For A Season

AN A LITTLE NOTHING /COONAVERSE CROSSOVER 

Legal Notice: This story is Copyright © 2007 by Tigermark. This story may not be sold or used for commercial profit in any way, shape, form or fashion. This story may not be modified in any way. This story may not be posted on a mirror site or any other Internet site without the written permission of the author. This story may not be distributed on print, magnetic, electrical or optical mediums or any other mediums yet to be discovered. Characters are not to be used without obtaining author’s permission. This story is a fan fiction of Joe Martelle’s Open Season, and Chuck Percy’s Change of Season, and every attempt is made for it, with the authors’ permission, to be canon to those stories and the Coonaverse. 

Rick Coona, Kelso (Kel) Amanda Vixxen Ujinkhan, Max Badger, Kath Badger, Kacy Kelso Coona, Richard Randolph Coona, Gwen Smith (Harcort-Smythe) Coona, Jo-Ann Procyon, Dr. Charles Procyon, Straga Nona, Mike Ferretti, and Flit the Air Elemental are Copyright Joe Martelle. 

Kassir Ujinkhan, Lynne Smyth, Marie Cassini, Richard Kassir Charles Procyon and Kelso Gwenwyfar Procyon  © Chuck Percy 

Tigermark M’Rega © his player. Tammy Lynx (TL), Rachel, and Brianna M’Rega © Tigermark. Aslaug Larsdater and Aramis Dagaz © their players. Joe Latrans © Silver Coyote. Tani the kitsuné angel, The Amigos, and the Scruffy Squad © the ALN writing team. 

All other characters not credited here were created for this story and are © Tigermark 

Any resemblance to persons furry, non furry living, dead or undead is purely coincidental.

Chapter 8  

Fireworks

    Everyone in the house was on edge, except for Lynne, Kelso, and the kits. They were all still asleep. Tigermark had disappeared into the night over a half hour ago, and the silence outside and in was becoming oppressive. A couple of cars had passed by on the street in front of the house, and Kass had watched each one closely. The lights were dimmed, so as not to silhouette him as he kept watch both visually and with his subtle senses.  Rick and Gwen were sitting in the living room, but they were very watchful, waiting for either Tigermark to return or an attack to begin.

    “If someone says it’s quiet, too quiet, I’m going to kick them,” Kass stated without turning from the window. Rick and Gwen looked at each other and then broke out in giggles. They would have laughed a lot louder, but they didn’t want to wake the sleeping femmes. Rick was about to retort but Gwen put a paw on his arm. He looked at her, and her eyes were glowing green.

    “Flit says it has begun,” she intoned in a far away voice. Then she returned to her normal appearance. Kass again spoke without turning around.

    “Yes, I see a reflection on the lake of flames from a distance.”

    Gwen stood up and stretched, reminding Rick of how lovely his mate was. After a brief discussion, they’d all decided to meet the night’s events in their normal attire at home, just their fur. If they had to deal with a few spots of brass rash from shell casings, then so be it. Gwen paced back and forth a moment, making sure she was ready for any action. Therefore she was well away from the sofa and completely unprepared when Lynne suddenly let out a scream. Everyone looked at her in utter shock, even Kel who’d sat straight up out of a sound sleep at the noise. The skunkette leapt to her feet and ran out the front door so fast not even Kass recovered in time to stop her.

    “Rick! Kel! Go after her!” Kass called out in a voice that, while not overly loud, commanded obedience. Rick was up and moving instantly, throwing on a pair of sweats he kept near the door. His pistol was in his paw as he rushed out after the femme. Kel was right behind him. She’d thrown on a t-shirt and jogging shorts as she moved toward the door. She had her carry weapon in her paw, as well. In the rush to follow the skunkette, the vixen had nearly left it in the chair.

    Kass was all but cursing as he watched them run down the road the way Lynne had gone. He hated sending them, itching to go himself, but he’d made a promise to Tigermark to stay put and defend the kits at all costs. He hoped it was just a bad dream that had startled the skunkette. When he glanced back at Gwen, the growing concern on her face told him his hope was likely in vain.

# # #

    Lynne was running for all she had, the voice of the Guardian dragon ringing in her ears.

    “Trouble! Danger! GO!” had reverberated in her mind so loud it had brought her to full alert from a deep sleep. She could feel the Guardian’s presence with her still. She didn’t know whether she was running to or away from danger, but she knew she had to move fast. She’d never been much of a runner, but it seemed as though she practically flew along the road. Up ahead she could see flames that seemed to be retreating. The glow sparked a memory of the nightmare she’d been having just before the Guardian woke her, of flames and blood on white and black-striped fur.  The fire in the distance winked out for a few moments, and then flashed a brilliant white-orange blaze. She just ran on. The Guardian pointed her to a space a short distance ahead where the road narrowed between the embankment and a building. The distant flame glow illuminated a van cocked partially sideways in the ditch. She could see some movement around it, but she couldn’t make out what or who it was. The fire flared almost unbearably bright for a second, and then winked out. The muzzle flash of a weapon split the resulting darkness, followed by its loud report. She was only about thirty yards away now, but the Guardian commanded her, “Stop and see!”

    She stopped, surprised at not even feeling out of breath. Then she noticed that, despite the darkness, she could “see.” Time seemed to slow down as she saw the biggest, ugliest grizzly bear she’d ever seen rise up behind Tigermark. The tiger began to turn in that direction, and Lynne had a hope he would turn in time to react. However, the bear’s huge paw was already in motion. The blow caught the tiger on the right shoulder, lifting him airborne and flinging him across the road. He twisted in mid-air, attempting to absorb the impact feet-first, but he hadn’t quite rotated far enough. She heard him hit the building with a sickening crunch. He fell to the ground and lay still. Lynne screamed, an almost unnatural, guttural wail. The bear turned toward the sound and saw her. He grinned in a rather snaggle-toothed way.

    Wal looky here! Ya jest wait there a sec, pretty. I gotta take care o’ this whutever it is in black that jest went an’ killed Jacob. Then ya kin take ol Tiny down t’ the house Mr. Rexonis said we wuz supposed ta take care of.”

    Time stopped completely, and Lynne heard the Guardian’s voice. “The power that you wish to wield now, to stop this, will leave you forever changed. Make your choice!”

    Things again began to happen in slow motion. Lynne saw the bear beginning to turn toward the motionless form of Tigermark. Saw the huge paw begin to raise to deliver a death blow. What did the Guardian mean, change? What power? She was confused, and scared, and very angry all at the same time. She took a deep breath and made her choice.

# # #

    Specaurious had removed himself from the van as the group approached the dark area he could not enter. He lifted himself a hundred feet up, still in a non-corporeal state, to watch the event unfold. The vans were proceeding along, not too far from the edge of the darkness the demon knew he could not enter. That’s when he saw the fires erupt. Specaurious could tell they were not normal fires, so he went lower to investigate. The flames ran in a curtain across the road, and two of the vans were in rapid retreat. That’s when he felt and saw the agent. The lone figure was near a building, beside the lead team’s van which had crashed in a ditch. Specaurious hissed out loud. He didn’t have the power yet to destroy this agent in a face to face fight. The black ops gear the fur wore prevented the demon from seeing his face. All he could see were two green eyes. Eyes he had seen in his mind for all the time of his banishment to the lower levels.

    “So we meet again. You’ll not get rid of me so easily this time, agent of God!”

    The demon held stationary, watching as the agent checked on the vehicle’s occupants. The fire went out below him, and he saw the vans cease their retreat. Good, they had best not allow themselves to be spooked too easily. After some brief maneuvering, one of the vans returned along the road.  The agent was walking out toward where the fire had been when a fireball erupted and the flare nearly singed the demon. After recovering his bearings, the demon saw the agent destroy his minion, but then get nailed by the large bear on that team. That was when he saw her. A naked skunk femme had run up to the scene. Specaurious could tell almost by scent that she had feelings for the agent. Hmm, perhaps he could salvage this for his inept help. He plunged downward, preparing to take possession of her whether she liked it or not.

    “Ready or not, here I come, wench!”

# # #

    The surviving van pulled into the parking lot of the warehouse they used for meetings and to hold the kits captive. Arlo bailed out and nearly yelled back, but thought the better of it and stepped up to the driver’s door. The fear the lion driving felt could still be seen on his face quite easily. The other fur in the van was whimpering, “They’ll find us, they’ll get us, the femmes in the flames will get us.” Arlo ignored the dachshund for the moment.

    “Ditch the van as far from here as you can manage, then go home. We’ll meet up in the morning. Jacob and his team should have made it back by then.”

    The young lion eyed him warily. “You think Jacob’s team made it through that?”

    “I think they pushed on through, and they’ll either have gone ahead and hit the house, or esc, ah, went on through on that road. Now hurry, after all that fire and noise, the police will be on the alert. Once we consult with the angel, we’ll regroup and go again. We’ll not let Bruce’s team go unavenged.”

    The young lion looked doubtful, but after a moment just nodded and pulled away. Arlo wearily went to his car and got in to drive home. He would have serious words with the angel, when and if he ever appeared again. How dare he set them up like that, and then abandon them? Again, Arlo was bothered by the thought that the angel didn’t always act very angelic.

# # #

    Dale, Janie, and Bennie rested in the little “hidey-hole” they’d made among the stacks of crates. They’d found a gap between two large containers, where a larger crate rested on top of both, and managed to pull one of the old tarps that covered many of the containers over the opening. They were back in a small side aisle, and not visible from the kahtwalks above. Dale had gone foraging, and managed to raid a snack machine in what appeared to be a little-used breakroom. The items had been old and stale, but they stopped the grumbling in the kits’ bellies. Water from a sink faucet, and a chance to use the bathroom had them all feeling much better. They were still scared, and still in grave danger, but they felt a glimmer of hope that they might survive their abduction.

    “Now,” Dale said, before the other two could start to get drowsy. “Let’s go set up our surprises for the ones who grabbed us.”

    Janie and Bennie both nodded enthusiastically. Together, they began to gather whatever they could find and cobble together for some imaginative booby traps.

# # #

    Rick and Kelso were out of breath as they finally caught up to Lynne. The sight that greeted them was surreal. Raccoon and Fox low-light vision was among the best, so they could see fairly well by the lights from nearby buildings. A van lay rolled onto its side in the ditch, the side facing upward showing arcing and scorching as though it had been in an electrical storm. By the splatter, a body had been slammed into the embankment and then slid down. Kelso went to that one, but she could see that whatever it had been had seemingly exploded, and that what was left had been tossed against the hillside. She and Rick both heard the sound at the same time. A low, rather soothing, tuneless sound, like a mother might use to comfort a sick kit. They made their way toward the sound, which seemed to be coming from near the old school building across the road from the van. When they got close, they both stopped short.

    Lynne was kneeling on the ground. Tigermark’s head was cradled in her lap. She’d pulled the balaclava that he wore with the black ops outfit off, and it hung loosely in her paw. The tiger looked to be in bad shape. Kelso, with a healer’s eye for such things, could tell he had at least a broken arm, and probably at least one leg was broken, too. Blood trickled from one ear, and also trickled from his mouth whenever he managed to take a labored breath. The skunkette looked up at them, as though just now becoming aware of their presence. Both raccoon and vixen gasped. Lynne’s eyes glowed a brilliant blue-white. She spoke, her voice resonating as though not completely her own, and coming from far away.

    “Death awaits ye if thee mean harm!

    Rick held his paws out, palms forward. “We mean you no harm, we want to help.”

    Kelso nodded, her eyes becoming alight with a bright green glow of their own. “I’m a Healer. I want to help the one you hold. Please let me help him.”

    Slowly the glow in Lynne’s eyes began to fade. She blinked and looked down, and then seemed to fully come to herself. She looked up and nodded to Kel, and then promptly fell over sideways, her legs still supporting Tigermark’s head. Kelso quickly checked on her. After a moment she looked up at Rick.

    “She’s out cold from exhaustion, I’d say. We need to get them both back home as soon as we can.”

    Very soon. I can hear sirens in the distance. We need to clean up this mess first.”

    Kelso nodded and began to minister to both skunkette and tiger where they were, healing the most threatening things first. Rick made a quick survey of what needed gotten rid of, and was stumped by what appeared to be a large rug in the road. Closer inspection revealed the hide of a grizzly bear, scorched bare of fur in many areas. The smell of ozone hung in the air, as though a massive lightning storm had unleashed its fury all on this one spot. That odor overlaid the distinct smell of burnt bear. The lightning had been so powerful the flesh and bone under the hide had evaporated or disintegrated. Rick whistled and shook his head, and then began to call back the fire elementals to dispose of the bodies and the van. He made a search, and found TM’s shotgun lying a short distance away. Surprisingly, it seemed none the worse for wear.

    “Good thing synthetic stocks are so tough,” he mused as he called Gwen for help in getting the wounded home.

# # #

    Tigermark was having the strangest dream. Tani had been there, laughing at him.

    “TM, I don’t know how you do it. You nearly get yourself killed, but you always end up in the most interesting places. Now, quit fooling around and get after that demon, or I’ll tell TL exactly where you woke up.”

    The dream faded, and Tigermark felt himself slowly returning to consciousness. He expected everything to hurt, recalling his last sight of a large grizzly in a plaid shirt and blue jeans raising a paw to end his life. He’d impacted a wall, and he knew several things were broken, including probably a fractured skull and broken ribs. He’d heard something, off to the side, as he slipped into darkness, but he wasn’t sure what it was. He’d dreamed at first of lightning and thunder, louder than he’d ever heard before. Then Tani. And now?

    Now he felt relaxed, and warm. His head was resting on something nice and soft, yet firm and supportive. Something was brushing against the back of each ear. It didn’t tickle, and in fact felt like little nubs touching each ear in time with someone breathing. He slowly opened one eye a slit. The vision that greeted him made him open both eyes wide.

    Which turned out to be a big mistake, as his head exploded in pain. The pain was brief, as a gentle touch on his forehead spread relief and soothing comfort through him again. He carefully, barely opened his eyes again, and was treated to the same sight. What looked, at this range, like an acre of cream-furred bosom. Pink, pert nipples moved rhythmically with the breathing of their owner, and TM realized then what was also brushing his ears.

   “That bear killed me,” he mused. “I’ve died and gone to Heaven.”

    The giggles that followed, which shook his head as whoever’s lap he was cradled in laughed, caused him a little discomfort, but the sight and ride were impressive, to say the least. He tilted his head back to see who he was on, and Lynne’s inverted face came into view.

    “Welcome back, hero. Is that how your kind of Paladin works? Getting yourself nearly killed so we, ah, sidekicks can take out the bad guys?”

    “Lynne, I said no teasing, at least not until he’s all healed and you’ve had some rest. You’re still a bit punchy from channeling that much power,” a voice he recognized as Gwen’s said mock-sternly from off to the side.

    “Spoil-sport,” the skunkette retorted. Then she blinked and shook her head. Tigermark felt both his and her fur stand on end, as though they were both touching a Van de Graaff generator.

    “Y-yeah. I’m having some trouble grounding the residual energy, cousin,” Lynne added, a bit unsteadily. Tigermark felt Lynne lift his head and place some pillows under him as she got up.

    “Come on. I told you that you needed to eat. And keep doing that grounding exercise I just showed you until you quit trying to spark out on us.”

    TM heard the two skunkettes leave the room. He realized he was in the Coona’s living room, and that the bosom that was hovering over him belonged to Kelso. She had her paws on his chest now, and he saw a green glow suffusing him.

    “What happened out there?” he asked directly. Kelso smiled a dazzling smile at him.

    “Talking sense now, eh? Good, I’m nearly done with ya. You really took a beating. Fractured skull, dislocated shoulder, five broken ribs, punctured lung, broken arm, broken leg, and the other one way bruised up. Several internal injuries, too. If you’d have had to go to a regular hospital, I don’t think you’d have made it.”

    TM nodded, and said sincerely, “Thank you.” Kel just smiled and waved her paw dismissively. TM looked around. He was lying on the floor, and he could see Rick and Kass sitting off to one side.

    “Rick, those elementals you called don’t play around, do they? Had two vanloads of the Brethren turned and running within seconds. I think one of them tried to come back.”

    Rick nodded. “Yeah, I called them to take care of the mess you left, and when they were done one of them told me about that. That’s one van and three Brethren who left the material world in a blaze of glory. What happened with you? We only saw the aftermath.”

    Tigermark swallowed. “May I have some water, please? And can I sit up now, Doctor K?”

    Kelso laughed, relieved that her patient was doing well. “Sure, just don’t run out the door or anything,” She replied as she stood up and went to get TM some water.

    TM looked perplexed as he gingerly sat up and leaned against a nearby chair. “What’s so funny about running out the door?” he asked as Kass and Rick laughed, too.

    Kass answered. “Seems our Lynne had a vision about you in her sleep, and woke up just about halfway out the front door at a full run and buck naked. The Guardian chose to channel a lot of energy to and through her.”

    “The lightning?” TM asked.

    “Well, you weren’t as out of it as you thought,” Rick said with a smile. “Whatever power she can now wield, it’s astounding. We think the Guardian did a lot of it, but with as much residual power as she’s dealing with, she could have that ability from now on. I’ve seen Gwen use lightning. Not a pretty sight. Whatever Lynne did tonight, it was a hundred times more powerful. Near as I can tell, she practically desiccated that bear, and the shock wave and side-leader strikes blew that van over and really ruined whatever was left of the fur Lynne said you shot. Was the fur in the driver’s seat already a casualty?”

    “Yes,” TM answered. “Broke his neck when the van crashed. The fire elementals sprang their trap when that van was only thirty yards out, and they couldn’t stop in time. They passed through as the elementals went after the ones in retreat. I got distracted dealing with the one I shot, and didn’t realize the bear was out of the van until a second before he struck.”

    “You couldn’t smell him? Grizzlies have a very distinctive scent,” Kass inquired.

    “They must’ve drowned the van and themselves in scent-mask. That’s all I could smell when I checked the driver. I could tell there was someone in the back seat, but I couldn’t tell anything more. Neither the bear nor the one in the passenger seat were moving, but they could have been playing dead,” TM stated, replaying the fight so as to learn from it.

    “So, now what?” Rick asked.

    “Wait and see what Flit has to report,” Kass replied. “Until then, we heal and prepare.”

# # #

    Specaurious was in pain. He’d been through the tortures his master could inflict if he failed at an assignment, but that was nothing compared to what he felt now. He’d been diving at the femme who he’d perceived had feelings for the agent, intent on entering her so fast and strong he’d literally knock her soul right out of her and take full possession. Instead, at the last second, he’d seen the dragon behind her. She’d raised her paws, and Specaurious’ existence had exploded. The pain was searing as it danced and played along his spirit. White-hot lightning pierced him, stripping away his angelic disguise. The force of it, when it released him, catapulted him miles away. He’d limped back to the place on Arlo’s property where he met with the lion, and holed up in the small grotto where he usually waited. He tried to manifest himself in his angel form again, but he only appeared as the scarred, misshapen thing his true appearance had become.

    Despite the pain, he contemplated what to do next. Most of his minions were gone. The ones that were left would have to suffice until he could recruit more. One thing was certain, he needed a lot more power. The agent, he could handle. Whatever power had manifested itself in the skunk femme and the dragon, that he could not. It was time for him to take the next step.

    “Good Arlo,” the demon said mockingly to himself. “We are about to become much closer allies.”

End of Chapter 8

 

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