The Island

Life Before The Island

        Caitlin was sitting on her paws in the ocean, staring into the night sky. Daniel walked up behind her and looked at the sky with her.

"Still can't transform back, eh?" Daniel said to her.

She only whined softly. Daniel turned her head towards his until they were staring into each other's eyes.

"Just think about your old self. Think about how we met and how we all get along, and try."

As if on command, the fur on Caitlin's body started retracting, and she was shifting back to normal. Daniel could see her cringing.  It was probably painful for her. After the transformation, Caitlin looked up at Daniel, who was happy that she could finally revert back to her true form.

"Thanks Daniel."

"No, no! It was you that transformed back. I didn't do anything." Daniel replied. 

"Yes, you helped me remember. Thank you."

        Caitlin gave Daniel a quick hug and walked back to her bed. Daniel was getting tired too, and he didn't want to go anywhere near the shadowy explosions that were happening near Stefan's bed. In the morning, Caitlin walked up to Daniel and asked,

"Did you notice Declan the other day? He seemed different."

Daniel glanced over at Declan, who was walking around, not caring about anyone else's buisness, as usual.

"Yeah, that night before yesterday, Declan got up in the middle of the night claiming that he could not sleep and he went to scout the area around us, looking for anything helpful or dangerous. He was out the whole night but was back in his bed when I woke up." Daniel explained.

"Did he find anything?" Caitlin asked, her voice sounding a bit nervous to hear the answer.

"He didn't say. And his face doesn't really make me wanna go up and ask him."

"Yeah you're right. I should just stop thinking about it."

*

'I know I saw it.' Declan thought. 'It was definately there that night. Should I tell anyone? What about what was guarding it? Agh it's all too confusing.'

"Hey Declan, what' up?" Mac said, interrupting Declan's thought.

"Huh? N-nothing." Declan looked away and left. Although Mac didn't seem phased by it.

'Whatever. I'll go and look at it again tonight. If I can get close this time.'

        Finally, an uneventful day passed. Everyone practiced their powers to hone their skills, except for Caitlin. She didn't need to train, and she was afraid that she wouldn't be able to transform back. Although what Daniel had said to her that night really had helped, and she would always think why. Caitlin was out at the shore while all the others were all around the campsite and in the forest.

"Hey Caitlin." Daniel said, walking up beside each other. "What are you thinking about?"

"What? Oh nothing. Just, do you ever think about your life before the Island? I can barely remember anything. Like it was wiped away or something."

"Really? I remember. Vaguely. I didn't have any friends, I know that much. Nobody liked me. I was always alone."

"Is that true?"

"Yeah. I had an active imagination. Always thinking if I was a super hero. Now I am one! And I have lots of friends around me. This is like a dream come true."

"That's great!" Caitlin said, as she gave Daniel another hug, from feeling sad that he had such a sad life before the island. "But, don't you ever feel angry, that you've been ripped away from your past life?"

"Never."

With that last word, Caitlin stopped. Daniel turned and asked what was wrong. Caitlin just shook her head and said that it was nothing. They kept walking along the shore, but this time they didn't say anything. They just held hands and listened to the wind.

*

        As they were walking, Caitlin's expression lit up as she got an idea.

"Hey, since you wanted to be a super hero, and you couldn't do much against that last monster, why don't you practice your magic against me?"

Daniel looked up with interest, "You mean like fight you?"

"Yeah we can both get stronger without risking our lives!"

"Alright, sure!"

The two found a spot where the forest ended and turned into a field, where they could have lots of room to fight. They stood facing each other, ready to show off their skills. Daniel waited as Caitlin closed her eyes, and fell to the ground. The pain started, but she did a great job at hiding it. This time she had a short snout, a longer tail, and had orange fur.

"A tiger eh? You can change into more things than a wolf?" 

Caitlin only growled. Daniel smirked and took a fighting pose. With a short roar, Caitlin sprinted at Daniel. Using small gusts of wind, Daniel was able to dodge all of the attacks, then quickly pushed her back with an air current pointed upwards. There was no water around them, so Daniel could only fight with air attacks.

"Come on!" Daniel taunted. "Enemies will show no mercy!"

Caitlin looked angry. She was determined to show what she was worth. With a quick leap, Caitlin almost tackled Daniel to the ground, but he bent backwards and used the wind to keep him steady. Caitlin was not ready for another rest. She immediately rebounded and started throwing bites and claw attacks, pushing Daniel back significantly. Daniel's expression showed that he was starting to become overwhelmed, but it instantly changed back to his initial smirk.

"Looks like I'll have to use my secret weapon!" He shouted.

Caitlin ignored him and swung her paw around his right side, claws stretched, and no chance to dodge it. Daniel's arms swung up as if to block the blow, but he was not hit by it. A stone and dirt pillar got in the way. Confused and surprised, Caitlin jumped back. Daniel dropped his arms, and the pillar fell as well.

"This is the result of my training!" He said as he lifted his arms, and levitated large stones around him.

Daniel ran at Caitlin this time. He threw punches, only using his rocks as defense against incoming attacks. 

"Don't waste movements!" He shouted to encourage her. "Be as fluid as possible!" The fight kept getting more and more intense.

Daniel starting using air and earth in order to keep up with Caitlin's rapid learning.

"Attack where I'm going to be, not where I am! Try to use my weakness as your strength! Never take your eyes off the opponent! Always look for ways to catch them off guard! Always try to- AAAAGH!"

Daniel's last hint was interrupted by the sound of flesh tearing, and blood spewing all over the ground. Caitlin had grown too fast for him and one of her claws tore skin straight through his chest.. Horrified by the gruesome scene, Caitlin immediately changed back to normal. Seeing the bloody mess writhing in pain on the ground, she started shouting out the others' names in hopes that they would come help. Luckily, not too long after, Declan leaped out of the trees and started running towards them, with the others a bit farther. Once they got in range to hear Daniel's cries of pain, Mac started teleporting rapidly to get there quickly. One Declan arrived, he saw Daniel, covered in blood, in a crying Caitlin's hands. The campsite was not too far away, so Declan took off Daniel's shirt, and tied it around the wound to try and stop the bleeding. Back at the campsite, Declan and Stefan were watching over Daniel as he was unconcious on some leaves, while Mac stood just a few steps farther away. Caitlin couldn't bear to watch what she had done and sat in her bed.

"There's nothing we can do." Declan said to Stefan in a hushed tone.

"What do you mean? There has got to be something!" Stefan replied, feeling very worried.

"Well you're right, there are somethings that we can do. I just don't know what they are."