2 Chapter 1- The Young Guardians

Chapter 1 : The Young Guardians

Bang! The gun fired, signaling the star of the race. Ash took off, quickly pulling ahead of the other runners. She was the fastest runner on the team, second fastest in the state. She was fifteen, almost sixteen, and attended St. Richards High School in New York. Her full name was Ashley Grant, though everybody called her Ash, had brownish hair streaked with dark, dark gray, a slight build, and was only 5'-5". She was a sophomore. Ash was on the varsity track team and had never lost a race. The team cheered as she neared the finish line. Ash crossed it at full speed, only slowing down after passing her coach, Ms. Jackson. The other runners came in a full twenty five yards behind her. Her friends strode onto the track to congratulate her, followed by most of the track team. The two looked like they belonged on opposite sides of a coin. The taller one, Dan, had shoulder length blonde hair, blue eyes and a strong chin. He was broad shouldered and tall for his age, 6'-2", and had the goofiest, most infectious smile ever. The shorter one, Jack, had thick, short chocolate brown hair, deep, dark, brown eyes, and was built like a runner except with a thicker chest and broader shoulders, whereas Dan was built like a linebacker, and was 5'-9". "Great job Ash! You left them all in the dust!" Dan said with a huge grin on his face. Jack simply nodded in her direction, a gleam in his dark eyes. "Nice job." he said, a small smile tugging at his lips. His voice was deeper than it should've been for someone his size, like a baritone. "Nice job" and a small smile from Jack was the equivalent of a big "Whoop!" and a giant grin. And suddenly his smile disappeared, vanishing like a specter, replaced with a frown. He tensed up, ready for a fight, looking around with his brow furrowed in concentration. "What is it?" Ash asked, hearing the nervous tone that had creeped into her voice. Lately this had happened a lot, usually followed by something bad. The last time was a week ago when they were eating lunch at a cafe. There had been a scream and suddenly some random guy off the street came barreling at them with a pocket knife, a crazy, broken look in his eyes, like he didn't know what he was doing, but couldn't stop. Jack had been deep in thought and without so much as a glance up, slammed his fist into the mans jaw in a powerful uppercut, knocking him out cold. "I'm not sure", he said, still looking around, "but be ready to run." Ash and Dan stared at him with open mouth shock. Jack never ran from anything. Ever. They shared a nervous look, before Dan asked, "Why? Is something wrong?" Jack made a full rotation before mumbling "Well something's definitely not right." That's when he did something strange. He sniffed the air, like a dog. His eyebrows shot up in surprise, transforming his face. "We have to get out of here now!" But it was too late. Before any of them could move, the stands explode out ward in a hail of steel and concrete. A particularly large section about the size of a truck came spinning towards them. Jack cursed, and, with inhuman speed, lunged forward, knocking it away, sending it spinning off to the other side of the track. Back at the stands people were screaming and running away from the giant form that was stepping out of the dust and debris. Standing thirty feet tall and covered in orange fur and black stripes, with the head of a tiger, and a huge double edged broadsword in its massive hands, the giant warrior was a terrifying sight. "Stalker", Jack practically spits the name out with a venom that shocks Ash. "What the hell is that?" Dan demands fearfully, talking to no one in particular. Ash was wondering the same thing. "Stay back," Jack called over his shoulder,"and stay behind me." "What?" Ashes mind was reeling. Somewhere in there was the logical part of her brain asking questions. What's going on? What is that thing? How did Jack move that fast and send a piece of concrete the size of a pick up flying off to the other end of the track? Looking down at his knuckles as he walked towards the giant beast, Ash saw that they weren't even scraped. "Jack!" He kept walking. What did he intend to do? Get stepped on? "Jack, what the hell are you doing? That thing will tear you to pieces!" Jack looked over his shoulder, face set in grim determination. "He will certainly try, yes." He said. And turning around, with a growl much to big for his small form that sounded like it came from a giant wolf, Jack grew in size, chocolate brown fur covered his body, his clothes morphed into light armor, a leather breastplate studded with metal, and an armored kilt, and his head changed to that of a giant wolf. He grew until he was twenty feet tall and twin sickles appeared in his hands razor sharp edges gleaming in the sunlight. The wolf headed giant that had been our friend Jack stopped twenty feet in front of them, thirty feet from the other giant, who was clearly surprised to see him. In a deep, rumbling voice, the beast spoke. "Streak. It's been a while. I did not think you survived the war."

. . .

That was the last thing Dan had expected. "I don't believe it. Our friend is a fricken werewolf." "Don't be an idiot Dan," Ash scoffed at him, "there's got to be a logical explanation of this." It seemed like a perfectly reasonable explanation to him. They watched the two giants face off. "Why are you here?" the thing that was Jack demanded in the same deep baritone as their friend. "You know why I'm here, else you would not have shown yourself. Where are the children? Hand them over to me and I will grant you the mercy of a quick death. "Over my dead body." Jack growled. The other giant shrugged hefting his sword. "As you wish." He lunged at Jack, swinging his sword in a deadly arc aimed at his neck. With blinding speed, Jack flicked the blade aside with one of his sickles, in the same movement, spun around to deliver a dreadful kick to the tigers midsection. Dan heard the crack of breaking ribs from where he was standing. The tiger staggered back. " I'll only say this once Stalker. Leave, or be returned to the shadows." With a snarl, Stalker lunged at him again, and the two giants clashed, moving with such speed all Ash and Dan saw of them was an orange and brown blur. After a few seconds they broke away from each other, breathing heavily. Stalker had several slashes across his chest and arms. Jacks left leg had a large gash down it, but he was otherwise unharmed. "You've grown stronger since we last fought. No matter, I'll so-". With a blur of brown and silver, Jack sank his sickles into Stalkers neck, and with a savage snarl, ripped them out. "You talk too much. And train to little." he said. After a few seconds Stalker dissolved into shadows. Jack started shrinking back down as he walked back towards them. He was limping slightly, but the closer he got the less he limped, and when he reached them he limped no more, and was human again. The gash on his leg was gone, not even a scar, leaving only bloody jeans. All Ash and Dan could do was stare at him with wide eyes. "We need to go." They nodded dumbly, still staring. Now that he was closer, Dan could see that Jack wasn't the same. He was older, maybe in his twenties or so. "Why didn't you tell us you were a werewolf?" Jack sighs. "No time to explain right now." An earth shattering roar split the air. Jack paled. "We got to go. Run!"