Luck of Nines

5

The days grew shorter, the nights colder, and although he himself was unbothered bu the chill, he found himself more and more sleeping with Goldilocks between him and a tree, sheltering the thinner coated dog from the worst of the wind, and forcing himself not to snap as the dog huddled closer to his back than Goldilocks normally dared.

But it wasn't the cold that would get them the worst, he found himself relying once more on more human knowledge to find prey, tracking down the burrows and hiding places of the animals and digging them out. Some days he succeeded, others they inward on roots and dying grass to keep hunger at bay. The rogue dog pack Goldilocks had once fled from was not so lucky as to have this knowledge, and both he and Goldilocks could feel them creeping further and further from their borders and closer to the duo in a search for food.

There were eight of them, and Chipper found himself wondering if he really could take them all in a fight. If he had learned anything, Goldilocks was next to useless when it came to fending for himself. Perhaps though, the mutt could hold his own against the one quickly weakening and another, long enough for Chipper to deal with the other six.

Strength difference was no longer an issue, for him at least, given Goldilocks claimed he had been declared that he would grow to be a good sized dog back during the before. He was probably full grown now, judging by how he easily looked over Goldilocks. His fur remained dark and thick, even more so than it had been before, giving a nice defense against the claws and slobbering maws of the dog pack.

The odds of even six against one did not seem anymore favorable then before though, even with this reasoning. So slowly, he began to travel again, slowly meandering away and parallel along the road. Not too fast to spur the dogs into chasing, sensing weakness, but not too slow that the pack would reach them without picking up the pace considerably.

Avoiding confrontation was not to be though as Chipper awoke early in the morning, suddenly finding himself alert as his instincts flared. It took only a moment before he was getting to his feet, teeth bared and back partially arched, hackles raised, already as he took in the scents and sounds that reached him. Three on the right, two on the left, two down the middle, one somewhat between the right and middle, but all spread out as they skunk through the undergrowth. Goldilocks slept soundly beside him.

"Get up." He growled, it was odd hearing his voice again since the first time he spoke in this form upon meeting Goldilocks.

Said mutt flinched and scrambled to his paws, tail drooping, and unaware, "W-what?" He glanced about uncertainly and Chipper found he had a choice to make.

He could tell Goldilocks about the attack that was planned, the other was loyal and would surely insist on staying to fight, or he could chase them off and hope they did not meet trouble on the way.

He whirled about and growled at them, unable to put as much ferocity into the noise as he would like, "Go."

"Aw, come on," Goldilocks whined trying to appease him, "I'm sorry, what did I do?"

He snapped at them, Goldilocks was too distracted now to pay attention to the approaching dogs, now that he likely would have been able to hear.

"Please." The tail wagged pleadingly. "I'm sorry."

He roughly butted, shoving them in the direction still free from the intruders, the gap would close shortly though, forcing the frustration he felt at the invading creatures to the forefront he snarled again, this time breaking into barks as he did so. He snapped again, stopping just short of making contact with their fur and butted them away again.

This time Goldilocks whimpered and fled. Just in time, Chipepr whirled about and met his first attacker head on, lunging at them, turning what the beast had meant as a testing strike into full contact as his jaws crashed into their neck, the beast's own teeth met only thick fur he burrowed his in deeper and flung it to the side, turning immediately to the next one, leaping in and out of range with little warning, he did not let the next three dogs regroup or attempt once more to drive him back or set the pace. He leapt onto the shocked second dog which had been lined up to strike when he backed from the testing lunge.

His claws dug into its underbelly and his muzzle fought its for control. The other two dogs immediately leapt at him, but not in time to save his second victim and he swung about, one dog hit heavily against his flank and he felt it's claws dog in, but he got a firm hold of the other and shook roughly before sending it flying a few paces back. He crashed the beast clinging to his side roughly into a tree, turning not even a moment later to dig his claws and fangs in as it tried to regain its feet.

Chipper was just as fast as them, but he caught them off guard with the way he fought and was nearly double their size and with far thicker and more protective fur. His jaws, he quickly found with a few snaps sending the final dog and another new attacker down, were much stronger than theirs. His snapped a forepaw in two with a single clean bite while theirs did nowhere near that amount of damage to his own form.

The fight was over nearly as quickly as it began, and far easier than he had predicted, the four original attackers being joined by another, and then two more, but the eighth pack member did not show. He was bleeding now, his right foreleg injured, but he could still walk on it, and a gash from an unlucky strike by one of the beast's jaws now decorated his muzzle, but beyond that and scratches down one side of his flank and along his stomach, he was unharmed.

Snarling gruffly at the whimpering dogs, he turned to rush after Goldilocks despite his aching leg; he knew he had sensed all eight of the pack were present in the assault leaving only two options. The first was that it had cowered out, but even the weakest of this pack had attacked him, making that unlikely. The next was that Goldilocks had not made it out of the circle before being spotted and had been attacked.

"Goldilocks!" He howled, forcing his speed to increase as he followed his friend's scent up a sloping incline. He was halfway up when he saw the golden brown head. They were safe.

Goldilocks shifted unsurely, not certain if to run or not, "Don't come closer." He half whimpered half snarled, betrayal clear in his eyes.

"Look, the pack was attacking, you needed to get away," even he was surprised by the half whimper that his words came out as.

"I could of helped!" Goldilocks protested.

Now it was Chipper's turn to shift unsurely, not willing to say just how helpless Goldilocks could be sometimes, knowing it would sting for the other.

The next moment the choice was taken from him as the eighth dog, whose presence he had been too distracted to notice lunged. Chipper let out a startled yelp as Goldilocks crashed down onto the ground. He charged forward again as the all too friendly dog struggled to get out from under the final attacker.  Not thinking about what the other side of the slope held, he lunged, his teeth gripping deep on the other dog's scruff as he crashed into it, both toppling over. 

      Only they did not hit the ground right away, crashing and rolling down a much steeper slope and through into a much larger stream than any he had seen before. Unable to fight the current of icy cold water he felt himself getting dragged away from where Goldilocks still stood, struggling to his feet again, and into the unknown.

     It was all he could do to simply keep his head above the surface.

Well I almost feel guilty, but I did promise that this one was going to be darker. And I swear I have a life, don't judge my updating. -T.A.L.A.