Welcome to Gaia! ::

Trenton walked down the yellow brick road with Dorothy in his arms. The sun was on its way to setting, and the horrific scene of shattered remains of Chinatown had diminished as the thick, foggy woods came into view. Getting more and more of his memories back, Trenton felt very uneasy about these woods. He vaguely remembered a rumor of a type of creature hidden through the thick bushes, but that was just it, a rumor.
At least, he hoped so. In the state all four of them were in, there was a slim chance they'd make it through a fight.

"We have to pass through the woods to reach the castle." Trenton answered and shot the cyborg a look. "How come the man that's been gone for about ten years knows more about the land then the robot that, if I remember right, had a GPS in him." he grunted with a smirk before he heard Dorothy. "There was no way for you to have known." he muttered gently, feeling his emotional walls build back up. "So just... stop worrying about it. You'll be back home eventually, okay?"

The inu barked a laugh. "Yeah, nice try. You've got to go back to your family, I'm sure they're worried sick about you." he said. His ear twitched from a distant sound and snapped his head in its direction, only capturing the glimpse of a shuddering bush. Stopping in his step, Trenton turned to face the bush, glancing at Deidre in silent questioning.

The group sat in tense silence as they watched the bush shake and rumble. By now the rumors of a beast hidden in the forest were beginning to materialize, and Trenton flickered his gaze everywhere to find any type of weapon or escape route possible. All he could think of that wouldn't get them further lost, though, was to carry on the yellow road, and he was sure the beast would know that. As for weapons, it was either Deidre, Resin, or a branch. Trenton looked back to the shuffling bush, which was shaking much more vigorously, feeling beads of sweat nervously prickle his face. The bush shook more and more, it's rattles beginning to sound like thunder in this tense silence, until a silhouette shot out of it and straight for them, right at Trenton.
The inu quickly turned so that his backside would get the damage and Dorothy would stay safe, but the damage he received was... far less than he expected. His expectations were fangs in his back, a gaping slash across the back, poison, maybe even claws dug into him... but what he got was just a slight push accompanied by an "OOF!" Blinking in confusion, Trenton turned around...
...and saw a cat-like man on the ground with teary eyes, rubbing his nose. Trenton stood there, staring at the man wild bewilderment. He looked familiar, but the inu's memory wasn't good enough to recognize every face yet. The man was like him, though, characteristic-wise. Where Trenton had dog ears and a tail, this man had cat ears and a tail. The cat-man looked young, but that was just because of his innocent, scared look. He must be a few years older than himself, Trenton guessed.

His ears shooting up at the squeal, the cat-man opened his huge eyes and yelped when he saw the girl running towards him. Scrambling backwards, the young man tried to get away, but alas, a tree blocked his path. He trembled as she approached and winced when she stared at his slightly bruised nose. Closing his eyes, the young man expected to be attacked or have his nose broken, but instead he got a warm kiss on it. A blush forming on his cheeks, the man opened his eyes and looked at her curiously, his tail swishing around him nervously. "Umm...." he started and coughed, his voice slightly high and adding to his innocent look. "M-My name i-is L-Luthe. I-I'm the King of the Jungle..... Or, umm... was." he frowned and looked down, drawing circles in the dirt with his finger. "Th-The Wicked Witch of the West kicked me out of my home..."
The King of the Jungle, that explains it. Trenton remembered the proud Jungle King's nervous wreck of a son. Who would have thought he was the king now? Or used to be. King of Dirt, perhaps. "What happened to your dad, the actual king?" Trenton asked. When Luthe said nothing and frowned deeper, he got his answer.

Perhaps it was the dog-cat rivalry, but Trenton was about ready to tear into that boy. The sniveling, whimpering little... His white ears flattened against his head, the inu rubbed the bridge of his nose and gave Dorothy a stern glare. "Dorothy...." he said slowly, trying hard to hold back the growl he had when he heard Luthe giggle a little and nuzzle her chin affectionately. "He's older than me. Quit treating him like a baby!"

Trenton blinked at Dorothy's sudden reaction, his ears drooping just as a dog that had been lashed at by his master. He stayed gaping for a moment then, with a shake of his head, closed his mouth, growled, and stormed down the road, muttering something under his breath about how stupid all this was.
Meanwhile, Luthe smiled brightly and nodded eagerly at her. "I-I'd love to!" he purred, his tail swishing around happily until he caught sight of the man that must've been Resin, unnerved by his smile. "U-Uh... H-He's not going to hurt me... is he?" he whimpered slightly and clung to Dorothy. At this rate, he'd rather travel on his own than take his chances with this man and the dog fellow he could've sworn he met before.