Therian Shifters

Chapter 23: Fight For a Friend

As Akira kept seeing Dr Adeline every week, her confidence and self-esteem improved drastically. She started to realise why people picked on her and how to deal with it. She'd either ignore them by putting on her ear defenders or walking away calmly. She felt much better about herself and started to really cherish each moment with her friends and come out of her shell. But as things started to go well for Akira, but that blur that saved her, Akira hadn't gotten the event out of her head.

That grey figure with yellow eyes. It looked wolf-like. She remembered that the figure had saved her from suffocating from being tied against Three Trees tightly. She got a glimpse of it as it ran off. Before tutor, she snuck into the forest area.

"I know you may not be here," Akira started speaking. "but I want to thank you for saving me. I could've died without you. Please, let me see you."

As Akira had finished talking, she heard a rustle in the bushes. But as she came closer, she felt something thrust her back into a tree. She was right. The figure was a grey wolf with a dark grey tuft of hair on his head and yellow eyes. It growled at Akira. But as it saw Akira, it lunged forward and pounced on her. She then got up, turned to her form and stood tall above the wolf. It looked up but continued to fight. It could jump higher than Akira, as it pounced onto her head and covered her eyes, blocking her sight. She roared out in distress. She then shook strongly and threw the wolf off of her back. It lay unconscious on the forest floor.

But as it awoke, it turned into a boy. He had long black hair and brown eyes. He seemed panicked and scuffled away from Akira in fear.

"I-I'm sorry, I thought you were D-Dylan..." The boy said with a cower. "W-who are you? You're the girl I saved from Dylan hurting you."

Akira nodded. Then she processed the boy's words and realised something. He was the wolf that saved her from Dylan!

"I-I never got the chance to thank you..." Akira's face suddenly scrunched up. "W-What's your name? I'm Akira, but you can call me Aki for short."

The boy seemed shy but he looked content. "My name's Ian. I just transferred here from Ohio."

Akira smiled as they both shook hands.

A few minutes later, Akira slowly introduced Ian to her friends, as they all welcomed him with open arms.

As a few days went by, Ian had settled well with Akira and her friends. But unfortunately, Ian was bullied. But one event will make Akira and Ian's friendship stand strong.

As lunchtime came to a start, Akira saw Dylan and the other students pulling him around like a ragdoll. He yelped out trying to fight them, but it wasn't enough. Suddenly, something in Akira snapped. She gritted and bared her teeth. Just as Dylan was about to punch Ian, Akira sped in front of Ian and took the blow instead.

"Aww, has Autist Akira come to save her little boyfriend? Hahaha!" Dylan cackled as he grabbed Akira by the arms and restrained her as she winced.

"L-Leave him alone, Dylan!" Akira's voice croaked in pain.

But then she grabbed each of her hands on each wrist and twisted his, making him let her go. She then went in front of Ian and started to growl at Dylan. She then turned to her form, towering over Dylan with a glow of fury in her amber eyes. Her teeth were sharp as they bared in aggression.

"You know what?" Dylan said. "Let's fight. No form, just fists."

Akira nodded, knowing that sounded fair, and turned human again. She then ran towards him. He went to grab her with both his hands but she pushed his arms back. The both of them were in a wrestle as they pushed each other competitively. Akira, with all her might, thrust Dylan away into a tree. "Not nice, is it?!" Akira repeated Dylan's words as the two kept fighting and fighting. Akira then started to sink her teeth into Dylan's arm, growling in the process. Then there was punching and kicking. Soon enough, Akira was on the floor with blood trickling from her mouth, breathing heavily, sweat pouring down from her forehead, arms and back. Her blazer was ripped on the right shoulder as her human eyes blazed with amber fury. Her fangs were exposed in her human form. She then ran full-pelt at Dylan and pounced him into the metal fence, knocking him out temporarily.

With blood around her mouth, scratches and bruises, Akira stared down at Dylan with her eyes blazing with insanity and fury. She breathed heavily in exhaustion as she sheathed her claws and dropped to her knees into the grass. Ian ran over to Akira.

"Akira, are you ok?" Ian asked. "I-I'll get help!"

As Ian ran off to find either Mr Tolfree or Mr Ruddle, Akira watched in astonishment as blood droplets dripped from her mouth. She looked at Dylan in horror. His upper arm was covered in blood, a deep bite mark from when she had bitten him. She could still taste the copper-like taste of blood in her mouth. A few seconds later, Ian had arrived with Mr Ruddle as they both saw Akira sat with Dylan, who had a deep bite mark on his arm with blood as Akira laid on the grass heavily breathing.

"Akira, are you ok? What happened?!" Mr Ruddle panicked.

Akira didn't answer. Mr Ruddle and Ian only heard a growl. Akira had given in to her wild instincts unintentionally. She turned to her form, her pupil shrunk and her mane was more ruffled and thick as she growled, salivating in savageness. Aggressive with fury, Akira ran towards Ian with blood around her mouth, as Ian jumped over her to dodge her pounce.

Like defibrillators to her chest, Akira jolted, her wild state disappearing.

She turned back to normal, dropping to her knees in weakness.

"Akira, a-are you ok?!" Ian exclaimed, pulling her up as Mr Ruddle grabbed Dylan. As Dylan was taken to the nurse's office to tend to the bite wound, Shade tended to Akira's scratches and bruises, as she wiped the blood from her mouth. She was sweating buckets.

"Go wash your face over, Akira. You should feel a bit better afterwards." Shade suggested, as Akira went into the forest room's female bathroom stall and turned on the cold tap. She then cupped her hands and washed her face over, wiping off any excess blood.

In afternoon tutor, Akira went with Mr Tolfree into the forest room for their 1 to 1 session. He explained to Akira ways to control her form more to reduce the number of wild freakouts. After the session was finished, it was tech for the last lesson. Even though Dylan was expelled, Akira was still wary about going in. As she got to the entrance, once more her legs had decided to freeze up. They didn't hurt they just froze. She stood trembling. No matter how much she pushed herself, her legs were still. Her heart excessively beat fast as she started to sweat.

She then saw one of the boys who was friends with Dylan. He looked at Akira for a moment, glared at her, and then went inside the classroom. She saw the tech teacher come out to her and gasp with a stern expression on her face. "Akira! What did you do to your uniform? You look a disgrace!" Akira looked down at the floor in shame, as she let out an audible, quiet wolf-like whimper. "Don't make that noise, you're not a dog! Now get in before I put down a late mark!"

Akira widened her eyes. Her tone scared Akira as she backed into the lockers. She started to tremble. As the teacher went towards her, she noticed a grey tail with a black tip emerge from Akira's backside. Her hands turned to paws as the teacher saw not Akira on the floor, but a wolf-like creature. Akira had turned to her form, bellowing in distress.

Ian walked along the corridors and saw Akira in her form. She saw him with widened eyes as she ran out the door. Ian went after her in wolf form. They headed up to the forest area.

"Akira, wait!" Ian yelled out as he caught up to her.

Akira then stopped in her tracks in the middle of the forest area. She looked at Ian and turned back.

"I-I'm sorry!" She yelled out as she started to cry.

"Don't cry, Akira." Ian sat next to Akira in his human form. "You saved me today. Even though it was a little gorier than I expected, it was amazing to finally see someone stick up for me."

Akira smiled. She had made a new friend and saved him from bullies. Her physical self grows stronger, but her mental state still stayed at a low level.