The Call of Chat Noir

There Are More?

Time skip: 18 years later

~ Adrien ~ 

"Geez, Bridgette! You're so slow, I'm surprised Sabor hasn't caught you yet!" I growled, lunging at the female panther that stood hunched over in front of me. She tried to dodge me, but I was quicker, and I tackled her, pinning her on her back against the ground. She snarled at me, and I laughed, climbing off of her. 

"It's not my fault, Adrien!" She snapped back, baring her teeth. "None of us are built like you! You've got an advantage." She pouted and walked over to a baobab tree to lie down, stretching her arms and legs before licking at one of her paws. I rolled my eyes. 

"Typical of a female to clean herself during a battle," I muttered, smirking. She rolled her eyes at me, though she continued to lick her paw. 

"It's not a battle, Adrien," she replied, annoyed, "and, besides, if that's how you choose to see it, then I forfeit."

I stood up on my hind legs and folded my arms across my chest.

"Females," I muttered, "so boring." I walked over to another baobab tree and slammed my elbow into it, making a wave of fruit fall on top of me. I burst out laughing as I popped my head out of the top of the pile and glanced over at Bridgette, who was now rolling around on her back.

"Hey!" I called. "You wanna help me eat all this?" She glanced over at me and scoffed, continuing to roll around. 

"No, because if I ate as much as you did, then I'd be at even more of a disadvantage!" She growled, to which I simply shrugged before digging into the pile of delicious fruit.

After about an hour - I could tell because of the position the sun was now in - I polished off the last of the fruit and wiped the sticky juice onto the soft black cloth I had wrapped around my waist. I then looked over at Bridgette, who was now asleep, purring, and decided to just leave her be.

I got on all fours and slunk through the brush behind me toward the waterfalls. As soon as I approached the water's edge at the base of the waterfall, I took a few steps back and lept into the water. As I became submerged, I spun around, leaving a trail of bubbles behind me as I kicked my way to the surface.

"Ah. . ." I muttered, letting the could water weave through my hair and push around my body. I floated on my back for a while as the light current carried me a little further downstream, my eyes fixated on the beautiful clear sky above me. 

I hesitated for a moment before glancing over to my left, where I saw the rest of the pack about a hundred meters from the water, sleeping in the sun patches that seeped through the leaves on the trees above. I smiled. My family looked so peaceful. I was glad that I had them all to protect me, even though, most of the time, it was I that protected them. 

Whether it be an elephant stampede, croc attack, or Sabor slinking around, I never left their sides until the threat was gone. I loved them so much, I couldn't even express it in words.

I smiled and closed my eyes, listening to the sound of the water pouring off the cliff's edge and the birds that settled in the water around me, feeling completely relaxed.

That is, until I heard a screech.

It wasn't like any animal I'd ever heard before. I quickly straightened myself upright and tread water as I listened for it again. Even though the panthers were strong animals, my hearing and instincts were still much more heightened than theirs, for some odd reason.

I quickly glanced at my pack, surprised to see that they were all still asleep; I guess they hadn't heard it. I turned back to my right and listened again for the noise; it took a few moments, but soon after the first, a second screech rang through the jungle.

I swam to the opposite side of the river, away from my family, and sprinted off into the jungle. I tried to follow the sound as a third screech bounced off of the trees, and I slowed down when I heard a noise that was different from the screech.

I listened carefully and started sprinting again until I came to a clearing, finally finding the source of the noises. I hunched down behind a bush, peeking through the leaves at the sight before me.

It was a blob, covered in black and red, kind of like a ladybug. The blob stood at about five and a half feet tall, and had jet-black, almost blue, fur that reminded me of the midnight sky, but what caught me the most off-guard was when the blob turned in my direction.

It looked like me. I knew that I didn't look like a panther, but I was still a panther - unique, the only one like this; or, so I'd thought. The blob had my body, though its front and lower back bulged out a bit farther than mine, and it was slimmer and much more beautiful than any animal I'd ever seen.

The fur was held back into two. . . what looked like the end of an elephant's tail? The two "tails" draped over its shoulders, framing its face. It was standing on its hind legs, looking around at the scenery in front of it. It smiled, and my breath hitched in my throat, my heart pounding inside my chest.

I growled, a little too loudly apparently, and the thing looked in my direction, its mouth dropping open the slightest bit. It didn't have any fangs from what I could see, but its body carriage made my heart go crazier, making me growl even louder. It reached a hand in my direction, slowly taking a step toward me.

It made a series of noises I'd never heard before, except scarce parts from villagers when they were hunting, and it continued toward me. I gasped and took a quick step back, but I suddenly slipped, which caused me to face-plant right behind the bush, landing in a pile of mud that caked in my hair and smeared across my face. 

I quickly looked back up, and I noticed that the figure was drawing closer. I tried to rub the mud out of my hair, but only succeeded in making parts of it stick up together, giving the illusion that I had ears like a panther.

I watched as the figure pushed the bush aside, and I backed away into a tree. Its face slowly came into view, and I let out a small gasp; it had a shocked look on its face, but a smile quickly spread across its lips, and it took another step toward me.

My heart started beating faster and faster. I didn't know what this thing was, but it was making me absolutely crazy. And. . . It was one of the most beautiful things I'd ever seen.