Chapter 10. The VampireWolf

When the horrifying howl broke through camp, the animals immediately started panicking. "He's here!" Butterscotch screamed and popped his head from his and Hopper's burrow. "Ahhhhhhhhhhh!" Scurry screamed up to his lungs. "Bruno! You said you would kill the VampireWolf so here's your chance!" Sarah said. Bruno emerged from his den and into the rain and thunder. "I'm ready to face that beast" he said with blazing yellow eyes.

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"What's going on?" Ryder got up from his moss nest. "The VampireWolf is here and you're not going anywhere. You are injured and need to rest" Charlotte said. "But I have to kill the VampireWolf! I was chosen to do so" Ryder protested. "You can kill him when your injury is healed" Charlotte said.

"I'm going" Ryder got up and rushed toward the entrance. Charlotte appeared infront of him with a frown. "Where do you think your going? You're gonna get yourself killed trying to kill the VampireWolf! You need to be in good shape!" Charlotte explained."As a rescuer, I risk my life to save others!" Ryder accidentally spilled out. "Rescuer?" Charlotte put on a confused face. "I-I m-mean....uh....did I say rescuer?" Ryder asked taking a few steps back. "Yes you did" Charlotte replied awkwardly.

"Fine, I'll stay in my nest" Ryder tried to brush off what he just said. "What do you mean 'rescuer'? Animals are not rescuers" Charlotte said. "I don't why I said that. I guess I'm too tired to know what I'm saying" Ryder said, as he laid down in his nest. "Mmm" Charlotte didn't look too convinced. She felt suspicious about Ryder now.

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From a veil of blinding rain, a giant black beast emerged. His eyes glowed intensely and his face showed pure evilness. His black fur was soaked. Sarah was trying to think fast as Bruno was getting ready to confront the VampireWolf. The VampireWolf roared out loud and stood up on his legs. His long claws started glowing until flames of fire were burning from them. He came down with all force and stomped his forepaws on the drenched earth. An circular wave of intense heat and dry wind passed rapidly through the camp. When the heat past within seconds, flames of fire was burning around the entire camp keeping everyone trapped.

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"Where did that heat come from?" Charlotte asked. "I'm going out! There's no stopping me!"  Ryder said and marched out of the den. He gasped in horror when the VampireWolf came into sight. He saw a much smaller black wolf trying to confront the large beast. Sarah spotted Ryder and ran up to him. "Ryder, we have to do something. Fire has surrounded the camp and we need to get all these animals evacuated but the rain seems to not be able to take the fire out" Sarah explained. "That fire must be one the VampireWolf's powers" Ryder said. "What are we gonna do?" Sarah asked. Ryder was trying to think when suddenly a lightening struck him. Charlotte emerged from her den at the hearing of all the chaos and commotion."Ryder!" she screamed when the lighting zapped him.

Everyone had froze, even the VampireWolf's attention had been grabbed. Nobody could see Ryder. He was surrounded by intense glowing light and the lightening continued to zap him.Finally Ryder emerged from the glowing light and the lightening retreated back to the sky. His eyes were glowing even more, strands of his fur was glowing, zapping and sparking, and his claws were glowing a light blue. "Woah!" Charlotte was impressed by the look of Ryder. "Are you okay?" Sarah asked. "Yeah, I'm fine. But I feel a little different, like I have powers" Ryder said. When the VampireWolf roared again, the chaos continued. He jumped at Bruno and started attacking the smaller wolf brutally. "Everyone, follow me!" Ryder commanded.

The animals immediately ran to Ryder and he led them to the exit of camp. "What are you gonna do about the fire?" Charlotte asked. "Watch me" Ryder said. His claws started glowing even more intense and blue flames started emerging from his claws. Ryder swatted a paw at the fire with full force. A strong cool wind blew and an opening broke through the wall of orange flames. "Everyone go now!" Ryder commanded.

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Bruno was trying his best hold off the VampireWolf but he realized that he was no match for the phantom beast. He was already wounded, injured, bloody and weak. Either run or keep fighting Bruno thought. When Bruno saw blue flames taking over the orange flames.He knew Ryder was putting out the fire with his blue fired claws. "Good, now I can make a run for my life" Bruno said. The black wolf abandoned his opponent and made a quick sprint out of camp. The VampireWolf turned around and went sprinting after his weak victim. Bruno glanced quickly behind to see the beast catching up very fast. The VampireWolf bounded across the soggy earth with ease. "Ryder, Bruno needs help" Scurry announced from the sky. All of the animals had evacuated except for Sarah, Scurry, Butterscotch and Charlotte. "Leave this to me" Ryder said.

Ryder bounded off with his friends in the direction that Bruno and the VampireWolf ran off in.

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Far away in Adventure Bay, everyone had given up the big search. It was getting late and the sun was about to disappear from the horizon. They were all exhausted and tired from searching around everywhere. What made everything even worse was that they found no sign of Ryder anywhere. The hopes of finding Ryder had faded from their hearts. They had zero chance of ever finding him. Everybody was in the TV room, resting. Marshall's paw was still sprained but he was being taken cared of. "There's nothing else we can do" Jake said. Chase was laying near Marshall on the same pup-bed. He had apologized to him earlier for being rude. Chase was the most broken out of everyone. He needed the comfort of his best friend and that's why he was laying down with him.

"I guess we have to continue our normal lives without Ryder" Carlos sighed sadly. "Life won't be normal anymore" tears were rolling from Katie's eyes. Chase whimpered out of sadness. Marshall rested his head on Chase's head. "Everything will be fine" he whispered to Chase. "Nothing won't ever be fine again" Chase whimpered. "How are you pups gonna manage the team without Ryder?" Jake asked."Chase will be able to manage the team and continue leading without Ryder. He has the spirit of a leader and I know he will do Ryder proud" Marshall said. Those words only made Chase tear even more.

"What about everything else? Like daily life things. Ryder was your pups caretaker, owner, companion, and leader" Carlos asked. "I will come every morning and feed them breakfast. I will take them bathes. I will help them keep the Lookout clean and organized like Ryder use to. I will take care of them and Chase will manage the team like Ryder did" Katie explained. That didn't lift the pups' spirits very much. Yeah Katie was very nice and they trusted her, but they were never gonna love anyone the way they loved Ryder. Ryder did everything the way the pups liked.

Before darkness took over, Jake and Everest left back to Jake's Mountain. Carlos and Tracker returned to their jungle home. Katie didn't leave right away. "Are you pups gonna be fine alone?" Katie asked. "Yeah, we'll be fine" Rocky said. "Okay, I'm gonna leave dinner for you guys in your bowls and then I'll leave" Katie said. The pups didn't say anything. After pouring pup-food in the pups' bowls, she packed her stuff and left with Cali back to her pet parlor. "I never thought this would happen" Chase said. "None of us thought this would happen" Skye said.

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The sky was dark grey, rain was showering down from the black clouds, winds were gusting mercilessly, and thunder struck the forest left and right. A wolf-dog, who's silver and white pelt had silver streaks of light, who's eyes glowed brighter than the moon, and who's glowing claws dug through the drenched soil, ran through a gloomy pine forest. On his tail, a leopard with a rabbit on her back, a crane flying above, and a white wolf ran behind him. "We have to go faster before the VampireWolf kills Bruno" Sarah said. "Scurry, what do you see from above?" Ryder asked the crane. "I see the VampireWolf and Bruno taking the pursuit into a canyon" Scurry reported. "Oh no! That canyon is very dangerous when there's a storm like this" Charlotte said.

Ryder started running even faster and so did the others. Soon they were running through the wide and narrow canyon. "There they are!" Ryder pointed. Bruno was getting extremely weak by the second. Blood was oozing from his wounds and he was beginning to feel light headed. "I can't keep this up any longer" Bruno said."Don't worry Bruno. Ryder is gonna save you" Sarah said. The VampireWolf then let out a deafening roar, which caused the canyon to started rumbling. Rocks and stones started cracking from the walls and rolling down. Ryder and his friends came to a quick halt, sending water splashing into the air. "Oh no" Butterscotch said. The VampireWolf turned around.

He stood up on his hind legs, his claws started going on flames, he then went down with all force. His forepaws hit the wet rocky surface. A circular wave of heat and wind blew strongly. Ryder and his friends ducked their heads from the heat. A fire then formed around them. The VampireWolf continued his pursuit after Bruno. "The rocks and the fire is blocking us. Bruno is gonna get killed" Butterscotch said. Ryder jumped on the tall pile of rocks. "What are you doing?" Charlotte asked.

Ryder closed his eyes, scraping his claws at the rocks, and taking in deep breathes. The strands of fur that were glowing silver started emitting electricity. They started zapping and sparking, until they started getting brighter and brighter. The electricity coming from Ryder's fur was so intense and strong, it was enough power to give electricity to the entire New York City. Ryder's friends watched as the energy and power started becoming more brighter and stronger. It soon became strong enough to create lightening. Lightening zapped from Ryder's fur and started striking the rocks. "Wow, Ryder really impresses me" Charlotte said. Sarah nodded.

The lighting cracked all of the rocks, turning them into small stones and pebbles and debris. Finally the electricity and power retreated. Ryder jumped off of the large rock he was standing on. "Now to take this fire out" he said. His sharp claws went on blue flames. He swatted a paw at the fire, sending cool wind and blue flames to kill off the orange fire. "You did it Ryder!" Charlotte cheered. "No time for celebration now. We have to save Bruno" Ryder said. Ryder and his friends broke into a fast run through canyon.

Soon they were on the VampireWolf's tail. Ryder was ready to perform one mighty leap onto the beast back. The VampireWolf was ten times bigger than him. Ryder leaped into the air and landed on the monstrous wolf's back.The two were sent rolling across the wet canyon ground. Bruno's legs gave way and he collapsed to the ground. Charlotte and the others ran up to Bruno. The VampireWolf landed on top of Ryder, standing over him. He glared at him in the eyes, breathing his hot breath onto Ryder's face. Ryder started having flashbacks of the day when the VampireWolf leaped on top of him and bit him on the arm. That one bite changed Ryder's life forever. The VampireWolf caught Ryder off guard and ripped through his wound on his stomach that had been sewed together by Charlotte. Ryder clenched his teeth from the pain. He wasn't able to kick the large beast off of him so he had another idea.

Ryder used his glowing claws and started scraping under the neck of the VampireWolf. Sparks of electricity started sparking from his claws and electrocuting the VampireWolf. The beast roared out loud, his roar was horrifying and it sounded full of pain. Ryder then clamped his jaws on the monster's neck and started tightening his grip, letting his fangs pierce through the flesh of the monster. The VampireWolf's blood started dripping into Ryder's mouth. When it landed on Ryder's tongue, Ryder immediately let go of his grip. The VampireWolf's blood didn't taste right. It tasted....poisonous. Ryder's friends were watching in horror. The VampireWolf immediately ran off as soon as Ryder let go of his neck. Ryder swallowed the blood that was in his mouth and then stood up on his paws. He shook his fur, water and mud splatted off of it.

"Ryder, you defeated the VampireWolf!" Charlotte ran up to him with sparkling blue eyes. Ryder smiled as the rest of his friends walked up to him to celebrate his victory. "I can't believe you actually defeated him. If you can defeat a monster that many have tried to defeat in the past, you can for sure kill him" Sarah said. "I will kill him and save the animal world, even if I don't find a way to return to my human form" Ryder said, his eyes glowing and a slight frown masked on his face. "Human form?" Charlotte asked. Ryder felt confident to tell her the truth about him. "Yeah, I'm a human in a wolf-dog's form. Sarah can tell you more about me" Ryder said. Ryder except Charlotte to freak out but she didn't. "I don't care what you are. I think your amazing" Charlotte said.

Ryder smiled and then walked toward Bruno, who was laying on the ground being showered by the rain. The black wolf weakly lifted his head and stared weakly at Ryder. Ryder stood besides him, tall and a confident mask on his face."Thank you for saving me" he said in a true tone. The others watched from a distance. "Aww, that's so cute" Sarah said in a low voice to the others. "He's never thanked anyone is such a true way" Charlotte said. "What do you think about me now? Wanna kick me out?" Ryder asked. "I changed my mind. Even though your a human in the body of a wolf-dog, you're very cool and interesting. I kinda like you" Bruno said.

Ryder smiled. "Let's go home" he helped Bruno to his paws. The two of them turned around to face the others. "You two are literally so cute" Charlotte said. "What's so cute?" Ryder and Bruno asked at the same time. "It's just the way you guys became friends. I never thought you and Bruno would click" Sarah said. "Friends?" Ryder and Bruno looked at each other. "I'm not friends with this weirdo" Bruno said in a playful tone. Everybody started laughing and begun the walk in the rain home. "Ryder, what's your human form look like?" Bruno asked, who was leaning on Ryder as Ryder helped his weak body walk.Everyone walked at a steady pace for Bruno. He was very weak and wounded badly all over. "I don't really want to tell you guys my human form. You guys are gonna think it's pretty weird" Ryder said.

"Ryder, just tell us. We're not gonna think of you to be weird. Your our friend now" Charlotte said. "Bro, just spill it out" Bruno said. "Okay" Ryder inhaled a deep breath. "Well, first I have fine skin, brown eyes and dark brown hair that I always gel up into spikes" Ryder explained."Wow, your hairstyle is interesting" Charlotte said. "How old are you?" Butterscotch asked. "In your wolf-dog form, you look very young in the face" Scurry said. "That's because I am young. I'm ten years old" Ryder answered. "So your telling me that your a rescuer at the age of ten?" Sarah gasped. "Yeah" Ryder laughed nervously. "I don't believe you" the leopard said in disbelief.

"I swear it's true" Ryder said. "That's extraordinary and unordinary" Sarah said. "Can someone please tell me more about Ryder? I barely know anything about him. He's so interesting" Charlotte said. As they walked home, Ryder told Charlotte about his life back in Adventure Bay.

Word count: 2,753Date of publication: February 9, 2022