After lunch, Kota showed me how to wield a knife and sword. I could tell a human could do some serious danger with these weapons; leather grips with Nordic designs carved into them, with long silver blades sharper than cub claws. When I accidentally cut my gum with a throwing knife, a stinging pain ringed through out my mouth.

Yeah, the knives hurt allot, but I wasn't very good at them. The most I could do was hold it in my mouth and stab stuff by ramming sideways into it. But Kota looked like he loved them. He twisted them effortlessly in his mouth with his tongue, and was able to throw them.

After a few hours of annoying sword practice, Kota let me use the claws.

The took two pairs from the wall, and handed one to me. "They're a little tricky to put on, but you'll get it."

Before he put his on, he took his scarf off.

I watched Kota put the claws on, and I followed his example. My toes fit well through the rings, but I didn't really like the way the leather rubbed against each other. The bracelet was harder. I couldn't figure out how to latch them together.

Kota saw I was struggling. "Here, give me your paw."

I grudgingly let him take it. He fastened the latch, then helped me with the other.

I lifted my paw and wiggled my toes. The claws clinked together satisfyingly. The latch was in the smallest hole on the cord, leaving a long cord hanging off my paw.

Kota scampered off to a door in the corner opposite of the stairs. I hadn't noticed it before. He shoved it open, and gestured for me to follow.

As I entered the room, lights flicked on. Along the back wall, dummies made of straw lay sadly. One was hanging from a stick; It's button eyes haunting.

"Alright," Kota said, "I'll attack it first. Then you."

He leapt onto it, aiming his claws for it's non-existent neck. The claws were so sharp, they pierced on contact. Kota slashed the dummy apart in seconds, like beavers eating wood in those cartoons. leaving straw, stuffing, fabric and newspaper scattered around.

I looked down at my paws, gaping. They could do that much damage?

Kota grabbed another from the wall with his teeth, and dragged it to the pole. His claws snagged on it a couple of times. He hung the poor thing, then backed away. It looked like a witch getting ready to be burned at the stake.

I jumped at it's head, my claws piercing right through the button eyes.
The stick swayed in discomfort, as if it would break, but luckily, it didn't. As I slid down, the claws raked down it's face and torso. I stood on my hind legs, lifted my fore legs, then brought them down diagonally. They cut off both the arms and bottom half of the torso, making stuffing come out like a waterfall. To finish it off, I sliced it's head off.

I was breathing deeply, and my paws hurt. The claws were heavy.

Kota looked at me without expression. "I think you're pretty good with those. Should we try something else?"

I wanted to say, nah; I'm too tired. Been training all day, and I got half a night of sleep. Can we just take a tour of the place, or a nap?

But of course, Kota wouldn't let me.

What happened next partially satisfied my wants.

A boom echoed through the bunker, and the place shook a little. Some ceiling powder rained on us.

A roar pierced the silence, from a very large animal. The cats and canines rushed up the stairs to see what was going on. Kota quickly took his claws off and got his scarf on, but I was following the crowd. As I went up the stairs, my claws nicked the concrete.

I sprinted across the room with the animals, and bursted through the swinging door. Outside, a dragon looking thing was perched on the building next door. It had huge, transparent and veiny wings, white scales, and pink eyes. When it roared, bits of whatever it ate last flew out with pink saliva.

Kota was beside me in a few seconds. Near the horizon, I saw more dragons flying in.

"Crap..." A husky next to me moaned.

The dragon before us threw red fire into the gray sky, then jumped at us with hungry jaws.

Instinct kicked in and I leapt far to the left, as the others scattered.

An unfortunate bobcat tried attacking it by it's underside, but the dragon crushed him underfoot like an ant.

Animals started throwing orbs at it, causing fires to erupt and lots of other fun things. When the magic faded, some with weapons jumped on it and started attacking. I raced in with no plan in particular, and jumped on his muzzle. The scales were slick and cold. I started slipping, but I hooked my claws under the dragon's scales. It moaned in frustration, and shook it's head in anger.

I hung on for dear life, trying to pull myself up.

The dragon reared up, leaving my back legs dangling thirty feet in the snowy air. I lifted them up, quickly hooked my regular claws on the dragon's neck, then sprang right for his left eye.

The claws went straight in the pink, gooey thing, and I almost gagged.
I pulled them out; eyeball goo dripping everywhere.

You know when something is so funny that you're silent for a second, then roaring with laughter? Or when something hurts really bad. First, there's only air coming out. But then your vocal cords switch on, and a terrible sound comes out.

That was the sound the dragon made. He closed his left eye, then tossed his head around furiously. I knew I was going down any way, so I jumped to the right and scratched the remaining eye. I had blinded the dragon, but I was heading straight to my death.

As I was falling, I felt my life flash before my eyes. When me, my sister and brother played together, when we would sleep on mom's soft belly, my first hunt. But what hit me the most, was seeing Kota's face after he showed me how to hit the target. That look of disappointment, but still acceptance.

Two things saved me. First, someone from down below threw a snow globe on my chest. The impact hurt, but the escaping snow and wind slowed me down. Second, I landed in a snow bank. The impact was hard, but I didn't break anything. I crawled out to see who threw the snow globe. It was the husky I had seen earlier. He glanced at me, then charged at the dragon.

I sprung after him, taking leaps instead of strides. "Hey!" I called. "Thanks for throwing that!"

"We can deal with thank you's later. Just attack the dragon."

He ran ahead, then shot a sparkler straight right at it's nose. It clanged down it like a pinball, then sparks flew from it's nostril.

I tried attacking the dragon's feet, but it's scales were like greased down armor. It lifted his foot to step on me, but I sprang away.

The other dragons had arrived. They were attacking other buildings; people, chasers, and a few elves were fighting them. Out of the corner of my eye, I saw eight reindeer with ten-point horns flying through the snowy sky, carrying a sleigh behind them. Orbs rained out of the sled and onto the dragons.

I watched the other animals throwing orbs at the dragon uselessly, racking my brain of a solution. The dragon shot fire clumsily at those who jumped on him, although he was pretty much blind and unable to smell. (What do you call someone who can't smell? A smell-les?)

This is impossible... I thought. We can't just kill him.

I scanned my surroundings. When my eyes saw the cliff, I locked my gaze. A plan formed, but as usual, it was very dangerous.

I ran to the training center, through the doors then I leapt down the stairs. Without stopping, I grabbed four of the longest, biggest ropes I could find. I hung them on my neck and torso, then headed back outside. As I ran out the building, a brown female dog with a red and green scarf was thrown at the wall. When she slid down, a dent was left in the metal.

"Ouch," She growled. "What you going to do with those?" She said while rubbing her head.

"Not fully sure," I said. "But do you have anything really strong that could pull that thing?"

She looked up at the dragon, pondering. "Well...." She hummed. "The sleigh is pretty strong, but I don't think it could pull the dragon anywhere."

I huffed. That ruined my original plan, but yet again, it probably wouldn't have worked any way.

I thought again. It was pretty indestructible on the outside, but in the inside...

"What's your name?" I asked.

"Marsha."

"Okay, Marsha; do you have any Greek fire orbs, or something like that?" I asked.

She checked in her scarf. "A few. Why?"

I then told her my plan.

"You're crazy," She said. "That's good."

I smiled. We ran to Kota who was next to the husky. "Kota! Husky dude!" I called.

They both turned around. "What?" Kota hissed.

I told them my plan, but the ten second version instead.

"You want to use my scarf," The husky said, "And my orbs."

"Yes," I said. "Do you have any other ideas?"

"Well... no."

Kota, the husky and Marsha took their scarfs off and we weaved them together. There were no pockets on them, but they pulled Greek fire, cherry bombs and sparklers from them.

"How far can each of you climb?" I asked.

Silence, except from the husky. "A little, but I don't like heights."

I growled. "Help me carry it up it's leg, but be fast. I'll do the rest if you keep it's mouth open."

We both ran to the dragon, carrying the scarfs in our mouths. When we got to the leg, I nodded to him. We started to climb by hooking our claws between the scales.

The husky kept falling, and he was constantly shaking. Whenever the dragon moved his leg we were nearly thrown off.

Once we were at his shoulder, I motioned for the rest of the scarfs. He handed them to me, then jumped.

Now that I was by myself, I started running up it's neck. I dodged horns, holding to the scales tightly. I ran between his eyes, down his muzzle, then quickly hooked my claws in his nostrils. I know; disgusting. It was.

The dragon was aware of me sitting in his nose, so he started throwing his head around. He blew flames; I could feel the heat on my face and the smoke on my heels. Before I could fall, I released all the orbs into his mouth.

He made one final shake, and I lost my grip.

I fell again, but this time doing a summersault in the air. At the last second, I pulled my feet under me and landed on them.

Pain shot up my legs so hard, I fell over. Cats can land pretty well, but we have our limits.

I crawled out weakly, moaning. Marsha, Kota and the husky grabbed their scarfs as they troweled from the air. In seconds, it was wrapped around their necks and they were throwing orbs at it's head.

In a few seconds, sparks, red and green fire and smoke was spitting from it's nose and mouth. The dragon was trying to cough it up the orbs, but it wasn't working too well. It was sad, but we watched it fall over and cough uselessly. It couldn't even roar. I almost felt sorry for it.

"Come on, we need to help the others!" Marsha barked. We all ran towards a blue dragon that was attacking the bakery.

Out if no where, a big black animal crashes into my side. At first I thought it was an accident, but then I realized it was trying to hurt me!

The air crushes from my lungs, and I was pushed into the cold snow by heavy paws that could have broken my shoulders. When I blinked the snow away, I saw it was Brutus. I hissed loudly, and he let a drop if spit land in my eye. While I was blinded, I kicked madly at his stomach. Brutus stomped on them, and the pain of being stretched courses through them.

Kota jumped on his back, clawing and snarling. The weight of Kota made Brutus buckle, but his grip was too firm on me. I saw the wolf from earlier... what was his name? Deavar, come crashing in on Kota. I couldn't see them, but I could hear the growling as they locked in combat. The husky tried to help me by attacking his head side-on, but Brutus just grabbed his ear and flicked him aside. I saw red blood in the snow.

My shoulders were clicking in agony. I was wriggling under him desperately, but he was too strong. All I could do was claw his legs.

As I scratched them with the silver claws, blood trickled down them. Brutus didn't even flinch.

"Stupid kitty," he growled. "We can't have you ruining out plans. Looks like it's time for you to take a vacation," He said.

He grabbed from his scarf a silver orb. Kota hadn't shown me this one, but I knew what it did. I struggled harder, and dug my claws into his beefy legs. He threw the orb hard in the snow, a few meters away. I felt my fur being blown around more by it. Ghostly light hit his face.

"Planet Earth," he began, but I slipped my fore leg out from under him and clawed his face. He bit down on it hard, then put it under his paw. When he slammed it down, I felt my leg being stretched in un-feline ways. I screamed a high pitched sound. "RRRRAAAAAAWWHHHH!!"

"North America," He continued, pink saliva dripping in my face. "United States of America. Utah, Zion's national park."

The portal turned blue white. Brutus clamped his teeth in my scruff, and my body was paralyzed. There was nothing I could do, but let him throw me in there. I had no idea where I was going, but I knew it wouldn't be good.

As my body was flung into the portal, I heard Kota screaming, "MIKAAA!!!!!"

The sound vibrated through my skull as I drifted through the portal; feeling tears in my eyes.