[Silver]

There was nothing exceptional about the day in the city of cities. Until there was.

A young boy in oversized tiger pajamas was minding his own business in the park when the world around him started to get weird. People who were there a moment previous started to disappear or switch places. Objects blinked in and out of existence, sometimes appearing in doubles before suddenly resetting to their original position.

Mikey rubbed his eyes with his palms and looked around. Surely he was imagining the weird goings on. He couldn’t really consider any other option. Sometimes his imagination ran away from him, but not like this. This was way too weird, and it wasn’t nearly cool enough to be something he was thinking about.

[Silver]

It felt weird. He felt weird. Everything felt weird.

Mikey grabbed the weathered tail of his pajamas and frowned. He didn’t know what to do. He felt distinctly unsafe, but he couldn’t articulate why. Instead he just froze there, waiting for something to happen.

The huge blue tiger-dog never was too far from the boy, really. They had a link, a bond that could be felt from anywhere in their strange version of the universe. Growler felt the tension and fear in the boy, and like that he appeared in the park.

[Silver]

His huge clawed paws hit the ground with a crash and he was already in a defensive stance. He growled, though he knew not yet what he was growling at. Fangs bared, he was primed and ready to fight.

To his surprise, there was nothing to fight. No strange monsters or half-formed demons. Growler looked around confused, just as Mikey was. Where was the threat? Why was he here?

“I don’t feel so good,” Mikey said. He reached out and grabbed a fistful of Growler’s long fur. The large wolf being there did make him feel better, but it didn’t help all the weirdness at all.

[Silver]

As soon as he spoke, the glitchy world around him ramped up its strangeness. Perhaps it knew what he was saying, or the timing was just right. Either seemed possible at that moment. Pixelated chunks of the world began to twitch and change. They were quickly being replaced by something else. Like each one was looking into another world.

What finally appeared in front of them looked to be a door. A gateway. It looked on into another place, one that they were unfamiliar with. Growler took a tentative step forward so that he stood between the gate and the boy.

[Silver]

Growler’s protection proved useless as the boy began to be pulled toward the portal. Thinking quickly, he grabbed the boy’s sagging pajamas in his mouth, but it was useless. The boy was already disappearing, and was impossible for him to touch. It was as if he had just faded away.

Mikey seemed strangely at peace as the portal pulled him in. He knew that there was nothing he could do, so he just accepted his fate. It felt like it was going to be okay. He wasn’t sure why he thought that, but he just did.

[Silver]

Growler was considerably less comfortable with what was going on. He had sworn to protect the boy, and that is what he was going to do. He whined softly and paced around in a circle. He felt so helpless. Was there nothing he could do?

He looked at the portal then back to the changing world around him. He closed his eyes and leaped as powerfully as he could, straight for the gateway. It almost surprised him when he found himself going through it instead of just falling miserably to the ground. His body felt strange, but he pushed through. He had to do this. For Mikey.

[Silver]

Inside the portal, things were even more peculiar. Flashes of things flew by at incredible speed. People talking, children smiling, puppies chasing bubbles. The emotion of every flicker of video, of every song ringing in their ears, felt more intense than anything they had ever felt before.

Their bodies were flickering in and out of existence at random. Mikey was looking down at his own hands as they faded away and returned. He could not see Growler and Growler could not see him, but an impartial observer might notice both of them together. They were filled with uncertainty about what was around them.

[Silver]

It was both forever and no time at all, but eventually Mikey’s feet hit the ground. The gateway at least had the courtesy to dump him out face up, and standing on his own two feet. He felt a little wobbly, like one might if they spun around too much, but that soon subsided.

Mikey looked around at his surroundings and was surprised to find them utterly mundane. Nothing had really changed. He was standing in the middle of some park, though clearly not the one he had originated from. It was all very bland and not very interesting.

[Silver]

Actually, it was a bit too bland. Where were all of the things he was used to? There was only one playground, and on it were no children. The grass was vast and bare. The visual clutter that usually surrounded him was all but gone. All of the elements of a park were there, but they were so scattered, so sparse.

It was only a few seconds later when Growler left the portal and found himself in the barren park next to Mikey. He had jumped into the portal, so he tumbled out the other side, unable to land his leap. He quickly stood up and took a survey of his surroundings.

[Silver]

He was expecting a threat, but he was met with nothing. More nothing than he was ever used to. It wasn’t like the void lands, and it wasn’t like the park they had left. Still, it felt genuine. It felt … safe. He slowly stopped growling, and his cautious stance turned to a curious one.

“Where are we?” Mikey asked aloud, looking up at his big blue friend.

“I am not sure,” Growler responded. He had been many places, but this was not one he knew.

“Do you think we’ll be okay?”

“I am sure of it.”

[Wild Pet Found]