World World: Max vs Pride

I nod in response and start dragging the lioness back to her two friends I threw at each other, seeing that despite their injuries they still seem to be breathing. I toss her into them and watch as she attempts to scramble away. I grab a small rock and toss it right in the path of where her head was about to be, stopping her in an instant. She turns to me, fear and anger burning in her eyes as I just point to the spot where her two comrades are. She understands my silent command and slowly goes back over to them.

"(I am going to make this simple for you. No matter what, I am going to free everyone you have enslaved. That is inevitable now. Your choice is this; you can either tell me where you are keeping the adults and children so I can go straight to them and take them home, or you can stay quiet and I literally tear your city to the ground, doing to your people what I did here until I find them on my own. There will be no more bargaining. Choose.)" I say, my tone deadly cold as I stare her down. It only takes another glance at her unconscious friends and the pile of what used to be a third friend that they're passed out in for her to make up her mind.

"(The children are kept in three large, circular buildings to the west. There are no less than 15 guards for them at all times, to make sure nobody tries to escape. We keep an area for their parents to the south. Many smaller buildings that we put as many of them as we can fit into. We do not have as many guards for them, since they know that any poor choices they make will get their children hurt.)" the lioness says to me, her head hung low in the shame of her defeat.

"(Smart choice.)" I say to her, smacking her head hard enough that I can be sure she's been knocked out. I turn around and start walking back to where I'd left the others, the male antelopes shrinking back in fear of me. I pay them no mind as Annette, Siren and I form a small circle and I relay what I learned quickly to them.

"(We will need to get the adults freed first, so they can help us lead the children away from here.)" Annette says before turning to Siren, "(Can you fly over to where the kids are and keep an eye on them from the sky? I doubt we'll be able to be as sneaky as we had planned to be anymore, so we need to keep track of them.)"

"(Leave it to me.)" Siren replies confidently, flapping her wings and heading out right away.

"Let's go get the grown-ups then." I say to Annette, scooping her up in my arms before I turn to the males antelopes. "(We're going on ahead to get the others free. Will you be okay on your own?)"

They all just nod at me with wide eyes, clearly a bit relieved though I'm not sure if it's because they're going free today or if it's just because I'm leaving. It doesn't really matter to me either way, so I tense my legs up and make a big leap out of the pit. The wind rushes past us as we leap high up and start heading south, hoping that it's not too hard to figure out which buildings the other antelopes are being kept in. Annette squeezes me tightly as we start falling back towards the ground, still a bit freaked out by the sensations despite how long we were doing them on the way here.

I hit the ground with a loud thud, immediately making another huge leap despite the stinging sensation in my legs. I chance a look back as the two of us soar back into the air, seeing a couple lions rushing over to where I had landed but far too late to find anything but the impact mark I made. None of them even think about looking to the skies and soon enough there's too many buildings to see them even from up high where I am. Annette tugs at my shirt to get my attention, pointing quickly during our brief period of floating before we start falling back down. I'm not fast enough to see what she saw, but I'm sure she has a better idea of where to look than I do right now.

It only takes two more quick leaps before we're right where Annette pointed, a series of very small building that are so cramped together you could literally go from one building to another by climbing through windows without ever having to touch the ground. I put Annette gently down and let the power leave me, taking a second to massage my stinging legs. I see her ears twitch as she looks around, but to both of our shock it doesn't seem that anybody's coming to investigate the loud sound we just heard.

"I saw antlers while we were up high earlier. I swear they were around here somewhere. I'll check the building furthest on the right and you check the one on the left. We'll move towards the middle to meet up again." Annette says to me in English while continuing to look around. "I doubt we got lucky enough that someone isn't going to come around soon. We should do this as quickly as we can."

I nod my response to her and we quickly move into our respective buildings. The second I enter, I'm immediately greeted by the sight of a bunch of antelope anthros. They seem to be in different states of health, probably because they've been here for different lengths of time rather than any difference in treatment. They all stare at me with wide eyes as I quickly check for lions outside before I start slowly approaching them all. I try to keep my body language as peaceful as possible, but without fail they all flinch at the sight of the strange creature I am approaching them. I hear them begin to murmur with one another, all of them saying nothing too flattering and most of them thinking I've been sent by the lions. All except for one.

"(You!)" I hear a woman say with so much venom in her voice I actually flinch at it. I see the crowd shuffle around a bit as she pushes past all of them and comes into view. She's definitely a bit older, but not superbly so. I'd probably say in her mid-40s if I were to judge by human standards. Her features all ring of something familiar as she stomps towards me with hate in her eyes, pulling away from the few others who try to hold her back. Whoever this is, she is determined as hell to get to me.

"(You are the monster who took my daughter!)" she says to me, shoving her finger into my chest with as much force as she can muster. "(Of course I find you here with the lions, and yet my child is nowhere to be found. You killed her, I know it!)"

"(I can safely say that I have never killed an antelope. Please calm down. Your shouting could be heard by any nearby lions.)" I say to her, eliciting a loud gasp from everybody. The eyes of the woman in front of me go wide, as if I'd just turned to gold in front of her or something, but they quickly revert to the hate-filled glare from a moment ago.

"(Do not lie to me, monster! You came the night the hyenas attacked. Slaughtered many of them and disappeared. When we started looking at how much the hyenas stole from us and the damage that was done, my daughter was missing along with a large amount of our food! She tried to stop you when you were stealing food and you killed her for it!)" she accuses me, tears forming in her eyes as she tells me her story. I look around again at the room, seeing a look of recognition in the eyes of many of the antelopes staring at me before the full weight of her story sinks in.

"(You are...)" I start to say as the shock finally starts to leave me, but I'm unable to finish as I hear a lion's roar from behind me. I quickly turn around, coming face to face with three lions who all freeze at the sight of me. I take advantage of their brief hesitation, tensing my body to power up. "(Stay back, all of you. I will handle this.)" I say to the antelope as the lions get over their shock and rush me.

I take up a runners position and push off as hard as I can, launching like a bullet into one of the lions and blasting us both out of the building at blinding speed. I hear the sick crunch of bones upon tackling them and again when we slam into the wall of a building a moment later. They cough up blood and collapse onto the ground the moment I let go of them. I start rushing back towards the building, only to see the two remaining lions looking at me like the monster Annette's mother accused me of being. I suppose it's fair to say she wasn't exactly lying, just misjudging my character.

The lions growl and come at me with claws extended, moving fast and staying low but unfortunately for them they're fighting exactly like the seven lions I beat earlier. I know they're going to let one of them face me head on so the other can flank me, so I take a small leap in the air and land on the roof of the building holding all the captive antelopes I spoke to. I grab the roof, tearing a chunk out of it and tossing it at one of them, managing to get lucky and beam them in the head. He goes down and I grab another chunk of roof before leaping back down to the ground.

The one I hit with the chunk of roof shakes his head and starts getting up again while the other one attempts to make a break for it. I toss the roof chunk in my hand into the easy-to-target chest of the lion still getting up and bolt into the other lion's back. From there, I just toss them as hard as I can into the sky before heading back. No matter how well the one I threw lands, even in their best case scenario their body will still be too broken to do anything. I see the lion I knocked around with roof chunks, struggling to get wind into his lungs. I run up quickly and kick him away, right into a building that he hits near the roof before falling limply to the ground with a thud.

I wait a moment, just standing there and looking around to see if anyone else shows up or if anybody I knocked down to the ground already gets back up but nothing happens. I breathe out a sigh of relief, letting my body go back to normal for now and make my way back to the building I left everyone in. Right outside, I see all the antelopes gathered around and just staring at me like I grew a second head. I can't help but laugh a little as I start walking towards them, watching as they back away from me yet again.

"(Max!)" I hear Annette's voice shout, watching as she pushes her way through the crowd to me and walks up while everyone else tries to grab her and pull her back in vain. I'm about to reply, but she presses her finger to my lips and starts looking me over from head to toe. "(Well, it doesn't look like you got hurt anymore...)"

"(I fought a bit smarter this time.)" I answer her with a small laugh, drawing her into a hug. She cutely pouts and pushes against me, forcing me to let go now that I wasn't using my super strength.

"(It was still reckless.)" she scolds me, concern showing in her eyes as she crosses her arms.

"(Daughter?!)" I hear Annette's mother say from the crowd, watching as it parts for her so she can come closer. Annette's eyes go wide at the sight of her mother slowly approaching her with outstretched hands, like she's afraid that Annette will disappear at any moment. I watch proudly as the two of them start racing towards each other then meet halfway in a hug. Pride fills my chest as I watch them and I allow myself a small moment of relief, glad I could finally give Annette back the family I had taken her from.

"(I thought you were dead. I thought he had killed you!)" Annette's mother said, breaking the hug and pointing at me.

"(Not even close.)" Annette says, laughing softly as tears of joy snuck out of her eyes. "(I can give you the full story another time but he calls himself Max. He is a human, a being from another world.)" I wave shyly as Annette introduces me and her mother's expression becomes something like a cross between confusion and a scowl.

"(Why did he take you then? Where did he take you?)" she asks.

"(He took me back to his home, and he did so because he was not in his right mind. He was savage when he took me, but it seems humans can return from being savage once their needs are fulfilled.)" Annette explains, the other antelope looking at me in disbelief all over again. The look on her mother's face as she looks at me softens somewhat, until her attention is drawn back by Annette coughing for attention. Annette becomes shy as her mother's attention comes back to her and she clears her throat before leaning in and whispering something I can't make out in her mother's ear.

I watch as her mother's entire body freezes up at the short message. Her eyes go wide as she stares at Annette, then starts staring at me with a look I can only describe as horrified. My mind starts running through every possibility of what Annette could have said and I can't help but start freaking out a bit as I wrack my brain. I look over at Annette and I swear if she didn't have fur she'd be blushing right now. What the hell did she say to her mother?! Unfortunately, I don't have enough time to find out when Siren appears by us so suddenly I'm worried that she might have broken her legs.

"(This is bad! The lions are moving the children somewhere underground. I could not follow them anymore without diving in, but they may have harmed the children if I were to suddenly reveal myself!)" Siren says to us all, breathing like she just sprinted a marathon.

"(Crap. I thought we were moving fast enough.)" I growl out, biting my thumb as I try to think of how to deal with this. Unfortunately, it looks like there's only one way out.

"(Go.)" Annette says to me, making me wonder once again if she can't read my mind. "(Siren cannot follow them underground and we have already lost our element of surprise. You can get there faster than the rest of us can, and you have the power to fight them. Just promise me that you will be careful.)"

"(I promise.)" I swear to her, taking a deep breath to fill my body up with power once again. "(Siren, which way?)"

"(Go that way, it is a straight line. The underground entrance is marked with rocks that have green color.)" she says, pointing to where she had just come from. I nod, quickly kissing her cheek before I tense up and leap away. These fuckers aren't going to hurt those kids. Not if I have anything to say about it. (End of Part 2)

(Annette's POV)

I watch my mate take to the skies with his incredible strength, leaving Siren and I behind to go help children he doesn't even know. All because he feels it is the right thing to do. I watch the spot in the sky he disappeared to for only a moment more, letting my worry about him wash away before I turn back to face my mother, my tribe and the other antelopes as well. What enters my view the moment I have finished turning around is a veritable wall of antelopes, all staring at me with wonderment and disbelief.

I barely have time to open my mouth before I am flooded with questions from those I do know and those I do not. The cacophony of noise is nearly deafening and I am tempted to cover my ears, just in the hopes I would have less noise to contend with. Siren attempts to assist me in quieting them down, but I cannot even make out her words with all the voices going off at once. I glance pleadingly towards my mother, hoping she will understand my plight but we cannot keep eye contact long enough to try. I have had enough of this.

"(BE QUIET!!!)" I shout over them all, hard enough that I begin coughing immediately. Mother pushes past the rest of them, coming to me and looking me over with concern. I smile at her as my cough lessens, patting her in a manner that I hope eases her worry as I prepare to speak again. "(Listen, all of you. We cannot stay here. If you all must ask your questions then please, wait until later. If we stay here, the lions will find us and all of these efforts will have been for naught.)"

"(But what of our children?!)" asks one of the antelopes who are not of my tribe, her voice heavy with the concern only a worried mother can carry.

"(My mate is going to get them now. You saw his power... How the lions could not stop him.)" Siren says confidently, turning most everyone's attention to her. "(He will free the children and bring them to us, but not if we stay here and are captured when the lions come to investigate either the noise or why their tribesmen have not reported in!)"

"(That creature is your mate?!)" yet another antelope I don't recognize asks her. My patience is at an end and I refuse to jeopardize my tribe's safety simply because these others cannot follow instructions.

"(Enough! We are leaving, with or without you!)" I shout at, taking care not to hurt my throat again before I turn to Siren. "(Take to the skies and find us the best route to take. I will try to keep them all following me while I follow you.)"

"(Of course, sister.)" she says, nodding as she spreads her wings and takes flight. I watch her for a moment, seeing which direction she will take once she has gained enough height and take my mother's hand.

"(Do you truly believe that your...Max, will be able to safely collect the children?)" Mother asks me hesitantly. I keep my eyes on Siren as Mother's question makes me recall all the time I've spent with Max, all the things I have done with him and watched him do. His feats of strength, his ability to return to reason after going savage, his kindness and willingness to teach me, his acceptance of the curiosity and what I now recognize as my drive to learn that had me seen as an oddball amongst my tribe.

"(Everyday he shows me things that I once thought impossible, mother. It is hard for me not to believe in him.)" I say to her as warmth spreads through my chest. I am sure I have a smile on my face, but it is not as though I can see it myself. "(There, she is flying East. Come on.)"

I lead my mother by the hand, ignoring all of the questions still coming from all the others as I follow Siren's lead. In the back of my mind, I worry for a moment that the others may decide not to follow but the stampede of footsteps behind me quickly assuages that fear. Clearly at least most of them have decided to follow me, but I cannot keep my eye on them. Between having to look where I am going, and having to crane my neck up to see the path that Siren is leading us down.

Her path winds us through the maze of buildings, but her skill and eyesight keep us well out of the way of the handful of lions we manage to catch a glimpse of. Thankfully by this point, the others know well to be quiet so that we do not attract their attention as they rush. I catch only small bits and pieces of their conversations as they pass by and smile. Apparently my mate is causing quite a lot of havoc over on the other side of the city. It is the perfect cover, keeping them rushing towards him and keeping their attention focused on where they are going instead of their surroundings. Pride fills me about the mate and sister I've found, and how well we have managed to co-ordinate what should have been impossible.

"(Hey, stop right there!)" I hear an unfortunately masculine voice say. I turn my head towards the sound, seeing two lions with their claws extended. They are both males and glaring at us with the same fire that they faced Max with, only now he is not here. My tribe are not warriors and the other antelope are clearly in no shape to attempt it even if they were. We could overwhelm them with sheer numbers, but many would be harmed or possibly even die during the attempt. I will not allow that.

"Siren!" I shout in English, not taking my eyes away from the two guards, "I will draw these two away! I need you to come back down and lead everyone the rest of the way!"