[Silver]

"Leaf blade," Kyuubi said, jumping from her safe haven in the tree to the ground nearby. Another row of pointed leaves shot from the air, coating the beast in a layer of stinging pain.

It growled again, more angry than ever. She knew that she couldn't stop it with leaf blades alone. She would have to do something more than that to get through. She couldn't even be sure the blades were doing anything other than annoying it.

How long could she keep outrunning it? She was considerably faster than it was, making it look frozen in time compared to her swift movements, but that didn't actually solve her problem.

[Silver]

"Moonlight blaster!" came a loud call from behind her. It was as if everything that happened next was in slow motion.

Kyuubi looked up to see another beast, this one lankier and with odd thin legs and long tentacles coming out of the back of its neck, flying over her head. It had come from somewhere behind her. She gasped audibly and looked back to make sure her beast was still there. Yep. There were two of them.

What was going on? She crouched down defensively and waited for the worst. Whatever had shouted... was it a friend? Yet another foe? She had noway of knowing.

[Silver]

A huge creature with white fur and blue stripes followed the beast, also jumping clear over her head. That must have been what shouted before. It was a technique of some kind. That must be what had sent the other monster flying like that.

He landed between her and the lanky beast, and fired off another technique. "Moonlight blaster!" he called confidently and loudly, shooting a column of blue flame from his mouth. It buried the beast in cold blue energy, causing it to recoil in pain.

What he didn't notice, however, was the stockier beast coming up behind him, licking its menacing jaws.

[Silver]

Kyuubi didn't have a choice. The leaf blades weren't cutting it. She had to get up close and personal, which would leave her vulnerable. All she could do was hope that this guy was on her side. He had to be, right? Why else would he be blasting another beast?

"Claw slash," she called, raking her powerful front claws across her nemesis beast. It whimpered in pain and stumbled backward. Just as she expected. Now she was standing right in front of it, vulnerable to attack herself. She did not like being vulnerable.

"Moonlight blaster!" Her new ally called again, this time striking the stockier beast.

[Silver]

The intense freezing flames was too much for the beast, who had already endured quite a beating from Kyuubi herself. It faded away, first into sparks, then into pixels, and finally into a pile of glowing dust.

There was no time to breathe a sigh of relief, however, as the slender beast had regained its footing. It darted through the trees above and tried to jump down onto Growler's head with its strange tentacles outstretched.

"No you don't," Kyuubi growled, leaping into the air and meeting it there. She grabbed one of its tentacles in her claw and wrestled it to the ground.

[Silver]

The beast growled and lashed out, swiping at Kyuubi with its claws and slapping her in the back with one of its tentacles. A small amount of blood dripped from her cheeck, the first time she had shed any since the start of the fight. She knew she wasn't as good in close combat, but she had to do something.

Growler shook his head, knocking the sense back into himself. There was no time to start now. He had to help her!

[Silver]

Growler howled and leaped into the scuffle, grabbing the slender beast in his massive jaws and shaking it like a rag doll. He threw it off of Kyuubi and right into a nearby tree. It landed with a thud and a yelp, and crumpled into a heap on the ground.

Like the other beast, it faded away, eventually becoming a pile of glowing dust that was whisked away by the wind. Both parties of the fight breathed a sigh of relief, though the tension was still high.

[Silver]

Another beast had appeared out of nowhere before, so Kyuubi was still on high alert. What could there still be out there? She was exhausted from the fight, and breathing heavily, hoping that that was really the end.

Then she remembered. There was a visitor. She looked up at the large quadruped and tilted her head slightly. He was huge, clearly a level above her, given how strong his techniques were.

"Well then," she said. "Care to introduce yourself?"

[Silver]

Growler was caught by surprise at the oddly frank nature of her request. He blinked a few times, and finally said, "Growler. Nice to meet you."

"You're welcome, by the way," he finally said. He had actually saved her butt, so he wasn't sure why she was being so hostile. He was willing to give her a pass, though, as she did just get out of an intense situation.

"Right," she said with a stiff nod. That was as close as she would get to acknowledging that he saved her.

[Silver]

Kyuubi was silent for a moment before finally saying, "It can't be a coincidence. That the were two of them here. I understand there might be some powerful force affecting this area."

Why was she sharing this with him? Well even she didn't know that. But he did save her butt, so she was willing to open up to him at least a litt.

"That would make sense," he said with a stiff nod. He too had been following a strange feeling he had while approaching the forest, and it led him to her.

[Silver]

"Ah, who's this, then, a friend of yours?" Growler asked, looking behind Kyuubi.

"Wha?" she turned around and tensed her claws. She was ready to fight another monster, but it was only the cat from before. "Oh! Where did you come from..."

Kyuubi then thought about what had happened earlier. Was that cat related to what happened? Did it try to warn her? It all seemed pretty suspicious, especially since it came back after the monsters had left. She squinted at it.

[Silver]

"So you do know each other then?" Growler asked. Kyuubi ignored him.

"Show yourself!" Kyuubi shouted, drawing a leaf blade from thin air as a threat. She was going to get her answers, one way or another.

"Relax," Growler said, stepping forward and giving Kyuubi a nudge with his nose.

Kyuubi gasped, turned toward him, and ultimately dropped the blade, letting it fade out of existence as it approached the ground. "Sorry, I... I guess I don't know what got into me."

[Silver]

"It's alright," Growler said. "You should take a breath. Being in a fight is tough, you can take a moment to breathe."

"Right," Kyuubi said, glancing back and forth between Growler and the cat. "It's just that... this cat, I saw her before. She led me into a tree, just before the beasts attacked."

"That is unusual," Growler agreed with a nod.

"I wish I knew what she is thinking," Kyuubi said idly. The cat only continued to sit there, licking its paws.

[Silver]

"I don't imagine we'll find out if we ask," Growler said, the hint of a laugh in his tone.

"Probably not," Kyuubi sighed.

There was a few minutes of silence as Kyuubi caught her breath and considered what she could do next. Normally she would have bolted off already, but she wanted to trust Growler, at least for now. He seemed reasonable, and she couldn't overstate the fact that he had literally saved her from being mauled.

[Silver]

"Well then," Growler finally broke the silence. "What are you doing here, anyway?"

Kyuubi decided she could at least show him the device, if not all of the research surrounding it. "Here," she said, holding it up. "Someone gave me this, and they think it will fill with energy, of some kind, if I bring it around here."

"Interesting," Growler said with a nod. Whether or not he knew more about the situation than she did, he wasn't about to say.

[Crystal Synthesis Complete]