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Enforcers ran in a panic through paved corridors, their terror reflected off the hard grey marble as they ran past blood pools and doorways. Each light behind them flicking off abruptly, and their number is quickly dwindled from twenty to one as they passed other corridors, the unlucky ones dragged into the shadows screaming screams that were abruptly cut off short by gurgles and crunches, at times their dismembered parts would thud heavily against the wall ahead, splattering blood against the cold marble in a macarbe painting of death while a triumphant roar would howl through the halls, echoing chillingly.

The one final enforcer passed a massive steel door, ten inches thick, which closed and bolted shut with a thud. Dents were slammed into it for a whole heartpounding minute as the unseen force on the other side slammed into it, trying to force it open. Grunting and howling could be heard from the other side of the door, which eventually grew faint, leaving the hall full of enforcers prepared to cast firebolts at the door in silence except for the heavy panting of the sole survivor. He slowly made his way through the room, once again breaking into a run as he pelted through the crowded halls to Colonel West's office. He slammed the door open and held onto the handle as he caught his breath.

"What is it?" West asked abruptly. West, though not an imposing figure with his greying hair and wrinkled face, was the leader of the enforcers. His uniform was covered in badges and medals, a massive star on each shoulder signifying his position in command; up high.

"Sir!" the enforcer responded. "The Lockup has been lost, the massive steel door is all that stands between us and him."

West stood up, dropping his pen from his hand in stunned disbelief. "How many made it out?"

"Out of fifty enforcers in the Lockup I am all that is left." The winded man panted. "It was if he were everywhere at once. I doubt the enforcers in the Evetrium could stop him if he got out. Not even Master Greywell could stop him now that he has had time to gain strength and practice."

West sat back down, rubbing his chin in thought. "I... I think I know someone who could, but we need to prepare first. Retrofit all of the Evetrium's exits with Lightweave door panels, use plants to keep them stable." West said. "He's got to be the only man alive who could do this job."

"Who are you getting, sir?" The enforcer asked, still panting heavily.

"Oh, he's this guy I know..." West replied, a cunning grin splitting his face.

Matthew sat on his desk at the front of his class. In a whole year, his class had shown promise, but seemed to be having trouble with breaking off of spells that would go wrong. The entire class had somehow managed to completley forget the way to stop their casting over the holidays, and he was now drilling it back into their heads so hard that they'd hopefully remember forever. If his... Condition wasn't enough reminder of the consequences already. After his accidental merging with his familiar in his final year as a student, he had remained covered in fur and had been added to with a tail, pointy teeth, claws, paw pads, and a completley different facial structure. He also had the ability to turn into a quadrapedal thylacine, a form in which he currently sat on his desk with a red collar around his neck and a very unhappy disposition on his face.

"Honestly, it's like you lot didn't practice over the holidays!" he snapped. "I hate making you guys re-read the first goddamned grimoire that I handed out as much as you hate having to read it; but if you can't call off your spells when they go wrong, the consequences could be catastrophic! I'm proof of how badly this stuff can screw up, sos pay attention this time!"

'That put them in their place.' Zanobi, his familiar, chuckled in Matthew's head. 'Look at how much effort they're putting into ignoring you!'

'This isn't a joke, Zanobi.' Matthew thought back. 'If they don't learn to do it right, they could end up dead.'

"Maybe you'd respond better to an example." Zanobi said out loud, speaking though Matthew's mouth and taking control of their shared body. He closed his eyes and focused, a small fireball forming infront of his front right leg. "When you have a spell under control, you can do practically anything with it." He demonstrated by changing the size and position of the fireball, spinning it in circles. "However, when you lose control..." He contnued, the fireball suddenly wobbling dangerously and changing colours rapidly. His eyes flicked open and the fireball exploded, burning his leg with a hiss, making him wince and twitch. "And that's just a low level fire spell. When summoning spells go wrong, you could wind up with the materials fusing with your arm, or removing a part of your bodies altogether. It is not pleasent, and the Summoning school of magics can and will kill you if you let it. Accidents like this happen every year in this school, usually only minior accidents because students have learned how to dismiss the magic enough to make it harmless. We know that you guys are better than that, please don't let us down."

Matthew gained control back and he quickly healed the burn damage on his leg. He sighed his relief as he moved it, a loud click coming from his ankle.

"Zanobi is right." He said as he put his paw back down. "Everyone has an accident at one time or another, even me; but the further into the spell you are the more damage it can deal, as there is more magic in the spell for it to use against you. So being able to dismiss magic is important because not only will you take less harm if you do screw up, but you can also usually try again with the reduced amount of resources without any problems." He stopped lecturing in time to hear the school bell ring, signalling lunchtime; so he jumped to the floor and changed into his human shape, a light smile on his muzzle. "One hour for lunch." He said, waving the class out.

The students packed up and walked out and Matthew watched them go before locking the door behind him. He dawdled to the teacher's lounge, watching the students around him converse, read or practice. He'd gained some respect from the students through the last year, so he could now walk through the campus without having to dodge too many fireballs, but every day he'd have to catch at least one. He stepped into the teacher's lounge, sat in a chair around the huge round table and sighed heavily, letting his body fall limp.

"Something wrong, Matthew?" the Headmaster, Master Greywell, asked passively as he stirred his coffee, his attention focused on a newspaper spread infront of him. As the headmaster, he did a surprisingly bad job. Practically letting his teachers run amok whilst he went about his day calmly dealing with problems as they were presented to him as if he had known about it the whole time. He knew every school of magic, had never lost a fight, and had short silver hair and facial hair that could blind someone if the light hit it just right. He treated Matthew like a son.

"Honestly, it's like they didn't read that grimoire last year!" Matthew groaned. "I'm having to reteach the entire class how to cancel spells."

"Well, some students truly do forget over the holidays between years." Greywell replied wisely. "You'll just have to admit you got a batch of duds and reteach it every year."

Matthew, and most of the other teachers in the room, laughed at this. Greywell was becoming increasingly sarcastic lately, and seemed to like to use his sarcasm as often as possible. He taught his own class, sharing the Paladins -a group of combat trained students who specialised in healing magic and one other school of magic- with roughly ten other teachers. Matthew was a paladin himself, trained in Healing and Summoning magics. He could even use the air around targets to create a ball of water, or compress it enough to make it ignite, and didn't have to get in close to the materials to use them. He'd gotten so good he could stop fire magic as it was being cast, practically freezing the growth of the fire in its tracks, but not putting it out. He did manage to figure out that adding a rogue element, such as additional hydrogen, to the core of a fire spell would make it waver and difficult to control. He had also gained a limited use of other schools of magic, a repertoire he was increasing with each passing week as he read through the school's huge library of grimoires.

Most paladins went on to join the Enforcers, their combat prowess extremely useful in real world environments. Policing mages was risky business; you never knew when the person you were trying to calm down or arrest would suddenly lash out with extremely dangerous spells. Matthew had asked for a position at the school where he could continue to comb through the library, slowly making his way toward the larger, heavier tomes that held some of the most powerful spells known to man. He was yet to find the grimoire that taught teleportation, but he was sure he was getting close. Matthew sighed and got up, walking over to the row of refrigerators and took out a plastic box with his name on it, returning to his seat.

"Incidentally, Matt;" Greywell started, looking up from his newspaper; "Colonel West called me and asked if he could to talk with you about something urgent, I trust you won't say no?" He sipped his coffee, returning a loose ping-pong ball with his spoon.

"Of course not." Matthew replied as he opened the box to reveal a small salad, a large piece of cooked lamb and a fork. "Anything for the head of the enforcers. So long as he keeps his private army out of my apartment I'm willing to help him out in any way." He finished, taking a bite of the meat.

Greywell chuckled, clicking his fingers. Colonel west appeared in a distant corner in a cloud of mist, facing the wall. Greywell looked at his hand and shook it lightly, small twinkles of magic shining around his fingers as he did.

"Hm, I really must practice my teleportation magic more often, I'm getting a bit rusty. Colonel! Come have a seat and stop menacing that drywall."

The colonel laughed. "I've almost stared this wall into submission, too." He joked, turning away and taking a seat. "Oh well. Matthew, I have a proposition for you."

"Oh? Is this anything like that proposition to test my magical abilities by sending a platoon after me?" Matthew asked sarcastically, waving salad at the colonel before he ate the forkful. The year before he had almost been killed by a renegade group of enforcers, and the Colonel had promptly put Matthew on the 'do not try to kill' list, yet few enforcers had noticed.

"No, no. This is far more important." Colonel West assured him. "You'll be working alongside my enforcers this time; the best we have, Melissa Patrick, Fredrick Wesker, Adelaide Quan, and Daniel Fitzpatrick."

Matthew swallowed and returned the fork to his salad."Melissa and Fredrick are enforcers?" Matthew asked excitedly, his tail wagging slightly. "Melissa told me she had gotten a good job in her letters, but she wouldn't say what it was."

'If you pay closer attention, she says more than that.' Zanobi said in Matthew's head, but Matthew ignored him.

Colonel West nodded. "Oh yes, two of the best I've got. With them being the best Fire caster and Geomancer in the whole of the organisation. Adelaide is also extremely skilled at Fire magic and Daniel is an especially powerful Summoner."

"Oh? Do you think he is he better than us?" Zanobi asked, his voice echoing out of the walls. He couldn't talk while they were humanoid as he couldn't manage to manipulate the voicebox, but he spoke by affecting magic in the air. "Incidentally, you should mix some apple into the salad next time, Matthew, you're lacking fruit in your diet."

"Probably not." West replied, laughing as Matthew put some salad on the table and changed it into an apple with a grumpy look on his face. "Though he will put that to the test if he thinks he is good enough."

"Remember, Matthew;" Greywell said, raising a finger while he continued to read and drink, "you promised not to kill."

Matthew nodded, crunching lightly as he chewed his apple. "I do not kill people, but humiliating them is another thing altogether." He said with a note of satisfaction. He finished his apple and changed the remaining core into a piece of lettuce and mixed it with the remaining salad. Matthew never wasted what could be eaten if changed slightly.

"You don't kill?" The colonel asked, shocked. "... Well, I guess we can handle that when we come to it."

Now Matthew looked apprehensive. "What exactly are you getting me to do for you, West? Be to the point, and don't tell me any of that bullshit about how top secret it is."

West sighed. "A number of years ago, a friend of myself and your Headmaster's went through the same thing as you are. He was a well trained Fire and Summoning mage by the name of Arthur Renelli. His familiar bonded with him but did not retain its knowledge, reverting to its basic instincts. As a Bear, you can imagine how powerful these instincts were. After a period of three months Arthur had lost what little humanity he had left and went rogue, killing twenty innocnet people. It took five enforcers to stop him and he was locked away deep under our HQ. Recently he has broken free from the restraints we had him in, but has thankfully been isolated in the maze-like halls we call the Lockup; but not before butchering almost fifty innocent enforcers and causing damage costing thousands in damage. A massive steel door has kept him locked in there since this occurred. The room outside this door is called the Evetrium, it's a massive bottleneck, a wedge, with balconies and only three exits, two of which go to the rest of the facility and one which leads to the lockup. The doors to the outside world have been reinforced with Brightplate shutters."

"That steel door will not hold him forever." Zanobi echoed. "He will be biding his time, conserving his strength until he can smash it down, and even Brightplate is not invincible."

"Indeed." Matthew said, closing the box after he finished his food with a content smile. "During the week after we became like this I tried to starve myself to death from depression, rather unsuccessfully I might add." He gave a thankful glance to Greywell, who smiled back. "I became progressively weaker until I couldn't even stand in animal form, and that takes little energy to do. After I had eaten something it took but a few short hours to regain enough strength to feel like I had the week before. After another week I was strong enough to leap over the campus' courtyards, rooftop to rooftop; and those are hundred metre spans. If Arthur has enough time to rest he could put his fist through that door like it's made of tissue paper."

A ringing sounded out through the room and the Colonel grabbed his phone. "It may be too late." he mumbled.

Matthew stood up. "Master Greywell, I need you to get a substitute into my classroom if you could, please."

Greywell nodded. "Of course. Give Mel and Fred my regards." he said, clicking his fingers with a smile. He returned to his newspaper. "There's never a dull year at this place, is there?" He mumbled rhetorically. He finished his newspaper, pulled the crossword out, and changed it into a large black and white apple. "Yep, I need practice." He said to himself, looking at it sceptically before he took a bite.

West and Matthew appeared in west's office standing on the desk.

"Dammit, he really has to practice that." The colonel said, climbing off the desk. "Anyway, welcome to the enforcer HQ."

"Enforcitopia." Zanobi sounded, laughing. Matthew smiled apologetically.

"Sorry, he couldn't help it."

West shook his head. "It doesn't matter, let me show you to the Barracks, you are to meet the other four there in their quarters. Please take note that you might be attacked by wandering enforcers, they do not know you are not Arthur." He opened the door and let Matthew out, promptly locking it behind them. They walked to the first corner before Matthew hesitated. "What's up?" West asked.

"I think I know a way to avoid getting attacked." Matthew informed him before changing form. "There we go! People will think I am just a harmless animal with my collar on."

West nodded. "A clever ruse, but how will the others recognise you?"

"Melissa and Fredrick were in the same class as I when we were in the Paladin block. They saw me like this often enough to hopefully recognise me. I exchange letters with Melissa often."

"And if they don't recognise us we can simply talk to them, that should work." Zanobi said.

West led the small mage through the facility, noting the Lightweave doors as they passed them. Matthew actually stopped and looked them up and down. Instead of white, they were golden, and shone marvellously.

"Concentrated Lightweave plates." He mumbled to himself. "Ten times more durable than white Lightweave and almost five hundred times stronger than steel. It's impressive to see so much at once."

"Yes." West said. "Five of our enforcers worked diligently for hours under constant light to make them, and they're kept solid even with the lights off by the living plants embedded in each panel." He pointed out the small plants growing from the glowing panels.

Matthew nodded and followed Colonel West further into the facility, gaining a few curious glances from enforcers that passed him and an accusing look from one of the men who had attacked him the year before. Matthew simply glared back and the man scurried off. A few minutes later he found himself in a massive carpeted corridor, probably hundreds of meters long, with doors every dozen meters. There was a staricase to his right with a floor count. They were on the ground floor, and there were supposedly ten above him. He swooned momentarily before shaking his head to collect his nerves and continuing to follow the Colonel, who opened a door and walked in.

"Commander on deck!" He yelled, his voice audible outside in the carpeted hall. Matthew dawdled in. Through the door was a medium-sized bedroom, a four-high bunk bed to his right. It had the look of a student's flat, clothing littered the floor and a small refrigerator actually radiated the smell of alchohol. The room, other than that, was rather unremarkable. Grimoires filled the only bookshelf to the brim, and four large chests sat on the beds. A bathroom could be just seen at the back of the room, through a door on the left hand side.

"Sir?" A girl asked curiously, eyeing Matthew. "What's going on? The barracks doesn't allow pets." She was average height, probably five foot six, with short black hair and ethnic eyes. She was slim, but her general physique showed that she had been working out, her muscled stomach and arms showing through her fluro yellow tank top.

Melissa and Fredrick, standing behind the girl, noticed Matthew frown at this and sniggered. They waved to Matthew, who nodded back. The nod was only small, and was completley unnoticed by the two enforcers not looking that intently.

"And weren't we supposed to be meeting this 'ringer'?" A man, obviously Daniel, asked. He also was unremarkable in height, but made up for this in muscle. He was built like a brick wall, and would probably last all of twenty seconds against Matthew in an arm-wrestling competition. His syrup coloured crewcut mixed with his white shirt and blue jeans made him look imposing, if not a little goofy.

"This is him." West said to the bewilderment of Daniel and the girl, who Matthew deduced was Adelaide. They gave Matthew a questioning look and he smiled and wagged his tail. Melissa and Fredrick sniggered louder.

"Sir! Is this a joke? You expect us to fight beside this animal?!" Adelaide asked, pointing to Matthew rudely. West shut the door with a thunk.

"Yes."

Matthew took this cue. He transformed slowly, taking time to make it look impressive as he flung his hands out and his clothes wove around him, the images on his fingerless gloves shined brightly when they completed. His mane grew longer and tied back behind his head.

"I'm not 'this animal', Adelaide." He said, chuckling at her and Daniel's amazement. He lifted his furry, clawed hand to her. "I'm Paladin Matthew Anderson, but you can call me Matthew. Or 'Fuzzy' if you really must." He shook her hand and then turned to Daniel. "And you must be this 'Daniel' I've heard so little 'bout." He said, shaking his hand. "But from what the Colonel says, you're a specialist in Summoning magics. Great to meet someone in the same field as I."

"Same field, eh?" Daniel replied, grabbing a large piece of metal that was leaning against the bed. The metal distorted, magic spun around it and daniel lifted a very sharp broadsword, holding it right in Matthew's face. "Enguarde!" he yelled, posing dramatically.

Matthew smiled as he took a step back and swung his hand through the air, his almost trademark wing shaped shield flowing from the light in the room. "Bring it!" He laughed.

"Lightweave, eh?" Daniel quipped. "Not bad, but I also can do shields from Lightweave." Matthew chuckled.

"This'd be a fair fight, then." He said, slapping his hands against the sword's edge. The blade distorted in a bright flash, and when Matthew pulled his hands away the sharpened metal had been changed to look like a bundle of flowers. Daniel looked at it with a stunned look on his face.

"Not bad, Fuzzy." Fredrick chuckled. His calm exterior and cool looks with curly orange hair completley threw off his 'mean guy' attitude, making him the class clown in school. He wore black jeans and shirt, with white stitching. He also was well built. He had to be; hefting heavy rocks all day can obliterate the untrained human skeleton, and his constant training and iron stomach made him a monster in bar-room brawls.

Melissa laughed. "Matthew has other tricks to play with, too. I've seen him do some really amazing things that I can't explain." She was, in Matthew's eyes, really cute. Tall and slim, almost blonde hair that draped to her waist and blue eyes that sparkled ligtly. She did have the look of a strong physique, but it blended so well with her slim frame that she simply looked like any average girl. In her long pink shirt and black pants, Matthew'd intentionally lose against her if he ever sparred with her, but he hadn't seen her in more than a year.

"Such as?" Adelaide pushed, sceptically narrowing her eyes.

"Such as this, maybe?" Zanobi echoed, making Daniel jump. "Hi."

"What the hell was that?!" Adelaide asked, shocked.

"I prefer who to what, thanks. I'm Zanobi, Matthew's familiar."

The two looked around the room nervously. "Where are you...?"

"Right infront of you. Matthew and I are one. I'm essentially in his head, but I can talk by manipulating the raw magic in the air. It's not hard. When we're in our animal form I can talk normally, but not when we're bipedal, the voicebox isn't quite the same."

Matthew nodded, diverting his attention to Melissa and Fredrick, offering them his hand. "Hey, guys. Long time no see. Fredrick, you look like you've been either working out or hiding melons in your arms!"

Fredrick laughed and squeezed Matthew's hand. "I wonder if I can make you wince in pain from squeezing your hand like I can everyone else." He said, before letting go.

Matthew shook his hand before offering to Melissa. "You look great today. I've been waiting eagerly for your next letter, Melissa."

"Thanks, I've been waiting for your next letter, too." Melissa said. "So; word is that you beat the crap out of twelve enforcers last year. Not bad."

Matthew chuckled nervously, tugging at the collar of his shirt.

"That was this guy?!" Daniel exclaimed, angrily looking at Matthew.

"Yeah, that was me." Matthew mumbled. "But they attacked me first."

"The details are not to be talked about." The Colonel interrupted. "I believe that you requested that criteria yourself, Mr. Anderson."

Matthew sighed. " Right. We'll catch up later." He said. "Right now I'm told you need an exterminator for a rather unruly bear."

"Quite." The colonel quipped. "Suit up, you're going now; the less time we waste the better." The colonel finished, walking out. Matthew watched him leave and then turned around to see the others undressing.

"W-what...?" He stammered, his blush so pronounced that his fur started to turn red.

Melissa stopped pulling her shirt off. "It's polite to not look, Matthew; even if you have seen me without a top on."

Daniel stopped pulling his shoes off and looked up at her nervously. "Wait; he... I mean you... I mean.... Whaa?" He stammered, switching his view between the two.

Matthew nervously chuckled. "It's hard to not accidentally see some skin from a sparring partner when you can do this:" He slashed a claw across Daniel's shirt, cutting it open. "...and we've not gone on a date or anything yet, but here's hoping that it's but a matter of time." Matthew finished, smiling and winking at Melissa. He turned around and walked out, allowing them some privacy, walking right into the Colonel.

"Arent you going to get into your armour?" West asked, looking down at him. "Arthur is quite dangerous, I doubt that you could survive without any."

"I'll show them that trick in a moment." Matthew replied, shifting into his quadrapedal shape. "For now I think that they would like to change in private."

The two of them waited outside the door for five minutes. Five long, agonizingly slow minutes of enforcers walking past and roughly petting Matthew on the head like he were a dog. He snapped at a few of them before West started to tell people he wasn't friendly to people messing up his fur, though someone did give him a piece of Jerky as they walked past. Eventually there was a knock at the door signifying that the four inside were ready and West let Matthew back in. Daniel looked down at him confused.

"Are you going to get some armour on?" he asked. "And weren't you taller just now?"

"We can answer your questions all at once." Zanobi replied through Matthew's mouth, making the two newcomers jump again. "Watch."

The five humans stood back as glowing white mist enshrouded Matthew, quickly growing larger as he changed shape to become bipedal again. The mist became impossible to see through for a moment before it moved, as if being sucked in towards his body, and condensing as glowing golden etching and details on his blindingly white armour, golden feathers on his wing-like shield. He smiled at his companions.

"I can change form at will. I've gotten so good I can do it repetedly whilst moving, even at speed. The best part is that my armour doesn't take me five goddamned minutes to get into." He sarcastically said, laughing. He changed back into his quadrapedal form, his armour also changing to cover his smaller frame and walked back out, wagging his tail madly as he giggled. The others followed him out, walking with him to the Evetrium. He stood outside the door with them, explaining his tactic. Matthew was going to stay in the middle of the room, essentially brawling Arthur, keeping him distracted while the others provided backup and long range fire. He took a brief moment to shift form and duck into a darkened room, coming back out in a long, dark red cloak.

"Concentrated Darkweave." He explained. "It'll protect me from any spells that may hit me. It can repel most magics, but is still vulnerable to physical damage like sharp blades and jagged rocks. It's a bugger to make, so try not to tear it too much with your more physical attacks."

He continued to explain his plan. While he was handling Arthur, the others were going to take every opportunity to pelt him with spells and other attacks from the balcony, even if it meant accidentally hitting Matthew.

They positioned themselves in their respective places in the room, the four enforcers up high on the balcony, Matthew down below in the marble clad hall. As predicted, the lights had faltered, throwing them into eerie shadows, illuminated by the emergency lighting only. Matthew waited, staring at the door as Arthur slammed himself through it, sending it screeching across the marble floor and heavily against the far wall. Arthur was huge, easily eight foot tall, was covered from head to toe in a dark brown fur with large splatters of blood all over. His hands and feet featured massive, razor sharp claws that could probably have cut through stone, and his arms looked like he actually did have watermelons hidden under his skin.

The massive brute walked up to the physically smaller male, sizing him up. The marble floor thudded with each step he took. Matthew simply watched as the huge hairy mass walked up to him. Arthur growled menacingly, showing blood covered teeth. He had obviously been eating his previous kills.

"Now!" Zanobi's voice called out. Spikes rose from the marble, all razor sharp and needle thin, pointing at Arthur. The huge furry male was too fast, dodging them as they formed. It looked as if the needle-like spikes were chasing him across the floor.

Matthew leapt, jumping over the emerging needles and swinging his shield, clocking the bear across his face before a backhand swing sent him sliding across the room.

'Focus you moron or you'll get us killed!' Zanobi snapped in Matthew's head as he stopped with a light thump against the wall. "Don;t think that you can take him down with simple swings like that, he's a bear! They're built to last!" Matthew stood up to see Arthur charging towards the balcony that Melissa stoon on. Reacting in an eyeblink Matthew dashed after the lumbering mass, tackling him to the ground from midair and wrestling him as fire and lumps of marble rained down. Matthew shoved a fist into the bear's mouth to stop it from biting his face, as he had no helmet on. Daniel, above on the balcony, readied his crossbow. It was a huge vicious looking piece of hardware with no less than five strings and tracks. A large supply of wood lay next to him. With his summoning magic, he would use the wood to directly feed razor-sharp bolts into the crossbow, achieving a rapid-fire effect.

He fired bolts at high speed, the shaprened ends plowing into the bear's flesh and bouncing harmlessly off of Matthew's armour, yet ripping holes through his cloak. Arthur roared as the arrows covered his back and threw Matthew across the room, sending him tumbling through the spikes, his armour thankfully strong enough to keep him from being impaled. Matthew flipped through the air and flung his shield at his opponent. The glowing shield spun in a blur until it plowed into the bear's side, but Arthur pulled it out and threw it into the darkness beneath the balconies with a roar of pain.

'Dammit, he's stronger and less impared by his damage than I thought.' Matthew thought to his familiar. 'We can't win this fight fair, he's tuning out the pain and damage we're laying on him and simply becooming more unpredictable.'

Fireballs smashed into the insane Arthur, setting alight to the snapped arrow shafts in his back. The blood-crazed beast roared in frustration. He wanted so desperately to kill those annoying people above, but couldn't decide between killing them or Matthew first.

'Then fight dirty! There's a difference between sparring and the real thing, and I can tell you're just trying to fight him into submission! Fight like you mean it, Matthew! Claw his skin, kick those shafts further into his flesh, gouge his eyes! You need to do actual damage to him, we're not trying to incapacitate!' Zanobi said back. Matthew nodded and ran at the bear once more, constantly shifting form as he went, throwing the bear off.

"Fight to survive, not to win!" Zanobi called, the words shouting through the air. Matthew stopped shifting, humanoid, and slid across the floor on his back, slamming fireballs into the confused mass of fur as he slipped past massive clawed paws, each fireball leaving a pock-mark in Arthur's flesh. He slid right underneath Arthur, flipping over and landing a powerful kick into the bear's back, knocking him onto his face and plowing a burning bolt deep into his back. Fireballs, marble tiles and arrows continued to rain down on Arthur until it was believed that he wouldn't get up, the creature breathing heavily like it was critically injured.

Melissa jumped down the storey drop from the balcony, was caught by Matthew, and walked over. As she walked, she readied a fireball powerful enough to blow the monster's head into bits while mumbling about the good that would come from doing what had to be done. When she got within inches of her target, the mass of fur came back to life, roared and punched her in the chest, sending her through the wall back into the corridor they were trying to keep the bear from getting to with a sickening crack. She hit the wall on the other side with a heavy thump and slumped, blood trickling from her mouth. Matthew froze, the world from his eyes stopped. He could feel his blood pounding as his anger rose.

'Matthew, control your anger.' Zanobi warned. ' I know how you feel about her, but you need to be in control or you'll go just as mad as Arthur!'

The bear got up, and held out a bloodied paw. A massive fireball formed above the claws that were sharp enough to slice through rock. It was more than powerful enough to destroy Matthew's armour and incinerate him in the process; but Matthew just stood there, staring at Melissa's limp form being attended to by other enforcers. His eyes started to shine scarlet as the lights around the room all blew, each lightbulb exploding in a shower of glass. Matthew's three remaining companions watched in awe and found themselves shaking in fear for some reason as the fireball above the bear's paw flatered, randomly changing colours. Arthur, so confident before, now seemed confused.

"Hey, Arthur." Matthew growled, his voice now deeper and more menacing than ever as he turned around with his eyes aglow. "Do you know what happens when fire spells go wrong with so much magic poured in?"

The fireball exploded violently, throwing the brown furred mass across the room in one direction and his arm in many others. Now dozens of enforcers were watching through the hole in the wall, a healed Melissa at the front. Black mist condensed around Matthew and he snarled hatefully, his teeth bared. As the mist continued to surround him his eyes shone brighter, soon becoming one of the only things visible through the darkness that enshrouded even the white glow of his armour, his eyes and the golden glow of his armour's details shining through. The cloak on his back disintegrated, sending a huge amount of mist into the swirling cloud around him, and the golden glow could only be seen on one side of his body at a time, but his eyes remained. The bear got up howling at his now smashed limb, blood spilling all over the destroyed marble floor.

'Matthew, don't give in to the instincts and emotion!' Zanobi cried in his head, but Matthew ignored him. 'MATTHEW!'

"Matthew, you don't kill people!" Melissa's desperate voice cried out.

"No person exists in this creature." Matthew snarled, the black mist now snaking towards the lumbering bear. "There is nothing here but a wild creature. As a force of violence and destruction it has challenged to the death, and as a paladin I have accepted." He said bitterly. "I didn't want to be the one to do this, but Arthur must be stopped before any more innocents are harmed. May whatever lord you worship have mercy on your soul; Arthur Renelli!" He finished, growling furiously in rage. "Invocation of Destruction; CASSO!!" Matthew yelled, throwing his hand out.

The mist collided with the bear, who stood in wide-eyed shock momentarily as the whole cloud sunk into his body before he exploded, messily splattering the walls and floor in blood and gore. All that remained where he was standing was a dissipating cloud of darkness and a pile of bloody giblets. Neither Matthew nor Zanobi saw what had happened though, as they had passed out before the finishing blow could exact its toll. Melissa ran to Matthew's fallen body and felt his pulse before she gently lifted him. She tearily carried him to the medical wing past the dozens of shocked faces, picking bits of flesh out of his hair.

Matthew woke the next day, groggily stirring in the bed he was lying in. He was in the medical wing, and had been unconsious in the bed since his climactic finish the day before. He noticed Greywell and Melissa sitting next to him and smiled weakly before remembering what he had done the last time he was awake and his face contorted into depression.

"I..." He mumbled.

"You did what you said you'd do. What you had to do." Greywell said. "You stopped Arthur from escaping his confines and wreaking havoc upon the innocent masses."

"I... Killed him." Matthew mumled sadly. " I killed. I broke rule one! I'm not fit to be a paladin..." He finished, sadly looking at Melissa. "I can understand if you hate me."

"We do not hate you for your actions, Matthew." Greywell told him. "The rule states that you must not kill humans even under the most dire of circumstances. However, from what enforcer Melissa has said to me, you declared that Arthur was no longer human, making his death not against the rule. You have done a great service to the enforcers, and are a testament to Paladins everywhere. A great weight has been lifted from my heart and I thank you for it." Greywell reassured him, raising a finger. "Incidentally, I asked you to say hi for me, but according to her you never said anything."

Matthew tried to converse with Zanobi in his head, but couldn't get a response. He sat in silence for a whole minute trying to converse with his silent familiar before pulling his hand out from under the sheets to scratch his face, stopping and looking at it like he had never seen it before. Human; no fur, no pads, no claws. Matthew closed his eyes and opened them again, checking if this would change anything, but it didn't. His face turned to fear.

"Zanobi?!" He cried desperately, hoping for a response. "ZANOBI?!" He yelled. No response called back to answer his cries. He turned a fearful face to Greywell.

"Matthew, you've been like this since yesterday night after you were brought here." Greywell said sadly. Matthew grabbed him by his shoulders, shaking him.

"He can't be gone!" He cried. "He can't be! He's all I have that I know won't leave me, I can't lose him! Help me, please!" His arms slid down Greywell's arms as he slumped and began crying. "...Help me..."

"There is nothing I can do. I'm sorry..." Greywell replied, sadly wiping tears from Matthew's face as he watched Matthew's heart break in his arms.

Matthew lay in mournful depression for the rest of the day before crying himself to sleep at roughly ten in the evening. His parents had come to see him but he wouldn't let anyone in, hiding beneath the blankets as he wept. His familiar, his companion, half of his soul; was gone. What he had suffered since he had been turned into the walking, talking beast man seemed nothing in comparison to this nightmare. He couldn't even Shadowform anymore. His life had gone completley wrong. Sure, he would be accepted in society as a human, but Matthew didn't want acceptance. He didn't care if people thought he was a freak, or if they called him names and threw fireballs at him. He could cope with that if it meant having Zanobi back. He would have fought five Arthurs alone to get Zanobi back. He didn't notice when Melissa came in the next day with food for him, still sleeping underneath the covers.

"...Matthew?" She mumbled. "Are you awake? I brought breakfast."

Matthew groaned in protest, and she put it on the bedside table, shifting the bouquet of flowers his parents had left for him. She sat down in a chair and stared at the ground.

"You know, I never threw out any of those sweet letters you sent me..." Melissa said to him, smiling weakly.

"...Or I yours..." Matthew replied before tuning the world back out. Melissa sniffled, her heart sinking.

"I'm sorry, Matthew." She said, finally becoming lost in her own misery. "This is all my fault. I should have killed Arthur from afar and not risked myself by getting in so close... I'm so sorry..."

Matthew just stared into the sheets, barely aware of her words.

"Can you ever fogive me?!" she cried, leaning across him and breaking down. "I'm so sorry!" She continued to repeat this trio of words over and over again, each time sounding sadder than the last.

Matthew didn't care. He knew it wasn't her fault, but he didn't want to move to tell her. He didn't want to live. His miserable little life had gone from tolerable to pointless overnight. It wasn't Melissa's fault. It was his. Zanobi had warned him of his emotions and instincts at the last second; but Matthew had ignored him, the first thing he ever promised Zanobi he would never do. He felt like a traitor.

'Hey, Matthew! A girl is crying over us, shouldn't we do something about it?'

Matthew's half-open eyes flicked wide and he sat up quickly. Melissa sat back in her chair, her face showing the same amount of shock as his did. He looked down over himself, and finally back to his hands. Pads, Claws, and most importantly Fur! Matthew smiled in pleasent surprise, a happy tear running from his eye.

'Zanobi, is that you!?' He desperately thought to the voice in his head.

'It sure is. I asked you to listen to my advice, and you didn't; but at least we know that you'll never do it again. Now; why don't we turn some of this newfound feeling of relief towards the only girl in the room?' Zanobi's voice said back. 'C'mon, it'll be easy. All you gotta do is hug her and say what your heart has been yearning to tell her for months. You can't fool me and say that you don't feel about her that way, 'cause I know better and so does her mailbox.'

Matthew turned to the still sobbing Melissa and pulled her into a tight hug, jolting slightly as she hiccupped. "Melissa, it's alright. You've done nothing wrong; I could never be mad at you, please don't be sad!" he said, pulling out of the embrace and wiping her tears away with his hand before ducking under the covers. He stepped out of the bed in a black Darkcloth shirt and pair of pants, shakily getting to his feet. "C'mon. Let's go and live; write letters to each other and keep ignoring the fact that we've never been on a date." he said happily, pulling her to her feet. "Things will work out alright in the end, all we need to do is remember the words in our letters. "

He walked out of the room holding her in one arm, the duo happily humming to their own private tune. They stepped into the hall outside the private room where Greywell and Matthew's parents were sitting. They looked at him in pleasent surprise before getting up and running over. Matthew's mother pulled him into a hug.

"Welcome back, honey." She said. "Your headmaster told us this terrible lie that you didn't have Zanobi anymore!"

"Good to have you back, Matthew." Greywell said cheerfully, shaking his hand. "And I wasn't lying."

Matthew's father looked him up and down critically. "Black clothes? I don't remember any black in your wardrobe."

"Well, the nurses here took all my other clothes away, so I had to make do with what I could get; I don't want to walk around naked with Melissa in tow." Matthew replied smiling. "I'm sure you wouldn't mind though." He whispered into her ear. "I almost did lose Zanobi for a while there, but we're better now." He finished. They walked out into the next area, which happened to be a massive room for combat practice. It was packed to the brim with enforcers, who started applauding as Matthew entered with Melissa in one arm. Colonel West walked up and shook his hand as he looked around the room, blushing through his fur again.

"As a token of our thanks and in recognition of your achievement, we are giving you the Commendation of the Sage, the highest award we have to offer." West announced, pulling a medal around Matthew's neck. Matthew looked at it. It was a small golden medallion with a simple image of a fireball and snowflake design made of Ruby and Sapphire. He took it off, putting it over Melissa's neck and smiled to her.

"I'd like it to go to her for giving me the inspiration needed to complete the mission." He said. Melissa blushed. "Without you, I don't think we ever could have defeated that abomination. All I want is a nice quiet life teaching at the uni and to be able to see and talk with my good friends." He said, pulling the stunned girl into yet another hug. He pulled back out of the embrace and changed shape slowly. He didn't have his gloves on to assist him this time.

"And all I want is to be with Matthew and his friends forever." Zanobi happily said, tail wagging. "And maybe a little breakfast..." He finished sarcastically, the majority of the room laughing lightly.

Matthew was lifted up by Melissa and squeezed into another hug, still in his animal form. "And all I want is to be with you." She whispered, hugging him tighter. "You became something that even the devil would be unale to stop when you saw I was hurt; and I know why." She finished, kissing him on the forehead. If he could, Matthew would have shared the love by hugging Zanobi, but did the next best thing.

'I couldn't live without you.' He thought to his familiar. "But I couldn't live without her either. I love both of you, is that alright with you?"

'I know, Matthew.' Zanobi replied. 'It's okay. Whatever you choose is peachy by me; just as long as we're together.'

"I love you." Matthew whispered back into Melissa's ear. "And I'd like to be with you forever." He added, his tail wagging. "I'd like it alot."

Melissa smiled and hugged him tighter. "Me too."

Matthew had been turned into a socially rejected creature by a freak magical accident. But, despite the curve balls that life kept throwing his way, as long as he had Melissa and Zanobi, he'd be happy to be covered in fur; and he wouldn't give it up for the world.