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The Blaze

Episode 1: A Rose Among the Blood

Planet Masse

Downtown Inferno City

July 15, 2200 AR

Chase sat on his motorbike, looking toward the borders of his gang's territory and quickly losing his patience. His tail swished violently behind him, and his fangs were bared in annoyance and anger. "Blake, you dead sure you saw them riding this way?" the wolf asked one of his companions.

Even when he wasn't in this sort of mood, Chase was a rather intimidating sight. He usually wore all black clothes and a black leather jacket, which contrasted sharply with his silver and sable fur. He was built strong as well, with broad shoulders, a fair amount of muscle and a trim figure. Chase was the type that could set an entire room full of furs shivering just by walking in the door.

"Come on, Chase. When have I ever been wrong?" came the answer from a black rat on the bike next to Chase.

"Oh, I don't know. Probably the last three times you raised a false alarm about Jack's gang." said a nearby phoenix named Kai who stood up to stretch his fiery wings.

"Give the poor rat a break, guys. It's not his fault the other gangs always wanna get too close to our borders." The voice belonged to Masaru, a large silver back gorilla.

"Maybe, but I say let them come!" said Pyro, a Jack Russell terrier who was already gunning his bike's engine. "More furs to take out our boredom on!"

"Christus, only you would cure boredom by assaulting random furs." quipped a white rabbit named Jess.

"Of course!" came Pyro's retort. "That, or I just chuck a few grenades at a tree and watch the fire." Pyro had earned his street name because of his use of explosives that he manufactured from common household objects. No one knew where he got his supplies, or how he never seemed to run out of anything that blew up or burned, but no one really cared enough to question him about it. In fact, some of his friends were afraid to know the answer.

The only member of the group who was totally silent was Adam, a falcon who had passed initiation only a week ago. He wasn't really sure if he should chuckle or roll his eyes at Pyro's last comment, but he felt safer choosing the latter. He then sat back and looked down the road. Adam had never really been in a big fight, but he had already shown his prowess when Chase had found him getting jumped by a group of particularly dangerous bats uptown. The falcon cringed at the memory. He had walked away from that attack with multiple knife wounds on both wings, singed feathers and one of their bikes. Not pretty at all, but the bike he had gotten was almost worth it.

Adam was knocked out of his thoughts when he caught sight of a small group of bikers, led by a very wicked-looking fox, coming down the road at lightning speed. "Hey Chase, that who you're looking for?" Chase quickly leaned up against his handlebars and squinted his deep blue eyes against the piercing light of the sun.

"Yep, that's Jack and his crew, all right." A smile flashed across Chase's face as he drew his sonicstaff and started his bike's engine.

"Hate to say I told you so. Oh hell, no I don't!" Blake quickly shifted on his bike and revved the motor.

"Well then, how about we drop in and say hi?" said Jess as she started up her own engine.

"Gladly!" Kai yelled as he found a comfortable spot on his seat and pulled a katana from the folds of his blue denim coat.

"Ready for this, Adam?" Masaru queried as he adjusted his brown leather jacket. Adam gave a confident nod and gunned his bike.

"Alright, guys and gal! Let's ride!" Chase stepped on the accelerator as the others gave a war whoop and followed him down the street.

*****

Jack's mood was far from good. He was still angry at Chase and his group for the surprise attack on his own gang two weeks ago. Despite the wiser words of his friends, Jack had decided to storm into his rival's part of town and give him an ass-kicking to end all others. Now his target was only a few precious feet away.

"Stop here!" Jack's bike skidded to a halt as the rest of his group followed suit. He then turned his face slowly to them, revealing both the vicious look coming from his left eye and the big scar running down through it. "This is it, guys! Remember: No mercy, no prisoners, just plenty of pain! Let's give them what they deserve for sucker-punching us!"

"You mean like this?" came a voice from behind. Jack turned around only to find himself clotheslined by a sonicstaff. As he fell to the pavement, he quickly noticed the blur of silver fur going past him, and he knew immediately who it was.

"Damn you, Chase!" Jack screamed, trying to pull himself off the ground as the rest of Chase's group rode up behind their leader. Giving his staff a skillful twirl, Chase smiled mockingly at the fox.

"You expected anyone else? What are you doing in my part of town?"

"You really wanna find out?" Jack finally got back on his feet. Pulling a switchblade knife from his jeans, he cried "ATTACK!" His gang revved their motors and started to move toward Chase's crew.

A split second later, Chase had jumped down from his own bike and said to his group "Spread out! We'll take them head-on!" In an instant, the gang had broken formation as each of them sped toward their targets.

Jess and Kai found themselves riding headlong at a rigid leopard. Jess gritted her teeth as she bailed from her bike and let her momentum carry her into a sprint."What the hell? Jess!" Kai was rather shocked, but a quick glance from Jess told him that she knew exactly what she was doing. The leopard, too, was taken aback, but he soon realized that he now had an unfair advantage over the rabbit. He pushed his accelerator even harder and sped toward her with all of the horsepower that his bike could muster. Just before the bike could crush her, Jess jumped onto his front wheel cover with one foot, then used her other to deliver a crushing kick to the poor cat's skull. As both of them touched the ground, Kai quickly rode up behind Jess, dismounted and gave the leopard a blow to the stomach with the butt of his sword. The big cat only groaned and blacked out.

Meanwhile, Adam and Pyro had begun to ride toward a pair of distracted golden jackals. There was a slight rise in the road near them. An idea struck Adam as he leaned over and said "Pyro, you bring any flash grenades?"

"Yeah, why?"

Adam held out his palm. "Gimme." Pyro flashed the falcon a questioning look, but didn't put up any real argument. Reaching into his pants pocket, he withdrew a small glass container with flash powder inside. With the grenade in his hands, Adam said "Keep your eyes covered until you hear the bang!" Adam then pushed his bike to its top speed and moved toward the rise in the street. As soon as he hit it, his bike went airborne. Swifter than lightning, Adam dismounted and spread his wings. The falcon was suddenly lifted into the sky as he clutched the grenade in his hand and glided above the two jackals. Pyro was forced to stop as he watched Adam's bike narrowly miss the jackals' heads as they ducked under the projectile. It was all he could do to not burst out laughing.

"Who did that?" One of them yelled.

"Me." said Adam calmly. As the two jackals looked above them, he loosed the grenade between them. Pyro and Adam had just enough time to cover their eyes, but their targets weren't nearly that lucky. In less than a second, the grenade made contact with the pavement and set off a flash of brilliant white light.

"Oh Dieu, my eyes!" The jackals clutched their faces in utter pain as their vision was temporarily stunted by the flash. Acting upon the opportunity, Pyro gave one a karate chop to the neck (complete with yell), as Adam dive bombed the other. Both the jackals laid on the ground with their eyes closed.

Blake had cornered a young racoon. Pulling his dulled switchblade from his khakis, the rat pounced on the racoon, only to land flat on his face as his opponent dodged. "Faster than I thought. This'll be fun!" Blake quickly pulled himself off the ground and attacked once more. This time, the racoon put up a slightly more offensive defense, delivering a swift punch to Blake's face. Blake hit the ground hard and dropped his knife. The racoon, sensing his advantage, moved slowly over and picked up the switchblade. Just as he was raising it above his head to strike, he felt himself lifted off the ground by a strong paw.

"Mind telling me what you're doing with my buddy's knife?" Masaru quipped as he wrenched the blade from his victim, then slammed the racoon into the ground with the maximum amount of non-lethal power. The gorilla then turned to extend an arm to his friend.

"Thanks, Masaru." Blake said as his companion helped him to his feet. His eyes then widened as he noticed a badger charging Masaru from behind with a sonicstaff tipped by four-inch spikes. The badger sent a mental command for his staff to extend, and then gave a mighty swing. Masaru had sensed the attack and swiftly spun around to catch the staff with his paw.

"And what's this here?" Masaru pulled the staff from the badger's paw and gave him a brutal punch to the stomach. The badger heard his own breath escape as he slumped to the ground.

All this time, Jack and Chase had been facing off in the middle of the road. Jack stayed on a rather frenzied offensive, tirelessly thrusting his switchblade at Chase's mid section, each blow being skillfully parried by Chase's staff. Jack eventually jumped back a few steps and swore under his breath. "Pretty fancy moves, but let's see you stop this!" Jack made a swift charge and slashed at Chase's heart. Chase had expected the attack and countered with a backward hop and a swing of his sonicstaff. The fox took a hit in the stomach and flew back a few feet.

"Had enough yet, Jack? Or do you want another shot at me?" Jack quickly glanced around to find that the rest of his gang was just recovering from unconsciousness. He flashed an angry glare at his opponent, but placed his switchblade back in his jeans pocket.

"You win this round, wolf. But I will get you back! No fur makes a fool outta me and gets away with it!" Jack motioned to the rest of his group to get on their bikes and ride away, which they all did without hesitation. Chase's group stayed behind, first looking after the fleeing bikers, then gathering around their leader to give a victory cheer.

As soon as the cheer died down, Kai said "I wonder, when will that fox ever give up?"

"Knowing Jack, never!" Chase smiled with satisfaction as he watched his rival's bike reach the horizon.

*****

Planet Masse was a planet very similar to our own. In fact, it's only key difference was the absence of the human race. So, to make up for the lack of a dominant species, evolution had decided that all of Masse's animals would become anthropomorphic. Also, Masse was slightly older then Planet Earth. About 100 years separated the two. Other than that, everything was the same; technology, society, ecology. Everything.

Of course, what is a good planet without some kind of strife? On Masse, all of the problems were somehow political. The planet was currently in it's 2200th year following the day known as Rebirth. All of its politicians had become concerned with many large international matters; terrorism abroad, illegal weapons and drugs being smuggled with the greatest of ease, anti-government uprisings from various groups, even conspiracy within the governments themselves. As a result, almost all of them spent ridiculous sums of money on solving large crises and never payed any attention to problems closer to home. Vicious criminals ran amok, the police forces abused their power, protests against wars and hasty tax reforms were commonplace and growing more violent, yet the government merely turned a blind eye to it all. Most of the citizenry had become accustomed to such shortcomings and were now able to live with it. Still, it was always unsettling to Masse's inhabitants to know that the very agencies that used to protect them and think only for the world's well-being now had become too concerned in other issues to even care about them.

Inferno City was perhaps the worst metropolis to live in during those times. Most of the downtown area had become infested by biker gangs, like Chase's, and was falling into very poor repair. Drug dealers and their customers came in hordes and swarms, the common citizens were constantly terrorized by increasingly dangerous thugs, the city police department was usually too busy quelling the newest anti-government uprising in the uptown area to care about their troubles, the roads were in terrible condition, and the air was so filthy that anyone walking into the city would feel sick before they took their second step. Horrible by anyone's standards, but a place that all too many furs called home.

*****

Chase and his group were getting back on their bikes as Jess suggested "How about we all head for my old man's pub and celebrate this victory right?"

"If there's rockin' music and a few drinks, then I'm in!" yelled Pyro.

"Sounds good." Kai said.

"Not like I got much else going on." Masaru added.

"I take it we're all in." Everyone gave Jess a nod. "Cool!"

"You all go on ahead." Chase said "I'm gonna take the scenic route."

"In this town? No such thing, man!" Blake quipped, getting a slight chuckle from the others.

"See you guys later!" Chase saluted them before gunning his engine and heading off down the road.

"Is he always like that?" Adam asked Masaru.

"Chase?" Masaru looked down the road after his leader and gave a slow nod. "No matter how many friends he gets, Chase will always be a lone wolf." Adam looked in Chase's direction as well as he swallowed Masaru's words. It seemed to make sense, since Chase had always seemed a little distant in his actions and feelings. Still, Adam couldn't help but feel a slight pang of sympathy for his friend. He could only imagine how it must feel to have so many good companions and still need to be alone.

"Come on, you two." Jess was motioning for the two to follow as the others were already going down the street. "Don't wanna miss the party, do you?"

Adam gave a quick smile as he and Masaru started their motors and followed Jess to catch up with the others.

*****

Chase had always preferred riding solo. It was comforting to have a great team behind him in a fight, otherwise he liked the feeling of solitude. It wasn't that he disliked his friends, there was just something oddly satisfying about being alone every now and again. "I'll never understand this need." Chase thought, heaving a sigh. "You'd think that everyone could read their own hearts."

Chase rode over the Coyote Overpass, or the 'Pass' as the locals called it, which marked the crossing point between uptown and downtown. He had always found traveling past the fancy houses of the more wealthy citizens to be a nice change from the broken, trashy garbage heaps that he was used to seeing. Chase stopped in the center of the overpass to drink in the sight of the wonderful mansions dotting the horizon. All that he could think about was how much he'd like to live in a place like that. Even as he thought this, he slapped himself on the muzzle and said aloud "What are you thinking? If you lived up here, you'd be way too sheltered. You'd never have learned about life on the streets, or met the gang." Chase simply hung his head forlornly. "Christus, once more, I prove that I can't read my own soul."

Chase didn't have much longer to feel sorry for himself as he heard a high-pitched scream come from the railing on the overpass. At first, he thought he was going nuts, but a second cry from the rail to his right confirmed that it was real. "Help! Help me, someone!" Chase dismounted and ran toward the rail. Looking over, he saw a frightened young vixen hanging onto the side of the overpass for dear life. He probably would've been too shocked to know what to do, but fortune gave him instinct enough to make up his mind. He extended a paw toward the poor girl, reaching as far as he could.

"Gimme your paw! I'll pull you up!" The vixen looked down at the ground far below her, then back to Chase's paw as she reached for his forearm. At last, when she felt that her arm was going to be stretched out of its socket, she grasped the wolf's arm as he clasped hers. Soon, she was hoisted up onto the overpass and looking into the eyes of her rescuer.

Chase took a second to regard the vixen he had just rescued. She seemed to be about his age, with beautiful red fur that faded to a soft caramel on her muzzle and the bottom of her neck. Her head was topped by the most gorgeous locks of fire red hair Chase had ever seen on any creature, and her eyes were a chocolate brown. Chase almost drooled as her scanned over her perfect body, but he soon realized what he was doing and stopped himself before he could do or say anything foolish. "You alright?" he asked.

"Yes, I'm fine. Thanks to you." She smiled softly at Chase.

Chase sighed in relief for the vixen. He couldn't help but notice that she was attired in a fine sweater and a pair of fancy-looking jeans. Her shoes were clearly made of some type of expensive leather. "You from uptown?"

"Yes, I am."

"What're you doing around here? I didn't think a girl like you'd have the guts to step over the Pass."

"I like taking walks around downtown sometimes. I know it's dangerous, but I like to remind myself that while I live out my life in perfect comfort and safety, others are having the worst time just going from day to day."

Chase was slightly startled by her answer. He had never thought that anyone from her side of town would be concerned with the lives of those on the other side of the Pass. "Well, at least someone cares what goes on around here." he accidentally said aloud.

"What?"

"Oh, never mind. Hey, how'd you get thrown over the guard rail like that?"

"Well, I was just walking across the Pass, minding my own business. Out of nowhere, a biker gang came rocketing down the road and I was forced to lean up against the rail to avoid getting run over. I guess I leaned a little too far, because next thing I knew, I was hanging onto the side and slipping slowly. Lucky thing for me that you came along when you did. I don't know how much longer I could've held on."

"Yeah, I guess it was pretty lucky." Chase said, returning her smile. "Anything else I can do for you while I'm around?"

The vixen considered his question for a moment, then said "Would you mind giving me a ride home? My father's expecting me and I'm sure he's worried sick!"

"No prob. Hop on my bike and hold onto me tight. Oh, and give me directions." The vixen followed Chase over to his motorcycle and, after sitting down behind him, wrapped her arms around his mid section, waiting for the bike to start moving. Though Chase wouldn't admit it, he intentionally slowed his bike down a bit so that he could feel her embrace for just a little longer.

*****

A pounding knock came on the door of old Blitz Baumwolle's pub. Needless to say, Blitz wasn't expecting any customers at that hour of the afternoon. Most of the really serious drunkards and junkies waited until later hours to come to his place for their nightly fixes. As soon as the shock passed, Blitz turned to the door and shouted "Be careful with my door, damn it! You wanna break it down?!"

"Come on, Pops." A young female voice came from the other side as its owner slowly opened the door. "Is that any way to greet your little girl?"

Blitz looked into the red eyes gazing into his own and his anger quickly faded as he recognized his daughter. "Hey, honey bunny! It's been a while since you payed me a visit at work!" Blitz had never been very original when coming up with pet names for his loved ones, but Jess never objected to hers. However, her father was the only one who could get away with that particular name. Anyone else who tried to got a wicked glare and a broken nose.

After she'd hung her black leather jacket on the coat rack next to the door, Jess walked into the poorly lit parlor and took a seat at the glass bar that Blitz was washing. The pub was pretty much the same as every other establishment downtown; cracked walls, ugly wooden floors with loose and/or broken boards, booths and tables that were constantly stained by beer and cigarette ashes, dirty windows and a crappy air conditioner. In fact, Blitz's place had only one real claim to fame. He was the only barkeep who had a working jukebox which had an off-planet option that searched for music being played on any device from many galaxies away, plenty of good Massian tracks and speakers powerful enough to send sound a few blocks down the street.

Blitz counted the other members of the gang walking into the parlor and smiled as they each came up to the bar and took a seat. The old rabbit had seen every one of them in his pub many times before, and in some cases he knew them better than even their own parents.

First came Kai, one of the few phoenixes left alive on the planet. He had a rather menacing look to him, thanks to the fiery orange feathers and crystal blue eyes that were characteristic of his species. Clad in his usual white t-shirt and black denim pants, he sat down at the bar.

Next was Blake, a young rat. In fact, he was the youngest member of the gang at only 16 years of age. His body consisted of all black fur, as well as a pink tail and beady black eyes. Taking a second to hang his leather jacket on the coat rack, he came to sit down next to Kai, wearing his usual gray t-shirt and khaki pants.

Then came Pyro, the crazy Jack Russell terrier. His hair was mostly white, except for the reddish brown spots on his floppy ears and around his left eye. His eyes themselves were rather odd, as he had a brown one on the left and a green on the right. He, too, was dressed in his trademark attire; a yellow t-shirt, green pants and a bomber jacket with white inner lining.

Next in the door was Masaru, the silver back gorilla. He was like most other gorillas, with all black hair and skin and light brown eyes. It was the ape's sheer size that gave him a truly terrifying feel. He stood a good seven feet tall, with broad shoulders and a powerful build. A pair of dark blue jeans and a black t-shirt was the norm for him.

Thinking that everyone was now in the bar, Blitz took a second to look at his pride and joy, Jess. She reminded Blitz so very much of her mother, being blessed by her same cotton white fur and soft red eyes. Although he could have been a little bias as a parent, he felt that Jess was the most courageous member of this group. Also, she had no scars or burns, which meant that she was either incredibly lucky or a very strong fighter. Her clothes today consisted of a red t-shirt and a pair of jeans in which she kept a butterfly knife that, while she was very skilled with it, she almost never used.

Then, to Blitz's surprise, he noticed a new face entering the pub. It was a young falcon, about 17 years old, with dirt brown feathers and deep golden eyes. The boy was clad in only a brown leather jacket and blue jeans. Blitz tried to place a name with the face, but was coming up blank.

Jess, seeing her father's confusion, said "This is Adam, the new guy I told you about. He's only been around for a week, but he's already shown that he can be pretty good in a fight."

"Oh yes, Adam!" Blitz thrust his paw out to the falcon. "The name's Blitz. In case no one told you, I'm..."

"Jess's dad, right?" Adam cut the rabbit off and extended his own hand for a handshake. "Pleased to meet you, Mr. Baumwolle."

"A little too polite for a common punk, ain't he?" Blitz broke the handshake and gave a hearty laugh. "Just call me Blitz. No reason to treat me like I'm your boss or anything." The old rabbit looked around the pub once more and noticed that something was missing. "Hey, where's Chase?"

"Off on his own, as usual." said Pyro, trying to light a cigarette in his mouth.

"Well, I was, anyway." a voice came from the open doorway. Pyro was pleasantly shocked and nearly swallowed his cigarette. The entire group turned to see Chase leaning against the door frame with a big smile on his face.

"Well, what happened to you?" Pyro managed to say between coughs.

"No kidding." Kai added "You look like you just lifted that new NitroShock bike you've had your eyes on and got away with it!"

"Even better than that!" Chase hung up his jacket and proceeded toward the bar.

"Really?" Masaru gave Chase a look of both interest and skepticism "Well, aren't you gonna tell us about it?"

"In a second. First, let's get a round of beer." Chase watched as his friends began to pull cred cards from their pockets. "No, no, don't bother. I'm buying." Everyone gathered around the bar gave Chase a shocked expression. Chase was a good friend, sure, but he had never made a gesture like that.

"Either what happened to him put him in a hell of a good mood, or that is one sick wolf!" Jess thought to herself. Still, nobody really objected and soon they all had a pint of beer in their paws. No one spoke for some time.

Blake was the first to down his beer. As soon as he had finished, the rat looked at Chase and said, "So, you ready to start telling us what happened?"

"Oh, yeah! How could I forget?" Chase put down his own beer and began to tell the others about the vixen he had met on the Pass. His friends just sat back and listened as Chase unraveled every last detail of the incident, from the rescue, to taking her back home, and he made sure to go into great detail about the vixen herself. As soon as he was done, Pyro drank the rest of his beer and leaned over to jab Chase playfully with his elbow.

"So, what did you two do after you got her home?" The dog asked.

"What?"

"You know, did you take her straight to the bedroom?" Pyro let a devilish chuckle escape his lips.

"No, of course not!" Chase said before finishing off his drink. "I mean, you can't expect us to go physical the day we meet!"

"I dunno." Kai chimed in "You've done it before!"

"Yeah, well that one was a big mistake!" Chase replied.

"That's not what you said at the time!" Masaru spoke up.

"Come on, gimme a break!" The others obliged, no matter how fun it was to tease the wolf. Chase kept speaking. "Anyway, it's not like I'll ever see her again. She's a pretty girl from uptown, and I'm a street punk. Not much of a relationship there."

The gang spent the rest of the afternoon hanging out in the pub, relaxing and occasionally playing a little music on the jukebox. At about 6:00 PM, Blitz bid the festivities cease and asked the group to leave for the day. Outside, the gang mounted their bikes as Chase said, "Remember: the usual place, tomorrow afternoon. See you then!" The group said their goodnights and rode of in their separate directions. As Chase rode home, he found himself looking back toward the Pass, thinking about the cute vixen he had rescued. He wasn't quite sure why he couldn't get her out of his mind. Chase just shook his head and thought "You ain't gonna see her again. Just stop thinking about her, or you will fall in love with her." Chase soon arrived at home and thought of nothing more for the rest of the day.

--The Next Day--

The gang met at their usual spot around 1:00 PM, an old abandoned warehouse near Blackmane Road. It wasn't much, but there was a nice storage room with a busted outer door that made a perfect parking garage for their bikes. Also, they had furnished the basement area with a few things to give it a more homely feel; two couches, several folding chairs, a coffee table and a low quality vidscreen, to be precise. All of the rooms upstairs were left alone, mainly because they were all either locked or without electricity. The gang used it quite a bit, if only as a gathering place.

Chase was feeling antsy. He needed to get outside and do something, He didn't really care what it was, he just needed some entertainment. After a few minutes without so much as a word being spoken by the others, the wolf got off the couch and said "Think I'll take a spin. Anyone wanna come with?"

Most of the others just gave a lazy groan. That is, all except for Adam. "Sure, I will." he said.

"You sure?"

"Yeah, I never was much for just sitting around on my ass all day. I need some fresh air."

Chase followed Adam into the elevator that went straight up to the makeshift garage. "I know what you mean." The wolf said as the elevator began it's painfully slow ascent.

*****

Adam followed Chase as they crossed over the Coyote Overpass. Since they were riding slowly and their bikes were making little noise, Adam rode up next to Chase and asked, "You like riding around uptown a lot, don't you?"

"Yeah, why?"

"Nothing. You just seem to spend a lot of time on the other side of the... wait a second, I see what's really going on here."

Chase gave the falcon a questioning look. "What do you mean?"

"You're just looking for a good excuse to find that vixen again, aren't you?" Adam smiled.

"Not that again! I told you..."

"I know what you told me, Chase. You gotta admit, though, she'd be a great girlfriend, wouldn't she?"

Chase turned his gaze away from his companion as they approached a small lake near the Inferno City Park. He'd never let Adam know it, but the vixen had been growing on him. It just seemed that no matter how hard he tried, she continued to torment him with her memory. Chase had seen quite a few cute girls in his time, and he never had to work too hard to talk most of them out of their clothes. Still, this time it was something more than just a case of hyperlust. There was something else about this one, something that Chase had never felt for any other. Had he any experience in it, the wolf would've sworn that it was love.

Chase stopped at the lakes edge as Adam did the same. "Yeah, I guess she would." the wolf said casually. "But, like I said before, I probably won't see her again anyway." Adam and Chase dismounted and stood by the calm waters for a few moments. Neither of them spoke a word, and there were few others around.

The peace didn't last long, as a high-pitched scream pierced the air, making Chase's ears stand up. "What was that?"

"A scream. Why, did it sound like a laugh or something?"

"No. It's just... you're gonna think I'm crazy, but it sounded... familiar."

"Familiar?"

"Like I said, it sounds crazy, but I swear it's the truth!"

"Do we go help?"

"Why not?" The two friends got back on their bikes and barreled down the road, following the echo of the scream that still rang clear.

*****

Chase and Adam found an narrow alleyway near the park and rode up close. "This is the place." Chase said as he dismounted and pulled out his sonicstaff.

"You sure?" Adam dismounted as well and spread his wings.

"Dead sure." Chase stopped cold as cruel laughter and teenage voices began to echo through the alley.

"Hey, we got us a pretty one, didn't we, boys?"

"Sure did. Looks loaded, too."

"OK, sweetheart, your cash or your ass!"

Adam tapped Chase on the shoulder. "Chase," he said "I know those voices. It's that gang of bats that attacked me a while back!"

"How do you know that?"

"I'd recognize them just from the laughter. But the last one, I know his voice really well! I'm positive, it has to be them!"

A frightened female voice cut through the alleyway. "No! Please, leave me alone!"

Chase had heard all that he could stand. "You heard the lady." he called to the voices in the dark "Leave her alone!"

The wolf was soon greeted by the sight of four topless male bats walking into the light. "What was that?" the tallest one asked.

"One more time: leave... her... alone..." The wolf willed his staff to extend, ready for anything.

"You're gonna regret those words! Nobody tells the Leatherwings what to do!" the tall one (obviously their leader) said "OK, guys, let's take him! He's on his own!"

"Who said I was a lone wolf?" Chase stepped aside to reveal Adam with a slight grin on his face.

"Hiya, fellas." the falcon said, giving a wave "Remember me?"

"Oh Dieu, it's that falcon from two weeks ago!" one of the bats said.

"Yeah, the one that stole my bike!" another added "I'd know him anywhere!"

"It don't matter!" the leader yelled "We'll still take you both!" The four bats pounced, but they weren't fast enough. Chase knocked two off their feet with a single swing of his staff, as Adam gave a quick spinning kick to knock out the two surrounding him. Chase retracted his staff and looked toward the darkness of the alley.

"They weren't so tough. Not nearly as good as I remember them." Adam remarked as he looked at the punks they had so easily dispatched.

"Most who pick on the helpless are wusses." Chase replied. He then cupped his paws and said into the alley "It's alright! You can come out! We took care of them!"

A young female of the canine series soon emerged from the darkness. She hung her head just enough that Chase couldn't see her face. "What happened?" she asked.

Chase took a step toward her. "My friend and I heard you scream and came to help."

"Why would you help me?" The girl asked.

"Why not?" Adam said "It's just not right to attack a helpless fur!"

"He's right." Chase added "You alright?"

"Yes. Thanks to you." The girl lifted her head to reveal her face. As soon as her eyes met Chase's, she let out a slight gasp.

Chase could hardly believe his own eyes. It was the same vixen he had saved on the Pass the previous day! If her expression was a mirror of his own, then he had a look that was a mix of pleasant surprise and slight embarrassment.

The vixen blushed as they stood staring silently at each other for a few moments. After a short while, Chase said "You know, you really have a knack for getting yourself into trouble."

The vixen chuckled. "And you have a habit of coming to my rescue."

Chase smiled. "You're welcome."

"I guess you're my guardian angel now or something?"

"Maybe." Chase shrugged "Been doing a pretty good job so far, haven't I?"

"Indeed, you have." The vixen turned to walk away.

"Wait!" Chase called to her before she went too far.

"Hmm?" she muttered as she turned around to face the wolf again.

"If I'm gonna be saving you every day, I'd at least like to know who I'm saving." Chase pleaded.

"I'm Rose." the vixen replied, smiling softly "And you are?"

"The name's Chase." the wolf said.

Rose turned away once more. "Pleased to have met you, Chase. Hope we see each other again soon."

"Me, too." Chase whispered as he watched Rose walk away. He soon returned to his bike to find that Adam had already mounted his own.

"Was that who I think it was?" Adam asked as Chase got onto his bike.

"You mean that vixen? Yeah, she's the same one from yesterday."

Adam nodded and gave a tiny smile. "You were right, Chase. She is a cutie!"

"Give it a rest, birdie boy!" Chase started his engine. "Come on, let's head back to the warehouse. I've had enough fun for one day!" The two started back down the road toward the Pass. Little did the wolf know that Rose was watching him ride away over her shoulder.

"I don't really believe in destiny or anything," she thought "but there has to be some reason I keep running into him." Rose nodded and averted her gaze. "I have to get to know that wolf. And I intend to, one way or another."

--TO BE CONTINUED--

Next Episode: Lover's Vow