Therian Shifters

Chapter 6: A Fox's Healing:

2 days after Chase was suspended, Akira, Tyler, Daniel, Rufus and Shade had it easy without Chase trying to annoy them. They went into the forest area with Shade sitting on the low branch, Akira sat against the tree trunk sketching in a sketchpad, leaning it against her thighs, while Daniel ran around like a hyper toddler, and Tyler and Rufus were sat together, as Tyler rested his head on Rufus's shoulder.

Akira got her pencil in hand and sketched out her view of the forest area. She was finding it hard as her blind eye cut off the left side of her perspective.

Shade jumped down from the tree branch to look closer at Akira's drawing, as he was in awe of how much detail the sketch displayed.

"Need help with the left? Hand me the pad and the pencil a sec," Akira watched carefully, as Shade drew something similar to Akira's style. He drew the sloped hill at the edge, the three trees that stood together in a row, and the podzol floor. Akira and Shade took turns. "I have some colouring pencils in my rucksack. I'll grab them!"

So Akira drew each blade of grass and the leaves, and Shade did the podzol ground, the tree trunk detail and the sky, as Akira got white chalk and put in some clouds and the sun with some yellow gradient pencils.

Just as they finished, Mr Tolfree walked up. "Hey, guys! What are you five up to?"

"Shade and I drew the forest area. He helped me with the left side because of course that side of my perspective is blinded."

Mr Tolfree looked at the drawing in awe. "Well done! I'm not an art teacher, but I think that drawing is really detailed. Great job, you two!"

Shade and Akira giggled with pride.

As breaktime came along, Akira and her friends thought that their break time would be peaceful when they came to the forest area. But instead, Shade, Rufus, Tyler and Daniel were in a class that was held back because of lack of work, so Akira came up alone. Then she heard laughing. Chase wasn't there, so she guessed it was just a group of people talking and laughing about something else.

But as she stood by the three trees, 2 boys and 2 girls jumped out from behind the trees and grabbed her by surprise. One of them got a collar and put it on Akira's neck forcefully, as one of the boys got a rope as with one side he tied it tightly to the collar on Akira and the other end onto the tree, as one of the girls tied her against the tree. They laughed at her, as one of the girls laughed and yelled out to her, "Stupid dog! Hahaha!"

Akira then tried to bite off the rope but it was too strong. She tugged and strained but she flung back against the tree. The four students peered around the wall and laughed at her. The laughing spun in her brain. Then one of them came up to her and blew a dog whistle. Akira blocked her ears and exclaimed in pain, as she tried to break free, but the rope was tied too strong.

Akira then started to growl, as the students laughed even louder at her, but then she growled louder. She then turned to her wolf-lion hybrid self and stood tall above the 4 students. Her mane blew in the breeze. The students then started throwing stones at her, knocking her down. They restrained her down, all four of them sat on her, as Akira was struggling to breathe. As Tyler, Shade, Daniel and Rufus came up onto the grass, they saw Akira suffering from the 4 students sitting on her, as she wriggled free and growled at them. She stood with a mighty stance, as she looked down at them, as one of them gulped, but another one of them slapped Akira hard on the paw, as she let out a loud whimper.

Meanwhile, Mr Tolfree was in a meeting when he could hear Akira's whimper. He pretended his phone went off about something and hurried to the forest area to see 4 kids beating her up.

Before he could do anything, he saw Akira was about to roar, so he signalled to Tyler, Shade, Daniel and Rufus to get behind Akira. The students saw the illumination in Akira's amber eyes, and in a second, Akira's loud, bellowed roar summoned a gust of wind. But as she roared, Tyler noticed she only blew 3 of them away. The 4th had snuck at the left side of Akira and stuck a sharp stick in the side of Akira's hip, as Akira roared in pain, thudding to the forest floor, as blood trickled from the area.

Mr Tolfree saw the 4 students and stared at them. "Right, you 4! You are no longer allowed up here. You had your chance and blew it. Principal's office, now!"

His stare made them shiver, as they ran off. Tyler ran over to Akira, as she led down on the ground heavily breathing, with the stick still stabbed in her hip.

"AKIRA! PLEASE! WAKE UP!" Tyler shook her and shook her, but nothing worked.

Mr Tolfree ran over to Akira quickly. "Guys, stand back. I have a trick up my sleeve for this kind of damage."

So he shifted himself closer towards Akira as he touched the area carefully. But as he did, golden lights where his fingers touched appeared. He turned into his fox self and shut his eyes.

"May all your hurts vanish, pain begone. Your wound will heal through the powers of the fox."

As he spoke those very words, the lights lifted the stick and the fragments out of Akira's hip. Her wound still bled, but the stick was out.

Akira still whimpered in pain, as a tear dropped from her eyes. She whined, as the sting made her dig her claws into the grass, as she roared in pain. Tyler rubbed Akira's muzzle softly, as it helped a bit to calm Akira down, but as Shade looked closer at the stick, he noticed there were thorns on it.

"Uh, sir? That wasn't any old stick that kid hurt Akira with. That stick was covered with thorns." Shade explained.

Mr Tolfree nodded, as he carefully picked out the loose thorns, with Akira hyperventilating, and pining louder as he touched the wound.

"Akira, it's ok. The thorns and the stick are gone. Just rest here, ok? No one else is coming up here apart from us." Mr Tolfree carefully stroked her muzzle to calm her. "The wound is a major one, but it hasn't touched any organs or veins, you're ok. Just don't turn back to normal until it's healed, understand?"

Shade led Mr Tolfree to his bag where Shade kept a first-aid kit in his bag.

Akira slowly nodded. Tyler looked through her fur to see bruises as well. "Where are those bruises from?"

Akira pointed to the stones on the floor. Tyler held Akira's head and stroked her lion-like mane. It was soft and thick like a malamute's pelt. Akira then fell asleep as Tyler stroked her. Meanwhile, Mr Tolfree and Shade came back with Shade's first-aid kit. Because Shade's mother worked in the hospital, he had things like needles to stitch wounds up, antiseptic wipes, epi-pens, and other medical things. He even had small pots of cream that numbed areas that were wounded.

"Pass me the numbing cream, the needle and the thread, please. My mum taught me a few tricks." Shade commanded calmly, as Mr Tolfree handed him the stuff. "Akira, this won't hurt a bit. Just drink some water."

Tyler passed the water bottle from Akira's bag, as she sipped a bit, sticking her tongue into the bottle occasionally. Shade rubbed the numbing cream onto Akira's wound and started stitching it up. Soon enough it was done.

Akira panted and fell back asleep. Daniel had received an ice pack for Akira's bruises.

When no one was around, Tyler, Shade, Daniel and Rufus helped Akira to get to her parents' car without being seen in her form.

The 4 boys then proceeded to help Akira into the back of the car.

"Shade sorted out Akira's cut with his first-aid kit, sir got rid of the stick and the fragments. She cannot turn back to normal until the wounds are healed." Tyler explained, feeling a lot of sorrow for Akira as she pined quietly, looking at her stitched-up cut on her left hip, as she curled up asleep, her tail curling around on top of her hind legs, as she yawned and fell asleep.

A few minutes later, Akira woke up. Since her parents were Therian Shifters too, they could understand what Akira was saying in her animal form. "Ow, my hip..." Akira looked to see she was in the back of her parents' car.

Once they got home, Akira limped inside the house but before she could go up the stairs, her mother stopped her.

"Sweetheart, until you get better, we've moved your bed into the living room, ok?"

Akira nodded, immediately going into the living room and jumping onto her bed, slumping onto her front with her front legs stretched out. These days of healing will not be easy.