White woods

4

"WHAT?!" Kota exclaimed. "You can't possibly mean that she will be a chaser. She doesn't even have a lick of training!"

"We'll deal with that later. From what I can tell, Mika will be an excellent chaser." Santa said.

"I can't believe this. All of the other chasers were waiting months to get your approval. I've been training since April!" Kota's tail was whipping around madly.

"Mika obviously has the skill of a chaser, and the paws too. I will hear nothing else out of you, understood?" Santa asked.

Kota sighed. "Yes... sir."

"Good. Then you will take her down to the training building. Tell her about the baddies on the way."

"Will do." Kota said reluctantly.

He stomped out of the room, and I followed. He let the door slam behind him.

"Is every visit with Santa annoying?" I asked.

"Pretty much." He growled.

"Look, I'm sorry Santa thinks I should be a chaser. I didn't think it would turn out this way."

He ignored my response. Instead, he started talking about the baddies.

"During the dark ages, demons and all other sorts of baddies were terrorizing people. When Santa came along, he decided to give the people hope. He couldn't just give presents to a few people, so he decided to give them to literally everyone. All over the world, these demons didn't want hope to be spread. They tried attacking him. Most only wanted wanted to cause trouble, but others wanted to kill him. He called on people to help protect them, but they traveling in portals wasn't good for them, and they were too slow. They didn't know the woods very well, so a few died. Wolves and felines seemed like a good choice, since they were at the top of the food chain. Communication was a minor problem, but Santa figured out a spell. That thing he touched you with? You can talk any human language and animal fluently."

"Whoa," I said.

"Yeah. So can all the other chasers."

There was silence for a while, then I remembered something.

"So... are you going to train me?"

He sighed. "I guess so."

"What stuff are you going to teach me to do?"

"First, how to not yell 'mommy' whenever you're in trouble."

I growled, and he snickered.

"Just kidding," He said sarcastically.

"You better be," I hissed.

"Mostly how to use the bombs, but we'll work on strategy, running, one on x combat, and portal traveling." Kota said, his tone serious again. "You sort of scorpioned in the snow last time."

"Yeah, I could tell." I snickered. (would this battle of sarcasm ever end?) "What's one on x combat?"

We had reached the main door now. Kota was able to push it with his side. The bite of cold air bit my skin; I had grown too used to the warmth. Frej was trying to keep unwanted visitors out.

"Hey, kitties! What the big man say?" He asked as we slipped through the door.

"Mika is now a chaser."

They few animals/people that heard us looked shocked. A husky I recognized from earlier had his mouth wide open in disbelief.

"Well, good for you, but why? Is Nick of his rocker or something?" Frej asked.

"Apparently." Kota mumbled as he started shoving through the crowd.

Again, I followed him closely. Even after we left the crowd behind.

We started walking to the East side of the village, towards a metallic-bunker looking building. It was much shorter than the one we left, but still three or four people tall.

Mainly animals roamed around this building. Sounds of yowling and machinery came from inside. There wasn't a big formal door, but a little one on the right side that could be easily pushed open. Big, red stenciled letters were on the building. Again, I couldn't read it.

"Welcome to the banger." Kota said.

"Why is it called that?" I asked.

"You'll see." That didn't make me feel any more confident.

He pushed the door open with ease. Inside the building, was chaos. Canines and felines were fighting, but I could tell that it was just practice. I couldn't find the source of the machinery, till I looked up. Metal poles were being extracted and retracted into the walls quickly, with Animals jumping from one another. A net was underneath them, but it didn't cushion the fall much. Animals dropped like flies, slamming into the net with painful whacks. They would quickly get up, then climb a ladder to start again.

Stairs across the room led into basment. A puff of purple gas came from down below.

"Umm... we're going to do all this?"

"Not w," Kota said. "You are. But we'll start easy."

He walked calmly across the room, dodging fighting animals. I followed precariuosly. A house cat dashed in front of me, and an angry Rottweiler was following. He slammed chest-first into me, and we both fell over.

He scrambled off, with a murderous look in his eyes. "Get out of my way, punk!" He roared, slober flying from his jowls.

He was a decimeter taller than me, but I hissed like a snake.

The dog barked; a low, dangerous sound that would make the ice horses jump.

Kota dashed in between us. "Hey! Break it up!"

"Newbie, you better have a beautiful explanation for this. That cat got in my way!"

Kota blinked slobber from his blue eyes. The dog was a little shorter than him, But twice in muscle.

"She's new. Big man orders that she is trained."

"I don't care! Tell her to watch where she's going!" The dog looked like her wanted to use Kota and me for chew toys.

"I didn't say it was my idea," Kota said calmly. "I want her gone as much as you do. But just let her be, and she won't bug you again.

The dog growled through his underbite. "Fine. But get her downstairs; now!"

I got up, and we ran to the stairs. The dog watched us murderously as we went.