Chris walked out of the fire department as he always did after drills. His black suede duster flapped out behind him a bit in the gentle spring breeze. He loved weather like this, a nice, cool night with a gentle breeze and starlight falling from the heavens. Tonight, like many nights in the spring, he had chosen to walk to the fire hall rather than drive. It just felt right, and to him, it felt good. His short-length brown hair was still a bit disheveled from wearing his helmet and air mask for the exercises at fire drill. They had done search and rescue involving a 150 lb dummy made of old fire hose, and Chris had gone through the exercise
"Out of the way, Hotrod!!" Optimus Prime yelled once more as he slowly took aim at the Decepticon leader with whom Hotrod was now grappling. A few precious seconds later, and the brash young autobot again felt the steely grip of Megatron's fingers around his throat. A shield. He was going to use Hotrod as a shield. "Fall..." the Decepticon leader cried as he blasted Prime with shot after shot. Then, coldly, Megatron cast the gasping Hotrod aside, and everything to him became a blur.
A second later, it seemed, Hotrod stood in the Autobot medical bay. "I fear the wounds are...fatal," came the familiar grim evaluation by Perceptor. The disorien
All was quiet aboard the starship Great Fox. ROB64 had operational control of the ship, and the Star Fox team was getting a few hours of desperately needed sleep. The lights in the living quarters, for the most part, were controlled chronometrically, which meant that there was just enough light to navigate the room safely, emanating from light strips mounted at about waist height along the wall. Each member of the team was asleep now, sleeping off the scrapes and bruises they had received from Andross's forces during the surprise attack on Titania, except for one. Fox McCloud was not in his cot.
The attack on Titania, from Andross's point o
"How can she just lay there and sleep like that?"
"Well, Lord Inuyasha, you must admit that she has been under a great deal of stress since arriving here," replied a small, kimono-clad flea. He was called Myoga, and he had once been the guardian of the tomb of Inuyasha's demon father. He had joined Inuyasha's and Kagome's quest to find the sacred Shikon jewel shards after Inuyasha's brother Sesshomaru began to seek out his father's sword, the Tetsusaiga. Though Inuyasha would never admit this to the insect, Myoga did seem to come in handy on occasion.
"Stress? Yeah right. I'm the one who should be stressed," said Inuyasha, exasperated, "E
Starlight wolf with eyes of flame
shimmer in the moonlight
Guiding those whose paths are lost
though they know not your name.
Your howl cuts through the cold dark night
a sound of hope and courage
Though surrounded thus by dark and fear
you call them to the light
No one knows from whence you come
though you are always present
And will be so until the time
again you guide them home.
Snow furred wolf of arctic wind
whose call hath woken heroes
Run beside this tired wolf
until he meets his end.
Through falling snow and sheets of ice,
I run towards the finish,
Like a rolling of the dice,
My life hangs by a thread
Beneath me, ice begins to crack,
I slip and fall away
Beyond the frozen snowy track,
I am lost to all.
But as I lay upon the ground,
broken, and bereft of hope,
To my ears would come a sound,
A howl that splits the night.
Urging, urging ever onward,
Reaching out through time,
Those unseen paws that push me on
from days of long ago.
And when I reach the top again,
I stop to listen there,
And in my mind I hear the howl,
Of my spirit kin.
Urging, urging ever onward,
Reaching through the North,
Those silent