Tails of a Kitsune - Life or Love

Chapter Six

"Wake up, sleepyhead!" cried a high-pitched, excited voice. "Wow, you're lucky. I wish Lieutenant Cobra Lily was my sister. Then I could sleep that long!"

Iris groaned, rolled over, and shook herself away. As she got up, she yawned, then asked the voice, "How long have I been out?"

"A sun-down."

"A sun-down?! I have to go meet Cobra Lily," mumbled Iris, forcing her eyes to open up wider. She noticed the little scrap of an arctic fox standing in her doorway, smiling with a few chipped teeth.

"She sent me to fetch you!" chirped the new fox. Looking at him, the fact that in the Dark Ages red foxes like her used to eat arctic foxes. Wincing at the barbaric thought, she got up to distract herself and examined the little scrap. "Hi..."

"Hi! I'm Smog!" he smiled, excited. "You can call me the Smoker, though, it sounds cool!"

"Okay..." she replied absentmindedly. Maybe not. Let's go for Smog.

"Where is she?" Iris asked tentatively, heading towards Smog.

"Well, I'll take you to her! You aren't trying to get rid of me, are you? You better not be, because I'm a battle-hardened warrior!" the little scrap cried, puffing his chest out proudly. I'll believe that he has more experience than me, but battle-hardened? Maybe not....

"This way!" chirruped the little fox. He bounded out the door and down the hall, his dark caramel eyes twinkling. Iris followed him wordlessly.

Smog slowed down so Iris could keep pace with him. "Don't you like to race?" She shrugged. After some silence, he asked, "Did you really become friends with the Scary One?"

"Scary One?" Iris repeated.

"Yeah!" Smog looked around nervously, before informing her, "She wants us to call her 'Hunter'. She...yells a lot, and isn't a very nice Trainer."

"I think she was pretty nice," offered Iris. Smog gaped at her with shock plain on his face at this remark, whispering, "Wow. So it's true."

After quite a few twisting and turning hallways, Smog stopped at a hole in the floor. Iris asked, "So what do we-" before being cut off as Smog jumped into the hole, shouting, "WHEEEE!!!" Iris quickly looked down the hole after him, worry coating her features. "Smog?" she called, right before overbalancing and falling down after him.

She thought about screaming, but as wind whipped past her, her fur going crazy, she realized that there was no point. I'm not going to be like one of those wimpy damsel in distress book characters that scream every chance they get.

Suddenly, she fell onto a wooden slide and started jolting down it. By the Oracle's tail, did I really think that Smog would've jumped off to his doom on purpose?! ...yes. Yes, I did.

She eyed the slide as she skidded down on it. The wood was rough, and even though her fur was unusually thick, she was still certain that she had gotten at least one splinter.

She finally flew out of the slide and dropped to the ground, hacking sand out of her mouth, her throat dry. Dizzily looking up, Iris squinted to see Smog standing next to her. "Not bad for a first-timer!" cried Smog, smiling.

She spat some more of the gritty sand out and gingerly started to get up from the sand. Glaring at Smog playfully, Iris asked, "So Cobra Lily's supposed to meet us here? Where is she?"

"Right here." Her sister appeared out of what seemed like nowhere, making Iris stumble back in shock.

"How'd you just appear like that?!" Iris demanded.