Ferocious

Chapter 9

Expulsion

Tears stung Astro's eyes as the force of the wind against his face kept smearing it on his eyes and face,

but the tears still kept flowing out, they came in rivulets but didn't even blur his eyesight because he was half transformed, still much human but with a few of the wolf's features keying in.

He knew he had to conserve his energy and save the actual wolf run for when he was about to be descended upon by his clan members on the hunt for him.

He still couldn't believe it had come to this, he had felt like an outcast all his life;

starting his life without his parents,

being a late developer,

developing into a nightmarish creature,

and now, he actually is an outcast, one that's about to be hunted down.

Doubling his efforts in the run, he contemplated if he should rather just turn full wolf but before he could decide he heard the sounds,

'damn they're fast, well they're all like me in nature and most of those coming have been wolves long before I was even born so I guess they'd be really fast in ordinary terms,

but still this is too fast, they didn't waste time setting off after me,

heck I must really scare the hell out of them for them to be this seriously intent on ending me' he thought to angrily himself.

'Well if they do catch up to me, I'll have to really show them what they're scared of, I ain't going down without a fight'

but still, he ran all the more.

He could already pick up the scent of the river and his ears picked the rushing and gushing sounds faintly, he headed towards it with all intent as his very life depended on it.

Just then he sensed a couple of presence before him,

he skidded into a hard halt just as they came into his view,

'they must've sent these ones to intercept me, now I see they are really desperate and really want to end me' he thought with a growl escaping his mouth.

He could also now hear the others closing in on him, they've had him surrounded, he could pick out familiar scents but he decided not to dwell on them lest he become sentimental and it affects his fighting and leads to his demise from their hands.

A scent got to him that got him disappointed though, he guessed fear and anger can lead anyone against anyone no matter the established relation,

mentally counting them he found out they were many, full wolves and werewolves both.

He could pick out eight of them already, that was roughly a hunting band, but he knew there were more on the way to upgrade their numbers to a raid band.

If he could just get to the river he thought, but a scent dislodged the thought from his head and he looked at the direction it was coming from, he growled in despite at his Uncle, he should have know.

His Uncle always led the raids, its only typical that he'll be in the lead of this one too, he saw a flash of canines and fangs from his Uncle's face and discovered they were actually all fully turned to their aspects.

It was his turn to transform then, he thought and he looked up to the sky, he could see the dark clouds of his turn indicator starting to form, flashes of lightening could already be seen calling on the thunder that'll announce his full transformation.

'But this time thunder you won't just be announcing, you'll be my weapon as well' he thought to himself and desperately reached inwards to his core to unveil whatever powers he had.

He had been declared as a power wielding wolf, but he had never gotten around to knowing what the power was or how to even use it,

Well, if there was ever a perfect time for learning on the go, this was it as his life currently depended on it.

He looked down at his attackers, no words will be exchanged, wolves hardly gloat, they just make their kill and get on with it.

He was almost fully turned and could feel himself brimming with power, skin ripping to allow more skin, muscles bulging, clothes tearing, claws extending, maw protruding, body reforming as he grew into his werewolf form.

Jose suddenly shouted "Move in on him now, don't let him complete that turn!!", and those closest to him immediately rushed at him.

Too late, he finished his transformation with a red lens flare of his glowing eyes, he roared and stomped his foot on the ground and thunder boomed,

not only in the sky though but also around him,

of those who rushed in to attack, those that were closest to him received the brunt of it, they were knocked back by the impact of the descended thunder.

Astro suddenly felt a projectile coming his way, he step sided and leaned away backwards from the direction he had felt it coming from but the projectile grazed his exposed chest from leaning backwards and it stung him really bad.

He looked towards the direction it came from and saw Fraya with her fingers locked and her palms facing his direction.

He could see compressed air and matter start to gather in front of the outstretched palms once again about to be launched,

'So that's the legendary air canon of the Cruz-a-liv clan' he marvelled in thought,

pity he had no time to admire her work since she was currently aiming for him, another painful thought was that she could have been his mother-in-law were things different, but they weren't.

He leapt quickly behind one of his other assailants, using him as a shield,

the fellow got surprised that Astro leapt at him rather than away from him and that short moment of shock earned him two broken legs and a dislocated shoulder as Astro kicked his knees outwards and flung him away using his arm as a sling.

Astro was quickly on the move again after he flung his current shield away in search for another.

'If I keep moving fast and keep putting others between myself and her she won't be able to launch her canons' he thought and did just that.

His second victim saw him coming and leapt at him as well, they collided midair and while still in the air Astro maneuvered around him, put his arms around his waist from behind locking them together, then he flung him backwards in a smack down move.

They might have been wolves a longer time than he was but they weren't all really a match for his fighting skills -which he'd been honing since he could walk - not to mention his superior wolf form and his supposed lineage.

Leaving the knocked out dude alone he moved swiftly to a plain with grasses, he'd been consciously moving towards the direction of the river even as the battle raged on.

Then suddenly the grasses around his feet started moving, growing and trying to entwine him,

'that's bad' he thought, if the grasses hold him down he'd be an easy pick for Fraya.

He sniffed for the user while wrestling his way out of the grasses and found a full coyote staring him down,

her fur looked as if a smooth wave of air kept brushing it downwards, only that as that wave of air hit the ground, it responded to her and the grasses did her bidding thickening and twinning.

He kept fighting through the horde of grasses thinking he was lucky it was grass that was here and not twines or vines, else he'd have been snagged tight,

he sped towards the coyote and once she saw the impending threat, she also switched to attack mode.

Even though she was considerably smaller in size compared to a full wolf, still she bounded towards him with her maw open wide, meanwhile another full wolf was already coming in from his side.

'Cmon, one at a time!', he thought furiously and dove to the side avoiding the female's maw and threw a strong s***h at her head tearing flesh downwards to her lower jaw and backing it up with a kick to said lower jaw.

He had knocked her off but he also got caught right in the incoming wolf's maw, he got bit in his shoulder and immediately fiery pain engulfed him.

He looked at the wolf that had him and saw smoke and wisps of flame coming off its black fur.

Astro bellowed as the pain intensified, he felt as if he was on fire on the inside.

Then with his other arm he clawed at the wolfs throat tearing it out,

the wolfs deathly cry dislodged the bite and quickly as possible Astro tried to leap away and change position.

As he leapt away though, a canon hit him solidly at his back, the impact of the hit plus his momentum threw him off a great distance from the current fight area.

Fraya rushed to the wolf whose throat was torn out and started an emergency healing process even as Astro's Uncle shouted at her to go after Astro and finish him off.

"Go after him yourself, I'm not about to let this one here die" she snapped back at him.

He growled angrily and signaled the rest of the wolves to head in the direction that Astro was flung towards and continue the attack.

Astro rose back up slowly, pain firing up and down his whole body, just then he felt a presence before him and looked at the person before him.

Seeing Keith brought back that feeling of disappointment he had felt when he first caught his scent.

"You're supposed to he my friend" Astro said to him with venom in his voice,

"Couldn't you have turned down the request to hunt me down, not even for old times sake?".

Keith almost looked ashamed but didn't, "Its because you're my friend, That's why I offered to be among those to hunt you down,

Astro look at yourself, you're not normal, you're an abomination, a vile thing of the dark, a tainted soul, this happened to you because of me, hence it is my burden to free your soul from this demon's clutches, and send it to the stars".

Astro felt seriously hurt by his words, "So all you see me as now is a demon afflicted soul, forgive me then friend, I won't allow you use your beliefs to shorten my lifespan" Astro told him,

he responded "So be it" and lunged for Astro.

The fight was over before it started when Astro saw how he leapt at him.

Keith was coming at him with the power and grace of a bear thinking the wounds on Astro won't allow him maneuver his way out in time.

But Astro wasn't as hurt as Keith had thought, Astro slipped out of the attack range much swifter than Keith could ever think he could, even after taking the full hit of Fraya's air canon.

While slipping out, Astro with claws extended flung his hand upwards from below Keith's belly, outwards, tearing a gaping wound on Keith's stomach.

Keith stumbled and cried out in immense pain but his cry was cut short as he landed his lunge with his head straight into a rock on the ground where Astro had been before.

Astro looked back at his dying friend with tears in his eyes,

"Let me free you from the weight of that burden of yours friend, for I know that as long as I live and you live too, you'll always hunt me, to end me and alleviate said burden, goodbye friend".

Astro turned and started running once more, the scent of the river getting stronger and the sounds of the water rush getting louder.

He was almost out to the bank of the river when they all caught up to him again and became more persistent in their attacks this time.

But this time there wasn't any long ranged power user amongst them anymore so they were almost even with the battle.

One werewolf came at him slashing widely but he crouched and swept his leg in an arc, sweeping the slasher off his feet and as he fell Astro brought his leg down on his chest hard.

Another dove for him at that moment, tackling him at the waist and they both stumbled backwards,

Astro also at that moment saw a full wolf lunge at him from his peripheral vision so he grabbed the one currently tackling him and flung him at the lunging wolf.

The impact stunned them both but they were about getting to their feet and paws again already, so he rushed at them and hit them both hard enough with his fists to knock them out.

At that point he looked up and saw that far to his left was his Uncle and to his right Jose.

These were seasoned warriors and they wouldn't be easily beaten, or outmaneuvered or outsmarted like the other wolves especially if they attacked together.

Suddenly he picked up a scent and perked up,

'no way' he thought,

but sure enough there she was in a blur of white fur heading straight for him.

At first he was stunned because he thought she was attacking him,

but then he heard her loud and clear in his head as she pathed to him

"You go after your Uncle and I'll hold Jose off,

and Astro, please bolt to the river at the first chance you get".

Sheila came bounding in gloriously in silvery white fur coat and headed straight for Jose.

"My very own knight in glistening fur" he grinned despite himself as he pathed back to her and they started the face off battle.