...Saved by the Bell...or not

[M A T R I X]

Siren smiled and raced after her friend, catching up to her. Still running beside her she commented,
"Striker sure is a smart dog. Are you SURE he's not a shifter?"

[F L A M E]

Dakota replied, "Not that I know of." Just then striker ran up to them and said, "Hello master and....." He trailed off not knowing the raccoons name. Dakota replied "Hello Striker this is Siren..." She was about to say And she wants to know if you're a shifter but figured Siren might ask him herself. To tell the truth Dakota was not wondering herself if Striker was a shifter. Then Striker nodded and said "Hello Siren."




-u know it might be kool if Striker actually DOES turn out to be a shifter dont u think?-

[M A T R I X]

Siren smiled as Striker came up to them and said,
"Hi Striker. Be very honored because your the first dog I've ever talked to."
She laughed at her words and then sobered up and said,
"Good move back there, thanks for bailing us out. Are you SURE you aren't a shifter because you are smart enough to be one!?"
She smiled, hoping her words didn't confuse him. Most animals weren't like this, they couldn't understand it if you said, 'Hi'. They just were suprised that you could talk in human and usually ran away. But maybe Striker was used to it. Or maybe there was more to him that they had all thought...

[F L A M E]

Striker bowed his head and said "Thank you." When she asked if he was a shifter he hesitated. He said "Uh n-no..... I'm not a shifter..." though his words were not spoken confidently. He sat down and looked at Siren a bit nervously. Dakota looked at Striker a bit confused. Is Striker a shifter?! she thought. Striker had never lied to her before but now she wasn't so sure that was true.

[M A T R I X]

Siren smiled to break the ice and said,
"Do you want to go to the movies?"
Then a thought crossed her mind. What id Dakota was an assassin?! She was a theif! Oh my gosh! My first friend and she could be in my rival guild! An uneasy look came into her eye and she said,
"Um... I know this is kind of a personal question Dakota, but what guild are you in?"
She stayed silent and hoped to the heavens that she wasn't having a conversation with an assassin...

[F L A M E]

Dakota replied, "Yeah that would be fun." She couldn't get the thought of Striker being a shifter out of her head. Dakota wasn't surprised by the second question she answered confidently "I'm not in one." She looked at Striker and sighed then looked back at Siren and waited.......

[M A T R I X]

Siren let out a sigh of relief when she heard her answer. Then she looked at her and said,
"I'm..... I'm a theif. I can't believe you aren't in one! I thought all shifters were in one."
Then she realized what she had just said and a apolegetic looks came into her eyes,
"Oh! I'm sorry, I didn't meant to single you out! it's just, you surprised me..."

[F L A M E]

Dakota let out an amused purr and said "No it's OK." She smiled to show she meant it. Then she sat down and curled her tail around her paws. She yawned and waited to see what would happen next while Striker impatiently sat waiting too. Being a puppy, Striker couldn't sit still for very long.

[Matrix01]

Siren smiled and rose to her paws, and then shifted back into her human form. She looked down at the cat by her waist and said,
"Shall we go to the movies? I have a wicked craving for popcorn and chocolate right now."
She laughed and wsa still wondering if Striker was a shapeshifter, and waiting calmly for Dakota.

[F L A M E]

Dakota nodded and said "Yes we should." She rose to her paws and shifted into a human like Siren had done. Then she looked down at Striker and smiled a little. Then she focused back on Siren and knew she would have to leave Striker again unless he confessed to being a shifter.

[M A T R I X]

Siren smiled calmly and ducked down low so that when kids daydreamed out the window they wouldn't see the trio sneaking off. She finally got around the school and started to head toward the mall that hosted the movie theater. She had checked the day before that by the time their movie was over school would be out and it would look farely normal if they were leaving. Then Siren spotted the uniforms, patrolling the area as if the block was some ravenous monster and they were trying to ward it off with whips and leashes, always circling. They would have to cross the street in broad daylight, right in front of the cops! She turned back to Dakota and whispered,
"Change of plans, we're going to have to shift and run across the street!"
She hated this part of being a shifter, running across the street. A raccoon was a nocturnal animal, so it would be rare to see it even cross a rural country road, let alone a highway of racing cars. As she walked past a tree she shifted and came out the other side a raccoon. Then she slowly sneaked over to the edge of the grass, staying low and trying to make herself look like a shadow as much as possible, even with the hot sun beating down cruely on her fur.

[F L A M E]

Dakota followed her friend and shifted as Striker padded close behind. She nodded to show she was ready and then waited while watching Siren. Then she looked at the street and thought No problem I can run that like nothing. Though Siren might have more trouble because she was a raccoon. She lashed her tail and watched Siren out of the corner of her eye. Her green eyes were looking ready as she knew this run would be easy. The only one she was worried about was Siren because Striker, like herself, could run fast.

[M A T R I X]

Siren nodded as Dakota and Striker resumed position beside her and she braced herself, ready to leap forward at any moment. They would have to time this just right, in order to avoid becoming road kill themselves. The raccoon followed each car with her lightning fast eyes, she found a break in the heavy traffic. Filling her lungs with air, she breathed,
"One...... two...... three...... GO!!!"
With the last syllable she flung herself into the street, and the blaring of car horns was to numerous and loud to count or measure on a graph. She flattened her ears and raced through the traffic, only a few yards from the other side of the road... now a few feet... WHISH! A pain seared through her tail and she yelped and scampered onto the fluffy grass that padded the sides of the sidewalk. Siren curled up in the grass, half of her tail bleeding, and started to bandage and lick her tail. Then she looked around for Dakota, to see if she had gotten it worse.

[F L A M E]

Dakota nodded and ran across with Striker by her side. She meowed as a car tire smashed her paw. It was now painful to run but still she continued. Then, her and Striker made it to the other side and both curled up by Siren. Dakota sat up panting and started to lick her paw. She had a small cut but still lots of blood gushed out. Then a loud roar was heard and the cat looked over to see a tiger being attacked by the officers. Another shifter.... she thought.

Flame was bleeding from his shoulder from the bullet he had just been shot with. He flexed his claws and looked over to see a cat, dog, and raccoon. At that instant he knew it was Siren, from his guild, with some shifters he didn't know. He roared again almost happy to see her. Though he wasn't often happy to see others he was happy to see Siren and he did not know why.........


-I think Flame might like Siren......... lol-

[M A T R I X]

Siren's eyes widened as she saw Dakota's paw. She instantly forgot about her tail and poured over her friend's injury with guilt.
"Oh my gosh! I'm so sorry! This is all my fault, I should have gone alone!"

She silently smacked herself in the head with her paw and thought, How could you be so stupid?! You're a miserable excuse for a friend! You let her crush her paw! What will happen when she shifts back, she'll have a broken hand! She quickly searched around her for something to wrap it in, and led her friend over and behind a bush that was in the small patch of artificial, human planted trees and shrubs with mulch that lay parallel to the highway.

Then gunshots pierced the air, making Siren cringe, and cover Dakota, as if they were aimed for her. Then she whipped around to see a tiger fighting the local police and animal control. Her eyes widened even more when she realized these tigers patterns, she had seen him before. Flame! She thought them as well as whispered them in fear. They would kill him!

Then she saw a man holding a dart gun only a few feet away from Flame's back! They were going to shoot him unconcious and then drag him away to some wacked out zoo! Why did he shift in the middle of the daytime?! Or maybe he forgot to, like I did... Siren leaped from the shrubbery, launching herself into the midst of the street, hoping the cars wouldn't flatten her before she could get to him. Finally she reached the other side and then propelled herself onto the man with the gun, his hand on the trigger. She attacked him, her claws scratching his eyes and his mouth. He fell backward, and five other guards leveled their guns at her. But these just weren't the regular dart gun, these had real bullets in them! They had probably figured a tiger an endangered species, but with raccoons running everywhere, who would care if another was just laying on the side of the street, dead?

Siren's eyes widened as she saw the men come closer, and then felt a sharp stab, like a needle, poke into her side. She crumpled, and half turned, meeting Flame's eyes, and then crumpled once more to see that the dart gun shooter had recovered, and that a long black tuff was poking out of her back, decorated like an African witch doctors doing. But there was only one dart now, so Flame had more of a chance. He could escape now without being harmed, which made a smile cross Siren's face and heart, as she fell to the grass limply, unconcious.

-long, I know, but I had so much M-U-S-E!!!-