Life with Koda: Cont'd

[Nikiski]

"Spectrue, what... what's wrong with me? I feel strange..." I ask, looking at Spectrue strangly.

"Follow me then..."

I follow Spectrue to a puddle, he points at it and asks.

"Look at your reflection, look at your eyes closely, what do you see?"

I look at the puddle, looking at the reflection of my eyes... I look closer... I see a green aura in them... mixed in with my hazel brown eyes... I move closer... look again... yes... that's what I see... but I remember... at least the last time I checked my eyes were brown... what happen to them...?

"I see some greenish aura in them... what is it?"

[Spectrum]

"It is the green nature prism I had givin you earlier." I stated. "Only now, it is a piece of it. I have taken the prism from your body already so there is no need to worry about that. This piece that I chipped off and let fly into you enables you to hold the last string of anyone's life that is near death, as long as they are someone you know and deeply care for, like Ken'ichi. During that struggle, you use your own love and strength to help them stay alive, the nature prism piece helping you get it through to them."

I breathed in deeply and looked at the sky.

"You may also use this piece to help you stay strong, the strength and will to keep going on. It will even extend your lifetime a bit more too..." I watched Niki closely and wondered if all this was getting through...

[Nikiski]

I listen to Spectrue's explanation, except it is all too much for me to understand right now... but they all sound quite useful. I give Spectrue a smile.

"Thanks, Spectrue, I don't know how I'm going to pay it back..."

We sit down by a cliff, watching the scenery around this place which has been washed clean by the rain last night... We have a bried conversation on different things, like how stupid I was when I got knocked out racing down the river, how we got into fights with humans...

We are back in the cave as Ken'ichi wakes up. He looks at me then jump on me, hugging me.

[Ken'ichi]

(Ken'ichi)-(1st person)
Oh great, stupid sun has gotten high enough to get my face, I should've laid down deeper in the cave, but I didn't wanted Niki to sleep by himself, I feel like I owe him so much. I slowly get up and look around, it seems everyone decided to take a nap, and I don't blame them, I gave them quite a scare. I sit up and check around my chest, pondering if the arrow have left me another scar...nothing. In fact, as I check around my body, my scars have dissapeared, all of them...Well, not all of them, I can still feel the outline of...that scar on my body as I pass my paw over where the scar is, the outline is faint, you can barely feel it. I also noticed that my efforts to lift and move things have been reduced, also when I was talking with Spectrue and Niki I noticed my voice has deepened...Why?

I look outside to see Niki and Spectrue walking back into the cave, I'm glad Niki is back on his feet, I was pretty scared to see him loosing his strength that fast. I jump on my big bro and hug him, I never got that much of a chance when I returned to the real world, since I choked Niki and then went to Spectrue.

I look up at Niki and see his leaf green aura in his eyes, which almost sooths me just by looking at them. Niki looks at me and probably notices my eyes too, my fire red ruby aura. Spectrue has probably told him about why our eyes do this, and he probably knows how to work his...but what about mine? How does mine work?

I'm still puzzled by my sudden power-up of my strength and why my voice deepen, "Hey Spec, why have my voice got deeper and my strength somehow increases?" I pulled away from Niki's hug and look at Spectrue, "And, have you any information about the piece prism inside of me is giving me?"

[Nikiski]

Now that I'm more concious of what I hear after I've regained my strength, I notice Ken'ichi is stronger now and his voice has deepened. I chuckle as he asks Spectrue about it.

Well Ken'ichi is getting older alright, but... it seems that the letting go of his darksoul had made him grown... emotionally, and physically as well. Ken'ichi is stronger, but his eyes are softer and there is a slight ruby red glow mixed in with the silver.

After Spectrue explains what happens to him and what the red prism is going to do, I give Ken'ichi a hug.

"Heh, Ken'ichi... you're getting mature... the choice you made... was a very wise one..."

I continue.

"I see growth in you... not just physically... but the growth of your mind... the way you think..."

I smile at Ken'ichi.

"Hey, Ken'ichi, wanna see what I made you?"

I pick up a piece of dry clay, turns it over to show Ken'ichi the paw prints of mine and him.

"Heh, what do you think, Ken'ichi?"

I wait for Ken'ichi's reply.

[Spectrum]

After Niki thanks me, I merely nod and say to him that's it's alright. Then we conversate on some of the things he's been doing while I was gone. Then Ken'ichi comes and hugs Niki. Then I'm startled when he speaks in a little deeper tone before and he asks me why his voice has deepened and why his strength somehow increased. I sigh and say

"Well, just recently, you screamed your lungs out for one thing, and another is because the stronger darkened area that was in your soul is now reunited with your true being, allowing you to become a bit stronger voiced. You've grown stronger in all aspects. And also for the same reason your dark soul reuinted with your true self is why you now have more strength at will."

I tried to make the explanation short. He asked me if I have any info on what the prism piece is giving him.

"Well, your piece of the prism is now conveying strength from your soul to any other part of your will, faster, stronger, and easier. In other words, just think that you got a helper for your heart now. Even without the piece you could still use the reunited pathes of your soul, but with it, grants you more capibilities... Like soon someday you might find out you have new abilities...Depends on what your future paths do for you."

After that, niki mentions to Ken'ichi that he is maturing, and that his choice he made was a wise one. I agreed. He then says he sees growth within him, physically and mentally. He smiles at Ken'ichi. I then see him get up and asks Ken'ichi if he wants to see what he made for him. I wonder as to what he could make. Then he pulls out a piece of dry clay and I see very unique paw prints, resembling that of Niki and Ken'ichi's own feet.

"What might that be?" I ask with wonder, after Ken'ichi tells him what he thinks.

[Ken'ichi]

(Ken'ichi)-(1st person)
After Spectrue explained a little bit more about the piece of prism inside of me, Niki gives me a hug.

"Heh, Ken'ichi... you're getting mature... the choice you made... was a very wise one..." Complementing me of my choice, I'm glad he thinks I made the right choice, "I see growth in you... not just physically... but the growth of your mind... the way you think..."

Niki smiles at me and asks me if I want to see something he made me. I watch as Niki grabs something close to the cave wall and sets it down in front of me, "Heh, what do you think, Ken'ichi?"

A piece of dry clay with two pawprints on it, I quickly recognized the small pawprint as my own. Just to be sure, I place my paw on the pawprint...a perfect match! The big pawprint is Niki's of course. I don't believe it, Niki actually made one for us, just like his brother did for them. I look at the clay like if it was the best thing Niki has ever done for us, "Ah Niki, it's great, I love it."

I feel around my neck for my crystal...Hold up...Where...Where is it? I look around the cave for my crystal...Argh, nothing.

"Uhhh...Niki, do you have my crystal by any chance?" I ask my brother, hoping he had stored it away when I was wounded.

[Nikiski]

After Ken'ichi gives his comment on the paw prints, Spectrue asks what it might be.

"It is just a piece of dry clay with Ken'ichi's and my paw print on... My brother Siraki did it for him and me... to symbolize our brotherhood... and now... I'm just doing the same to Ken'ichi as he is my brother."

After explaining what the dry clay is, I turn to see Ken'ichi finding something... he asks me if I have his crystal... wait... where is mine?

"Eer, Ken'ichi... I don't have it... I think I've lost mine too..."

Ken'ichi looks worried... it is very important for him to find the crystal... I think about what I did... wait... I know where my crystal is... may be that'll help...

"Come, Ken'ichi, I think I can help you find it..."

We pad outside, and I sniff around... I remember my necklace broke off when I faught those hunters...

Indeed I found it. I hold it in my paw... I close my eyes... and I whisper to myself...

"Siraki and Kamali.... help us..."

The crystal glows in a green aura... probably from the color of the nature prism that Spectrue put inside me. Then I see not to far ahead a red glow... immediately I say to Ken'ichi.

"We've found it, Ken'ichi!"

We quickly walk over to where the red aura is... the string of the necklace is stuck under a rock... I was going to push it aside but Ken'ichi is strong enough to do it himself. I'm glad he gained strength from all this...

"Let me help you, Ken'ichi."

I put the necklace around Ken'ichi's neck... and... the glow on both mine and Ken'ichi's crystal fades...

[Ken'ichi]

I became very worried when Niki said he doesn't have my crystal, but he said he might have an idea on where it is. I pad with him to where we fought the humans, and where my fatal mistake almost took my life. I looked around at the edge of the cliff where I took my fall, I couldn't find it there. I can't loose that crystal, it means so much to me.

"We've found it, Ken'ichi!" Niki cried out to me.

I turn around and ran to him and I saw my necklace, but the string is under a huge rock. Niki could move it, but I wanted to test out my enhanced strenght, and with a good push the rock budged and I slowly got it off from my necklace. I stopped pushing the rock and pad over to Niki, who grabs my necklace and places it around my neck. My necklace and Niki's are glowing the color of our eyes, Niki's leaf green, and my fire red ruby. Our crystal's glow fades, and I sigh in relief that my crystal wasn't lost after all.

"Thanks for finding it, Niki." I thank my big bro.

[Talist]

Now that the storm is starting to abate, I pad to the river, wanting to try my paw at fish catching. Looking down into a place where the river rounds a broad curve, I discover that here, where the water flows more slowly, I can see my reflection. The crème of my undercoat phasing into shades of salt and pepper, dark red and tawny amber, my ears marked by the red coloring. My eyes glint like the light of the late afternoon sun behind me, matching its pale golden shade. They seem somehow deeper than I’d remembered. I almost feel that if I could just wake up, then I would be with my pack again, our bonds unbroken, and I’d be able to follow my brothers and sisters over the hills, tireless, until our voices rose as one to greet the stars. The change is still so surreal. How could they have let their anger tear our future apart? What was my place here, among bears, and not even ordinary bears, but bears whose lives were evidently touched by the spirits in ways that I’d never expected to find? What is it about this place; that every friend I have made here has had their heart rent by suffering? Surely this could not be common among the Lera. Life is always difficult, yes, there is struggle to survive, and souls are tested at times to the limit by nature’s demands, but I wonder, would I have ever found my way here if my pain had not been so great?

I slash my paw across the surface, scattering the image in half-amused exasperation. That line of thought was verging dangerously on self-pity. After all, I’m not alone anymore, and I need to concentrate on the chance for friendships here, not to mention getting rid of increasingly insistent gnawings of hunger. A wolf that is distracted by introspection loses a meal. Unfortunately, I’d managed to startle the large fish which had been approaching. The pink salmon flicks its tail, darting off out of reach, so I wander some way up-current and wade into the river, waiting for a fish oblivious enough to swim up close.

[Nikiski]

Ken'ichi thanks me for finding his crystal. I give a smile back... when...

*Stomach grumbles*

"Hhm... I think I'd like some food..."

Ken'ichi chuckles and he agrees.

"Well, hop on, bro. Let's go wake the others and eat!"

And so we do. I carry Ken'ichi to our den, waking the rest of the group up, then we walk towards the salmon run...

It doesn't take long for us to get to the run. Ken'ichi hops off and catches a fish. I jump into the river and catch a few fish and put them ashore.

I lie beside Ken'ichi and watch him eat his salmon... I really think that I'm so lucky to have such a brother...

After he finishes his salmon, I grab a bunch of berries which are within my reach, and give some to Ken'ichi.

Talist, who is a little ways up the river, looks like she is having some trouble catching fish...

"Hey Talist, we can't finish our fish here. You think you can come and help us finish them?"

Yeah, that shouldn't make her look so bad... yep.

Spectrue gives this... what do you call it? apple thingy to Ken'ichi... he shows Ken'ichi how to peel it... it has quite a sweet scent to it... but I've never seen this kind of fruit before... Ken'ichi takes the apple, peels it and takes a bite... Ken'ichi claims that it tastes pretty good... I smile... and I find two female cubs... They introduce themselves as Kia and Kirchy. I figure that I'll let the cubs handle their own businesses...

[Spectrum]

After we look for Ken'ichi's other crystal and find it, Niki's stomach growls and says he thinks he needs some food.. Ken'ichi agrees, I laugh.

"Yea, I'm begining to get hungry myself... I haven't eaten anything since I came back..."

I look at Ken'ichi.

"You must be starving. Here, I found something in the town near us that I was in before coming here."

"town?" He asked, confused...

"Uh...it's just a small comunity of nice people and animals...Don't worry about it..." I ran inside the cave and found my little pack I had used in town, and pulled out a red apple. I brought the sharply red colored apple out, gripping it lightly in my mouth not to puncture the skin. I came back up to Ken'ichi. He was staring at the object in my mouth. I laid the apple on the ground near him and nodded.

"This is an apple. I don't know if you've tasted one before, but they're very good. Try it."

He sniffed the apple lightly and looked at me.

"If you can't eat the skin around it, just carve it with one of your claws, like this." I picked it up carefully and held it in one paw tightly as I scratched my claw around it and made a small peeling. I ate the peeling and gave Ken'ichi the apple.
"Now you try. " I gestured, pushing the apple in his paw. He looked at it closely, then started peeling it. He tried the tasting the peeling, but he twitched and threw it to the ground, looking at the carved apple. He took a bite. I wondered if he'd liked it...

[Kirchy]

OOC: I think I'll join. I will play my charater, Kirchy. She is a female bear cub.

BIC: I was looking around the salmon run thinking about something to do. My attention went to a cub about my size eating salmon with an older bear. I smiled sweetly and walked up to them.

"Hello, boys," I said sweetly. "Mine if I hang out with you?" I batted my eye lashes.

[Kia]

OOC: I think I will bud in. I will play Kia a female cub.

I am wondering on the shore of the river at the sammon run. I see some bear cubs my age, and I run over to them. "Hey guys my name is Kia what are your names?" I ask them.

[Kirchy]

The bears were about to answer my question when a cub ran up to us and asked us our names. I turned to all of the bears to introduce myself.

"I'm Kirchy," I said flirtingly.

I waited for the rest of them to answer.