Paws of Pollution

Part one of The Phantom Wolf.

By MewtwoLucario.

Prologue: Gold Rising, Spy Finding
It was a dark night in Jamaa. The moon was concealed by pitch-black clouds and a fine mist was spread throughout the land. The air was cool as ice and an eerie presence hung in the atmosphere. It was that kind of night when you just know something bad is going to happen, but you have no idea what that "something" is.

Gold Firstmoon glanced around nervously, gripping his spear tightly. According to Chief Rowdyclaw, his commanding officer, their camp was only a few miles away from the Badlands. "The Badlands are absolutely crawlin' with Phantoms," Chief had said. "I heard that one of their biggest Fortresses is kind of near-ish to here. Personally, I ain't worried about a Phantom ambush, but SOME of ya think that campin' here tonight is suicide. So, I'm gonna be posting a few more guards around than usual."

Gold, unfortunately, got stuck on guard duty. He was charged with guarding the west side (which was also the closest side to the Badlands) along with Count Majorbeast and Duchess Spiritpaw. Count and Duchess were lucky; Count was a dark green Crocodile, and Duchess was a black Wolf. Gold was an Arctic Wolf with, well, gold fur. While his comrades were well-hidden by the shadows, fog, and foliage of the forest, Gold stuck out like a flashing light.

"Hey, Gold?" came a voice. "AAAHHHH!" Gold screamed, whipping around. "Wow, calm down before you wake up the whole camp, would you?" said Duchess. "Oh, h-hey Duchess," said Gold. "Sorry about that, I've just been kinda jumpy lately." "Yeah, I noticed," said Duchess, sitting down besides the Arctic Wolf. "Being on guard duty right at the edge of the Badlands is enough to jerk anyone's nerves."

"Are you sure it's still a good idea for you to be here?" Gold asked. "I mean, you DID just become a mother and everything..." "Gold, I'm fine," Duchess growled. "I come from a long line of fearless soldiers who don't let anything stop them. Not illness, not injury, not even the exhaustion that comes after giving birth." "Yeah, but, what if your pup gets, like, sick or something, and you're not there to help it?" "It'll be fine; it's from the same line of soldiers as me."

Gold sighed and rolled his eyes. Duchess was always like that; she thought that just because she was descended from famous warriors meant that she couldn't let anything stop her from becoming something great. Gold felt like she had been pressured into it, and now she was going to pressure her new pup into it, too.

Suddenly, Duchess grabbed Gold by the shoulder and pushed him down to the ground. "OW! W-what the-?!" "Shush!" hissed Duchess, dropping down with him. "Look!" she whispered, pointing up at the sky. Gold squinted through the fog, and then he saw it.

Phantoms.

At least a hundred of them.

Heading directly towards the camp.

"How many Phantoms is that?" whispered Duchess. "Enough to completely obliterate the camp, that's for sure," whispered Gold. "What do we do?" "Um... quick, you get over there and hide in those bushes, and whatever you do, DO. NOT. LET. THEM. SEE. YOU." "W-what about you?" "I'm gonna alert Chief and the others," said Duchess, standing up and drawing her sword. "We have about another half hour until they get here. Just stay put in those bushes and I'll come back to get you when the fight's over."

With that, Duchess ran into the camp. Casting a glance at the sky, Gold quickly crawled over into a mass of bushes, tucked into the shadow of a large tree. For safety's sake, he poised his spear and gripped it with both paws, preparing to strike with it in case he was suddenly attacked.

A long time passed. Nothing happened. Then, suddenly, a scream rose up from the direction of the camp. "ATTAAAAAAACK!!!!!!!" came a shout soon afterwards. The sound of crackling electricity, slashing metal, and various shouts and war cries followed. Every now and then, an explosion cut through the night, briefly lighting up Gold's hiding place.

After almost three hours of listening to an unseen battle, everything fell deathly silent. Gold's heart was pounding like a jackhammer as he strained to listen for... something. The sound of victory cries rising up from the victorious Animals. The sound of Chief shouting, "Yeah, you better run, Phantoms!" The sound of Duchess' paws crunching against the grass, coming to tell Gold that it was safe to come out.

Another hour passed, and still nothing. Gulping and shaking like a leaf, Gold slowly crawled out from the bushes and stood up. He looked in the direction of the camp and inhaled sharply at the sight. What was once a large group of tents spread out in a valley was now a smoldering black husk. Tattered remains of tents hung limply from their poles, a few still smoking from fires. Dotting the valley were the bodies of dozens of Animals, blackened from fire and covered in Phantom goop. A few Phantoms lingered around the destroyed camp, poking around at what was left of it.

Tears started to well up in Gold's eyes. How could they do this? How could they just destroy them like that? His comrades, his allies, his friends? Dropping his spear, Gold dropped to his knees and covered his eyes. I could've done something... he thought. ''If I had gone with her, I might've been able to stop this. But instead, I hid like a coward. Like I always do.''

Standing up and wiping tears from his eyes, Gold gritted his teeth and let out a low snarl. "You WILL pay for this, Phantoms," he growled. "No more hiding for me. From this moment on, whenever I see one of your kind, I WILL destroy it." He smirked. "I'll get together a whole army of Animals, and I'll lead them to your extinction." And with that, he turned around and trekked off, ideas of a Phantom genocide planted in his mind.

Thirteen lifted the tattered tarp and looked into the tent. "Hey, boss, I found another one!" he called. Eclipse floated over immediately. "Another one of what?" he asked. "Another Light-skin! Look!" said Thirteen, pointing into the tent. Eclipse looked around for a while until he spotted what Thirteen was talking about.

A tiny, furry, black and dark grey Light-skin was curled up in one corner of the tent, its head covered with its paws. "A Slouchback pup?" said Eclipse, puzzled. "Hey, remember that black Slouchback who was swingin' her sword around like a maniac? I think she might've been its mother," said Thirteen. "I wonder what happened to her? She kinda ran away from me in the middle of our fight, but I don't know if someone else took care of her."

Eclipse floated into the tent and levitated down to the pup's level. "It's so small... And I think it's sleeping. It must have nerves of steel if it was able to sleep through that hectic battle." Suddenly, the pup's ear twitched. Startled, Eclipse jerked back slightly. The pup raised its head, stretched its body, and opened its eyes.

"Whoa, look at its eyes!" exclaimed Thirteen. "They're white!" And indeed, the pup's irises were pale as snow. "From what I know about Light-skins, pale eyes is generally a sign of blindness," said Eclipse. "Hmmm..." He got down at the pup's level again and waved a tentacle in front of its face. When the pup jerked back and blinked in surprise, Thirteen remarked, "Welp, it ain't blind. Whaddya think we should do with it?"

Just as Eclipse opened his mouth to answer, the pup suddenly grabbed one of Eclipse's tentacles. "Whoa!" yelped Thirteen. "Calm down," said Eclipse. "It's not doing anything. I think... I think it likes me." As he spoke, the pup gently tugged the Phantom down to the ground and snuggled up next to him. "Huh. A Light-skin who likes Phantoms," remarked Thirteen. "What are the odds?"

"Hm. Maybe we can use this to our advantage," said Eclipse. "How so?" "Well, this is a Light-skin who likes Phantoms. Hasn't the King been saying that we could use a spy to infiltrate the Light-skin territories and gather information about them?" "Oh, yeah, I remember him saying something like that! I think he also said that a Slouchback is our best bet; those things are real popular. And if not a Slouchback, something black and dark grey, maybe with white eyes."

"Yep. And this little... uh..." Eclipse took a quick glance at the pup's underside. "...Guy. This little guy is pretty much the full package. Slouchback? Check. Black fur? Check. Dark grey underfur? Check. White eyes? Double-check. The only things he's missing are Phantom powers and knowledge of what other Light-skins are like." "Cold, heartless, maniacs who kill Phantoms for fun?" "Bingo.

"Once we get back to the Fortress, go find Excavate and ask him if he can do anything to give this pup Phantom powers - WITHOUT harming him, mind you. For now, help me find stuff to make something I can use to carry this pup back to the Fortress." As soon as he finished talking, the pup gripped his tentacle tighter and let out a small bark.

"...Okay, scratch that, you're gonna have to find the stuff yourself, 'cuz this guy refuses to let go of me." "Uh, can do, boss," said Thirteen, saluting. As he floated off, Eclipse looked down at the pup, still snuggled up next to him and looking up at him with wide, white eyes. "You're, uh... You're not like other Light-skins, little guy," he said, awkwardly rubbing the pup's head. "But, with any luck, us Phantoms can mold you into a perfect little spy."

To be continued.........