🐻The Tribe🐻

Book I: The First Battle

Prologue

A lean shadow moved silently in the silent night of the forest. Paws with thorn sharp claws moved lightly as a feather. It slipped through the curtain of lican and nettle.

“The one is coming, my lord”, it said, with a voice as hard as stone.

An icy voice replied, “Good… If the one truly comes, then we shall be ready for him…”

Chapter 1

I knew it was going to be a bad day when I forgot my lucky bear paw stone. I was in the meadows of my most favorite/hated places on Earth: Camp Underwood. About 2 weeks ago, I made a big choice, no, a massive choice. But before that, my name is Theodore Forest, but my friends like to call me Teddy. My life was pretty normal, until one day. I was doing my usual thing at school: Exchanging funny notes with my good friends, Samirah(Sam, she liked to be called), and Jack while Mr. P. Pipi Pants, our teacher, talked about Mathematical Aspects, a word that my parents didn’t even use. Now, you could scold me(like my mom) that not listening to my teacher was a bad thing to do, but you've never heard one of Mr. P. Pipi Pants’ lectures about how dog droppings can be useful to science. But at that particular second, for the first time in my life, Mr.P. Pipi Pants’ words caught my attention.

Chapter 2

“For the field trip this semester at Hollins Creevy Middle School, we are going to go to Camp Underwood. Anyone who wishes to join on this trip will have to have a parent’s permission. Dismissed!”, he said. As the bell rang, students filed out of the classroom. As soon as I went outside, I sat down on the nearest bench. Sam and Jack sat next to me. They may have said something, but I didn’t listen. My mind kept going back to that day, and that moment.

Almost nobody knows that I have a brother. Well, people except my parents, Jack, and Sam. I was 5 years old when I lost my brother, Leo. We were at Camp Underwood, the place where the most bear tracks were found. My brother and I always loved bears. Maybe the adult grizzlies were a little scary, but they wouldn’t attack unless something surprised them or considered a threat. One night, while we were sleeping, Leo claimed that he had heard a sound, so I followed him out of our cabin. It was the worst decision of our lives. We went beyond the camp grounds, and into the restricted section. As soon as we entered, cold hands seemed to grasp my body.

“We should head back”, I said, just as a huge, black shape, with glowing, cold amber eyes crashed through the bramble thickets and ran straight for Leo.

“AAAGGGHHH!”, we said, as we ran back and shouted for help. Then, to my horror, Leo stumbled and fell. I turned back to help, but a human figure on the black, thing was dragging Leo away by his collar. And right before it disappeared with my beloved brother, it said

“Remember the Pack”, in a voice as hard as stone.

Chapter 3

I made my decision. I was going back to Camp Underwood. My reasons are pure and simple. I love bears, and Camp Underwood has lots and lots of bears. At least there’s lots of tracks and footprints. Also, Leo might still be out there. It sounds crazy, but I can sense it. So I bravely went back to my house, made myself a Peanut Butter and Jelly sandwich, and a strawberry milkshake. Then, I made a cup of latte with extra foam for my mother. As she came back from her daily massage class, I showed her the paper she needed to sign for me to go to Camp Underwood. I knew she would never allow me to go back to the place where my brother had vanished. But I had an old trick up my sleeve. I glued the “signature required” part to a different note saying “Field trip to the Bear Museum''. My mom fell for it. While she drank her coffee, she signed it without hesitation. Outside, I said “Thanks mom”. Inside, I felt like all the gummybears in the world were saved. Mission Accomplished.

Chapter 4

The next day, Me, Sam, and Jack climbed onto the school bus and dozed off the entire trip. We needed the energy, because we had a plan. When everyone was asleep in the camp, we would sneak out to try to find my brother. When we arrived at Camp Underwood, we did some singing, swimming, hiking, and stuff like that. The highlight, however, came on the night. At midnight, me, Sam, and Jack met at the bone fire. We had our flashlights and hefted our sharp, pointy sticks that were lying on the forest floors. Then, we ran into the darkness. At first, I have to admit, I felt pretty good. Until that creepy sensation of cold hands closing in on my entire body came back again. I think my friends felt it too.

“Maybe we should head back…?”, Jack said. As soon as he finished his sentence, the ferns next to Sam rustled and a head, with vicious teeth emerged. As the rest of its body came out, I could see that it was… a panther?! And even more surprising, a man was on the panther’s back, Jungle book style. Sam fainted. Jack and I dropped our sticks.

“S, stay back!”, Jack said. The man on the back of the panther smiled coldly. As the man opened his mouth to reply, a crash sounded behind. The man and the panther turned as a boy, looking like our age, came crashing through the branches, riding a grizzly bear. The man on the panther turned and unsheathed very sharp looking claws that I didn't notice before. The bear rose on its hind legs and swept at the panther. But as fast as sound, the panther dodged, and the man on the panther slashed at the bear’s legs, which promptly made the bear to fall back on all 4 paws. And then, the panther rider rode the panther to the bear’s vulnerable sliced leg. I knew I needed to help. The eyes, and the expression were somehow familiar. Nevertheless, I picked up my stick, and aimed for the panther. Now, I have to admit, I’m OK at baseball. But, I never expected the stick to hit its target. The stick embedded itself in the tail of the panther. The panther howled, as the guy on the bear seized his chance and punched the panther riding man in the cheek bone. Both the panther and the man stumbled back.

“You may have escaped this time, little warrior. But the Pack will come back with full force with Black Panther at it’s head”, the panther-guy sneered. Then, he raced away into the woods. Then, the bear riding dude turned around to face us. Jack seemed to stiffen, as if ready for an attack. But I was completely at ease.

“Well, this wasn’t how I expected we would be reunited. But reunification is reunification I guess”. He smiled. “Good to see you again brother”, Leo said.

Chapter 5

When we finally woke Sam, dawn was breaking.

“What about the other… kids? And our parents?”, Jack asked, as we trudged through the woods. “And where are we going?”. Leo grimaced. His bear(Leo said that her name was Fern)seemed to follow his mood. She growled and grunted the whole way.

“So, to answer your first question, I really don’t know what will happen. But your second question, I can answer easily. We’re going to the Tribe’s camp, a.k.a the Tribe’s HQ”, Leo said. Jack, Sam, and I exchanged glances.

“So… What’s the tribe? And what was that Pack, the jaguar guy talked about? And no offense, but what’s up with the bear, I mean Fern?”, asked Jack.

“Wow, that’s a lot of questions'', Leo said. “But well first off, that wasn’t a jaguar. It was a panther. And to answer all of your questions, you need to understand the history of the Pack and the Tribe. So, a very long time ago, two animals came to this very forest. They had a bunch of followers, and they tried to work together. But the thing is, they were, and are still different. Living in the Pack is harsh, and you have to be brutally trained to become merciless fighters, and sometimes they would be left to rot or starve if not strong enough, at least from what I heard. But the Tribe,”, at this point, Leo puffed out his chest, “Well, the Tribe is strict and all, but they are certainly more, angel like, if you’re comparing with the Pack. And also, I don’t exactly know how the humans got to come here, but they did''. Leo shrugged. “But one fact I do know is that the humans bonded with the panthers and bears. So that basically means that a human and a bear/panther swears an oath by the River Bane, the most sacred river of all. I bonded with Fern about a few months after I was… “, Leo trailed off. I put my hand on his shoulder(yes, don’t bother to murmur praise to me that I am a GREAT bro, I’m just awesome that way)

“What happened that night?”, I asked in a soft voice.

“Well…”, Leo tried to say, as another voice interrupted.

“Well Leo, Fern. Looks like you accomplished your mission. Well done”, a man with a brown bear said. Then he turned to me, Sam, and Jack.

“Welcome.”, he said. “To The Tribe’s camp.”

Chapter 6

“Wow”, I said. After our group went into the camp, I was astonished by the size of the camp. I expected it to be full of trees, and bark, and branches, but it wasn’t really. It was like a city, but made of rocks, boulders, logs, and other shiny stuff that I didn’t know. Then the man spoke.

“Beautiful, isn’t it?”. He turned to face me and my friends. “I am the leader of this kingdom. My name is Balder, and this is my bear, Muck Nuck.”. I could see that my friends were trying to keep in their laughter. The bear, Muck Nuck, growled.

“Muck Nuck does not appreciate people when they laugh at her name”, Balder said. “But come. We have a lot to talk about.''. He led us into one of the caves that were built of one of the shiny things.

“This is velicus, enchanted silver. There are many kinds of ores that can only be found in certain parts of the forest, such as enchanted copper, iron, gold, and fire rubies. On the other side of the forest, where the pack lives, Purpled Crystals were found, and that’s the stuff that created the Black Panther’s Necklace.”, Leo said.

“Wait… you mean the Black Panther in those Avengers movies?”, I asked. Leo frowned.

“I’m not sure what those are, but the Black Panther here, is the vicious leader of the Pack, which as you might have guessed, an evil bunch of people and their panthers. Every Pack/Tribe human has a weapon, but not the Black Panther. Well, he sort of does. He has this Necklace that he wears, that gives him strength, speed, and agility. He also has this suit made of enchanted silver, which is, well, almost indestructible.”.

“What do you mean by, ‘almost indestructible’?”, I asked.

“In our armory, there’s this ring, made of the rarest ore, like the Purpled Crystal. It is said to have the power as the Necklace. But only one person in the entire universe can hold its power. The last person who did that…”, Leo trailed off.

“Disintegrated.”, Balder finished the sentence. We all became silent. Suddenly, Balder stopped.

“This is one of the most important things in our culture”, he said. I peered around Balder’s shoulders, and what I saw astonished me. A group of cute, little bear cubs were weaving around a group of human babies. As the seconds went by, each baby seemed to focus on one, specific, cub. Then they crawled over, and hugged their ‘cub’. But I was distracted by a bird(maybe an eagle), and a dolphin with… wings(?) and a horn. But what distracted me the most, was a bear next to the strange animals. She was much bigger, and older than the other bear cubs. She(I knew she was a ‘she’) looked straight at me, and I did too.

“Whoa…”, I said.

Chapter 7

As I spoke, Fern, Leo’s bear, went over to that bear.

“That’s Fern’s sister, Moon.”, Leo explained.

“Then why is she not, you know, without her human?”, I asked.

“Well, no one here is ‘right’ for her. She’s very… aggressive. Different. If anyone gets close, …”. As Leo spoke, a child went to Moon, but froze, and turned back. I could tell that Moon was intimidating.

“Um, this is great and all, but when can we go home? I’m even starting to miss my nosy brother.”, Sam said. Leo and Balder exchanged looks.

“Well… the thing is, you can’t.”, Leo said.

“WHAT?!”, me, Sam, and Jack said at once. Sam looked shocked. Jack looked mad.

“You guys can’t just keep us in here because we just came into the woods!”, yelled Jack. Balder and Leo winced in unison.

“Well, we’d better introduce you guys to Bobby”, Leo said. Then under his breath, he said “Before you go nuclear”. Jack and Sam didn’t seem to hear that. Instead, they looked curious now.

“Who’s”, Sam started to say, when another voice interrupted.

“Did somebody say my name?”, a warm voice said. I turned around, and saw a skinny boy with a staff.

“Are you Bobby?”, I asked. The boy frowned.

“My name is Bob, but most people call me Bobby. I guess.”, Bobby said. He sighed.

“So, what’s the problem?”, he asked.

“Bobby, these are Jack, Sam, and Roy.”, Leo said. He put his shoulder around my neck.

“He’s my brother.”, he said simply. Bobby’s smile vanished, and his face went white. He pointed at me with his staff.

“You… should not be here.”, he said.

Chapter 8

“What do you mean…?”, I asked. Even Leo and Balder looked confused. Bobby shook his head.

“I had a vision”, he said.

“What does a vision matter? And what vision? And how do you get a vision? And that’s not possible! And can we go home now?”, Sam rambled. Bobby blinked. Then he told us to follow him. We went to a part of the camp where an entrance to something was lit by green fire torch thingys. I have to admit, it was pretty spooky. But inside, it was a bright, shiny place, with sunshine flowing down from a hole in the roof.

“I am the chirion. In your words, the Warner. Sometimes I have visions about the future problems. Until now, I have had small visions, about food shortages, and etc. But yesterday, I had a… horrible vision.”, Bobby said. He shuddered. Balder looked mad.

“You didn’t tell me Bobby, about this vision.”, Balder said in a quiet, but powerful voice. Bobby winced.

“Well… I was about to tell you…”, Bobby mumbled. Balder sighed, as Muck Nuck growled.

“So what’s the vision?”, Leo asked.

“It… was, I mean I was in our camp, like in Main Street. It was a normal day, but then I saw his face at the entrance of our camp.”. Bobby pointed at me. “Then… the camp was on fire, and the Pack appeared with the Black Panther at it’s lead, demolishing everything in their way.”, Bobby finished. Leo and Balder looked shocked. Jack looked impatient.

“Yeah, that’s all bad and all, but how does that explain how we can’t go home?”, Jack said.

“Well, you can’t.”, Balder said. Jack snorted.

“Then you can’t eat Burger King Mega Chicken Meat Burger forever.”

“I don't know what that burger mega meat thing is, but the Pack is patrolling the border to the mortal world.”, Balder said.

“So… ?”, Jack asked. “You guys can use some super ninja moves and your bears can fight off anything, right? So get us out of here!”, Jack yelled. Balder sighed.

“The thing is… we have to keep our forces here, in case the Pack decides to attack. And that will happen soon, but we don’t know when. Plus, it will take a whole army to break through the Pack’s defences. If we overpower the first wave, the Pack’s back-up group will crush us.”, he explained. Sam plopped on the ground.

“So, we can’t go home?”, Sam whimpered.

“Of course not!”, Jack said. “This is rubbish. All of this is wrong. No true. We can go wherever we want to.”, he said. Then without a word, he charged to the entrance, as a panther with a Pack warrior burst out of the ferns, and charged straight at him.

Chapter 9

Jack stumbled back.

“What the-”, he started to say. The panther barrelled towards him with the rider holding a very sharp looking spear. A guard tried to stop the intruders, but the panther overpowered the guard. When the guard swung his sword, the panther nimbly dodged and the rider wielded the spear in a deadly arce.

“THUNK”. I can still remember that moment, as the guard fell, the spear sticking out of his back.

“Charlie!”, Leo yelled. I ran towards Jack, as he tried to crawl away. I grabbed anything from the armory, as heavy footsteps sounded. As I got closer, I could see that it was… Moon? I closed my hand, hoping to feel a firm grip of a sword or a spear. But, with all my rotten luck, I held up a ring. My first instinct?

“Oh frick''. Second, I put the ring, THE ring-that-will-probably-vaporize-me. Yeah. Pretty stupid(but I do a lot of stupid things, so)of me. I was expecting a burst of flames and me dead, but amazingly, I didn’t die(3 cheers for me not dying). But I did, in fact, feel a sudden burst of energy, and I was racing through the grass instead of skipping, hopping, and jumping. I could feel something enclosed around my entire body, and even my face. I was startled for a moment, until I realized that it was a helmet sort of thing. The cool thing was that I could see more accurately, like those robots in movies about the future. I flew across the fields, closing in on the intruders, and Jack. But as fast as I could run, I knew I couldn’t run in time to stop the intruders. And a funny thing happened. My gut told me I needed a long range weapon, like a bow. I knew I didn’t have any, but as soon as I thought of it, a sleek, sturdy looking bow materialized out of thin air, in my hand. I instinctively reached behind my back, and in my other hand, was an arrow. I drew my bow, aimed, and fired. It was an impossible shot. Yet it was. My arrow sailed through the air, and hit the panther in the eye. The panther reared up, howling, as the rider slid off its back. The rider cursed in some forein language, and drew a wicked looking knife. I drew my bow back for another shot, but before I, or the Pack warrior could move, Moon barreled towards the enemy, swiping a paw that sent the warrior flying half way through the meadow. The enemy landed with a thud, and it’s eyes lolled back, apparently unconscious. I sighed, and as I did, the magic of the ring faded, leaving me, normal as before.

Chapter 10

“That, was INSANE”, Leo said. Balder said nothing. He still looked shocked. We were in the Tribe’s prison(Yes, they have a prison, but more like a dungeon), The panther was curled up sleeping. His eye had been wiped out(I hope you weren’t eating dinner), and the rider had a broken leg, arm, and dislocated his shoulder. We were going to question the Pack warrior, but he still was asleep. Moon was beside me, grunting, and growling towards Fern in Bear Language. No doubt she was recounting the moment when she made that Pack warrior go flying. But as the warrior slowly opened his(He was a “he”)eyes, he looked up into our faces, sneering.

“So…”, he said. “What are you going to do with me.”. He said it in a way that we were the prisoners, and he was deciding what to do. Balder smashed his fist on the table. Even the bad-guy looked surprised.

“How dare you come into our camp, and kill one of our finest warriors!”, thundered Balder. I didn’t know that Balder could be so scary. Even the bad-guy looked scared for a minute. Then he recovered himself quickly.

“Well, then, what do you want?”, he asked.

“What do WE want?!”, Leo exploded. Balder shushed him.

“Tell us the Pack’s plans. Why did you come here?”, Balder said.

“And if I don’t?”, the bad dude asked. Balder looked at me. I felt a bit uncomfortable. I willed the ring to perform its magic. I was covered once again, in magical armor and a helmet. My friends told me that my armor was made out of Imperial Honey(Enchanted Honey), and my helmet was shaped like a bear’s head, which was disturbing. To simplify, I looked like a small, golden bear. As I turned into the golden bear, the Pack warrior didn’t even flinch.

“So, you Tribe people have finally found a loser that can hold the power, almost as powerful as the Necklace itself.”, he sneered. I thought of a double-edged blade sword, and I suddenly held a sword under his chin. The bad guy finally looked scared. He gulped, and said, “Fine. What do you want to know?”. Balder smiled.

“First, swear on the River Bane that you'll tell the truth.”, he said.

“I swear on the River Bane by your words.”, the enemy said. A chill went through my bones as I heard those words.

“Now… What are you doing here?”, asked Balder. The bad-guy sighed.

“Well, we-”. Sam interrupted, “We?”. The bad guy rolled his eyes

“Me and my panther. Duh. Anyway, we tried to kill or capture the Chosen One.”. The bad-guy said the Chosen One, like a person, say who liked bears, saw a person eating gummybears, and saying their names like a disgrace to all bears.

“Whoa, what’s The Chosen One?”, Jack asked. The Bad-guy raised his eyebrows.

“Your little friends here didn’t tell you? Well, the Chosen one”, the Bad-Guy said in again, a mocking voice. “The Chosen One is supposed to save the Tribe and defeat the Black Panther. As far as I know, the last person who tried to duel the Black Panther and his panther, Ajax, got ripped to shreds.”. I gulped.

“And… I have to face this… Pack?”, I asked.

“Of course not!”, Jack said. “We can just-”, Bobby interrupted. He was so quiet I almost forgot he was there.

“We talked about this. You can’t just walk out. The Pack will defend the borders fiercely. We can’t risk it.”, he said. The bad-guy smiled cruelly.

“Yes. We have stationed our armies everywhere in our territory. Even if you beat one legion, others will follow suit, and destroy you all.”, he said gleefully.

“Then… that’s it? We can’t go home? We’re all toast?”, Sam asked in a small voice. Blader straightened up.

“No.”, he said. “You must prepare. We must all prepare. Leo, take our friends to the armory, and the nursery. You know what to do. I will train our warriors to their fullest.”, Balder added.

Leo gestured for us to follow.

“First, you must go to the nursery, and get your companion.”, Leo said.

“What will happen to the Bad-Guy?”, I asked. Leo looked surprised.

“Well isn’t it obvious? That’s Billy, the Black Panther’s most skilled general. Why do you think he came alone? Anyway, we’re keeping him prisoner.”, he explained. We walked quickly to the nursery.

“So… What do we do?”, Jack asked.

“Good question. You just need to walk around, and you just get a feeling.”, Leo answered.

“So… Is my sudden feeling for that weird dolphin-with-wings-and-a-unicorn-horn that feeling you talked about?”, Sam asked.

“Um… That’s a Uniphin, one of the last in it’s kind. She’s very shy. If you can get her to meet you in the eyes…”, Leo was saying. But Sam had already become “friends”, with the Uniphin.

“Does she have a name?”, Sam asked.

“Well, her name is Bellatrix. It means “female warrior”, in latin. I don’t know why though. I never saw her fight before. As far as I know, she’s very peaceful.”, Leo explained.

“Well, she’s my new friend!”, Sam declared.

“Then repeat after me. I, say-your-name, swear by the River Bane that I will protect say-your-future-best-buddy’s-name with my life, even at the cost of my life, as she does with mine.”, Leo said. Sam did as she was told

“I, Samira-Al-a-Ba, swear by the River Bane that I will protect Bellatrix’s life, even at the cost of my life, as she does with mine.”. Bellatrix nodded earnestly.

“Well, there you go!”, Leo said. He turned to face me and Jack.

“How about you two?”, he asked. Jack stared longingly at the majestic, huge bird.

“Well, I’m a bit interested in that bird.”, he said.

“He is a descendant from the dragons. He is an eagle, and he’s very powerful. Also, coincidently, his name is Jackson.”, Leo introduced. Jackson cawed. Well, it was more like a roar actually. Jack knew what to do.

“I, Jack, swear by the River Bane that I will protect Jackson’s life, even at the cost of my life, as he does with mine”. Jackson roared appreciatively. Everyone looked at me. I looked at Moon. She looked at me.

“Well, how do you feel about bonding with me, buddy?”, I asked.

“I, Theodore Forest, swear by the River Bane, that I will protect Moon’s life, even at the cost of my life, as she does with mine.”, I said. Moon fell back on all 4 paws, and bowed her head. A sign of honor.

“So… What happens if a person or bear or animal breaks the vow?”, Jack asked.

“Well, you die of course! Or get banished forever from the Tribe or Pack. Anyway, are you guys ready for shopping for deadly weapons?”, Leo said cheerfully.

Chapter 11

I was NOT ready to go shopping for deadly weapons. For one thing, I was almost decapitated by a flying pineapple. We were passing through the restaurants, when a pineapple flew out of nowhere, and went straight for my head. If Moon didn't throw out her paw and blocked the pineapple, I would have been forever known as the Headless Wonder of Pineapple. A guy popped his head out of a window, and yelled “Sorry!”, to us, and popped his head back in to shout at another person inside. Leo rolled his eyes.

“Chefs. Always fighting what to make for dinner.”, he said. We went into a stone building.

“Wait… Isn’t the armoury that way?”, Jack asked, pointing to the other side.

“Well, we have 2 armouries, and this one has more weapons, more likely suitable for you guys.”, Leo answered. We went past a wall full of weapons, like bows, quivers, arows, swords, shields, spears, daggers, and armor. We were going past the “Long range section”, when Jack stopped. He was looking at a shiny, red bow, and a quiver that had the same unusual color.

“What is that?”, Jack asked. Leo said that it was made of Red Fire Wood, and it was pretty powerful. The quiver was empty, but according to Leo, when the user put his or her hand into it, an arrow would appear. Leo explained that the bow was enchanted, “Infinity”. He or she could pull out explosives too.

“Can I, you know, have that?”, Jack asked Leo.

“Sure. You guys can pick any weapon that you think is suitable for you”, Leo answered. Sam went back to the “Swords, and Pointy Stuff” section, and pulled out twin blades brilliantly golden, it was hard to look at it.

“That’s the Twin Swords of Honey. It’s made of enchanted gold.”, Leo said.

Oh yeah, I can work with these”, Sam said. Leo looked at me. I looked at my ring. Then I willed it to do it’s voodoo magic, and I was again, in golden armor. Leo grinned.

“This is excellent. Legend says that you can get any weapon, made of Enchanted Honey, by just thinking of it!”, Leo said. I thought of a sword, and a double edged sword appeared in my hands. I thought of a hotdog, but sadly, a hotdog did not appear in my hand.

“Now that you have weapons, you need armor, for yourselfs, and your animal companions.”, Leo said. We went to the Armor section, and we were blinded by brilliant, shiny armor. There were golden armor, silver armor, armors-as-dark-as-shadows, and other varieties of armor.

“These are Enchanted Honey, Gold, Silver, Bone steel, Stygian Iron, Fire Rubies and Celestial Bronze.”, Leo explained.

“So do we need to have a… feeling for these armor?”, Sam asked. Leo laughed.

“No, no. I’ll fit your armor myself. But you do need to choose the armor ores. Usually, Celestial Bronze is lighter, but Bone Steel is stronger but heavier. My armor is made of Enchanted Silver. It’s basically Celestial Bronze, but it can break in a sudden attack. The Fire Ruby armor is fireproof. Enchanted Honey is very strong, but weak on the arrow-attack-stuff. It’s like Teddy’s magical armor. Enchanted Gold is like Enchanted Silver, but made of gold.”, Leo said.

“I guess I’ll take the Fire Ruby armor.”, Jack said.

“Then I'll take the Celestial Bronze armor.”, Sam said.

“Okay. Wait here.”, Leo said. He disappeared into a room, and came out a few minutes later, with some suits of armor. Two bright red suits, fit for a human boy, and a huge bird. Another suit of armor was the color of chocolate. Obviously, this one was fit for a human girl, and a dolphin-with-wings-and-a-unicorn-horn. Finally, Leo brought out a huge piece of bronze, fit for a bear. My friends tried it on, and amazingly, it fit all of them.

“Cool. This is really comfortable.” Sam said. Leo smiled.

“That’s a good sign,” he said. But just then, a bell sounded. Leo’s smile vanished, and a serious expression took over.

“It’s time for Charlie’s funeral. You, know, the… warrior who died today.”. Leo’s voice cracked in the middle. Fern went over, and did what it seemed like, a hug. Leo straightened up once more.

“Come on”, he said. “Let’s go and honor Charlie with respect.”.

Chapter 12

The walk to Main Street, where Charlie’s funeral was held, was tough. To begin with, we were a groupie that contained 2 bears, an eagle, a Uniphin, and 4 kids. People whispered and nudged one another, and kept shooting glances at us, when they thought we weren’t looking. Of course, we were looking. My friends were still wearing armor. But I could see that the huge number of people were just wearing normal cloth, and weren’t even carrying weapons. As I watched, Balder went up on a stage, with a bonfire in the middle. Over it, hang a coffin-like thing, with a purple blanket(?) sort of thing draped over it. Balder raised his hands for silence. The crowd went silent at once. Balder started speaking.

“Today…”, he started. “Today, we lost a fine warrior. Charlie, son of the great general, William S. Johnson, made some marks. He led an army to defeat a Pack raid, and defended the Tribe’s borders fiercely. He risked his life, today, to save one of our guests. He deserves to be sent with honor.”, Balder finished. He looked at Leo, and nodded to him. Leo slowly went up the stairs to the stage.

“Charlie… was my best friend. We trained together as apprentices, and fought many battles together. We…”, Leo trailed off. Balder put his hand on Leo’s shoulder.

“Are you ready”, Balder asked softly. Leo nodded glumly. He and Balder each took a rope, and pulled. The coffin lowered into the leaping flames, and disappeared in a golden shower of light. A moment of silence gripped the clearing. Suddenly, a groan sounded. I turned around in astonishment, as a Tribe warrior limped into the clearing, blood pouring from many wounds. He looked around wildly, and said,

“The Pack has sent a legion to attack the Tribe!”, he said in a terrified voice. Then, the warrior fell to the ground, unconscious. Everyone was stunned. Then Balder yelled,

“Warriors, grab your weapons and armor. Get the little ones to safety, right away. Bears, be on the alert.”. With that, Balder jumped from the stadium, and rode Muck Nuck, followed by other young men, to the Big house, where it seemed that their armor and weapons were stored. My friends already had their armor and weapons, and I summoned the power(lol) of the ring, to cover myself in armor, and a golden lance. Jack got on Jackson with his fiery armor, bow at the ready. Sam pulled out her twin blades, and got on Bellatrix. Leo pulled out a sword, and a shield, and got on Fern. The others were coming back with shimmering armor, and clashing weapons, when the first wave of Pack warriors burst through the thorn barriers.

Chapter 13

As a wave of Pack warriors, and panthers raced through the meadow, me, and my friends charged at the enemy. Roughly 50 against 4. Yup. We had all the cards(insert gagging noises here). I took on the lead Pack warrior. He sliced at me with his sword, but I dodged, and Moon did what is called in Korean, a Ssa-da-gui, to the panther. As expected, the panther lurched left, and I hit the Pack warrior in the face with the butt of my lance. He fell, unconscious. I was feeling pretty good, until 4 enemies surrounded me. I was like, “Well this sucks”, when Sam, or should I say Belletrix, drove her into one of the enemy’s back. The enemy toppled, and Sam faced the other Pack warrior, blades slashing. The Pack warrior fled. I faced the other side, to see the other two Pack warriors were being pummeled by volley after volley of arrows. My friends, or me, didn’t even practice fighting, but we seemed to have violence, I mean good fighting spirit. I was fighting for so long, I didn’t even notice how much time had passed. One time, I was fighting a panther, when another Pack warrior charged behind my back, and tried to impale me in the back with his spear. If Leo hadn’t charged at that sneaky(cough) Pack warrior, I would have been Teddy-Ka-Bab. I flashed a grateful glance at Leo.

“Thanks”, I said. Leo gave me a grin.

“I’ve always got your back, brother.”. With that, we charged back into battle. I fought and fought and fought. At some point, a Pack warrior with some extra skulls on his helmet barked

“Fall back! Remember the orders!”. The other invaders immediately stopped fighting. They turned back, and fled. I stood there, panting, as I watched the enemy go. I was stunned that I hadn’t died. I was so stunned that I didn’t register the hand on my shoulder. I spun around, holding my lance, and almost impaled Balder, if he didn’t have amazing reflexes.

“Whoa there. The battle’s over. We won.”, he said. But he sounded worried, and defeated. I was about to breath out a sigh of relief, when I noticed that.

“What’s wrong?”, I asked, feeling uneasy. Balder looked into my eyes. They were filled with sadness.

“Roy… someone was taken. Vandalizm wasn’t the Pack’s only reason for attack. I believe that they came here to take Leo hostage.”.

Chapter 14

“We NEED to take action! We need a rescue mission to save Leo! We need a-”. I was cut off by Balder.

“Teddy. You know we can’t do that.”.

“NO I DON’T. I don’t know WHY we can’t just.”. I stopped abruptly. Even I knew the answer to my own question.

“We can’t just go in recklessly. We don’t even know the full force of the Pack. They might even be preparing for a second wave.”, Balder said. I took a deep breath.

“Then I’ll go myself. Leo is my brother.”, I said. Then, I turned around and stormed towards the entrance. Balder raised hands in a gesture. Then as I tried to open the doors, two guards jumped out of nowhere, and blocked my way with their spears. I turned around furious. Balder raised both of his hands.

“You are our best chance for survival. If you go, then we shall all perish”. I sneered(Or I tried too. I don’t know how people in books sneer).

“So I’m your slave. And I have to do everything you order me to do. Why?”, I growled. Balder sighed.

“When you say that we sound like the villains. But think about it. If we gather our thoughts, and plan our rescue mission, we can get Leo back, and defeat the Pack. I sighed.

“I guess you're right. I’ll wait.”. Balder finally managed a weak smile.

“I’m glad you agree. We have prepared a room for you, and your friends.”. I nodded. I thanked Balder, and me, Jack, and Sam followed a guard called Don to a house. We went straight to bed after cleaning our teeth with things similar to ‘Gargle’. The beds were surprisingly comfortable. Sam went into a different room, and Jack and I slept on the couch. Don left after saying good night. I waited a few hours, until the noises outside lessened. Then, I quietly slipped out of the couch, and put my cloth on. I noticed that Jack was out of his bed. I spun around, and saw him looking at me, arms crossed.

“What are you doing?”, I asked. Jack shrugged.

“What are YOU doing?”, he asked. I swallowed.

“Well, um, I was thinking about going for a night walk around the city.”. Jack snorted.

“Yeah right.”. He tossed me a pack. I caught it, and looked inside. There was food, flashlights, and canteens full of water. When I looked at Jack, he was also wearing the same pack.

“I borrowed it,'' Jack said simply.

“Wha? How, why?”, I stammered. Jack sighed.

“I know you. I’m your best buddy. I knew that you were acting in front of Balder. You were going to rescue Leo, right? Well, Sam and I discussed it, and we’re going with you.”. At which point, Sam burst through her room, wearing the same pack as me and Jack did.

“I gave the call to Jackson, Moon, Fern, and Bellatrix.”, she said. She frowned at me.

“So you’re finally awake.”.

“What, no, I was never even slee-”. Sam kindly said to shut up. I shut up.

“Anyway, let’s get out of here. I heard from gossipers here, and they say that the Pack will know if intruders were in there, by the intruder’s scent. So I brought these.”. Sam tossed me, and Jack some spray cans.

“Pepper spray?”, Jack asked. Sam rolled her eyes.

“Pepper spray has a strong scent.”, she said, like it was obvious. Maybe it was, but I’m not into pepper spray.

“Anyway, let’s get out of here.”, Sam said.

Chapter 15

My idea from ‘getting out-a here’, was very different from Sam’s. As I trotted towards the door, Sam called to me from the other side. I turned around, and saw my friends standing next to the window.

“Why?”, I asked. Sam rolled her eyes.

“We have to jump. Duh. Or we’re gonna get caught. I pressed my ear to the door, and I could hear people talking. I bet a million dollars that those are guards posted outside.”. I pressed my own ear into the door. Sure enough, I could hear muffled voices outside. I sighed.

“Then how are we going to get out?”. It was mostly a self question, but Jack grinned at me, and pointed to the window. I paled.

“What in the rights of gummy bears… Wait. Are you seriously- WHAT THE BEAR! ARE YOU CRAZY?”. The last part was full of very inappropriate words for children, because right then, Jack jumped off the window sill. I raced over, thinking the worst. A Jack-Pancake? A Jack-screaming-HOLY-FRICK-WHAT-WAS-I-THINKING?! Jack? I looked over the window, and saw nothing. Then, I was partially blinded by a streak of gold, and white. An eagle. A huge eagle. Jackson. And a human riding it. Jack. Jack wasn’t dead. I turned around, and saw just in time for Sam pushing me over saying, “Your turn!”. I fell, and I saw my life flash before my eyes. My childhood… my elementary… my- “SPLAT SOUND that actually did not sound”. Instead, I was suddenly riding Moon, Jack, and Sam flying over my head on Jackson and Bellatrix. I turned around, and saw Fern lumbering behind Moon. I had a brief feeling of freedom. But then, Jack yelled(well not yelled because we were running away), “Twelve o’clock! Guard patrol!”. I turned around and saw nothing. I turned around, annoyed at Jack because he said things that scared the living daylights out of me. But then, a voice yelled “HALTtz”. The last part became a gurgle and a “Zzz” sound at once, because in the other direction I had looked, there was actually a patrol. Luckly, Jack fired 4 arrows(that were probably knock-out arrows)that hit all of the guards at once. I turned, as Jack flew next to me.

“Dude. Learn your directions. And be more careful.”, he said. But I could tell he was pleased with himself. I grinned.

“Sure.”. We went through the city, without any more trouble. We did have a situation, when we reached the main gates. There were guards posted on the top of the walls, but they were all focused on the vicinity outside the city walls. Jack dropped down, and tried opening the gates, but he obviously did not have enough power. Me and Sam tried to help, but again, it did not work. Even Moon and Fern tried, but their bear powers were weak, compared to the gates.

“It must take 20 bears to move this thing.”, Jack muttered as we heaved our shoulders against the gates. Suddenly, Sam moved towards Bellatrix. She leaned in close, and came back to us.

“Guys. I think Bellatrix has a way to get us out of here. Jack rolled his eyes.

“Like a cute little dolphin with wings and a horn could do so much”, he said. Bellatrix seemed to glare at him with her brilliant golden eyes. She aimed her horn at the gates, and a rainbow(yes a rainbow)power beam shot out, and made a clean hole in the gates, big enough for a bear. It didn’t even make a sound. Bellatrix turned, and gave, what it seemed, a smug smile. Jack blinked.

“I will never put my hand near that rainbow horn ever again.”, he vowed. We climbed through the Uniphin-made hole, and raced into the darkness.

Chapter 16

We raced through the woods without any trouble. Except for the squirrels at the border stream. I did not know that squirrels were the guardians of the Pack. To be specific, they were small, like your every day, normal, cute furry creatures. However, they were not cute and furry. They were in fact, they were very nasty. They had very disturbing long fangs, and claws that glistened red… was that dried blood?! But the strange thing was, it didn’t attack.

“So… how do we, you know, cross without dying?”, Jack asked. I cautiously drew a bow, and fired 2 arrows. The arrows did not go as planned. One arrows flew over the river, but then was destroyed as 10 piranha-like creatures jumped out of the water, and just ate(?) the arrow. The other arrow sailed over their heads, to the closest squirrel. The squirrel tore it to pieces.

“Ookay. So we have to go through piranhas and killer squirrels. This can’t be any worse.”. At which point, alarms sounded throughout the forest.

“Ah, nuts. The Tribe knows that we’re gone.”, Sam said. I turned back to her.

“What did you say?”, I asked. Sam looked bewildered.

“Um, that the Tribe knows that we got out and escaped into the forest?”, she said.

“No, before that.”.

“Um, I said nuts?”, she said. I nodded.

“That’s what we need-nuts”. Jack and Sam looked at me blankly.

“We need to distract the squirrels.”, I explained. Then my friends nodded, like “Yes. We use nuts to distract killer squirrels from killing us. Very smart.”. But alas, we had no other ideas. So Jack scrounged around for nuts, and I got my ring to change into a crossbow. It didn’t take that long. When we put a nut into the spot where an arrow should have been, I fired. It didn’t go as planned. All the squirrels lunged towards the nut, which sailed over the river. But then the piranhas had to jump. They HAD to jump. At that second in time. But it worked out. Sort of. As the piranhas ripped the nut to shreds, the squirrels snarled and slid to a stop. But one unfortunate squirrel fell into the river, and became the main course for the piranhas. The other squirrels, enraged, jumped into the river after their fallen squirrel(either they were really dumb or they had a tight bond, I guess the first one). So with only a nut, we got rid of the squirrels, and gave the piranhas a full course meal so they wouldn’t eat us. I jumped in first, and so did Moon, and Fern. The piranhas didn’t even seem to notice. In a few seconds, we were on the other side of the river. For the first, and hopefully last time, we were on the Pack’s territory.

Chapter 17

“Wait.”, Sam said. “We forgot to spray the pepper spray. I was valiantly running through the forest of the Pack(it was mostly a swamp), but as Sam suddenly stopped in front of me, I skidded to a stop, and landed face first into a ground. I groaned.

“Teddy, shut up. We are on a stealth mission here!”, Sam said. I didn’t have the energy to retort back. So after a few minutes later, we were on our way once again, coated in a fine layer of pepper. I still don’t get why we had to use pepper. Why not use, um, the spray that is the trend today, or heck, any kind of spray that did not involve pepper? Did I mention that I hate pepper? It hurts my eyes, and the smell, man don’t get me started. We walked for what it seemed like a million years. But here comes our hero! Breakfast! Or maybe it was lunch, or even dinner. It’s kind of hard to tell when the entire sky(psst: the entire place)was dark and gloomy. Anyways, we opened our packs, and brought out our saviors. Peanut Butter and Jelly sandwiches. Plus some peaches for dessert. We wolfed it down like air. After a few seconds, Jack asked the dreaded question.

“How are we gonna even find out where Leo is, rescue him, and defeat the Pack without dying?”. I sighed.

“Let's do one impossible thing at a time. First, we’re gonna capture some Pack guys, and we’re gonna play it Bad/Good cop style.”, I said.

“Can I be the bad cop?”, Sam asked, with a mischievous glint in her eyes.

“Um… sure. Anyway, let’s get moving.”, I said as I stood, and brushed the bread crumbs out of my jeans. I turned, and saw that our animals were finishing off their own meal” Two whole jars of honey, Tuna, and seeds(who knew that a gigantic eagle loved sunflower seeds?). We packed our things, and went looking for Pack warriors. Eventually, after long hikes through mud and gooey, green blobs, we heard, or most likely Jackson and Moon smelled them. Moon suddenly stopped, and so did Jackson. They growled, and flattened themselves to the ground, so being the wise humans, we hid as well. As expected, a Pack patrol, or rather a Pack warrior riding a panther came out of the bushes. He wore dark armor, covered with claw marks: probably bears’. His helmet was shaped like a panther’s head, but with the bottom jaw gone. The most unnerving thing was, fangs ran down from the upper jaw, going down his cheeks. His panther dark, obsidian black eyes.It’s underbelly was covered in black armor, and his side was not even visible, except for the chunks between the shoulder blades and legs. I turned around, as Jack strung his bow, and knocked an arrow. He took in a breath, and let it out. Then, he made his shot.

Chapter 18

He missed. You can’t blame him. He only had a few chances(ahem, about a thousand) to knock arrows in the battle at The Tribe’s city, but you can say that that was a spurt of energy, and besides, we had luck that day. But we didn’t this day. The arrow rickashaded off the panther’s breastplate, and shattered. Tough metal. The panther whirled around, revealing the identity of the Pack warrior. Billy. Apparently, he escaped from the Tribe during the battle, which was irritating. Sam twirled her twin golden blades, and charged at Billy, as I started to say”Ok, Jack you go to the right, I’ll go to the- Oh crud, SAM!”. She lashed out, with Bellatrix zigzagging through the woods. To my astonishment and horror, Billy deflected that strike, and jabbed Sam in the thigh. She let out a cry of pain, and fell off Bellatrix, who stood(um, floated?)before her, trying to protect Sam.

“Sam!””, Jack and I yelled, as Jack fired an arrow, and I willed my ring to turn into a double edged sword. Billy turned around, and deflected the arrow with his sword blade. He sneered, and mocked, “Is that all you got, you so-called heroes?”. I let my rage control me, as I jumped from Moon, and smashed my blade into his. His smug face turned into shock, and back to anger, as he was forced to get off his panther. I glanced around, to see that Jack was tending to Sam, and was that-no, it couldn’t be, shadows moving? But I couldn’t think of that now. Billy slashed, and dodged, and counter attacked. The only thing I could do to survive, was trying to deflect all his strikes. But then, something strange happened. I got hit in the head from behind, not strong enough to crack my skull, but enough to make stumble. With a triumphant shout of glee, Billy blade-smacked me in the chest, and knocked me to the ground. I looked up, dazed, and saw two faces, one wearing a helmet, and Billy’s. Billy grinned despicably, and gleefully said, “Nighty Night Oh Chosen One~”.

Chapter 19

I woke up groaning. My whole body was aching, and my head was pounding as if I had been whacked hard on the head-wait. That did happen. I tried to rub my eyes, but I couldn’t. For a second, I was confused. But then I heard a voice.

“Now you join the party.”. I turned around, and saw Jack chained to the ground with an iron shackle around his ankle, with his wrists tied around his back. I looked down, and I finally noticed I was imprisoned the same way. I cursed, and tried to summon the power of my ring, but I felt no warm feeling going through my veins and body.

“What happened?”, I finally asked. Jack raised his head, and said,

“Well, we were ambushed from behind, and''. Jack raised his hands, or at least he tried to. “Now we’re here.”. I shook my head, dazed. I turned my head around, trying to focus on my surroundings. As my eyes adjusted to the darkness, I could see that we were . The Pack leader paced around me and Jack, seeming to inspect us like prey. He finally stopped, and surprised me.

“Cut their chains.”, he said in a cold voice. The guard behind me spluttered, “But sire,”. He didn’t even finish his sentence when a knife appeared in his chest. He gasped, then fell on his knees and crashed to the ground, dead. “Useless, useless, useless.The Black Panthertrapped in a dark room, with no windows, and heaters. I could only guess that we were in a dungeon. I sighed. Even worse, I was HUNGRY. And in front of me, was a Peanut Butter and Jelly sandwich WITH the crusts and sliced into squares instead of triangles. That’s when you realize that you are fed by evil beings. I lowered my head, trying to get at the sandwich, but I gave up, realizing if I wanted a bite, I would face severe back bending at a young age, and I appreciated having my back not bent. We had nothing to do, so I heroically fell asleep. Hey, don’t judge me, there was nothing to do, except wait for evil people to come and tortre/use me in any unholy way possible. Also, I was sleepy. Even the so-called chosen one can get sleepy and tired ya know. So I curled up in a ball, and went to sleep. After what seemed like only a few minutes, I was woken. Rather, I was kicked in the back, and a rough voice growled, “Wake up ya little punk”. So much for a nap. I stood up, and rubbed my eyes, until I noticed(clever me)that I was still cuffed and chained. A couple of guards escorted(pst read: jabbed us in the back with pointy spears. Ouches)me and Jack up some stairs and out into an open clearing. Now, to be clear, I was expecting gloomy moods, dark, eerily buildings, soldiers grunting Hup, Hup, Hup while doing drills and no donuts. It was not what I expected. Well, I felt gloomy, but that could have been because of my lack of sleep and the weather. The sky was darkish blue if that even makes sense. The buildings were made of black stone, and polished until it gleamed. Soldiers stood in lines like a legion(probably because they WERE), and in front, stood a HUGE beast of a man. He was at least twice as big as an average adult man. He rode, as expected, a huge panther fit for a colossal man like him. He wore armor the color of obsidian and purple veins went through some parts of his armor, making him look more like that Wakanda guy in Marvel. He didn’t wear his helmet, but I suspected it would appear magically when he wished, like mine. But the most disturbing, or trancing thing was, a bead made gleaming white teeth.

The Necklace.

It didn’t look impressive, but it radiated some sort of power, that made me uneasy. He paced around me and Jack(off his panther of course), and finally stopped in front of me. He twisted his head to look at the guard behind me, and ordered, “Cut their chains.”, which surprised me, because captors don’t free their prisoners that often(in which I mean nope-not-in-my-lifetime-never). The guard behind me must have had the same feelings, because he spluttered, “But sire, these are yo-”. He didn’t even get to finish his sentence, for a hilt of a dagger suddenly appeared in his chest, and blossomed a lake of blood. He stiffened, and fell, dead. The Black Panther showed no emotion on his face however, and stared dangerousely at another guard behind Jack. The guard immediatley fumbled for a key on a chain around his neck, and unlocked our cuffs. I promptly focused, and was covered in golden armor, and kicked the nearest guard in the chest, knocking him off balance, and falling. The first row of soldiers surged foward at once, but the Black Panther hissed(yes, you heard me right:hissed)at them, and they stopped. I summoned a double edged sword, and Jack summoned his bow and quiver out of thin air(cool power, huh?), and aimed at the Black Panther’s head. The creepy man smiled, and spoke to us for the first time. “Hello little heroes.”. His voice had no emotion what-so-ever, just… in a blank, icy tone. “It appears that we haven’t propelry met. I am the Black Panther, leader of the Pack, and the name, is Azreul, the Angel of Death.