Paw Problems

Track 'Em Down!

Nino ran, tracking the tangle of smells that his mind absently connected to faces. As he sniffed the air again the ghosts of three faces came up in his thoughts, his body somehow knowing who was who from long dormant and, until now, unused memories.

"Rose..." he said mostly to himself, pausing for a moment to let Max catch his breath. "And Juleka and... Alix I think. Not with them maybe but they went the same way. Thankfully it hasn't changed much from when they were people, unless they still are people. Not much farther, this is recent."

"How can you tell?" Max asked curiously between gasps, but Nino only shrugged, Alya batting the back of his head to get him to stop.

He continued, ears swiveling to catch any sound but he was mostly focused on the scents. So it was Alya who caught it first.

"Somethings moving up ahead, that must be them," she said quietly, pressing herself flat on his back and neck with her head on top of his.

"Hey!" Nino barked loudly, hoping their trend of luck would continue and he would be understood. "Rose? Juleka?" He stepped forward, following his nose in the direction of a seemingly empty howler monkey enclosure. It reeked so he didn't get much closer, but from what he could tell they were somewhere inside.

"It's Alya, Nino and Max!" Alya called, hopping down from Nino's back and walking a little forward. "We're trying to find everyone, you can come out!"

At first there was silence, but Nino caught the faint sound of movement and watched as the smallest scrap of dark gray fur appeared from within, tufted fur laying over one eye.

"Juleka?" Alya asked, waving a paw to show who was talking. "You got hit too huh? It's okay."

The weasel like head rose up, revealing a long body and small paws that gripped the lip of the cage door. If Nino had to guess he'd say she was a... stoat he think it was called, and he shook his head at how ridiculous it all was.

"Hey..." Juleka greeted them, looking behind her and watching something else approach from the cage.

Nino was aware of the disjointed flapping of wings before he ever saw Rose, an adorable small yellow song bird flopping out into the open as she huffed in agitation. With a chirp and a little help from Juleka she righted herself, looking just as sunshiny as always when she greeted Alya.

"Thank goodness you're okay!" Rose peeped, her wings tucking close to her. "This is so scary... Alix was with us too, but she ran away! I tried to get her to stay with us but she was so mad at Kim, she stormed off to find him."

"Kim?" Max spoke up, stepping forward with a clop. "Did you see him is he okay?"

Juleka huffed, crossing her arms and shaking her head to move her bangs a little. "Maybe but who cares, he's the one who got us hit."

"Juleka..." Rose chastised, looking over her tiny beak and she ruffled her feathers. "He was running away from some panthers when he passed us, the akuma was zapping anyone it ran passed. I'm sure Kim didn't mean it but I'm pretty sure him running away is what got everyone transformed..." She sighed, chirping a little without noticing. "Alix blames him completely, she stormed off to find him. I don't know what a little mouse is going to do to someone as big as Kim though."

"A mouse!?" Nino laughed, barking out a chuckle to himself as he imagined small spunky Alix as a field mouse. "Now that's hilarious."

"We've got to find her and everyone else from class, you guys should come with us." Alya said, in planning mode as she looked around and let her eyes settle on Nino's back before looking back at the girls. "You two can ride on Nino, we'll go faster that way."