The Wolf and the Monster, Chapter One

[lonewolfprincess]

Kara’s eyes widened as more and more hundred-dollar bills flowed out of the ATM. The number her forgetful mother had scribbled onto her bank card had worked, and now…

“YES!” she shouted, thumbing the stack of bills like she’d seen people do on the rare occasions she caught glimpses of the TV. “Now I can get a plane ticket and a house of my own and… and maybe even a car too!”

The ten-year-old had no idea how much any of those things cost, or about the dozens of other expenses tacked on, but a few thousand dollars was certainly more money than she could ever dream of, so it had to be a lot, right?

“Okay, now I just need to find the airport.” She giggled to herself as she glided across the sidewalk. “Oh man, where should I go? The world’s so big! I can get as far away from them as—”

A soft whine cut her off. Her eyes flew to a man just a few concrete blocks away on the corner, almost buried in dirty coats as he held out a sign, silently asking passersby for some food for him and his dog.

The dog whined again, licking her master’s hand as his face fell.

“Aw, it’s okay, Human. I’m okay, we’ll be okay…”

Kara flinched at the voice—no, no, not a voice. Just made up, ignore it, ignore it, ignore it…

… Could she really, though? Even if it was just in her head… was it wrong?

She looked at the money fisted in her hand… Sure, her belly was skinny- all of her was, skinny and short- and her clothes were tight and thin, especially for an early fall day in Oregon, even a nice one when the silver clouds stayed closed and the wind was almost still. But she’d had a meal yesterday, and the clothes were dry and mostly clean, and she was used to being a little chilled. And she could see the shivering dog’s ribs through her brown and white coat even from this far away.

A deep sigh… and she forced her feet to march up to the man and the dog, shoving her tiny, full fist nearly into his face. No one should sleep hungry. No one should sleep cold.

“Here. Take it.”

“I… what?”

“Just take it!”

And before the man could process any of it, Kara dropped the thousands of dollars at his and his dog’s feet, only sparing the barest glance to check for traffic before dashing across the street, gangly legs shooting her down the block and around a corner before her lungs and thighs stung too much for her to keep going.

She bit her lip to hold back a scream, eyes stinging too. That was all the money she could withdraw today, she could’ve kept at least a couple bills. Where was she going to spend the night, if she couldn’t get her plane ticket today? Stupid, stupid, stupid!

“Basie!”

Kara’s head shot towards the noise. A girl about her age, amber eyes wide as she sprinted after a tiny black and white kitten on her pudgy legs, tight. Behind her was a… boy? A girl? Some older kid, taller and just as sturdy, shouting “Tori, stop!”

A kitten, a kid, and a teen, all running towards the corner of the opposite block, towards the street guarded by a stoplight… and a pick-up truck on the opposite side, rolling through the green light.

Kara found her body sprinting low over the crosswalk, one arm wrapping around as much of the girl’s waist as she could to shove her away from the street. Both of them crashed onto the concrete as the truck blared its horn at them. Kara rose slowly, her other arm stinging, while the round girl’s daze only lasted a second, panic springing her upright again.

“Wait, Basie…? BASIE!”

A tiny mew cut her off. Everyone looked down at the kitten still cradled in Kara’s scraped-up arm, eyes wide and whole body trembling.

“I regret every single decision in my life…”

Kara growled- stupid voices, stupid kids- before roughly handing the kitten back to them, amber and hazel eyes blinking wide.

“Here. And next time look both ways! Morons…”

Before Kara could finish crossing her arms or start walking away, round brown fingers wrapped around her tiny pale wrist.

“Wait-wait-wait-wait-wait, that was… you—!” The girl let go of Kara so she could use that hand to gesture wildly, one arm wrapped tight around the deer-frozen kitten. “You just ran like NYOOM and-and then you just scooped Basie up and tackled me out of the way?! You’re so COOL!” she exclaimed, throwing the non-kitten-wrangling hand in the air, amber eyes lit up in a grin. “Seriously, are you like a superhero or something?!”

“Uh… no…?” Seriously, why would anyone confuse her for that?

The girl merely grinned, holding out a warm, pudgy hand. “I’m Tori!”

“Uh…” Right, handshakes were a thing. Her tiny pale hand slowly reached back, only now realizing how cold her own skin was at the touch. “Kara.”

“Oh, like cara mia!” Tori bulldozed through the other girl’s confused stare. “It’s Italian, it means ‘my beloved!’”

Kara blinked, the bright, easy words settling in her stomach like cold lead. When was the last time someone told her she was loved, without a “but” or a “so hard to” attached?

“Tori,” the older kid broke through calmly, setting a steadying hand on Tori’s shoulder. “What she means is thanks. Our family has a restaurant; I think you’ve earned a free meal.”

Kara’s mouth barely had a chance to open before her stomach cut off any foolish demurrals.

Tori threw back her head to laugh. “I guess that’s a yes! Come on, let’s go!”

And that warm, soft hand took Kara’s tiny cold one again, pulling her like the rope of a life preserver. And as they all trotted away from the corner… the corner of her mouth lightened, just a little.



“On your marks…” Dojo said, coiled on the sideline dead center of the field with a black-and-white striped shirt and hat, eyes flitting between the two teams of three. Tori grinned in front of the blue flag planted high in the grass while Kimiko and Mia smirked at their opponents. Clay took a wide stance in front of the red flag as Raimundo and Omi cracked their knuckles.

“You sure you don’t wanna switch up the teams, Kimiko?” Raimundo asked. “Three Shoku Warriors against one Shoku and two Dragons-In-Training, seems a little unfair.”

“Oh, yes!” Omi piped up. “Not to mention all of you are g—”

Three glares fell on him like snipers’ lasers, and the Water Dragon’s mouth thankfully shut itself in time.

“Um… I was going to say you are all great warriors, and we shall need to walk up our game to defeat you? Heheh…”

“‘Step up,’” Kimiko corrected with an approving nod. A more equal gender balance among the Dragons (and using that stupid Ancient Guide to Females for combat practice with the other girls) had helped smooth out most of Omi’s misogyny over the last few months.

“That too.”

“Ahem?” The teens turned their gaze to the dragon. “Are we going to trash talk all day, or can I start this thing?” Everyone chuckled as Rai nodded. “That’s better. On your marks… get set… capture those flags!”

“Shoku Zhuque, Fire!” Kimiko’s wings of jet flame unfurled from her back, arcing high over the boys’ heads towards the red flag.

“Not so fast!” Raimundo grinned as he tapped into his own power. “Shoku Feilian, Wind!”

Raimundo flew up to intercept, blasting a gust of wind straight at her to knock her off course.

“Whoa!” Kimiko wobbled in the gale, but quickly righted herself, throwing Raimundo a glare right back. “Fire!”

Darts of blue flame flew out, and Raimundo barely managed to dodge one two three--ACK! Raimundo winced as he examined the new hole singed into his leader’s jacket.

“Hey, watch the threads!”

The two Dragons swerved and banked and spiraled through the air above… and Omi spared the distraction a quick smirk before darting into the Blue Team’s territory towards the flag.

“All is going according to—”

“Silk Spitter!” a bright voice called out.

“GAH!” Omi leapt and spun out of the way of the gobs of silk. So that’s the Shen Gong Wu Tori chose; to keep things even, the Dragons-in-Training were allowed to pick one Wu each in secret. He landed from his last leap easily in a three-point crouch, smirking at the grinning Tori.

“A wise choice, Tori. However, you and Mia are no match for a Shoku Warrior of the Water, even together!”

“Hm, true…” Tori cooed. “Then it really sucks that we’re not together, huh? I don’t stand a chance against you alone!”

“That is correct—wait, what?”

Omi scanned the field around them frantically. Where was the Moon Dragon? Could she have picked the Shroud of Shadows or the Serpent’s Tail to ambush him, or the Changing Chopsticks—ah, no, there she was, bounding behind him as a lanky wolf straight into the Red Team’s territory.

Omi gasped! “Raimundo, Clay! Mia is—OOF!”

One, two, three nets of silk swallowed Omi from behind and pinned him into the grass. Tori waltzed over and gently, repeatedly poked the crown of his head.

“One two three… And that’s a freeze~!”

Omi groaned… Three touches in a row to a tag, they’d agreed, which meant that Omi needed to count out fifteen seconds, or be freed by a teammate.

“One Shen Gong Wu… two Shen Gong Wu…”

Meanwhile, Mia sprinted towards the red flag, wolf jaws grinning as her paws pounded the sweet autumn grass around her. With Raimundo and Kimiko dogfighting and Omi frozen, that just left…

“Not so fast, little lady!” Clay skidded in front of her, smirking stoically as Mia barked, shifting back to human.

Mia threw a sharp grin back at him from her three-point crouch. “Howdy, Tex. So… any chance you’ll let me have the flag if I ask nice enough?”

Clay smiled but shook his head. “Afraid not. Shoku Qilin, Earth!”

A light stomp against the ground, and the earth holding the flagpole shot up, up, up at least three stories high into a narrow pillar of rough stone.

Mia glared at the tower, then at Dojo who wasn’t doing a thing to stop this gambit, then at the grinning cowboy, before sighing.

“Welp, RIP chivalry, I guess.”

Clay laughed, even as he blocked Mia’s attempts to lunge at the tower and start climbing.

“Oh, I wouldn’t say that. After all, I’m letting you know Raimundo and Omi are heading this way, ain’t I?”

“Wait, wha—OH CRUD!”

Mia hit the dirt, barely avoiding a laughing Raimundo diving straight for her. When did he break free from the skirmish?!

She growled… she had to move now, otherwise she’d really be pinned down.

“Crescent Fang!” With a flash of gold, her wolf form sprang out of the grass, Raimundo, Clay, and a newly unfrozen Omi all hot on her heels.

“Give it up, wolf girl!”

Mia glanced over her shoulder just long enough to snarl at them. “Never!” they guessed.

“Suit yourself! Shoku Xuanwu, Ice!”

A surge of water blanketed the grass and ground in front of her, and the wolf yelped as her massive paws slipped and skilled until she tumbled over herself, landing on her back with feet and tail splayed in the air.

Raimundo and Omi chuckled as the wolf gracefully spat out a clump of icy grass to bark and turn human again, propping herself up to sitting.

“Not bad, Mia. Any last words?”

To their surprise, she started chuckling. “Yup. Book it, sis!”

The boys’ eyes snapped to the flag tower. Sure enough, Tori stood on top of it, one hand grabbing the flagpole while the other held the Silk Spitter, still attached to the ledge.

“WHOO! Silk Spitter!”

And with a grin, Tori shot more silk all the way above their heads towards the Blue flagpole, bracing the red one over the line to zipline towards their base. The boys’ jaws dropped as Mia cackled from the ground.

Raimundo shook himself back to reality. “Come on, we gotta—”

“Not so fast!” Kimiko flew out of the blue, fanning more flame-darts in her fingers. “Fire!”

Raimundo and Omi yelped as they dove out of the way of the flames, while Mia grinned and called on the Fang again to pounce on Clay from behind.

Tori laughed and whooped as she flew down the zipline all the way to the ground. With a bright smile, she planted the red flag next to the blue one.

Kimiko threw her fists in the air in victory as the boys groaned. “WHOO, go, Tori!”

Dojo, who’d been busy making a photo collage for Puppy Eyes on the sidelines, finally looked up and blew his whistle.

“Blue Team wins! Way to go, ladies!”

A laughing bark escaped Mia as she shifted back to human, still chuckling and grinning at her sister as she slowly crawled off the thoroughly flattened cowboy in the grass and stood up.

“You okay, Tex?” she asked, offering him a hand up.

Clay pushed up from the ground- his whole front covered in dirt and drying grass- before nodding, grasping her hand firmly as he hoisted himself up.

“Yup.” His free hand tipped his hat to her… as the other one stayed clasped around hers. “All’s fair in love and war, I suppose.”

Oh. Love? Mia’s face burned, just like it did whenever she thought too hard about that kiss on her brow last week, when Clay held her hand just like this and pulled her in, the heart pendant still looped around his massive forearm, still transformed from steely gray hematite to rich azurite-malachite.

“Ah… y-yeah…” she stammered, stepping ever so slightly closer, gray eyes shining as they took in his deep sapphire ones. “I guess so…”

Ugh, why did her mouth have to fail her now? She could’ve said something cool, but nooo. A breath as she debated whether it’d be better to maybe, maybe close that foot or two between them, let her actions do the talking… when whirring blades and crunchy industrial music cut through the crisp autumn air.

Omi gasped from where he and Raimundo and Kimiko were busy congratulating Tori on her gambit, pointing at the black and red blur buzzing over them towards the temple.

“Jack Spicer!” All six Dragons sprinted through the field in hot pursuit on the ground. “Surrender at once, and we shall spare you a most humiliating defeat!”

“Yeah yeah yeah…” Jack rolled his eyes, almost as if he was bored. “Jack-Bots, attack already!”

The swarm of Jack-Bots dove down towards the Dragons dashing through the tall grass, buzzsaws whirring and laser guns charging.

The Four Shoku Warriors ran together, stopping only for a second to pose.

“Shoku Four Kings Formation!”

The overwhelming aura of the four elements surging out detonated the first line of Jack-Bots instantly. It wasn’t long before the second wave zoomed in to take the destroyed bots’ place.

Tori and Mia swiftly posed back to back.

“Dragon Y Shengqi Formation!”

Sun- and Moonlight flooded the fields, the blast of auras breaking even more Jack-Bots in the second wave. But even more had hung back and now swarmed in; maybe Jack had upgraded their coding to account for their new strength.

“Girls, get to the vault, we’ll hold them off!”

“On it!” With firm nods, the two kept sprinting up the stairs for the Temple, elemental powers and Elemental Shen Gong Wu and Wudai Weapons alighting and detonating more bots behind them.

When the two arrived at the meditation hall, the brick ring already spiraled down into the basement. The girls sprinted down at full tilt, almost colliding into Jack as he plucked more Shen Gong Wu from their drawers into his burlap sack, Wuya rubbing her ghostly little hands at his side.

“Hey, Pumpkin Spice~!” Jack looked up from nabbing the Two-Ton Tunic from its resting place to Tori’s bright voice and Mia’s glare, scowling himself. “We’re about to make lunch, if you put the Shen Gong Wu back, you can join us! I made almond cookies yesterday~”

Jack scoffed. “Stop calling me that,” he sneered with… more venom than usual, which shocked them both. “When are you gonna learn we’re not friends, sunshine?”

He didn’t even bother stuffing the Tunic into his bag before tying it shut, hopping into the air on his still-deployed heli-pack and flying straight over their heads.

Mia growled and sprinted after him, barely catching the dangling Two-Ton Tunic by the helm.

“Spicer, I—WHOA!”

The Tunic barely started to glow before Jack suddenly released his grip, the mystical garment fluttering as Mia wobbled and then fell from the sudden shift, Tori managing to catch her before she fell too far back.

“Later, losers.”

And with that, Jack Spicer, Evil Boy Genius flew off into the sky, prize in hand.

Mia growled as she and Tori raced over him. “Come back here, you stupid coward! Can’t even take a Showdown challenge, you—!”

“Easy…” Tori said softly, resting her hands on Mia’s tense shoulders, frowning at the sky. “That was… really weird…”

The Shoku Warriors finally arrived, more exhausted from the long dash to the vault than from fighting the bots.

“Well?” Raimundo asked, the disappointment in their faces registering a second too late.

“Well what, he got away!” Mia snarled, throwing a hand through the air before raking it through her bangs. “What’s the point of winning a kid’s game if we can’t protect the Shen Gong Wu when it counts…?”

Raimundo rested his hands on his students’ shoulders. “Easy… One: it happens. Trust me, sometimes it happens a lot…” Seriously, in their Apprentice days, it felt like the Vault got raided every other week… But then he flashed the girls a little smirk. “Two… now we get to raid him back.”

The girls blinked… and a sharp grin unsheathed on Mia’s face.

“Oh, heck yes! Our first raid!” Every ounce of tension drained out in a cackle, and she rubbed her hands together. “Okay, lunch first, and then we’re cleaning Scaredy Spice out!”

The Moon Dragon jogged towards the kitchens, the other Dragons just as thrilled as they followed.

… Well, almost. A few steps in, Kimiko looked over her shoulder to see Tori still frowning at the sky.

“You okay, Tori?”

“Mm?” Tori’s eyes snapped back to earth and she gave a sheepish smile. “Y-yeah, yeah, I’m fine!” She flashed a grin and punched the air. “Let’s get those Wu back!”

Kimiko nodded, reassured, as she turned her gaze back to the Temple… missing Tori’s smile fall again.

“I’ve got a bad feeling about this…”




Wuya snickered as she floated alongside Jack, wandering through a forest of mist and dead trees.

“Excellent work today, Master.” She rubbed her hands together. “Between our newly improved trove of Shen Gong Wu and the information we found, we are almost ready to execute our evil plan. Oh! And you remembered to get footage of the girl, right?”

Jack clutched the bag of Shen Gong Wu tightly, face still stony, the camera-equipped Bot still floating by his side.

“Yup, sure did. Evil plan is a go. Mwahaha.”

Wuya glared out of the corner of her eyes. “I would hope for a little more enthusiasm. After all, once this plan is set in motion, you’ll be poised to become a great evil power, one step closer to world domination!”

“I… yeah… yeah, I am excited.” So excited and… absolutely not guilty. ‘And you’re not going to use anything you heard against us?’ Tori’s words from the ice cream parlor definitely hadn’t been ringing in his ears ever since the Mid-Autumn Festival raid. “Just kinda… nervous too. And I think I might’ve eaten some bad eggs for breakfast this morning, that’s all.”

A screech like a steak knife on a chalkboard filled the forest, prompting Jack to shriek like an Alfred Hitchcock victim and nearly fumble the Wu bag.

A chuckle filled the mists, deep and oily like a tar pit. “Careful now, boy. Ying-Ying’s a bit sensitive.”

Ah, there. A stump suddenly rose out of the fog. Perched on it, a black and gray bird with a red crest and red flight feathers, black eyes narrowed in what Jack could’ve sworn was a smirk. Sensitive, my foot, Jack thought, remembering how the bird had tormented him for at least a week in that parrot guise. And at its feet, taking the smallest hop out of the shadow and into the light… Hannibal Roy Bean.

Jack cringed as Bean came into view. “HB, hey…~ You look…”

Okay yeah, it was hard to find a word to describe it… or to spit out a word at all instead of his breakfast. Jack knew Bean took some nasty blows during the battle after the timelines merged, was surprised he’d survived at all, but the recovery…

“No need to sugarcoat, boy,” Hannibal drawled, the corner of one crooked smile poking into a mass of sickly green vines serving as scar tissue, encasing the hole where his left eye and arm used to be. A new tendril poked out from below the massive wound, just long enough that one tiny bracer of the Moby Morpher threatened to slip off it. “I know I’m currently but a shadow of my former evil self! But if there is anyone that I trust to take up my mantle as the supreme evil of the world, it’s you, Jack! That’s why I agreed to help you when my dear Wuya asked so nicely!”

Jack’s eyes narrowed at the words- not even honey-soaked, more like high fructose corn syrup and antifreeze; he knew Bean would throw him away the second he stopped being useful- but then his gaze flicked to Wuya. How long had those two been colluding behind his back?

“Now,” Bean said smoothly to Wuya, “what’ve you got for me, Sugar?”

Wuya gestured to Jack, who stiffly approached the stump and emptied out his bag of Shen Gong Wu. All eight from his vault before the raid, plus eight freshly stolen.

“Well, well, well…” Hannibal stroked where his chin would be with his good tendril. “Not a bad collection at all, my dear boy. The Wushan Geyser, the Shadow Slicer, the Zing Zom-Bone, the Sphere of Yun, the Shroud of Shadows…” Plus a few others that caught his eye… Another tar-like chuckle. “Yes, I believe we have everything we need already.”

Wuya gasped, jagged ghost teeth bared in a grin. “Yes, excellent! Ooh, when shall we start?!”

Bean bared his crooked teeth in a grin. “Normally I’d wait a few days, but…” he rubbed his tendrils together, the bracers already glowing, “I’ve been chomping at the bit for a chance to stretch my legs…~ Moby Morpher!”

Bean leapt into the air as the glow enveloped him, growing and stretching like puddy before landing on two, bronze-booted feet. Jack stumbled back to make room, losing his balance and falling on his butt as he stared up in awe at the new form.

“Now…” said Bean, voice higher-pitched but no less oily, “where did you say our last player can be found?”



Two guards marched through the prison halls, down, down, to a particular cell, coming to attention before the sliding barred door.

“Tanner?” one guard called out dully.

Tanner, stretched on his bunk, staring at the concrete ceiling painted over in bad porridge white, arms behind his head, sat up abruptly.

“I didn’t do anything,” he growled. It was true; he mostly kept to himself, unless someone tried to pick a fight with him over his charges.

The guards… nodded solemnly. What?

“Agreed,” the other guard said, as he… unlocked the door? This late in the evening? “We’ve been instructed to free you.”

“I…” Tanner stood up, slowly. “What?”

“We’ve been instructed to free you,” the other guard repeated as the door rattled open, in the exact same tone and cadence, eyes blank. “Please follow us now.”

Tanner squinted his muddy brown eyes. Something was wrong… the faces and voices were so… blank. Like they had no soul at all. But… it didn’t feel like this was a trap to get beaten up (again), or they’d be more nervous. So… he nodded and complied, waiting for them to close the door and for cuffs that never came as they marched him through the halls, all the way to the prison entrance. A smirking man stood waiting for them, a long black ponytail reaching the waist of his dark brown suit.

“You’ve done well, guards,” the high, oily voice drawled. He nodded his head towards the confused prisoner, holding out a black-gloved hand. “Mr. Tanner, I presume?”

“Ah… yeah?” Tanner’s hand trembled, even as he reached out to shake it back. “Yeah, that’s me. Who…?”

The man in the suit shook his head. “Not here. Walk out the gates and into the forest across the road. No one will stop you, and we can speak more… candidly there.”

A chill ran up Tanner’s long spine, but he shoved it down with a glare. “If this is some sort of trap…”

The man smirked beatifically as he shook his head. “Not at all. In fact, it’s a business offer, one I think you’ll find most appealing. But we’ll need to talk in private first.”

A long pause… and then Tanner gave a curt nod, marching out into the cold, rainy night towards the gates and the dense old-growth forest just across the road.

The man’s smirk followed him, making sure he passed through the obligingly-opened gate and into the woods before turning to the obedient guards.

“Zing Zom-Bone!”

The acid yellow cloud flowed out of the guards in front of him- every guard in the compound and guarding the perimeter- and into the open jaws of the Shen Gong Wu. The guards shook free of the spell, blinking in confusion.

“What’s going on? Who are you?”

“Oh, no need to worry about that…” The man grinned, placing a diamond-topped helmet on his head. “Wushan Geyser!”

Tanner turned around to see the whole compound swallowed in flowing emerald light, a bony hand flying up to cover his gasp. The building remained standing, but the people… if that creep just killed people and pinned it on him—

“Thank you for waiting.” Tanner yelped as he whirled on his feet to face… was that man pulling the shadows off his body—no wait, just a cloak. That made more sense.

“What did you just do?!” Tanner yelled, gesturing at the prison across the road.

“I freed you, of course.” He held up a hand before Tanner could finish opening his mouth. “Everyone is alive, and no one will suspect you’re missing until head count later tonight.” He smirked. “You have a head start. I suggest you follow me, if you want to make the most of it.”

Tanner cursed under his breath, but followed in the brown-suited man’s wake.

“Why me? Why just me?”

“Because… we have a common enemy.” The man held up… a little camera? “Do you recognize her?”

A hologram sprang to life in the man’s palm. A tall, lean girl in some sort of red robes, with a long brown braided ponytail, gray eyes… his wife’s eyes, her fair hair stained with the dark brown of his to make an ash brown, his smile…

“Kara…”

The man nodded. “She’s grown into a strong, proud young woman.” The video kept playing, of Kara running through grass, of… was she turning into a wolf? Turning back, falling over herself laughing and playing with a bunch of other kids, including that brat. “And her magic has grown as well—”

Tanner’s hands snatched out to grab the brown lapels. “There’s no. Such thing. As magic!”

The man merely rolled his eyes, prying Tanner’s bony fists off him with deceptively light squeezes to his wrists.

“Dense as a cinderblock, this one…” he muttered under his breath, a drawl leaking into his voice. “Let’s make a few things clear, sir: magic is real, she and her friends have it in spades, and you’ll need it yourself if you want to earn the freedom I just granted you.”

Tanner sneered… then spoke. “What do you want?”

The man smirked in satisfaction. “It’s quite simple, really. Capture her and bring her to me alive, and I’ll make sure you never have to see the inside of a cage again… and that she does for the rest of her life.”

Tanner slowly knelt down to pull the hologram out of the mud, found it replaying on loop. His daughter… turning into a wolf and back with… that glowing knife? Playing and laughing with kids her age in a wide field under an open sky. Strong… happy… free…

The hologram flew through the air at Tanner’s snarl, shattering against the trunk of an ancient tree. He turned to his rescuer with deep, seething breaths.

“… What’s in it for you?”

The man grinned, crooked teeth gleaming in the night.