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 Posted: Sat Nov 29, 2008 3:51 am
Kane was tensing like a coiled spring he got ready then as fast as a whip he leaped toward Shadow to meet him half way into his charge. Legs were spaced to hit his shoulders, head down to head butt if necessary to knock the pup over but eyes up to see and aim correctly. Excitement made his fur stand on end, what a fight this'll be! He growled his loudest to try and appear fierce and scary.
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Posted: Sat Nov 29, 2008 12:56 pm
Kane's tactics were certainly surprising to the black pup. He had already defeated his siblings into submission and was not used to being met mid-way. He had ran quickly, expecting Kane to stay where he was. The sudden collision was unexpected and Shadow fell, rolling backwards across the snow. He growled, digging his claws in to stop himself, sending what seemed like a million particles of snow into the air. Being just a pup and inexperienced with real battles, Shadow just charged back, not bothering to try and think. He could have gone in from the side, perhaps circled a bit, lure the opponent into false security maybe. But no. It was just get in as many wounds as you can and he stuck with it, running through the snow, his jaws open.
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Posted: Sat Nov 29, 2008 3:59 pm
Kane succeeded in knocking Shadow over, the pup charged again blindly. No strategy, and jaws opened threateningly. It pegged the play fight up a notch, teeth were a threat. It made this a dominance fight, like what occurs in litters of siblings proving whose the highest ranking pup.
He lowered his head, guarding the neck, jaws bared and pointed toward Shadow. He had little time what with the fast charge, the pup jumped to the side sloppily, slowed down by the snow. He rushed through it to try to get at Shadow's shoulders and back if possible, teeth pointed toward Shadow's head in case he turned to protect his flank from attack.
He didn't aim for the neck at all, even with the increased seriousness he didn't want to kill Shadow or anything like that. He briefly thought that Nani had better stay out of this as this was a fight between males just finding each others ranks out. She was likely to get hurt if she interfered this time.
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Posted: Sat Nov 29, 2008 4:16 pm
Shadow bit at Kane's fur, pulling at it roughly. He could feel Kane's fangs on his side and his slow advance towards his back and he squirmed. He didn't want to let go of what he had of Kane's fur but he didn't want Kane to reach his back, either. He decided to use a trick he recently learned. He made himself fall, letting gravity take him, before suddenly standing up again, hoping the sudden movements would at least loosen Kane's hold. He placed his paw on Kane's chest, trying to shove him away, giving his head a little shake to tug more on Kane's fur.
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Posted: Sat Nov 29, 2008 4:31 pm
"Rrrrawr!" He snarled in pain as his fur was pulled on. It wasn't skin yet but if he pulled enough he would get a mouth of loose fur and Kane would be in danger of the cold of the North. His fur was his protection. He didn't want to be trapped here in Neutral until the fur grew back.
He let go of his grip on the pup's shoulder when the pup fell, pushing hard against the shoving paw that was trying to push him away he lowered his head as Shadow stood back up to bite on his back, growling. He tried to jump up onto him. Trying to force Shadow back down with his full weight, trying to force him to submit to him. Something to hopefully distract him from yanking his fur out.
He wasn't the best at fighting tactics either but he knew this trick because several older helixes brutally used it on him before to prove their dominance when stealing Kane's food. Kane didn't understand pack ranking entirely, living alone. He just knew the top helix made those lower than him submit to him.
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Posted: Sun Nov 30, 2008 4:08 pm
Shadow, although he refused to admit it, wasn't actually a veteran when it came to fights. In fact, he hadn't romped around that much at all. His siblings, already knowing he would win, prefered to do something else, and he would never puposely fight Nani. Kane's actions were thus, new to him, and he fell, a breathless oof! escaping his lips. His muzzle, which had lost Kane's fur in the fall, was buried in a few flakes of snow and he struggled desperatly to get the other off of him.
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Posted: Sun Nov 30, 2008 5:03 pm
Nani had wandered off soon after she realised that trying to stop two boys from a dominance fight was a worthless waste of time. She was now padding through the snow, eyes up into the sky as she followed a bird with her eyes. The pup hopped over some roots, and when the bird landed, Nani sat down underneath it, head quirked to the side. The bird sang a little tune, and Nani replied with her own. The bird became spooked and fluttered off. Nani sighed, before heaving her butt of of the ground and continuing.
She was bored. Although she usually didn't like to go anywhere by herself, she felt almost safer in the snow. After all, her white fur helped her blend in more than usual. That meant there was less of a chance of her getting attacked, and Nani was quite content with that. The pup jumped when a white rabbit darted out infront of her, before giggling to herself. She looked up as snow began to sprinkle down. Ooh, snowfall.
The pup skipped off again, not realising how far she'd travelled away from the two boys. She sang a happy tune as the snow landed on her muzzle. She really wished that she could be with Shadow, but he had to be a scrapper. No fun at all. Nani came across a frozen river, and stepped carefully across it, losing her feet several times and slipping on the ice. Nani laughed out loud when her bum landed on the ice with a 'thump'. She was up again in moments, however, and managed over the side and into the snow bank once more.
On the other side of the river, the helix's foot prints were slowly distorting and dissapearing under the falling snow.....
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Posted: Sun Nov 30, 2008 7:04 pm
Kane was sitting on Shadow's back, head high to show his dominance over his opponent when he noticed the two of them were alone and Nani was no where to be found. The snow was falling, covering her tracks and with her white pelt she blended in.
Meaning she was gone without a trace. Worse yet it was getting windy, if they howled for her she would not be able to hear them. She was alone and unprotected from the elements. At least she wasn't in Northern territory but still...
He stepped off of Shadow and pondered a minute, growling to himself. He tried to think of some other way then growled again. "Your friend, Nani was it? She's gone! Does she anything important about snow? Survival tricks? Shelter finding? Dangers of frost bite and cold sickness?" ( Cold sickness meaning Hypothermia ) He asked, all playfulness gone. He knew that these helixes were Neutral, not Northern. Nani was in grave danger wandering away by herself. He also knew there was next to nothing they could do to find her, at least by themselves. If they split up and wandered aimlessly looking for each other they would all be lost. If they stayed where they were Nani was likely to keep traveling and get lost. If they were to get a pack to help they were likely to lost track of where they even started off and loose precious time. Unless one pup stayed behind and risked cold sickness waiting for the other pup to come back with help, still loosing time.
"Smell the snow as hard as you can, even the tiniest clue as to which direction she went off could make a difference." He didn't say what kind of difference, it was a life or death situation but he felt Shadow was smart enough to already know that. He pushed his nose up against the snow and tried his very best to catch a whiff of something. If the weather was too warm snow would partially melt and water would wash the scent away.
Personally he thought their was no hope of finding her in a snow storm but maybe after it stopped snowing? He didn't voice his opinion out loud.
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Posted: Sun Nov 30, 2008 7:53 pm
Shadow glanced up to see Kane's chin high above him. The sight along sent his body writhing again. His desire for dominance clashed with his instinct to give up, that Kane had won. He hadn't realized Nani's disapearance yet and when Kane stepped off of him, he tackled the male. He would have done more if the sound of Nani's name didn't bring him back to his sense. At first, he was confused. His ears were thumping with the sound of adrenaline still in his body and only when he looked around to see her gone did it hit him. "No, we don't know anything about snow." he admitted. The gravity of it hadn't hit him yet and for now, he thought admitting that weakness was the worst it could get. He started sniffing around, since that was how one found things back in the East, but was surprised to notice that her scent was faint, almost non-existant. He was sure he and Kane hadn't fought for that long. "Right." he said, the seriousness of the situation starting to dawn on him. He was used to her scent, and finding it was easy. Holding on to it, however.... Leaving Kane behind, he ran where he thought the scent would lead, circling around for a while until he found a tree. He looked back and waited for Kane, since obviously, that pup had more experience with the snow. Suddenly, it didn't look as beautiful anymore. It didn't speak of play. It yelled of cold and death and its glitters looked like the flashing of tooth and claw now.
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Posted: Mon Dec 01, 2008 1:37 am
Kane stood up undaunted from the tackle, it surprised him nothing more, and raced over to Shadow. "You think she went this way? He tried moving bits of fallen snow to smell deeply for her scent. He didn't know her scent well but moving the snow helped along with freezing your already cold nose. He kept his mouth open to let any sniff of her go over the roof of his mouth, where organs in his nose processed the smells.
He could smell just the faintest trace of ...rabbit? He hoped Shadow hadn't mistaken scents. Then he smelled the root, just the faintest trace but it was there. He noticed the ground sloped down then went up again up ahead. His ears perked with alarm. He had learned to recognize that landing markings like that signaled deep snow trenches or water sources. Trotting slowly down the slope he smelled water trapped beneath the ice, there wasn't as much snow on the ice so he caught another trace of her. What if she had walked onto it and fell through? It would take only minutes to die of cold sickness when in freezing water. He looked up and down the river for any sign of disturbed snow and ice. He didn't see any difference but that might not matter.
Cautiously his paw reached forward to test the ice. He could hear it cracking under his paws but it didn't give way. It might be thicker in the middle or shallower. Going out onto ice was deadly. His ears flattened against his head, knowledge fighting against morals. He knew it was dangerous but he wanted to help her. He didn't even know why he wanted to help her, he just did. Northern helixes were all 'survival of the fittest' and 'every helix for themselves' even with packs. Ice was thicker in the North, going out onto ice here was even more dangerous because it was usually thinner.
They had to hurry, but hurrying here was foolhardy indeed. He looked back at Shadow. "She's been here. I'll test the ice's thickness, there could be shallow patches." He warned. His heart hammered wildly as he stepped out onto the ice. He tested each paw step before putting weight on it, trying to keep moving so he wasn't a dead weight on the ice. He smelled her again in the middle and brushed snow away, looking down into the ice. He didn't see her under the water, though looking down into it was a nightmare for him, thinking that it could be his watery grave in return for his kindness. He slipped once, almost giving himself a heart attack.
He breathed a sigh of relief that the ice didn't break under his full weight, he scrambled half up more sliding to the bank. A sigh of relief came from him when his paws met ground. He turned to look back at Shadow. "Seems sturdy enough where I crossed. I smelled her again, she passed this way." He announced. He hoped it stopped snowing soon, footprints were covered so fast in it.
He hoped Shadow accepted that Kane was now the dominant one between them. Before the search he was the pup on top, head high. That tackle was just when he was distracted by Nani's disappearance. He was still dominant over him. He doubted Shadow would accept it this soon but over time and possibly after more dominance fights he would make Shadow submit to him, officially. The thought pleased him to finally be dominant over someone, especially Shadow since he was a worthy opponent and fun to hang out with. Adults usually proved dominance over him so it was a nice switch. Although maybe it would be best not to fight in front of Nani, so this didn't happen again.
He waited for Shadow to cross, not going ahead. They needed to stick together to make sure neither got in trouble while searching for her. If Shadow fell through the ice the only one here to help would be him. If Shadow did fall through the ice though the search would have to be called off because he would freeze to death if he didn't get to shelter. Hopefully if he used the same ice path as Kane he would be fine.
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Posted: Mon Dec 01, 2008 6:36 am
Nani was beginning to become worried now. The snow was building up on her back, making her feel awfully heavy, and she couldn't smell anything. She was lost. Oh, why did she wander off so far? She began to whimper, and let out a little howl for help. The wind sounded like it was screaming at her, burning her numb ears. Wait, why were they numb? Shivering, she pressed on, not knowing what to do.
Nani felt herself begain to shake with every step. She was losing feeling in her toes and her nose now, too. After all, Nani wasn't built for the cold. And she was still only small, much smaller than the two boys. Ears pressed to her head, she took another step....
And the ground broke underneath her, sending her falling into a pit. It was most likely a human made trap used for catching food. Nani whimpered weakly as she was pinned by a heavy root that had come down along with the dirt and the snow. The helix pup tried to get it off, but it was no use. So she lay there, crying out for help as the snow relentlessly pounded down on her. Snow didn't seem like so much fun anymore. The pup shivered and trembled, and found that her eyes were blurring.
Wait, she shouldn't go to sleep... Nani felt drained. She was cold, numbingly so, she was no doubt bruised in the middle, and she was half buried in frozen water. She managed out a few more cries, before the cold began over-taking her, and she felt herself slipping into unconcsiousness, the snow slowly covering her entire body.
She shouldn't have wandered off in the first place. If she'd stayed with the boys none of this would have happened. She wouldn't be sore and tired and cold and alone. Nani felt tears trickle from her eyes. She just wanted to go home now. She wanted to go back to her warm cozy bed with her foster siblings, and snuggle up, and lay her head on Shadow's tummy, and listen to his heartbeat until she drifted off to......
......Sleep......
Nani's eyes slowly drifted close, and though her tiny body continued to tremble, one would find that the girl's heartbeat was slowly becoming softer.... And softer.....
(*(~The boy's better hurry! Oh no!!!
I'm awful to my Nani gonk Good thing she has two super puppies on the way <3~)*)
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Posted: Tue Dec 02, 2008 3:11 am
Kane could feel the temperature dropping, soon the sun would would go down and they would have no light to search with. Nani might freeze to death! She wasn't a northern helix, and Shadow had admitted she didn't know how to dangerous the cold was or how gain shelter from these kind of elements.
"Hurry up Shadow! Nani depends on our speed if we are to find her before the sun goes down. She could freeze out here without shelter!" He ordered, testing out his new dominance over the pup. He held his head up, but kept his eyes deadly serious. He wasn't fooling around. Nani could die if they didn't hurry up! Just barely over the wind he could hear something that sounded different. It didn't sound like the roaring wind. His ears rotated to catch the sound. It was....howling maybe? "I think I hear her!" He called over to Shadow.
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Posted: Tue Dec 02, 2008 11:26 pm
((Dang long posts xD))
Shadow watched as Kane sniffed around to make sure for himself. He felt proud of himself when Kanes eyes flickered with recognition and he watched to see what he would have to do next. He thought Kane was walking funny, being all slow and careful. As if.... As if.... He pondered over it, wondering what that walk reminded him of. "I'll test the ice's thickness." he heard, and suddenly, Shadow recognized it. Kane was walking as if he was on brittle ground. His ears raised in alarm and he stood on the branch, craning his neck to see if he could find any signs. It was possible Nani fell. He saw Kane slipping and he barked in warning but the pup was unharmed and he was left with his own heart beating with worry. He took a step closer to the ice, nodding when Kane mentioned Nani's scent. Of course it would be there. Shadow had been right about her going that direction, after all. Still, he feared of what might happen. What if Kane had made the ice more brittle? He could try going from another way but the other sides were untested and he was inexperienced. He glared and sat down stubbornly when Kane told him to hurry up, his eyes widening with fear at the mention of Nani's death. He was loathe to admit his defeat but he wouldn't let Nani go like this. He growled at himself and braced his paws against the snow for support before buzzing off across the ice. He could hear the cracks under him and he ran faster. Soon he was on the other side and he stood panting, glaring at Kane. Was that a howl he heard? Or the thumping in his ears? It must have been a howl, he decided, if Kane heard it, too. "Lead the way." he said, his voice rough. He reminded himself that it was for Nani... several times.
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Posted: Wed Dec 03, 2008 3:59 am
At first he thought Ryu wouldn't do it, but he must really care for Nani. He raced over the ice. Kane barged through the snow as fast as he could making a trail for Ryu. The howls stopped which was frightening to both pups looking for her. Kane tried hurrying faster when... "Ooooowl!" He fell down into the pit. Having not seen it.
His ribs were jarred on wooden branches but he head landed softly on snow. Kane thought snow was hard. He blinked and looked up in confusion. Where was he? What happened? It seemed like some kind of pit. He looked down around the pit. There were branches and snow and upturned dirt and...."Nani!! Shadow! Shadow?"
Using his paws he brushed frozen snow from her short fur, but she was half buried in ice too. "No!" She looked dead. He gnawed viciously at the root, as if this was all it's fault, pulling with all his puppy might. It budged then rolled off of her just enough for him to scruff her and pull her from the ice. He laid his ear next to her heart. She was cold, but the heart beat was there and getting fainter. He gathered branches and laid her on them since they would hold her above the cold snow then he laid beside her stomach and chest, offering her his warm thick fur. It also protected the organs from freezing by adding another source of body heat. He kept his ear next to her heart.
They needed to get out of this pit and get Nani to shelter fast! How where they going to get out of here? He felt hopelessness, they had gone so far, he had gone beyond what any Northern helix would do to help another, and he feared that it was all for nothing. He was afraid that she would die and he would be here to listen to her heart stop beating. He didn't want to be down here with a dead helix that he had failed to save in time. The fear and the guilt might just haunt him till his dying day. At this rate he wondered if Shadow was even getting cold. He could feel the chill through his thicker fur. He hoped he could be heard over the wind. "She's alive but not awake, we need to escape somehow. Sleeping is the final sign of the cold sickness before.."
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Posted: Sat Dec 06, 2008 3:51 pm
Shadow shook the small flakes of snow that drifted onto his pelt before racing after Kane. It was easier for him since the snow was already out of the way, and Shadow, realizing this, tried to speed up. He still wanted to prove he could be better. He skidded to a halt when suddenly, Kane disapeared, sending a large amount of snow into the pit. He peered down it, calling tentatively, "Kane?" Now that the possibility of Kane's death presented itself, he realized he didn't want Kane gone. Who else could find Nani in this cold world Kane called home? Suddenly, he heard Kane call up and by his voice, Shadow assumed he wasn't hurt. "Nani? What about her?" he yelled back, trying to look for a safe way down. He leaped onto a splindly tree trunk hanging out by it's roots and pawed his way down slowly, leaping when there was short distance between him and the bottom. He was too worked up to feel much but when a soft wind blew, he shivered. He could barely hear Kane's sentence and he wondered if the last few words were unspoke or blown away. He knew what they would say. He found Nani on the branches and imitated Kane, laying down next to her. "We can try to drag her up." he said, motioning towards the thin tree. "But it might not be able to hold all of our weigt." He remembered the creaking he heard when he was on it.
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