The Journey Around The World, In Order To Save Spring

Don't Bring a Watch to a Gunfight

And so morning came and with it, a whole new bunch of anxieties to the trio. They had breakfast, but it was something none of the three had ever tasted. They had something called pancakes with butter and maple syrup on top, which was divine. Amaruq didn't like the coffee very much though. It was bitter and his face showed it, much to the amusement of the diner lady. After they were done, they headed to the assigned meeting place. Amaruq realised that it was early out, but he couldn't tell how far it was from noon, due to the presence of some clouds blocking his view.

"How are we supposed to know if it's noon or not? By Malina, I can't see her Sun anywhere," he said as he squinted his eyes. "That's strange," someone said. He turned to see a local wolf looking at him. "What is?" He raised his eyebrows. "You've got a watch and you don't know what time it is." "A watch?" "This," the man said as he took a gold circular object from his pocket. It opened up to reveal a face that looked exactly the same as his amulet's face. "What? How'd you get that?" He asked, incredulous. "Well, watches are pretty common around here," the man said with a chuckle. "Although, I haven't seen a male wear one on his wrist before". He thought only females did that.

Amaruq was bewildered. Amulets like his were common? He always thought he had one in a million. That made him feel kinda sad. At least he was the only man to wear it on his wrist. Wait, is that supposed to make it better? "Nevermind all that. Can you show me how it tells time?" He asked the wolf. "Oh, you just look at the arms and see what they're pointing at," he replied. He showed his watch, it's arm pointing at the number eight. "See? That means it's eight o'clock in the morning. And noon is at 12, so it's four hours away". Amaruq nodded in understanding. "Ohh... Thank you, kind sir," he said to the helpful wolf. "It was a pleasure. We don't often have visitors like you around these parts," he replied. "The Tanning Gang is a big reason why."

"That reminds me. Why did that Billy guy call us dires earlier? What does that mean?" Amaruq asked the question that had been bugging him since yesterday. The stranger looked perplexed, "You don't know?" At the shake of Amaruq's head, he explained. "Well, there are two types of people in this world. The grey wolves, that's people like me, and the dire wolves, which are your kind". This fact had seemed to capture the interest of Taggak and Atsuguk too, judging from how their ears flicked. "Although, I have never seen a dire like you before. I wonder if you're a new breed of bald wolf". At that, Amaruq was embarrassed again. Why do people have to mention his baldness. He already knew that he was, they don't have to say it!

"There's also people who are in-between. Like the red Indians," the man continued. "Huh? Who are they?" "Seriously? You don't even know what red Indians are?" He asked in disbelief and, seeing three confused faces, sighed before explaining some more, "The red Indians are the wolves who are native here in America. Well, along with dires like you." "Wait, so you don't come from here," Taggak asked. The stranger shook his head. "Nope. We grey wolves came from a place called Europe way across the Atlantic Ocean hundreds of years ago. As I was saying, red Indians look like they are between dire and grey wolves. Not big and buff like dires, but not lean and lithe like us greys". With that, the curiosity of Amaruq's wolven teammates were sated.

He still had one more question to ask, which was "What was the weapon that Billy wielded yesterday?". He got his answer from the stranger. A gun, a complex arrangement of metal parts that is capable of discharging a lead peice at very high speeds, high enough to penetrate flesh and thin slabs of wood. wolfkind's greatest weapon. The gang leader's specific one was a six-shooter revolver. The description of the firearm shook the trio to their very cores. Such destruction caused by such a tiny object. Nonetheless, after a more few hours of killing time, it was finally 12 o'clock. Amaruq was getting the hang of this 'telling the time' thing.

The odious gang strode up the empty dirt road with evil grins upon their snouts. Amaruq looked at them with determination in his eyes as he stood in their way. "What? Are you gonna fight us all on your own? Your friends too chicken to back you up? How wise of them," Billy taunted. He then noticed something, "Where's your shooter?" When he was only answered with silence, he guffawed. He laughed in surprise, his gang joining him. "You dires don't even have guns!" He cried out in between breaths. That annoyed the trio. "Okay, okay we get it!" Taggak shouted from the sidelines, indignant. "I mean... I knew you were primitive, but this?!" The gang leader laughed some more.

Amaruq had enough of it so he rushed them. This caught them by surprise, which was good as he was able to knock the guns out of the hands of the two in the middle. That left two more. He was able to dodge their melee attacks, ducking out of the way of punches and kicks. They did not notice his yellow hair and cyan eyes or his orange gi, too busy trying to land a hit on him. Amaruq SS leapt away from them. He saw the two armed wolves take aim at him, alarming him. Thinking quickly, he transformed again.

"Amaruq Cyclone!" Now he was dressed in a storm-breaker and capri pants, themed in navy blue, sky blue and white. His irises were cobalt. The second his foes pressed the trigger, Cyclone formed a vortex around him. The bullets ricocheted of his 360° shield to hit other objects around them. Taggak, Atsuguk, Billy and the gang all ducked for cover from the 12 flying bullets. Seeing his chance, Amaruq changed a third time. "Amaruq Thunderstorm!" His black and red jacket and pants and the lightning motifs on them accentuated his now sharp features. His angry eyes glowed red. The scimitars in his hands, with electrical sparks bouncing on them, completed the look.

Thunderstorm used his lightning-speed to dash and slash at his enemies. All four of them. Hit by the incapacitating electrical slashes, they were rendered immobilised. "Urgh!" They cried as they fell to the dusty ground. "W-what is this trickery?" Billy asked slowly, still in pain. "Why, that's just my lightning coursing through your veins. You'll be stuck like that for a while." The sheriff then came out of hiding, having seen everything like practically all of the other townspeople. The grey wolf thanked the trio for saving their town from the despicable gang. Thunderstorm was brushing off the gratitude when he felt a searing pain in his left shoulder.

He collapsed to the ground and transformed back into normal Amaruq. He clutched at his arm as his two tribemates went to his side. "W-what's wrong?" Atsuguk asked? "His shoulder. It got hit by that bullet thing. They were bouncing everywhere," Taggak replied. "Don't worry, buddy," Atsuguk reassured his bald packmate, as Taggak took of his shirt to wrap around the wound. Amaruq stopped him, however and told Taggak to get the bandage cloth he had wanted to give to the black wolf before. He got it and managed to tie it to the wound with no issues.

After the incident, they gathered at the edge of the lake along with the stranger who helped them earlier. They had restocked on supplies, given to them courtesy of the town mayor. Now they were thinking of how to cross the GS Lake. "You know, if my shoulder wasn't hurt, I could probably turn into Cyclone or SS to carry us across," Amaruq had said, which was why they had to look for other options. "Are you looking for a way to cross the lake?" The stranger asked them. "Yeah," was Amaruq's casual reply. "Look no further. You can just take one of our canoes!" The stranger said as he pointed to the lakeshore. "Really? You'll let us do that!" Amaruq was stunned. No one was ever that kind to him, except for his dad. And these two accompanying him, when they were kind to him when he got shot earlier.

The stranger nodded and brought them to the canoes tied to the bank. The canoes looked similar to the kayaks back at the trio's home. Except the canoes were open on top, unlike their kayaks. They got onto a bigger one and set off, with Atsuguk and Taggak paddling. Amaruq waved to the kind stranger who waved back, before realising something. "Wait! I never caught your name!" Amaruq shouted to him. "It's Sean!" He cried back. At Amaruq's surprised face, he explained, "It's Irish. My family immigrated from Ireland!" That didn't explain much to Amaruq, but he wasn't going to ask anymore questions. So the trio continued on with their silent canoe ride.