story series. :)


DISCLAIMER: There is some adult action in this chapter, but it's also a LONG chapter as well so I actually am splitting this up into at least 3 parts. Under 18 please leave, and I also wanted to thank again everyone that let me use their characters:

http://www.furaffinity.net/view/7936944/

Hope you all enjoy! :)

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The rest of the night passed along smoothly, much like the night before. Sully, Ord, Dracon, and Junir went over to Chowder's house, while I took a nice, long shower to sort of clear my head as well as get cleaned up in general from everything that went down earlier today. As I took a shower, part of me was feeling horny from what I experienced in the amazing kiss I had with Junir, but part of me was still hurting from the breakup with Tony. My emotions were truly getting the best of me, and I really didn't know what to think.

As it got later into the night with it now being 11:00 P.M., I got dressed while my parents and brother went to bed, took my laptop and my keys, and headed over from my house to Chowder's place to be with the others to crash for the night.

As I eventually came up to the house next door to us, I didn't even need to knock on the door, since I was greeted by Junir , who seemed to be the only one there to let me in, The Lion was wearing a plain white shirt I had that I let him borrow, as well as a pair of Nike shorts. His figure looked like one of a gorgeous sports hunk, and I found myself turning a bit red as I greeted him.

"Hey Jun....I'm guessing the others went to sleep?" I asked the Lion, blushing a bit as we were the only two in the lower area of the house, though the lower area itself still had a bunch of scattered boxes near the door since Chowder still hadn't unpacked all of his belongings into his new house.

"Yeah.....Chowder left his place unlocked, and I think he's been asleep the whole time in his room too."

"Damn......I gotta get some stuff done on my laptop here though, so I'm gonna stay up a bit down here. I haven't heard from Gantu or Kumi though, I wonder if they'll even show up here or if they'll just get a hotel for the night." I added.

"Might as well join ya.....I was getting a bit lonely since Dracon is sleeping by himself in one of the guest rooms upstairs...." The Lion told me, acting like he was feeling a bit down.

"Awwww.....I'm sorry Jun.....well let's enjoy each other's company while we're alone, okay hun?" I implied, going up to the living room couch and plugging my laptop in and also turning the TV on. (although I made sure I kept the TV low enough so that it wouldn't bother anyone)

The Lion and I sat next to each other as I turned the TV onto Adult Swim to watch a little bit of anime that was on. I quickly fired up my laptop and logged onto Facebook so I could reply to each message that was sent to me.

With each message sent out, my wrist was hurting from all the typing on my computer, but another part of my body was also aching a bit....and that was my heart which was beating a bit faster each time I looked at the lion next to me.

"Damn.....can't get over h-how many messages I have...." I pointed out.

"Yeah, I probably have a boatload of messages myself, I haven't checked my Facebook in forever haha." Junir replied.

"Haha. Yeah I barely use it either. I mainly use it for posting photos I've taken or to talk about my bowling scores."

"Oh yeah? Mind if I see some of the pictures you've taken?" Junir asked me.

"Sure, lemme get them up here....I haven't taken too many good photos, but here's some of my favorite pictures." I mentioned, bringing up one of my special photo albums, filled with lots of very colorful and distinct images of cities, weather, and animals that I shot with my Sony camera over a period of time.

"Oh wow! These are awesome! You really are good with a camera!" Junir exclaimed.

"................"

I almost couldn't say anything in return since the Lion's face was next to mine as he was looking at my laptop. His dark blue eyes, his soft face, his long dark brown hair, I just felt my emotional drive going nuts once again and I blushed deep red.

"Wait, is this Boston?" Junir then asked me as he then saw a photo I took of a bunch of city lights.

"............y-yep.......c-can't remember when I took that though....oh yeah, that was from 2008." I stuttered, as I clearly couldn't even think or talk straight.

"You go into Boston a lot?"

".....n-not often, m-maybe once every month or two."

"I've actually never been to the city. We should explore it sometime. Would you want to do that?"

".....I'd love to Jun! Too bad we can't do it tomorrow since it'd be too last minute, but I definitely think we should do it sometime."

"Most definitely."

At that moment, there was another question I had for the Lion, since his arms in front of me were showing two large tattoos that I really hadn't paid attention to beforehand.

"By the way.....when did you get those tattoos?" I asked.

"Oh...these? I've had this as a spiritual sign since I was a teenager. Helped me realize who I am." The Lion replied as he showed me his sun tattoo on his left arm. He then added:

"And this tribal armband one I got also represents my ancestry, but most other wrestlers I work with also have something similar. I thought it looked cool and wanted to get it at the time heh."

"I love em....they fit you well....." I replied.

"There's something else you love too I'm guessing hehe." Junir replied.

The lion looked at me and smiled, and our eyes were directly connected once again. With my heart beating rapidly, I lost my sense of thought. I brought my face up to the Lion, and noticed that he was also bringing his own face closer to mine, much like before. Closer and closer, our faces were drawn together, and we finally engaged in another very long, and passionate kiss.

"mmmmmnnnnffff.........."

"mmmmmmm.........."

I wrapped my arms around the Lion, as he did the same with me. Our bodies pressed against each other just like before, and I felt my bulge in my pants starting to rise a bit. I was unbelievably horny, and didn't even seem to think about the fact that we wanted to keep our feelings hidden from everyone else. The fact was, that we were both alone, and wanted to go one step further than before back in my room in my house.

"....oh....Junir...." I moaned out a bit. The Lion started to take control, as he pushed my body down onto the couch and hovered over me a bit while we continued to kiss for a good while.

As we broke the kiss a bit with a speck of saliva emitting from our mouths, we both were blushing madly at that moment. The Lion seemed like he wanted to go through with this, but he then mentioned:

"Mike....let's do this quietly."

I knew the Lion didn't want anyone finding out about what we were doing, so I quickly nodded back.

The Lion immediately started to kiss me heavily again, as I did to him. I then felt a furry paw gently caressing my stomach, with the Lion lifting my shirt up a bit in a sort of a teasing motion, though I eventually felt my pants being unbuttoned as well, with the Lion pulling them down off of me as we kept kissing. It didn't take long for my pants to fully come off as well as my socks, leaving only my boxers and t-shirt on my body.

My member was now almost like a tent in my boxer shorts, as it was clearly popping up and waiting to be exposed.

"I hope I can offer you what the others have been able to give you before, hehe." The Lion whispered into my ear, eventually giving it a small, playful bite.

"Oh Junir......"

I finally felt the Lion's paw taking off my shirt. Little by little, my raw body was now almost fully exposed, as it was just my boxers left on my body, even though Junir was still fully clothed.

"Your body......feels so cold Mike....maybe I should warm it up....hehehe...."

I stroked the Lion's face gently with my hand, and the two of us kissed again. As we kissed, I finally felt my boxers being slowly pulled down by the Lion's furry paw.

*.....HNGGGG....*

I jumped a bit when I felt the Lion pull my boxers down completely, with his paw stroking off my cock little by little in a teasing sort of way.

The Lion slowly took his lips off of me, though he continued to softly kiss my neck, making his way down my upper body.

"HHHNNNGGGG.....o-oh....Jun....mmmffff...."

I felt the Lion twisting my nipples a bit as he started to suck on them as well. I kept my eyes closed and softly moaned out while he was doing so. I knew that we had to be very quiet so that no one else could hear us, but I nearly lost my sense of thoughts as the pleasure was overwhelming.

As the Lion went down my body lower and lower, I had to grab the couch to control myself. The Lion licked my fully erect cock little by little, before ultimately stroking it a bit and proceeding to suck me off.

"MMMMMMMMNNNNNFFFFF......"

Little by little, the Lion's mouth bobbed up and down my cock, and the pleasurable moans emitting from me were getting a bit louder and louder. I tried my best to keep my sense of thought bottled in, knowing that I didn't want to make TOO much noise, but I almost couldn't help myself.

"Oh....Junir....faster....." I emitted. The lion kept using his tongue and mouth to massage my cock back and forth, which eventually lead to a bit of pre leaking out of it.

"mmmm.....you're tasty Mike...." Junir whispered, which ultimately made me even hotter at that moment. Junir's statement from before certainly came true, as my body went from feeling a bit cold, to now sweating from the hot action the Lion and I were having on the couch.

"......Oh jun....I'm getting close...." I moaned out. I figured that the Lion wanted everything that my member had to offer, and I wanted to give him everything I had in me.

".....mmmmmm....." The Lion purred out, sucking me off faster and faster as well as stroking the bottom part of my cock at the same time. My cock felt like it was ready to let everything out, and eventually, I couldn't hold it in anymore.

"Ohhhhh.......FUCCCKKKKKKK.....HHHNNNGGGHHHHHH..." I almost shouted, feeling my member shooting out bursts of seed into the Lion's mouth. Junir kept sucking me off, as if he loved the taste and didn't want to stop. I could hear him swallowing my cum, and I knew that he wanted all of it since I barely felt any leaking back onto my body.

After a good 8 or 9 shots, I finally calmed down, though I had to catch my breath as I was now clearly sweating with my naked body on the couch while Junir finished up tasting my seed on my body and even on the couch itself.

"Wanna go further Mike? You tasted so damn good.....I'm so horny myself now...." The Lion mentioned, standing up and clearly showing his bulge in his pants to me.

".....*pant*......of c-course.....I want you....in me....Jun...." I replied, still catching my breath, but still also feeling incredibly horny after my cock let out all of its seed. Even though my cock was now calming down a bit from all the work it just went through, I still wanted the Lion's cock just as badly as he wanted mine beforehand.

"......Chowder told me you were a cute one at the restaurant....that face definitely says so.....you ready M-"

*KNOCK KNOCK KNOCK*

As horny as we both were, my heart rate instantly shot up much higher when I heard a knocking sound at the door, which threw us both completely off.

"W-who is that?!?! *pant pant*" I asked, as I quickly grabbed my clothes and put them back on as quickly as I could, though I was still catching my breath in the process. I nearly put my own shirt on inside out as well as my pants, as I had never found myself trying to get dressed that quickly before.

"N-no idea......stay behind me Mike....." Junir insisted, as we both walked over to the door slowly. My body was drenched in sweat from everything we just did, though my sweat was turning cold in a way from not knowing what was behind the door.

As we both walked up to the door, I sort of cowered behind the Lion, while Junir turned the door knob.

*CRRRREEEEKKKK*

"........Jun!!!!"

The door opened, and much to both of our surprise, The Lion found himself being hugged very tightly by Kumi, as the bear as well as Gantu both stood in front us.

"Hey Jun! I'm so glad you're okay!" Gantu added, coming up and hugging the Lion himself as well.

"Hey Mike!" Kumi then added, as the Bear then came up to me and gave me a GIANT bear hug.

I was pretty speechless, as was Junir. I knew the two were heading up here, but the last thing I was expecting was for them to arrive THIS late at night, especially while Junir and myself were having our fun together.

"Mike! I'm so glad you're okay too!" Gantu exclaimed himself, coming up to me and literally lifting me off the ground so I could hug him. I was definitely happy to see the two, as was Junir, but at the same time, I was also hoping that the others weren't being disturbed as we all greeted each other.

"H-hey guys! Y-you should just keep it down, the others are s-sleeping in the other rooms upstairs and also over around the corner there." I pointed out to the Whale and the bear that had their suitcases with them as if they were planning on staying at the house for the night.

"I'm glad you two came up here, but....why did you guys come here so late at night?" Junir asked, as he clearly didn't know what to think at that point. The fact that he also had to hide his bulge in his pants didn't help either.

"We couldn't find any vacant hotels near here! We figured we'd stop by and see if any lights were on in here, and the TV was on from what we noticed outside so we figured we'd see if anyone was still up." Kumi replied.

Junir and I nodded back, but we wondered if they heard what we were doing in the living room. Gantu then added:

"Yeah, the drive wasn't easy up here. Couple of crashes we saw along the way and also having to deal with what Kumi said, it kinda sucked. And we stopped by your house first, but you said that you were probably going to stay at your neighbor's house, so we figured we'd check this house out to see if you guys were here."

"Well, at least you two are here now though. The o-others will definitely be glad to see you tomorrow morning heh." I said to the two.

"Yep, but forget us, we're just both glad that you two are ok!" Gantu replied.

"Heh yeah, it's been a long day though." Junir mentioned, as he actually yawned a bit himself. I guess that even though he was horny, he still couldn't fight off his tiredness either.

"Alright, well we'll just head up to one of the rooms and crash for the night then." Gantu told both of us.

"The first one on the right and the left are both unoccupied. Sully and Ord are sleeping in another one and Dracon is sleeping in the one furthest on the right." Junir pointed out.

"Wait...who is Dracon?" Gantu asked us.

"He's an old friend of Ord's, but he also....well he helped us out today when everything went down. I'll have him explain it to you tomorrow though." I replied, as I clearly didn't want to think about that incident anymore.

"Oh yeah, is your neighbor Chowder sleeping? You know, the one you told me about earlier?" Gantu then asked.

"I haven't seen him at all tonight. I'm guessing he's in his room over there......I feel so bad for him....." I replied.

"Yeah.....I still can't get over what you told me, but at least you guys are there for him as friends. Well, we're gonna head upstairs I guess, we'll see you guys tomorrow morning!" The whale finally mentioned, as the two brought their suitcases upstairs, eventually leaving Junir and myself down by ourselves again.

"...........Do you want to continue what we started Mike?" Junir asked me sort of casually, since we both had all of our clothes on and didn't seem to look as horny as we were before.

".....How about a raincheck?" I asked, as I was feeling a bit tired myself at the same moment, even though I really did want to go one step further with the Lion. However, knowing that Gantu and Kumi were just settling in upstairs, I still didn't want to take any chances with people finding out about us.

"Sounds good. I'm gonna crash in the other guest room up there, you can join me if you want to."

".....I might, but I wonder if I should probably see how Chowder's doing. I gotta check a few more things on my computer anyway and shut it down for the night." I replied, looking over to the only bedroom on the floor we were on, as I was a bit worried about how Chowder was doing since neither of us had seen him.

"Alright. Well, hope you sleep well hun." Junir finally mentioned to me.

"You too jun. I love you." I softly whispered back.

"Love you too Mike."

With that said, the two of us gave each other another small kiss. After a few seconds though, Junir and I finally separated and the Lion walked upstairs to crash for the night himself while I stayed downstairs to finish up a few things on my laptop.

****

.....*PANT......PANT*....."Why can't you fucking leave me be.....hnnngghhh...."

Even though Aquin got into his own car and left the scene of the club, as he got onto the highway, he completely forgot about the one part of him that never left his body no matter how hard he tried. His sword.

The Gator found himself at a rest stop on the highway where a gas station and McDonalds were located, as he had to catch his breath after his weapon has re-appeared on his back, which ultimately drained a good portion of energy from the Gator's body as the sword emitted a pretty severe shock through Aquin after it re-appeared. The sword itself was a weapon that Aquin used frequently (as he even used it to help out Tony and the others), though the Gator had never tried to unleash the full power behind the sword. It was one of the few things that actually intimidated him, to the point where he was almost scared of his own weapon's potential.

"......hng........I....I should probably get something to eat.....I haven't eaten anything in quite awhile....."

*****

".....FUS.....RO DAH!!!!"

I found myself playing a bit of Skyrim on my laptop after sending out emails and everything else in-between to my friends and family that had emailed me on Yahoo and also on Facebook.

After defeating a few bandits in a random area of the game, I quickly looked over and noticed that it was now 2:25 A.M. on the cable box below the TV.

"Damn....it's late.....HHHNNNNGGGHHHH" I uttered, stretching a bit and closing my laptop.

".....Hmm......"

I then realized......where was I going to sleep? Should I just get some shut eye on the couch, or should I go to one of the occupied bedrooms? I knew Sully and Ord wouldn't mind me sleeping with them, and neither would Junir, but I also knew that there was a Tiger in the room near me not far from the living room that also needed comforting, even though I didn't know what to expect from him after everything he had been through.

"......Hope he doesn't mind me doing this...." I mentioned as I put my laptop on the couch to let it sleep and charge for the night. I walked over slowly to the closed door near the kitchen, which I knew was a bedroom, and gently turned the doorknob as quietly as I could.

There was a small night light inside the room, which allowed me to just barely notice the large Tiger sleeping on one side of his King sized bed. The bedroom itself was pretty spacious, though I couldn't really tell what was inside it since it was still pretty dark in general.

I walked very slowly over to the bed to hear Chowder breathing a bit, and I knew that he was still sleeping. It clearly looked like there was enough room to fit more than one person on the bed, so I wanted to comfort the Tiger for the rest of the night.

I took off my shirt and pants, leaving only my boxers on as I slowly climbed onto the opposite side of the bed that Chowder was sleeping on.

".......Hnf..."

"Oh shit..."

The Tiger looked like he flinched a bit as I lied down on the bed near him, but he seemed to quickly shake it off. I sighed a bit, and very gently put myself under the covers since it was pretty cold for an April day it seemed.

I was roughly a couple feet away from the Tiger, but I didn't want to do anything to wake him up. I found myself yawning a bit more before finally getting comfortable on Chowder's pretty large bed.

However, before I could close my eyes....

*FWOSH*

"Hnnngg...."

"Mmmmmmm....."

"...................."

"....................."

"............................O_O.......m-m-mike??"

I guess Chowder was pretty sensitive in terms of movements, because I noticed his body turning over, and eventually saw his eyes open half way to look right into mine, with him having a bit of a surprised look on his face.

"......h-h-hey Chowder......" I replied. I really didn't know what else to say, cause I really couldn't think of any way to come up with an excuse as to why I was in the same bed as the Tiger.

To my surprise though, the Tiger moved over to me, and actually put his arm over my body.

"T-thank you Mike.....I.....I needed someone to be with....." Chowder softly whispered. His reaction did throw me off at first, but I gladly moved the rest of my body towards him, and sort of hugged him, brushing up against his warm, fuzzy body. I simply smiled back at the Tiger, and we both remained hugging each other as we fell asleep for the rest of the night.

******

"........hm?"

".......man....that club is whack."

"Hey Duco......talk to me."

"......I searched around a lot Marc', couldn't really find anything else around the city for us to expand though. There was a club I did go in though that seemed.....well....quite strange."

"Keep going. I'm listening."

"It was so odd.....they have people in there....and I think they....well....have special abilities.....you know....."

"Sort of like what you and I area capable of, right?"

"Yeah exactly. But there were also A LOT of closed doors in that place too, so I'm not sure what's up with the building."

"I just hope you didn't do anything stupid and blow your cover, we're supposed to be expanding to areas we've never been accustomed to before, and not dealing with ways to get fucking busted."

"Yeah I know Marco, don't worry, I covered my tracks pretty well with my abilities. No one followed me back here."

"Good. Continue scouting more tomorrow and I'll cover the facility with your other couple of guys here."

"They sleeping?"

"Yeah, we worked earlier for a bit when you left but they went to bed in their own rooms like 45 minutes ago."

"What about your guys Marco?"

".......I have no fucking clue what happened to Jamie, Tristen, or Gordon, but if they decide to go back to the warehouse, I left a note telling them to call me, if they did get the job done in terms of finishing that fucking Lion. They know my number. But, you know what to do to the other two, right?"

"Yep.....I'll take care of it right now, don't you worry."

"Good, good. Make them SUFFER."

"My pleasure."

With that, the Rabbit left the underground warehouse facility once again to go out to fulfill the boss's needs, while Marco himself kept packing different types of drugs left and right.

****** >>>>>>

....*Brush brush*

"......mmmmm....."

I gently opened my eyes, to feel my face pressing against the upper part of Chowder's warm and furry chest. I still had my arms wrapped around him, as did he as well. His body felt like a giant pillow, and I really just wanted to go back to sleep. Sure enough, I forgot I even woke up, and I closed my eyes again for a little while.

****

".........hnnnnngggghh...."

"HNNNNNGGGGGGGGHHHHHHHHHH....."

Tony found himself stretching and yawning pretty heavily, though once again, he was sleeping in someone else's room in someone else's bed.

".....agh.....my head...."

Even though the big Tiger wanted to get his mind off of what had happened, just the sheer thought of anything that had occurred over the last couple of weeks was almost enough to make the Tiger feel like his head was about to explode.

*CRRRREEEEEKKKK*

"......Oh Tony.....glad you're up......we should get going.....we have a lot of work to do."

Michael walked in, already fully clothed and looking like he was ready to take on anything.

".....I'm surprised you're all ready.....it's only 8:30....." Tony replied.

"Come on Ton', time's ticking and we don't have any spare minutes!" Michael insisted.

"Y-yeah.....you're right.....agh....FUCK....my head...." Tony exclaimed, feeling his head as he got out of the bed and quickly put on a set of jeans and a blue shirt, even though there wasn't anything else he could really change into, as the only suitcase that was still in his car had more personal belongings compared to clothes.

"Easy Tony.....take it easy.....do you need anything?" Michael asked, coming over and helping the big Tiger.

"N-no....I'm fine....and you're right....we need to go. I need to fucking find Marco."

"Is...there anything you want to try to salvage over there before we leave...?" Michael then added, as he pointed out to the giant pile of rubble next door where Tony's house once stood.

"Later. I've got other things to worry about. There was nothing over there that I really cared about since I took my most important things with me and put them in my suitcases anyway."

"That's good I guess......should we take both cars, or only one?"

"Both.....I.....AGH....."

Tony felt his forehead yet again, which ultimately made Michael shake his own head in disbelief.

"No Tony. You're not driving. Leave everything to me. You need more rest, so get some in the car. I'll drive."

".........y-you sure...Michael?"

"Yes, trust me. Where do you think we should start?"

".....Saratoga Springs. We.......we went to a warehouse there.....maybe we should see if...we can find anything......else...."

"Let's go....hey wait....is that the weapon that Aquin gave you over there?"

"Y-yeah. Haven't used it yet though....and knowing that Gator....I have no idea what this thing does."

"Well, just take it with you. Let's get going."

"Right."

With everything said, Both tigers walked downstairs inside Franco's house, grabbed all their belongings, and finally walked outside with their things to head out, so that they could do whatever they could to put an end to Marco, no matter what it would take.

****

"..........."

"......hhhhnnngggg..."

I woke up yet again, though I felt a bit different. When my eyes opened, I then realized, that I was actually lying on top of Chowder's body.

I think Chowder must have heard me waking up, because he actually started moving himself right after.

"....hnnn.....o-oh......hey Mike....."

I had no idea how I got on top of the Tiger, but I quickly replied:

"H-hey hun....did you sleep well?"

"Y-yes I did.....because you were with me...." Chowder said to me.

I quickly blushed on top of the Tiger, and looked right into him. Much like Junir, I found myself coming closer to the Tiger's face, and eventually, we exchanged a very sweet and meaningful kiss between each other.

".......mmmmmmmm....."

I almost felt like I wanted to possibly go a step further with Chowder just like I did with Junir, but at that same moment, I then heard a few noises outside the room.

Chowder and I broke our kiss with each other, and looked over at the bedroom door.

"I guess the others are up." I mentioned.

"Yeah....oh wow....it's already 9:45?!?!" Chowder exclaimed back, looking at his clock.

"Easy hun....easy....take a load off yourself....last thing you need is to work after everything you've been through." I said to the Tiger as we both got up off the bed. I noticed that Chowder was actually wearing some cute looking Tiger boxers, but also had his hat on as well.

"...I....I guess.....I'll probably get some supplies I need for the restaurant today though....."

"Hey Chowder......come on, we're going to make this a day that we're all going to enjoy, where we don't have to worry about anything."

"T-thanks Mike.....I love you....." Chowder replied. I gladly went up to him and hugged the big Tiger again.

The two of us got our clothes on, and finally walked towards the bedroom door and opened it.

"Oh, hey there you two. I was wondering who you slept with Mike, hehe."

Sully quickly greeted both of us, as did Ord too as they were both watching some TV on the couch.

"Hey guys. The others up yet?" I asked, while Chowder went into the kitchen.

"Yeah I think....well see for yourself, heh."

I then heard footsteps coming from the stairway, and sure enough, everyone else came downstairs at that moment.

"Hey Mike! Sleep well?" Gantu happily exclaimed to me. Kumi, Junir, and Dracon finally came down themselves, though Dracon had his bag with him as he looked like he was ready to head out at any moment.

"Y-yeah. Heh." I replied to Gantu. I then also added:

"Wait, have you two met Chowder yet?"

"....no we haven't.....where is he?" Kumi replied.

"D-did someone call me?" I then heard Chowder mention from the Kitchen. The Tiger walked out, and when he saw who was talking in the living room, his eyes clearly showed what his reaction was to seeing the very tall whale in front of him.

"......h-holy......y-you're!!!!"

Chowder couldn't even talk straight, as he just pointed his finger at Gantu, which caused the giant whale to scratch his head a bit.

"Heh.....come on, I'm just a normal being like you guys. Nice to meet you though Chowder." Gantu replied, extending his large three fingered hand.

"....I've w-watched you on TV before I moved here to America! I'm such a big fan of yours! It really is an honor!" Chowder happily mentioned. I guess the big guy made Chowder forget about what had just occurred the day before, and I even noticed that the Tiger started blushing as he shook Gantu's hand.

"Awwww....thanks Chowder.....but we need to thank you personally for letting us stay here.....then again....I hope it was ok for us to stay here....." Gantu mentioned, as he realized that he never talked to Chowder directly about staying at the place for the night.

"Oh please, it's no worry at all! You can stay as long as you want! I just need to still unpack the rest of those boxes over there but I'm just glad I'm getting some use out of those other rooms already!"

"Thanks once again Chowder. Oh and before I forget, this is my mate, Kumi."

"Pleased to meet you Chowder, and thank you very much for letting us stay over." The brown bear responded very politely.

"Like I said, the pleasure is mine! So wait, I'm guessing you know all these guys here then as well?"

"Well, I only met this guy just before we came downstairs....but these other four we both know well, though we haven't talked with them in awhile." Gantu replied, as he was first referring to Dracon who was sitting on the couch with his stuff in hand.

"Ah ok. Well, what do you guys want to do today then?" Chowder replied, which made everyone think for a bit.

".....hmmmmm....."

".....well I have to head back to my place either way, and I need to get back to my bowling alley heh." Dracon replied.

"Wait....did you say bowling alley?" Gantu replied, with Kumi also looking at the red dragon.

"Oh that's right....Mike told me about you three and how you guys were signed up for a league this summer?" Dracon pointed out.

"Yeah....but with everything going on over the last couple of days.... I'm not sure what will happen. And plus, that was at a bowling center back in New York. We're nowhere near there...."

"Did I tell you guys that Judy emailed me? I think she wants to know when I want to work again....ugh.....I don't want to think about working back down there after all this bullshit...." I then mentioned out of nowhere.

"Really?" "Well I mean at least it seems like she cares about you." "The last thing you need to worry about is work right now Mike." Several voices replied around me.

"Thanks guys.....I think I wanna go bowling today at Dracon's place to clear my mind."

"Yeah, let's definitely do that." Gantu insisted, along with everyone else nodding.

"Anywhere else that's interesting? I wanna bowl with you guys but unlike Mike I don't want to bowl all day today heh." Junir then mentioned sort of sarcastically. The rest of us laughed, but Dracon immediately exclaimed:

"Oh! That's right! I forgot to tell you guys, Mike, do you know where the North Shore mall is?"

"Yeah, but like I said, I haven't been through your city in awhile. Why'd you ask?"

"Well, if you want to find something to do guys, we could go to the mall, cause they also opened a Dave & Busters right near there as well only a few weeks ago!"

"REALLY?!?!?" I exclaimed back.

"Oh nice!" "I've seen that place, but never been to it." "What's Dave & Busters?"

Several other voices around me were wondering what Dracon was talking about, even though I knew what the place was.

"It's an arcade guys, suited more towards adults. I think you'd like it." I mentioned. The rest of the guys nodded, and seemed like they were interested in spending some time there.

"So I guess we'll go to the mall, maybe go to Dave & Busters, and then go bowling?" Junir asked.

All of us looked at each other, and nodded.

"Looks like it. Heh." Sull mentioned.

"I gotta go grab some of my things next door and get cleaned up, so I'll be right back guys." I knew that we were going to be running around a lot, so I wanted to make sure I had clothes on me that didn't exactly smell like what had happened with Junir and myself the night before.

"Well we'll all still be here Mike." Sull told me. I nodded and walked outside, heading back to my house next door to grab some of my things so we could get ready to head out, much like yesterday.

*****

".....so what's on the agenda today Leather?" Thunder asked, as he walked down to the Gator's laboratory at the basement part of the club.

"We need to work with Akashi some more. Only problem is that I can't figure out why nothing's working when it comes to trying to help him control his beast form."

"Seems like it's something that has you stumped, which I don't think I've ever seen happen."

".....yeah....you're right. This is not gonna be easy.....ugh...."

The Gator felt his head and sighed as he sat down on one of his chairs, wearing his lab coat and trying to think straight.

"Oh yeah, I forgot, I think that Emon guy left again. He's been randomly showing up and then randomly disappears a second later." Thunder then mentioned.

"Well, he seems to know what he's doing, and I mean, he's already told me a couple of events that he's been a part of. I think he's been helping others out, so I think he deserves to stay here."

"Aquin wasn't happy when he saw Emon though.....but then again, he hasn't been here in quite awhile so I don't get why he got so angry over you letting those two in here."

"....Aquin's personality is different than most people. I don't think he adapts to change very often, and when he does, he tends to get riled up because of it." Leatherhead explained.

"Well you've known him much longer than I have, but yeah he definitely was pissed off after seeing those two."

"I think he'll get over it soon. I just hope that those cigs that I gave him work well."

"Yeah. I'm gonna go grab some stuff to eat from the club, want anything?"

"Get me something that will last me the rest of today. We've got A LOT of work to do, and we're going to really have to get our hands dirty....."

******

After getting myself cleaned up and changed, I grabbed my Wolf's Rain bag that had my wallet, keys, phone, and Ipod in it and was about to head next door

"Just make sure to keep in touch Mike, your mother will have a heart attack if she hears anything like what happened yesterday!" My dad exclaimed as I opened the door to head back over.

"Yep I will.....oh crap....almost forgot the most important thing I should bring with me!"

I ran back into my room, opened my closet, and grabbed my bowling ball bag inside of it. With all my stuff together now, I waved goodbye to my Dad as I left the house, and eventually made it back next door at Chowder's place.

"Alright, I'm ready guys." I exclaimed. I noticed that Gantu, Kumi, Sully and Ord were watching TV, while Chowder, Dracon, and Junir were all talking to each other.

"Sounds good, let's go then!" Chowder happily replied, which lead to everyone else heading towards the door.

"So again, who's gonna ride with who?" I asked as we all left the house. We all seemed to shake our heads at each other, and eventually, we decided to mix it up a bit between the eight of us. I decided to ride with Sully and Ord, Kumi and Gantu got into their GIANT truck by themselves, and Chowder, Junir, and Dracon got into Chowder's convertible. I figured that Junir and Dracon would hopefully open up to each other a bit, though I also worried about the thought that perhaps other people may have found out what Junir and I did together the night before.

With the eight of us ready to go though, we all headed out and headed towards where Dracon lived, which was the city of Portsmouth in New Hampshire.

"Hey Mike, put some of that Euro music you played for us before." Sully mentioned as the three of us were riding along in the Sonata, with the GPS programmed and everything else equipped. I quickly nodded and pulled out my Ipod, firing up some more Eurobeat music to play while the three of us headed towards the highway to head towards New Hampshire.

****

".................."

Junir and Dracon found themselves looking at each other from time to time while Chowder was driving his car behind the others, though the two really couldn't say anything to one another.

".......I.....I just hope that we don't have to deal with what we went through yesterday haha" *WHOOOSH* Junir mentioned to the Tiger and the Dragon while the wind blew through the air since the top was down on the convertible again.

"Yeah, all that shit was crazy yesterday!" Dracon replied.

"I don't want to talk about this guys......" Chowder then added with a bit of a sad look on his face, as he clearly seemed like he just wanted to forget about all the events that occurred beforehand with the others. Junir and Dracon nodded from the back seat, and the three finally got onto the highway along with the other cars.

"So....Drac......maybe you could teach me how to bowl better once we get to your bowling center? Heh." The Lion curiously asked the dragon, although he found himself blushing a tiny bit as the wind was now passing through very quickly in the convertible.

"Definitely! I can teach all of you a thing or two, though I doubt Mike will need to be taught anything from the way he sounded before haha!"

"Haha! Yeah, Mike's quite the bowler from what I've heard from the others, though I haven't seen him bowl yet. Perhaps maybe we might go to him for some tips?"

"Maybe, you never know!" Dracon replied, scratching his head a bit but also laughing along with the Lion, which also caused Chowder to smile as well as he was driving. At that moment, Junir and Dracon opened up to each other a bit more and started to talk in general about everything they liked and were into.

*****

"Did Mike seem okay to you?" Kumi asked as he sat next to his mate as the two were driving behind Chowder's convertible.

"I couldn't tell. He seems to be happy with everyone else around though." Gantu replied.

"Yeah, he and Tony have been through so much.....I really wish this didn't have to happen to them...."

"Well, I'm not going to mention Tony to Mike anymore unless of course he comes back. Last thing I wanna do is make Mike feel bad or depressed especially since we're all hanging out as a group and having fun today."

"Definitely."

******

"I just hope that we can find some leads as to where we're going....." Michael said quietly, while Tony laid back in the passenger's seat next to his Tiger friend.

"There has to be a lead back at that warehouse that I went to last week. I guarantee you that Marco has been there especially s-since we pretty much silenced all of his men that were there anyway.....agh...." Tony replied, as he kept feeling his forehead.

"Well you said it was in Saratoga springs, but I mean you don't have an exact address, so you'll have to point it out when we get there in a few hours."

"I know. I know where it is....trust me.....I'm not going to forget that place......"

"Tony, get some rest. You don't look so good. I'll do the driving, and I'll let you know when we get to the town."

"T-thanks Michael....."

With that said, Michael continued to drive in his Mitsubishi Lancer, while Tony slouched over on the passenger seat to get some more sleep, as all the thoughts of what had occurred over the last day had really gotten into his head.

*****

As we got off of the exit to head near the mall.....something had crossed my mind that I wanted to ask Ord, and I also wanted to have a conversation with the two as we really didn't talk much on the way up to the mall.

"Hey Ord....."

"Yeah Mike?"

"......So what is....Dracon...like?" I asked hesitantly, which made my face turn red a bit.

".......Dracon? Well, we've been friends for a VERY long time, and he's one of the sweetest guys I've ever known."

"H-he does seem like a very nice guy." I sorta mumbled back.

"Why did you ask Mike?" Ord then replied, which threw me off a bit. I hesitated for a few moments, but I then replied:

"...o-oh it's nothing.....I just find it funny how everything tied together, since Dracon rescued Junir, and then he meets up with us."

"Yeah, heh."

"Say Mike.....I've been wondering......"

Sully began to speak to me as we approached the mall entrance, even though we were stuck at a series of stop lights beforehand, while the others were behind us in their cars. I quickly started turning red more and more, and worried that my cover with Junir might have been blown.

"......y-y-yeah James?" I mumbled back.

"You don't have to answer me if this is too awkward, but did Junir explain how he feels about you?"

Once again, I was thrown off a bit, as I thought that Sully was going to tell me that he knew what Junir and I did the night before.

".......Y-yeah......we.......well.......we confessed our feelings to each other......" I replied, though I kept my head down.

"That's good, I knew you two would come together sooner or later." The blue monster replied back with a wide grin on his face.

"But......can you just please keep this between us? I don't want Drac-"

"Mike.....I'll just tell you this...." Ord then interrupted, which once again, threw me off guard.

"Dracon.....he told me that he likes Junir.....but he said that he thought you were really cute as well. "

".....O_O.....really?!"

"He didn't want me telling either of you, so please don't tell him anything that I said to you. And I don't know if he feels stronger towards one of you two specifically though...."

".....y-yeah.....got it." I replied. With everything out, our three cars finally made it to the mall entrance parking lot, and we all parked next to each other as well, and eventually got out of our cars to head into the mall.

As I looked over, just the sight of Junir and Dracon made my heart race very fast. I really did like the red dragon a lot, but I had no idea how he felt back towards me. But after hearing what Ord had to say, it made me very nervous in a way, and even made my member perk up very slightly in my pants.

"So what do you guys want to do in here?" Junir asked everyone.

"I need to get some supplies for my restaurant.....that's my first priority...." Chowder mentioned, kicking the dirt a bit.

"I need some more clothes after everything that happened yesterday...." Dracon added.

"Same here. I need to look at new cell phones too." Junir then told us.

"We'll just do whatever you guys need to get done, we don't really need anything."

"Neither do we, though I should look at getting some new decals for my truck here...." Sully and Gantu both added.

As we all started walking towards the mall entrance, it was pretty quiet for a Wednesday afternoon. There weren't many cars parked in the mall lot, and since it was a typical work/school day for most people, we picked a good time to head into the mall.

"Do you guys think we should be in the public like this after everything that has happened?" I asked.

"I don't think it matters too much now that those two bears are taken care of. I just hope that we don't have to worry about anything else though....." Sully replied, though he then thought to himself:

"I just hope you're doing ok Tony....wherever you are....."

The eight of us finally walked inside, though it was pretty dead inside the mall itself. Only a few people were around the area we were at, and they didn't even seem to pay attention to us.

"Should we split up and do our own things?" Gantu asked, which ultimately lead to all of us nodding in return.

"I gotta see if there's any hardware stores around here....." Chowder mentioned.

"We'll join ya." Sully and Ord both replied very quickly.

"Well, Kum and I are gonna check out if there's any auto body stores around here and maybe go to Sears as well, I need some more tools for my garage." Gantu replied.

"Meet back here at 3 then?" Sully asked, nearly leaving the area along with Chowder and Ord, while Gantu and Kumi immediately waved back at the three in agreement.

.....Which ultimately left Junir, Dracon, and myself together as our own dumbfounded group, as everything just happened like a blur in front of us.

"So......I guess that leaves us three then...." I murmured a bit, which again, made me blush in front of the Dragon and the Lion.

"Y-yeah. Heh. Well I gotta get some clothes and you said you needed a new phone Jun, which I'm going to help you with since it was kinda my fault that you dropped it."

"It wasn't your fault, it was that wind that came and swept us when we were heading to see Mike here. Thanks for the offer though Drac." Junir replied as we started walking throughout the giant mall.

"Is there anything you need here Mike?" Junir then asked me.

"Not that I can think of.....oh wait....actually I take that back.....my Sonic shirt got torn apart.....I want to get another one here hopefully...." I replied, though the thought of what happened to my sonic shirt reminded me of the painful moments I had been through with the gang members only a week prior, and my head started to hurt once again.

"You like Sonic? That was one of my favorite games when I was younger heh." Dracon mentioned to me.

"Oh yeah? Nice! Sonic 3 was probably my favorite but then again, I loved Sonic CD too."

"Have you played Sonic generations?"

"Yeah! I have it on my laptop but I don't play it often. I kinda wanna play it though now that you mentioned it. I left my laptop back at Chowder's house though so it could charge."

****

".................."

"....................They seem to be ok......that's a good sign....."

******

"Oh hang on guys, I'm gonna check out this T-Mobile store here." Junir told us. Dracon and I followed the Lion into the store, and started to look around a bit.

"Hey Mike....don't you have a T-Mobile phone yourself?" Junir asked me.

"Yep....right here. It's a bit outdated, but I love my G2 phone. They have a lot of good plans too." I replied.

"Now that I think of it....my other phone kinda sucked....and it was only a pre-paid phone too that couldn't do much......"

"I'd get a smartphone if I were you Jun."

"Yeah, I think you should get one too." Both myself and Dracon insisted.

"You're right.....I'll probably be spending a lot more....but then again, there have been times where I did want the internet on the go and couldn't do anything about it. So yeah, I'll get one. Help me pick one out here guys. Heh."

With that said, Dracon and myself helped Junir pick out a new phone for himself to replace the one that he had lost beforehand.

****

"Damn......I'm rusty, I need to drive this thing more.......at least I'm here though....hopefully the others are doing alright....."

After spending all night driving around in his car and also having to make a few stops to re-gain his composure and strength after what occurred beforehand, Aquin finally found himself in the same area where the others went to hang out, since he was able to easily sense where the group was headed in the first place.

The gator pulled his ride into the mall parking lot, and got out of his car.

"God.....I just hope that I can get away with leaving you here this time...."

*BEEP BEEP BEEP......FWOOSH*

The car's security system automatically equipped itself after Aquin put his sword down inside his car, and the Gator finally found himself walking towards the entrance of the mall.

"......Wait.....what the hell?"

Just then, something threw off Aquin a bit.

"Why....am I sensing someone else here.....someone with their own.....special ability.....huh?"

The gator kept thinking to himself, looking around the parking lot and the entrances to the stores around him, though nothing was clearly sticking out.

"......hmm.....I wonder......"

****

"That'll be $273.75."

"At least I got what I needed....." Chowder mentioned, as he started to pull out his wallet after buying a couple of window panes as well as some blinds, and a few other small things to put into his restaurant.

"Chowder....put your wallet away....we're gonna cover this for you."

"...w-what?............r-really?"

"Your food is top notch, and I don't want to see your business suffer at all, so let this one be on us. After all, you've let us stay at your place and you've been unbelievably kind to everyone....I mean it's the least we could offer back to you."

Sully pulled out a few hundred dollar bills and handed it to the clerk that was working at the Sears supercenter store, which was one of the few mall based stores that had a full warehouse of home improvement goods.

"You can pull your vehicle around the mall and pick up your items when they're ready." The cashier told the three, as she handed a receipt to the big monster, whom she didn't even seem to realize who she was talking to.

".....H-how can I re-pay you two? I need to give you guys something back...come on guys....please...anything!"

Chowder found himself stunned that Sully and Ord paid for everything that the Tiger needed, though the two simply smiled back, and Ord replied:

"Just keep making the great food that you prepare so well, cause I definitely want more of it when you re-furnish your place! Haha."

"..........."

"......Hey...you ok there?

"............."

*GLOMP*

Chowder pretty much threw himself into the monster and the Dragon, nearly tearing up as he was acting very grateful for what his friends were doing for him.

".....T-thank you g-guys.....you really make me want to re-open as soon as I fix up the place."

"We'll be your first customers back, buddy."

"Heh."

Chowder simply smiled, and the three walked out of the store with wide grins on their faces, acting like 3 best friends that couldn't be separated from each other by any means.

****

"....I wonder if these will look good...." The whale mentioned, walking out of a graphics store with a bag that had several flame decals in it.

"They match with the color of the truck, I think it will Gant'."

"Alright, well we got what we needed, wanna just head back and look for the others?"

"Yeah, might as well."

*****

"......Seems like they're scattered all over the mall here.....might as well check the place out.....guess I could probably see if there's anything I could get for my room back at my place." Aquin mentioned as he started walking past a few stores inside the giant mall.

*****

"And.....you're all set Mr. Espinoza!"

"Thanks a lot Greg, I really appreciate it."

The Lion spent a little bit of time with a T-mobile salesman who was a pretty slim male badger, and eventually picked out a Samsung Galaxy S II Phone with an unlimited plan to go along with it.

"All set Jun?" I asked, as I was looking at some of the other phones in the store while the Lion was finishing buying his own new phone. Dracon seemed to be doing the same thing I was doing, though from time to time, it felt a bit awkward as we almost couldn't help but look at each other.

"Yep, let's go guys."

With that said, Junir took his newly programmed phone, and the three of us walked outside of the store.

"......Hey Mike, you should help me program my phone, cause isn't your phone an Android phone too?"

"Yep, sure is. I'll help you with whatever you need Jun."

"Thanks Mike. By the way Dracon, did you ever give me your cell phone number? I'm gonna add you two now just so that I won't forget about it later heh."

"I don't think I did.....but yeah my number is 545-***-****."

"And mine is 978-***-****."

".........ok here....yadda......hmm.....ok...added......and Mike.....ok.....978....ok....done!"

"I have your old number from your facebook Jun, but if you just log onto your Facebook through your phone I think you can sync all your contacts on there."

"Oh sweet! Lemme do that right now then....."

"Say Dracon, s-should we add each other then? H-heh." I mumbled a bit, scratching my head.

"Yeah! What did you say your number was again?

"It's 9.......hey......what the hell....?"

Before I could give Dracon my number, something felt kinda odd around me. It almost felt like a weird sensation, but I couldn't point my finger on it.

"Mike? What's wrong?"

".....Why....am I sensing something.....I'm just feeling like something's coming towards......us......Hey!"

As odd as the sensation felt running through my body, I was a bit relieved to see a certain person walking towards us three, which ultimately made me realize where the sensation was coming from.

"AQUIN?!"

Junir shouted the Gator's name as the muscular gator made his way towards us three, even though he didn't really say much in return.

"Glad to see that you guys are okay." The Gator swiftly mentioned, bearing a bit of a grin on his face. I was pretty happy to see Aquin there myself, and I came up to him and gave him a bit of a hug, as he returned it back.

"Wait....why are you here though?" Junir asked, though he still hugged the Gator himself as he was glad to see Aquin in person as well. Dracon looked on as the three of us stood next to each other, and he had a bit of a confused look on his face.

"Yeah, I heard that you left Chowder's house yesterday! Where did you go??" I then added.

"Junir, I know everything that happened with you, I saw it on TV, but I......actually....never mind."

"What is it?" Junir asked, while I also looked on with a very curious expression on my face.

"Let's just say that I think that things are going to get ugly between Tony and Marco."

".....I don't want to think about that right now....." I mentioned.

"I know you don't Mike.....and I think it's best that we all just not think about Tony until he hopefully comes back.....cause after seeing him the way he was at that hospital yesterday.....even I felt a bit intimidated."

"Oh yeah....Mike told me that he got an email from Gantu and how he explained how you guys were there to see me at the hospital.....damn.... I feel bad that I couldn't be there...."

"You kidding me? There was a shootout there! And I'm still going to find those motherfuckers that......shot....those two ......I'm gonna fucking get them."

"Shot who?" Junir asked.

"It's nothing. Just forget about it. Who's this guy by the way?"

"Oh, this is our new friend Dracon, he saved Junir from that shootout scene."

"H-hey there." Dracon sort of murmured in a shy way, even though he clearly towered over the gator.

"Nice to meet you Dracon. I'm Aquin." The gator replied.

"Yeah, these two mentioned a couple of things about you but I really didn't know who they were talking about, heh."

"Haha. Anyway, where are the others?" Aquin asked us three.

"We split up earlier, but I'm sure we'll meet up with them soon." I insisted.

"Who's with you guys anyway?"

"Well it's us three, and we came here with Chowder, Sully, Ord, Gantu, and Kumi." I explained.

"Gantu and Kumi? Oh wait.....I think I met them briefly yesterday...is Gantu a whale and is Kumi a bear?"

"Yep."

"Yeah, I only stayed with them for a few minutes, but that's good that they came up here to be with you guys."

"Mhhmmm. Well I don't know where they are, but wanna just walk around before we have to meet back up with the others?" I asked, in which the other three nodded back.

As we started walking, I noticed that they had opened A LOT of new stores in the mall that I had never seen before, and I found myself just looking inside the new places left and right.

"Damn....it REALLY has been a long time since I was last here.....oh wait.....good, the F.Y.E. is still there."

I spotted the store where I used to buy some of my Anime apparel and DVD's, and quickly headed inside the store with the other three. Junir and Aquin seemed to just look around with me, though Dracon headed right towards the new movie releases, as well as the video game section of the store.

We all split up a bit eventually, as Aquin went over to look at a few music CD's while Junir went over to the wrestling and sports section of DVD's.

I found myself in the anime aisle, and immediately spotted a few things I wanted to get already.

"Sweet! They still have these Sonic shirts.....on sale too! HOLY SHIT...they have Fairy Tail shirts?!?!"

I got a little over excited after grabbing the same Sonic shirt I had before that got ripped, and I also picked up a blue Fairy Tail anime shirt as well. After grabbing those two items, I walked over to the Anime DVD's.

"Fairy Tail......where is it.....oh here we go......YES!"

Once again, I was really happy to see that they had released the newest DVD of the Fairy tail anime, which also happened to be on sale too.

At that same time, I also heard another voice behind me....

"HOLY....."

Strangely, I looked behind me to actually see Aquin have a shocked look on his face, as he was holding a couple of CD's in his hand in front of a small CD bin that was filled with CD's that were $5 or less.

"What is it Aquin?"

"Aquin? What's up?"

Junir and I walked up to the Gator, as he still had his eyes wide open.

"......I've.....been looking.....EVERYWHERE FOR THIS!!!!"

The Gator held up what looked to be a video game soundtrack, though I really wasn't sure what the game was though.

"Hey....is that F-Zero?" Junir then mentioned.

"Y-yeah! The F-Zero Special Arrange Soundtrack! This thing is worth.....oh shit...probably shouldn't say how much it's worth heh."

This was one of the only times where I truly saw Aquin acting excited in a way, which made me actually look at the Gator as someone normal for once.

"So I think it's safe to say that you're buying that? Heh." Junir mentioned.

"This thing's going nowhere else but with me. You guys get what you wanted?"

"I didn't really need anything, looks like you're all set though Mike haha." Junir pointed out as he looked at the shirts and the DVD that I had in my hand. I sort of blushed at the two, and nodded back.

The three of us proceeded to walk to the checkout, though we then noticed that Dracon was already buying his stuff as we made it up to the register of the store.

"Oh hey guys....you guys find everything you needed?" The big red dragon asked us.

"Damn right. I'm guarding this with my life."

"Yep!" Both Aquin and I replied, though Junir didn't say anything.

"Ah nice. I got both Dead Rising games for the 360. Been meaning to play both of them."

"I REALLY enjoyed that game. You'll like it a lot." I replied to Dracon.

"You should help me with it then." The Dragon smiled back, which again caused me to turn a bit red.

"I'll wait outside and see if I can spot the others."

"Yeah, I will too. Gotta program some more stuff on my phone here anyway." Both Dracon and Junir told the two of us, as they exited the store and walked back out to the main part of the mall.

Meanwhile, Aquin walked up to the checkout with his CD in hand. As the F.Y.E. worker rung in the CD though, Aquin turned around to me, and said:

"Mike, let me see your things that you wanna buy."

"H-huh? W-what for?" I asked, not knowing why the Gator wanted to see my stuff. The Gator turned back to the clerk, and told her:

"I'm buying these things too for my friend here."

*BEEP.....BEEP....BEEP*

"That'll be $52.50 sir."

".....Wait.....did you say you're buying that for m-me???" I replied, still not knowing what the Gator was doing.

"Keep it between us Mike. Let's just say that this is nothing, and plus, you helped me find that CD by leading me in here." The gator replied, pulling out his leather wallet and quickly handing three $20 bills to the cashier.

"....W-wow! T-thanks Aquin! I really do appreciate it...." I replied, though I felt bad in a way as if I wanted to do something in return for the Gator.

"Here you go sir! Have a nice day!" The cashier replied, handing Aquin the bag filled with our stuff.

"Like I said Mike....keep it between us....I don't want the others to really know that money is something that I don't need to worry about."

"......Y-yeah.....I won't say anything to anyone." I replied firmly, though I was still a bit thrown off, as I didn't seem to get what Aquin just said to me either.

The two of us walked back outside the store, only to be staring right at 2 familiar faces from earlier that were standing next to Dracon and Junir.

"Oh, there you are Mike! And you're....Aquin....right?" Gantu exclaimed to both of us, as Kumi was standing next to the big guy as well with a large bag in his hand.

"Yep.....sorry I didn't really introduce myself to you two yesterday at the hospital....my friend and I well....we were in kind of a rush." The Gator replied. Gantu and Kumi introduced themselves to the Gator, and the three shook hands right after that.

"Yeah I just want to forget about what's gone on over the last couple of days and just move on from it all." Gantu told all of us, in which we all agreed right back.

"Yeah. Have you seen Chowder, Ord and Sully?" I then asked the Whale.

"Nope, we haven't. Might as well keep walking though and check out some other areas of the mall." Gantu replied. With that said, the six of us started walking away from the F.Y.E., and we seemed to be approaching the GIANT food court section of the mall itself.

"Here's your stuff Mike." Aquin mentioned, pulling out the stuff in the bag that he purchased and handing it to me.

"Thanks again Aquin." I softly replied, not letting the others hear me as I put my stuff in my Wolf's Rain bag.

"I'm so glad I found this soundtr-......wait...."

Just then, the gator suddenly looked behind himself very quickly, in one swift motion. The others didn't even notice since we were walking behind everyone.

"Aquin?"

"Hmmmmm......."

"What is it??"

"N-nothing....I just have this feeling....that someone's watching us...."

".....I can't see anything....only a few people coming out of a couple other stores...."

"......I don't think so.......let's just forget it."

With that said, we proceeded with the others to the food court section of the mall. I was actually happy for once that nothing bad had occurred, as I was having a great time with my friends and getting some things for myself that I truly enjoyed. I actually completely forgot about what had occurred the day before a few times, as there were more good thoughts for once actually circulating through my head.