Invane: Our way is Better

It was the day of the competition. Everyone was a mixture of excitement and nervousness. Yet I feared for public speaking however. I never knew why however because as a pup, I was able to do so just fine. Playing in plays, musical performances and choir. Here? I am usually not that quite sure. Whether that fear was related to myself or towards my packmates, is yet to be decided however. For the meantime, we may needed help or aid getting our robot to the competition that we had signed up for. We had it worked at a distance from the center of Virkoal Forest, at a dislocation far from the minds of any other animal or two legged freak that would dare touch our creation. Yes, we had called humans freak by the way. In pursuit of our goal; was getting that golden medal and a bit of prize money mainly because Huzizu and Haizyo wanted it for some strange reason however. 'Whatever.' I rolled my eyes and exhaled a breath, trying my best to ignore whatever antics they had cooked up for today for annoyance towards the other animals that surrounded us.

Regardless, we had arrived towards the far corner of the forest center where a small barn was located in between of two forest trees adjacent to it. Yes, in case anyone was wondering; we did steal a barn to safe keep our robot however. Where we had stolen it from is top secret however, for we were fearful that the farmer or whoever owns this barn would try to kill us and take the barn back. One or the other however. We walked towards the barn. Harkell grabbed onto the pair of doorknobs and pulled it apart. Splitting the barn doors wide opened. The light from the outside of the barn invaded in, crushing the darkness that surrounded the interior of the barn. We walked right onto in and closed the door behind us. For a few seconds came the darkness again; yet Huzizu pulled onto a lightbulb above him and illuminated the room a bit. The room was smaller than an average bedroom or any sort of room within a household or building however. Additionally, the barn room was a lot emptier than an average room as well. Surprising, I know.

“Well guys;" I grinned, satisfied that we had kept this project up for so long. Well, only for a week however anyway. “We have done it. Kept the secret away from every sort of animal lurking in the forest, stolen the barn from the farmer or whomever it was and worked on our project for a long as we could." “Now can we show it to the world?" Asked Huzizu with his paws clapping at his chest, he grinned towards me. I nodded responding while he jumped with joy and ran forth towards the center of the barn where our robot was hiding perfectly hidden away from public eyes. For the first few seconds were silence, neither me or the wolfpacks members were actively talking. Because Huzizu held his breath and was starting to show a bit of pink and purple upon his cheeks for some strange reason. Despite Harkell and Havlut trying to get him to breath, he still continued. Passing out shortly afterwards as a thud echoed upon the silence of the room, startling me and Haizyo as we turned our attention back towards the unconscious wolf.

“He will be alright." Responded Harkell, commenting while he met my eyes. I just nodded at him without hesitation, a small warm smile appeared upon my face, nodding again before turning back towards the horizon. And just as I had, my ears flattened against my skull upon hearing a combination of rumbling vibration footsteps upon the flooring and a scream that was high pitch yell; it could mistake for a female wolf however. As we turned towards Huizuzi who came running straight towards us, Haizyo tilted his head to the side and questioned him “Why came you all this way? What happened to the robot we made?" “Together?" Added Harkell despite me glaring eyes towards him, reminding him that he and Havlut have not done their part of creating the robot however. At his winced, Huzizu barked out “Our robot had gone rouge! Missing! Stolen! I bet you that King Farmer had stolen it!" A low threatening growl escaped from his lips with his eyes narrowed that he was starting to see red all over his vision. With Havlut and Haizyo trying to calm him down, I exhaled a breath shaking my head “I knew this would come." “So what should we do?" Asked Haizyo turning to me while he and Havlut knocked Huzizu upon the ground while he started kicking and screaming. His voice filled up the entire barn room that a few of just flattened our ears and said nothing for a few seconds. Until Huzizu was stuffed with a stinky sock that none of us had any sort of idea of where we had gotten from, was the time that I spoke.

“We should head back towards the competition. Beg them to aid us into finding that robot or something." “They will not do a thing. Their only course of action was to keep the competition alive." Protested Haziyo while Huzizu growled out into the air, throwing his paws and feet and knocking both Haizyo and Harkell up into the air suddenly. “Burn them all! Commit arson! I know where the gas-""Shut up!" Growled Horizoki, slapping his face with the silence following after the noise. I breathed a sigh and nodded towards Horizoki, who acknowledged the silence before breaking into a smile. Then, I gaze towards the other wolfpack members before slightly nodding again and repeated my suggestion once more, “Regardless, our only option was to find that robot. My best bet our thief had made way forth towards it to reap the reward." “Or he had stolen it for his own benefits however." Suggested Horizoki which caused me to turn towards him with an eyebrow raised at him. He only shrugged in response, stating nothing to prove his suggestion with only the silence covering for him now while I shook my head, turned around and led the pack from the barn's entrance.

We ran Eastward. Diving back into the forest trees whereas we waved in and out of the forest, keeping our focus upon the horizon ahead of us. I had noticed that everyone was silence; light panting heard upon my ears. With no words, I only smiled to myself faintly, ears erected and up front while the sounds of the crowd echoed upon my ears. Daring me to speak up to announced towards the rest of the pack what they already knew perhaps, “We are closing in onto the competition. Do not take revenge for anything." I say while everyone else acknowledged it with silence. Horizoki whined protesting towards me, “Why do I get the feeling that remark is towards me, Huzizu and Haizyo." “Cause you three are the bane of he wolfpack." Shot Harkell, to tired and panting hard to even make a growl towards him as Horizoki flattened his ears, frowning back towards Harkell and myself. But he made sure that he was silence and restrained in accordance to my statement, just as we had arrived straight into the competition at hand.

The spot was quite busy. Many canines were here. Busy polishing their equipment. Many of their robots were a various of sizes. Some had clothes which was perhaps weird however. What was even weirder was that the other few robots had some sexy features upon them which had some of us, mainly Harkell to gag as he muttered something underneath his accent. Yet we never heard him however. I turned towards the other wolves; yet they already knew the routine however. For they split or peeled away from the group and each headed their own direction. Harkell and Havlut headed right; gazing down onto a pile of wolves that were just lazy about. Lying onto their stomachs, eyes closed and wearing cool shades. The other half, however, went forth towards the canine geeks who were working on their robots. Thus, after a few short seconds of chatter around them because silent as the canines and my packmates held a yelling match which caused every canine including Harkell and Havlut to shift their attention towards the commotion and have mixed responses. I, on the other paw, just shook my head. Tired and annoyed by their annoying antics however.

But instead of just dragging them away as we always do, I turned towards Harkell and Havlut. Both of which shift their heads and eyes towards me. For a slight nod had came between them, at an understand that perhaps only we three could understand at least for the moment. With the distraction set upon every eye of the canine surrounding everyone, we slipped away from the crowd. Heeding down southward from the competition spot held and gaze towards the lake shores. When we had arrived, we had noticed that the crowd even extended to here. There were wolves, foxes and corsacs lying adjacently to the lake. Pups of all kinds and species were found upon the edges of the lake, minding their own business for the time being. Parents were with some of them; but for those few had other pups alongside. We scanned the area using our binoculars which is just our paws cupped together to make such a thing. In a few seconds, we had spotted our robot. Already hanging pups in midair; 'playing' with them as if he was one of their own. To us he was harmful however due to his programming capabilities and we had grew fear that the robot might injure the pups he was 'playing' with however.

So quickly, we fled straight towards the robot we had spotted. Tackling him onto the ground. Or so we had wished and imagined however. Because we had made him big and metal; our heads were knocked against the metal pieces of his legs. Gaining a red mark upon our foreheads as I felt the realm spinning surrounding me. I fell upon the ground while Harkell and Havlut shouted behind me. I heard running, fast footsteps before falling unconscious anyway.

The next few hours I had came by. My eyes opened while I rose myself up towards my feet. Growling in silence, yet a burning headache came upon my forehead. I winched in pain and decided to just relax while I shift my attention towards my surroundings. Finding out a second later that I was just at the lake again. Yet no one was here; evening had fallen whereas the sun sinks to the horizon below. White clouds turned puffy orange or red due to the sunrays that was poking through its fadingness. Or whatever the term was called however. I turned towards Harkell and Havlut; both of which were sitting adjacent to me and at a few feet away from where I had laid unconscious upon. I called towards them, they turned towards me. Bright smiles appeared upon their faces as Harkell walked up towards me. Raising a pile of ice towards my forehead, ending up knocking me down back onto the ground with my four paws spread on either side of me. I growled at them, “Why?" “To help cool you down." Harkell responded without any sort of humor as he bore his eyes down onto my own. Shortly afterwards, he had left me by myself. Sitting adjacently to Havlut while I barked out towards them. The two turned back to me.

“What happened? Where was the robot. Where is everyone else? Did we win? Did-" “Quiet Hunter." Harkell responded, cutting off my line of thinking as I stared at him with eyes widened before slowly returned to normal and nodding back at him. “Alright. But please tell me what happened." Harkell chuckled in response, nodding as he motioned Havlut. For the two british wolves walked forth towards me, closing our gap between one another. When they stand adjacently, they sat down and hang their heads to meet my eyes which I raised and gaze up towards me. A mixture of hope and something else rose in the depths of my stomach, it was perhaps something that I could not understand or comprehend however. But it was there. Within the first few seconds of the silence between us three, Harkell exhaled a breath, shook his head and opened his eyes back towards me. “We lost the robot." “To whom?" “To the graveyard." Started Havlut while I turned towards him, finding him smiling faintly as if he had told the best joke in the world. But that smile had faded once I shake my head at him, growling lowly “That joke is stupid." “So it is…" trailed Harkell who agreed with me.

The next pause of silence followed our short conversation as neither of us were able to say anything at all or contribute to the conversation at best. For as I exhaled a breath and rose to my feet, still feeling chill due to the ice block piled all over my back and belly, I shook off the chill and flinched when the warmth had came. But turned back towards the pair of wolves in front of me before speaking out towards them, “Then how did we lost the robot? More importantly, how did we lose the competition? Did the three idiot wolves commit something they should not suppose to? Or something?" I questioned them, bombarding them with so many questions that it had indeed made my head spin. Despite all the questions, Harkell and Havlut shook their heads. Disagreeing with everything then as I find myself blinking back towards them and chuckled rather lightly, much to their surprise. Yet they never done anything despite turning themselves around, turned their heads over their shoulders and nudged at me forth which I acknowledged suddenly and moved back onto position. Onto that on, we walked as a group back towards the once held competition.

My eyes grew wide upon witnessing the event that had unfolded before me. For the competition alone was a mess. Confetti were all over the grass. Chairs turned over, white tables flipped. Canines laying dead upon the ground. Large punches were inflicted upon their bodies. The judges' chairs, three of them, were laying face up and pointing straight towards the skies above us. The table and its piles of papers were laying scattered across the grassy grounds. Only three out of everyone there were found sleeping. These three were my idiots; Horizoki, Huzizu and Haziyo. All three were piled up upon one another, deep breaths laid upon their bellies as their ears flickered upon the crickets of the night. Exhaling a breath, I chuckled breathlessly and shifted my attention towards Harkell and Havlut. Both of which nodded their heads, agreeing to my earlier silent statement at hand that was held between us even though I only kept it to my own head. Gradually, I walked towards the three wolves there. Weaving myself through the piles of bodies that laid scattered between myself and them. But once I had drawn forth to them was when I stopped and lowered my head down, nudging their necks as they suddenly stir awake. Horizoki, at the top of them, was the first to arouse. For he yawned upon the nighttime hours and shook himself awake before shifting his attention towards me.

“Oh hey Hu- Ah!" He said before falling off from the small part below him. Huzizu and Haizyo yawned also, turned their heads towards the source of the noise which was Horizoki who was onto his back, four feet up into the air and gazing up upon the skies above him. Huzizu shook his head, Haizyo laughed at his predicament before jumping off from Huzizu and landed upon the grounds. Landing adjacently with Huzizu, he and him shift their eyes towards me while I sat down and tilted my head to one side. Questioning them. “What exactly happened when I was knocked out." “So that was why you were not found at all!" Exclaimed Haizyo while Huzizu narrowed his eyes and asked, mirroring me “Were you knocked out? That easily too?" “Yeah." I responded when Harkell stepped in between the conversation and spoke, “He ran face first into the metal skin of our robot." “Oh." Remarked Huzizu despite Haizyo trying his best not to snicker. I, on the other paw, glared towards Harkell who just gave me a friendly smile in response. Although it looked more like an smug or overconfidence or something. But letting that passed after a few seconds of silence, Huzizu responded to my earlier question.

“We had not seen you or the two other wolves." Huzizu stated, pointing to Harkell and Havlut who growled at him suddenly, “We have a name, you know. And idiot, you knew who we were, we lived in the same pack as you!" “Really?" Huzizu questioned innocently, tilting his head to one side as he added “I never knew that." “I want to rip off your head, just for that comment alone." Responded Harkell threateningly as his eyes were narrowed and pointed daggers straight for Huzizu who ignored his threats and remake, laughing it off as if it was just a joke or something. Slapping his knee, he shook his head and continued on with the story in mind. “Anyway, we had not seen either you, Harkell or Havlut. So we perhaps had guessed that you were fixing the robot southward by the lakes or having some R and R." “Emphasis on the latter however…" Commented Harkell with his eyes rolled with Havlut shaking his head suddenly while Huzizu smiled brightly at the two, commenting again “So you guys did had the latter! I knew it!. YOu know, we had did indeed worked on that-" “Huzizu…" I trailed, interrupting him as he snapped back towards me before nodding. Red cheeks formed around his head as he returned to the story at hand.

“Anyooh." Began Huzizu, “So while you three were getting some R and R, we had decided to steal some ice cream. I told the plan with Horizoki and Haizyo. Both of them agreed onto the plan and we had committed upon it. However, shortly after we had the operation on the go, it fell apart rather quickly when the other canines had noted us sneaking up towards their pups." “And that was how we gotten these marks." Interrupted Haizyo with a proud brighten smile upon his face, looking so proud with his brightest smile as it grows from ear to ear. Me, Harkell and Havlut stared at Haizyo for a moment; then shifted back towards Huzizu who pushed Haizyo out of the way with annoyance. With a thud that followed and Haizyo complaining about his 'injury' which Haizyo ensured that he never had any to begin with, continued his story again.

“The other canines came towards us, surrounding us from every direction and they would shout out towards us all of the sudden. Like a chant almost. We three had sticked together of course, ready to pounce onto them in case things gotten ugly." Huizuzu frowned, shaking his head after he pause had made when his eyes were suddenly closed. By the time he reopened theme again was when he turned back towards us and continued, “Then just as the great fight would come. A giant robot came and joined the fray. Kicking and grabbing and throwing canines that were surroundings us as screams filled the skies and twinkles followed after those fading sounds. Till we and the robot was left was when I had gotten worried." “So you guys did fought the robot." “Our robot that is." Corrected Harkell as I nodded to him and corrected myself, “Our robot." “Indeed." Huzizu responded with a shake of his head, “We stand face to face. Of course we made the first move. We drew out our pistil guns that the VPD allowed us to have and tried to fire hook shots at his feet and body. It never worked because he would-" “Ripped them apart." “Yeah."

“Next, Haizyo…" Huzizu pointed to the wolf still complaining upon the ground, “unleashed a secret weapon of his. He would be bearing a white lab coat, acting as if he was some sort of mad scientist and started revealed his weapon." “Which was a freezing gun ray." I said, deadpanned. “How you know?" Questioned Haizyo as his ears perked up and he rose his head from the ground glancing at me; but I just shrugged at him in response while Huzizu growled at Haizyo and slammed his head against the ground yelling something at him while pain shot up his spine and he started complaining again. “Anyway…" trailed Huzizu as he and I shift to the pair of wolves playing doctor before we met eyes again, “So Haizyo fired his freezing gun ray which did no effect. So he tried freezing the floor. The robot responded with his own roller skates which I had no idea that he had…" He made a pause to glare angrily at Horizoki who looked up towards him and raised his shoulders, “What?" “Please shock him for me." I started which Huzizu blinked at me and my request; but nonetheless complied with it.

With light aqua shocks and yelling coming from Haizyo, Huzizu turned back towards me and continued again “A lizard jumped out of nowhere." “Probably from the bushes nearby however." Commented Horizoki, perhaps he was just muttering underneath his breath or something. But Huzizu just ignored him. “And unleashed snakes and cobras at it; but it never work." “Cause of the metal plates we had install-" I interrupted but Huzizu narrowed his eyes at me and the rest of the wolves, growling after that pause as he spoke to no one in particular “Who is telling the story here?" “More like a flashback." Commented Horizoki which earned another glare from Huzizu, he flinched and said nothing more while he kept his eyes towards me. My ears flattened suddenly and kept my silence while Huzizui drew a deep breath, exhaled and continued again without interrupting.

“Anyway, the lizard had retreated. The robot started laughing and getting overconfident however. He stormed the event, smashing up everything that stand in his way. While he was doing so, us three got together and formed a plan." At the next mouth opened, Huzizu growled in annoyance and muttered perhaps loudly than before “Yes, it involves a controller that Haizyo installed for some reason!" He pin the blame on the wolf who was on the ground, he growled back towards Haizyo despite howling in pain from Horizoki. “Hey! How else are we going to 'control' him? Not automatic or voice command or anything!" “You are an idiot. A navie idiot!" Shouted Huizuzi, glaring back towards the howling wolf while the two continued fighting back and forth, we watched them for a moment before I exhaled a breath. Raising my paw onto my forehead and exhaled a breath, “Do not think we will be able to get the full story here without any interruption anymore." “Think so." Responded Harkell, darting his eyes back and forth between Haizyo and Huzizu. “Although this seems entertaining." I narrowed my eyes at him and shake my head in response, cracking a smile. “You really do enjoy the antics of these wolves." “Much unlike my previous pack however." “Figures." I commented, laughing as Harkell and Havlut chuckled in the meantime.