Ferocious

Chapter 10

Separation

Astro contemplated transforming into a full wolf to battle his uncle, thinking the extra power that comes with it would at least give him an edge.

But he discarded the thought after coming to the conclusion that: even though the full wolf packed much power, it'll still be at a huge disadvantage to a seasoned warrior like his uncle because he is sure to have known the best way to easily defeat a full wolf by now.

Besides, Astro wanted his face to be visible still so his uncle can see the menace packed in it for him.

The battle had started a short while ago but it already seemed as if they had been at it for long hours.

Every once in a while though Astro would steal a quick glance towards where Sheila was battling Jose and see she was surprisingly holding out well, probably because Jose wasn't fighting her to kill her like he would've been fighting him (like the way his uncle was fighting him) just only to dislodge her, besides Astro believed Jose would never try to harm Fraya's daughter, else its his head on a chopping block.

Astro's last stolen glance yielded naught because a couple of rocks and boulders now stood in his line of sight to where the other two battled.

He couldn't see Sheila and he got distracted by that which cost him greatly.

A strong and powerful punch landed on his face just as he was turning to face his uncle once again.

The punch droved him backwards but his uncle grabbed his arms and pulled him back then he landed a strong headbutt again.

Astro was in pain as could be discerned from his cry of pain, he was pretty sure his nose had been broken but he couldn't think of that yet, only how to escape his uncle's grip.

He then drove his knee to his uncle's side repeatedly till he let go of him.

Freeing himself he rolled over away from him but as he turned he saw his uncle lunging at him about to land on him already.

Reflex brought Astro's legs up rather than experience and his uncle landed there with a huff of pain and another huff came out of him when Astro pulled back one of his legs and thrust it out back in a powerful kick at his uncle's midsection.

His uncle reared back from the kick and Astro immediately flipped up on his feet and followed his uncle quickly with a powerful punch of his own striking his uncle's face and then he crouched to land yet another on his uncle's midsection once again.

Astro's uncle kept staggering backwards as the hits landed and pain flowed in.

He might've been a veteran but he didn't have Astro's youth and vitality, he was slower and more prone to fatigue.

He tried to regain his stand but Astro was in the air diving at him with a kick which landed hard making him stumble and yowl in pain.

Astro was unrelenting as he discovered it was his chance to get the most damage done before his uncle can get a hold of himself again.

He moved in on his uncle once more and this time extended his claws and struck him in the face, chest, thighs, a couple more to the chest and stomach then another strong punch to the face all in quick succession.

Astro's uncle hit the ground hard and bellowed in pain.

Astro moved closer to his uncle and looked down at him with menace thinking of ending his miserable life right then and there.

He was too filled with hate as he thought of ending his uncle that he did not sense what was coming for him till it was too late.

Pain flooded over Astro's senses in pins and needles and tears, he was thrown forward and the wind was knocked out of him as he felt the familiar hit of the air canon.

He landed face first in soft sand and pebbles having been thrown towards the river bank.

He rose slowly to his feet pain flaring up his entire body and turned towards where he felt his attacker Fraya would be.

Sure enough she was standing on one of the boulders that had been obstructing his view of Sheila's battle with Jose earlier.

She had a look on her face similar to a look of regret but it was laced with fierce determination, then she glanced towards his uncle's direction and saw him just coming up to a sitting position.

Astro was sure his uncle won't be able to stand for a while because the gashes he made to his thighs were deep enough to guarantee that.

Then Fraya faced him once more and again interlocked her fingers with her palms facing his direction.

He could feel the air gathering and the matter conjoining.

He as well looked up to the sky and spread his arms sideways and reached inwards looking for the power to neutralize this attack and then he also started to feel the matter around him charging up with power.

Fraya released and he did too.

The air canon sailed right for him but at a few feet away from him, thunder boomed all around him deflecting the canon to a nearby rock.

Fraya recharged and shot again.

He also recharged and after she shot, he slapped his outstretched arms together in front of him in a loud clap that was mirrored and intensified by the thunder that boomed from his hands straight at the incoming canon deflecting it once more but into the ground a few feet away from him this time.

"You can't keep this up, I've been using my powers since before you were born, you started when yesterday?" Fraya said to him.

Astro was so tired he knew she was right, but he wasn't about to give up and would have told her just as much but he was too tired to even reply.

He was breathing hard and in pain, and using his powers like this was draining him hard.

He already figured his powers was that to the thunder element but he knew this wasn't the proper way it should be used yet he had no other choice because there wasn't time to keep trying to figure that out so he just let it keep exploding out of him.

His vision was dimming around the edges already like he was losing his sight gradually but he knew he had to hold out as much as he could for as long as he could.

He had thought of giving up, it was pointless now, he couldn't even swim in the state he was currently in lest he drowns because he had figured out from the roar of the rush of the great river that swimming across it was going to be another battle on its own.

His vision dimmed some more and he heard the next shot from Fraya rather than see it.

He quickly clapped his own explosive release of thunder once again too but it was slow and weak as the cannon was already too close and couldn't be deflected but its power was reduced as it hit him in the stomach harder than any punch to the gut could feel.

He fell on his hands and knees as he cried out hoarsely in such immense pain that his vision went black a few seconds before clearing up once more but still the edges of his vision was still dimmed.

He glanced up at Fraya and saw her already gathering up another shot and the only thought that came to his mind was:

'damn she's good and relentless, just like my Sheila'.

He started to wonder if his soul would be reincarnated after he died now that it's been tainted.

He saw the shot this time heading straight for him, what he didn't see was the white blur that was also coming for him.

Sheila landed in full wolf form right in front of him facing the canon which hit her chest squarely.

Astro heard Fraya's cry of woe first, then Sheila's yelp as the canon hit her,

then his own guttural cry as she crashed on him from the force of the hit propelling both of them straight into the river, right into its deadly currents.

Astro was dunked right into the deep part and as the cold rushing water hit him, his vision cleared up and he struggled to balance and swim upwards.

Then he caught sight of Sheila's form, she was knocked out cold and was shrinking and reverting to human form unconsciously.

Astro was still in werewolf form and had more resistance to the currents than she did so he swam towards her instead and hurriedly rushed for the surface.

As he broke to the surface with her in his arms, she had already completely turned fully human,

he scanned the surroundings for their foes but found none and discovered that the current was carrying them off in a huge rush so much that it was all he could do just to stay afloat.

He glanced at Sheila and wished she'd wake up, then he saw the tear wound from her neck to the top of her breasts and she was still bleeding at a life threatening rate.

Despite the current driving them off at an alarming rate he still maintained his transformation and desperately hung on to her and kept both of them afloat.

He knew he had to close up the wound on her else she'll bleed to death because she was knocked out cold and wasn't healing.

He looked at the veins on his body and saw they were still pulsing a low orange glow but he would need more than that.

He reached inward and tried to access more of his inner self to activate the powers he needed to heal her, but with the rush and all, he couldn't concentrate enough.

'If only I could get to shore' he thought, then a plan formed in his head.

''It's a long shot but I gotta try something, hold on Sheila, I'll save us'' he said to an unconscious and barely breathing Sheila.

Then he took a very deep breath and allowed both of them sink as fast as possible till they hit the bottom of the river.

Here things were a bit more calm than the top and although there was current flow it was only just a bit of drag and he could withstand it and not be thrown off balance.

Once his werewolf feet touched the bottom and the calm was on him, he quickly reached in deep for his powers.

The fierce orange glow of his veins returned in an instant and pulsed hard as they started flowing from him to Sheila's body from everywhere their skin touched.

It was really tough going considering he was underwater holding his breath and also using his powers to heal someone.

In a few short seconds the glow had gone over all of Sheila's wounds and had closed them and were now receding into Astro.

That's when the pain hit and he knew right then that he wasn't going to be able to take it on without consequences especially considering he also had serious wounds all over his own body as well from the fight.

He feared he was also going to pass out from the immense pressure of being underwater and taking on the immense pain that another had suffered.

In a split second decision, he gathered all his will and powered his legs to make a mighty jump.

As he lunged out of the water he heard coughing which assured him Sheila had survived then he scanned around and saw that his jump hadn't been enough to totally get them to shore and he was still going to land in water a few feet away from land.

At that second he took one more look at Sheila, her eyes were fluttering as if they wanted to open.

'Damn she's beautiful' was his last thought as he threw her off him just as he was about to hit the water, so she'd make the remaining few feet needed to get to the shore.

As he plunged back in the water the current swifted him off once more unforgiving and as the pain washed over him carrying his consciousness away, a thought came to him:

'The healing I did on Sheila wasn't totally complete and had left a scar this time, running from her neck downwards'

why the thought seemed to matter he didn't know and at that moment right then his head hit a rock along the river, completing his drift off to unconsciousness.

Sheila on the other hand woke suddenly to a rush as her body hit the semi hard ground and rolled to a stop.

She scrambled up to her feet all panicked but can't seem to remember why she was panicky.

Then through her fuzzy memory she recalled his face and then a sudden movement whisking her away like she had been thrown.

She stood up in a hurry then, a whole lot groggy but still she ran towards the river, out of her mind with worry as she fully recalled being thrown over by him.

But she found no sign of him whatsoever.

She ran a bit more downwards hoping to at least catch a glimpse of him or something, anything.

But no, she saw nothing felt nothing even as she became exhausted and fell to her knees sobbing.

She brought up her hand and touched her neck where she felt a little throbbing and was surprised to feel a scar running downwards to her chest, it seemed to be in a jagged arc pattern.

Then she remembered a bit painfully that her mother's canon had hit her.

Her pain is not physical anymore though, she was sure the healing had been his handwork and now she had lost him.

He had saved her against all odds and now.

"Astro is gone..." she wept aloud, crying uncontrollably.

Astro is gone.