Chapter Text
Kipo “In for four, out for eight. Keep your cool, now you’re great,” Kipo mumbled.
Her eyes darted back and forth in the dark, searching for signs of the Deathstalkers. None. It was so silent, almost too silent.
“Kipo,” Wolf hissed. “Just, knock it off for a second. I need to be able to focus."
Kipo pressed her hands against her chest where her heart laid beneath. It drummed faintly against her palms. She smiled. “It’s okay, Wolf. This is how I keep calm.” Wolf glared at her. “I’ll do it silently,” Kipo compromised. She closed her eyes. “In for four, out for eight. Keep your cool, now you’re great.” Keep that up. Stay calm. Gotta get to—
Wolf gasped. “Kipo!” she whispered, albeit more urgent.
Kipo’s brows furrowed in mild irritation. She was unsure of what Wolf was trying to tell her, but whatever it was, she was sure it could wait. Breathe in and out. In for four, out for eight. Keep your heartbeat slow.
“I’m in a zone here,” she replied.
Wolf didn’t seem to care. “Kipo!”
The sound of rustling brought Kipo back to the present. She opened her eyes and they widened at the sight of Wolf’s panicked expression.
“Wolf?”
She was about to ask what was wrong when Wolf charged toward her. Kipo ducked as Wolf jumped into the air with a yell. A red scorpion stinger entered Kipo’s view from the corner of her eyes. It struck Wolf in the stomach and she collapsed to the ground with a pained scream as Stalky clattered to the side. The Deathstalker rushed past Kipo as Wolf failed to get to her feet, the venom paralyzing her small form. The scorpion picked her up with its claw by her cloak, carrying her away. Kipo gasped and fisted her hair.
“Shit. What do I do, what do I do?” She prepared herself to cry on her knees in despair when she clenched her hands into fists and a look of determination appeared on her face. “What would Wolf do?”
Her best friend, despite being only ten years old, was the bravest person she’d ever met. If the situation was reversed, Kipo was confident that Wolf wouldn’t waste a second to save her. Kipo turned her head in the direction of Wolf’s apartment. Wolf had shown her how to fight, and she wasn’t going to let it go to waste. With no time to lose, Kipo picked up Stalky from where Wolf had dropped it. She examined the weapon thoroughly, relieved when it wasn’t broken. Wolf would’ve never recovered if she lost her staff. She jumped over blocks of rock and avoided tripping over debris. With no stalkers around, Kipo approached the ladder that Wolf had left down. She climbed up the ladder to Wolf’s apartment where she gathered the discarded jump rope (hand-stoppers) and the devil sticks (fighting sticks).
“Time to be serious.” I won’t disappoint you, Wolf, she thought to herself.
She secured the devil sticks and Stalky on the back of her shirt with the help of the jump rope before she left the apartment behind and followed the trail that the Deathstalker had left behind. It led her to an underground parking garage. The entrance was wide open, leading into absolute darkness. Kipo’s ears twitched at the sound of crittering from the stalkers. Her jaguar side begged her to transform, but she refused. She had yet to find her anchor, and she didn’t want to accidentally hurt Wolf. Without another thought, Kipo entered the pitch black space. She couldn't see a thing without her jaguar eyes, but she fumbled her way forward until the familiar shape of a Deathstalker entered her line of view. A smaller shape — Wolf — laid in a bundle of moss. Kipo felt her heart race beneath her chest at the sight of her unconscious body. The Deathstalker turned around to face her, letting out a screech as its two tails lifted higher into the air in a defensive stance. Kipo glared it in the eye. It's now or never, Kipo. Make this count. Before she had time to blink, the Deathstalker tails fell down upon her. Kipo jumped out of the way before they struck the spot she'd previously stood. She unraveled the jump rope and grabbed one handle before she swung the remaining of it at the Deathstalker. The second handle caught one of its claws. Kipo avoided its limbs from hitting her as she, more literally than figuratively, danced circles around the scorpion. When all of its six legs were caught by the rope, she grabbed onto it harder and pulled. The ground shook from the weight of the scorpion collapsing onto its back. It squirmed to free itself from the ropes, to no avail. Kipo dropped the jump rope to the ground with a clank before rushing to Wolf's side.
“Wolf?” she called out, reaching out for the girl when she remained unresponsive.
Up close, Kipo took notice of the pained expression on the girl's face. A second screech made Kipo turn her head in the direction of the threat still looming in the room. The jump rope had begun to snap in some places, and the scorpion would undoubtedly go after them soon enough. Kipo lifted Wolf's light body into her arms and began to carry her out of harm's way, while her eyes remained on the Deathstalker. Its limbs groaned like machinery as the jump rope snapped, in turn freeing all its limbs. As it crawled back to its feet, Kipo propped Wolf up against a pillar. She kept one hand on her shoulder to make sure she was okay before her attention turned to the Deathstalker. She pulled the devil sticks from her shirt and held them up in defense as a pair of red claws appeared in her line of view. The fact that the sticks didn't break from the pressure of the claws was a miracle in itself, Kipo thought, before jumping out of the way as the Deathstalker tried to surprise her with a claw attacking from the side. Kipo climbed between its legs and her sneaker-clad feet dug into the soft skin of its belly. Kipo gasped. She recalled Wolf telling her that only a Deathstalker could paralyze another Deathstalker. The piercers glared at her from above, as realization daunted on her. Of course! As the piercers went to strike her, Kipo jumped off the belly and rolled to the side. The stinger punctured the Deathstalker as a green-like substance flooded out through the tip and into the open wound. The scorpion screeched in pain as it seized before collapsing in a mess of its own poison. Kipo beamed at herself and threw the devil at the mutant. She kneeled by Wolf's resting form, lifting the girl back into her arms. There were other scorpions in the area. She had to get the younger girl to safety before they found them.
“I did it, Wolf,” Kipo whispered, forcing her rapid breathing to slow down to make the two girls less detectable. “I really wish you were awake to see it.”
She could only imagine how proud Wolf would have been. As she approached the exit of the garage, Wolf's eyes fluttered open and she groaned. One hand cradled her stomach where she'd been hit, yet she did her best to mask her expression as she glanced at Kipo.
“See what?" she murmured, voice weak from the poison in her body.
“Wolf!” Kipo exclaimed, eyes widening. She'd expected the girl to be unconscious for hours, but the faster she recovered, the faster they could continue the search for her anchor.
Wolf pressed a shaky finger to her lip to hush Kipo’s tone. “What happened?”
“You got stung by a Deathstalker and I saved you, and—” Kipo stopped half-sentence at the sound of footsteps by the entrance.
She curled her body around Wolf as they kneeled on the ground, waiting for the Deathstalker to pass. Except, it was no scorpion. The shadow of a human-like figure loomed over their bodies and a chuckle echoed through the space.
“Well, well, well. Trying to steal from me, huh?”