Chapter 1
"I knew going in there was a bad idea." a larger than normal fox that was white in color said telepathically as she looked back at the five guards chasing them. Each of the guards' counterparts was a black wolverine, they were running right next to their respective human.
"Well, we got what we came for didn't we, Kumiko? I just didn't think that they held this map so highly valued, then again it does show the newly discovered land in the Vlaiden province." Isaac responded, still running and glancing behind him.
"Yeah, although now we have to lose these guards. What do you think would be a good way to do that?" Kumiko asked as she continued to keep up with Isaac when he was running at full speed.
"A diversion, if only we had something that could get their attention away from us. Then we'd have a chance to get back to the others and be safe, as long as we have these Vlaiden guards behind us we can't meet up with the others. For fear that we'd give their position away." He responded, thinking of what else could be done.
"I can fight, but the odds wouldn't be in our favor. 5 Companions against me, and 5 guards against you. We should only do that as a last resort." Kumiko stated, trying to give options.
"Yeah, that's an option, but... I've got it, they gave me a pistol before we left, and a couple bullets incase a situation like this arose. If I could get a couple good shots in, then I could get rid of-" A shot rang out just as Isaac was finishing his sentence, it went wide. Although he and Kumiko didn't waste any time getting behind a large tree.
Isaac quickly brought out the pistol and loaded it with six bullets. When he looked back to the men he saw that they had taken similar positions behind trees in the forest that they were in. They were about fifteen or twenty feet away from them he guessed as he got a glimpse of them peeking out from the tree to see what position he was in. Another shot rang out from one of the guards and hit the tree that he was hiding behind, it was only a glancing blow to the side of it though.
He quickly brought the pistol to a firing position and aimed at the nearest guard, about ten feet away. When the guard peeked out to fire, Isaac pulled the trigger and the bullet rushed at him. It hit the guard dead in the forehead, his Companion vanished in an instant, it was the sign that he was dead.
"Four more to go." Isaac stated as he got behind the tree again to avoid another shot. The shot went wide and whizzed passed Isaac's head, and another one was fired and it hit the tree dead in the center, this make a considerable mark in it.
Isaac took up the firing position again and aimed at the next closest guard and fired. This time the guard got back behind the tree in time to dodge it. The battle continued to last for about half an hour, by that time there were only two guards left standing. Although Isaac was injured, he had taken a glancing blow from a bullet on his lower leg. The injury was not horribly bad, but the pain gnawed at him every passing second, it lowered his concentration.
"The guards seem to be going in a pattern. The farther guard is shooting wide every time, maybe that's to distract us, the closer guard is aiming more precisely. The closer guard was the one who shot your leg, he's the one to worry about." Kumiko relayed the information.
"I get it now, if I take out the closer guard, then I take out their only accurate shot left." Isaac responded and reloaded his pistol. Another shot was fired and it hit the tree near the center again, the tree had gained considerable battle scars. Isaac took up his aiming position and waited for the closer guard to peek out and then fired. The shot connected with him in his chest, right where his heart was, his Companion vanished as the human died and hit the floor of the forest.
Isaac heard the guard utter something intelligible to him and ran. "You'd better get him before he radios what happened here." Kumiko warned as she came out from her hiding place.
"I know, but I'm out of bullets and he's too far to run after. We'll just have to hurry back to the others and hope that reinforcements don't come and track us down." Isaac responded as he also came out from behind the tree.
They started to make their way out of the forest and away from the building they had plundered from. Isaac knew the way back to the others, he had been this way before on another spying mission, although this was his first to that particular building. On other occasions he had gotten plans of future attacks from the Vlaiden, he had also been on spying missions, although his favorite thing was to do the dangerous missions. He was reckless, and he thrived in dangerous situations, but even when things looked bleak he and Kumiko could get out of them with what they needed.
They had only ever failed one mission, and that was the most daring mission of all. It was the one that gave him and Kumiko the scar on their left eyes, the mission was to get in to the headquarter building of the Vlaiden and get information on the new land that they had acquired. The land was a mystery to Isaac and the others and they needed to know what was important about it. He and Kumiko had successfully gotten into the headquarters, but he soon went into the commanding officer's room and ran into the Companion of the commanding officer. The Companion was a black cougar, it reared up and slashed Kumiko right on the left eye. Both Kumiko and Isaac flinched from the pain, as the pain between Companion and their human is shared. Then the commanding officer showed his face and almost caught both of them, but Isaac and Kumiko knew when it was time to leave and they escaped but with a scar to remember that encounter by.
"It shouldn't take us more than another hour or two to reach 'home', or what we've called home since we joined." Isaac stated as they crossed a white arched bridge made of wood with a river flowing below it.
"Yeah, that's good because we've been busy today and I'm pretty tired from this mission." Kumiko responded as she walked right next to Isaac.
"Aren't all the missions that we go on tiring?" He asked, knowing that this was not the first time that they had become fatigued from one of their duties away from the base.
"Yeah, I guess so, although it doesn't make us any less tired now, does it?" Kumiko asked in response to the question.
"I guess not, although our endurance has probably improved over the time." He answered.
They continued to pass the scenery or Vlaiden as they were making their way back to their home country of Greaden. The journey was not the easiest, although it did not require them to cross any mountains on the way, luckily. Sometimes they are sent to areas were mountains are common and the journey is much less pleasant.
"We've finally reached the base and it didn't take as long as I thought it would." Kumiko stated as a seemingly normal industrial building came into sight. It was two stories high and there was about 6000 square feet of space enclosed in the beige colored building. It had a couple windows scattered about on each side, with a double door on the front and a regular door on each of the three other sides of it, all of them required a key to get in. They reached the front door, unlocked it and went in to meet with the others to show them their plundered map.
