 
Genotopia: Blood of the Unwanted

Text copyright © Michelle Dalson TM 2015

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  1. Risa

A sharp cry sounded from the branches. Risa Larke leapt over a fallen trash can and raced across a long, twisting branch. Blood was pulsed in her ears. He was after her again.

The sharp cry sounded again. Something swooped over her head, and she screamed and fell to her knees. When she looked up, she locked eyes with the ferocious beast that was chasing her. A tiny sable ferret with black fur and a moon-white face. A distinctive raccoon-like mask was splotched across its angry, gleaming eyes. Black, feathery wings extended from behind its shoulders. It was nothing more than a six-month-old Ferrethawk. A mere fledgling.

The little Ferrethawk widened its jaws and exhaled a strong gust of wind, blowing Risa backward. She screamed as she neared the edge of her branch.

"Lester, stoooop!" She widened her eyes at the network of thick, bulky branches far, far below. Small forms of humans and full-grown winged-ferrets were making their way across the many branches. "Somebody help!" She called. Someone had to realize one of the baby Ferrethawks escaped the nursery and was trying to kill her.

The wind was blowing fiercely out of Lester's mouth, and Risa was just a few inches away from slipping off the branch. She squeezed her eyes shut and prepared for a long fall.

BANG!

Suddenly, the wind stopped and Risa fell back.

"Risa!" Someone grabbed her hand before she could fall off the branch. As soon as she stood straight on her feet, she found herself looking straight into the eyes of a tall, lanky young man with silky, shoulder-length white-blonde hair.

"Kyrion!" She gasped, regaining her position.

"Are you alright?" His voice was soft and feathery. "I see Lester was chasing you again."

"He nearly killed me this time!" She cried. She looked up to see two men running across a bronze-laden branch several feet above her head.

"Darn it, you missed him!" Shouted one of the men. "Shoot again!"

The other man aimed a metallic, cone-shaped device up at the branches above them, and the loud bang sounded again. A red beam blasted from the tip. The beam shot passed Lester, who was now fluttering away from Risa, heading toward the tree to her left where a great, white building was situated on the topmost branch. The little Ferrethawk let out an angry squeak and disappeared behind one of the roof layers of the white building.

"Oh great!" Cried the man. "Now he's hiding behind the Emperor's Lab!"

Risa and Kyrion exchanged worried glances.

Kyrion chortled softly. "I'm curious to see if they'll get to catch him this time."

Risa giggled. "Yeah, me too. Let's go see if they do!"

The two of them raced across their branch and stopped as they reached the edge. Risa watched as the two men grabbed a vine to swing to the tree that beheld the great white lab. Then she grabbed the branch and was just about to swing across, until she felt Kyrion's hand on her shoulder.

"You sure you can swing across by yourself?" He spoke gently. "I remember seeing you fall yesterday."

She frowned and stuck her chin at him. "That was because my uncle's grumpy Ferrethawk blew a gust of wind at me and distracted me."

Kyrion chuckled smoothly. "Well, alright then. You may go first."

They took turns swinging across to land on the branch beneath the lab. Then Risa looked up at the branch above her, where she spotted the little Ferrethawk settled atop the roof of the white building. It was a Lab. Home of Emperor Thepimus, leader of the Ferrethawkian Clan. It was the place where all Ferrethawkians underwent genetic modification to receive a variety of superpowers that would shape the air and its numerous chemicals. Lester was clutching the end of the roof of the Lab, chattering angrily at the two men as they climbed up the golden stairway that led to the branch that beheld the great, white building.

Risa listened carefully to the Ferrethawk's angry chatters. The little creature was now old enough to speak Ferrethawkian hoxtongue—a language that consisted of specific patterns of squeaks, grunts, and other animalistic sounds of Ferrethawks. As Risa listened to the Ferrethawk's short, sharp squeaks, she recognized the specific pattern that translated into: "You flightless, hairless freaks will never catch me!"

The men stood in front of the great white building on the branch, staring up at the chattering little fledgling.

"Lester, get down here!" Shouted the man. "Don't make Emperor Thepimus come out and tranquilize you!"

The ferret let out another series of sharp clicks. This pattern of sounds translated into: "Too cowardly to tranquilize me yourselves?"

"You know we're not going to shoot at the Emperor's Lab," replied the man. "Now get down here at once!"

The Ferrethawk held his head high and turned to fly behind another layer of roof. The men continued to shout as the ferret disappeared again.

Risa huffed. She tucked a strand of her red hair behind her ear and muttered, "I sure hope they catch him and lock him up in a place where he can never escape again."

"Risa!"

Risa turned to see another fair-haired, tall and lanky man rushing her way along the branch. He wore small, round glasses and had a thin, white-blond mustache and beard.

"Sir Odius!" Risa recognized her uncle. A full-grown Ferrethawk—an old, gray female with tangled gray fur and gray-feathered, scraggly wings—was fluttering by his shoulder. Risa narrowed her eyes as the creature locked eyes with her and curled her lips into a snarl. "Hortense..." Risa spoke her name.

The old Ferrethawk gave an unfriendly rasp and flapped her wings at her face. A gust of wind nearly blew Risa backward again. Hortense let out a series of slow, raspy snarls and coughs that translated into: "Curse you, mixed-blood! Your foreign scent is overwhelming!"

"Ahem!" Sir Odius cleared his throat. "Hortense? Please. Be kind. Risa can't help smelling the way she smells."

Risa winced. But it was true. She was a mixed-blood, and no genopet could tolerate the smell of a human that shared blood with another clan.

Sir Odius pressed his glasses into his face and turned to Risa. "May you kindly explain why you two young'uns are so close to the Emperor's Tree?"

Risa crossed her arms. "Uncle Odius, Lester escaped the nursery and was chasing me again. He nearly killed me this time!" She turned to Kyrion and gave a grateful nod. "Then Kyrion kinda saved me before I fell to my death."

Kyrion nodded. He looked over his shoulder and fixed his gaze on the two men as they ventured behind the lab. "The guards showed up just in time before he could blow me off the branch. We were just curious to see if they would catch him this time."

Hortense faced Risa, opened her mouth wide, and let out a sharp, eerie screech: "Aha! My grandson can't stand your scent either! You ought to be banished, like all mixed-bloods deserve!"

"So little Lester escaped the nursery again?" Her Uncle gave a humored look. "My, my, what a troublesome little runt!" He turned to gaze down at Risa. "My dear, it looks like your mixed-blood scent aggravates Lester more than any fledgling in the nursery."

Risa sighed. "Well, I can't help that." Her mother was bor in the Ferrethawkian Clan with the Ferrethawks. On the other hand, her father was born in the Volcanian Clan, the clan where humans raised wolves that were genetically modified to produce fire. Such wolves were known as Volcanines. The Volcanian Emperor had genetically modified them so that they had small stumps of volcanoes rising from their heads. Thus, the Ferrethawks and the Volcanines were two distinct species of genopets, each created to serve different purposes with different clans: the humans of the Ferrethawkian Clan trained the Ferrethawks to use their powers to cure new, deadly diseases caused by Mother Nature's new airborne chemicals, regulate air quality and natural wind disasters of Wildheart Forest; the humans of the Volcanian Clan trained Volcanines to use their powers to cure new, deadly diseases brought upon by new types of fire and heat chemicals, to regulate heat, and to produce fire in the Wildheart Forest.

Although both species were created to keep the natural conditions in balance in the forest, both species of genopets—and thus, both clans of humans that trained the pets—were rivals. It was a natural, unchangeable instinct for different genopet species to see one another as enemies to be attacked. The same went for the humans that trained them: the genopets of one clan would feel the same sense of rivalry and disgust whenever they smelled a human that trained a different species.

Thus, it was not uncommon for genopets like Lester and other Ferrethawks to feel a strong sense of resentment and agitation whenever they smelled a human like Risa—who was of both Ferrethawkian and Volcanian ancestry.

Uncle Odius chuckled and turned to Risa. "Remember when Lester actually ventured all the way into the Volcanian Clan territory last week?"

Risa nodded. "Yes, of course!" she shivered as she pictured setting foot in a territory where there were numerous pools of lava and scorched trees that were continuously set ablaze by Volcanines.

Uncle Odius sighed. "Very dangerous time for the little Ferrethawk fledgling. Luckily, Emperor Donovan of the Volcanian Clan was in a good mood and let our guards venture in his territory to catch Lester before those mangy mongrels could slaughter him. Our Emperor did have to pay a small fine for crossing into his territory, but at least they got Lester outta there."

Hortense snorted. The ferret gave another series raspy, cracked snarls and flicked her tail. Risa narrowed her eyes. "Uncle, what did Hortense say this time?" Sometimes it was difficult to translate the old Ferrethawk's series of crackled snarls and chatters.

"Erm..." Uncle Odius glanced at the cranky genopet on his shoulder. "She says it was lucky that she was with the guards at the time, because no Ferrethawk from our clan would have been brave enough to take the risk and venture into another Clan's territory for the sake of rescuing one troublesome fledgling."

Kyrion raised her eyebrows. "Ah. Of course she'd say that about her grandson."

Risa winced as Hortense snapped her teeth at a moth that fluttered passed her. The old Ferrethawk started chattering and screaming curses at the moth as it disappeared behind a higher branch. "Yes, Lester's her grandson," Risa remarked. "Which isn't surprising, he's just as nasty and ill-tempered as she is."

Odius raised his bushy yellow eyebrows. "Oh, well you can't blame either of them. Remember that both of Lester's parents were killed when our clan was battling against the Volcanines in a Genopet League battle last winter. That means Hortense also lost one of her dear children. His father, Boreas, was her son."

Risa huffed. "I guess that's understandable. Hortense is getting very old, so Lester's mother was probably her last litter."

Hortense opened her mouth and blew a gust of wind at Risa's face. "Boreas was also Emperor Thepimus's pet and the Prime Genopet of our clan! Those scar-faced mutts killed our clan's Prime Genopet!"

Risa flinched and flicked her red hair out of her eyes. "Hmph. Nasty old pet," she muttered. "Good thing you probably only have a few more years left."

"Oh, please don't mention that," said Odius with a sigh. "I couldn't imagine living the rest of my life without my dear Hortense," Uncle Odius gently petted the head of the seething gray Ferrethawk. "No human would want to live without their genopet companion. These critters were genetically modified to fulfill certain roles in nature, so we—as humans—have a responsibility to train these beasts to use the powers we've given them to fulfill that specific role."

"Yeah, yeah, I know," Risa walked pass her uncle and grabbed the vine at the side of their branch. "Each species of genopet has its own unique ability, and there are clans of humans that are responsible for training a particular species to hone that ability. Our clan—the Ferrethawkian Clan—is responsible for training the Ferrethawks, teaching them to regulate air quality, wind currents, and such." She rolled her eyes and grabbed the branch. "I've been taught this so many times in school already."

Sir Odius followed her and chuckled. "I'm only reminding you because tomorrow's your big day." He shifted his eyes from Risa to Kyrion. "Tomorrow is a big day for both of you, actually."

Kyrion smiled. "Oh yes, of course. The Pairing Ceremony's tomorrow."

Risa gasped. She let go of the vine. "Crap! No way! Tomorrow's the Pairing Ceremony?!"

Kyrion turned to Risa with a humored smile. "Of course, Risa," he said. "Haven't you been seeing all the commercials and billboard ads all over our trees? The entire clan is getting pumped up for the special day tomorrow."

"Oh no, oh no," Risa grabbed her head and gazed down from her branch to see the bustling crowd of humans and Ferrethawks walking along the lower branches and bridges that linked the various giant trees. She had never been scared of heights before, but suddenly, she felt terribly dizzy. "You've got to be kidding. Tomorrow can't be the Pairing Ceremony." On the first week of each year, all 16-year-olds in all clans of Wildheart Forest participated in the Pairing Ceremony, a ritualistic process that paired the 16-year-old with one of the juvenile genopets of their own clans.

"Risa, what are you scared about?" Kyrion walked up to her side. "You should be excited! Tomorrow's the day every 16-year-old in our clan gets to choose a fledgling Ferrethawk in the Nursery. We'll finally have a genopet of our own!"

She whirled around and looked at the boy with wide, frightened eyes. "Kyrion, the Ferrethawks hate me. All genopets are unfriendly around humans who are not pureblood members of their clan."

Hortense, who was bristling on Odius's shoulder, snorted at her with agreement. "That's because you mixed-bloods share a nasty stench with the other foreign clan. Despicable."

Risa huffed at the Ferrethawk. "And you've seen how cranky Hortense gets around me. I'm definitely not going to get along with any of the other Ferrethawks—I was just passing by the nursery and all the Ferrethawk fledglings were all scared of me! Well, except for Lester, who escaped and tried to kill me!"

Sir Odius raised his eyebrows. "But Risa. Remember, it's extremely important that you learn to work well with your pet. Every human in our clan is responsible for the well-being of his pet, because the strength of his pet will determine the success of the human. The more battles a human and his pet can win, the better his chances are of qualifying for certain job positions in this clan."

Kyrion turned to Risa, nodding. "You have a dream job, don't you, Risa?"

"Ugh," Risa hung her head. "Of course I do. I've always wanted to be a Healer."

Kyrion smiled. "So do I. However, such a job requires a person and his pet to be in the Elite Rank, the highest rank in the clan. Our pets must win enough battles to qualify as Elite Combatants, then we will be eligible to apply to prestigious job positions such as a Healer."

Risa looked up at the higher branches. "I've...I've always wanted to be a healer. Just like my mother was. She was one of the best. She and her Ferrethawk were superb in battle, they had excellent skills and powers when they worked together, and thus, they made great Nox Doctors."

Nox Doctors were Ferrethawkian healers that specialized in curing diseases caused by the toxic Nox Clouds that formed in the air.

Sir Odius looked up through the branches and sighed. "The world has changed so much. New diseases have emerged from the changing resources on earth, and new natural disasters are becoming more prevalent, as if Mother Nature is trying to throw obstacles at us. Our human technology and growing scientific advancement must strengthen if we are to create the best genopets to control such natural conditions and protect our human species. Thanks to your mother and her excellent training of her genopet, no one in our clan has died from a Nox Cloud illness."

Risa nodded. She narrowed her eyes and clenched her fists. "I want to be a healer just like her. I want to learn to cure the new diseases brought upon by new, airborne chemicals. But I must pair up with a strong young Ferrethawk and train well so that we can get to the Elite Rank and be eligible to become healers." Then she loosened her grip and bit her lip. "But...it's going to be so hard to get along with any Ferrethawk if they just naturally cannot stand the smell of Volcanian blood in me."

Kyrion put a hand on Risa's back. "It will take time, Risa. This is why we have the entire rest of this year to train with the genopets we pair with and build a strong relationship with them." He looked around and then said, "As a matter of fact, I was on my way to the Nursing Tree before I saw Lester chasing you. How about you come with me? I can help some of the fledglings in the nursery get acquainted with you. It would be a good start to get a little exposure to some of the young Ferrethawks before you are officially paired with one in the Pairing Ceremony tomorrow."

Risa huffed. "Sure! Why not? I guess it will make tomorrow easier if I can find a Ferrethawk that won't constantly blow wind at my face or smack me with its wings."

  2. Lester

Lester watched as Risa and Kyrion made their way across the lower branches of the tree. He wrinkled his nose and gave a small snort. As the wind blew Risa's scent in his direction, he inhaled the smell and heard a low, feminine voice echoing in his head. "Fire...fire...kill."

Lester's eyes narrowed and he curled his lips back in a snarl, feeling his head throbbing with rage. "Fire...fire...kill...fire...fire...kill..." Images of orange, flame-pelted canines flashed in his head. Cone-like volcanoes jutted from their heads, releasing flames and smoke into the sky.

The Volcanines.

Lester visualized a whole pack of them, racing across a fire-scorched field covered with molten rocks and rivers of lava. The images grew clearer and clearer as the smell of Risa's Volcanian blood intensified. "Beware, beware," the eerie voice in his head was becoming clearer as well. "Fire...fire...kill...kill the enemies..."

Then Risa disappeared behind a trunk with Kyrion. Her scent began to die away, and the voice in his head grew faint. The images became vague in his mind, and pretty soon, Lester was panting, blinking rapidly as he heard his own thoughts again. "Mother Nature," it felt good to hear himself think again. That eerie voice of Mother Nature tended to get too overwhelming, especially whenever he smelled a non-clan species or a non-clan human race. It was typical for all genopets to hear her voice whenever they smelled a foreign species or non-clan human. Whenever Lester heard that voice, he was no longer in control of his own body. He was prompted to attack, to destroy, to slaughter. His inner animalistic impulses would get the best of him, and he would be unable to control himself. He could only act in response to that threatening, deep voice in his head. The scent of another species or another non-clan human race was like the finger that pressed his button. The button that would turn on Mother Nature's voice in his head, so that Lester would be driven to doing whatever his impulses drove him to do.

To attack the enemy. To fight the rival species and its human master.

But Mother Nature's voice wasn't always this eerie. Sometimes, she sounded as tender and soothing as a dove. For example, if Lester smelled the scent of his mother or father, Mother Nature's voice in his head was like a musical melody that relaxed his muscles. He would be prompted to rest, to show affection, to cuddle.

Unfortunately, however, his parents were no longer around. They were dead. Killed by the Volcanines. Lester could no longer smell their sweet scent, and thus, he could no longer hear Mother Nature speaking to him in that melodious voice again.

Now, whenever he smelled a Volcanine or a Volcanine human master, Mother Nature's feminine voice sounded deadlier than ever before. It was much deeper, filled with more rage than he had ever heard before. The sound only strengthened Lester's raging impulses.

The little Ferrethawk shook himself and ruffled his wings. He always felt dizzy after hearing the voice in his head. His ears twitched at the sound of footsteps, and he realized the two security guards were beneath his branch, one level below.

I should probably get back to the nursery before they find me, he thought.

He spread his black, feathery wings, and headed toward the Nursing Tree in the distance. He soared over Risa and Kyrion, inhaling her scent once again.

Instantly, Mother Nature's voice returned to his head. Deep, deadly, and monstrous.

"Fire...fire...kill....Fire...fire...kill...." Images of flame-pelted Volcanines with volcanoes on their heads flashed through Lester's mind again.

"Shut up," Lester growled aloud at the voice, squeezing his eyes shut.

"Too scared....too scared..." the deep voice was taunting him. "A disgrace to your species..."

Lester let out a high-pitched squeak. "I'll show you who's the disgrace to this clan!" The little Ferrethawk instantly swooped down and exhaled a strong wind that knocked Risa and Kyrion over. Risa gave a scream, and Kyrion helped her up. They ran behind a thick branch covered with peach-blossoms, which managed to overshadow Risa's scent. The monstrous, feminine voice in his head died away. Lester watched Risa disappear into the farther branches of blossoms, breathing heavily, until he felt his rage ebb away.

  3. Risa

Risa and Kyrion swung from branch to branch, from tree to tree. Finally, they landed on the branch of the Nursing Tree, where they faced a cubic, metallic, tan building near the trunk. Risa and Kyrion made their way toward the building and stepped inside. Across from them was a long row of nests where mothering Ferrethawks settled with their litters, each consisting of two or three fledglings.

"Ah, they've grown so fast," Kyrion sighed. "Can't believe it's already been six months since these fledglings were newborns."

Risa stiffened as she and Kyrion passed the nests of Ferrethawk families. The mother ferrets wrinkled their noses and snarled with disgust whenever Risa passed by. Some of the little fledglings squealed and hid behind their mothers.

Risa groaned and hung her head. "Ugh. See what I mean? They're all scared of me!"

There was no reply. Risa looked up to see Kyrion several feet ahead of her, tickling the belly of a tan-and-white fledgling. "Who's a little cutie?" He cooed.

She winced. If only she could do that without arousing anger among the Ferrethawks. She turned to see a snarling mother Ferrethawk at her right. Her three fledglings were shivering behind her back, widening their eyes at Risa with fear.

"Mommy, she smells like the fire-dog daddy was battling yesterday," squeaked one of the fledglings.

The mother Ferrethawk chattered back. "Of course she does. That's Risa Larke, the half-Volcanian. Only Volcanian humans train those mangy volcano-wolves." The Ferrethawk crouched and gave an angry flap of her wings in Risa's direction. "Get lost, mixed-blood! No Ferrethawk in this clan wants to smell your stinky Volcanian blood!"

Risa frowned and looked away from the genopet. She stomped down the aisle, feeling stung. "I don't wanna train any of you nasty furballs anyway," she muttered.

Then she gave a scream. Wind blew her back against a stack of packaged dead mice—Ferrethawk food. Risa fell on her bottom and looked up at a pair of cackling, jet-black fledgling Ferrethawks.

"Bull's-eye!" Chattered the bulkier fledgling, flicking his thick, long tail. He looked even more intimidating than Lester: he was thickset with darker black fur. The absence of a white face and black splotch over the eyes also distinguished him from Lester.

The smaller fledgling beside the thick, brawny fledgling jumped up and down. "Do it again, Thistletail! Make her crash against those packages until the dead mice inside fall out and cover her up!"

The black, bulky Ferrethawk heaved, ready to blow another gust of wind. Risa shot up to her feet to run away. She hurried to the end of the room and stepped behind a wall. "Thistletail," she hissed the name of that brawny little Ferrethawk through clenched teeth. "The second worse Ferrethawk after Lester."

A meek squeak sounded from behind her. "Thistletail's nothing but a big bully!" Risa turned to her right at the sound of a meek series of squeaks. She saw a tiny white Ferretawk with white-feathered wings gazing up at her from the side of its nest. The little white Ferrethawk had bright-red eyes that never blinked as she stood on her hind legs and fixed her gaze on Risa. "Was he being a big meanie to you too?" She squeaked.

Risa blinked. Was this fledgling actually speaking to her? Without any nasty jibes? She looked at the badge in front of the nest. Lula, was what it read. A golden star was next to her name, and Risa suddenly remembered that this was the daughter of Windsor, Emperor Thepimus's genopet. This was the daughter of the clan's Prime Genopet.

"Uh, yes!" Risa replied. "He blew me against a stack of packaged dead mice."

Lula whimpered. The little Ferrethawk chattered quickly and meekly, but Risa was able to comprehend what the fledgling was trying to say. "Aw, that's so rude! He was being a meanie to me too—he blew this big gust of wind at me and spun me in the air like I was a toy! Good thing my mommy showed him a lesson and bit him hard on the ear." She nodded at the white Ferrethawk sleeping behind her.

Risa chuckled. "That's good. I hope that taught him not to mess with the Prime Genopet's daughter."

"You should get your mommy to teach him a lesson too!" Said the little white Ferrethawk. "She's a human, so she can punish him even more!"

Risa sighed. "Unfortunately, my mommy's no longer with us anymore..."

"Then get your daddy! Daddy's are even tougher—my dad is Prime Genopet of this clan and is the toughest daddy ever!"

Risa blinked. She forced herself to speak calmly. "My dad's not around either. And even if he was still alive, he wouldn't even be living with this clan."

Lula tilted her head. That she jumped. "Oh, that's right! You're the mixed-blood aren't you?" Lula wrinkled her nose. "Sorry! I can't smell anything, so I wasn't able to tell."

Risa flinched. "You can't smell?"

Lula shook her head. "I was born with this weird defect in my nose." She shook herself. "Hmph! But silly me! I should have recognized you as the mixed-blood by the color of your hair! You're the only human I've seen in this clan who doesn't have really light yellow hair."

It was true. Each clan of humans was identified by the hair color the human members were born with. All Ferrethawkians had very pale yellow hair. The Vulcianians had blazing red hair. Risa's hair, however, was an unequal mix of both: her hair was red with thin, yellow streaks. Of course, such features were more easily noticed by humans rather than genopets: the humans from different clans could tell each other apart based on the hair color; the genopets distinguished humans from different clans based on the scent of each human.

Risa raised eyebrows at Lula. "So you can't smell anything at all?"

Lula shook her head. "Mm-mm. Can't smell a thing. It sucks, because then I wouldn't be able to distinguish the humans from different enemy clans unless I rememberall the hair colors of each clan. But mommy says as long as I'm adopted by a really loyal and hardworking 16-year-old tomorrow, I can still grow up to be a strong and loyal genopet to our clan! I wanna be strong enough to be an Elite Combatant in our clan!" She shivered. "Oh...but I'm scared! I hope I'll get picked by a human tomorrow...I don't want to wait until next year's Pairing Ceremony!"

Risa chuckled. "Hey, I really wanna make it to the Elite Rank to. How would you like to team up together in the Pairing Ceremony tomorrow?" She winked at the little fledgling. "I'll make sure you grow up to be the strongest Ferrethawk in the clan."

She tilted her head. "Really? You're going to pick me?"

Risa smiled. "Of course. You're the only Ferrethawk who hasn't treated me like I'm a dangerous, unwanted stink-bag."

"Yay!" The little fledgling jumped for joy. "I can't wait till tomorrow! We're gonna make the strongest pair ever!"

Risa laughed. "We sure will!" Risa felt a surge of giddiness rush through her veins. The position of a Ferrethawkian Healer didn't seem so unattainable after all.

The next day, Risa was walking across numerous, zigzagging branches with a huge group of 16-year-old Ferrethawkians.

She looked around and suddenly felt intimidated. Everyone around her had shiny, light-yellow hair that brimmed under the sun-rays shining through the tree branches above them. When Risa passed by a glass building set upon one of the branches to her right, she was able to glance at her reflection for a moment. The only redhead in the clan. Sure, she had the thin yellow streaks in her hair, but she still didn't look like a full-blooded clan member to the other humans in her clan. More importantly, she didn't even smell like a full-blooded clan member to the Ferrethawks of the clan.

Whatever. At least she knew there was one Ferrethawk that would take her seriously. Lula's the sweetest little Ferrethawk I've met. Even better: she can't smell anything!

She heard giggling behind her. She looked over her shoulder to see a tall, thin girl with her white-blonde hair tied up in a stiff bun. Annelle White. The girl was pointing at Risa and giggling with two of her friends—Anya and Jynn—who looked just as tall, blonde, and pale as Annelle.

"Hello Risa," Anelle had a soft, feathery voice like any typical Ferrethawkian. Though there was an obvious tone of sarcasm. "Be careful out there on the Pairing Field! There are going to be lots of fledglings fluttering around, and they all have very sharp teeth."

Jynn snickered. "Don't forget that when they're especially scared, they'll puff out green gas clouds!"

Annelle chortled. "Ooh, yes. Don't wanna inhale any of that. Very stinky stuff. But probably not as stinky as your blood!"

Risa glared at the tall, delicate girl. "You can't even smell my blood."

"No, I can't," she said with a smug smile. "But I'm sure the stench of a Ferrethawk's gas cloud is just as stinky to us as your blood is to the Ferrethawks!"

Risa's cheeks turned red with fury. "Then maybe you should inhale enough of it so that you can fall unconscious. That way, you won't smell anything!" Risa hurried forward and pushed her way through the crowd before Annelle could shoot another sardonic jibe.

Risa's face was heating. Darn clan members. Annelle and her friends were always picking on her. They were even worse than the genopets. The genopets—with the exception of Lester—never purposely sought her out just to taunt her for being a mixed-blood. Annelle, and occasionally other students her age, would voluntarily follow her around and make fun of her. At least I know that once I'm paired with Lula, I'll have one companion who can treat me like a normal human being. Perhaps she can also exhale some gas at Annelle's face too!

She stopped beside Kyrion. He turned and gave a gentle smile. "Good luck, Risa," he murmured.

"Thanks," she felt goose-bumps on her skin. Make that two companions who can treat me like a normal human being. Kyrion is the only human that doesn't discriminate against me. Uncle Odius and Aunt Nadine may take good care of me, but I know they talk about me behind my back and question my loyalty to the clan. She bit her lip. If only I could make these pets like me. Training these pets will determine my future. If I want to become a Healer, I must have a pet strong enough to fight at the Elite level. I must be at the Elite Rank. And in order to get to the Elite Rank, my pet must cooperate with me and work well with me so that I could win enough battles to qualify for the Elite Rank by the end of this year.

But Risa couldn't contemplate about that right now. Right now, she just had to focus on the first step: getting paired with a genopet. A loud screech sounded through the air and all the 16-year-olds looked up to see a three-foot-long golden Ferrethawk soaring through the sky. His golden-feathered wings were spread to almost four feet wide.

"Prime Genopet Windsor," muttered Risa. Windsor was the new Prime Genopet since the previous—Lester's father, Boreas—had been killed by a Volcanine. Risa watched as the Emperor's genopet landed atop the tree in front of them. He flapped his wings, causing a gust of wind to blow his way. A man dressed in a tan, furry robesoared through the air currents with his arms outstretched. He had thick golden curls that shone under a golden, sparkling crown. Emperor Thepimus. The man landed beside his Prime Genopet and spoke in a voice that projected through the speakers hidden in the branches of the surrounding trees.

"Students of Ferrethawkian Clan," spoke the Emperor in his deep voice. "Today is the day of your Pairing Ceremony. I am proud to say that there are an equal number of 16-year-old students and 6-month-old fledglings today: there are 37 of you, and 37 fledglings. This means every student will have a genopet, and every genopet will have a human master. You will have exactly 20 minutes to run your way around the field with the fledglings and find one that seems to be the best match for you. Once you feel like you have found the pet that's right for you, you are to run out of the field with that fledgling, and wait until the 20 minutes are up. Then the remaining 40 minutes of the ceremony will consist of ritualistic processes that will officially grant your partnership with the pet you have chosen."

A boy with spiky blonde hair was standing by Kyrion's side. He wrinkled his nose and muttered, "20 minutes? That's not enough time to make a fledgling like you!"

Emperor Thepimus went on, "Now before I let all of you go into the field, I want to give you all a warning: once you leave the field with the fledgling you have chosen, you cannot go back to find a new fledgling. So make sure you and your fledgling are happy with each other before you leave and start the pairing rituals."

The spiky-haired blonde boy nudged the boy beside him. "Thistletail is the biggest and strongest fledgling of them all, so he's mine. I'm leaving with him before anyone else does."

The boy beside him shrugged. "I'll be happy with any fledgling as long as I don't end up getting paired with Lester. That nasty genopet bit off the finger of my little sister."

The spiky-haired boy snickered. "That stupid furball kept blowing his droppings at my face yesterday. Ever since his parents were killed by Volcanines, he's been a real douche!"

A loud bang sounded in the air. Emperor Thepimus had shot his gun. "Let the Ceremony begin!"

The gates to the field opened. Risa and the 16-year-olds charged into the field.

Risa could feel the blood pulsing in her ears as she gazed around at the open field. Tiny winged-ferrets were flying everywhere, playfully squeaking and chasing after the students. Many students were prancing after the Ferrethawk fledglings or riding the wind currents they summoned.

That looks so fun...Risa watched as a trio of tiny cream-pelted Ferrethawks exhaled their own gusts of wind to blow Annelle across the field. Risa remembered watching her mother's Ferrethawk blow her through the air with the other Healers. The Healers would rescue victims that were caught in the deadliest storms or swept up in a vortex of toxic fumes, and their Ferrethawks would blow both the Healer and the rescued victims back to the hospitals in the Ferrethawkian territory. I could be in that position, thought Risa, frowning at Annelle as the thin girl passed her with a smug smile. I won't have to worry about my mixed-blood scent aggravating the Ferrethawk that's blowing me through the air as long as that Ferrethawk is Lula.

She looked around for the little white Ferrethawk. All the students were enjoying the rides through the air and little fledglings also seemed to be having a fun time blowing the students through the air. Except for the white-faced, black-pelted Ferrethawk that was zooming through the crowds. Risa winced as Lester darted his way through all the students, flapping his wings at their faces. Annelle, Jynn, and Anya fell off their wind currents, letting out high-pitched screams.

Risa ducked as Lester zoomed toward her, opening his mouth to release gusts of wind at her face. She fell back and landed on her bottom.

"Get outta here, mixed-blood!" Lester yowled. "No one wants to be your pet!"

Risa got up and raced into a crowd of students who were still trying to chase after Ferrethawks.

"Lula!" She called, maneuvering her way through the running students. Where was she? Hopefully no one has chosen her yet! She looked over her shoulder to glance at the exiting gates on the other side of the field. No student or fledgling was standing on the other side.

"Risaaaa!" Risa heard the sound of a familiar meek squeak. She looked over her shoulder and saw a white Ferrethawk with bright-red eyes fluttering her way.

"Lula!" Risa brimmed and ran toward the little fledgling.

"Yeowww!"

Risa stopped in her tracks and gasped. She looked down and jumped back. Lester was crouching on the ground, bristling with fury.

"You stupid smell human!" He was chattering in rapid screams and snarls. "You stepped on my tail! How dare you! Stupid, smelly, stinky old human!" He zoomed up in the air and exhaled hot gusts of wind at her. "Stupid, stinky, mixed-blood freak!"

Risa screamed and ducked, barely dodging Lester as he swooped toward her head. Then the little Ferrethawk spun around and curled his lips to reveal his little fangs. He opened his mouth wide and exhaled a thick, green cloud of gas at her face.

"Lester, no...!" It was too late. Risa had already inhaled the gas. She felt a dizzying sensation, and she fell to her side. Everything went black.

"Risa? Risa! Wake up!"

Risa woke up to the sound of a masculine voice.

"Huh? Oh...what happened?" Her vision was spinning. It took a few seconds before she realized she was lying on her side. Emperor Thepimus was knelt down beside her. The golden-robed man was staring at her with an urgent look on his face. Windsor was sitting on his shoulder, glaring at her with his lips drawn back in a snarl.

"Risa, the 20 minutes are over," said Thepimus. "You must choose your fledgling and head over to the exiting gates at once. The rituals are going to start on this field very soon."

Risa jumped to her feet. "Where's Lula?!"

Windsor flicked his tail. "My daughter has already been paired with another 16-year-old."

"What?!" Risa screamed, feeling her cheeks burn with fury. "Who chose her?! Lula was supposed to be mine!"

Windsor twitched his nose and clicked his teeth. "Gee, you sound like such a child."

"I don't care," Risa stomped her foot. "I need Lula as my genopet. She was the only Ferrethawk who wouldn't be bothered by my mixed-blood scent! How would I ever train well and make it to the Elite Rank now?!"

Thepimus gave a heavy sigh. "Risa, I'm sorry. But in the Pairing Ceremony, all fledglings are open for all 16-year-olds. Unfortunately, the first round of pairing is up, and there's only one fledgling left on the field."

Risa's heart skipped a beat. "Oh no. Please don't tell me..."

Thepimus nodded to the snarling little critter hovering a few feet behind her. "Lester is the only one that wasn't picked up by another 16-year-old. "

Risa looked over her shoulder to lock eyes with the snarling little Ferrethawk behind her. She could hear murmuring from the exiting gates to her right as the students and their new, accompanying Ferrethawks watched with awe.

"No!" Lester squeaked. "I am not gonna pair with that stinky human!" He coughed out a puff of smoke at her face and zoomed away.

Risa started to cough violently. Thepimus patted her back.

"Emperor Thepimus," she stammered between coughs. "My father was a Volcanian, and his Volcanine killed Lester's parents. I can't be paired with Lester; he hates me more than any of the other fledglings."

Windsor flicked his tail. "Oh dear," he turned to his master. "Typical situation for a mixed-blood, isn't it, Thepimus? This is why they always end up clan-less and living on their own in the wild. They fail to find a genopet to pair with, so they end up getting kicked out of their clan without a genopet to fend for themselves."

Risa's mouth dropped open. It was true. A human without a genopet would have no job opportunities, and would thus serve no purpose to the clan. Such humans were often exiled. "No..." Risa was shaking her head. "I'm not gonna leave the clan and live homeless in the wild. I want to make it to the Elite Rank and become a Healer!"

Thepimus raised his eyebrows. "It's either a partnership with Lester, or an exile. Unfortunately, I don't have enough funds going toward our clan's Pet-less Welfare program, so I wouldn't be able to support your living expenses if you don't have a genopet to win battle money for you."

"I'll partner up with Lester then!" Risa said quickly. Then she added more slowly, "I'll do anything to stay in the clan."

Windsor's whiskers twitched. He narrowed his eyes at her. "Lester will need to agree to be partners with you too. The Pairing Ceremony is meant to consider both choices of the human and the genopet." He turned to Thepimus. "Shall I go talk to him?"

The Emperor nodded. "You go and compromise with him. It'll be easier for him to listen to a beast of his own species rather than a human."

Windsor spread his golden wings and glided over to the exiting gates, where Lester was blowing gusts of wind at the students.

"What are you all staring at?!" He chittered, releasing a puff of gray smoke. The students screamed and backed away from his smoke. The fledglings at their sides exhaled white, powdery clouds to clear the smoke, but Lester flapped his wings rapidly and blew the smoke straight back.

Risa swallowed as she watched Windsor approach the feisty little beast.

"Ahem. Lester?" Windsor chittered.

Lester spun around and faced the Prime Genopet with an angry, scrunched up face. "Go away!" He squeaked. "You're not pairing me with that human stinkbag!"

"Listen to me, dear fledgling," the Prime Genopet chattered slowly and softly. "Risa Larke needs a pet. And you need a human."

Lester snapped his teeth in Risa's direction. "She's part Volcanian. The Volcanians trained the monsters that killed my parents. There's no way I'm partnering up with her!"

"Lester, Risa is part Ferrethawkian as well. And since she was born and raised in this clan, she is loyal to our clan, not the Volcanians'." He added more sincerely, "And she has a strong desire to become a Nox Doctor, just like her mother was. That means she's just as determined as you are to fight hard against the other clans, win as many battles as she can, and make it to the Elite Rank. She's willing to work hard with any Ferrethawk who is also willing to grow strong and undefeatable in battle."

Lester exhaled an angry puff of gray smoke as he kept his glaring eyes fixed upon Risa. "Go be a Healer in the Volcanian Clan! No genopet wants a stinky mixed-blood tending their wounds."

Windsor continued to chatter, "Listen, Lester. I'm sure you want nothing more than to avenge your parents' deaths and sink your teeth into the pelts of those Volcanines. But in order to do so, you have to exercise your powers. The only way you can properly strengthen your powers is by partnering with a human and training with them. You need a human to help you along the way, because it is the humans who modified our genes and gave us our powers. They know how to help us properly hone our powers."

Lester's angry eyes slowly shifted back to meet Windsor's serious gaze. The fledgling glared at the Prime Genopet for a moment, and then turned back to Risa. He let out an angry hiss and inhaled. Risa felt a strong gust of wind blow her all the way in his direction, and she fell over the borders of the exiting gate with a grunt.

"Ow!" She got up and dusted her hands. She looked behind her shoulders to see Lester fluttering up to her, snarling. He landed on her shoulder and stood on his hind legs. He was still bristling with envy, but at least he stopped exhaling smoke at her face.

Risa held her breath with awe, and then she flashed Windsor a thankful gaze. The Prime Genopet nodded. He then turned to give a loud sharp screech and the pairing rituals began.

  4. Lester

The door to the great Nursing Building opened. All the fledglings poured inside, squeaking with excitement as they were greeted by proud and excited parents. It was going to be their last night in the Nursery, before they would live with their new human masters.

Lester shoved his way through the Ferrethawks as he made his way into the building.

"Move it, freaks!" He snarled, whipping his wing at a small, tan Ferrethawk that shouldered passed him.

He paused in midair, frowning to see that his nursing mother was not in her nest. His brother, a small, scrawny fledgling with grayish fur was already settled in his nest, was looking up at him with a worried stare. Like Lester, he had a moon-white face, although his fur was light-gray around his eyes and the rest of his body.

Lester gave a contemptuous snort and glared down at the little fledgling. "Milo, where in Hox's name is our nursing mother?!" He snarled.

The little fledgling was shuddering. As usual, he was feeling cold. He faced the outside and nodded. "J-jinelli's talking with your new human masters," he spoke in meek, stuttering squeaks.

Lester looked over his shoulder and spotted a tan-and-white Ferrethawk hovering in front of Sir Odius and Risa Larke. He gave an angry snort and whirled around to settle into the nest next to his brother.

"Hmph," Lester grunted. "The nest's a lot comfier without that stupid ball of fur. She's not even our real mother." He flicked his tail and snarled, "Our real mother was killed by Volcanines in a Genopet League battle last winter. And so was our father, who would still be Prime Genopet to this day if he were still alive."

Milo shuddered. "O-oh...p-please d-don't b-bring that up...I still have n-nightmares about th-that horrible b-battle. "

Lester scoffed. He turned to glare at his brother. "Yeah? Well buck up. At least things haven't gotten worse for you. The human that chose me is a mixed-blood, the daughter of the human that trained our parents' murderer."

"O-oh, well, my human master is A-annelle W-white," shuddered Milo. "Sh-she seems like she'll expect a l-lot from me..."

Lester narrowed his eyes. Were they the only ones who weren't so satisfied with their human masters? He looked around to see that the entire nursery was crowded and noisy with fluttering fledglings shouting with glee.

"My new human says he's gonna train me rigorously and make me as strong as Prime Windsor himself!" The fledgling hovering next to him was spinning in the air.

Across from him, Thistletail was sniggering. "Oh yeah? You think Tanner Lovington is gonna train you that hard? I heard that kid suffered a head injury at the age of four, when he fell off his own home tree."

"Tanner's gonna be the best human master ever!" Snapped the Ferrethawk. "He'll totally teach me to whoop you!"

Thistletail snorted and gave a smug smile. "Yeah, right. Good luck with the partially-mental human child. At least it's not as bad as being paired with a mixed-blood human." He shifted his gaze to Lester across from him. "Right Lester? How does it feel to be paired with the laughing stock of the clan?"

Lester's fur bristled as the other fledglings turned to face his direction from their nests. Some were snickering with Thistletail and whispering to one another, while some were gazing at him with shocked, wide eyes.

"Mum?" the fledgling on the nest to his left whispered to her mother. "Is Lester gonna become as dangerous and mean as those Volcanine genopets once he begins training with that mixed-blood Volcanian?"

"No dear," chittered the mother Ferrethawk, eying Lester suspiciously. "But it's most likely that he won't get the same, adequate training that the rest of us will receive. It's going to be hard battling alongside a human that bears the scent of a non-clan member."

Lester narrowed his eyes at the ferrets next to him. Me? Become like the monster that killed my own parents?! Is that the kind of reputation I'll have when I'm training with a mixed-blood Volcanian like Risa?! How dare this fledgling believe that! Lester exhaled a puff of smoke in the fledgling's direction.

The little Ferrethawk coughed and whimpered. "Mom, he's doing it again!"

The mother Ferrethawk snorted as she inhaled Lester's smoke. She released a puff of white gas that cleared up the fumes.

Thistletail cracked up. "Hah! Nina, I don't think Lester's gonna become as mean as a Volcanine. That Risa Larke may be outspoken and loudmouthed, but she's as clumsy as a pigeon. I think she'll train Lester to be as dumb, weak, and witless as she is!"

Lester released a puff of black smoke in his direction. Thistletail's cackling suddenly turned to coughing and then the brawny Ferrethawk fledgling started vomiting chunks of gooey saliva. The Ferrethawks around him gasped and gazed at Lester with fear.

"Ooh..." someone gasped. "Mum, he did it again. He released Black Mist!"

This time, Milo spoke up next to him. "L-lester?" He looked at his brother with wide, shocked eyes. "Y-you remember what the nursemaids warned. Black smoke is illegal for Ferrethawks to use—even the Combatants aren't supposed to use it in battle."

"Shut it, Milo," he snapped at the timid little fledgling. "Don't make me use it to shut you up for the first time."

The gray little Ferrethawk gave a meek whimper and said nothing more.

Thistletail's mother, who was a heavyset black Ferrethawk like he was, snarled at Lester with envy. "How dare you breathe Black Mist to my son! You spoiled little brat!" She exhaled a strong gust of wind, but before the current reached Lester, a tan-and-white Ferrethawk landed in front of her and blocked it.

"Mirsha, leave me to discipline my own son," chittered the Ferrethawk.

Lester bared his teeth and flicked his teeth at the tan-white nursing mother. "I am not your son!" He zoomed away from his nest and added under his breath, "And I'm definitely not the genopet of that mixed-blood."

He pushed his way pass the noisy fledglings and hovered in a quiet corner of the nursery. He looked over all the digitized photos hanging on the wall. The photos displayed digital, three-dimensional images of various Ferrethawk families that had raised their fledglings in the Nursing Tree. His heart suddenly tightened at the sight of a pair of two sable, black-pelted Ferrethawks. Each had a pair of beautiful, black, hawk-like wings spread out behind them.

Boreas and Lusera, his parents.

The two of them were hovering in front of each other, touching noses.

"You look just like them, Lester," A meek, silky chitter sounded from behind. Lester looked over his shoulder. A white-furred fledgling Ferrethawk was gracefully gliding up to him.

Lester flicked his tail and bared his fangs. "Go away, Lula," he whirled around to turn his back on her. "I don't need any flattery from a furball who couldn't even smell."

Lula tilted her head and hovered up to his side. "Oh Lester, why are you always so spiteful? You should be thankful.These young humans are going to train us to be the best genopet Combatants for our clan. Aren't you excited?"

Lester turned to face the Ferrethawk's red eyes. "Excited to be trained by a human who smells like a slobbering mongrel from Volcanian territory?" He glared at her. "Oh, I'm sooo excited to smell the nostalgic scent of the human masters that trainer my parents' murderers, especially while I'm trying to train to be the strongest Ferrethawk in this clan."

Lula blinked her bright red eyes. "Oh, Lestie, Risa Larke is not like them! She's really nice and fun to talk to. And remember—her parents were also killed in a Genopet League battle against the Cobrazor Clan, so she'll totally understand what it's like to have your parents killed by genopets from another clan."

Lester narrowed his eyes. "Says the furball with no sense of smell," he scoffed. "If you're so hopeful about Risa's loyalty and can tolerate her scent, maybe you should have been paired with her instead."

Lula sighed. "Oh, I almost paired up with her. But Lester, you blew Gray Mist in her face and she fell unconscious. She wasn't able to pair up with me in time."

"Yeah, yeah, blame it on me," Lester snapped. "The stupid mixed-blood stepped on my tail, so I gave her what she deserved."

Lula gave him a longing look as he looked up to stare at the photo of his parents again.

"I shouldn't have listened to that foolish Windsor," muttered Lester, narrowing his eyes at the photo. "I should never have agreed with him to pair up with Risa. Now I'll never get the proper training to become the strongest Ferrethawk in this clan and avenge my parents. A human who shares blood with the members of the Volcanians will never be the ideal trainer for a Ferrethawk seeking revenge against the Volcanines."

Lula fluttered up to him and nuzzled her nose into his shoulder. "Aw, Lester. I'm sorry about your parents."

Lester whirled around and jerked away from the fledgling. "Nosing into my fur isn't going to bring them back to life. And neither is being paired with a mixed-blood! So just leave me alone and stop defending that ill-scented Risa!"

He turned his back on her and zoomed away. Angry thoughts ran through his head as he flew back to his nest. He landed at the edge and stared up at a hovering simulation of a four-foot long, black-purple insect. It was Hox, the first genopets that the humans had brought to life. The famous Dr. Z had discovered him on his island, and after much research, he had found out the creature was no ordinary species: he had the body of a praying mantis, long, skinny arms with rat-claws, and a jellylike head of a rat with bulging, jellylike purple eyes. He was a creature born of radioactive material that had formed from the earth's core during the Great Changing. Such a time was characterized by the gradual changes in environment, resources, and natural disasters across the earth when an excess of radioactive material had leaked into the earth's core. Somehow, the coalescence of radioactive substance and the earth's core changed the way nature worked and caused all the new plants, chemicals, and resources to emerge across the planet. With the new chemicals and resources, new diseases emerged, along with new natural disasters.

And with the new changes in environment came changes in the creatures that dwelt in it. Hox was the first living organism to have been born from the strange radioactive mixture in the earth's core. He therefore possessed all the new powers that would shape the new resources, regions, and natural disasters that emerged from the radioactive mixture. He could cure any of the new, deadly diseases brought upon by these new resources. He possessed every superpower that every genopet species inherited, and was thus considered the forefather and progenitor of all genopet species.

It wasn't until he was in a strange, sleep-like state—possibly a hibernation state—that Dr. Z discovered the strange creature and uncovered genetic basis of his incredible superpowers to control the new natural disasters that the radioactive mixture had brought. After mapping his entire genome, Dr. Z had decoded every last genetic code for each of Hox's superpowers. He then incorporated each genetic code into different species of animal, giving one superpower to each species of animal. Thus was the foundation of the genopets. Each species of genopet was classified by the particular powers they were given, and were thus segregated into their own clans.

Lester gave a scoff at his figure. Hox was posed as if he were running, with one front paw held forward. Its eyes were purple and jellylike, with no eyeballs present, and his front claws and fangs were almost a foot long. Lester bared his teeth at the creature. These humans modified our genes so that we could become monstrous fighters for them, to heal and protect their species from the new and emerging diseases and other dangers that nature has brought. They injected us with Hox's blood and gave us the superpowers to to heal the new diseases by regulating such natural changes.

He turned his back and snuggled into his nest. They couldn't incorporate Hox's superpowers into their own bodies, so they're using us as their tools. Human blood was incapable of mixing with Hox's blood. Unfortunately, human DNA was incompatible with hoxian DNA. That's all the humans care about. Power. Lester wrinkled his nose. They're only training us so that they can control the likes of nature through us. They get to choose what clan they want to join, what genopets they want to train. They can choose to control any power of nature that they want. And what about us? We genopets can't choose. We're already given our powers to control certain parts of nature. We're already given our purpose in life. The humans can simply just pick and choose what pets they want to train, what parts of nature they want to control. They can choose their purpose in life.

That's why humans like Risa Larke and simply walk away from the Ferrethawkian clan and join the Volcanians. Lester growled. Of all the humans in this clan, Risa's the only one who's most likely to do that. She can just simply walk away and join the clan of the genopets that killed my parents. He gave an angry flick of his tail and visualized the photo of his parents in his head. "Well I'm not going to let that happen. I'm definitely not going to let her mixed-blood stench hinder me from becoming the strong genopet that I need to grow up to be. I'm gonna train myself to be the strongest Ferrethawk in the clan—stronger than Prime Windsor himself. I'm gonna make it to the Elite Rank, ready to destroy those Volcanines...and avenge my parents death."

  5. Risa

"Great Hox! Are you kidding me?!" Risa was staring wide-eyed at Kyrion, who was standing at the edge of his home tree's branch with Lula hovering by his shoulder. "You adopted Lula! I can't believe it!"

"Risa, I'm sorry you weren't paired with the Prime Genopet's daughter," Kyrion was gazing at her with an apologetic look. "If I had known you and Lula had already established a friendship and were planning to be partners, I wouldn't have left the field with her right away."

"She has no sense of smell! If you had any common sense, you would have known that she—and only she—was the right genopet for me!" She turned to Lula and narrowed her eyes. She spoke in a calmer tone. "Lula, I don't get it. I thought you were ready to be my genopet. We were going to become Elite Combatants and Nox Doctors together!"

"Oh, I was!" Squeaked Lula, swaying her tail rapidly. "But Risa, you fell asleep on the field just a few minutes after the Pairing began!"

Kyrion was nodding. "And since Lula is Prime Windsor's daughter, she was bound to be adopted by a student right away. She and I were already growing closer since the day she was born, so I had to be quick to find her and leave the field with her."

"You two were already growing closer?!" Risa seethed.

"Risa, if I had known you made a last-minute visit to establish a pre-partnership with Lula before the ceremony, I would have left her for you to choose. I'm sorry."

Risa threw her arms up in the air and stomped away. "Whatever! A pairing's a pairing, and you left with Lula first," she walked down the path with an angry frown. "It's only fair that you get to leave with the only fledgling that's right for me while I'm stuck with the worst one in the Nursery."

Later that day, Risa was walking across a silver branch that linked the Nursing tree to another giant tree. She was carrying a snarling Lester in a metal cage. Of course, he had proved too difficult to handle when taken out of the nursery, so to ensure that he didn't fly away or attack Risa or any other human again, the nursemaids kept him cooped up in the metal cage for Risa to carry back to her home tree.

"You're no Ferrethawkian," growled the Ferrethawk fledgling, glaring up at her from his cage. "There's no way you're ready to train a genopet like me."

Risa raised her eyebrows and looked challengingly at the genopet. "Well, if you're not gonna cooperate with me, you'll never get any stronger."

Lester snorted. "And if I don't become any stronger, that just means you'll never win any future battles for our clan. You'll never become the Nox Doctor you hope to be, you'll just be a disgrace to your clan if you can't make your poor genopet fight like a true Combatant."

Risa turned to her genopet and returned his frown. "Exactly! Is that what you want for both of us? Do you want to be a genopet who can't fight skillfully in the Genopet League? We fight our battles as a pair, so I'm not going to be the only laughing stock in the clan if you don't help us win any battles against the other clans."

Lester tilted his head. "You think I don't want to fight my hardest? I'll be fighting like the world's gonna end! I just won't be able to concentrate on my enemy if my own partner shares blood with the enemy."

Risa frowned as she passed Kyrion's home tree and turned to the tree right next to his. Her new home tree. She climbed up a set of bronze stairs that led up to the branch where a bronze, metallic house was settled. The house was situated on a branch hidden near the center of great tree. Risa made her way across the branch and stopped at the door of her house with a sigh. She was no longer living with Sir Odius and his wife, Dame Nadine. She now had her own genopet, which meant she was in charge of her living expenses and the course of the rest of her life.

"Alright, Lester," she said. "I would let you out of this cage so that you could find a place in this tree to settle, but I'm told not to let you out until Uncle Odius and Hortense come over for a visit. They were going to help me move all my stuff into my new home after they finish training their Ferrethawks with Sir Lewin in his home tree."

Lester snorted. "Taking orders from a fellow clan member. Let's see how long that can last."

Risa narrowed her eyes and set Lester's cage in front of her house. "Go be a rotten fleabag to our new Ferrethawkian neighbors. I'll be inside my new house."

She unlocked the door and made her way into the house. She shut the door behind her and took a look around the new place. The room was wide and spacey, with smooth, shiny walls that stretched almost ten feet high. She furrowed her eyebrows. It seemed a little too big for only one person.

She looked forward and saw that there was a stack of packaged boxes. Some were already opened, revealing clothes and household items. It looked as if Sir Odius and Aunt Nadine had already brought most of her stuff and had organized the rooms for her. She turned to the mahogany table before her and saw a photo of her parents in the corner. They were a digitized, three-dimensional image. She slowly made her way up to the photo and held it in her hands.

They were Sir Myko Larke and Dame Soriana Larke. Soriana, like all pureblood Ferrethawkians, had brimming white-blonde hair, wide blue eyes, and very pale skin. She stood tall, thin, and beautiful beside Myko, a lean, well-built man with had blood-red hair, narrow green eyes, and tan, freckled skin. He was slightly shorter than her mother.

Risa looked up to the glass wall in front of the fireplace before her. She took a moment to examine her own reflection. A perfect blend of her parents. Almost. Her hair was blood-red like her father's, but she had bright-yellow highlights. Her skin was extremely pale with a decent amount of freckles on her face and arms. Like a Ferrethawkian, she was very thin and small-boned with wide blue eyes and pale skin. However, like a Volcanian, she was of medium height with slight traces of freckles on her face and arms.

Mixed-blood, she thought to herself. The perfect word to describe me.

A cold wind suddenly wafted over her. Risa turned to the front door and gasped to see Lester hovering in front of the open window, glaring at her with his lips drawn back in a snarl.

"Lester!" She gasped. "What are you—"

"You need to lock the cage if you planned on leaving me cooped up," he chittered. He hovered up to her, glanced at the photo, and let out a sharp hiss. "A Volcanian!" He whacked the photo with his tail and it smashed to the ground.

Risa screamed and instantly knelt down to pick it up. "How dare you! Those are my parents! What's your problem?!"

"That's the human master of Redbone! The Volcanine that slaughtered my parents!" Lester was glaring at the photo of her father as Risa took out her netphone to re-digitized the photo back on the frame.

She turned to Lester with a raised look. "Redbone?" She turned to another digital photo above the fireplace. It was a three-dimensional image of her father with his genopet. The Volcanian man was standing beside a broad-shouldered wolf with red fur. A stump of a volcano jutted out of its head, sizzling with flames.

Lester flapped his wings angrily, and hovered in front of the digital photo. He opened his mouth to let out a puff of black smoke. "May Hox curse you, you filthy, mangy furball!"

"Lester..." Risa stepped closer to the bristling little Ferrethawk. "I'm terribly sorry about the loss of your parents. I can't help that my father was the human master of your parents' killer, but I can assure you: I am not the least bit unwilling to train you to fight that wolf in the Genopet League."

Lester whirled around and faced Risa with his small, furious eyes. He exhaled a sharp wind in her direction. "You? A mixed-blood, teaching me to kill your father's pet?"

"I didn't say kill," said Risa carefully. "In the Genopet League, we never intend for our pets to kill another person's pet in battle. The fine for a murder in battle is too heavy to pay."

"Well your father let his mangy genopet kill Lusera and Boreas, my parents!"

Risa sighed. "It's a long story. My father was jealous of Emperor Thepimus, who was also in love with my mother at the time. Sir Myko and Dame Soriana were already married, but since Emperor Thepimus was her neighbor and lived in the tree right next to hers, he suspected there was something going on between the two. Well, he was right. Last autumn, he found out Emperor Thepimus slept with her, and he was furious. He felt much betrayed, so when our clan was battling the Volcanians in the Genopet League, Redbone really slaughtered Thepimus's pet, the Prime Genopet Boreas, who also happened to be your father." Risa paused to let the fledgling let out an angry snarl. then she went on, "Redbone had attacked your mother as well...she was actually killed when she tried to attempt to avenge your father's death as soon as she saw that he had been slaughtered."

Lester snorted. He flicked his tail to summon another sharp wind. "Hox curse your parents! If they hadn't fallen in love, none of this would have happened!"

Risa gazed up at the furious fledgling. "My mother was slain by a Cobrazor. That had nothing to do with the whole feud, but I still lost her. I'm an orphan just like you, so I understand what it feels like to have your parents killed in a Genopet League battle. You don't have to hate me, Lester."

Lester let out a loud, squeaky screech. He started chittering rapidly. "Your parents are responsible for everything. If cross-clan intermarriage were illegal, they wouldn't have married, and neither of our parents would have died!" He huffed out a strong air current that blew a flower vase straight toward Risa. Risa gasped and ducked just in time before the vase could smash into her face. The vase smashed into the wall behind her and sharp pieces of glass fell over her body.

"Hey, hey, hey! What's going on here?" A mud-brown Ferrethawk peeked into the window and glanced around. Bondo, Hortense's mate. Lusera's father, and her mother's genopet. He squealed at the sight of Lester zooming through the room, blowing air currents to make the digital photos and glass figures of Ferrethawks flying in every direction.

"Bondo! Little help here?" Called Risa, ducking as the broken head of a statue flew over her.

Bondo narrowed his eyes and puffed out a gray cloud toward Lester's direction. The furious, screaming Ferrethawk stopped in midair, coughed violently, and then plummeted to the ground.

"There. He should be asleep for the next two hours," Bondo fluttered inside and looked around with shock. "Oh dear," he murmured. "Dame Nadine and Hortense are definitely not going to be happy to see this. They spent all morning setting up this room."

Risa rolled her eyes. "I don't care how cranky Hortense or Aunt Nadine will be. No one's temper can be as bad as Lester's."

Bondo sniffed at the sleeping Ferrethawk and sighed. "He takes after his father and his grandmother. Boreas was one of our feistiest fledglings."

Risa knelt down beside the sleeping fledgling and looked at Bondo with sorrow. "Bondo, you remember the tragic night of his parents' deaths."

"I remember perfectly well," said Bondo, twitching his whiskers.

She clenched her fists. "This is going to be a difficult year. Lester's definitely not going to cooperate with me when we start training this fall."

"You can't think that way," said Bondo. His dark eyes bore into hers. "Your Aunt Nadine and I never got along when she decided to care for me after my former human master—your mother—was killed by the Cobrazors. I loathed Nadine because she was already paired with Rosco, who's been my archrival since we were nursery neighbors."

Risa frowned. "I don't get how some of you genopets can develop rivalries with members in your own clan. Sometimes you creatures are just too hostile toward each other."

Bondo chuckled. "Rosco and I were just always competing to be the strongest genopet in this clan. It's our instinct, it's what Mother Nature drives us to do: to become the strongest, to do what's best for our well-being and the well-being of our species." He flicked his tail. "But I'm glad Dame Nadine was still willing to raise me after your mother was killed. It took a while before Rosco and I could tolerate each other, but with time, it happened."

Risa sighed. "Wish it were that simple for me. I'm a mixed-blood and I share blood with the clan that's responsible for his parents' deaths. Even worse, my father is the master of the genopet that killed both Lester's parents."

"Yeah, for you two, it may take a bit more time. It's completely natural for any genopet to become hostile toward a human or genopet species from another clan. But it's still possible. Lester may never get rid of the urge to attack you when he smells you, but he can at least learn to work with that urge and control it so that he can efficiently win battles with you," Bondo gave a slight chortling sound. "You humans always seem to find some way to overcome any obstacle nature throws at you."

Risa huffed. "I guess that's part of what makes us human."

The weekend passed by faster than Risa had expected. Before she knew it, it was the first day of training for the Beginning Rank Combatants.

Risa was waiting at the edge of the branch of her home tree, waiting for Sir Odius to arrive with his shuttle. She wrinkled her nose. Stupid clan laws. I can't get a license to fly my own shuttle, only because I'm a mixed-blood.

She kicked a pinecone off the edge of her branch and watched it fall through the networks of lower-level branches of her tree. She gazed down to see many students and their new fledglings walking along the lower branches and bridges, each of them on the route to the heart of the forest, where the battle grounds and the Genopet League Arena were located. Hmph. But I would definitely not risk traveling on foot with Lester.

She caught Annelle walking along one of the lower branches just beneath her home tree. The white-blonde girl stopped to gaze up at Risa with a smug smile. Fluttering by her shoulder was Milo, who was shivering with fear and anxiety as usual.

"See you at the battle fields, Risa!" Annelle cooed. "I hope Lester won't give you any bruises or bitemarks before they take your first picture with your pet."

Risa glared at her clan-mate. "I hope I don't end up giving you any bruises or bitemarks before your first-day picture!"

Annelle giggled. "Oh, of course you'd love to bite me, wouldn't you Risa?" She closed her eyes and kept her smug smile on her face as she strutted away. "You would just love to sink your teeth into my pale, un-freckled flesh, just to get a taste of pure, Ferrethawkian blood."

Risa winced. Lester glided up to her snickering. "Should taste much better than mixed-Ferrethawkian and Volcanian blood."

Risa glared at her pet. But before she could snap at him, a silver, circular shuttle zoomed out from an opening of the air tube above her and landed at the edge of Risa's branch.

Annelle looked over her shoulder and up at the shuttle. "Ah! Still need your uncle to fly you everywhere? Such a pity that mixed-bloods can't have their own shuttle license."

Risa rode inside a shuttle that took her, Uncle Odius, Hortense, and Lester to the battle grounds. She gazed out the window as the shuttle zoomed through the air tubes that wound through many trees, thick clouds, giant plants, and clefts. They flew over the territory of the Boulderbears, which was wide field covered with gem-like buildings and enormous, pointy rocks jutting out of many levels of craggy platforms. Bears with bodies composed of silver or copper rocks were walking along the different levels of rocky platforms, each of them carrying humans on their backs as they headed toward the route to the battle grounds. I bet those bears are less intimidating than Lester, thought Risa.

It took another fifteen minutes before the shuttle arrived at the battle grounds.

"Dang, would you look at that," Risa spoke with awe as Odius flew the shuttle out of an opening in the side of the air tube.

She gazed down at the sight. The Wildheart Forest Genopet League Arena was set on an island at the middle of the lake. Surrounding the lake was the seven battle grounds, sectioned into seven territories separated by tall gates made of gold-coated wood. Each of the seven sections covered several acres of the territory. Bordering the battle grounds were tall pine trees that beheld the buildings for Beginning Combatants' training classes.

"The Genopet League is used by an entire clan to battle another entire clan every first week of every month," remarked Odius. "The battle grounds can be used by any clan member for one-on-one battles throughout any time of the year."

The trees surrounding the Genopet Arena were the most unnatural structures Risa had ever seen. Their trunks were a vertical rectangular prism, reaching almost half a mile into the sky. Jutting out from their four sides were bare branches, each of them shaped exactly like horizontal rectangular prisms. Some rectangular branches were jutting out of other rectangular branches, so that some areas on the trees looked like a network of up-and-down and left-and-right black branches clustered together.

Then Risa gazed at each of the battle grounds. Each of the seven sections of territories surrounding the Genopet League Arena was a battle ground for each of the seven clans in the Wildheart Forest: the Ferrethawks, the Volcanines, the Iciclaws, the Aquabunnies, the Boulderbears, the Armadrillos, and the Cobrazors. The Boulderbears trained in great forest with the most exotic and colorful trees and flowers she had ever seen. There were also mounds of hills and a network of dirt-covered tunnels linking one mound to another.

To the left was the battle ground for the Aquabunnies. A huge body of water stretched several acres across the campus. Small, tropical chunks of land were floating atop the water, and some were connected to each other by a small, sapphire bridge.

To the right was the training ground for the Ferrethawks. A vast meadow of sparkling green grass. Mist hovered above it, and layers of thick clouds floated in the air.

Then Risa leaned closer to the window as she noticed the training grounds for the Volcanines: a territory where rivers of lava covered thick, dry ground. There was a volcano at the center of the territory. What if that's where I really belong? She thought. If Lester and the other Ferrethawks don't respect me, maybe I should be raising playful, friendly volcano pups instead of nasty, sneaky little weasels. Then she shook her head and frowned. No, I can't think that way. The Healers in the Volcanian Clan cannot fly and rescue victims caught in the cloud storms. Only Ferrethawkian Healers can do that, so regardless of how bitter Lester will be to me, I'll just have to put up with it if I really wanna become an eligible Ferrethawkian Healer.

Between the training grounds of the Boulderbears and Cobrazors was a skinny strip of a chrome road extending from the northeastern part of the Arena. It led far across a barren land, which were the training grounds for the Iciclaws. The path continued up to a cluster of silver, cone-shaped buildings. Mist shrouded the pointy tops of the cones.

Risa narrowed her eyes, feeling ominous as the shuttle zoomed toward the desolate area.

"That's the headmistress's house," remarked Odius. "Don't worry, we're not going to park there. There's a Shuttle Garage just off to the side of the Volcano-Wolf training grounds."

Risa bit her lip. "The headmistress...Lady Belladonna, right? From the Iciclaw Clan?" Her voice was low.

"She goes by Lady B, but yes. She is empress of the Iciclaw Clan, and she's also headmistress of the Beginning Combatant training classes."

Sir Odius flew the shuttle into the fifth floor of a black boulder-building on the left side of the golden gates that surrounded the Volcanine's fiery battle grounds. Hortense hissed at the sight of the volcano in the distance. "Hmph! How smart. The shuttle garage is built right next to the Volcanine's training grounds. I hope our shuttle doesn't get hit by a fireball before we're all dismissed."

Odius shut down the shuttle. "Alright, you two," he grimaced over his shoulder at Risa and Lester. "Have a wonderful first day. And Risa, don't let your heritage hinder you from performing your best with the Ferrethawks! Remember, you are also a Ferrethawkian. You are fully capable of raising a Ferrethawk and training it to be the best Combatant in our clan. Stay confident, and you will truly become what you aspire to be." He raised his eyebrows. "You have that tranquilizer app on your netphone?"

Risa gave him a wry look. "Uncle, I've been using the tranquilizer beam all summer. It's why I'm still alive." She reached into her satchel and pulled out a flat, ovular device. She turned it on and checked the apps. "Yep. It's still installed. Don't know what I'd do without it."

She hastily slipped out of the cubic room with Lester's cage in her arms.

The Ferrethawk was squeaking and flapping his wings rapidly in his cage as she carried it with her toward the entrance gates.

"Lester, hold still," hissed Risa, clutching the shaking cage against her chest. "You can fly once we get to your training grounds."

In her other hand, she held up her netphone and touched the tranquilizer app on the screen.

"Hey!" The little dark Ferrethawk scowled. "Don't you dare zap me with that—"

A red beam emerged from the device and struck the tiny white gem on Lester's small forehead—the gem that all genopets bore. As soon as the red beam struck it, the little genopet immediately fell asleep.

Risa took a deep breath. "Thank Hox our Emperors incorporate these gems into the heads of genopets when they genetically modify them in their Labs." When Dr. Z decided to share Hox's blood with the rest of the world so that other humans besides himself could withstand the dangerous environmental changes that were become more prevalent, his intention was to have Hox's blood incorporated into the bodies of other animals so that each of Hox's individual powers—which he called "hoxian powers"—could be used by different animal species. Thus, he had selected a specific number of people to be in charge of incorporating a specific hoxian power into an animal. Such people each became Emperors of their own clan, and each Emperor engineered a specific genopet species with a specific hoxian power. The engineering of animals into genopets took place within the Lab of a specific Clan Emperor.

But regardless of what species an Emperor engineered, all Emperors had to ensure that a special gem was incorporated on their heads. It was through this gem that an Emperor could deactivate a genopet's powers by turning off certain genes that coded for a genopet's superpowers. It was also through this gem that a human could make a genopet fall unconscious if zapped with a tranquilizer beam that all human clan members were required to have installed on their netphones.

Risa shook herself out of her thoughts and took a deep breath. She stepped through the entrance gates of Wildheart Battle Grounds.

All the Beginning Combatants had to bring their pets sleeping in cages on the first day of their training. So Risa walked onto the campus, clutching Lester's cage in her hand.

Suddenly, there was a loud splash. Risa looked over her shoulder and noticed that there was a big pool of water beside the shuttle garage. A strip of water that led up to the pool, where four young women, all of them tall, thin, and dressed in the same identical blue-white short-dresses, were swimming beside blue-furred rabbits with droopy ears. The Aquabunnies. The upper half of their body was like that of a rabbit's, with long, drooping ears and two front paws,while the lower half of their body was like a fish's, with a flipper at the end.

Behind the four beautiful girls was a slender, blue-haired girl—younger than any of the other four girls—was carrying a blue-green strand that flowed gracefully in the air. Risa instantly recognized her as Devina Chevalier, the famous teen actress of Wildheart Forest. The other four girls must be her older sisters.

Risa watched as Devina leapt out of the water, did a flip in the air, and skidded across a wave of water that one of the Aquabunnies released from its mouth. She rode the wave and then landed on the ground by the pool's side. The four older girls jumped out of the water gathered around their youngest sister. One of them handed her a small cage with her genopet inside. It was a small, miniature version of the adorable Aquabunnies that accompanied her sisters.

Risa was taken aback by the stunning beauty of both the genopet and her master. Devina's hair was sky-blue, tied back in a high pontytail at the top of her head. Her hair was so long that it that hung down to her waist, and when she walked, it swayed like a windchime. She wore a blue-white tank-top and mini-skirt, exposing her long, slender legs and sylphlike arms. Sapphire bracelets and anklets sparkled around her wrists and ankles, and her sapphire earrings dangled three inches from her ears. Silver bobby-pins dotted over her hair so that her entire head was dazzling. Her breathtaking smile revealed sapphire-polished gems on her teeth. The girl was definitely rich—anyone who wore that much jewelry must have an exceptionally powerful genopet in the family, one that was victorious in countless battles.

Risa gave a sideways smile as she gazed at the Aquabunny sleeping in the tank in her arms. "Looks like that genopet will have a lotta fun. She looks perfectly compatible with her human master." Risa gave a shrug and then turned to head toward the entrance gates. She stepped down the silver pathway of a chrome road. The road led up to a pair of 16-foot-tall black doors at the base of the Genopet Arena. They were opened up, and students were pouring inside.

Risa clenched her teeth, forcing herself to frown as she passed through a sea of staring students and genopets. She headed inside the building, and then looked around. There were elevators that led up to the different levels of branches in the tree. The walls and floors were coated with gold. Up ahead, the room narrowed into a hallway crowded with 16-year-olds and their new pets.

Risa huffed and hurried toward the halls, and then stopped in her tracks. She heard the sound of a puppy yapping in the distance.

"Hey you!"

She turned around. A tiny flame-pelted wolf-pup was racing up to her, panting rapidly and wagging its red-orange tail in a blur. Steam was escaping from the small stump of a volcano on his forehead, and red flames were flickering along its spine.

Risa smiled. "Hey there, little guy!" She bent down to pet him on the forehead, in front of the spot where his volcano grew from the top of his head. His fur immediately warmed her hand. "You look ready to begin your first day of training."

"Of course I am!" Yapped the little pup, giving her hand a quick lick. "I'm burn all the genopets out here! The other species are gonna wish they had never messed with me!" He turned and narrowed his eyes at Lester sleeping in her cage. Flames flickered across his pelt and the volcano on his head started to rumble. "Wait a minute..." the pup suddenly jumped back and sniffed. Then he snapped his teeth at Risa's hand. She barely drew her hand back in time before he could snap his teeth at her fingers. "You're a Ferrethawkian. Great Hox, I'm fraternizing with the enemy!"

Risa slowly got up to her feet and gave the pup a puzzled look. "Hey, well...I'm also half-Volcanian—"

"You can't fool me!" The pup crouched and snarled. His eyes grew red with fury. "You thought that just because you don't have silver hair and snow-white skin like the Ferrethawkians, you could pretend to be a Volcanian, a trainer of us Volcanines. Well guess what? We Volcanines have the best sense of smell and you'll never fool the most noteworthy creatures in the Wildheart Forest League!"

"Hey! Apollo, get back here!"

Risa looked up and felt her heart lift. A lean, redheaded boy was racing up to her. From his physical appearance, Risa could immediately tell he was Volcanian. He had curly, bouncy red hair and freckles covering his face and arms. His eyes were emerald-green and slightly narrow. He was very lean, slightly taller than average height, and was dressed in an orange-and-red suit.

"Apollo, stop!" The boy grabbed the fiery canine by the tail as soon as it released a burst of flames from the small volcano on his forehead. Risa screamed and ducked, but as the boy grabbed his tail, the flames went out and the pup started barking and wriggling.

"Argh! Randy, you let me go at once!" The pup yipped.

"Save all your fireballs for training, Apollo," the boy let go of his tail and stood straight. He met Risa's gaze and smiled coolly. "Sorry 'bout that. Apollo's very excited! We both are—we've been training with each other all summer."

Risa stiffened, and then forced herself to smile back. She gazed into his narrow, emerald-green eyes. "D-don't worry about it. I'm fine."

The boy raised his eyebrows and looked her up and down. "Say...you're a mixed-blood aren't you?" He rested his gaze on the yellow streaks in her long, red hair. "Yeah, looks like you're half-Ferrethawkan, half-Volcanian. You must be Risa Larke!"

Risa heaved a loud sigh. "Ah, geez. Everyone knows a mixed-blood when they see one."

"Hey, it's cool!" The boy gave her a mischievous grin. "I'll respect the fact that you share blood with my clan."

She raised her eyebrows at him. "Hmph! Don't know if I ought to feel thankful or not." Hopefully this boy isn't just pulling my leg. Volcanian humans are known to be very ambitious and mischievous.

The boy chuckled and flipped his floppy, curly red hair out of his eyes. "I'm Randy Turner, by the way. Sometimes people call me Randolph, which means house wolf."

She nodded with a wide smile. "I'm Risa Larke. But I go by 'mixed-blood.'"

Randy laughed "Nah, I like Risa better." He gave her a wink.

Risa blushed and then looked away, only to meet the gleaming red eyes of Apollo." The little pup was growling at her again, bristling with red flames.

"Hey!" Randy grabbed his pup. "Dammit, Apollo, show a little respect. Just 'cause she's a non-clan member doesn't mean you have to be a nasty furball to her. It's her genopet that you have to tear apart, not her!"

Apollo yapped and squirmed in Randy's grip. A burst of flames escaped from the volcano on his head.

"AHHH!"

Risa jumped. Standing beside Randy and Apollo with the top half of her red-orange coat singed, was a tall, freckled lady wearing big, round glasses. She had a look of complete disgust on her pointy-chinned face. The top half of her outfit was singed from Apollo's eruption, and her frowning freckled face was covered in soot. Her hair was an explosion of a red afro and looked ready burst into flames.

"Wah! Dame Dixon!" Randy jumped back and widened his eyes at the lady. "Sorry, ma'am! Apollo was just—"

The sound of a sharp bark interrupted him. A lithe, brown-red wolf with scars covering its muzzle and ribs was padding up to the lady's side. It faced Randy and Apollo with a nasty snarl on its scarred, smoky face.

Dame Dixon's frown turned into a smirk and she began to chuckle. She slipped out a netphone from her pocket and zapped Apollo's red gem with a red beam.

"Hey!" Randy flinched as his pup fell fast asleep.

"All students must arrive with their pets tranquilized and caged!" Dame Dixon spoke in a loud, clear voice, as if she meant to be heard by the passing students. She grinned at Randy, her eyes blinking rapidly behind her large, smoked glasses as she added loudly, "Ever read the rules, Mr. Turner? Every first-year student was sent a message on their netphones, reminding them to make sure their pets were tranquilized and in some sort of captive setting. Did you not receive the message?"

"Uh..."

Dame Dixon laughed loudly, revealing her shining red gems dotted on her teeth. "If you and your genopet aren't used to reading the rules, both of you are going to have a tough year!" She winked and him and then stomped away.

Randy blinked after her, and then exchanged glances with Risa.

Risa laughed out loud. "I'm guessing she's the teaching instructor for the students in your clan?"

Randy stifled a laugh. "Unfortunately yes. She and her pet live in a cave that's situated in the same volcano that my cave is in! So she's also my neighbor."

Risa gave a dry laugh. "At least it's not as bad as living next to a boy whose father slept with your mom."

Randy raised his eyebrows. "Oh. Well, sorry to hear that. Wished Apollo's father could have attacked Thepimus himself instead of his genopet!"

Risa flinched and looked at Randy's puppy with widened eyes. "Wait a minute. Are you saying your genopet is Redbone's puppy?"

"Yep!" Randy was petting his sleeping pup. "My dad was Sir Myko's best buddy. So when Sir Myko was killed, he decided to take care of Redbone for him. It worked out great! Especially since I was planning to pair up with Redbone's puppy before the ceremony."

Risa's mouth was hanging open. "Oh no..." she clutched her cage and turned slightly aside. "You might want to keep Apollo away from Lester then. Redbone killed Lester's parents."

Randy gasped and stared at Lester's cage with awe. "No way! So you paired with Prime Boreas's naughty son?"

Risa nodded, still wide-eyed.

But before either of them could say another word, a crowd of students rushed passed them. Randy looked around. "Hey, we should start heading to the auditorium. We need to get our training schedules installed into our netphones."

"Oh...right," Risa snapped back into focus and turned to follow Randy as the red-haired boy picked up his unconscious canine and hurried across the halls toward the nearest escalator. They arrived on the first level and walked into a noisy room within one of the first-level branches.

Risa gazed around at the enormous room before her. The golden walls were covered with giant paintings of Genopet League champions and their genopets. Three-dimensional simulations of Hox hovered in the corners of the large room.

Risa looked ahead of her and saw that all the students were divided into different lines according to last names.

"Huh!" Randy arched his neck to look over the numerous lines of people and their caged pets. "Looks like we've got to have our pets scanned before we receive our schedules. I'll see ya later, Risa!"

Risa turned to watch him race over to a line of students gathered behind a netscreen that displayed the sign, "Volcanians." She saw that the students were separated into different lines behind each desk.

She felt a sudden longing to follow him as he joined his crowd of boisterous, loud-voiced Volcanians and their caged Volcanine pups. Hey, it's cool! I'll respect the fact that you share blood with my clan. His words ran through her head over and over again. No one had ever addressed her mixed-blood heritage in such a friendly way like that. She watched Randy and the crowd of laughing, loud-mouthed redheads. No one has ever approached her with such a friendly attitude. Well, no one except for...

"Risa?" A soft voice sounded behind her.

Risa whirled around to see Kyrion standing behind her. "Agh! Kyrion!" She frowned with disgust as she shifted her gaze from him to the cage he was carrying. Lula was sleeping soundly inside.

"How are you feeling about the first day?" He gave her a gentle smile. "Exciting and frightening, isn't it?"

"Don't you dare talk to me!" She jumped back, fixing him with an angry glare. "You gave me a second reason to dislike you, so don't even try to look at me again."

Kyrion's face grew solemn. "Risa," he spoke carefully. "I understand your abhorrence with my father. But I've been trying my best to reach out to you and establish a decent relationship with you and the rest of your family. If you're going to let my partnership with Lula bother you, you're only going to make matters worse for yourself."

She shouldered passed him and stomped toward the line where the Ferrethawkian students and their caged Ferrethawks were standing. "I said don't try speaking to me again." Not only was Kyrion the son of the man that slept with her mother and caused the whole feud between her father, his genopet, and Lester's parents. But he was also the student that partnered with the only Ferrethawk that was compatible with her. She felt her face become even hotter when she remembered that her new home tree was right next to his. Oh, if only we had purchased our home trees after we were partnered with our genopets!

She gazed around and suddenly made eye contact with Annelle. The blonde-haired girl gave her a teasing smile, but before she could say anything rude, Risa stepped behind a group of chattering Ferrethawkian boys.

She took another deep breath. Her anger transformed into determination.

I'm just as capable of winning enough battles to make it to the Elite Rank, even if I'm not a pureblood clan member. She narrowed her eyes and clenched her teeth. I can do this!

  6. Lester

Lester opened one eye. Agh! I must have been tranquilized by this mixed-blood again. How humiliating! Lester gave a quiet snort and closed his eye. Might as well pretend to stay in this unconscious state and avoid being zapped by such a pathetic human.

Lester kept his eyes opened in slits. He realized Risa was carrying his cage up to the front desk of the noisy auditorium. His cage was handed to one of the ladies.

Stupid human beings and their ridiculous technology! He held back an angry snarl as the lady held up her netphone and scanned the white gem on his forehead. He watched through his half-closed eyes as Risa handed the lady her own netphone so that the lady also scanned it with hers.

"Alright, Risa Larke," she said. "Your genopet's DNA profile has been registered in the battle system so you can record your future battles against the other clans. The Beginning Combatant training schedule is also downloaded into your netphone. You may head for the Gathering Tree, two trees down from this one to hear the headmistress's opening announcement."

"Thanks!" Risa grabbed Lester's cage and then turned to hurry out of the auditorium. As soon as she reached the exit, Lester heard a familiar soothing voice through the crowd.

"Risa?"

Lester's fur bristled. Oh, great Hox. He sensed Kyrion approaching them, carrying a sleeping Lula in her cage.

Risa turned and jumped back. "You again?! I told you to back off!" She stomped her foot. "Of course, Lester must be asleep at the perfect time I need him to attack someone. I swear, the next time you come up to me, I'll make sure he blows a stinky gas cloud at your face!" She turned and continued walking across the room.

Kyrion chortled as a crowd of prim, white-haired girls from the Iciclaw Clan cut in front of Risa, each of them holding cages of sleeping purple kittens with long, shiny-white claws. He took a step closer to her and gazed down at the redheaded girl. "I'd like to talk this out with you. I haven't done anything wrong, so I'd like to resolve any mixed feelings you may have with me," he spoke gently.

Risa whirled around and faced Kyrion with a nasty frown. "Oh, you've done nothing wrong!" Then she stuck her chin at Lula sleeping in her cage. "Except that you decided to pair with Lula, the only Ferrethawk in the clan who respected me and never treated me like a mixed-blood. But thanks to you, I'm now stuck with Hortense's bratty grandson," she sharply jerked Lester's cage. Lester did his best not to jump up and exhale Black Mist in her face.

Kyrion raised his eyebrows at Risa and spoke in a gentle tone. "I apologize that you were not paired with the genopet you wanted. But please understand that I didn't choose to be paired with Lula to hurt you. I chose her because she and I have a lot in common. Her father is the new Prime Genopet, and his human master—the Emperor—is also my father. At the same time, she is gentle, patient, and whimsical, which is the type of genopet I've always dreamed of raising. She and I would also talk about becoming Ferrethawkian Healers together."

Risa scrunched her face. "Well then, I'm sure the two of you will win many battles and make it to the Elite Rank. Meanwhile, I'll be struggling with a beast that not only hates me because I'm a mixed-blood, but also because my father's pet killed his parents!"

A loud yowl sounded through the rooms within the branches. Kyrion looked up. "Hmm, sounds like the headmistress's feline."

Risa rolled her eyes. "Ugh. I guess we should start heading to the Gathering Tree."

She walked forward without looking back to wait for Kyrion to catch up with her.

Suddenly, the lights dimmed down and a loud, eerie screech sounded through the room. Lester looked around and flinched at the sound of a sharp, female voice.

"Students. Please take your seats on the front tables, and wake up your genopets."

Lester narrowed his eyes, and watched as the students began zapping their pets with green beams from their netphones.

Risa let out a short gasp. "Lester! How long have you been awake?" She had her netphone in her hand, ready to zap him.

Lester whirled around to glare up at her. "Long enough to see what a badger-hole this place is."

He looked forward to see students gathering around straight columns of tables lined up behind an ebony stage at the far end of the room. Risa and Kyrion made their way through the crowd of people and pets until they found the rest of the Ferrethawkian Beginning Combatants. They were sitting beside the table of Aquabunnesian Combatants, where Lester could see a group of tall, blue-haired girls noisily giggling and chattering. "Great Hox, so glad I'm not an Aquabunny," he scoffed. "Their human masters are such blabbermouths."

Risa gave him a sassy smile. "Well then. Aren't you glad I'm not half-Aquabunnesian?"

He snapped his teeth at her. "It would be only slightly better if you shared blood with humans from any clan but the Volcanine Clan!"

"Or the Cobrazor Clan," said Risa through clenched teeth. Lester followed her furious gaze to where the Cobrazorian students were gathered at the back of the room. They were purple-haired with skin that was paler than the Ferrethawkians'. None of them were talking amongst each other; they were all standing with stern, unblinking expressions, clutching their cages of hissing adolescent dagger-tongued, jewel-eyed snakes. The Cobrazors looked just as stern and serious as their masters: none of the coiled beasts were moving except their two-pronged, dagger-like tongues that constantly slipped out of their mouths every now and then. They were long-bodied cobras with varying shades of purple, green, or yellow scales, with dagger-sharp spears at the tips of their tails. Their razor-bladed, two-pronged tongues could extend up to five feet out of their mouths.

When the noise in the room died down, a chilly gust of wind blew over the students. Lester leaned forward in his cage and watched as four human figures stepped forward on the stage. Snow swirled among them, and the vague form of a purple beast leapt over their heads. It landed in front of the teachers and stepped forth through the snow. It was a purple panther—an Iciclaw. Its five claws were shiny-white, extending almost three feet from its front paws. Lester curled his lips at the sight of those claws. He wondered if it had contributed to the sudden temperature drop in the room.

Beside the Iciclaw was a tall, slender lady, with snow-white skin. She was wearing a white, furry robe with a hood hanging behind her head. Her silky robe was open, revealing her white, glossy dress that was made of white feathers. Beneath the hanging sleeves of her white robe, Lester could see that her arms were covered in white arm sleeves and her hands wrapped in thin black gloves.

Her Iciclaw let out a low grumble as she scanned her ice-blue eyes across the students. The room was completely silent as every eye rested upon the stark lady and her genopet.

"Welcome, Beginning Combatants," the lady spoke in a sharp voice that echoed across the room. Her voice had a hard-edged tone that made Lester's blood run cold. "I am your headmistress, Lady Belladonna Glace. You shall address me as Lady B. This here is Isis, my dear Iciclaw," she nodded at the great, white feline beside her. Isis flexed her claws and gave a deep purr to introduce herself.

Lady B scanned her ice-blue eyes over the students again, and a cold smile crept across her face. "I'm sure you are all both very excited and nervous. Do not fear! This is the Wildheart Forest Battle Grounds. The seven clans of the Wildheart Forest League battle amongst one another here: one-on-one battles are conducted on the battle grounds throughout the year, and full-clan battles are conducted at the central Genopet League Arena at the beginning of every month.

"I hope that at this age, you are already aware of the three Ranks in a clan: Standard, Advanced, and Elite. At this point, you are all only beginners. The Beginning Rank isn't exactly an official rank. While you do participate in Genopet League battles, you Combatants are unable to apply for any clan jobs since every job and career requires every human and his pet to at least be at the Standard level. Having just received your pets for the first time, you are all starting in the Beginning Rank and you will only battle opponents from the Beginning Rank in other clans throughout the year." She batted her long, dark eyelashes before continuing. "Based on the number of opponents your pet beats and based on your pet's battle record by the end of the year, you and your pet may move up the ranks." A smile cracked across her face. "And he higher you rank, the better job opportunities you will have. I hope you have all chosen your pets wisely—the stronger your pet, the more battles you win, and the better your chances are of qualifying for the best jobs."

Lester's fur bristled. Oh, so this buffoon only hopes that the humans have chosen their pets wisely. But she doesn't show any concern to how the pets feel about their partnership. It's always about the humans.

Lady B went on, "Now, this is the year you must all start out strong. By the end of this year, some of you may have won enough battles to move up to a higher Rank, some may not have won enough and may thus remain here as Beginning Combatants. But do not worry—you always have the opportunity to move up each year. However, every year, your battle records renew. If you do not fulfill the amount of yearly victories required in your rank, it's possible that you may drop from Elite to Advanced or all the way down to Standard or Beginning again. In that case, you would lose your job in that particular rank in the following year."

An uneasy calm filled the room before she went on. "Every day of the week, you will spend half your day with your own Rank within your own clans, teaching your pets techniques that are relevant to your specific clan territory. For example, the Boulderbears will be trained to embrace their strength and rock-composed bodies to shape the lands and mountains. The Cobrazors must learn to shape and nourish the earth, including using their bud-shaped noses to grow a variety of plants, medicines, and complex resources, and then use their strength. You will spend half your day, focusing on training your pets to perform tasks relevant to their species' abilities and purposes. Each class will be teaching their students something different, for each species serves its own unique and valuable purposes.

"The second half of the day will consist of physical practice with your genopets—practice on the battle grounds. Now pets," this time, she finally addressed the genopets, "this is the time where you will use the powers you've learned to their utmost strength. After learning and practicing how to use it to nourish the earth and shape the environment, you will use it on the battle field against the other clans, for such practice is vital exercise for your well-being. Using your powers to battle will increasingly enhance those powers so that you can become full-fledged genopets who can control the strongest conditions of nature."

Beside Lester, Lula chuckled in her cage as Kyrion approached them. "Ooh, exciting," she cast an excited glance to Lester. "I can't wait until we become full Clan Combatants by the end of this year. I sure hope I'll be strong enough for the Elite Rank and help our clan become the Gold Clan!"

Lester's fur bristled. There were three Genopet Leagues in each of the seven continents of the world, and in each League, there were eight clans of genopets and human masters. The Genopet League battles took place over a three-year-period. In the first year, Round 1 took place, in which the battles were regional. Each of the seven clans in a Genopet League engaged in monthly battles against one another. The genopet clans would be fighting clans that were only in their own League. The winning clan would be awarded monetary awards. Thus, the more clans beaten, the more money the winning clan would obtain to distribute to its clan members. By the end of the year, the clan with the highest winning streak would be awarded as the "Bronze Clan" of their League and will move onto Round 2, in which national battles took place. The Bronze Clans of each League on the continent would be battling one another. The winner would emerge as the Silver Clan, and the Silver Clans would battle one another in the international battles of Round 3. The one clan winner would become the Gold Clan, and would be eligible to challenge the great Hox himself on the island of Dr. Z. If they beat Hox, the clan's genopets would be awarded with a rare and powerful superpower.

Lester gritted his teeth. "The Volcanines made it to the top and became Gold Clan. They battled Dr. Z and Hox, and were awarded the Blue Fire superpower." Which was the fire that killed my parents. He flicked his tail and growled, "At this point, the Volcanines hold the highest winning streak in our League, then it's the Cobrazors, and then it's us Ferrethawks. But that's going to change. We're gonna shred those mongrels and crush those rockhead bears and make it to the top of the Wildheart Forest League."

Lula giggled. "Yes, totally."

Lady B went on, "Now, the Genopet League battles are an integral part of our forest, an integral part of our entire world. Who can tell me how many clans are in Wildheart Forest?"

"Seven," one of the Volcanine boys spoke quickly without raising his hand.

"That's right," Lady B's piercing blue eyes didn't even look in his direction. "There are three Leagues in each continent, each composing of seven clans. This means during Round 1 of the Genopet League battles, the seven clans within a League will be battling only amongst one another. The clan that emerges with the highest winning streak finishes off as the Bronze Clan, and will move on to battle the Bronze Clans of other Leagues on our continent. This is a perfect opportunity to gain wealth for our clan—the more battles we win, the more money the human masters obtain, the more resources we can thus buy to empower you genopets and adorn our territories with glorious riches." Her eyes flashed.

Lester scoffed. "And of course the Volcanines are filthy rich, with so much land and golden, fiery buildings," he mumbled. "But that's gonna change. Their city won't be full of golden buildings and plentiful rare species of prey for long. We'll beat their clan so many times that we'll be rich enough to buy all parts of their territory."

Lula giggled. "Oh, but I'd rather win a portion of the Aquabunnies' territory. I'd love to eat the delicious cherry-fish that dwell in their lakes."

Isis stepped forward and gave a series of deep growls and grunts. "You must all be aware that the more clans you beat, the more money you'll be able to earn. You may be able to buy anything from the winning clan's territory, depending on the sum of money that you won.

"Additionally, if your clan ever makes it up the ranks to the Gold League, you may battle Hox." Isis's ears twitched. "You'd battle him on Hox's Island, where the mysterious Dr. Z. uses Hox's blood to create all species of genopets."

Milo, who was in a cage behind Lester, was shivering. "It's so creepy to think that we all share blood with Hox. He's so ugly."

Lula giggled. "Milo, that's no way to talk about our foremost ancestor! Hox is the only reason why we have our powers. He was the one genopet who possesses all the powers of every genopet species in the world. Dr. Z just distributed each of those powers to each different animal species."

Milo tilted his head. "B-but I've always wondered...why did Dr. Z give each animal only one of Hox's powers? It's made each species of animals competitive against one another as they all compete to embrace their own powers."

Lester glared at his brother. "It's because each power needs to be honed individually! If we all had more than one power, we wouldn't be able to focus on strengthening and honing one." He snorted. "Imagine if we had to control the air and breathe fire. We would be weak in both powers, because we wouldn't be able to focus on fully strengthening one specific power."

Milo shuddered. "Well that's a good reason, I guess. B-but if we all shared our powers and shared the same abilities, we wouldn't have to strengthen one power, because then we wouldn't be fighting one another."

Lester snapped his teeth at his brother. Milo jumped back in his cage and gave a startled flap of his wings. "You dummy!" Snarled Lester. "If we all shared powers and didn't need to fight one another, that would mean all species would be equally powerful! And that would just be unfulfilling. Don't you want to be the strongest species in the world? Stronger than those Volcanines?" Lester gritted his teeth in their direction. "There's no way in Hox's name would I ever want to be equal with those mangy fleabags."

Lula and Milo exchanged nervous glances. Neither said anything.

Isis continued to speak. "Now last year was the final year for the 75th Genopet League battle. Our League was very lucky to have one of our seven clans make it to the Gold League and battle Hox." She turned to the dark corner of the room, where the bold-looking Volcanian students were gathered. "The Volcanine clan beat Hox and won a superpower from him. They were Upgraded with the Blue Fire superpower. Such fire is more powerful than any type of fire they've used before. So if ya'll wanna win a superpower that strong, make sure you fight hard for your clan and make it far enough to beat Hox."

Many heads turned to glance at the Volcanines. Lester narrowed his eyes at them.

Lady B nodded and spoke next, "Now that the Genopet League battle is starting over again, we are currently on Round 1 of the process. We would like to have a clan from our League make it to the Gold League again. Thus, it is important that you all embrace the powers that you are given, and compete against one another so that you can toughen up for future Genopet League battles."

The room was filled with excited murmurs. Lester looked around and exchanged glances with some of the genopets. Many of them were snapping their teeth at species from other clans, as if already ready to fight.

"Now!" Lady B raised her voice and the room quieted again. "I'm sure each of you are eager to use your new genopets to fight for your clan in the Genopet League and earn all the money, superpowers, and Hox's Upgrades. But! Your journey has barely started. You are only Beginning Combatants, so you need extra training with your pets. The Genopet League battles are every once a month, and each clan is battled twice a year. In the days leading up to the Genopet League, you will be battling other opponents in one-on-one battles so that you can work your ways up the battle ranks in your own clan and qualify for decent jobs to satisfy your lives. So work hard in each of your training hours!"

Isis flicked her tail. "For every one-on-one battle that your genopet wins, you will be awarded a star-paw badge on your training record. To qualify for the Standard Rank, you need a minimum of 100 battles by the end of the year. To qualify for the Advanced Rank, you need a minimum of 150 badges by the end of the year. That's roughly three battles a week! For the Elite Rank, you need a minimum of 260 badges."

The room was filled with anxious murmuring again. Lester was staring at the headmistress with unblinking eyes. He turned to Lula and Milo. "If I could just battle the Volcanines for the entire year, I'll have ten times that amount of badges," he remarked. He turned and scowled at Risa. Unless that mixed-blood's scent distracts me from performing well.

Milo looked him with a worried look, but Lula nodded right away. The white Ferrethawk was bristling with excitement. "We're all gonna make it to the Elite Rank and qualify for the best jobs!"

"And we're definitely going to beat the entire Volcanine Clan during the Genopet League," added Lester.

"Hah!" Thistletail was snickering in the cage next to Milo's. "Good luck training with that mixed-blood, Lester! I'm sure you'll be the strongest runt in the clan."

Lester blew a puff of smoke in his direction. "Go sniff a badger's rear, Thistletail!"

Thistletail narrowed his eyes at Lester. "Watch your mouth, crow-wings. I'll slay you once we start training."

Lester scoffed. "You'd be disqualified for fighting against your own species."

Finally, Lady B clasped her hands together. "Now! It is about time you all disperse to your own teachers. Let me quickly introduce all eight teaching instructors of each clan class, then you may all distribute to your specified teachers." She turned and held her hand toward the man on the far left. He had tiny eyes narrowed into slits, and a thin-lipped smile that elicited an air of wisdom and calmness in him. Like any typical Ferrethawkian, he had thin, white-blonde hair and a calm look on his face. He stood upright, with a silver-feathered Ferrethawk on his shoulder.

"This is Sir Aeolus, teaching instructor of the Ferrethawk Clan," said Lady B. The man gave a quick nod to the students, and then Lady B stepped back and held her hand toward the next teacher to his right. A tall, slender, dark-skinned lady with a huge, red afro.

"Great Hox!" Lula was cracking up. "Check out her hairdo!"

Even Milo was starting to laugh.

But Lester frowned. "Puh. Just shows how obnoxious those Volcanians are."

"This is Dame Dixon," said Lady B. "She is the teaching instructor of the Volcanine students."

Lady B stepped back and held her hand toward a young man with perfectly shiny-tan skin. Lester blinked at the sight of the teacher, who appeared to be the most attractive and stylish of them all. His hair was midnight-blue, slick and nicely combed to the side. He was well-built, with his muscles bulging beneath his tight, vibrant-turquoise wetsuit. Around his neck and shoulders was a sparkling blue disk, distinguishable with his sparkling turquoise vest. "This is Sir D'Angelo, teaching instructor of the Aquabunny Clan." Lester glanced at the genopet at his side. A blue-pelted Aquabunny was settled beside him, posing like a seal.

Lady B nodded to the next teaching few teaching instructors: Sir Dreyton of the Armadrillos, Dame Atya of the Boulderbears, and Sir Damyo of the Cobrazorians.

"And last but certainly not least..." Lady B backed up and held her hand against a pale-skinned lady with straight, magenta hair and a forest-green, long-bodied feline sitting beside her. "...this is Dame Zierra, the teaching instructor of the Iciclaw Clan."

Lester narrowed his eyes and bristled at the sight of the woman beside her. She looked nothing like Lady B, or any typical Iciclawese human. She wore purple-rimmed, rectangular glasses that made her dark brown eyes look like a hawk's. Her face was thin and pale, and she wore a dark, red-violet coat with a thin, purple cape trailing behind her. Her lips were blood-red and slightly pursed, giving her face the look of a stern, old witch that Lester had seen on horror netscreen movies in the nursery. Instead of white hair, she had purple hair—the exact same hair color as Sir Damyo.

Lula gasped. "She must be a Cobrazorian!"

Thistletail sniggered. The brawny, jet-black Ferrethawk flicked his bushy tail. "She's the wife of the Cobrazor Emperor! And a terrible one. She deliberately left the Cobrazors and joined the Iciclaws because she fell in love with one of the men on their Elite Rank. She's a Clan Migrant." He turned to Lester. "Hey, Lester, at least Risa's not as bad as Dame Zierra! Risa hasn't walked away from our clan...not yet anyway!"

Lester whipped his tail in his direction to summon an air current at his face. He kept his eyes fixed on the prim, dark-violet panther beside Zierra. It shared the exact same expression, with its long, snow-white claws slowly extending in and out.

"Alright!" Lady Belladona banged her icy spear against the stage and gave the audience a nod. "Gather around your own teachers, and begin your training. I hope you all have a fantastic first day!"

For a moment, the room was silent except for the murmuring and growling of nervous students and genopets. Everyone within each clan was exchanging anxious glances.

"Alright, alright, that's enough gaping!"

Lester immediately looked toward the stage at the sound of Dame Dixon's loud, clear voice. The students turned to see that she was stepping forward from the line of seven instructors, smirking at her audience.

"Well, don't just sit there!" Dame Dixon yelled. "Lady B's taken up our time for first-hour lectures! You can all sit and stare at her in awe at the end of the day when she shows up for closing announcements. Right now, you need to get on with your day and start training!" Dame Dixon looked around and raised her long, skinny arms. "Now where are my little lava pups? Students from my clan! Get your monsters over here and follow me to my room!"

And instantly, students were getting up out of their seats to gather around each of the seven teachers.

Lester rolled his eyes and curled back into a corner in his cage. "Bother. This is going to be a long day."

  7. Risa

Risa sat in the front left corner of Sir Aeolus's room, tracing her fingers along the bars of Lester's cage. Hearing Lady B explain the Genopet League Ranks brought back painful memories of her parents. Both of them were in the Elite Ranks of their clans. Her mother was one of the best healers in the clan, just as her father was for his clan. Soriana had been a Nox Doctor, a doctor that specialized in the diseases brought upon by Nox Clouds, shiny-gray gaseous clouds from which thick, silvery raindrops spilled from. Myko was a Dermosurgeon, a doctor that specialized in curing intense burns caused by three types of flames that came from the Volcanines' volcano heads.

I've got to prove myself worthy to my clan. My parents were both excellent healers, and I'll be just like them. Her heart beat with excitement. As a child, she always imagined herself flying with the other Ferrethawks, rescuing victims from the Nox Rainstorms and bringing them back to be healed in their clan's hospitals. Only the Ferrethawks were capable of calming such dangerous storms and adequately rescuing the victims across their territory.

Then she caught a glimpse of Annelle, Jynn, and Anya giggling and whispering her name. The girls were flashing her smug smiles.

"Getting your hopes up so soon, Risa?" Annelle cooed. "You barely have a chance win enough battles to place you in the Elite Rank by the end of this year. Don't you know that the battle record needs to be higher for mixed-bloods?"

Risa glared at them and clenched her tongue. "What are you talking about?"

Annelle batted her eyelashes and giggled. "Oh, you're so naïve! 260 victories is the minimum amount for pureblood clan members to place in the Elite Rank of their clan. But mixed-blood clan members are expected to win more, just so that they can prove they are extra loyal to their clan and that they can truly work well with their genopet. Therefore, our Ferrethawk clan requires a minimum of 300 victories for mixed-bloods."

Risa blinked. She frowned to hide her shock. "That's nothing! I'll only need about 6 victories a week, rather than 5. Not much of a difference."

"You also can't lose more than 70 battles in the year," added Annelle. "A pureblood can lose a maximum of 80 battles and win a minimum of 260 battles to qualify as an Elite Combatant, but mixed-bloods can't lose more than 70 or win less than 300."

Anya nodded, twirling a strand of her blonde hair. "Hey, but you'd only have to win 280 victories to become an Elite Combatant in the Volcanine Clan. And you're allowed to lose up to 75. They're surprisingly less strict about mixed-blood rights."

Jynn snickered. "Yeah, in our clan, even if you do make it to the Elite Rank and qualify to become a healer, you're only going to receive 60% of what a pureblood would receive. Mixed-bloods aren't paid as much as purebloods. You'd also have to pay higher taxes while in the Volcanine clan, there's a flat tax for every human."

Risa frowned. "I don't want to be a healer for the money anyway. I wanna be a healer because I want to save lives like my mother did, to soar through the skies with the Ferrethawks to rescue humans and genopets."

"That's a wonderful goal, Risa," a gentle voice spoke.

Risa looked up and winced as Kyrion took his seat next to her.

The white-blonde boy gave her a nod. "I'm glad to hear you're also aiming to be a healer. I take it you want to be a Nox Doctor like your mother? So do I. My father was a Nox Doctor before he became Emperor."

She gave a curt nod to him. "And before he slept with my mom." She immediately looked away.

She faced the direction of their teaching instructor. Sir Aeolus had not gotten up from his desk for almost 15 minutes. He had immediately sat down behind the netscreen above his desk in the corner with his back turned toward the students. Risa could see his face was still glued to the windows he had opened on his netscreen. A white-and-black Ferrethawk with one white and one black wing was scurrying across his desk, nudging its nose at the stacks of papers and scattered pens.

Risa looked around the room. None of the Ferrethawkian students were talking amongst each other. Some of them had put their heads down behind their pet's cages, some were casting each other nervous glances as if they were unsure if they were supposed to be doing something in the last fifteen minutes. Only their fledglings were quietly chittering and communicating to one another through hoxtongue.

Risa scrunched her face as she took a look around the room. Many of the students were pale and dressed in white, smooth outfits. They wore gentle smiles on their faces, each distinguishing an aura of calmness.

This is going to be tough, Risa thought. Human masters of Ferrethawks are known for their wisdom, gracefulness, and spiritual intellect. I definitely have none of those traits.

Suddenly, a quick SQUEAK sounded through the classroom and all students turned to face forward. The black-and-white Ferrethawk had flown away from Sir Aeolus's desk in the corner, and was hovering in front of the huge rectangular netscreen that hung at the center of the front wall. The genopet was facing the students with its wide beady eyes as it opened its mouth to give another squeak.

"SQUEEE! Find your simulation, noobs!" Shouted the genopet in a rough, crackly voice.

The students looked among one another, dumbfounded, and snickered.

"Find your simulation, noobs!" The Ferrethawk repeated itself in a harsher tone.

Risa frowned. She turned over to Sir Aeolus in the corner, wondering if he had taken any notice of what his pet was saying to the class. Apparently, he didn't. The bald teacher was still facing his netscreen.

"Uh, Sir Aeolus?" One of the boys was raising his hand with a smug look on his face. "I think your new teacher-pet is making fun of us."

"AWWWK!" The Ferrethawk flapped its wings violently. "FIND YOUR SIMULATION, NOOBS!"

Sir Aeolus took off his glasses and rubbed his eyes with two of his fingers and then slowly swiveled to face the students. He lifted his arm and lazily pointed to the back of the room.

"Oh dear...my children, there are simulation tubes in the back of this room..." he had soft, feathery voice. "Each of you has your own tube where your pets are to sleep during the first-hour lecture...I think my teacher-pet meant to tell you to find your own individual 'simulation tubes.'"

"AWWK! Noobs! Noobs! SQUEEEA!" The Ferrethawk flapped its wings and shot right and left in front of the class netscreen.

Sir Aeolus's face twisted with irritation and he slowly slipped out his netphone from his gray coat-pocket. He aimed it at the black-white Ferrethawk and zapped it with a red beam. The students watched as the genopet paused in midair,plummeted to the floor, and began snoring.

Risa blinked at the sight, and then heard some of the students murmuring.

Everyone watched as Sir Aeolus rose from his seat and sauntered up to the center of the room beside the sleeping genopet. The man was dressed in a feathery gray coat that hung down to his heels. Like most air masters she had seen, he was tall and light-built, with thin, fair hair that hung slightly above his shoulders. His eyes were so narrow that they looked like they were closed. They twitched as he was gazed across the classroom as if he were trying to catch one of the nervous-looking first-years moving a muscle or sitting out of place. Risa remained stiff as a statue, hoping that he wouldn't rest his gaze on her and point out that she was a mixed blood.

Finally, Sir Aeolus smiled and spoke. "Hello," he spoke in his smooth tone. "I am Sir Aeolus, your training instructor. And this here is my teacher-pet, Glitch." He gazed down at the snoring genopet at his feet and murmured, "I apologize for the mild confusion that my teacher-pet may have caused you this morning. Clearly, he doesn't repeat every word I say with complete accuracy."

Kyrion raised a hand and said, "Would you like us to take our pets to our own simulation tubes in the back of the room, Sir Aeolus?"

Sir Aeolus lifted his head and stared at him with his heavy-lidded eyes. "Nooo..." he murmured after what felt like a long moment. "Mmm...as a matter of fact, I think it's convenient that you all keep your pets with you. I forgot that our headmistress took up almost our entire first-hour, introducing herself and explaining the basics of our training schedule to you all...so there will be no lecture this morning."

The students exchanged relieved glances, though no one said another word.

Sir Aeolus gave a long, sleepy sigh. "You guys are all so quiet," a hint of a smile formed on his face. "I'm so thankful to teach in such a clan. You guys are supposed to be the more peaceful, easygoing students who raise gentle, graceful pets."

Risa rolled her eyes. Lester was definitely not a gentle pet. And neither was she a quiet, easygoing human being. But that doesn't matter. She clenched her fists. I can still be loyal to this clan. I can still make Lester obey me and fight for me like other Ferrethawks would do for their human masters. I'm not going to let his misbehavior stop me from becoming the Healer I want to be.

Kyrion raised a hand again and spoke politely. "Sir Aeolus, are you going to explain to us the specific superpowers we will be focusing on today?"

"Nah...I don't think that's going to happen today either," Sir Aeolus turned to rest his lazy eyes on the netscreen in the corner of the room where his desk was. His small glasses flashed. "Erm...I happen to be having some technical difficulties with the eNet on my netscreen...I cannot access any of the DNA Profiles of each of your genopets. And until I can get access to those, I cannot have Glitch training with any pets."

Risa raised her eyebrows. "No training today?" She muttered, not knowing whether to feel relieved or disappointed.

"Now..." Sir Aeolus scanned his droopy gray-blue eyes over the students. "Before I resume my poor attempts to fix my netscreen, is there anything I'm forgetting to tell you all?"

A girl dressed in a lacy white dress raised a hand. "Tell us about the three-eyed squid in the human bathrooms!"

At this, the students began mumbling among each other. Risa looked over her shoulder and noticed how nervous everyone had gotten. She suddenly felt stupid. Three-eyed squid? Was this something she had missed out on, because she hadn't been reading the Daily Genotopian on the eNet?

She looked back up to Sir Aeolus, who was slowly shaking his head, his eyes closed. "Oh puh-lease," he began massaging his temples with both of his index fingers. "Not this again..."

A wave of laughter swept across the students. "Tell us!" Someone shouted. "It's something all Beginning Combatants have to know about!"

The girl beside her—a girl with a yellow-winged, yellow-pelted ferret in her cage—raised her hand. "Sir Aeolus," her voice was smooth and feathery. "Isn't the story of the three-eyed squid just a rumor to scare Beginning Combatants?"

"Yes, my dear, it's nothing but a lousy rumor..." Sir Aeolus said, releasing his temples and sighing with exasperation. "Teacher-pets and even training instructors like to use the rumor to spark fear amongst naïve Beginning Combatants. But it's all just complete badger-droppings. There's no such thing as a three-eyed squid eating up anyone in the human bathrooms."

He turned and started heading to his desk in the corner without opening his eyes or releasing his temples. "Now enough chat. I've got to fix up my netscreen..."

Risa watched as he passed her desk and took his seat in his own desk at the far left corner of the room, his back turned toward the students again.

For the remainder of the hour, the classroom was filled with chattering students. Some were even gathering around Glitch, speaking words and phrases just to hear him mimic them inaccurately.

The class was filled with murmuring and soft giggles as the students began to socialize. Only Risa left herself out of it.

"Nope! Not gonna talk to you," she held up a hand as Kyrion approached her.

"Alright, then..." Kyrion murmured, not looking offended at all. She watched as he turned away to join a crowd of soft-giggling girls. Risa put on a frown, buried her head in her arms, and grumbled, "Great Hox, this classroom is full of laid-back air-heads. I hope I don't have to become as ditsy as they are to become a Ferrethawkian Healer!"

Risa lifted up her head at the sound of a high-pitched screech echoing through the classroom and the hallways. Isis's screech. It was time for battle training to officially begin. The halls were suddenly filled with students leaving their rooms to head to their own battle grounds.

Sir Aeolus faced the netscreen for another moment, and then the gray-coated teacher stood up and turned to his students.

"Alright...you guys have 10 minutes to get to our battle grounds," he murmured. "We will focus on practicing our superpowers before we start one-on-one battles against the other classes."

Risa breathed a sigh of relief at the sound of that. She definitely wasn't ready to face another species in a battle.

Sir Aeolus went on, "I will show you the superpower we will focus on once we all get to our battle grounds." And with that, he turned to walk toward the door of his room. He held it open and watched all the students and their genopets head out of the room.

Risa carried Lester's cage in her right arm and hurried out the door, before she heard Sir Aeolus's lazy voice speaking her name.

"Risa...Larke."

Risa paused three feet in front of the door, and then looked back to see Sir Aeolus resting his droopy eyes on her.

"You're the daughter of Sir Myko Larke and Dame Soriana Larke, aren't you? The mixed-blood?" His voice had no expression to it.

Risa met his gaze. "Y-yes!" She replied rather sharply.

Sir Aeolus nodded. "Well, it's nice to meet you, Risa. I definitely am looking forward to seeing how a mixed-blood can fare in this clan. It isn't common for a mixed-blood to be partaking in the Genopet League. Most of them are exiled from their clans right after the Pairing Ceremony, since many are rejected by all the fledgling genopets on the Pairing Field."

Oh, so you expected me to live as a genopet-less, homeless human? Risa felt her face heat up. She held his gaze for a few seconds and then nodded. "Yeah, well, I'm ready to learn how to fight for my clan so that I can become a Ferrethawkian Healer. Just like my mother was."

The corner of Sir Aeolus's lip twitched, as if he meant to smile at her. "You mean your pet is ready to fight for your clan so that you can become a Healer," he chuckled. "You do know that the road is a lot tougher for mixed-bloods, right? To become a Ferrethawkian Healer, you must be an Elite Combatant. To become an Elite Combatant, you—as a mixed-blood—must win 300 battles by the end of the year, not 260. Our clan expects more from mixed-bloods."

Risa frowned. "Well, my mother and her Ferrethawk actually won 318 battles by the end of their first year in the Standard Rank. She only lost 60 battles throughout that entire year. If she can do it, so can I."

He smiled. "You mother was a pureblood Ferrethawkian. She didn't have any trouble working with her pet. Unfortunately we cannot say the same about you...although it's wonderful that you're determined." He gave her a slight bow. "Good luck winning those battles with troublesome little Lester. I hope you both have a great year."

She blinked. "Um...thanks." Gee, what a weirdo. Not knowing what else to say, she turned around and made her way down the golden-walled halls.

It took almost five minutes to get from Sir Aeolus's room all the way to the bottom of the tree-building. Perhaps it was because his room was built inside one of the highest branches at the top. Risa's feet became sore as she climbed down multiple sets of stairs, rode a few escalators, and power-walked her way across the long, winding hallways until she was finally outside of the tree at its base.

She looked around and saw students and genopets scattered everywhere, some clumped up in dense crowds with their friends. Many were gathered around a ten-foot red-rose pole—the Shuttle Stop. This was where they boarded shuttles that would fly them to their battle grounds.

Risa looked up and realized that the sky was filled with Shuttles carrying cubic rooms full of students and their pets. Then she huffed. She noticed some of the Shuttles were landing on some of the higher-level branches of various trees, where students were gathered around ten-foot red roses that grew at the tips of the branches.

Crap! Why did I come all the way down here? She was suddenly angry with herself. I could have just walked up to a nearby branch where there was a rose pole, and boarded a Shuttle up there! How could I have been so stupid?

She hurried up to the nearest red rose and stood beside the tall plant with a crowd of students and their pets. She looked up to the crowded sky and waited for one of the Shuttles to land.

As soon as her Shuttle landed beside a ten-foot red rose at the corner of a wide, grassy meadow, she slipped out of the cubic room and jumped off the Shuttle, muttering curses. She saw Sir Aeolus and the other students in her class gathered several yards in the distance. Risa hurried up to join them and listened to Sir Aelous speak.

"Alright...since it is only the first day, today is just a simple day," he scanned his sleepy, gray-blue eyes over all four groups of students. "Remember that you must be able to fight with your pet. Your skill and performance on the battle field is a reflection of how well you can work with that pet, as well as how skilled the both of you are as a pair. Such characteristics are extremely important when it comes to applying to jobs in our clan, which is why the more prestigious, high-paying jobs are only for Elite Combatants. Such humans and genopets have proven they are capable of working together and winning battles together." He paused to let the Combatants and their pets sink that it. Then he went on, "For today, we will be practicing the gust attack with our Ferrethawks. This is the typical gust that Ferrethawks exhale for their masters so that they can soar through the air with them when they are traveling together or battling together. But since you are all just beginning, I want you all to have your pet practice using the gust attack to maneuver a Frisbee in the air before teaching them to use the move to maneuver human bodies." He looked across from the students and their pets. "You may all wake up your pets and begin."

Risa watched as the students zapped their pets with green beams from their netphones. Sir Aeolus walked around and handed siver Frisbees to each pair.

Risa huffed and zapped Lester with a green beam. She ignored his sudden chattering and squeaking and watched as the students and their pets began to approach a group of floating clouds. She bit her tongue as she watched Kyrion and Lula strolling across a bridge of clouds, maneuvering the Frisbee back to each other as if they had been training together their whole lives.

Is everyone handling this with ease?! She looked around and then breathed a mild sigh of relief. Not everyone was excelling like Kyrion. Many of the students were standing atop the clouds with their hands spread out for balance, their eyes wide with fear as they wobbled across the cloud to step up to their pets. Some of the Ferrethawks were flying around with the Frisbee in their mouths, throwing the disc at other pets or tugging at the Frisbee with another.

Aeolus was slowly shaking his head. "You Combatant newbies have a lot to learn."

He looked over his shoulder. "Risa?" Sir Aeolus approached her and handed her a Frisbee. "Why, you haven't even climbed up a cloud yet."

Risa huffed at Lester by her shoulder. "Alright, Lester! Let's use that powerful gust attack of yours!"

His eyes drooped. "I already know my gust attack, mixed-blood."

"Good for you!" Risa smiled sarcastically. "Now learn how to use it to maneuver this Frisbee!" She held the silver disk in front of his nose.

Lester sniffed at it, and then snorted. "Great Hox, I smell Volcanines..." he exhaled a sudden gust of wind that sent the Frisbee flying out of Risa's hands and hitting her on the forehead.

"Ow! Lester!" She ducked as the Ferrethawk zoomed over her head with his mouth wide open. She barely dodged his snapping teeth. Great Hox, this is going to be dangerous for me.

She got up and looked around the meadow and glanced at the rest of the students and fledglings. Her heart beat even faster as she watched Lula fluttering by, maneuvering the Frisbee toward Kyrion, who was standing atop a thin strand of a cloud, balancing on one foot. He was smiling with his eyes closed, with his arms stretched out to keep her balance. Risa watched with awe as the lanky, graceful man caught the Frisbee in his right hand, slowly spun around, and leapt to a thicker cloud hovering behind her.

"Well done, Kyrion," Sir Aeolus began clapping his hands and coming his way. "Excellent sense of balance and control. Just like a true Ferrethawkian."

"If only Lester and I get along like that," she muttered, narrowing her eyes. She turned around and gasped, ducking as Lester zoomed over her haed again, exhaling a long trail of smoke. Risa dodged a sudden lightning bolt that struck from the cloud, and gasped as she saw the smoke encircling the top of Sir Aeolus's head. The teaching instructor was approaching Kyrion, who was chortling smoothly as Lula encircled him and blew a soft wind to ruffle his long, white-blonde hair.

"Sir Aeolus! Kyrion!" She cried. "Look out!"

But a lightning bolt had already jutted out of the smoke, striking Sir Aeolus on the back of his neck. Sir Aeolus let out a yell and spun around to glare at Risa. Many of the other Ferrethawkian students—struggling with their own pets—stopped running around and turned to fix their gazes on Risa and Lester, who was snarling.

"I don't need a mixed-blood to tell me how to use my powers," Lester soared over the students, flapping his wings so that the floating clouds around him began to swirl. They became a spinning whirlwind that blew the other Ferrethawks out of the sky.

"Lester, stop!" Risa cried.

But Sir Aeolus stepped aside and lightly tossed the Frisbee toward the whirlwind. He watched as it spun in circles. Lester stopped circling and tilted his head at the teacher. "Oh, right, sorry. We're supposed to be practicing with that circular thingy." He outstretched his l wings, sending the whirlwind and the spinning Frisbee in Aeolus's direction.

Aeolus turned to Glitch on his shoulder. "Glitch?" He spoke in his bored voice.

Glitch let out a squawk and hovered toward the incoming tornado and Frisbee. As the whirlwind drew closer, Glitch flapped his wings rapidly and stirred up a strong gust of wind that sent the spinning currents and the Frisbee flying straight back at Lester. Risa watched in astonishment as Lester was hit by the Frisbee. The little fledgling was blown several yards back in Glitch's gust.

A few of the students ooohed and cheered for Aeolus's teacher-pet.

"Risa, you need to shout commands at your pet," Aeolus retorted calmly, stepping up to Glitch. "He needs to learn how to use his gust attack to maneuver the Frisbee through the air, just as he'll need to learn how to maneuver your body through the air when you're battling together." His tiny eye slits grew narrower. "And we're practicing the gust attack today, not the whirlwind. My dear child, learn how to communicate with your pet, so that he can master each and every move he knows."

"He doesn't listen to me!" Risa protested.

Lester circled around again, flying faster than she had ever seen him fly before. Another whirlwind formed, this time, much stronger. The spinning wind knocked over his cage and sent it rolling rapidly across the field until it banged into the shins of a Ferrethawkian boy. The boy yowled and dropped to his knees.

"Lester, be careful!" Risa cried. She hurried up to the boy. "Are you okay?"

"Look out!" Cried the boy.

Risa looked up too late. The Frisbee banged straight into her forehead and she fell back. "Ow! Darn it, Lester!" Cried Risa, sitting up and scowling up at the flying genopet. "Use your gust attack to pass the Frisbee to Glitch! Don't strike me with it!"

But the little sable fledgling was snarling. "Glitch isn't my enemy!" He soared over the other Ferrethawk fledglings who were watching him with awe. He outstretched his wings, sending his gust of wind straight toward Risa. Both she and Sir Aeolus tumbled several yards back, only to be stopped by Lester's whirlwind as it maneuvered around them and caught them in its spinning vortex. Soon, all the genopets left their student masters and circled around Lester.

"Get that mixed-blood!" Many of them were squeaking. "She's making the whole meadow smell like a Volcanine's territory!"

They all zoomed through the air and flapped their wings, causing the wind to kick up and the clouds swirl everywhere.
Risa was flung back in every direction. She screamed, and then landed on her side with her eyes squeezed shut. How am I supposed to prove my loyalty to this clan if my own pet won't even listen to me?!

Risa could feel Lester's hatred intensifying as the day dragged on.

During the next training hour, the Ferrethawkians gathered on an island on one of the large bodies of water at the training grounds of the Aquabunnies. Sir D'Angelo explained that the Aquabunnies would be practicing their whirlpools to maneuver a plastic ball through the water, while the Ferrethawks practiced using the gust attack to maneuver the ball out of the Aquabunnies' whirlpools.

"Today, we are only having our pets fight against one another," said Sir D'Angelo. "We will work on mutually fighting with them tomorrow, after they've gotten used to practicing their moves on one another. Don't worry—your official one-on-one battles won't be until this Friday. You've got the entire week before you all record your first battles on your training records."

Risa felt goose-bumps on her skin. Hopefully that was enough time for her to teach Lester to fight with her and not against her.

But throughout that hour, Lester was zipping through the air, stirring up violent waves with his billowing wings. Risa screamed as a lightning bolt from Lester's cloud struck the water. "Lester, cut it out! I'm in the water, too!"

Lester gave her a wry look as he circled her in the air. "I'm trying to exercise my powers so that I can fight for the Ferrethawkian Clan, not the Volcanian Clan."

"Well, then you should be trying to work with me! I'd like to win many battles for our clan as well!"

"I don't need a mixed-blood to work with me! Your scent is only going to distract me from defeating my opponent," he soared away and continued to swoop around, blowing the waves in every direction.

Finally, Sir Aeolus and Sir D'Angelo had their students pair up.

"Alright, Ferrethawkians!" Aelous's feathery voice somehow managed to project over all the noise. "Find an Aquabunnesian student to partner up with. We are going to work on one-on-one battle techniques now."

Risa looked around as the students immediately began to find another partner to pair with. From the corner of her eye, she heard a group of Aquabunnesian girls giggling.

"I dare you to pair with Risa Larke," said a girly, musical voice.

"Hah! I don't know who's worse to work with—the mixed-blood human master, or her mean little Ferrethawk," said another girly voice.

A long, dramatic sigh sounded from their huddled group. "Please. Give her a break. Her Ferrethawk's the problem, not her. She's just trying her best to train with her pet."

"Hey, but so is Lester! He's trying very hard—perhaps a little too hard."

Risa looked over her shoulder. The girl that had defended her was Devina Chevalier. She was looking at her with her blue, pencil-thin eyebrows raised. Her Aquabunny was settled beside her, gazing at her with a twitching nose.

Before any of them could say another word, Sir D'Angelo approached them. "Girls? Have you found Ferrethawkian partners yet?"

"Sorry D'Angelo!" One of them said. "We'll find one right away."

They split up. But Devina remained in her spot and smiled at Risa. She slowly walked up to her, her long, blue ponytail swaying behind her head. She looked up at Lester, who was doing acrobats in the sky.

"What a cute Ferrethawk!" She said in a somewhat overly-dramatic voice. "Mind if I train with you? Bianca and I would love to battle such an energetic opponent." She nodded at the blue, fin-tailed rabbit at her side. The little genopet was dragging herself across the ground like a seal.

Lester paused in midair and bared his fangs at the girl. "Back off, Aquabunnesian!"

"Whoa, whoa, whoa...chill," the blue-haired girl held up her hands and raised her pencil-thin eyebrows at the Ferrethawk. "I only came here to talk to your master, not you." She turned to Risa and smiled. "You're the mixed blood Ferrethawkian-Volcanian, aren't you?"

Risa scowled. "So I am. You got a problem with that?"

Devina giggled. "Well, I'm not the mixed-blood so I'm not the one with the problem." She batted her long-fluttery eyelashes. "But hey, I'm impressed with you. You're not a full-blooded member of your clan, yet, you're still taking the risk to train your clan's genopet. Not very common for a mixed-blood to do."

Risa scoffed. "What makes you so surprised about seeing a mixed-blood human training a genopet from her own clan? If I don't train a genopet from my own clan, I'll be useless to the clan and I'll be kicked out, left alone in the wild without a genopet to protect me from all of Mother Nature's new diseases and dangerous natural disasters from which they come from."

Devina gave a sweet smile. "Girly, of course every human should be training a pet in their own clan! But for mixed-bloods, it's very difficult, because the genopets just have a hard time tolerating their scent. That's why most mixed-bloods end up homeless before they even start training school—their pet completely rejects them during the Pairing Ceremony, and they are unable to pair with a genopet in their own clan. So the surprising part is that your Pairing Ceremony worked out and Lester actually decided to accept you as his human master." She battedher eyebrows and gave a quick glance at her blue nails. "Anyways. I asked you a question. Are we gonna get on with this training or not?"

Risa blinked. "Um, sure. Just don't yell at me if Lester's wind messes up your hair." She couldn't help staring at how finely her long, shiny-blue ponytail blossomed from the top of her head, arched back, and hung all the way down to her waist.

Devina gave a musical giggle. "Girl, don't worry about it. I probably already look like a slob since our Aquabunnies were practicing whirlpools today."

Risa gave a wry smile. "Slob" was the last word to describe the appearance of this girl.

"Well, if you're okay with getting blown around by spontaneous air currents—" Risa let out a short scream as Lester's gust of wind knocked her on her knees. "Lester!"

"Are we gonna train or not?" Scoffed the Ferrethawk. He glared at her Aquabunny, whose drooping ears had slightly risen to release bubbles in his direction.

Lester let out a puff of wind to blow the bubbles out of his face. But instantly, the Aquabunny spun in a rapid circle until water shot out of her ears, spinning with her and forming a small whirlpool. The whirlpool was carried by Lester's wind, and suddenly, Risa was carried up in the blowing wind and flaying water.

"Lester, stop!" Risa screamed. She landed flat on her face in a gooey mud puddle. "Ugh!" She got up and looked around to see that Devina was nowhere to be seen. "Oh, of course! Miss perfect doesn't end up in the mud but I do."

She got up to her feet and shook the mud off her arms. "Stupid Ferrethawk..."

The day only grew worse. Next, the class was up against the Cobrazorians. Risa's heart skipped a beat as they set foot on their battle grounds, a quiet, jungle-like setting where giant plants and distorted-looking trees grew across soft, blue-green grass. The Ferrethawkians faced the tall, violet-haired Cobrazorians.

Tears swelled up in Risa's eyes. The Cobrazorian Clan was known for its strong abhorrence of mixed-blood and foreign-blood. Their Emperor prohibited friendships and marriage with non-clan members. Of all seven clans in the Wildheart Forest League, they were the most "clanalistic," the clan that most strongly valued the qualities of their own species over all other clans. Thus, Zexel, the Prime Genopet of the Cobrazorian Clan, had purposely killed Risa's parents in the Genopet League Battle last year. The snake had made it clear that all humans who committed cross-clan intermarriage ought to be killed.

Those snakes want nothing more than to be the most powerful clan in the world. Thought Risa. They're second-place in our Wildheart Forest League, just behind the Volcanines. There's nothing more they want than tobeat those Volcanines and replace them at the top of the League.

"Alright, Beginning Combatants!" Sir Aeolus's command snapped Risa out of her thoughts. "Quickly find your partners and start your battles!"

Risa tried her best not to shiver as the students around her began partnering with the Cobrazorians.

Lester flicked his tail at her cheek. "Stop feeling scared! It's worsening your scent."

She glared at her pet. "Lester, I'm not a genopet like you. It's not natural for me to feel completely confident about fighting the creatures that killed my parents."

Footsteps approached her from behind. Risa turned to see a tall, violet-haired young boy approaching her. Beside him was a lavender female Cobrazor.

Risa stiffened. Nokio Okimoto. The Cobrazorian Emperor's son. Like any Cobrazorian, he was pale-faced with narrow, snake-like eyes, extremely tall and very thin. He wore a dark, blue-violet suit and trailing black cape made him look even more intimidating. He had straight, silky, violet hair that hung down to his shoulders. His hair cast across face as it hung over the sides of his hollow cheeks and part of his forehead.

Risa clenched her fists and suddenly felt a strong sense of repugnance as she gazed at the young man. The violet-haired Cobrazorian continued to stare down at her with a stern, unblinking gaze. He had the creepiest, narrowest pair of dark eyes she had ever seen. They looked like deep slits on his pale face. The shadows cast by his hair emphasized the hollowness in his cheekbones and his cold, unfriendly expression.

The snake beside him chortled and stuck out her long, two-pronged tongue at Risa. She was a lavender, shiny-scaled cobra, with crystal-like yellow eyes that gleamed when she entered a shadowy grove of trees where her human master was waiting. Risa's heart skipped a beat. This Cobrazor was Zexel's daughter, Vitalia. She looked like a miniature version him.

"Nokio, dear," hissed the Cobrazor, "are we really going to fight the mixed-blood today?"

"Of course," muttered Nokio. He had a quiet, velvety voice that sent chills down Risa's spine. He kept his stern gaze on Risa as he continued to speak. "This is the little mixed-blood. The daughter of the pathetic couple your father killed last year." He shifted his gaze to Lester, who was gazing at him with a meticulous expression. A thin smile cracked across his face. "Such a pity that some clans allow their genopets to suffer under the training of mixed-bloods..."

Lester's ears twitched as he stared at the violet-haired man without making a sound.

Risa clenched her fists and shot a quick glance to her pet. Lester, this isn't the time to be feeling intimidated! These are the genopets that killed my parents. You know what that feels like! But Lester was slowly backing up in midair, hovering away from the young man's creepy smile.

Nokio returned his scrutinizing gaze to Risa. "Well," he murmured. "Shall we begin?"

Risa narrowed her eyes. "Certainly." She turned to Lester. "Lester, why don't you start? Use your gust attack to spin that strand of noodle in the air." She nodded at Vitalia.

Lester blinked at Nokio again, and then shook himself. He bared his fangs and instantly puffed out a cloud of gray smoke.

But Vitalia was fast. The lavender snake dodged the blow and darted her head forward so quickly, Risa had not been able to see it. Lester let out a high-pitched cry. Vitalia had her tongue jabbed into Lester's chest. As soon as she pulled out her tongue, the Ferrethawk began twitching and flopping around the air violently, continuously banging his body against the ground.

"Lester!" She cried, horrified. Risa whirled around to glare at Nokio. "What did she do to him?!"

Lester let out another sharp, anguishing cry. Risa looked over her shoulder to see that the Ferrethawk's eyes were becoming vague and distant. A sly chuckle came from Nokio. "Dear mixed-blood," his pale, thin hand rested on Risa's shoulder. She shuddered. His hand was disturbingly cold. "Haven't you been watching my clan's Genopet League battles? This is what it looks like when a genopet is mind-poisoned."

Risa's heart skipped a beat. "Lester, no!" She watched with horror as the Ferrethawk threw himself on the ground and thrashed as if he were having a fever. Vitalia was coiled up beside him, watching with a humored glint in her eyes. "Lester!" Risa cried. "Snap out of it!"

Vitalia's eyes flashed. The snake turned to the girl and let out a series of hisses. "Oh, sssorry dear. You don't like ssseeing your poor pet torture himself?"

"You make him stop at once!" Risa demanded.

Vitalia's two-pronged tongue rattled. "Sure thing, dearie!" She turned to the Ferrethawk. Her eyes flashed and she hissed something in hoxtongue, something too quick and too muffled for Risa to comprehend. Instantly, Lester stopped thrashing and whirled around to gaze at Risa with furious, hazy eyes. He zoomed into her, crashed into her neck, and sunk his teeth into her flesh.

Risa let out a scream. She felt her mind start to spin.

"Now, now, Vitalia," Nokio's cunning voice echoed in Risa's ears. "Remember that Sir Damyo doesn't want to involve humans in the practice battles yet."

"Right, sorry massster," Vitalia replied. She let out another series of muffled, rapid hisses, and Lester let her go. Risa gasped for air and lied on the ground, her vision spinning. If felt like a long time before she finally heard Isis's cry for the training period to end.

"Training's over!" Sir Aeolus roared.

Great. Another battle lost. Pathetically. Risa slowly sat up and took a deep breath. Don't panic, she thought to herself. It's just a training battle, not an official battle. None of my losses are gonna be recorded in my battle record yet. She looked up and watched as Nokio walked passed her without giving her a single glance. The Cobrazors were gathering around him and Vitalia, hissing and exchanging gleaming, satisfactory glances. The Cobrazorian students silently gazed at their pets with proud, dark smiles.

"You sure taught that mixed-blood a lesson!" Cackled one of the boys. "Emperor Hozami will be so proud!"

Lester coughed as he hovered up to Risa's shoulder. "Ugh...what in the world happened?"

"You were mind-poisoned," snapped Risa, keeping a furious glare on Nokio. The Cobrazorian's back was half turned so that Risa was unable to read his expression as students from his class surrounded him and Vitalia.

"Mind-poisoned?!" Lester flinched. "I thought only genopets in the Advanced and Elite Ranks in the Cobrazor Clan could afford to give the power of Mind-Warp to their pets!"

Risa was slowly shaking her head at Nokio. "Emperor Hozami is Nokio's father. He and Vitalia must have special privileges."

Then Isis's roar sounded again. The students dispersed and Nokio half-turned his thin body. He suddenly locked eyes with Risa, who stood still as a statue as she faced him again.

"Hey! You humans can't kill each other with stares!" Lester cuffed the back of her head with his black, feathery wing.

Risa gasped and whirled around. "Lester!" She looked over her shoulder to cast one more glance at Nokio. But the creepy young man and his genopet were nowhere to be seen.

Lester gave a contemptuous snort. "Why in Hox's name do you keep staring at that creepy non-clan member? I thought you said you hated those worms for killing your parents."

"Of course I do!" She snapped. "Now let's go. Thankfully, it's lunchtime now. No more of this ridiculous training for a while."

  8. Lester

The sound of Isis's earsplitting caterwaul echoed across the battle grounds.

Lester whirled around and bristled. "Great Hox, is that kitty an Iciclaw or a sick goose?"

The Beginning Combatants were heading toward a tree where bronze tables and benches were settled on the branches. The dining tree. Apparently, it was lunchbreak for the Beginning Combatants.

As Lester and Risa neared the open doors to the dining hall, saliva began to drip at the edge of Lester's mouth. He could hear Mother Nature's voice in his head again, although this time she sounded dehydrated and cranky. Flesh, flesh, eat! Flesh, flesh, eat! The sound of her voice made Lester's head throb and his stomach gnaw. He hadn't realized how hungry he was.

He and Risa made their way through the open pair of bronze doors into a wide, spacey roomful of students and devouring genopets. Lester paused in midair.

"Holy fire-cows," he hissed. Everywhere he looked, genopets were devouring carcasses of animals. At the far end of the room, students and their genopets were standing in several lines behind four feeding stations. The stations had hundreds of trays full of almost any animal Lester could think of. Some trays consisted of a variety of animal body parts, some had an entire animal body lying stiff and bloody. Some animal bodies were covered in extra blood, some were sprinkled with a strange, steaming green liquid.

The scent of blood and cooked organs wafted through the air and filtered into Lester's nose. Mother Nature's cranky voice grew louder and louder in his head as the scent of animal blood and flesh grew stronger. FLESH, FLESH, EAT! FLESH, FLESH, EAT!

And instantly, Lester zoomed toward the nearest feeding station. He barely heard Risa's call over Mother Nature's voluminous voice in his head. He hovered beside the feeding station, snarling and scanning the sight with angry, ravenous eyes. Rows of 8-liter cups that contained blood with a variety of bugs. Rows of dead mice covered in a thick, bloody sauce. Bowls of noodle-like intestines of...a mix of different animals.

The scent was overwhelming. Lester was just about to lose his senses and give into the hungry voice in his head. But before he could dive into the variety of food, a soft series of chatters snapped him out of his thoughts.

"Hey! At least most of these are cooked!" Lula fluttered up to his side began to lick her lips. "Oh, great Hox, Mother Nature is really tempting me to just devour everything..." her white fur was bristling and saliva was also dripping from the side of her mouth as well. "Lester, this is so difficult, isn't it?" She was shivering.

Kyrion was behind her, chuckling. "You want raw or cooked mice?"

"Mmm...cooked has a stronger smell..." Lula's reply was rather muffled. Her eyes were wide and glued to the sight. She was trying to resist Mother Nature's voice in her head.

Lester rasped. It was impossible to resist Mother Nature's voice. But suddenly, her tone changed. Flesh, flesh, eat....kill....eat...kill.... she began to sound less cranky and more threatening. Risa's scent was growing stronger. Lester turned to see that the redheaded girl was headed his way. He bared his fangs and flicked his tail. Fire...fire...kill...Mother Nature spoke in her monstrous, threatening tone again.

"Lester, what would you like?" Risa asked, wincing at the sight before them. "Raw...or cooked mice?"

"Raw, of course!" Snapped Lester. His hunger had transformed into hatred and fury again. "I don't know what kind of gunk you humans put on the grill when you cook your meat, but the cooked ones smell like dung."

Risa frowned and snatched a small bowl of raw mice. She handed it to the Ferrethawk. "Here. Take it to your stump. Luckily, you genopets don't have to eat with your human masters."

"Oh?" Lester turned to gaze across the dining hall. The entire room was segregated into seven units for each of the seven clans. Each unit was separated by black tape, and within each unit were three tables where the students sat with their clan-mates, as well as three stumps where their genopets sat with one another. "Splendid," Lester snatched the bowl of mice from Risa and began to make his way toward the stump. "At least I won't have to have a rotten stench disturbing me while I'm trying to enjoy my meal."

Lula fluttered up to Lester's side, holding her own tray of mice. "Hmm..." the white Ferrethawk scanned the room. "Oh! There's our unit!" She nodded at the unit toward the right of the dining hall, behind the Iciclaws and Armadrillos. "Milo's sitting in the corner of the front stump. Aw, poor thing looks exhausted and sickly..."

Lester sighed. He shook his head at the sight of the shivering, bedraggled gray Ferrethawk. "Of course. He tends to get anxiety attacks whenever he's introduced to new settings."

They fluttered up to him and sat beside him. Lester on his left and Lula on his right. Instantly, Lester sank his fangs into his mouse and tore it to shreds. Mother Nature's voice grew louder and louder as he savored the tangy taste. Then her voice subsided. Soon, his hunger was satisfied, and he know longer heard her grumpy voice tempting him in his head.

He turned to Milo, who had been sitting still beside him the whole time. The gray little Ferrethawkn was staring at his uneaten cooked mice with wide, unblinking eyes.

"Hey," Lester flapped a wing in front of his face. "You still alive there?"

Milo flinched and then swiveled his head left and right, as if noticing they had just settled beside him. "O-oh...Lester, I really can't take it here anymore," he replied in short, shaky squeaks. "I-I nearly drowned while training with those Aquabunnies...I was so nervous."

Lula tilted her head and wrapped her white wing around him. "Aw, don't worry about it. It was only our first day of training."

"I-I totally sucked..." Milo was shaking his head. "Annelle called me a coward because I didn't even use my gust attack once against the other species. I-I was so scared out there..."

Lester blinked. "Hmph. Your own human master called you a coward?"

Milo nodded, still shaking. "I couldn't help it...I've never faced so many different genopets like that before...their stench was just so overwhelming. Mother Nature was...screaming at me."

"What was she telling you?" Lula asked.

"She was screaming, 'danger, danger, run!' Over and over again. Super, super quickly. Her voice sounded out-of-tone and high-pitched, and the sound of it just paralyzed me with fear."

Lula huffed. "Well, then it wasn't your fault. If Mother Nature was telling you to run from your enemies rather than fight them, then it's just your nature to flee than fight. Annelle should've realized it was your nature to be a bit timid, and work on overcoming that rather than scolding you for being yourself."

Lester flicked his tail and gave a snarl. "Next time I see Annelle, I'll rip her bun off her head. I swear to Hox. Only I can call you a coward."

Milo whimpered again. "A-and this stench of cooked mice isn't making me feel any better." He looked away and squeezed his eyes shut, unable to stare at his dead, steaming mice any longer.

Lester frowned at his tray. "Then why in Hox's name did you choose to get mice?"

"Annelle gave it to me. She's forcing me to eat meat, especially cooked meat, because there's extra blood and that means extra energy for me."

Lester jumped up to his hind legs. "Milo, you're allergic to mice!"

"I tried to tell her that but she just called me a wimp and told me if I don't finish this, she's gonna make me sleep in the time-out cage of our home-tree tonight." He shivered. "Oh, I really don't want to sleep in that time-out cage..."

Lester looked behind him and saw Annelle sitting between Jynn and Anya at the table of Ferrethawkian human masters. He snatched his bowl and flung it toward her head. The mice and blood splattered on her clean, blonde hair, and she let out a scream.

"That's for calling my brother a coward!" Lester yowled, fluttering his wings angrily.

Annelle turned and gave him a wide-eyed look and then raced out of the dining hall, heading toward the bathroom. Jynn, Anya, and the rest of her table, were staring after her with awe. A few boys were trying to hold back laughs.

The Ferrethawks at the stump cracked up in laughter and applauded Lester, flapping their wings and squeaking praises.

Milo stared at Lester with awe. "O-oh, Lester...don't do that. Please. There are supervisors around here."

"The supervisors can sniff skunks," growled Lester, turning back around to face the bones and leftover pieces of mice flesh on Lula's tray. The scent was still faint and lingering. "Damn. I don't know what the humans do to these mice when they cook them. But I doubt you're any less allergic to cooked ones than raw. I'll grab you some bugs instead."

Milo's ears twitched. "Th-thanks, Lester."

Lester came back with two bowl of spider pudding for Milo and himself. He realized he was still hungry—Mother Nature's grumpy voice was somewhat faint in his head when he had returned to the feeding station.

"Hmph," he set the bowl of spider pudding in front of Milo. "Don't let a ditsy human like Annelle force you to do anything you don't wanna do. These humans aren't always the best training partners for us—I could barely focus on my first three practice battles because Risa's mixed-blood stench was just so distracting."

"Oh, Lester, don't be so harsh," murmured Lula, lazily swirling a claw over her leftover pieces of flesh. "Risa's just taking her first few baby steps to become a Ferrethawkian human master. Just like all the rest of the Beginning Combatants in our clan."

Lester took a bite out of his tarantula. "Puh. I can't help it. I want to work well with her without causing any issues, but it's extremely difficult. I could feel this...this burning sensation swelling up in me. Mother Nature's voice yellsat me in the back of my head, telling me to harm her, just like I would harm any non-clan member. And...I have to listen to her. I couldn't stop myself."

Lula sighed. "Well, we all hear Mother Nature sound like that when we smell a mixed-blood or a foreign-blood. But when the scent is gone, it's not that hard to sympathize with them. I mean, I don't feel any hatred toward Risa right now, because I don't smell her. You must feel the same way, so perhaps when you're not around her, you can work on improving your persective toward her so that you lessen the chances of Mother Nature's voice telling you to do horrible things." Her red eyes were staring deep into his. "Just because we're animals doesn't mean we can't overcome that immoral natural instinct like humans can."

Lester turned and gazed into her eyes. Her bright, gentle eyes. He wished it were true. But it wasn't. It can't be. Animals could never act against their instincts. He could never disobey the voice of Mother Nature in his head.

"Have you ever tried to disobey the voice of Mother Nature in your head?" He spoke in a testy tone.

"Well, I've definitely tried. But..."

"Face it, Lula. We can't just act against that voice. It's impossible. I've tried it a bunch of times whenever I'm around Risa. And it's never worked." Lester hung his head. "I'm the hardware, and Mother Nature is my software. I'm like a reluctant computer, aware of what the software is programming me to do, and I do it without having the capablility to refuse or act against it."

Before Lula could reply, Thistletail swooped passed them and set his bowl down. "Hey, Lester!" He sneered. "How'd training go with the mixed-blood? Did the mixed-blood try to teach you to blow flames outta your head?"

Lester turned to the brawny, black Ferrethawk and twitched his whiskers. He watched as he shoved his way between Milo and Lula and put a large black wing around Lula's lithe body. "You ought to be exercising some more. Genopets of mixed-bloods are gonna need to put in a lot more effort if they wanna catch up to the rest of us."

Lula wriggled out of his grip. "Please don't touch me, Thistletail."

The brawny, jet-black Ferrethawk turned and grinned widely. "Lula, come on, you promised you would let me sit with you after training."

"Yes, and you're more than welcome to sit with us. But right now, you smell like sweat and dead hogs," she hovered away and landed on Lester's opposite side. She nuzzled next to him affectionately.

Lester raised an eyebrow as he let Lula nose his fur. He gave an exasperated sigh and met Thistletail's jealous gaze next to him. He gave a slight shrug. It's not like I'm forcing her to be this loony around me. He thought.

Thistletail banged the table with his tail, causing Milo's bowl to tip over. The gray Ferrethawk gave a meek squeak of surprise.

Lula narrowed her eyes. "Thistletail..." she murmured, "If you wanna make fun of someone, go make fun of the genopets in the other clans."

But Thistletail took no notice as he hovered closer to Lester and pressed his nose against his. "You're not excelling any higher than I am. There's no way I'm letting a Mudpaw win more battles than me."

A few Ferrethawks turned their heads and gasped at Thistletail's snide comment. But Thistletail kept his angry gaze on Lester, who only stared back at him with an exasperated, nonchalant look on his face.

Then Thistletail hissed and whipped around, cuffing his tail against Lester's face before zooming across the table to where his human master—a buff young man—sat with the other Ferrethawkian students.

Lula gasped. "Oh dear!" She rested a small paw on Lester's shoulder. "He didn't...he just called you..."

"A M-mudpaw!" Milo's squeaks were shaky again.

"So he did," Lester said simply, turning back to his bowl of pudding to dip his tarantula. "Am I supposed to be offended, or what?" He took another bite out of the great spider.

"I mean, it's an offensive name for genopets trained by mixed-bloods..." remarked Lula.

Lester gave a shrug as he carefully chewed the spider. "Then I must have not taken any offense. I didn't hear Mother Nature probing me to rip his fur yet."

Lula blinked at him and then chuckled. "But you can totally do it anyway. I'm sure Mother Nature isn't telling Thistletail to make fun of you, yet he chooses to do so anyway, just because he's chosen to be a jerk. If he can choose to be a jerk without Mother Nature telling him to do so, then I'm sure you can choose to be a little more tolerable around Risa without Mother Nature telling you anything." She nuzzled against his body again.

This time, Lester felt his fur bristle as Lula pressed herself against him again. He swallowed his spider, glanced at her from the corner of his eye, and then gazed across the cafeteria to eye the stump where the Volcanines were gathered around. Some were playing tug of war with a stiff body of a duck, whose body was completely covered with brown, fried breading. His head began to heat up as he noticed their scent. Fire, fire, kill... the voice was very faint.

Lula snorted. "Hmph. I think the Boulderbears are worse than the Volcanines. Their stump is the most obnoxious one in the room." They gazed to where the cubs were tossing the head of a dead rabbit to each other, cracking up with laughter every time it was dropped into one of their bloody bowls of organs. Lester wriggled his nose in disgust.

Lester rolled his eyes. "Ugh. Filthy rockheads. Are we seriously the only decent clan in this room?"

Lula giggled. "Not after you threw that bowl of mice at Annelle."

Lester rolled his eyes. He got up from Lula's side and cleared his throat. "Ahem...if you would excuse me? I think I'm going to get a drink from the Drinking Station. Thistletail's presence and the sight of those varmints have made my spider taste like bird droppings."

Lester glided across the noisy room , snorting in disgust as he passed the table where the giggling students from the Aquabunnesian Clan were sitting. Of course, they had to seat the Aquabunnesians right next to the Drinking Station. I'll never get a chance to drink in peace at these battle grounds.

He bumped into a heated, flaming body.

"Hey, watch it!" A series of yaps snapped at him.

Lester paused for a moment. It was a Volcanine pup. And not just any Volcanine pup. "You..." Lester slowly whirled around to face the pup with his fangs revealed. "You're the pup of that badger-faced Redbone."

"Yeah, you've got a problem with that?!" The pup snapped his teeth. He was speaking to him in yaps, in the Volcanian translations of hoxtongue—one of the ugliest languages Lester had ever heard.

But Lester didn't care about understanding what these mangy mutts had to say. Mother Nature was roaring at him in her deep, monstrous voice. FIRE, FIRE, KILL!

Lester zoomed forward and pinned the pup to the ground, pressing his body against his neck. Apollo made loud gagging noises as the Ferrethawk pressed hard and spoke in a threatening tone. "Oh, I've got more than just a problem with you. Your father killed my parents. And it won't be long before you get to feel the gruesome pain of a slow, agonizing death."

Apollo leapt forward and the two of them tumbled across the side of the pond. A few human masters and genopets turned their heads to gasp at the sight of the tussling genopets.

"Go ahead and try!" Apollo yapped in his Volcanian language, pressing Lester against the ground. Flames were flickering at the top of his volcano and across his spine. "I'd like to see a Mudpaw like you lay a paw on me or my father!"

Lester's veins pulsed with anger. He let out a strong puff of wind from his mouth, simply blowing the flame-covered pup back so that the pup tumbled backwards, head over heels.

"Lester!" Risa cried, rushing up to her pet. "This isn't the place to start fights with other genopets!"

Lester whirled around and blew a puff of wind to blow the redheaded girl backward. Risa screamed as she fell against the table of Iciclawese humans, knocking a few of their bowls over and landing her elbows in someone's plate of pasta. The white-haired Iciclaw human masters stared at her in disgust and watched as she clumsily got up. "S-sorry," she stammered, wiping off her forearms and elbows.

"Don't be telling me what to do," Lester glared at his master. "You're the reason why the genopets want to pick up fights with me, whether I'm on the training field or not."

Lester barely managed to dodge a burst of flames from Apollo's volcano head. The pup was staring up at him with red, gleaming eyes. Lester glared back and flapped his wings to blow back another burst of flames, making the pup whimper and thrash as the flames blew back at his small body. The flames burst caught the entire feeding station on fire, while Lester's flapping wings stirred up a great wind that knocked over the great chocolate fountain over the entire dessert station.

The dining tree supervisors ran up with their Aquabunnies to wash the mess and clean up.

"Apollo, stop!" Randy ran up to his pup and grabbed him. He turned to Risa with a wide-eyed look on his face. "Risa, I'm so sorry. My pup just can't seem to control himself on this first day. Your ferret's not the only one he's spontaneously attacked."

Lester turned to watch as Risa blushed. "It's okay!" She said quickly. "I can say the same about Lester."

One of the supervisors came and scolded them. "If you two would please return to your tables?! We have borderlines marked in this cafeteria for a reason—it's to ensure that fights like this do not happen!" She eyed the huge mess at the feeding station and then glared at Randy and Risa. "The two of you and your genopets are to clean up this mess for the rest of the lunch period. Get started!"

Risa and Randy instantly ran over to the feeding station. Lester and Apollo exchanged hateful glances again and then hurried after them.

Lester could hear Thistletail's taunting squeaks. "Great job there, Lest! Now we really do look like the most decent clan."

  9. Risa

Risa breathed a sigh of relief as soon as she heard Isis let out another echoing yowl.

"Yes, finally!" Randy threw his mop aside. He turned and whistled for Apollo, who was lapping at the chocolate on the floor. "Apollo, stop that! That's not gonna do your training any good!"

Risa smiled at the redheaded boy. "Hah! Looks like I'll have a better advantage training against you now."

Randy whirled around and widened his eyes at her. "Oh right! We're training with you guys now." He scrunched his face into a playful smirk. "Time to show you who's boss."

Risa laughed nervously. "Oh boy, Lester is sure gonna look forward to this."

"Hey, I think this gave our pets a great warm-up for their next training session against each other," said Randy as the both of them headed out of the dining hall and followed the crowd to the Volcanines' battle field. "Also, tipping that chocolate fountain made the desserts taste better," he winked.

Risa smirked back at him. "Well, I'm glad I made your lunchtime more meaningful then."

She felt her heart start to beat with excitement. Then it leapt with fright at the sound of a sudden yelp. She looked behind her shoulder and saw Lester and Apollo blowing smoke and gas at each other.

"Lester, stop!" She cried. "Save your energy for practice!"

Lester turned to her and blew a puff of flames from Apollo's volcano toward her face. Risa screamed, ducked, and aimed her tranquilizer at Lester. The Ferrethawk dropped to the ground, unconscious.

"Hey, hey, hey," Randy turned and walked back to pick up his yapping pup. "Don't make me tranquilize you too."

Risa picked up her pet and caught up to Randy as they made their way up the hill to the fiery fields.

"Sorry, 'bout that, Risa," barked Apollo, twitching his steaming ears as Randy held him against his chest. "I meant to send smoke and flames to your stupid ferret, not to you."

Risa shook her head. "It's fine. Lester sent your flames to my face, not you."

Randy turned and gave Risa a sideways look. "Lester's always this difficult to control?"

"For me, he is," said Risa. "I'm a mixed-blood. What makes matters even worse is that my father trained the genopet that killed his parents."

Randy raised his eyebrows. "Ah, yes. Redbone actually happens to be Apollo's father, too," he gave Risa a tired smile. "Well, I'm sure he'll get used to you after a while. Sooner or later, he'll realize that your loyalties lie within your own clan."

Risa gave a sigh. "I really hope so. It's always been one of my greatest dreams to become a Ferrethawkian Healer just like my mother was. I don't just want to be any Healer, I want to be a Ferrethawkian Healer. No doctor in this forest will ever have the chance to soar through the skies with their genopets to rescue the wounded unless they are doctors with Ferrethawks as their genopets."

Randy snickered. "Hey, if you want that position that badly, Lester's got no reason to suspect your loyalty."

"He's definitely not suspicious of me. He's just naturally inclined to attack me, regardless of what his conscious feelings tell him," she frowned and looked to the ground. "Genopets have a stronger unconscious impulse that dictates most of their actions."

When they got to the Volcanine battle grounds, they stood side by side behind their two classes and fixed their eyes on Dame Dixon. The tall, poofy-haired lady explained—in her voluminous voice—the techniques they would be practicing for the day.

"Volcanians!" She shouted. "You'll train your pets to summon fireballs from their volcanoes. Ferrethawkians! You will use air currents to try and maneuver the fireballs out of your way. Such coordination skills are essential for all species of genopets on the battlefield."

"Badger-droppings," Lester glared at the teacher. "Does she really have to yell? I don't think humans are that bad at hearing."

"Hey!" Randy nudged Risa with a challenging smile. He had a triangular board in one arm and an orange sword in the other. "Ready?"

Risa turned to Lester with a raised look. He and Apollo were already glaring at each other. She turned back and grimaced at Randy. She gripped her own weapon—a light, pencil-thin whip—in her hands. It was the first time they would be using their clan weapons with their pets. Risa felt a stronger sense of determination to be holding the weapon. "I'm ready!"

Before either of them could say another word, Apollo had aimed his volcano-head toward Lester and a fireball zoomed out of its rim. Lester readily flapped his wings so that the fireball turned directly to the side and hurled it toward Risa's face. But Randy grabbed her arm and yanked her out of the way. She gasped, watching as the fireball landed beside her and exploded into ashes that flung Risa and Randy across the hot, dry ground. They landed in front of a flame-covered tree.

Randy sat up beside her. "Argh! Dammit, Apollo." He got up and held a hand to Risa. "You alright?"

Risa blinked. She stared at his hand for a moment. Then she took it, heaved herself up, and then yanked her hand out of his grip. She hadn't realized how awkward it would feel to have a student from another clan offer her any help.

Then she ducked as Lester blew another one of Apollo's fireballs in her direction. The fireball exploded in a tree behind her and she stumbled forward. "This is ridiculous!" She stomped her foot. " Lester's not gonna train adequately as long as I'm around. He hates me just as much as he hates his genopet opponent! Maybe it's best if I just let him train by himself."

Lester raised his eyebrows. "That's a great idea. It's already abhorring to smell this Volcanine pup, and it would be sooo much easier to train here if I didn't have to also smell the stench of a Volcanian coming from the human that's shouting commands at me." He snorted and whipped around, shivering. Risa winced. The Ferrethawk was squeezing his eyes shut, letting out slow croaky snarls. "The stench of Volcanine is so strong...all I want to do is release a storm that will destroy everything around me..."

Randy blinked at Lester, and then turned to Risa, laughing. "Risa, you have to participate in your battle as well. You can't just let your pet do all the fighting for you, otherwise the battles won't count. You have to engage in the game with your genopets, and then they'll respect you more." He crossed his arms. "Think about it: the Boulderbears train best with the strong, brawny humans, which descend from Bouldarian ancestry. The Aquabunnies train best with the creative and imaginative humans, because such humans can use the power of their musical voices and artsy, acrobatic skills to effectively train with them in the water; such humans descend from Aquabunnesians. The Volcanines—" he gave a proud cough "—train best with the athletic and most energetic humans, because such humans—like myself—are capable of handling the toughest, most short-tempered pets, capable of physically enduring with the energy and strength that such pets possess."

"And as for the Ferrethawks," Risa added indignantly, wrinkling her nose, "Ferrethawks train best with humans who are gentle, calm, and soft-spoken. Such are descended from Ferrethawkian ancestry and Ferrethawkian ancestry only—not from a mix of Ferrethawkian and Volcanian!" She stuck her chin at Lester. The dark ferret was zooming through the air, flapping his wings so that he made the air currents maneuver a fireball in front of him.

"Ugh!" Risa shook her head. "Ridiculous! Lester can attack his opponents perfectly well if I'm not around. How in Hox's name am I supposed to make it to the Elite Rank with a genopet who is almost incapable of getting along with me? The ironic part is that Lester wants to make it to the Elite Rank too, but apparently he can't control his temper well enough when he's training with me since I carry the scent of a non-clan member." She narrowed her eyes. "The fact that I'm the daughter of the man who trained his parents' murderer just intensifies his natural instincts to hate me and refuse to listen to me."

"Aw, that sucks," said Randy. "But hey, if Lester didn't totally reject you in the Pairing Ceremony, then I think you two are capable of doing great together!"

Risa turned to meet Randy's narrow green eyes. She felt her heart start to race. This boy—this student who was not of her clan—had already treated her with more respect and had more faith in her than anyone in her own clan had shown.

"You think so?" She raised her eyebrows at him.

"Of course! You just have to show Lester that you have confidence. If you show any species of genopets that you're not scared of engaging in a rigorous game with them and put up with whatever powers they use against you, they'll show some respect for you and listen to you more. I'm not a Ferrethawkian, but I'm sure that if you just remain calm and keep demonstrating how determined you are to become a Healer for your own clan, the Ferrethawks will especially work with you much more efficiently." He turned and walked up to their fighting pets. "Come on! Let's practice."

Risa hesitated, and then let out another huff. She stepped up to his side. Apollo raced up to her, bristling with flames, and snorted out a burst of sparks from his nose.

"I'm gonna rip your ferret to shreds!" His tail was wagging rapidly.

Lester hissed and circled above Risa's head. "Oh please. Try and burn me when I'm lingering around my master, who is closely related to the human members in your own clan."

Risa glared at her pet, who snapped his teeth at her.

"Come on, Risa," Randy gave her a nudge with his elbow. "Show that weasel who's boss."

Risa trained for the remainder of the half-hour, soaring through showering fireballs and tumultuous winds. Lester continuously blew her in circles and crashed her into thick bushes whenever flames erupted in her direction from Apollo's head. She was waving her whip in all directions, until she accidentally whipped Lester.

"Ow!" The Ferrethawk stopped exhaling wind and Risa immediately plummeted to the ground.

"Heeelp!" She fell through the rough tree branches until she felt a hand grab her.

"Gotcha!" Randy was settled on a tree branch beside her. He pulled her up onto his branch. "You alright?"

She looked into his eyes with shock. "I think so!" She brushed herself and then gasped as a gust of wind pushed her against Randy's chest. The two of them were pressed against each other against the tree trunk.

"Whoa there," Randy chuckled.

"Sorry!" She backed away, blushing.

"Hey, no need to apologize to me," he laughed. "Lester's the one you whipped."

She looked over her shoulder to see Lester, smoke exhaling from his nostrils.

"You call yourself a Ferrethawkian?!" He fumed. "You just whipped your own pet!"

"It was an accident!" She yelled, glaring at him. "If you weren't blowing me in every direction, I wouldn't have been panicking and waving my whip everywhere!"

"Well, then in that case, I'm just not going to blow you at all!" He shouted. "If you're as loyal and willing to train with me as you keep saying you are, just prove it by fighting with me, without my help. I'm not going to offer you anymore wind currents or any support whatsoever."

He zoomed away.

Risa blinked after him, and then turned to face Randy. "Hmph!" She threw her hands up in the air. "See what I mean? This happens every time I try to work with him!"

Randy sighed. "No worries. You don't always need to work with your pet in a one-on-one battle. You can still prove that you're on his side even if you're not helping each other."

For the rest of that training period, Risa no longer rode Lester's currents. Randy continued to surf the flames summoned by Apollo's volcano-head, slashing his sword at her and Lester. Risa fought back and dodged the attacks on the ground. She raced on the land, feeling suddenly exhilarated and somewhat relieved to be on her own feet. She found herself running faster and faster. Glee and exhilaration surged through her veins as Apollo raced across the field, passing her by. The little pup was surprisingly fast; he was a complete blur of red and yellow flames as he zipped passed her.

"Can't catch me!" Apollo looked over his shoulder and gave her a playful bark.

Risa smiled and quickened her pace. "We'll see about that!" She leapt over a fiery log and bounded with Apollo through a thicket of fiery trees. The two of them ducked and dodged a strong gust of wind from Lester as the Ferrethawk soared above the flaming trees. The Ferrethawk exhaled a strong gust of wind that broke a fiery tree branch and flung over their heads.

"Ahhh!" She ducked just in time and fell to her knees. "Lester, you nearly killed me!"

"Oh, did I?" Lester landed in front of her and flicked his gaze from her to Apollo, who was standing in front of her with his eyes gleaming. "I thought I was supposed to be practicing my moves against the enemy."

"I'm your human master, not your enemy!"

"Hmm, I didn't think a human could be human master of more than one species of genopets," he met Apollo's challenging glare. "Especially a genopet descended from my parents' murderer."

Apollo barked at the Ferrethawk. "She is not my human master!"

"Really," Lester tilted his head with his narrowed eyes fixed on Risa. "Because it sure looked like she was having fun running with you, not running after you."

Randy suddenly jumped out of the fiery thickets and landed by Risa's side. "Hey! What's going on? Why are we pausing? Let's get back to the battle! Apollo, why aren't you chasing after that ferret?"

A feisty roar echoed through the air. A small, bulky form jumped out from the flames, and landed on a low fiery branch of a nearby tree, crouching on its four legs. Four legs composed of mud-brown rocks.

A Boulderbear.

"What the...?" Randy winced at the creature, surrounded by dancing flames. "Bruce! What in Hox's name are you doing on our battle grounds?"

The little rock-bodied bear cub leapt out of the flames surrounding his tree, completely unaffected by the heat. The genopet was growling at Apollo, who was crouching and yapping at him.

"Letting a Ferrethawkian train your pet for you, eh Randy?" A drawling voice sounded from behind the fiery trees. Risa looked up to see three green-haired students stepping through the smoke.

"Dedric!" Randy glared at the muscular boy in the middle. "Zeke and Tahlia!" He shifted his eye from the overweight boy on Dedric's left and the lean, long-limbed, long-legged tan girl on his right.

Zeke's broad-shoulder black cub stomped up to Bruce's side and the both of them growled menacingly.

"Hey!" Randy glared at the spiky-haired boy. "We're trying to train here!"

Risa clenched her fists and glared at Dedric as the brawny, darkly-dressed Bouldarian student began laughing.

"Great Hox, Randy, your clan would love to see this!" Dedric scoffed. "Helping a Ferrethawkian train. I guess it's understandable—she shares blood with your clan, doesn't she?" He smirked at Risa.

Tahlia chortled roughly and twirled her dark-green hair with her fingers. "So we ought to be questioning her loyalty to her clan, not Randy's."

"Ye sure?" Zeke raised his eyebrows. "I saw Randy checkin' out the body of that Aquabunnesian gal, Devina Chevalier."

Randy clenched his fists. "What's it to you? Devina's hot. Every guy—no matter what genopet they train—has a crush on her."

Smoke extinguished from Apollo's nose. "I bet you all wanna kiss her!"

Zeke flinched. "Eh? Aquabunnesians are too delicate for me!"

Dedric raised an eyebrow. "Yeah, you kiddin' me, dude? Don't you know how stupid it is for students to make friends with people who don't train the same species of genopets they do? It makes them softhearted toward the other species' clan. It jeopardizes their own loyalty to their own species of genopets within their own clans, and they might end up intermarrying and giving birth to mixed-bloods like miss redhead here." Dedric stuck his chin toward Risa, whose cheeks were turning red.

Bruce snorted. "And we all know how useless mixed-bloods are. No genopet will want to train with them! The intermixed scent of a mixed-blood is just too bothersome for the genopet to tolerate."

Risa stepped forward. "There's nothing wrong with respecting the other types of pets!"

Bruce jumped forward. "Oh yeah? Want me to show you how disadvantageous it is to show pity to another type outside your own class?" His heavy paws beat against the ground.

"Run!" Randy grabbed her hand and the two of them raced away, ducking as Bruce slashed at the ground. A sandstorm of tiny rocks flew pass them. They ran and ran, until they were finally on the open lands of the field, where the students and their pets were gathering around Dame Dixon and Sir Aeolus.

Risa stopped in her tracks, afraid to look back. But she peeked over her shoulder to make sure Lester and Apollo were racing after them.

She could hear Dame Dixon's yell sounding from across the field. "Volcanians and Ferrethawkians! We're heading over to the Ferrethawkian battle grounds to continue our battle practice!"

"Awesome," Randy beamed, suddenly forgetting about the recent incident. He turned to Risa. "You're not scared of practicing in your own battle site, right?"

Risa rolled her eyes. "No, I most certainly am not scared of jumping across clouds, 200 feet in the air with a Ferrethawk that harbors a grudge me," she spoke sarcastically. "Especially if the wind is blowing a thousand miles an hour, I certainly am not scared of falling to my death!"

Randy gave her a wry look. "Come on. The open field is an easy environment to practice in!"

"Oh, everything's easy for you. You Volcanian students aren't scared of anything."

Randy smirked at her. "And you're half-Volcanian."

Surprisingly, Risa found herself enjoying the remainder of the hour. Although she was horrified to let Lester lift her through the sky on her cloud, she felt much safer when Randy was crouching on the cloud with her.

By the time the training period was over, she turned to Randy and managed to give him a smile. "Thanks for putting up with me and Lester."

"No prob," Randy smiled back. Then his smile vanished and he gave an apologetic look. "Sorry you had to put up with those discriminatory jibes from Dedric. If you'd really like to avoid any more arguments like that, we don't have to be partners anymore."

Risa blinked. "No! I...um...I'd like to train with you again sometime," she felt her heart throbbing. "I actually loved training with you and Apollo." She smiled at Apollo as the pup bounded up to his side and gave his hand a quick lick. "Honestly, it was easier training with him than with my own pet.

Randy chuckled and picked up his pup. "Well, I'm sure if you just continue practicing like you did, Lester will learn to respect you. Sooner or later, he'll realize your true loyalties lie with him and the rest of your clan."

How could he say that so easily? She suddenly felt an unexplainable feeling swell inside her stomach. "So you're saying I'm not fit to fit in with the Volcanians then, huh?" She forced herself to speak in a playful tone.

Randy smirked at her. "Why? Would you want to fit in with us?"

Apollo started to wag his tail. "Join us! Forget about Lester—I think you'll make a great human master for my clan-mates!"

Risa stopped in her tracks and stared at the pup with wide eyes. Even Randy stopped and stared at his pup with the same shocked expression.

Apollo glanced at both Randy and Risa. "What? Why are you both looking at me like that? Risa, you know you don't wanna put up with Lester! Why don't you just train Volcanines in our clan? You can move onto the Silver League with us if you join!"

Risa bit her tongue. For once, she didn't know what to stay. Randy didn't even say a word.

Suddenly, Isis's caterwaul sounded in the distance. It was time to move onto the next training period.

Randy nodded. "Well, it was great training with you. Good luck with the rest of your day! We can definitely continue training together tomorrow if you'd like," he gave her a wink.

Risa's heart raced again. Over his shoulder, she could see Lester hovering with Lula, Milo, and the rest of the Ferrethawks in her class. She was relieved he wasn't around to hear this. But she gave a quick nod to Randy, hoping she wasn't blushing again. "Yeah, definitely. I'll see you both tomorrow then!"

Finally, it was the first day of official battles. Risa decided to arrange her first one-on-one battle with an opponent Lester could easily focus on without being so distracted by her scent. Of course, there was no other opponent he was so concentrated on fighting than the Volcanines. Over the training sessions, Lester had grown more and more hateful toward the pups whenever they trained with the Volcanine Beginning Combatants. Her heart throbbed with anxiety as she their first Volcanian opponents on the fiery field. Emberly Summers and her Volcanine, Shixy.

Lester and Shixy locked eyes with each other.

"I'm gonna crush this pup," snarled Lester.

A soft giggle sounded beside her. "Hey, Risa," Annelle was giving her a smug, sarcastic smile. "Are you gonna have Lester blow the flames off those Volcanines, or is he secretly gonna help them and hurt his own clan-mates like a pathetic runt of a mixed-blood?"

But before Risa could say anything back, Dame Dixon had blown the whistle. The official battles begun.

Risa leapt up in the air and Lester blew out a current. She leapt in the air and flung her whip as Lester exhaled a wind current that blew her across the field. She did a flip and whipped at Emberly, who dodged her attack. She flung out her flaming sword and whipped it at her whip, burning half of it off. But Lester's ears directed toward him and released another gust of wind that flipped the Volcanian girl over. Shixy leapt in front of her fallen master and tumbled with Lester, making the wind stop. Risa screamed and fell to the ground.

Annelle fell into a fit of giggles behind her.

Risa scowled. "I think your own genopet is the runt turning against his own clan-mates."

Up in the distance, Risa could see that Apollo was brutally tackling Milo. The young wolf-pup had the whimpering gray Ferrethawk pinned down, and was exhaling billowing smoke from his mouth. Milo's wings were completely singed, and every time he exhaled a gust of wind, Apollo would release flames from his volcano, sending the flames toward the helpless, squirming Ferrethawk.

Annelle gasped. "Milo! What are you doing?! Fight back!"

Milo was wailing under Apollo's firm grip. The poor fledgling looked ready to faint. He stopped squirming as Apollo's heated paws burned his body. He exhaled weak gusts of wind at Apollo's face. But Apollo easily dodged his wind. He released flames as the gray Ferrethawk exhaled a gust of wind. The gust of wind deliberately carried the flames over Apollo and toward the Ferrethawks behind him. Risa watched as Thistletail was hit by the flames, screaming as he plummeted to the sky and fell to the ground, singed.

"Foul play!" Yowled Dame Dixon. "Russell and Thistletail, your battle must be postponed! Please carry your fallen genopet to the infirmary!"

Risa watched Russell race up to the field, frowning and cursing, as he picked up the brawny black Ferrethawk and ran back to the borders of the battle field.

Then the tip of Apollo's volcano-head started to glow. Blue flames extinguished, and Milo was burnt in the midst of it.

"Hey!" Annelle screamed. "That's an illegal move! You can't use Blue Flames in a Genopet League battle!"

Lester shook Shixy off his back and zoomed toward the wolf, letting out a series of sharp, nasty screams. "Get offa my brother, you Hox-forsaken pile of dung!"

"Lester, wait!" Cried Risa. He still had yet to finish his battle.

But Lester crashed into Apollo's side and knocked him off of his wailing brother. The two of them tumbled aside, but Milo was already lying on the ground, unmoving.

"Milo!" Squealed Annelle.

"And it looks like Milo is down!" Dame Dixon yowled. "Annelle, you may take your pet off the battlefield."

Risa watched as Annelle raced down to the battlefield to remove her pet. Then Dame Dixon blew her whistle.

"Apollo, you are disqualified for using an illegal move!" She yowled. "Randy Turner, please take your pup off the battlefield!"

"What?!" Randy jumped.

"Don't even think about arguing!" Dixon shouted. "Your pet used an illegal move. Remove him and disregard your battle, or pay the penalty fee to your opponent!"

Risa watched as Randy grumbled under his breath and made his way up to Apollo.

"Hey, mixed-blood!" Emberly Summers slashed a sword in front of Risa's face. "We still have a battle to finish, unless you want to surrender to me already?"

Risa flinched. She turned and met the girl's clever gaze. "Never!" She whipped her weapon in her direction, and she continued the rest of the battle against Emberly and Shixy. Then Lester zoomed in and summoned a huge black gas cloud that made all opponents faint. Including Risa.

Risa woke up in the infirmary, lying on a white bed in a room full of recovering humans on their own white beds. Lester was hovering by herself, snarling.

"Come on! We still have five more opponents, one from each of the other clans."

"D-did we win our first official battle against Emberly and Shixy?" Risa sat up.

"Of course we did! I was the last one standing. I've proved again that I can handle myself without a mixed-blood like you to slow me down," he flew toward the exit of the infirmary.

Risa blinked. She looked around and then slipped off her bed. She signed out and followed her pet.

When the battles were over, they headed toward the Gathering Tree, where they found their group of Ferrethawk Beginning Combatants gathered beside the Aquabunny Beginning Combatants.

"Splendid job on your first official battles, Devina!" Sir D'Angelo exclaimed. "I would work on strengthening Bianca's moisturizing skills during her battle against the Ferrethawk opponents, though. She can make fantastic whirlpools on the clouds to wash away those airborne pets, but it takes her over half a minute before she moisturizes the cloud enough to create that whirlpool in the air. Remember that you don't have too much time to spare before your Ferrethawk opponents can fly away!"

Devina nodded. "We'll work on it, Sir D'Angelo."

Suddenly, Isis's roar echoed across the crowd of students and pets. The field was silent as everyone looked up to listen to watch Lady B stood tall and stark next to her white pet.

Her icy blue eyes scanned across her audience as she spoke in her cold, hard-edged tone. "Now, I hope you have all enjoyed your first week. I understand many of you must feel overwhelmed already, and I know many of you may have found a clan that your pet may not be so strong against. Do not get discouraged! Every genopet, no matter what species, will be weak against at least one other clan's powers.

"But keep in mind: from this point on, every day will be like today. You must take responsibility for arranging your own official one-on-one battles against opponents from other clans. The amount of battles you win each week will be all on you." Her thin eyebrows furrowed. "Remember you do not earn money from your one-on-one battles. You only earn money from the Genopet League Battles, in which our entire clan works together to fight all Combatants from another clan. Instead, your one-on-one battles are important for your own individual ranking in your clan. You can arrange any one-on-one battles with any member from the other clans to improve your battle record so that you can place in the higher ranks and qualify for the particular jobs you want."

Risa fumed. Yeah, but mixed-bloods and non-clan members only earn 60% of the money that two clans gamble for. Pureblood clan members win 100% of the distributed money.

Lady B paused to give a humored smile as the students began murmuring among one another, some poking fun at how they expected themselves and their pets to be living in the future.

Then when the noise died down, Lady B raised her voice. "Alright, now concludes the end of our first day of official one-on-one battles. Dinner is being served in the branch of the dining tree again."

As the students began to disperse, Risa looked over in Randy's direction. He was laughing loudly with a group of tall, redheaded Volcanian boys, each of them freckled, lean, and green-eyed. Behind them, their Volcanine pups were bragging about their victories in the Matches. Risa suddenly felt a strange feeling of longing to join them. Then she looked over and saw Lester eying her meticulously as he hovered beside Lula. She felt goose-bumps on her skin as he leaned closer to him to whisper something in his ear, still fixing his narrowed eyes on her.

Risa frowned and looked away. Whatever. If he really cares about my loyalty to the clan, he would cooperate with me and not make it so difficult for me to train him. She fixed her eyes on Randy and the Volcanians again.

As Randy noticed Risa watching them, he gestured a hand for her to come over. Risa blushed and then walked up to him.

"So how'd you do against Emberly and Shixy?" He was smirking. "Those two are trying to beat Apollo's winning streak. You didn't let them win, did you?"

She sighed. "Nope. Lester's Black Mist defeated everyone, including me."

"Great!"

She gave him a raised look. "I suppose you and Apollo aced all your matches and won all six star-paws for the week?"

Randy sighed. "Nah, we lost against our Cobrazor opponent. We beat everyone else, though!"

She chuckled dryly. "We lost against our Cobrazor opponent as well. Nokio, of course, wanted to arrange a battle with us, so we had to battle him and Vitalia. She's almost impossible to outwit."

"Puh, we'll get the best of Vitalia," Randy said, giving Apollo a narrow look. "Apollo's not going to let a legless strand of slime finish up with more star-paw badges on his training record!"

Apollo looked over his shoulder and growled. "Absolutely not. Next time I'm fighting the Cobrazorians, imma be using Vitalia as my whip to Nokio's purple head!"

Randy gave a sharp nod in agreement. Then he turned to Risa. "So you're staying for dinner tonight?"

Risa sighed. "Not sure if it's worth spending any time with the other Beginning Combatants in my clan after all the trouble Lester and I have been through."

"You should stay!" Randy encouraged. "They're serving Lester's favorite entrée: spiders dipped in blood-pudding."

Risa winced. "How'd you know that was Lester's favorite?"

"You told me," said Randy with a wink.

"Oh yeah, that's right. Hmm, I guess I can stay for a—"

"Randy?" Risa turned to see a redheaded Volcanian girl walk up to them, carrying a bright yellow volcano pup in her arms. It was Emberly and Shixy. "Lucas is saving us a seat next to Dame Dixon and Jacko. You coming?" Then Emberly narrowed her eyes at him and followed his gaze to Risa. Her wolf-pup was growling at her. "Hmm. Well, when you're done flirting with the mixed-blood, we'll be at our clan table." She turned and walked away.

"Hey, I ain't flirting with anyone, Emberly!" Randy turned around and hurried up to her side. Apollo bounded after him.

Risa was staring halfheartedly after Randy, watching him until his lean figure disappeared into the crowds with the Volcanian girl by his side. Randy...don't go...

Suddenly, she heard a crowd of boisterous laughter. Dedric, his two friends, and their Boulderbear cubs were approaching Randy.

"Why don't you kiss the mixed-blood instead, Randy?" Taunted Dedric.

Zeke stuck his fat chin at Apollo, who was bristling at them. "Emberly will take care of Apollo while you abandon him and run away to the Ferrethawkian territory."

"Hey, shut up!" Randy scoffed. "I'll never leave my genopet! And I'll never leave my clan!"

Risa clenched her fists and watched with envy as they all crossed the branch that linked the Gathering Tree to the Dining Tree. Then she looked around, frowning. Where's Lester now?

She heard his loud screech from the lower branches. Oh no, not again...

Risa hurried down the stairs to the lower branches, following the screech. She made it to the bottom of the tree, back on the ground.

She spotted two wrestling forms up ahead, behind the trees that bordered all the battle grounds.

"Lester!" Cried Risa. His lithe body was spiraling with a bulky, rock-composed one. He's fighting with Bruce! Risa gasped at the sight of Dedric's furious bear cub. She watched as Lester zoomed up in the air, shaking the rocky bear off his back. He released a gaseous smoke from his mouth and the cub turned and bounded away.

"Lester!" Risa hissed, racing up to her pet.

"Where's that creep off to? How dare he call me a Mud-paw...it's even more infuriating to hear that word come out of the skanky mouth of a non-clan member..." Lester dashed around the corner of the gate. Lester and Risa followed Bruce toward the Shuttle Garage. Then they stopped in their tracks.

At the bottom of the garage was a Shuttle carrying three jet-black cubic rooms on its back. Standing in front of the Shuttle were a dozen students, all of them dressed in dark violet coats that trailed several feet behind their heels. Risa recognized them immediately. The Cobrazorians. Each of them was accompanied by a Cobrazor. They were coiled with their dagger-like tongues constantly slipping out. They were facing Lady B, who was accompanied by Dame Zierra, and one particular student Risa feared to see again.

Nokio Okimoto.

His back was half-turned to Risa, so that she could see his pale thin face and hollow cheekbones.

Risa could hear the voices coming from the crowd of students, but she couldn't comprehend what they were discussing. All she could make out was Lady B's hard-edged voice saying, "Well done. Your class has finished with the highest winning streak today. I just wanted to let you all know that I am proud of you—the average winning streak for your Rank is almost as high as that of the Volcanines' Beginning Rank, thanks to the incredible agility and technique of Vitalia, the pet of Nokio Okimoto." She turned to a slender, long-bodied lavender snake coiled up beside Nokio and gave an icy smile. "She and Nokio have won all six of their battles today, including an extra four battles from the Volcanine and Armadrillo Clans."

The Cobrazorians clapped and their snakes hissed their congratulations. Nokio's stolid expression remained as he gave a slight nod.

Then Lady B turned to Dame Zierra and the other students. She nodded to Sir Damyo. "Escort them to the dining hall. I would like a word with your sister alone." She flashed an icy glance at Dame Zierra. Beside her, Panthero and Isis were speaking in hushed voices.

The bald man nodded. Then he led the students away.

Risa pressed her back against the walls to stay hidden within the shadows as Sir Damyo and the Cobrazorians passed by. She narrowed her eyes at the tall thin bald teaching instructor. She still had yet to hear him utter a word. He seemed even quieter and creepier than Dame Zierra.

She turned to see Zierra facing her former clan-mate. A strange feeling swelled up inside her as she took a moment to gaze at her shiny, violet hair and hawk-like eyes. It was obvious she was a Cobrazorian —no human race had eyes that sharp or hair that purple. She looked nothing like her Iciclawese clan-mate: Lady B had long, straight snow-white hair that hung to her waist, and beady, ice-blue eyes outlined in distinctive black eyeliner. Yet, Dame Zierra gets along with her Iciclaw so well. How does she do it?

Risa knew that Dame Zierra was notorious for her divorce with Cobrazorian Emperor Hozami. She had married one of the Iciclawan men on the Elite Rank, although to her demise, the man and his pet were killed in a Genopet League battle against the Volcanines a few months after she had joined.

"The entire clan of Cobrazors is actually getting stronger as a whole," said Lady B, staring at Dame Zierra with piercing icy eyes. "Emperor Hozami is making his clan train their genopets hard, so it is no surprise that his son, Nokio, is going to be an exceptional source of power to help the Cobrazorians in the Genopet League battles."

Zierra gave a mere nod.

Lady B narrowed her eyes at the teaching instructor. "Does it not bother you that the clan you left is growing in power and may possibly be the next number 1 clan in our League? Does this not make you wish you had never left your clan—left your family—to join us?" Isis was gazing up at her with a menacing gaze. Her white fur was bristling.

Zierra shook her head. "No," Risa could barely hear her serious, quiet voice. "I'm glad my husband is making the effort to strengthen his clan. I'm happy to see my son Nokio excel for his clan. But neither is a reason for me to rejoin them and the dagger-tongued Cobrazor snakes again."

Risa blinked. The stolid, stern expression on Dame Zierra's face made her seem to be anything but happy.

But Lady B clenched her spear and puckered her lips. "Good," she said icily. "Because I don't want any traitors in my clan. At the same time, I don't want any traitors on these battle grounds. We already have one mixed-blood enrolled in this academy, and that alone has aroused suspicions across the campus. I don't want anyone else arousing any other suspicions."

Panthero stepped in front of his human master and hissed at Lady B. "Zierra is completely trustworthy. You do not need to question her loyalty to our clan. Regardless of how strong her birth clan is, she remains loyal to me, she remains loyal to the rest of us."

Lady B's gaze flashed to the purple feline and her pencil-thin eyebrows rose. "Well then," she said sweetly. "Let's hope it stays that way."

  10. Lester

Lester hovered beside Risa's shoulder as the two of them entered the dining hall. His head was throbbing with multiple voices of Mother Nature—those that sounded cranky, hungry, pouty, and those that sounded threatening, monstrous, deep.

FIRE, FIRE—EAT! KILL! EAT! FIRE! BLOOD—EAT, KILL! Every time he inhaled Risa's scent, the voice grew deep and monstrous, sending images in his brain of slaughtering Volcanines. Every time he inhaled the strong scent of blood in the dining hall, the voice was grumpy and whiny, filling his head with images of bleeding flesh and devouring Ferrethawks.

"Shut up, shut up..." he snarled, squeezing his eyes shut.

Then he held his breath. The voices gradually died off. He could think just a little more clearly now. He opened his eyes, feeling dizzy. His vision was slightly blurry. He picked up his pace and caught up to Risa's shoulder. He breathed through his mouth, facing away from Risa so that he wouldn't smell a single scent...or hear Mother Nature's dreaded voice.

As soon as they set foot inside the dining hall, Risa flinched.

"Ugh!" She pinched her nose. "It smells even worse than it did during lunch!"

Lester glanced at her with a frown and then turned to exhale deeply and allow himself to pant. It felt so much better to stop holding his breath.

Risa snorted. "What are they serving now? Blood-covered elephant feces?" She winced at the sight of one of the Iciclawese Combatants passing her with a tray piled with slimy, orange-and-pink intestines. "So glad Ferrethawks aren't completely carnivores. I don't get how people can get used to this stench of meat."

Lester watched her sit at the corner of the Ferrethawkian table, glaring at Annelle who was pointing at her, whispering and giggling with Anya and Jynn. He watched her turn her head to gaze across the dining hall where Randy and his noisy Volcanian friends were laughing and shouting in the table of Volcanian Combatants.

"Hey Risa," Kyrion set down a bowl of soup beside her.

Risa looked away as the long-haired boy took his seat next to her. "Hey," she mumbled.

"You and Lester were exceptional against Nokio during the Matches," he remarked in a soft tone. "I've never seen a Ferrethawk move like that, especially in a battle against a Cobrazor."

Lester scoffed. "Risa never learned how to move like that, so how could she have taught me? I simply taught myself that move."

Risa rolled her eyes. "Sure!" She said sardonically. "It was all Lester who accomplished it. I certainly contributed nothing to our victories."

Lester snorted and muttered, "And yet, you humans still find ways to reap benefits from the work you make us genopet do."

Kyrion looked around the room and gave a smooth laugh. "Hah. Everyone in the room keeps looking over at Nokio Okimoto. I wonder if he ever gets tired of all the attention."

Annelle giggled. "Nokio may be a non-clan member, but I'm not afraid to admit that I admire the guy. His genopet, Vitalia, currently holds the highest winning streak in the Cobrazor Beginning Rank." Her eyes twinkled. "Not to mention Nokio's really hot, too!" She inhaled and then exhaled slowly. "Ah, I can smell his cologne all the way over here. Those snakes really know how to make good perfume. What would we do without them? I can't imagine..."

Kyrion nodded. "Yeah, there would be no genopets to make perfume, medicines, or anything that comes from plants."

Lester shifted his gaze to Nokio behind the feeding station. The violet-haired man lifted up his head, and for a moment, he locked eyes with him.

Lester held his stern gaze, ignoring the sudden chill in his spine. He watched as he took a tray of mixed bloody organs over to the Cobrazorian table. He passed by the Iciclawese table, where Dame Zierra was seated at the end, sipping a cup of tea while wearing her typical stern frown on her face. Lester blinked. Unlike the other teaching instructors, Dame Zierra was not engaging in the conversation with the Combatants that surrounded her. Her sharp eyes were focused on Nokio, watching him as he passed her and took his seat in the Cobrazor table ahead of her.

"So strange," muttered Lester, turning to sit beside Lula at the Ferrethawk stump. "Dame Zierra took the biggest risk of her life when she deliberately left the Cobrazorians to join the Iciclawese. The fact that she's the Cobrazorian Emperor's wife and Nokio's son makes her decision even more astonishing. "

Lula looked up from nibbling her rabbit leg. "Her life story is a bit complicated. Apparently she and her Cobrazorian husband—Emperor Hozami himself—were having problems with their relationship. She fell in love with an Iciclawese man named Claudius, who was Panthero's first human master." She sighed. "Unfortunately, Claudius was killed by Zexel when he and Hozami found out Zierra was sneaking away to see him every night. Zierra especially hated Hozami after that, so she deliberately left him and the entire clan to join the Iciclawese and take care of Panthero."

Lester frowned. "That's so strange that Zierra fell in love with an Iciclawese. She doesn't look like she'd fall in love with anyone."

Lula shrugged. "Well she did. She did get along quite well with the Iciclaws that were friends with her lover's Iciclaw. There's a myth that if a human from another clan gets along well with a human from another clan, the genopet will have an easier time liking that human as well."

Lester narrowed his eyes. "Skunk-droppings," he spat. "I don't feel any sense of positivity whenever Randy trains with Risa."

"It doesn't work for all genopets, though. Dame Zierra still faces discrimination from the other human masters in her clan. And unless the Iciclaws are very close friends with Panthero, they have troubling controlling their urges to attack her whenever they smell her foreign-blood scent."

Lester's whiskers twitched. "I say, I must applaud Panthero for putting up with a foreigner's scent and fighting for such a human. A foreign human's scent is even worse than a mixed-blood's." He narrowed his eyes at the lithe, white-clawed, purple-pelted panther sitting at a stump with the other Iciclaws.

Suddenly, a dark shadow loomed over Lester. He turned to see that Thistletail had settled on Lula's other side, setting down a bowl full of steaming squirrel organs.

"Hey, Lula!" He smirked and wrapped his black, feathery wing around her snow-white body.

Lula rolled her eyes. "Hi, Thistletail," she sighed.

Lester sat up and spread his wings to hover off the stump. "I think I'm gonna leave now. Where's Milo?" He looked around, frowning.

Lula sighed. "Oh, the poor thing is still in the infirmary. Apparently, he hasn't recovered from his one-on-one battle against his Volcanian opponents."

Thistletail scoffed. "The idiot spun me in a whirlwind and blew wind at everyone else surrounding him. If we were fighting in a Genopet League Battle, he'd cost our entire victory!"

Lester seethed. "Hey! He was scared out of his wits! He didn't know who he was attacking. That blasted Apollo nearly burned his wings off and he was unable to control himself."

Thistletail wrinkled his nose. "Puh. The one time Milo finally has the strength to use his powers, he uses it against his own clan-members." He turned to Lula and sniggered. "Seriously, Hortense has some pretty screwed up fledglings. One that's raised by a mixed-blood, and another that's too wimpy to use any of his powers at the right time."

Lester exhaled a green cloud at Thistletail and made the jet-black Ferrethawk cough violently. "Hey!" Thistletail broke into rapid coughs and fluttered away to head toward the Drinking Station.

Lula sighed and turned to Lester. "Sorry he's such a fleabag. He really isn't always so spiteful though, I was actually having a decent conversation about our official battles earlier today and he's actually quite fun to chat with....if he likes you, that is."

Lester shook his head. "Whatever. I'm going to go visit Milo." He turned to fly out of the room and made his way to the Infirmary Tree.

As soon as he flew inside the building on one of the mid-level branches, he found Milo lying in a nest with a soft, mossy blanket wrapped around his lithe, gray body. Lester's heart suddenly ached. For once, Milo wasn't shivering. The poor, scrawny fledgling was burned everywhere. His wings were shriveled and almost bare. Each breath came out as a slow, painful wheeze.

But it wasn't long until the gray Ferrethawk woke up to the sound of Lester landing atop the ledge beside his nest.

"L-l-lester..." His chatters were still shaky, but very stifled and hoarse.

"You alright?" Lester tilted his head. "You almost look like one of those cooked carcasses in the dining hall."

"O-oh, I'm doing better," he wheezed. "Just...still feeling very nauseous."

"You're always feeling nauseous," remarked Lester.

"N-never this nauseous! I f...feel like I've got ashes in my lungs..." he started coughing violently.

Lester winced and hovered away from his brother. "Careful, don't get me sick. I'm the one who has to train with the mixed-blood."

"S-sorry," muttered Milo. "And...s-s-sorry about the match with the V...Volcanines. Apollo burned my wings and...I was so scared. I couldn't control who I was blowing..." Milo flinched and covered his eyes with his small, burnt paws. "Oh d..d..dear...I'm s-such a t..t..terrible genopet!"

"Don't be apologizing," Lester flicked his tail, feeling rage heating up in his body. "If anyone needs to apologize, it should be Apollo. He used an illegal move. Blue Flames can only be used during emergencies against an invasion from another clan, not during arranged battles!"

Milo inhaled roughly. "I...I still shouldn't have attacked everyone else...I sabotaged Annelle's chances of winning her first battle with me. I...I c-can't do anything right..."

"Apollo's just a terrible Combatant," Lester spoke through gritted teeth. "He unfairly attacked you. You were just scared and you were doing your best to whoop that pup."

He flinched as Milo violently coughed and wheezed.

"Great Hox," muttered Lester, eying his brother. "How long will you be stuck here?"

Milo slowly shook his head. "I-I d-don't know. B-but it will be at least a week before I fully regain my strength to fly or use any of my powers."

"A week?!"

A nurse walked up to him from behind. "The aftereffects of being Blue Flames are very chronic," she said gravely. "The Volcanine Emperor gave the Volcanines the Blue Flame superpower so that they could easily kill their enemies in case of an invasion from any jealous clans, such as the Cobrazors. The power was made to kill a genopet right away, so Milo's in a critical condition." She began washing her hands in the sink beside Milo's nest. "Luckily, Apollo is only a Beginning Combatant, so that's probably why Milo is still alive. But he's going to need a long time to recover." She fixed the rest of Milo's nest. "Now, Lester, please. I need to get Milo to the regeneration room to grow a new pair of wings on him, then it will be about a week or longer before he fully recovers. Unfortunately, I do not have an adequate supply of Lux Berries to fully heal his wounds."

Lester snarled and watched as the nurse disappeared behind the curtains with the limp, singed gray Ferrethawk over her shoulder. Lester felt his heart ache.

Redbone has already killed my mother and father. Milo is all I have left...he narrowed his eyes and let out a sharp, hissing sound. There is no way I'm gonna let anyone in their clan lay a paw on my brother.

He headed back to the dining hall and sat on his clan's stump beside a black-and-white Ferrethawk with one black and one white wing. It was Glitch.

"This Saturday's the first day of a new month," he chittered. "Next Wednesday will be our first Genopet League battle against the Boulderbears. You feel ready?" He turned to face Lester.

Lester narrowed his eyes toward the noisy unit where the Boulderbears and their human masters were scarfing down huge portions of meat. "Of course," he gritted his teeth in their direction as he recalled the way Bruce and Dedric had taunted him when he and Risa were training with Apollo and Randy. "We better kick their butts tonight." He flattened his ears and added under his breath. "And I hope the clan that's fighting the Volcanines really teaches them a lesson."

  11. Risa

The night of their first Genopet League battle had finally come. Risa was in the dining hall, sitting beside Sir Aeolus, trying not to look anxious as the training instructor discussed her progress.

"You and Lester seem to be struggling with your official battles lately," Sir Aeolus remarked. "I see that you two have only beaten five opponents up to now. Not bad, but remember that as a mixed-blood, you should be beating at least six opponents a week if you want to make it to the Elite Rank by the end of the year."

"I know," Risa huffed, frowing at her bowl of peppered noodles. "It's just so hard to work with him when I smell like the humans from the Volcanine Clan. I would buy one of those rare herbs from the Cobrazor Clan to block his sense of smell, but then he would be unable to fight any of his opponents at all."

Sir Aeolus raised his eyebrows. "Well, keep practicing. Your ability to work together is not only important for your own future, but also for the future of our clan. Remember—we have our first Genopet League battle tonight. We'll be up against the Boulderbears."

"I'll definitely make sure we're ready," Risa gave a nod. "Our collaboration skills haven't been completely disastrious. It's rather easy for me to work with Lester when fighting against the Volcanines because his natural impulse for revenge overwhelms his natural impulse to attack a mixed-blood like me."

Aeolus nodded. "But you struggled to keep him under control when we were fighting the Volcanines. I see you've been getting along pretty well with that Turner boy and his puppy."

Risa blinked. She turned to Aeolus. "Oh...you noticed?"

"You two have been partnering up quite often in the last few one-on-one battles," he said, maintaining his soft tone. "But don't worry. It's completely okay to make friends with students outside your clan, as long as you don't let your friendship impede your pet's battling skills in any way."

Risa felt goose-bumps on her skin. She suddenly visualized the moments she had spent training with Randy this past week. He's been so helpful and willing to work with me. No other student has ever even bothered to approach me and train with a mixed-blood. But Randy's been very enthusiastic about training with me. I...I feel terrible about having Lester attack his genopet and his other clan members for that...

Isis's roar suddenly echoed across the room. Dinnertime was almost over. She saw most of the human Combatants and their genopets bidding farewell to their teaching instructors and teacher-pets.

"Well, I'm glad I got to talk to you, Risa!" Sir Aeolus gave her a nod. "Hopefully I'll see you more often during the next week at dinner!"

Risa smiled and nodded back. "I'll try to make it!"

She picked up her tray and gave it to an Aquabunny that swam it to the kitchen. Then she looked around at all the dispersing students. Her heart lifted as she saw Randy laughing with his Volcanine friends. As soon as he left them to hand his tray to the kitchen Aquabunnies, Risa approached him.

"Hey Randy," she tried to sound casual.

Randy looked over his shoulder. "Oh hey, Risa! What's up?"

"I just wanted to thank you for putting up with our battles in the past few days," she gave him a smile. "I think battling Apollo's really helped Lester focus on his opponents without letting my scent distract him."

Randy laughed. "Hah! No problem. Honestly, I think our battles have also helped Apollo and I work better together."

Risa gave him a smirk. "How many battles have you guys beaten so far?"

"55," he returned her smirk. "Apollo and I hold the highest winning streak in our clan's Beginning Rank right now. And we're gonna make sure that gets higher. Especially since we both have the goal to become Emperor and Prime Genopet of our clan someday."

Risa laughed dryly and looked away. "Of course! You two would make the perfect Vulcaninian leaders." She looked to the ground and her smile disappeared. Especially since you don't have to worry about discrimination like I do.

Randy blinked. "Is everything alright? I wasn't trying to make you jealous!"

Risa quickly met his gaze. "Oh no, I'm not jealous at all. It's just...I've been a little confused lately," she paused and then added, "Even though Lester grows stronger, I'm still doubting how seriously my clan will take us. Sometimes I feel like I don't belong here at all since I can't train with Lester the way I want to train him. But whenever I train with you, I feel like I can be myself. Loud. Wild. Running as fast as I can run. I don't have to worry about being the graceful, calm, and quiet master that Ferrethawkian students are trained to be."

Randy looked into her eyes. His face was full of understanding. "I get where you're coming from. Well, keep in mind that you don't always have to stay with your clan! At the beginning of every year, you're free to move to whatever clan you want."

Apollo bounded up to his side. "But you can't move to a new clan in the middle of a year in the Beginning Rank. You have to finish up a year in your clan's Beginning Rank before you can decide where your loyalties lie."

Risa huffed. "It's not that easy! I can't just simply walk away from my clan and join the Volcanines." She paused and added in a quieter voice, "Especially if I want to become a Nox Doctor like my mother was."

"Why not?" Randy raised his eyebrows. "At the end of each year, anyone can move to a new clan if they want to. It's just very rare, though, because then you'll have to start over with a new pet in the Beginning Rank and work your way up again."

"Not to mention I'd have to adjust to the new setting and—"

"You seem to love the fiery fields! I've seen you run with Apollo across all those lava pools and over those volcanoes on our training grounds."

Risa laughed. "Oh yeah, I'll have no problem with the environment. It's the social setting I'm worried about. I'll have to adjust to being around full-blooded Volcanians rather than full-blooded Ferrethawkians. And Volcanians are way more outspoken and opinionated than calm, 'graceful' Ferrethawkians, so if I'm already finding it hard to get along with humble Ferrethawkian Combatants in my clan, I can't imagine how much harder it would be to get along with hotheaded Volcanians."

"You get along perfectly well with me and Apollo," Randy said with a shrug.

Apollo swished his tail. "Yeah, and as a genopet, I can tell you that I smell more Volcanine blood in your than Ferrethawkian. The scent of your Volcanine blood overpowers your Ferrethawkian, so Mother Nature's voice is barely a threatening whisper in my head when I smell you."

Risa's heart was pounding incredibly fast. Apollo's fur began to bristle, and her cheeks turned red as the pup smelled her nervousness.

But before any of them could say anything, a drawling voice sounded from behind.

"How are the two cross-clan lovers doin'?" Dedric was stomping up to them with a grimace on his face. Bruce was by his side. His rock-hard jaws were bloody from the meal he had scarfed down.

"Dedric, go sniff a skunk!" Randy whirled around and faced the huge boy with clenched fists. "Risa and I are just talking. And there's nothing wrong with talking to students from other clans."

"But it's very disrespectful for your genopet," Bruce growled. "I'm sure Apollo feels very offended to see you fraternizing with a human that trains the enemy species. Unless Apollo is also a traitor to his clan."

Apollo's fur began to sizzle. "Put a rat in it, Bruce."

Risa fumed and fixed her eyes on Dedric and his pet. "You guys are the ones barging in to talk to us, so who's the cross-clan intruder now?" A wind suddenly blew her to her knees and she let out a quick scream. Lester was hovering behind her, exhaling a wind that caused her to fall forward on Randy's chest.

"Whoa..." Randy gently grabbed her shoulders before she could fall to her knees.

Dedric and Bruce exchanged glances and started sniggering.

"Apparently you are, mixed-blood!" Lester was facing them, glaring straight at Risa. "I saw you deliberately approach Randy, even though you know how much I hate Volcanians. Clearly, you don't respect my feelings at all!" He blew another gust of wind at them both and spun them both in a whirlwind. Then he gave Risa a smack with his wings so that she fell to the ground, in front of a growling Bruce. She looked up and watched with shock as Lester landed on Randy's curly red hair, kicking around and nipping at his head.

"Ahh!" Randy waved his arms in the air. "Apollo, get this thing offa me!"

Apollo began barking. "You leave my master alone!" He leapt up and crashed into Lester. The two genopets fell off Randy's head and tumbled out of the dining hall, yapping and squeaking.

"Hey, wait!" Randy spun around and clumsily ran after them, still dizzy from the spin. "Apollo! Lester! You guys can't be fighting indoors!"

Risa stumbled up to her feet and hurried after them, ignoring the harsh laughter from Dedric and Bruce. She caught up to Randy, who was looking around with a start.

"Oh no, where did they go?" Randy gasped. The halls were completely quiet. They both paced their way down the hall, looking around for their pets.

"Huh!" Risa frowned. "You know, that reminds me. I just saw Lady B outside, right before dinner. She was congratulating the Cobrazorian Beginning Combatants for winning most of their one-on-one battles, but then as soon as they left, she had a chat with Dame Zierra about her suspicions of the growing power of their clan."

"Ooh, right," Randy narrowed his eyes. "Dame Zierra is a Clan Migrant, huh?"

Risa frowned. "I guess you can call her that. I've always hated how there has to be a term for people that left a clan to join another."

Randy gazed at her. "Just how you hate the term 'mixed-blood' for a human born from cross-clan couples?"

"Yes," she said bitterly.

Randy shrugged. "Why let it bother you? As long as you're loyal to your clan and train your pet to be strong for whatever clan you're in, there's nothing wrong with sharing blood from two different clans."

Risa looked at Randy and gave a smile. "It's very encouraging to hear that. I didn't know you Volcanians were so liberal about cross-clan differences."

Randy stifled a laugh. "Oh, we really don't give a crap about cross-clan differences. We just value clan loyalty and extremely passionate genopet trainers. If cross-clan differences don't interfere with either of those, we're welcome to have you in our clan!"

Risa was thankful Lester wasn't here. Her heart was throbbing faster than ever. She wanted nothing more than to give Randy a big hug for saying something so wonderful.

But before she could say anything or make any move, Randy suddenly stopped in his tracks. "Speaking of cross-clan situations...look!" He pointed at the open doors at the end of the hallway. Risa could see the Genopet League Arena outside, just a few meters from their tree.

"Great Hox, we've ended up in the trees of the Genopet League Island," Risa turned around. "We better ask a supervisor to track down our pets—it's way too complicated to navigate through these branches and hallways."

"Hang on!" Randy grabbed her hand.

Risa's heart skipped a beat. Great Hox, he's grabbing my hand now!

"You might want to see this," Randy walked forward, pulling her along as he kept his eyes on the Arena. "Today's the day the Cobrazor Clan battles the Armadrillos in the Genopet League. And...it looks like the Cobrazors are winning."

Risa and Randy stepped out of the hallways and onto their branch. They looked down at the vast Arena ahead of their tree. A flood of ninja-like humans and their drill-tailed Armadrillos were darting in and out of the ground, attacking the numerous, fast-slithering snakes and their tight-suited human masters. The Cobrazors were slithering everywhere around the Arena brutally jabbing their dagger-like tongues into the chests of the Armadrillos whenever the small critters popped up and attempted to drill their tails at the snakes' bodies.

"Man," Randy breathed. "I would hate to be an Armadrillo master in that battle. They can't wave around fire-swords and easily burn those poisonous snakes!"

Risa noticed that the weapon for Armadrillish humans was a pistol-shapped drill. Many of the humans, however, had their weapons knocked out of their hands as the Cobrazors whacked at their wrists with their tails.

She looked across the Arena and felt a rush of adrenaline. She spotted Nokio waving a pencil-thin, thorn-covered vine in the air. The thorny vine whipped at every Armadrillo and Armadrillish human that surrounded him. Meanwhile, Vitalia's long tongue jutted out and stabbed her opponents from yards away, causing purple goo to ooze out of every would she gave them.

Eventually, the Arena was almost devoid of Armadrillos and Armadrillish. Those that were left were covered in blood, bruises, and gooey substances. Most of them were fleeing toward the buildings at the corners of the Arena. Finally, a deep gong sounded. Time was up. The battle was over. The Cobrazors let out long, victorious hisses and their masters waved their vines in the air.

Randy and Risa exchanged shocked glances. "The Cobrazors are really working hard to get stronger. They really want to beat us and take our place as number 1 in the League." He wrinkled his nose. "Well, let 'em try."

They turned to head back into the building on their branch. As they wandered through the hallways, Risa stopped in her tracks and gasped. "Randy...look."

She caught sight of a lavender Cobrazor slithering pass their hall. Randy gasped. "That was Vitalia. What in Hox's name is she doing without her human master?"

They veered to the left. They watched Vitalia slither pass the girls' and boys' restroom and approach two six-foot tall roses. Nokio was standing in the shadows beneath the plants. Standing right in front of the gangly, violet-haired young man was Devina Chevalier.

"Whoa, is Nokio actually talking to that Aquabunnesian?" Randy whispered, his eyes widened. "I've never seen that guy open his mouth to speak to anyone. Especially not a non-clan member."

Risa narrowed her eyes. "I thought Cobrazors prohibited even the most minor cross-clan friendships."

She watched as Devina slowly lifted her head to gaze into his eyes. Her blue eyes were dazed. "You guys totally whooped those Armadrillos," her voice was smooth. "Just a few more battles and your clan will catch up to those Volcanines in no time."

Nokio nodded slowly, not taking his snake-like eyes off the Aquabunnesian girl. The man was like a tall dark shadow, nearly a foot taller than Devina. "Certainly," he spoke in a low, quiet tone.

For a moment, they stared at each other, silent. Then Nokio's thin fingers touched the bottom of Devina's chin and tilted her head up to face him. His sharp, snake-like eyes bore deep into her frightened blue ones. "I'll see you after your battle against the Ferrethawks tonight. Your people promised to purchase the new drugs we manufactured."

Risa and Randy exchanged glances. Drugs? What drugs? The Cobrazor Clan was responsible for the manufacturing of various drugs in Wildheart Forest, but never was a specific clan forced to buy a particular product.

Devina sighed. "Oh, Nokio. Must we really invest all that money on your new drugs? Some members in my clan are very skeptical of its side-effects on our Aquabunnies."

Nokio replied in his low tone. "The Aquabunnies were created so that the Volcanines' fire and volcanic sties wouldn't overpopulate and destroy the forest. So we could really use allies like your clan to weaken the Volcanines and help us get to the top of the League. Make sure you purchase our drugs and get your bunnies stronger."

"So the Rodin drugs are ready?"

"Yes," he looked up and stared distantly down the hallway. "Pretty soon, every clan will be ready to take down those Volcanines. The power of the Rodin drug is incredible—with it, a genopet's powers will be ten times as powerful. We'll be able to wipe off those Volcanines in no time."

He let her go of her chin. He gazed into her eyes for another second, and then turned to walk away. Vitalia gave a hiss at Devina and then slithered after her master.

Risa and Randy pressed their backs against the wall and stood still as Nokio passed them.

Then, as soon as he was out of sight, Devina gave a long sigh, looking disheveled. As soon as she passed them and disappeared behind the walls, Randy exchanged glances with Risa.

"Holy fire-cows!" He kept his voice low. "Who knew that Nokio Okimoto—a Cobrazorian—would be in a secret relationship with a non-clan member?"

Risa narrowed her eyes and crossed her arms. "The only reason why he's keeping it a secret is because his clan prohibits any contact with non-clan members, unless it is battle contact. It's so stupid."

Randy was slowly shaking his head with disbelief. "I'm more concerned about this new Rodin drug. If the Cobrazors are selling it to other clans so that they can help bring down our clan, I'm gonna have to tell my Emperor to have a word with Emperor Hozami."

"You're kidding!" Lester was staring at Risa, wide-eyed. They were standing on a branch of Emperor Thepimus's home tree. The Emperor, Prime Windsor, and Bondo had joined them, and were listening to Risa's news about the conversation she had heard between Nokio and Devina.

"So Nokio said that the Cobrazors are selling a new drug that could empower a genopet to ten times its power?" Emperor Thepimus was rubbing his chin.

"That's what it sounded like," said Risa, crossing her arms. "Looks like we'll find out after our battle against the Aquabunnies next month when we're up against them."

"This is terrible," muttered Emperor Thepimus. "If those Cobrazors are forcing the Aquabunnies to help them weaken those Volcanines, they may try the same for us too. The Ferrethawks were also created so that the fiery territory of the Volcanines' would be kept under control." He turned his serious gaze to Lester. "You Ferrethawks were purposed to keep the air clear of any fumes and smoke from the Volcanines' fiery buildings. Your powers would therefore look appealing to the Cobrazors as well as the Aquabunnies' water powers."

Bondo's whiskers twitched as the Ferrethawk spoke up. "Dame Nadine and I are in the Purifier Brigade, and most of the fumes we've been cleaning up have been found in Cobrazor territory. We've seen that much damage has been done to their plants. Just last week, a wildfire spread to the Cobrazors' city and destroyed a few of their giant roses. The buildings that were situated on those roses were, of course, damaged, and although the Volcanine Emperor had to pay the Cobrazors a fine, it's been difficult for them to rebuild what has been destroyed by fire."

Prime Windsor flicked his tail. "Well, from this point on, we've got to make sure our Purifier Brigade spends extra hours cleaning the airs of Wildheart Forest. The Volcanines are becoming more and more powerful, and I don't blame Zexel for wanting to stop their growth."

  12. Lester

Lester, Milo, Lula, and the other Ferrethawks in the Beginning Rank maneuvered through the air, exhaling wind from their mouths to direct their human masters through the air and toward the Genopet League Arena.

"We're gonna kick their butts," squeaked Thistletail as he blew Russell's wind currents.

They entered the Arena and flew toward to the rightmost side where the Standard, Advanced, and Elite Combatants were gathered. Lester's fur bristled at the sight of the stronger, older members of their clan. His eyes were fixed on the Elite Ferrethawks, who were gathered at the back of the crowd. Many of them were either broad-shouldered and slightly larger than the average-sized Ferrethawk, or lean with powerful wings that were almost four times larger than their own bodies.

All Ferrethawks hovered in the air, with their human masters standing on the lifted rocky platform below them. The rest of the Genopet Arena was filled with rocks and terrain, and the Boulderbears and their humans were gathered on the other side, facing their hovering opponents.

Lester and the other Beginning Ferrethawks blew their humans toward the platform and filled up the space and the frontmost section of the crowd. He faced the Boulderbears and felt his heart start to race. Though he was holding his breath, the sight of their enemy clan filled him with the urge to attack and fight.

As soon as the gun went off, the battle begun.

Lester swooped through the air with Risa riding his current ahead of him. As she spun around with her whip to whack at a smoky-black Boulderbear, her scent blew in his direction and filled his nostrils. Lester screeched and spun back, stopping the wind current so that he had dropped Risa to the ground. The sound of that irritating, squeaky, feminine voice was ringing in his head again, taunting him.

Fire, fire, kill! Fire, fire KILL! Mother Nature's monstrous voice was ringing in his head. Lester soared over the fields in battle, screeching to block the sound. But the more he tried to ignore the sound, the stronger Risa's scent became, and the louder the voice in his head. FIRE, FIRE, KILL! A vision of Risa suddenly formed in his mind. She was the one with that abhorring voice, screaming and taunting him. Lester let out an earsplitting screech, his eyes sharp as daggers, seeing red. He released a gust of wind from his mouth and blew Risa across the field until she fell into an avalanche of rocks, screaming.

Lester panted, glaring at her, and then as soon as he stopped smelling her, the voice died away. His mind cleared and suddenly, he was gazing across the field, staring at Risa's limp body in the heap of rocks. "Wh-what have I done?" He gasped under his breath. He watched as Sir Aeolus flew on Glitch's air current toward the pile of rocks. He leapt down and allowed Glitch to blow the rocks off of Risa's body. She was bruised and bleeding all over her arms, legs, and face.

"Great Hox," growled Lester, looking away so that her scent didn't blow in his direction again. "Make it stop..."

He fought the rest of the battle without Risa. But it wasn't long before an Elite Boulderbearian confronted him and banged him out of the air with his club. Lester fell to the ground, at the paws of the Combatant's Boulderbear. The massive genopet slammed its heavy, rock-hard paws at Lester's body until he screeched, admitting defeat. He felt Glitch's air current carry his limp body away from the rambunctious Arena before his vision went black.

Lester found himself in the infirmary, wrapped in a mossy blanket at the center of a soft nest. All around him were ledges of other nests where injured Ferrethawks were resting and recovering. Except the majority of the Ferrethawks weren't resting. The room was full of angry chatters and squeaks.

"I swear to Hox, I had that Standard Boulderbear spinning in my most powerful tornado until his cheating human master threw his club at my and knocked me outta the air!" Snarled a gray Ferrethawk from the Advanced Rank. He was covered in dark bruises on his right shoulder and right cheek. "That's cheating, I tell you! Humans cannot throw their weapons like that—they have to be holding them at all times during a battle!"

A female caramel Ferrethawk from the Elite Rank was clawing the side of her nest. She was covered in scabs all over her face and wings. "At least it wasn't as bad as being defeated by an avalanche caused by a Boulderbear from the Beginning Rank."

"Yeah, and not close to being as bad as nearly killing your own human master on the field!" Lester recognized Thistletail's drawling snarls. He looked up to see the black Ferrethawk snarling at him from the nest in the ledge above him. His face was covered in bandages. "Seriously, Lester, this is why mixed-bloods and their genopets never last. We're lucky that our Elite Rank beat the last of the Boulderbears."

Lester would have chittered back an angry reply, but his vision was starting to get blurry again. He didn't have the strength to speak. His mind was filled with throbbing sounds and remorseful thoughts.

I nearly killed my own human master. I'm a monster. And I can't do anything about it.

The one-on-one battles during next few days against proved Lester's thoughts true. The stronger he fought, the louder Mother Nature's voice rang in his head. It was difficult to avoid Risa's scent during an entire battle round, and the two of them constantly ended up fighting and soiling their chances to win their battles together. Almost every battle ended up with Lester, seeing red and hearing voluminous threats, blew Risa in a whirlwind of Black Mist. She would always be the first to faint in the battles, which only gave their human and genopet opponents an advantage to attack and weaken him until he called for a surrender.

By the next month, Lester and Risa were in the 34th percentile in the Beginning Rank. He had lost almost as many battles as he had won.

Lester lied at the side of one of his home tree's branches, furious and miserable. How am I supposed to make it to the Elite Rank with this damned mixed-blood distracting me?! He especially wanted to beat Apollo, who was in the 91st percentile of his clan's Beginning Rank. The darn canine got along exceptionally well with his human master, Randy, and the two of them were excelling in their battles. Lester snorted a puff of gray smoke from his nostrils. If only he had a strong bond with his own human master. What's wrong with me?! Lester, focus on your opponent! Risa's not your opponent...she's your partner, your human master...

He exhaled another puff of gray smoke from his nostrils, watching Hortense, Odin, and the other Ferrethawks soaring through the sky in the distance, practicing their tornado attacks. He groaned. He knew it wasn't Risa's fault. He knew she was willing to make it to the Elite Rank too.

Suddenly, he inhaled a minor, spicy scent. It was Risa's scent.

"Lester?" She was approaching him from behind. "I...I think we need to talk. We really need to reevaluate our relationship and what future we may have together."

"Get away from me," he growled, raising himself to his hind legs and turning to bare his teeth at her. "I turn into a monster when you're around. You're the reason why neither of us can win enough battles for the Elite Rank."

She frowned. "What are you talking about? You're the one who keeps attacking me!"

"Hey! I can't help it! Your scent just gets in the way!"

"Well, I can't help that either!" She stomped forward, but Lester retaliated, snapping his teeth and spinning in a fit. Risa flinched and took a step back.

"I said stay away from me!" Lester screeched, feeling his head throb. Her scent was getting stronger, and he was starting to hear Mother Nature's voice booming in his head. FIRE...FIRE...Lester let out another screech in an attempt to block the voice. "Don't you understand?! I want to make it to the Elite Rank just as much as you do! I need to be as strong as I can ever be if I'm ever gonna avenge my parents' death. But unfortunately, I can't do that with you!" He flicked his tail. "Mother Nature forces me to attack you when I smell you. Her voice will always ring in my head and probe me to obey whatever she says, and I have no control over that." He snorted. "I'm a genopet. We beasts have no control over what Mother Nature tell us to do. Unlike you humans, we can't just simply 'choose' who we like, or who we don't like. If we smell an animal or a human from a different clan, Mother Nature drives us to attack."

Risa spoke in a careful tone. "Lester, Mother Nature may have greater control over you genopets than she does over us humans. But this is why we humans work with you. This is why every human in a clan is responsible for training a genopet. We train you to overcome your natural impulses so that you can become loyal guardians of both your own species and humankind."

"Skunk-droppings!" Lester yowled and dropped onto all fours. "You humans train us to fight other species and humans from the other clans! That just further strengthens are natural impulses to attack those who are different. And Risa, you're different. You're not a pureblood Ferrethawkian. You share blood with the enemy...or rather, with what Mother Nature has told me is the enemy." He rose to his hind legs again and spread his wings. "You're completely mistaken, mixed-blood. You humans cannot change what Mother Nature has made us to be. No matter how much you genetically modify us, no matter how much of our bodies are man-made, we are still animals under Mother Nature's power."

He whirled around and took off in the air. He flew through the network of branches and bridges, his heart cringing. Stupid natural instincts, he thought. Risa wants to make it to the Elite Rank just like I do. But we're both making it hard for each other. And neither of us can't help it. Especially when you're under the inescapable power of Mother Nature. He squeezed his eyes shut and slouched. Why must I be driven so heavily by what nature makes me do? Why can't we animals be like the humans and be able to make our own choices, rather than be a slave of what nature has made us to be?

The next month finally came, and the first week was filled with hype over the Genopet League battles again. This time, the Ferrethawks were on their way to the battle with the Aquabunnies. Lester hovered with the other Ferrethawks as they followed their human masters in the Beginning Rank toward the Genopet Arena.

Lester was tense as he flew behind the humans. He was thankful that he wasn't hovering by Risa's side just yet. Though the ringing voice in his head was gone, he was able to hear himself think, which meant all the worrisome, guilty thoughts were coming back to him.

I'm a monster...I'm hurting my own human master, Lester's whiskers were twitching and his eyes were full of guilt and sorrow as he fixed his gaze on Risa. She's trying her best to be the strongest, to win every battle and make it to the Elite Rank. Great Hox, I applaud her for that. There's nothing I want more than to be the strongest Ferrethawk in the clan...one that will be more than strong enough to blow the fumes off those Volcanines. He hung his head as they paused behind the noisy Arena. What is wrong with me? Why can't my natural instincts just change so that I can avoid this silly impulse to attack her? We would make the perfect team if only we got along.

As they entered the Arena, the presence of water made it a little easier for Lester to avoid Risa's scent. But as soon as Risa stood by Lester's side, her scent filled his nostrils, and instantly, Lester's mind flashed. Images of Volcanines flashed through his head, and that dreadful voice was ringing in his ears again. Fire, fire, kill. Fire, fire, KILL.

Lester's regretful expression suddenly became a savage scowl, and he was breathing heavily and angrily. He snapped his teeth at Risa.

"Ah! Lester!" She hissed, jumping aside.

Lester slowed his heavy breathing. The scent went away, and so did the voice. He looked at Risa's startled face and then tilted his head. He gave a low whimper and then looked away, not daring to breathe through his nose.

Lula snuggled beside him. "Oh, Lester, don't you worry. This battle against the Aquabunnies should go better than with the Boulderbears. There will be water, which will help wash away the scent."

As they poured into the Arena, Windsor's screech called for Lester.

"Lester?" The Prime Genopet was at the entrance of the Arena. "May I please have a word with you?"

Lester narrowed his eyes. "Oh great," he growled, slowly turning around to fly back. "What do you want now?"

Windsor gazed at him concerned. "I just wanted to let you know that if you ever hear Mother Nature's voice in your head again, and if you ever feel the impulse to attack Risa again, you are to leave the Arena immediately. I don't want the same incident with the Boulderbears to happen again. The Beginning Rank's victory also counts for the overall clan victory as well."

Rage filled Lester's eyes. "So you're questioning my abilities?!" He turned to Thepimus, who was approaching his pet's side. "This is why you should have killed every last Volcanine, Thepimus. They killed my father, who was your pet, the former Prime Genopet! And you did nothing. You should have slaughtered them all, that way my natural instincts wouldn't have driven me to hate Risa as much as I do right now!"

Windsor hovered closer to Thepimus's shoulder. "We may not be able to change the way we are or the way nature's made us," said the Prime Genopet. "No matter how hard you try, you're always going to be bothered by Risa's scent. You're always going to feel that urge to attack her as if she were an enemy. That's the way nature made us to be—we are designed to see different species as rival."

"You mean that's the way humans made us," snarled Lester.

"The humans did play a role in modifying us, but they did so, using Hox's blood—which was not man-made. Since we all carry Hox's genes, we all share the same trait to see different species as rivals. That's something we can never change. You're always going to see Apollo and the other Volcanines as rivals."

"But that does not mean war is always the answer," said Thepimus. "We still need to respect the other species and understand that they all play an important role in this world just as we do. If we slaughtered all the Volcanines, who knows what punishments Hox would give to us?"

Lester scoffed. "Ironic that you're telling me this right before a Genopet League battle." He glanced over his shoulder to see that the Aquabunny Combatants from the Beginning Rank were arriving. He turned and faced Thepimus again. "There's no rule in the Hoxian Law that forbids clans from slaughtering one another. It may be against the rules not to kill in the Genopet League, but it's not against the rules to declare war. Once you declare war, killing is legal in the Genopet League. That's what distinguishes a war from a Genopet League battle." He flattened his ears and let out a snarl. "And the Volcanines are killers themselves. They killed without declaring war. Hox has yet to punish them."

"Hox has his subtle ways of punishing those who break his laws," said Windsor calmly. "We will leave it to Hox to punish them rather than seek revenge ourselves."

Lester snorted. "They almost killed Milo. He should have been with the rest of us in last month's Genopet League battle against the Boulderbears. But he's wasn't. He should be here, fighting this Genopet League battle with the Aquabunnies tonight. But he's not. He's still recovering in the hospital, thanks to that damned puppy of Redbone's."

I'm gonna slay Apollo for this. Milo's getting worse and worse, and he's on the verge of death.

Lester's rage empowered as they battled the Aquabunnies. Luckily, the rage gave him an advantage to avoid Risa's scent and focus on the battle against the Aquabunnies. He released gusts of wind, intensifying the hurricanes and whirpools that the Aquabunnies shot at him, only to blow them back at them.

Suddenly, Lester veered out of the sky and caught Nokio and Vitalia.

The two of them headed toward the exiting doors of the Genopet Arena.

"And just where do you think you two are going?" Lester growled, hovering after them. "Off to sell your illegal drugs?"

Lester hurried after Nokio as he got into his Shuttle. He snuck inside and shrouded himself with a misty cloud that would hide his scent.

"Oh, I'm sssso exhaussssted," Vitalia hissed as she coiled beside her master's seat. "That Match againsssst the Boulderbearssss was really a closssse call this week."

Nokio said nothing as he powered on his shuttle. It wasn't until they were zooming through the tubes that he finally said, "Shoot. Just got a message from father. Our Elite Rank is heading toward the Aquabunny territory to sell them more Rodin drugs. And they've refused to buy anymore," he narrowed his eyes. "They actually attacked our Cobrazors and are trying to drive them off their territory," he was narrowing his eyes at his netphone in front of him as a message popped up on the screen.

Vitalia hissed. "Oh, Noki. It's totally understandable that they would be scared—the side effects of that drug are horrible." She chortled. "But that's what will weaken their clan as well."

Nokio gave a quiet grunt as he turned the shuttle to the right. Lester could smell his rage burning under his pale skin. "We need those Aquabunnies to become strong enough to wipe out those Volcanines. They are water, and their purpose is to regulate the fire on land, just as the Ferrethawks are purposed to regulate their fire in the air. We're not going to let the side effects the Aquabunnies. I thought I made that clear to my father before our clan's battle against them tonight."

Nokio flew through the air tubes until the tubes led straight into a wide lake. Lester stared out of shuttle and gazed at the wondrous sight of the underwater city. The tunnel, just as it did in the air, branched out into networks of tunnels where other shuttles were travelling through. The tunnels led them through a bustling city of gargantuan, coated coral -buildings. Buildings and factories were located atop the coated tree-buildings. Some were even built along a winding rocky bridge that arched over a chrome strip of road.

The entire underwater city of the Aquabunny territory looked just like any metropolis on land, except instead of flower-towers, leaves, and fruits growing off the buildings' branches, there were corals, anemones, and sea-plants of all shapes and sizes growing beside the buildings and off the branches. Aquabunnesian humans and their Aquabunnies were swimming over the chrome roads. The blue-haired, Aquabunnesian humans were covered in different styles of wetsuits with the same spherical air bubble around every human head.

Lester watched as a school of Aquabunnies swam by and encircled a family of humans who hovered in the water, wearing suits of the same color as the genopets.

Vitalia hissed at a school of Aquabunnies and their humans that swam pass their tube. "This place is ridiculous," she snarled. "How can people live down here? How can they stand being wet all the time?"

Suddenly, the shuttle jolted and Vitalia let out a surprised hiss. Lester looked up and realized the shuttle had come to a stop beside a platform on the surface of the water. Stairs extended from the doors of the cubic room and attached to the edge of the platform. He caught sight of four tall, smooth-skinned girls dressed in blue, flowery dresses and scaly leggings stepping up the stairs, making their way down the platform of the underwater station, giggling and jabbering in their high, musical voices.

Vitalia hissed. "Ugh! Devina's ssssilly ssissstersss."

"They're putting on a show tonight," remarked Nokio in a dark voice. He unfastened his seatbelt and opened his door. "Emperor Hozami was going to meet around here. There will be tons of humans and Aquabunnies gathering to see the Chevalier models and their genopets."

Lester followed Nokio and his snake as they made their way through a tube surrounded by gargantuan anemones and seaweed-covered boulders. As soon as Nokio and Vitalia joined a group of Cobrazorians hidden in the shadows of the corals, he turned and caught sight of Devina rushing out of the building, carrying a coughing Aquabunny. Lester flinched. The genopet was coughing up blood.

"Bianca, hang in there!" Cried Devina. "I'll get you to the hospital right away!"

Bianca vomited a chunk of thick blood over the side of Devina's arm. "O-oh dear!" She squeaked. "This is a wrong time for those Rodin side effects to kick in...we have a show tonight!"

Lester watched as they rushed passed him. He flew after them and followed Devina until she neared a gang of Cobrazors in the shadows of the alley ahead of her. But to his surprise, she passed the alley, taking no notice.

Great Hox, humans have such poor senses. She can't even hear the Cobrazorians nearby. He glided after her.

Devina stopped and turned around. "Bianca? You've stopped coughing. Are you feeling better?" Her Aquabunny was staring at a flat platform of coral, several meters across their air tube. A dome-shaped bubble was formed over the platform, providing air for the two humans, the snake, and the panther that were gathered inside.

"Dame Zierra and Panthero," Bianca gasped. "What in Hox's name are they doing here?"

Devina spoke again. "It looks like they're talking with...Cobrazorians." She jumped back. "And there's Nokio..."

Lester narrowed his eyes at the upper platform dome. Nokio's back was turned to them, while Dame Zierra's frail form was almost hidden in front of him. Panthero settled in front of him with his long, noodle-like tail coiled around his paws.  
Suddenly, Bianca gave squeak. "Devina, look out!" She raised her long, hanging ears and spurted water at her master. Devina let out a short scream and fell to her side. Bianca leapt out of her arms and landed in front of her human master, glaring at a noodle-like forms before her.

A gang of Cobrazorians were surrounding them, hissing and taunting in hoxtongue. Their human masters, dressed in long, dark coats that trailed behind their backs, were glaring at her with eyes as menacing as their pets.'

Devina stared with her eyes wide with horror as one of the snakes rapidly leaned forward to jab at Bianca with its tongue. The Aquabunny let out a squeak and started thrashing around on the platform. Her ears flapped this way and that, releasing rapid bursts of water.

Lester hid behind a wall to avoid a water spurt. "Great Hox, careful there, rabbit."

As he watched Bianca battle against them, he realized how strong she was. No Aquabunny in the Beginning Rank could release a water spout as powerful as that. It was obvious she had taken Rodin.

Suddenly, Bianca dropped to the seafloor. She began coughing and coughing, until spurts of blood started coming out her throat.

"Hehehe," the snake was cackling. "The side effects of the preciousss drug."

A green snake whipped his spear-like tail in her direction so that it blew back the water and washed Devina several meters down the air tube. Devina fell falling down a long slide in the tube, until she finally crashed into a pile of trash cans and rotten seaweed.

"Ugh!" Devina sat up instantly and gazed around.

Lester peered over the wall and widened his eyes. The underwater junkyard! The place was a wide room beneath a dome bubble, filled with tall, abandoned buildings and dying sea plants. Shadows loomed along the walls and the random piles of garbage.

Devina looked up to see the snakes slithering down the landslide. Their yellow gleaming eyes were fixed on them, narrowed into slits and glowing distinctly in the shadows. Bianca hopped along with them with a vacant look in her eyes.

Devina squeezed her eyes shut and braced herself for the snakes and her own genopet to strike...

Then the snakes screamed. Devina opened her eyes and saw that a green snake was squirming between the fangs of another long, slender snake—a purple one.

"Vitalia!" Gasped Devina.

The lithe genopet released the other snake, and let out a sharp hiss. The green snake whimpered and dashed away, slithering behind a pile of crumbed, black coral. The other snakes dashed forward to battle Vitalia, but Vitalia sent them back with another sharp blow of her tail.

The snakes and their human masters looked around dumbfounded. Suddenly, more Aquabunnies joined and started fighting. The Aquabunny clan guards were here. But as soon as they started attacking, they, too, started coughing up blood.

"What in Hox's name?!" One of the guards shouted, his mouth wide open as he watched his bunny vomit up blood.

"Vitalia, stop attacking our clan-mates," a dark voice sounded from the shadows.

Lester looked to the right to see a tall, lithe form step out from between the abandoned underwater buildings. Nokio Okimoto. A subtle frown was cracked across his thin face.

"What's going on?!" Devina looked behind her at the screaming crowd swimming from the invading snakes. "I thought you said your drugs wouldn't hurt us! But our Aquabunnies are coughing up blood! You never warned us about the side effects!"
She watched as Bianca coughed up more blood.

"I apologize," he muttered. He turned to his clan-mates with a sharp frown. "I thought my father made it clear that we would send our snakes to inject you with the potion that makes you resistant to the Pink Dust ingredient that causes the side effects."

"Pink Dust?!" Devina flinched. "That definitely wasn't listed in the ingredients of these drugs."

Lester's nose twitched. Pink Dust was one of the most deadly types of chemicals in the world. Such fumes formed when the flower powder escaped the toxic pink flower called Paralily. When carried along the wind currents and mixed with the noxious vapors of Nox Clouds, the powder would expand and replicate into millions and millions of more powder, even more poisonous after mixing with the noxious gases of Nox Clouds. If inhaled, the chemicals would damage the respiratory tract and poison the lungs, causing a variety of deadly illnesses including lung cancers, wheezing, and worst of all, blood-vomiting. Such blood-vomiting was deadly enough to cause the sick to cough up not only blood, but also organs.

One of the guards spoke up. "How in Hox's name did you find enough Pink Dust to make this? The Paralilies are extremely rare!"

Devina huffed. "Unless you Cobrazors learned how to plant them, which wouldn't be surprising since you really want to toughen up against those Volcanines."

"Nokio!" One of the Cobrazorians stepped forward. "Emperor Hozami sent us to help the Aquabunnies. We'll inject them with the potion right away...if they agree to help us slaughter the Volcanines and use the drug in battle against the Volcanines."

Nokio narrowed his eyebrows. He looked over his shoulder to Devina, who looked ready to faint with shock. The guards and their Aquabunnies surrounded her, looking just as shocked. Nokio turned back to his clan-mate.

Lester backed away. It was probably best to leave now. But then he felt a sharp stab on the back. Vitalia had stabbed him. With her tail, not her tongue.

"Goin' somewhere little Ferrethawk?" She hissed. The flaps on her neck rattled as she gave a humored chuckle.

Lester's vision was spinning as he gazed back at the Cobrazor as she swayed her head. Then everything went black.

Lester struggled as Vitalia carried him out of the elevator and out the doors on the top of a stem of a giant lily. They stood on the lily's leaf in front of the doors, and up ahead was a great white building. Emperor Hozami's Lab.

Lester wriggled in Vitalia's grip, crying and wailing. The snake spat him in front of Zexel, and the great, magnificent violet snake trapped Lester in his two-pronged tip of his tail. Lester stared up at the great snake with awe. Zexel almost appeared to be smiling.

"Ssssuch a pleasure to ssssee you again, Lessster," he hissed. "But I wouldn't have expected to sssee you ssso far in Aquabunny territory. Tell me, sssweetie. What made you want to follow my daughter and her human massster there?"

Lester puffed out a black cloud, but Zexel breathed out an aromatic green mist that instantly made it disappear.

"Please, don't wassste your breath, huffing black cloudsss at me. I don't want to have to mind-poison you too," Zexel tilted his head. "It would just be easier to have you tell me in your right mind why you're ssso interested in visiting the Aquabunny territory rather than the Volcanine territory this time. Do you carry another grudge against a Aquabunny or Aquabunnesian human?"

Lester jerked and snarled. "No, but I carry a grudge against a particular Volcanine, who unfairly and illegally attacked my brother. If you would allow it, I would gladly ask to use some of your Lux Potion to help him."

Zexel stuck out a tongue. Then he quickly slipped it back in. "Hmm...."

Vitalia hissed. "Daddy, don't listen to him! Remember that there's a half-Volcanian living in his clan. And you killed her parents. Her half-Volcanian spirit would have made her extremely vengeful and determined to avenge her mother's death, so it's understandable that she would let her own pet spy on us and attempt to destroy us all."

Zexel swiveled his head to Lester and narrowed his sharp, crystal-like eyes. "Ah, I ssssee." He leaned close to Lester so that the little Ferrethawk could smell the snake's acrid breath as he let out a series of hisses. "But I thought you didn't like to lisssten to the little mixed-blood. If you wanted to risk sssneaking into any clan's territory, it would be the Volcaniansss' wouldn't it? Why lisssten to your mixed-blood massster and risssk your life to follow ussss?"

"I was not sent here by Risa Larke," he retorted. "I came here on my own will. I was curious to see what you guys were doing with those drugs. Plus, my brother is dangerously ill because of the power of Apollo's Blue Flames, and the nurses are having a hard time healing him. Even Emperor Thepimus is struggling with the medicines he's been giving him! I think his only hope is to just receive the Lux Potion. There seems to be no other way." He flicked his tail. "You snakes always seem to have the potions to cure anything—including your own drug, whatever it is."

Zexel hissed. "You followed Nokio here, didn't you?" The snake extended his neck higher so that he was facing the tall young man face to face, nose to nose. Nokio's cold, meticulous gaze remained unchanged as the snake pressed his nose against his. "You better make sure your relationship with that Aquabunnesian model does not interfere with your loyalty to our clan. Your priorities should not be love. Love is ssssilly. It makesss you sssssofter. It makessss you weak."

Nokio narrowed his eyes. "Nothing will make me weak," Nokio spoke quietly and darkly.

"Really?" Zexel stuck out his tongue and made a low rattling noise. "Even after you just told our Elite League to save all those Aquabunnies?"

Lester watched as Zexel slithered around Nokio's thin body. Nokio remained stiff and silent as the snake spoke in hoxtongue in his ear. "Think about it, Nokio. You, as the sssstrongest genopet in the world, could rule all the other clansss. You could benefit from sssso much if you became Emperor every sssspecies of genopets and made them fight for you. This drug...we are using it to wipe out the Volcanines. We are resistant to its side effects. But the other clans aren't. if they want to use it to beat each other, they will suffer the side effects. They will have trouble winning battles against us, who aren't affected by the side effects."

Nokio stared at him, his eyes narrowed and distant. He was unable to speak. Zexel chortled. "Come on, Nokio. Think about Vitalia. She's the strongest genopet in your class, in the entire Training Academy, actually. And you're her master. You deserve to exert superiority over all the other genopets...you deserve to control other natural conditions through the domination of other species of genopets."

Lester turned to where Vitalia was watching with a humored glint in her eyes. Then he turned to see Zexel tighten his grip around Nokio's body. The young man's meticulous expression remained the same, though Lester could hear his heart throbbing louder and louder. Zexel lifted his tail and pushed a strand of violet hair out of his eyes. "Don't let your feelings for Devina tear you away from what you're capable of accomplishing."

Nokio held the snake's gaze for another moment. His scrutinizing frown remained, but Lester could smell his fear-scent. Zexel's tightening grip was becoming overwhelming for him.

Zexel rasped. "You're not a mixed-blood, Nokio. So don't act like a mixed-blood. Your loyaltiesss mussst lie within your home clan. Not the clan of your sssilly girlfriend. Don't be foolish like your mother." He released his grip on the tall man. Nokio fell to his knees, breathing quietly, but rapidly. Vitalia let out a disgruntled hiss beside him.

Lester shrunk back as Zexel slithered his way up to him. "Now as for you....Ferrethawk," Zexel slithered around Lester in circles, but thankfully, did not coil around him like he had done with Nokio. "Sssince you're already here, I might as well take you to my massster and have him decide your fate. He will mossst likely have you thrown in the Extermination Room of his Lab, where you can go to sssleep and never wake up again. But...I think I can make a little deal with you—a deal that my massster may even agree with." Zexel leaned closer to the Ferrethawk.

Lester had no choice but to look him straight in the eye. The snake's body was circled all around him. There was no use in trying to escape now.

Zexel hissed. "You loathe those filthy, smoky Volcaninesss, don't you? They killed your parentsss, and now they've nearly killed your brother. You must harbor an intense hatred against them, their human massstersss, and any human sharing blood with sssuch humansss. Including your own human massster."

Lester's ears twitched and his fur bristled. He raised his lithe body so that he was standing on his hind legs. He bared his fangs and let out a menacing snarl.

Zexel chortled. "I know jussst how you feel. The Volcanine Prime Genopet, Roxanne, killed my mate. It was during a Genopet League battle too. Such reckless fighters, those Volcanines. Always breaking the Hoxian Laws outright. Especially the law that restricts the killing of other genopets during any battle."

Lester narrowed his eyes. "The Volcanines had broken the Hoxian Law by killing in battle, and they've had to pay huge fines for it. Yet, they're still filthy rich and spending lots of money on expanding their land." The young Ferrethawk tilted his head. "Didn't they destroy part of your land with wildfire and replaced it with their fire-buildings and extra volcanoes? They bought that portion, but after their wildfire accidentally destroyed it."

Zexel went on, "Yessss. Mangy muttsss...always taking and consuming. I've harbored an intensssse hatred againssst those beasstsss for several yearsss now. The entire clan does. My mate, Nagaine, was one of the strongest genopet Combatants in the clan. We were all deeply ssssorrowed when she was unfairly killed." He fixed his crystal-like eyes on Lester again. "I say, though, my mate wasn't killed directly by a Volcanine. As a matter of fact, she was just killed in a forest fire. Those nasty Volcanines are multiplying every day, because they are winning so many battles and gaining enough money to buy more land for themselves. They have lots of room to overpopulate the forest. They're spreading like the wildfires they set out in their territories. And yesss, their wildfire actually spread to our territory and burned a portion of our land. And it wasn't the first time. My mate was killed in one of their wildfires that spread to our land last year. Clearly, those Volcanines are just harming the environment."

Lester narrowed his eyes. "I mean, their purpose is to keep the plants and trees in balance here. You snakes provide the toxins, potions, and growth for the plants and trees, and the Volcanines' volcanoes and fires they produce are meant to keep those plants from overgrowing in the forest."

"But they've gone too far, haven't they?"

"Of course," snorted Lester. "I smell their smoke every day. We Ferrethawks are meant to keep the air purified in this forest, to make sure the Volcanines' fire doesn't become too overpopulated in this forest. But we're struggling. The smoke is always contaminating the air, and many of our Ferrethawks in our Purifier Brigade are always hard at work. Although only a position in the Advanced Rank is needed and although the Ferrethawks in the Purifier Brigade are not as strong as the Healers, I bet they are still earning more money and working much harder since the Volcanines' fire is just getting to populous and overwhelming in this forest. Many of us our complaining, and so are the other clans."

"Exactly," Zexel leaned closer. "This is why we need to get rid of those mongrels. And I don't think it's hard for you Ferrethawks to help us. We both share a common hatred, don't we? The Volcanines are continuously contaminating the air with their fumes, making you all work extra hard to keep the air clean and fresh. And on top of that, they directly murdered your former Prime Genopet. That must make you especially angry, because it's your job to regulate the population of fire and Volcanines, yet, your strongest member was killed by the species you are supposed to keep under control."

Lester scoffed. "Well, Emperor Thepimus and Windsor refuse to attack them. They forgive too easily. It's a common trait for a Ferrethawk and a Ferrethawkian."

Zexel chortled. "Well, since the former Prime Genopet happened to be your father, I'm sure you're not going to forgive as easily. I'm sure we both would like to sink our tongues, fangs, and tails into those Volcanines and give them a taste of their own medicine." Zexel stuck out his poisonous daggered tongue. "Literally." He gave a smooth chortle and the flaps on his neck began to rattle. "A masss Cleansssing shall begin...as soon as are up against them next few Genopet Leagues."

Lester widened his eyes. "A Cleansing? You mean...you would wipe out the entire species of Volcanines?"

"Why, of courssse," hissed Zexel. "Who needsss those rulebreakersss anyway? Nature doesn't even need them. you Ferrethawkssss are capable of producing fire yourselves, aren't you?"

"Well... yes, but it's extremely difficult for us. We only focus on regulating certain gases that keep the air clean, and those that are effective in battle."

"Ah, well, I'm sure the world would fare well without the presence of those Volcanines," Zexel's eyes flashed. "Help us rid this League of those Volcanines. That way, we Cobrazors could take their place at the top of our League. Those rich Volcanines own so much land and they are overpopulating this damned forest. Overpopulating it with fiery buildings and volcanoes. The woods and landscapes are covered with fiery, sizzling grounds and their smoke is killing all our plants, burning all our precious trees. I loathe the smell of their growing power. They need to stop growing. It's time we rid the world of them. The world doesn't need their fire—they are only destroyers, not only of the environment, but also of lives. They killed my mate, and they killed your parents. Help us get rid of them. Then we will heal your brother with the correct Lux Potion."

Lester swallowed. He stared boldly at them. "Help you get to the top of the League? Excuse me, but my clan would love to make it to the top of the League and take their place too."

"If you help us, we will heal your brother. If you help us get rid of them, we will be able to take over their territory and we will share a portion of their land with your clan. You Ferrethawkians will also have a share in the riches we steal from those Volcanines once we wipe them out of their territory."

"And how exactly would we do this? My clan is full of pacifists. Windsor is too cowardly to fight them. Thepimus refused to war against the Volcanines, even after he killed my father, who was his first pet and Prime Genopet before Windsor. We just had an argument before our battle today about how softhearted he was."

"We would inject you with the Rodin drug. It will increase your powers to ten times their power, and you will be resistant to fire and any move from the Volcanines. You can receive the drug for free."

"And if I get the side effects?"

"I will surely save you with my Lux Potion. My massster would gladly inject anyone who is willing to help the humansss in our clan rid the Volcanines and help us takeover their filthy territory."

Lester stared at Zexel, speechless. Wipe out an entire clan? Takeover their territory? Lester was ambivalent about the latter. But the former became more and more appealing, especially after images of his parents dying in a fight against Redbone flashed through his head. He snapped his teeth and chattered, "Definitely. I'd love to shred those mangy wolves. I'd love to sink my teeth into Redbone's flesh and defile him of all the riches he and his master don't deserve."

Nokio was eying Lester with an exhausted but menacing glare. Vitalia was continuously slipping her dagger-tongue in and out, looking suspicious.

But Zexel was smiling proudly. "Excellent."

Lester narrowed his eyes. "But how would I convince the rest of my clan to buy your drugs and use it against the Volcanines?"

"Oh trust me. Once they see how well you perform in the school, they'll be jealous. They'll be jealous to see the genopet of a mixed-blood excelling and getting a higher battle record than them. They're going to want to get stronger than you and get the drugs themselves."

Lester nodded slowly. "Right. It's been tough, trying to win all my battles with Risa's stench distracting me. I really want to excel and make it to the Elite Rank by the end of the year, but her presence and having her battle with me just distracts me and makes me naturally attack her. I can't stop myself...it's her scent. It's...it's almost impossible for me to hold myself back from attacking her while I'm in battle."

"I understand. We are genopets, dear Lessster. We are animalsss, and we do what nature drives us to do. That's what makes us different from humansss. There are more thingsss in life that we are unable to have control over. We have lessss opportunities to make choicesss since we are driven so heavily by our natural instincts. Her scent is part of that natural driving factor of yours to attack the foreign smell."

Lester nodded. "No matter how hard I'll try, and no matter how much time passes, I'll still loathe the smell of Volcanines, of any foreign clan species. As a genopet, I cannot change the way I am. I'm not human, therefore I cannot choose my purpose in life, nor can I change my perception of certain things."

Zexel slithered by his side and gave him an affectionate nudge. "That's why my Rodin venom will help you. You can use your moves easily against your opponents and easily attack them and defeat them. And if you end up attacking Risa in the process, you won't feel bad. She shares blood with the brutes we are trying to eliminate."

Lester crouched on all fours and gave an angry flap of his wings. "I won't feel sorry for anyone who favors those Volcanines."

Zexel chortled. "Excellent." He turned to Nokio and Vitalia. "I think we have a new ally." He turned to Lester. "You are welcome to come ssspeak to usss whenever you wish. However, you mussst let me know in advance. Unlike the other clansss in this foressst, we do not have Toll Booths."

Lester tilted his head. "You guys don't allow non-clan members to visit your territory at all, don't you?" He tried not to shudder as he remembered how resentful the Cobrazors were toward other genopet species and non-clan humans. They have actually killed several non-clan members for accidentally setting foot on their territory without permission.

"Abssssolutely not," spat Zexel. "We Cobrazors value the strengths within our own clan speciesss, for it is our speciesss that isss responsssible for the flourishing of all the plantsss, treesss, and medicinesss in thisss foressst. Thusss, we believe no other clan is as essssential to the foressst as we are."

Lester felt the urge to argue. But as he stared into Zexel's gem-like eyes, he couldn't help agreeing with the Cobrazor. Of course...his thoughts were echoing in his head. You Cobrazors are very essential to the forest. Those Volcanines have no right to take more from your territory.

He noticed Mother Nature's voice echoing in his head. This time, she sounded content and whimsical, and the tone brought images of beautiful, slender snakes in his head. He could see them slithering after running Volcanines, striking them with their tongues one by one. The images became clearer as Mother Nature's whimsy voice continued to echo in his head. "Trust...trust...kill.......trust, trust, kill...."

  13. Risa

Risa was standing atop her branch, glaring at Lester as the black-pelted, white-faced Ferrethawk flew toward her home tree. "Lester, where were you during our Genopet League battle? You disappeared on me in the middle of the fight!"

Lester landed atop a skinnier branch that jutted from a branch one level higher than her. His eyes were drooping and he looked unusually tired. "What's it to you, mixed-blood?" He said with a yawn. He pushed his way through the hanging fronds of the tree and settled into a nest. "You probably did better without having me around to constantly attack you."

Risa narrowed her eyes. "You smell like wine. Were you in Cobrazor territory? Only those genopets are capable of producing grapevines, and only Cobrazorian humans manufacture and sell wine in this forest."

Lester looked over his shoulder and flattened his ears. "So what if I was? They might be more helpful than we think. Zexel's actually offered to sell Rodin drugs to our clan."

Risa raised her eyebrows. "So you were in Cobrazor territory."

"Hey, you should be thanking me. Thanks to me, the Ferrethawks in our clan may have the opportunity to become ten times as stronger, just as those Aquabunnies."

"Lester! Those Rodin drugs have horrible side-effects! We may have had the toughest battle against the Aquabunnies last night, but we still won, only because so many Aquabunnies were still sick and purging blood. It's one of the horrible side effects! You'd want to risk our clans' lives just for the sake of being a bit stronger?"

"We wouldn't just be a 'bit' stronger," Lester snarled. "And by Hox's antennae, I would gladly risk my life, if it would mean the defeat of the Volcanines."

"Oh so this is still about the Volcanines," Risa clenched her fists and felt her cheeks burn. "You're only interested in helping the Cobrazors because they want to take down their clan too. Honestly, Lester, why do you have to be so hateful? Just because one Volcanine did something horrible to you, that doesn't mean all Volcanines deserve to pay for it. There's no reason to hate an entire species just because one member is responsible for a tragic loss in your life."

Lester flapped his wings, sending a gust of wind in her direction. Risa stumbled back and grabbed a branch to keep herself from falling back. She watched as Lester crouched on all fours and bared his teeth. His dark fur was bristling over his long, thin body. "Do you think I want to be this hateful? Do you think I want to have my mind flooded with thoughts of revenge against an entire species? I didn't choose to hate Redbone, nor did I choose to hate all Volcanines because of his crime! Unfortunately, as a genopet, it's just our nature to feel a sense of rivalry against another species. And when someone from another species commits a terrible crime toward a genopet, such as murdering its parents, Mother Nature's voice becomes deadlier, more powerful in the head of that genopet." He added in lower squeaks, "The only reason why her voice isn't so strong when I was around the Cobrazors was the fact that they were also seeking revenge on the Volcanines as well."

"You're always blaming everything on Mother Nature," Risa snapped. "If she really is responsible for all your hateful thoughts and actions, you're not trying hard enough to fight back at her. We humans are also driven by natural impulses beyond our control—I cannot help but feel anger and betrayal whenever I'm around Thepimus ever since he slept with my mom. I can't help feel resentment toward his son Kyrion, even though I know he's one of the sweetest, most considerate guys in our clan. But guess what? I have learned how to shrug it off and not let such actions bother me. I forgive Thepimus, and although I may not show it, deep down I really do forgive Kyrion as well. You can learn to do the same for the Volcanines!"

Lester flicked his tail. His eyes were narrowed into slits, though Risa could tell he was looking a little hurt. "You think it's that easy for me to just forgive, huh? You think it's that easy to ignore Mother Nature's voice and control my feelings for the Volcanines. Well think again, mixed-blood. It's not that easy for me. You humans don't have to suffer from the many voices of Mother Nature. It's easier for you to fight against the immoral intentions of your innermost instincts. But for us, it's not that easy. And there's no way you humans can make it any easier for us. You humans may have found ways to modify our genes, upgrade us with man-made superpowers, and make us into whatever human-serving slaves you want us to be. But there are some things that Mother Nature has created within us, some things that your man-made technology will never be able to change."

Risa watched as Lester whirled around and disappeared into the deeper branches. She stood there for a moment, absorbing in everything he had just said to her. Then she turned around, noticing Kyrion staring at her from his home tree.

"Ah! Kyrion!" She flinched. He was barbecuing dinner on the grill atop his branch. He was holding a spatula above the grill and his blue eyes were fixed on her, wide with concern.

Risa rolled her eyes. "Great." She grabbed a vine and swung her way toward his branch.

Kyrion watched as she made her way up to him. "Hello, Risa," said the white-blonde young man, looking sorrowful. "I'm sorry to hear that you're having trouble with your Ferrethawk, Risa. I know it must be disturbing to have your pet fraternizing with the species that killed your parents."

"Don't rub it in," she snapped. "Since you already heard about what he's done with the Cobrazors, it would be helpful if you talk to your father before Lester speaks with him and Prime Windsor. Convince them not to buy a supply of Rodin drugs from the Cobrazors, and to especially refrain from aiding them in their goal to beat the Volcanines."

Kyrion gazed at her, silent. Then he turned and flipped one of the patties lying on his grill. "Of course Risa. I will do my best."

"Dang, do you really think Lester would do something like that?" Randy was standing beside Risa as they waited in the hallway in front of a brown wall. Seven flaps were at the bottom, each providing an entrance into the genopet litter rooms. Lester and Apollo were inside—in their own respective litter rooms—and Risa and Randy were waiting to begin their battle together.

Risa huffed and crossed her arms. "Well he deliberately told me that the Rodin drugs would be helpful to our clan, and that the side effects would be worth the risk if it would mean the strengthening of our powers against your clan."

Randy raised his eyebrows. "Man, that does sound suspicious. If he wants to help the Cobrazors take down our clan, I wonder what that means for you. The Cobrazors hate mixed-bloods, especially if they share blood with Volcanines."

Risa looked down. "I've been thinking about that too. And now I'm really questioning if I'll ever become the Healer I want to be in my clan. If my own genopet is against me, our future together will not fare well. If we can't work well together in battle, we're definitely not going to work well in the clinic. Not to mention we wouldn't even be eligible if we don't work well enough to win enough battles and qualify for the Elite Rank."

Randy gazed at her for a moment and then gave a small smile. "Hey...I'm not trying to pressure you or anything, but how would you like to be a Volcanian for a couple hours?"

Risa whirled her head to him. "What are you talking about?"

"I mean, you say you always feel at home whenever we're battling together. How about you come visit my clan after training today? My friends and I were gonna go flame-surfing on our volcanos."

"Flame-surfing?" Risa couldn't help but notice the twinge of exhilaration that surged through her veins.

"Yeah! You'll totally love it, I know you will! And I'll pay the fee to enter my territory—you don't have to spend a single coin."

"Randy, of course I'm gonna love it," she turned to see Armadrillo scurry out of one of the flaps at the bottom of the wall. "But Lester would hate me even more if he ever knew I was hanging out with Volcanines."

"Lester doesn't need to know," Randy grabbed both her hands and gazed into her eyes with a mischievous glint. "You can just come to my clan's territory with me, right after you take Lester home after our battle today. Just tell him you'll be out to visit Kyrion or something."

Risa blinked. She gazed into his eager green eyes. She looked over her shoulder to make sure their pets hadn't left their litter rooms yet. She saw no one leave the Ferrethawk or Volcanine flaps. Then she turned to Randy and smiled.

"Alright. Let's do it."

Risa waited for Randy at the borders of her territory, standing on the front branch of one of the four Toll Trees. Shoot, hopefully Lester wouldn't be asking those guards where I'm heading, she looked up to see the guards and their Ferrethawks inside the booths on the upper branches of the Toll Trees. The clan guards and their pets need to know everything about every human and genopet that enters and exits a clan territory, so hopefully he won't end up asking them where I've gone. She assumed he wouldn't. Lester probably wouldn't even care if he wouldn't see her for the entire day.

Randy and his friends arrived in a blazing red shuttle, stopping to hover in front of her branch. Risa could hear the sound of loud music booming from inside.

"Hey Risa!" Randy stuck his head out. "I hope you're ready! It's a sunny day, and our Volcanines are waiting at the Ruby Volcano. They're extremely energized and ready to create the best flames for flame-surfing!"

Risa felt her heart beating with exhilaration. She glanced at all the boys sitting around him in the car. They were all too busy poking at each other and cracking up to notice her. But she turned to Randy and smiled. "I'm totally ready!"

"Alright, then, hop in!"

Randy pressed a button and unlocked the doors for her. Risa opened the doors and stepped inside. As soon as she set foot in the shuttle, all the Volcanian boys turned to her, hollering and beating their fists in the air.

"Yeah, man! We've got our eighth player now!"

Risa blinked and turned to Randy. "Eighth player?"

Randy gave her a smirk. "Flame-surfing is a very competitive game that requires an even number of players. That's why I brought these guys along." He turned to gaze at the five boys and one girl behind his seat and raised his arms toward Risa. "Everyone, this here is Risa Larke, the daughter of Redbone's former human master!"

One of the six Volcanine students, a huge, muscular young man, gave her a wide smile. "You're the human master of the Ferrethawk that's always trespassing into our territory and blowing wind all over the place!"

Risa laughed nervously. "Yes, I am. I'm Lester's human master."

"Woo!" The boy beat his fists in the air. "You must be one tough girl to put up with an animal like that. I want her on my team!"

The other boys shouted with agreement.

Risa found herself smiling widely and laughing along.

Randy reached back and gave the boy a friendly nudge. "Put a rat in it, Emmet. Risa's gonna be on my team." He turned to Risa with a nod. "Anyway! Risa, lemme introduce you to some of my best pals. This here is Emmet," he nodded to the muscular boy that first pointed her out. "And this is Andrew, Ricky, Grover, and Jayden. Don't worry, I brought a girl along so that you won't be the only one. This here is Emberly!" He smirked at the redheaded girl in the back, who's blazing red hair was tied up into two wild ponytails on the upper sides of her head.

She gave Risa a grimace. "So this is Risa Larke! Randy's told me a lot about you."

Risa felt goose-bumps on her skin. This girl had a hard edge to her voice that sounded like she would make a very intimidating yeller. "Hah," Risa tried not to look shy. "Talking about me behind my back?" she turned to Randy. He was starting the shuttle. As soon as it powered on, he steered them through the air tubes.

"Hey, I've only told her good things about you and Lester, like how the two of you are really aiming to become Elite Combatants by the end of the year just like Apollo and I," said Randy. "Don't worry—I've only told the guys about the embarrassing moments we've had together."

"Oh, great Hox!" Risa threw her arms up. But the boys were laughing. As Randy drove the shuttle throught the tubes, Risa found herself easily laughing and joking the other Volcanian boys. Only Emberly remained quiet. The girl was on her netphone, frowning as she fiddled with the flat gadget with her red-tipped fingers. Risa noticed the redheaded girl wrinkling her nose every time Risa spoke.

Soon, the shuttle was no longer soaring through crowded branches and zigzagging bridges, but over a vast, barren land covered in streaks of lava, lava pools, and scattered bare trees. Risa gazed down across the fiery field of the territory. Unlike the territory of the Ferrethawks, the Volcanines' territory had no bridges linking gigantic trees. Instead, there were red paths that zigzagged all over the open, scorched field, and streams of lava bubbled beside the paths. Many redheaded, freckled humans, accompanied by a volcano-headed wolf, were walking across the paths or strolling across the bridges over the fire-pools. Some were entering and exiting buildings that were set at the small islands on the fire-pools or atop scorched ledges of cliffs. Some buildings were also settled in open areas where there were less paths crisscrossing, or atop ledges on the sides of various volcanos of different sizes.

"Wow, it's amazing here," breathed Risa, staring out of the shuttle. She was definitely in the territory of the number 1 clan in the Wildheart Forest League. She couldn't help but wonder how many portions of land the Volcanians had bought from other clans in order to have a territory as vast and huge as this.

"Yep, it sure is," said Randy. "As you can see, many of our buildings are located on land, or atop the ledges of our volcanoes. Some are within the volcanoes, inside caves."

"Most Volcanian humans live within caves of a volcano, right?"

Randy nodded. He pointed to a nearby volcano their shuttle tube was passing. "That's the volcano where my cave is situated. In each volcano, there are multiple caves of families." He gave an exasperated sigh. "As I had mentioned before, Dame Dixon happens to live in a cave within the same volcano of my cave."

He swerved the shuttle to the left and then smirked at the bulky-looking volcano ahead of them. "But this volcano over there is an exception. That's the Ruby Volcano, where Volcanians and their pet Volcanines flame-surf down the ledges and pathways of the volcano."

Risa felt a surge of excitement as they neared Ruby Volcano. There was a huge copper tower at the rim, where crowds of redheaded humans and their flame-pelted Volcanines were gathering. Risa watched as many humans lined up horizontally along the rim of the volcano, each holding a yellow board with their Volcanine accompanying their side. She watched as a burst of flames exploded from their volcano-heads. The humans leapt onto the flames with their boards under their bellies. The Volcanines raced down the narrow pathways down the volcano, carrying the humans on the flames that continued to escape their volcano heads.

"Great Hox," Risa's mouth was hanging open. "That looks...amazing! It looks just like Air-Surfing with Ferrethawks, except the humans race across flames rather than air currents."

Randy turned to her. "Ah, so you've done something like this before then?"

Risa's smile faltered. "No," she said rather bitterly. "Mixed-bloods can't partake in any public recreational activities in my clan."

"What? That's dumb!" Randy frowned.

Risa rolled her eyes. "Try telling that to Emperor Thepimus, who's afraid that mixed-bloods and their genopets might get into a fight and cause damage to the public facilities."

"Hmph. Well, here, all recreational activities are open for humans of any blood-type!" He gave her a gentle nudge with his elbow. "Not to mention, mixed-bloods get paid a little higher here. If you become a Volcanian Healer, you get paid 80% of the normal wage that purebloods are paid."

Risa's heart beat a little faster. "That sounds wonderful...but I'm not sure if it will be the same as being a Ferrethawkian healer. I've always loved flying and soaring through the skies with my mother when she was still alive," she gazed up at the red-scorched sky. "I've always been fascinated by the way we can save victims from all the new deadly diseases from Mother Natuure's new natural disasters produced by air and wind. I'm not sure if I'd feel the same way about rescuing and healing victims from fiery settings and fiery illnesses." She huffed and then turned to Randy with a sideways smile. "But I guess I'll just have to find that out."

Randy landed the shuttle in front of the copper building at the top of the Ruby Volcano.

"Come on!" Randy jumped out and walked with her toward entrance of the building. Embery and the five boys were racing over, gathering to the side of the building where a group of red, orange, and magenta juvenile Volcanines were awaiting them.

Risa paused.

"Oh, wait a minute..." she narrowed her eyes at the young Volcanines. "They're probably not going to like my part-Ferrethawkian scent."

"Hey, Risa!" Apollo jumped forward and gave a friendly bark. "No need to worry about your scent! I've told these guys about you, so they're gonna try their best to ignore that minor Ferrethawkian scent in your blood."

One of the magenta female Volcanines bounded up to her and gave her hand a sniff. Risa gasped and took a step back, but then she watched as the Volcanine pup started licking her hand with her warm tongue.

"Mmm! She tastes like moose blood. My favorite!" Barked the female pup.

Risa chuckled. "I was preparing the blood sauce for Lester's dinner before I left."

The young she-wolf wagged her tail. "Did you bring any with you?"

"No, sorry! I'll definitely bring some if I come back next time, though."

"Yay!" The young genopet jumped up, did a flip, and released a burst of flames from her volcano while doing so.

Randy laughed and stepped up to Risa's side. He was grimacing at the she-wolf. "That's Shixy. Emberly's pup and Apollo's rival."

"Oh?" Risa smiled at the magenta-furred pup. "What's her winning streak?"

"119 star-paw badges," yapped the wolf proudly. She cast a friendly smirk at Apollo, who was bristling. "Just two more than Apollo. Took a while before I could even catch up, but now Emberly and I are finally number one in our Beginning Rank!"

"Come off it, Shixy," Apollo growled, crouching on all fours and wagging his tail. "I'll regain my rank in no time!"

Randy snickered and turned to Risa. "Looks like this is going to be an interesting game!"

Risa gazed at the vast land from atop the volcano. "Of course it will. This place is amazing," Risa inhaled as a hot wind blew over her face. Just the perfect breeze.

"Bet it's a big change from Ferrethawk territory, huh?" Randy crossed his arms and stared across the fiery city. "How does it feel to be traveling around on the ground instead of bridges and branches?"

"Oh, very different," said Risa with a sideways smile. "But somehow...much more natural."

"Hey! When you two are finished oozing at the scenery, we're ready to start the game!" Emberly was waiting impatiently at the edge of the volcano with a flame-board in her left arm.

Randy instantly whirled around. "Alright! Let's start."

"Oh wait a minute!" Risa flinched. "I don't even have a Volcanine. How are you expecting me to play?"

"You can borrow Apollo!" Randy remarked.

"Apollo?" She turned to Apollo, who was looking up at her with his tongue hanging out and his tail wagging. Her heart warmed to see the creature looking at her so excitedly. No genopet had ever looked at her that way before. But then she turned to Randy. "But then what genopet are you going to use?"

"Redbone, of course!" He turned and nodded to the wolf bounding up to him from the building. Risa stiffened. She hadn't seen her father's pet since the day of his trial after killing Lester's parents. She watched as the great red wolf bounded up to Randy and licked his hands and face.

"Alright, Redbone, ya ready?"

Redbone gave a deep bark.

The eight players were lined up at the rim of the volcano. Four against four. Risa was teamed up with Randy, Andrew, and Grover, and they were against Emmet, Emberly, Ricky, and Jayden.

Risa stood at the edge of the volcano's rim, clutching her board as she gazed down at the narrow rocky ledges down the volcano. "Oh, Randy...I don't know if I can do this....it looks so complicated. I feel like I'm gonna crash into a jutting rock and crack my skull."

Randy cracked up. "You? Crashing into a rock? I think you can handle yourself around fire."

Risa looked around and saw the horizontal line of Randy's friends standing on either side of her. They were all aligned, each of them clutching their boards and looking down the rocky narrow ledges and pathways with determined expressions on their faces. Their Volcanines accompanied them, bristling with flames and looking ready to erupt.

Risa huffed and looked to the genopet at her side. "Apollo, please don't let me die, okay?"

"Hey, I'm not Lester. I'll make sure I don't hurt you while I'm using my powers."

The referee sounded from above. "Alright! Team Redbone versus Team Bruno," he turned from the group of four aligned on the left and the group aligned on the right. "The first team who has all their players reaching the bottom of the volcano and makes it back up is the winning team. The award is $60 for each player on the winning team. Is everyone ready?"

"Yes we are!" Shouted Randy.

The referee blew the whistle.

Instantly, flames burst from the Volcanines' heads, heading down the steep slope. Their human masters leapt onto the flames with their boards and surfed their way down. Risa watched as they all swooped down the ledges and narrow pathways. Their genopets ran alongside, releasing flames from their heads so that their humans could continue to maneuver their way down the slope.

"Risa!" Yapped Apollo, keeping his head lowered so that the flames from his head flowed down the narrow paths. "Our entire team just left. Why are you just standing there?"

"Sorry!" Risa shouted. She held her board in front of her and leapt onto the flames. "Whoa!" She screamed as she instantly fell down the slope, tumbling down the ledge with flames over her head. "Ahhh! Help! I'm not riding any flames here, I'm falling!"

When she finally crashed into a ledge and stopped tumbling, Apollo bounded up to her, panting. "Steady yourself, Risa! You can't expect me to keep you on the flames the whole time. You have to balance yourself too!"

He squeezed his eyes and the flames spurted out of his volcano again. Risa leapt on the flames with her board and steadied herself as she rode the flames down the ledges. Apollo raced forward with flames continuing to flow out of the volcano on his head. Risa held her board tightly and steadied herself on the flames, keeping her eyes fixed forward.

I can do this...this is just like riding an air current...

She screamed as there was a turn in the pathway. Apollo raced to the right, and his trail of flames swerved with him. But Risa was unprepared. She crashed into the curve against the cleft and fell off again.

"Great Hox!" Apollo whirled around, growling with annoyance. "Risa, you're supposed to turn! Just simply steer your board to the right. Haven't you learned how to ride air currents with Lester? This is almost the same thing, except you're riding flames this time, not air currents!"

"Well, I barely know how to veer myself in the air when Lester was doing it with me," snapped Risa as she stood up again.

Apollo huffed. "Well, I'm not Lester, so you don't have to be scared. I'm not going to purposely let you fall."

Risa huffed. "Thanks, that's great to hear," she gave a quick smile at the dog and then leapt onto Apollo's stream of flames again. She steadied herself on the board, making sure to keep a firm grip and her eyes fixed forward. Pretty soon, she caught up with the other members on her team.

"That's it, Risa! Now you're getting the hang of it!" Barked Apollo, racing through the ledges and keeping the flames trailing out of his volcano head.

Risa found herself smiling with excitement. She exchanged quick, excited glances with Bruno and Emmet as she passed them by.

"We're in the lead!" Yowled Bruno. "We got this!"

"Crap, their team's ahead of us," said Risa. "Come on, Apollo! Faster!"

The wolf growled and ran faster. Soon, Risa caught up to Randy, who was nearing the bottom. The redheaded boy was standing up on his board, surfing.

"Hey Risa!" He called. "Try this out! It's so much more fun to stand on your board while you're at this!"

Risa tried it out. She carefully stood up on her legs and outstretched her skinny, freckled arms. Her heart lifted and she felt as if she could take off and fly. "Great Hox, this feels amazing! Almost like riding air currents!"

As they rode down the volcano, Risa couldn't help casting admiring glances at Randy. His curly tuft of red hair was flopping in the flames. His green eyes were narrowed even more as he focused on the incoming turns and paths ahead of them. Risa felt her heart throbbing faster and faster, and pretty soon, she found herself staring dreamily at him.

"Risa, turn!" Barked Apollo.

Risa gasped and whirled her head to face forward, just in time to notice the curve ahead of them. She immediately steered her board to the right before she could crash into another ledge.

"Dang, I hate those turns," shouted Randy. "But hey look! We're almost there!"

They reached the bottom together. Randy jumped off his board and jumped with a yowl. "Woo! We're the first ones to make it down here!"

Redbone turned around to growl at the volcano. "Now to surf all the way back to the top."

Risa turned to Apollo who was looking up, panting. "We got this, Apollo," she said.

Risa rode the flames all the way back up the volcano, staying by Randy's side the whole time. Somehow, she was able to focus on the scenes before her and keep up with Randy as their genopets raced side by side. Pretty soon, they reached the top.

"First again!" Randy held out a hand to Risa. She high-fived him. "Awesome job, Risa! I knew you and Apollo would make a great pair for our team."

Redbone padded up to her, wagging his tail. "Yes, well done. I've never seen anyone keep up with Randy like that."

Risa blinked at the canine, feeling awkward. "O-oh, really?"

Randy laughed. "Yeah. When I play with the other guys, I'm always the one in the lead. Apollo's always fast enough to keep me at the front, but at the same time, my coordination skills keep me ahead of the game too," he added with a wink. "So congrats! You kept up with me for more than half the time—especially while surfing up the volcano."

The rest of the teams arrived. Emberly was among the first. Risa blinked and suddenly felt tense as the Volcanian girl shot her a narrowed look before she strutted up to Randy and gave him a playful prod on the chest with her two fingers.

"You only beat me up here because you were using your father's Volcanine," she spoke coolly.

"Hey, Risa kept up with us, which shows Apollo would still have been able to keep up with Shixy if I used him instead!"

Emberly turned to Risa, and her cool smile turned into a glare. "You tied with a mixed-blood? Hmph! She probably wouldn't have done so well if you had her pair up with a different Volcanine."

"Oh no, she had great coordination skills with her kickboard," said Randy, smirking at Risa. "You should've seen how well she balanced herself on Apollo's flames the whole time."

"Oh, I did see," Emberly rolled her eyes and turned away. "She and Apollo looked amazing next to you."

Risa felt a sharp twinge in her chest. But it instantly went away as Randy turned to speak to her. "Don't mind her. She's just a jealous, competitive hussy." He winked at her. "We're gonna head over to this place called the Volcano Diner for lunch now. Wanna come? It's literally above the rim of a volcano. And I bet you'll love the barbecued meat they cook up up."

Risa's heart lifted. Eating over the rim of a volcano? Of course she was in!

She accompanied Randy and the others at a round table that was situated on a platform sticking straight out of a pool of boiling hot water within the rim of a volcano. Behind them, their pets were gathered around a stump that was also situated on a platform sticking out of the lava in the volcano.

Risa gasped as she accidentally dropped the last piece of her bread into the lava below. "Oops," she muttered. Then she turned to Randy and shook her head, smiling. "This may be more dangerous than the fancy dinners I've had on the silver clouds, 20 miles up into the sky, but this has got to be the most amazing atmospheres I have ever experienced! This beats all restaurants back in Ferrethawkian territory, where they have you sitting on a table that's on a floating cloud."

"Really?" Emmet took a big sip of his red-spiced soda. "Those tall blondies sit on clouds for every moment they eat out?"

"Yeah, and it's always so foggy up there. The air is so moist, it almost makes your food taste soggier than it really is."

Emberly wrinkled her nose. "Hmm. What kinda food do Ferrethawkians typically eat?"

Risa sighed. "Boring stuff. Mostly things we find on the branches of our trees, such as grilled pine leaves, fried pinecones, or leafy omelets."

"So you guys don't eat any meat?" Randy raised his eyebrows.

Risa gave him a wry look. "We eat bugs and rodents like our Ferrethawks do."

Redbone snorted. "Well, it is a custom for the human masters to eat what their genopets eat. And Ferrethawks don't typically eat moose, elk, or bison like we Volcanines do."

Risa nodded. She turned to Randy. "That's why I've always craved real meat. Bugs and mice aren't enough for me—I'd love to taste a real, bloody piece of beef." She gazed down at the open menu before her. "The blood-covered moose legs sound really good."

Randy snickered. "Well now is your chance to try any meat you want! Volcanians eat meat all the time." He gave her a wink.

Andrew nodded. "And you get to watch the chefs cooking right over the volcano!"

He was right. After their waiter had taken their orders, Risa watched with awe as the chefs floated atop flat, rocky platforms over the surface of the lava pool below them, dipping huge pieces of meat into the boiling pool. And the meat tasted amazing. Risa had to force herself not to eat as sloppily as the Volcanian boys around her or the genopets behind her.

When they were finally leaving the building, Randy turned and put his arms on her shoulders. "I forgot to tell you! There's a party tonight, celebrating Redbone's birthday. It will be held in the Firestorm Playground! Risa, you've got to come!"

Risa blinked. She hadn't realized how exhausted she was starting to feel. And the thought of celebrating something for her pet's enemy made her feel queasy. "Oh, I don't know...I did tell Lester I would be home before dinner."

"Come on, it's your father's pet's birthday. You have to come celebrate it with us!"

Redbone was wagging his tail. "Not to mention, the Firestorm Playground is an amazing place for both Volcanines and Volcanian humans. If you have a true, wild spirit, you'd definitely love it there."

Risa felt her heart start to pound faster and faster. Thanks to the Ferrethawkian Clan's prohibitions against mixed-bloods' or foreign-bloods' participation in public recreational events, Risa had been deprived of excitable moments in her life. And now, she was finally given the opportunity to experience such highly-stimulating adventures in her life. "Hmm, that does sound fun...although I am getting a little tired."

"Risa, you'll never be able to do something like this in Ferrethawkian territory," Randy winked at her.

Risa gazed in his eyes. Now her heart had a different reason to beat faster. Randy's adventurous green eyes were looking more and more dreamy. "Alright, why not?" She finally said. "I'll tell Lester I'm staying out to train alone!"

Later that evening, Risa, Randy, and Emberly made their way across the zigzagging red paths and over the many lava rivers to the Firestorm Playground. Apollo and Shixy trotted along by their side, communicating in hoxtongue.

"Apollo, you may have beaten me in Flame-Surfing today," Spoke Shixy in a series of snarls and grunts. Her face was scrunched up in her typical smirk. "You're not gonna feel so victorious once I beat you through all the fire-hoops at the Firestorm Playground."

"Oh yeah?" Apollo flicked his flaming tail in the air. "We'll see about that."

A burst of fire erupted behind a tall, red building in the distance. Risa jumped back.

"Whoa!" She widened his eyes. "Don't tell me there are volcanoes at the playground too!"

Emberly turned to frown at her. "There are only, like, seven of them."

As they stepped around the buildings, Risa could feel the heat of the playground wafting over her skin. She stared across a lava-scorched field and gaped at the sight before them. The playground resembled a jungle gym, although it was composed of sizzling rocks. A spiraling sizzling slide reached about ten feet high, and numerous Volcanian humans were sliding down while their pets were leaping through various fire-hoops. There was a pile of molten rocks, where Volcanines were leaping off the top, tumbling into fireballs in the air that landed in a pool of boiling hot lava. At the back, small, four-foot-tall volcanoes were erupting, sending out Volcanines of many sizes. Metallic bars linked a circle of six volcanoes together, and Volcanines were swinging across from volcano to volcano, leaping into the peaks. Risa could tell that it only took a total of four canines and humans to leap into the volcano before it shot them all out.

"Great Hox," Risa breathed. "I wish I were a Volcanian now!"

Emberly threw her head back and guffawed. "Really, mixed-blood? I'm sure your clan would love to hear that!"

Risa flinched and turned to gaze at the cackling Emberly with wide eyes. But before she could take back what she had just said, Shixy let out a yelp. "Race ya to the fire-pool, Apollo!"

The two juvenile Volcanines took off, both in fiery blurs as they raced down the hill and into the playground.

Randy laughed and turned to Risa. "While they're playing out here with Redbone ,we humans can celebrate the party inside the center building of the playground," he nodded at the orange-glazed, pyramidal building engulfed in flames. "Volcanian human masters always love to throw parties with their pets inside the building, especially once it hits sunset."

Risa looked at her netphone. 7pm. She gazed across the noisy playground where music was blasting from an orange-glazed, pyramidal building engulfed in flames. The flames were rapidly changing colors.

"Okay, wait a minute" she narrowed her eyes. "I promised my parents not to drink until I was 18."

"Oh, we're not gonna be drinking anything, silly!" Emberly gave her a sharp poke on the shoulder. "We're just gonna have some fun! You do love to have fun, don't you, mixed-blood? That portion of Volcanian blood in you ought to account for some extraversion in you."

Risa blushed. "I'm definitely up for some fun, but..."

Randy laughed. "Come on! You're Risa Larke, the daughter of the awesome Sir Myko Larke! Has the Ferrethawkian clan softened you so much that you're not even willing to attend the first party of your life?"

Risa gave him a playful smile. "Well, I am also part Ferrethawkian, in case you've forgotten. And we typically don't go out to parties for fun."

Emberly gave a smirk. "If you really don't feel comfortable sticking around any longer, you're always welcome to leave. I'm sure you would much rather float atop a slow-moving cloud in an empty sky rather than get wild with us."

Risa frowned at Emberly. She watched as she linked arms with Randy and pulled him along with her. "Come on, Randy! The party can't start without us."

Randy looked over his shoulder and smiled. "Risa, don't feel pressured! I don't wanna make you do anything you don't wanna do, so if you need to leave, I'll see ya tomorrow for a battle or something!"

Risa watched with a longing ache in her heart as Randy and Emberly made their way through the noisy Firestorm Playground and into a building throbbing with music. Before they shut the door behind them, she clenched her fists and ran after them.

"Wait!" She yelled. "I'm coming!"

She pushed her way through the wild crowd in the playground and entered the noisy building. She paused as she felt a sudden wave of extreme heat over her body. She gazed around. The room was flooded with orange-suited teens racing after each other, yowling, howling, and laughing as the music played louder and louder.

She couldn't help feeling exhilarated at all the action. Never before had she seen such wild humans back at her own clan.

"Risa!" She turned at the sound of Randy's yowl over the loud music. He was waving at her in the midst of a jumping crowd. "Come join us!"

Risa smiled and pushed her way through the crowd. Pretty soon, she, Emberly, and Randy were the loudest in the room, shouting and yowling every time a fireball erupted from a Volcanine's head and crashed into a wall to burst into multicolored sparks. As time went on, Risa's face became soaked with sweat, though she continued to shout at the top of her lungs and dance rapidly with Emberly and Randy.

"Come on!" Emberly squealed, turning to shove pass all the jumping boys that surrounded them. "Let's ride the mechanical fire-bull together! All three of us!"

Risa and Randy snaked their way through the wild crowd and stopped in front of a reddish-brown mechanical bull at the center of the room. Emberly was already standing beside it, grinning mischievously at Randy. "Get up there, Randy!" She screamed, grabbing the front of his shirt and pulling him to the front of the bull. "You're in charge of the reins!"

"Hah! Don't yell at me if I get either of you in an accident!" Randy climbed on the bull.

Then Risa climbed up and sat behind him. As soon as Emberly climbed up and took her seat behind her, Risa wrapped her arms around Randy's waist and pressed her cheek against his back. A surge of giddiness and glee overwhelmed her as she tightened her grip on his solid stomach.

Mmm...sooo firm, for a moment, Risa was lost in a daze. But she was instantly snapped out of her dreamy thoughts as Randy yanked the reins and powered on themechanical bull. The bull started to jerk this way and that in an attempt to buck them off.

"Woo!" Emberly was screaming behind her. Randy beat his fist in the air, shouting.

The bull bellowed, shaking the walls of the room and releasing a huge burst of flames from his nostrils. Then it raced through the room, head-butting all the wild Volcanian human masters in its way and kicking around at all the chairs and tables surrounding it.

"Wooo!" Screamed Emmet, leaping out of its way. "Watch out, ya'll!"

"Haha!" Randy yowled. "Outta our way! Fire masters comin' through!"

Risa couldn't stop laughing. "Randy! You should make this thing run into the Firestorm Playground and chase Redbone!"

"Great idea! Let's do it!" Randy pulled the reins back and stirred the bull toward the exiting doors.

"Hey, wait a minute!" Yowled Emberly. "Risa, did you invite a Ferrethawk to the party?"

"Huh?" Risa winced. "What are you talking about—wahh!" Her heart skipped a beat as they neared the doors. There, hovering behind the window, was a black, white-faced Ferrethawk.

"Lester!" Risa's loosened her grip on Randy and instantly fell off the bull.

"Risa!" Randy leapt off and landed, crouching beside her.

"Hey! What gives?" Emberly yowled. "Randy, don't leave me here—ahhhh!"

The bull raced into the with Emberly clinging on its back.

Randy helped Risa get up. "You alright?"

"Crap," Risa was panting. "Lester was here. He saw me. He saw all of us."

"Lester? Wow, don't tell me he's snuck past our Toll Booth again!"

Risa was slowly shaking her head. "He's gonna be so furious. I'm really sorry, Randy, but I've got to get home."

Randy blinked. He gazed into her horrified eyes and sighed. "Aw, bummer. Well, alright. I'll give you a ride back."

Risa and Randy barely spoke to each other as they flew back to Ferrethawkian territory. Apollo rode in the back, growling quietly. When Randy landed the shuttle on the front branch of one of the Toll Trees, Risa opened her door and hopped out of the shuttle. She turned to Randy with an exhausted look. "You know, I really did have a good time. With both of you." She smiled at Apollo in the back seat.

"Hey, your scent didn't bother me as much as I thought it would," said Apollo. "I think there's more Volcanian blood in you than Ferrethawkian."

Risa's heart lifted. "Thanks. It's nice to hear that from a genopet." She looked up at Randy. "I...I hope we can do something like this again. Although it's probably going to be much more difficult after this."

Randy nodded. "We'll find a way to see each other again."

Risa's cheeks burned. She felt like she was in one of those forbidden love movies. "Ugh, what am I going to say to Lester? My entire clan is going to be furious with me too..."

"Hey, if Lester tries to attack you, just give me a call and Apollo and I will save you," Randy said.

Risa gave him a sideways smile. She wished she could have spent more time with him. If only she stayed a little longer, she might have found some alone time with Randy.

But she had to return to her home tree. She had to find a way to explain everything to Lester. She arrived at her home tree and found her sable Ferrethawk standing in front of her house. His black, feathery wings were folded back, and he was standing on his hind legs with his fangs revealed.

"Lester?" She stopped a few yards in front of him, and then slowly stepped forward. "Listen, I can explain what happened today—"

"Don't bother, mixed-blood," Lester interrupted. His squeaks were surprisingly slow and casual. "I knew you were no good for me or for this clan before we were paired."

Risa paused. Lester didn't seem as angry as she thought he would be. His fur wasn't even bristling. She watched as the Ferrethawk spread his wings and flew toward the branch above her.

"Don't bother explaining anything to me," he snarled. "I'm not in the mood to hear any pathetic excuses from a mixed-blood."

Risa watched as he disappeared up in the branches. Then she took slow steps toward her house. That was strange. He didn't seem any angrier than he would be on a normal day.

She opened her door and turned on the lights. And she nearly fell back with shock. "Great Hox!" She found the photos of her parents burning in the fireplace. Before she could do anything, she felt a sharp whack on the back of her neck. She fell forward, her vision spinning.

Lester was hovering behind her, letting out sharp, rapid screeches. "How dare you! You didn't even have the guts to tell me you were going to venture into that Hox-forsaken territory and mess around with that boy. You didn't even consider how I would feel to know you were sneaking away to celebrate Redbone's birthday!"

"Lester!" Risa lifted her head and turned to look over her shoulder to gaze into her pet's eyes. They were wide, watery, and full of hurt. "Randy and I are just good friends. Just friends! I was only visiting just to spend a little bit of time with—"

Lester smacked Risa's face with his wing. "You don't even care! You don't give a skunk's butt about me or my dead parents! You think that just because that show-off Randy is so nice to you, you can just waltz right into enemy territory and dance around with him and the murderer of my parents."

"That's not true. I didn't come to the party for Redbone, I came to spend some time with Randy!"

"Oh, badger-droppings!" Lester swished his tail. "You seemed to be having much more fun playing with Apollo's flames than in my air currents." He gave another angry flap with his wings. "That's right! I saw you guys Flame-Surfing! You think I'm just a witless little beast? I know you were lying when you told me you'd be shopping for dinner all afternoon!"

"Lester, I just didn't want you to get upset," Risa protested. "Look, I really do care about you. I really want us to get along better. That's why I was hesitant about following Randy to his territory. I only wanted to go to hang out with him, not to disrespect you or say hi to Redbone!"

Lester flicked his tail and whirled around. "Whatever. Clearly the other Ferrethawks are right. I'm raised by the most unworthy clan member in this clan. I'm just gonna have to rely on myself if I want to get strong enough to avenge my parents." He took off.

"Lester, wait!" Risa shot up to her feet and held out a hand toward her pet. But the Ferrethawk disappeared up in the branches of the home tree. She dropped her hand by her side and hung her head. What have I done? I've just made things completely worse between me and my pet!

  14. Lester

Lester crashed through the branches of his territory's trees. His head was throbbing with anger. Some human master I have! For once, he was hearing his own angry thoughts without the aid of Mother Nature to feed his anger. She doesn't even care about how her own pet must feel about losing his parents. She thinks that just because I'm a mere beast, I could care less about having parents to take care of me. Well she's wrong. Any human who thinks that way is just a plain skunk-brain. We animals have feelings too. And we care about our parents and families just as much as they do.

That reminded him of something. Milo needed more Lux Potion tonight. He soared through the sky and high-trees until the trees became a little scarcer. Soon, he was flying through a territory of giant plants where towering flowers grew, where great buildings were situated upon giant leaves and within great petals. Tall, darkly dressed humans with varying shades of violet hair were seen walking along the giant plants, each accompanied by a spear-tailed Cobrazor.

Lester turned to face forward and spotted Zexel, Nokio, and Vitalia on the leaf of the flower of the Emperor's Lab. The three of them were speaking to one another in low voices.

But they immediately silenced as Lester approached them. Zexel's eyes lit up as Lester landed next to him. "Why, hello there, little Lesssster," he hissed. "What bringssss you all the way here at thisss time of the night?"

Lester hung his head, forcing himself to maintain an aggressive frown. He didn't meet the snake's cunning gaze. "There was no need for me to stick around my home tree," he replied testily. "My own human master doesn't care about me."

Zexel let out a soft hiss. "What'sss the problem now?"

Lester gave a small snort. "Don't ask. I didn't come here to talk about it. I came to pick up some Lux Potions for Milo." He fixed his eyes on the great king cobra. "I'm ready to ingest the Rodin drugs now, so you can hand me the potion tonight after I intake the dosage."

Zexel slithered closer and lowered his head so that he was facing the little Ferrethawk. "Lessster, dear. You can tell me anything. I promissse. I won't reveal anything to anybody."

Lester looked up into the snake's eyes. So shiny. So pretty. Then he looked over his shoulder. Vitalia was staring at him with the same, crystal-like eyes. Even Nokio's eyes seemed to look dazzling and mysterious in the dark. Lester suddenly felt a strange surge of calm. Surely such pretty-eyed creatures wouldn't deceive him...

"Risa spent the whole day with Randy Turner, a Volcanian student," remarked Lester. "She went flame-surfing, ate Volcanian food with him, and then topped it off with a Volcanine night party...with Redbone, the murderer of my parents."

Zexel let out a hiss. "Oh dear," he narrowed his eyes. "That sssoundsss awfully disssloyal of her."

Lester felt his body heating up with anger. "The worst part is that she didn't even bother to tell me. Instead, she lied directly to my face and said she'd be shopping in the lower branches for some dinner ingredients." Lester shook his head, seething. "As if she thought I was some hair-brained idiot. As if she didn't even give a rat's tail that she was fooling around with the murderer of my parents!"

Zexel gave a low, rattling noise. "Mm...I'm sssso ssssorry to hear that, Lessster. Well, remember: the Cleansing will start soon. In a few months, our clan will be battling the Volcanines a second time this year—for all clans battle each other twice a year." His eyes flashed. "The next time we face the Volcanines, we will make sure every last Volcanine and Volcanian human master is killed."

Vitalia giggled and slipped out her tongue. "Once we sink our venom in their fiery flesh, the power of Rodin will accelerate the effect and kill them in less than an hour."

Lester stood up on his hind legs, suddenly feeling determined. "Wait a minute. The Volcanine Clan is going to have a Genopet League battle tomorrow."

"Yesss," said Zexel. "They are againssst the Iciclawssss."

Lester flashed a glance at Nokio, who was fixing his stolid, piercing blue eyes on Zexel. Wonder how he must feel about having those brutes fight the clan where his mother thrives.

Zexel slipped out a tongue and continued to let out a series of hisses. "Those Iciclaws also carry a grudge against the Volcanines. Their clan is responsible for regulating all the snow, ice, and low temperatures throughout the year. They bring about the cold while the Volcanines bring about heat. And at the moment, their city is in great economic peril—their ice-sculpted buildings and public facilities are melting more and more each day, thanks to the increasing activity in Volcanine territory. Our clan's territory is not the only one that suffers from the growing power of those fire-mongrels."

Lester stared deep into his eyes. "So I take it the Iciclaws would love to purchase a supply of Rodin drugs and help you guys wipe out those Volcanines?"

"Exactly," Zexel slithered around Lester, his eyes gleaming brighter and brighter.

Lester tilted his head. "Aren't you going to give me the Rodin drugs too? I'm sure once I take those drugs, I'll be able to easily wipe off everyone in our one-on-one battles, including Risa. I'd be the last one standing on the field, which will still suffice for our victory."

Zexel stopped slithering. He narrowed his eyes and let out an untranslatable hiss.

Vitalia stuck out her tongue. "You sure you're ready to take the drug? The side effectssss are horrible if you're not a Cobrazor." Her head swayed from side to side. "And we have not learned how to produce any plants to ease the side effects, especially those that are caused by the Pink-Dust ingredient."

Lester blinked. "You mean organ-purging?"

"That's right," said Zexel. He leaned closer so that Lester's face was a few inches from his. "But that's not what I'm concerned about. Once we give you the drug, do you swear to Hox that you would keep your promised and help us take down the Volcanines for good?"

Lester gazed into his eyes. He heard Mother Nature's voice echoing in his head. "Trust...trust...kill...kill..." Her voice was soothing, though with a coaxing tone. Lester suddenly felt drawn to the snake. Soon, his hatred for Risa and the Volcanines subsided. He didn't even think about Milo. All he wanted to do was obey whatever this beautiful snake was telling him.

"I swear I will take down every last Volcanine with you, and will convince the rest of my clan to fight by my side and do the same," Lester let out a series of squeaks without taking his eyes off Zexel.

Zexel gazed at the Ferrethawk for another moment, letting his gem-like eyes continue to shine and sparkle. Then he stuck out his tongue and hissed, "Very. Well. Come with me."

Lester woke up the next morning in one of the nests of his home tree. His head was spinning.

Great Hox...is this one of the side effects of Rodin? He could barely stand up. A wave of exhaustion and fatigue had swept through his body, and he had never felt so lethargic. Hmph...and this drug is supposed to multiply the effectiveness of my powers by ten times?

His mind was spinning. Every time he closed his eyes, he would see multiple shades of purple. Purple, shining flashes. As purple and shiny as Zexel's gem-like eyes.

Oh, Zexel...Lester gave a long, soft sigh as he visualized the snake in the midst of all the purple. His eyes were so shiny, so exotic. And his body...so slender, so long, so elegant. Soon, a myriad of other Cobrazors materialized in his vision. Each of them bore various colors, though they all had the same, slender bodies, the same dazzling gem-like eyes. As he indulged in his visions, Lester could hear the soothing, cunning voice of Mother Nature ringing in his head.

"Trust...trust...seek...seek..."

Yes...Mother Nature was right. Lester had to seek Zexel and those beautiful Cobrazors again. What could they be up to right now? He remembered talking about a Genopet League with Zexel last night... Oh...perhaps the Cobrazors have their battle today. Wonderful. He would get to see the sexy, long-bodied snakes fighting.

Lester's head lolled around as he rose to his hind legs. His wings spread, and he took off. Soon, he found himself soaring over the Genopet League Arena, where he heard the sound of earsplitting yowls, screams, and barks. The sound of the rambunctious barking and the smell of smoke slowly cleared Lester's head, and pretty soon, he had paused in midair, shaking his head.

"Ugh, Great Hox, what happened?" He screeched as he barely dodged a burst of fire behind him. He whirled aroud and gazed down below, where he saw Volcanines racing through the Arena, releasing flames and fireballs from their heads at a myriad of purple panthers. The Iciclaws. Many of them were pouncing on the Volcanines, tumbling head over heels. Some slashed their long, white claws against the canines, freezing them into statue-like ice sculptors. But the Volcanines would melt within seconds, escaping their statue-like state and sending more bursts of fire toward the pouncing felines. "Great Hox! How did I get all the way over here?!" Lester's heart raced with horror. He zoomed toward the side of the Arena to land on the roof of the northeastern tower.

Then a dark figure suddenly caught his eye. Lester looked down to see a dark human form racing away from the Arena and into the dense forest ahead.

"What in Hox's name...?" Lester outstretched his wings and glided after the creature.

"Quick!" He heard the human calling from the forest. "Let's get outta here while we can!"

Lester followed the voice into a shadowed alleyway. Two human figures were making their way down a narrow path with their backs pressed against an abandoned building. From their slender forms, he could tell they were both wearing the tight suits. But then he winced. The figures appeared to be walking on two legs and their bodies appeared to be in human forms, but atop of their heads were a pair of purple cat-like ears. The figure to the left had a long, slender purple tail while the figure to the right had a bushier, fox-like purple tail.

Half-bloods. Lester narrowed his eyes. He had heard rumors of people who had attempted to acquire the genes of animals in order to be compatible with Hox's blood. Unfortunately, it wasn't so easy to turn a human into a complete animal, which was why the result was a beast that was half-human, half-genopet, and bearing only a limited amount of powers of a genopet.

The two figures suddenly stopped and turned to face each other. The figure to the left flicked his long slender tail, and spoke in a masculine voice, "Listen, it was foolish for us to spend this much time trying to work our tails off in this fight. We should have known there was no way we could stand a chance against the Volcanines. I've already contacted Nokio to come bring us Rodin drugs."

"Well, I still need to find my genopet. My precious Felinious has run away as well!" Said the fox-tailed figure in a female voice.

"Forget Felinious!" Snapped the other figure. "We're half-bloods—we can take care of our own battles!"

The fox-tailed figure smacked the slender-tailed figure. "If you don't help me find Felinious, I'll make sure a Volcanine burns your tail off."

"What's going on?" Spoke a familiar, quiet voice.

Lester turned to see a tall, thin figure approaching the two other figures. As he stepped into the dim light, he recognized Nokio.

Suddenly, a blast of ice shards exploded behind them, sending Nokio and the half-bloods flying into a pile of garbage cans. Lester squeaked angrily and Nokio cursed under his breath. He shot up to his feet and yanked off a damp, dirty blanket from his head. A body suddenly collided with him, pressing his back against the wall. The female half-blood was staring at him straight in the eye. Her purple ears twitched on the corners of her head, which was also covered with short, boyish hair that matched the white color of her ears. Her white, bushy tail slashed through the air behind her as she yelled at the top of her lungs.

"YOU! WHERE IS SHE?! WHAT HAVE YOU DONE WITH MY FELINIOUS?!"

Nokio stared back at her without blinking and didn't say a word.

Suddenly, the woman took her hands off of Nokio's shoulder and stared at him with wide-eyed surprise. "Oh my!" She stared at him for a long moment. Her head slowly tilted to the side and her eyes became clouded with awe as she stared back into his furious, unblinking gaze. "You're Nokio Okimoto! Oh, dear...I'm so sorry...I thought you were just a regular Cobrazorian human," her voice suddenly sounded smooth.

Lester winced. He shifted his gaze to Nokio, who said nothing. His dark, piercing gaze remained. .

The cat-eared lady began brushing off bits of ice and off his shoulders. "Pardon me, Mr. Okimoto. I'm usually not that rude to Combatants with strong genopets," she spoke rather dreamily as she dusted Nokio's long, black coat with her clawed fingers. Lester winced as she grinned and looked at him with mischief in her eyes. "Love the coat, by the way. I've always loved the coats that the snakes make in your territory...I wish I shared blood with a Cobrazor, that way I could make all the sweet-smelling perfume and the leather coats I want!"

"Loalla!"

The lady gasped and whipped around at the sound of the male's voice. Lester watched as Nokio's eyes shifted off the lady to watch the slender-tailed figure come running their way. He fixed an irritated frown on the lady and grabbed her forearm with his clawed hand. By his side, a magnificent, white-clawed feline stood with its violet fur bristling.

"Come on, Loalla," Drake spoke through clenched teeth. "I found your damn Felinious, so now we can all take the Rodin drug and return to our clan's battle."

Nokio shifted his gaze to Drake. "Come with me and we'll see what Zexel has to say," he said curtly.

Loalla flinched out of her dreamy state. "What? We have to speak to him? "

Vitalia suddenly slithered from behind the trash cans and coiled herself beside Nokio. "He's the one who created the drug, so he and his master own the rights to it. They both have to trust you and the rest of your clan before they just sell it to you."

Nokio nodded. "Come with me if your clan is still interested in helping us with the Cleansing. We'll see what Zexel and his human master have to say."

Drake and Loalla exchanged wide-eyed glances.

"Loallaaa!" Drake's voice was whiny. "I don't think we should wipe out an entire clan. What if Hox banishes us from the League for committing such a terrible crime?"

Nokio looked over his shoulder. "With the power of Rodin, not even Hox would be able to stop us."

Loalla giggled and walked up to the young man. She grabbed hishand. "Great! Let's go see that snake," she began walking with him down the alleyway and began rambling about the Iciclaw's recent activities, how they are hoping to someday triumph over the Volcanines with ice rather than fire.

Drake watched them go with a look of disgust on his face. He exchanged irritated glances with Felinious, and then the two of them reluctantly followed behind.

Then Vitalia hissed and turned in Lester's direction. "Care to come with usss, Lessster? I know you're hiding there."

Lester flinched. He gazed into her gem-like eyes, and suddenly felt woozy again. "Sure...why not?" He flew forward and followed Vitalia through the alley. He boarded a Shuttle with Nokio and the half-bloods, and they left the island.

Soon, they had landed atop a barren surface of a snowy cliff. Lester flew out of the Shuttle and turned to see a tall, ice-sculpted castle in the distance. That must be Empress Belladonna's Lab. Two tall figures, whom Lester recognized as Emperor Hozami and Empress Belladonna, were awaiting them at the front. Zexel and Isis were both coiled beside their masters.

Lester didn't take his eyes off the castle ahead of her as he flew after Nokio, Vitalia and the half-bloods. As they drew nearer to the great ice-covered boulder-building, he realized how much colder it had gotten. Pretty soon, the wide open land around her was covered with snow. The air was chilly, and snowflakes were slowly descending from the gray sky.

Lester shivered. Isis's claws must be exceptionally powerful, he was surprised by how much the temperature had dropped within such a short distance.

Finally, they had reached the towering castle. Lester gazed at the pair of tall, silver doors at the bottom, just to the left of where Emperor Hozami, Empress Belladonna, and their pets were awaiting. The doors opened, and Dame Zierra and Panthero stepped out to join the two leaders.

"Our battle just finished," remarked Lady B icily. "Of course, the Volcanines won. Many of our Combatants are in our hospitals now, although thanks to the downturn in our economy, we are on a shortage of treatments."

Lester hovered beside the edge of the cliff and gazed at the territory below them. The land was barren and covered with snow with only a few bare trees and ice-sculpted buildings here and there. But the buildings looked frail and ready to crumble. Some were melting, surrounded by a large pool of water. The white-haired humans that walked along the icy roads looked frail and blue-faced. Many were followed by scrawny feline genopets.

"Please! Give us the drug already!" Drake was protesting. "Our clan is dying, and our city is nearly in ruins. We are tormented by raining fireballs, thanks to the growing power of the Volcanines!"

Zexel hissed. He turned to Dame Zierra and revealed his fangs.

"You can trust me, Zexel," said Dame Zierra. "I want your clan to replace those Volcanines. I'm a pureblood Cobrazorian, and my first genopet was a Cobrazor snake—your own mate, Nagaine."

"Yesss...." Zexel eyed her carefully. "It'sss true that you did raise her well...she was one of the strongest sssnakesss in the clan." His eyes flashed. "Before she was killed by Roxanne."

Emperor Hozami gave a wicked smile. "You Iciclawese must promise to murder every mixed-blood in your clan that shares blood with the Volcanines."

Empress Belladonna nodded. "That shouldn't be too hard. We only have about seven or so."

Lester narrowed his eyes. He turned to Zexel. "Does the same rule apply to my clan if Emperor Thepimus accepts the selling of Rodin drugs among our combatants?"

The snake turned to him and stuck his tongue. "Of courssse. That shouldn't bother you, should it?"

Lester blinked. He didn't know how to answer that.

Zexel slithered around Lester's body. "Think about Risa's behavior. How she lied and deceived you so that she can fool around with that silly Volcanian boy. And your parents' murderer."

Lester's fur was bristling with anger. Mother Nature's voice was throbbing in his head, this time in the dreadful, monstrous tone. Fire, fire, kill!

Lester let out a screech. "You're right," he snarled to Zexel. "Risa doesn't deserve to thrive in our clan. No human who shares blood with the Volcanians deserves to take another genopet's life, or destroy this forest."

Zexel nodded. He turned to the others. "The Volcanines are destroying our plants and trees, and the diseases that come from their various types of fires, as well as the natural disasters they bring about, are leaving other clan territories in devastation. They are disrupting balance in this foressst, and thussss deserve to go. It's for the good of our clansss, for the good of Wildheart Foresssst."

  15. Risa

Risa raced across the snowy, wide-open battle ground, waving her whip in the air to break the ice shards that were thrown at her. The Iciclawese human master—a girl with long, flowing white hair—was chasing her, throwing multiple ice swords and ice shards in her direction, while she kept an ice spear in her other hand. Meanwhile, Lester was tussling across the snow with her Iciclaw. We may not be working together in this battle, but that's probably the best way to win together.

Suddenly, she stopped in her tracks. She looked behind her and realized the girl was no longer chasing her. She spun around, and saw that there was no sign of Lester or her purple panther.

That's strange, she narrowed her eyes. Where did everyone go?

A low grumble echoed through the air. To her left was a huge cliff that extended far into the gray-white sky, disappearing into the flurry of gusting snow. Shards of ice were slipping off from the cliff, turning into mist as they fell to the snowy ground. Risa looked carefully and noticed a purple, four-legged figure materializing in the mist. Soon, she was staring straight at her opponent's Iciclaw. After a moment of silence, the purple panther suddenly vanished into thin air. Before Risa could wonder what had happened to the feline, she felt something slash her on the back. She screamed and fell on her chin. The purple, white-clawed feline was suddenly behind her. It stood still as a statue in the blizzard, fixing its piercing yellow eyes on her as her body slowly turned to ice. She cried out with horror as every part of her body began to freeze. Risa finally fell to the snowy ground, stiff.

"I'll finish her off!" Shouted a female voice. The white-haired girl leapt down from a ledge on the cliff, and raced toward Risa with her spear pointed straight toward her.

"Lester!" Risa cried. "Help!"  
Her Ferrethawk appeared from behind an icy boulder. He glared at her for a moment, and then released a cloud of black smoke.

Risa gasped. "Lester, that's Black Mist. That's gonna hurt us all!"

The Black Mist was expanding faster than she had ever seen it before. It shrouded the Iciclawese girl, making her stop in her tracks and fell flat on her face, unmoving. The Iciclaw in front of Risa let out an earsplitting "Mrrrrowww!" And fell to its side, unconscious.

Risa gasped with surprise. And in doing so, she inhaled a small portion of the mist. Instantly, her vision began to spin. Then everything went black.

Risa woke up in the infirmary. Lester was hovering beside her, snarling.

"Get up, lazybones! We've got a lot more battles to win before we make it to the Elite Rank, and unfortunately, neither of us can battle alone."

Risa sat up and frowned at her pet. "Well, things would be a lot easier if you stopped blowing smoke in my face and let me defeat the opponents with you."

"Are you kidding?" Lester flicked his tail. "Thanks to the superior strength of my Black Mist, we've defeated an Armadrillish and an Iciclawese today. It's definitely worth defeating you in the process if it's gonna help us win more battles!"

Risa narrowed her eyes. She wasn't in the mood to argue. "Let's just get on with our training," she slipped off her bed. "We've beaten 140 battles up to now. We still have a long way to go."

Their next opponent was Randy. Risa had taken the risk to schedule a battle with him again, only because Lester had insisted. She assumed after seeing her visit to the Volcanine territory, the young Ferrethawk was ready to take his anger out on Apollo.

She could never be more correct.

During the first few minutes of their battle, the young Ferrethawk was zooming across the fiery field exhaling numerous gusts of wind and clouds of gas. Risa flew in all directions.

"Whoa!" She screamed, spinning in the air. She twisted herself in the opposite direction, attempting to maneuver herself and wave her feathery whip. "Lester, stop!" Risa cried. "I'm only trying to attack Randy, not every student on this field! We're only doing one-on-one battles!"

Lester stopped blowing his wind current and let Risa plummet to the ground in a thorny bush. He zoomed across the field and exhaled Black Mist around every Volcanine beneath him. The canines began to cough. Some collapsed and wheezed, whimpering.

"Lester!" Screamed Risa. "Cut it out!"

Apollo raced passed Risa's heels. "Don't worry, I'll stop him!" Barked the wolf. He leapt at Lester and tussled with him across the field.

Risa dropped her mouth open. All the young wolves were weak and whimpering.

"Risa, you monster!" Emberly yowled, picking up a limp, whimpering Shixy. Then she turned to fix her fierce scowl on Randy. "Randy, this is all your fault! You should have never invited that mixed-blood to hang out with us! Now her pet is trying to kill us all!" She stomped away, leaving Randy looking disheveled and torn.

Risa raced up to the redheaded boy. She approached him and spoke in a careful tone. "Hey, don't let her get to you. It's my fault, not yours. I'm the one who stayed longer in your territory than I intended."

Randy huffed. "I pressured you. It really was my fault."

"Nonsense. I'm honestly glad I stayed longer! Partying with you was my favorite part," she chuckled. "Even if Emberly was there."

Randy laughed. "Glad you had a great time." He looked over his shoulder. "But I think we really need to focus on our pets. Lester obviously isn't happy about our friendship, so maybe you and I should just stop seeing each other so often."

Risa's heart skipped a beat. "What?! But—"

"Hey, we can always be friends," he gave her a cool smile. "But I'm just saying, we should probably start battling other students besides each other. I don't want to worsen anything between you and your pet."

Risa hung her head. When she didn't say anything, Randy spoke again, this time in a quieter voice.

"He's taking Rodin drug, isn't he?" He leaned closer to her so that no one was listening.

Risa's head shot up and she gazed into his eyes. "How do you know?"

"His cloud of Black Mist spread over a third of the battle grounds, and very quickly too. I don't think a Ferrethawk his age can become as powerful as that in only a few months."

Risa swallowed. She turned to see Apollo drop to the ground. The Black Mist was already clearing, but it was still powerful enough to make a juvenile genopet faint. "You're right," muttered Risa. "He's been defeating our opponents so quickly, too. And I'm always fainting at the same time they do."

"Has your Emperor signed a contract to allow the sale of Rodin drugs in your clan?" Questioned Randy. "Because I've battled other Ferrethawkian opponents and none of them were half as powerful as Lester.

"No, he hasn't. Emperor Thepimus never approved the use of Rodin drugs. Nor would he approve a Cleansing of an entire clan." She glanced at Lester, who was whipping his head around and twitching his nose, searching and smelling for Randy. She bit her lip. "We should finish our battle. But I'll make sure I meet with Emperor Thepimus and discuss Lester's behavior later."

  16. Lester

"Hurry! Get the rest of the Purifier Brigade!" Windsor's screech pierced through the air.

A flock of Ferrethawks were swarming over a billowing black cloud in the air, exhaling white wind-currents to clear the smoke and flames that escaped from the cloud. Beneath them, four trees were enflamed. The buildings on the trees were burning down, and many Ferrethawks from the Healer Brigade were escaping the building, blowing the victims within the buildings on air currents over to the nearest hospitals.

Lester watched from a distance, eying the scene as more Ferrethawks of the Purifier Brigade—including Hortense and Sir Odin, and Bondo and Dame Nadine—arrived to help exhale smoke and clear out the air. While the Ferrethawks of the Purifier Brigade exhaled their white clouds, the Ferrethawks of the Healer Brigade swooped down toward the flaming buildings and trees with their human masters riding their air currents. The humans searched and rescued the victims within the burnt buildings on the trees, carrying them in their Ferrethawks' air currents as they directed them toward the nearest hospitals.

After watching the scene for another few dreadful minutes, Lester followed one of the Ferrethawk Healers toward a nearby hospital atop a mid-level tree-branch. He entered the building and made his way through the white walled hallways, passing through all the anxious, chattering Ferrethawk Healers as they blew their victims through the hallways and into any available recovery rooms.

Finally, he flew into a room and gazed into a small tank where a gray Ferrethawk was lying, unconscious and covered with electrodes. Milo's conditions had gotten worse over the past few months, and he had to be transferred from the infirmary to this hospital for intensive care.

Lester's heart ached. If only Emperor Hozami and Prime Zexel had agreed to sell Lux Potion to their clan. That was the best treatment for Blue Flames. But of course, those Cobrazors won't give us what we want unless we agree to help them achieve their dreams. Their dreams to rid the Volcanines and become number 1 in the League. Lest'er thoughts made his fur bristle. We literally have to sacrifice our lives by taking the Rodin drug before we can purchase one of the best drugs to cure other illnesses.

Before he could grow any more irritated, the door opened. Emperor Thepimus and Prime Windsor had stepped in.

"Lester," Windsor chittered. "The Emperor and I would like to have a word with you about your behavior with Risa during your one-on-one battles. Your battle record has improved tremendously, but we know that's not because the two of you have been working well together."

Thepimus narrowed his eyes. "Your records show that you are the last member standing in your battles. That means you're allowing Risa to be defeated with your opponents. I spoke with Risa the other day, and she's told me that your powers have gotten unexpectedly stronger, and that she believes you are using the Rodin drug to get this strong. Am I right?"

Lester turned to glare at them. "If you're gonna scold me, you're wasting more of your clean breaths. This incident with the wildfire just proves why we should all purchase the Rodin drug from the Cobrazors and help them take down the Volcanines!"

Thepimus crossed his arms. "So you are using the drug. And without my approval. Don't you know it's against our Clan Rules to purchase a product from another clan unless I, the Emperor, have signed a contract with the Emperor of the other clan to approve the selling of their product?"

Lester swished his tail. "You should have signed a contract with Emperor Hozami a long time ago. Those Volcanines are getting too powerful and their volcanoes are destroying parts of the forest. This is the seventh time we've had to send a scout of Ferrethawks to put out another fire and purify the air again. I'm telling you—we must import those Rodin drugs!"

Windsor let out calm, slow squeaks. "Lester, this is why the forest needs us. We need to keep the air clean and regulate the smoke and fire, but we still need fire to burn the toxic plants that the Cobrazors grow. If the Volcanine clan wasn't around, the Cobrazors would overpopulate the forest with their toxic plants and there would be a new problem arising in the forest. The forest needs all seven of our clans to maintain balance in the environment. It would be wrong to voluntarily wipe out an entire clan species, for it would only create imbalance the ecosystem."

Lester flapped his wings and hovered higher in the air, scrunching his face at the Emperor and the Prime Genopet. "There's already an imbalance right now! There are too many Volcanines, and they keep beating all the clans they battle in the Genopet League. They are acquiring too much reward money to buy portions of land from the clans they beat! More and more Volcanines are born every year, so they're territory is constantly expanding. I can't go through a single day without seeing smoke and red flames in the distance, and a squad of our Purifier Brigade constantly racing out to clear up the air and get rid of it all. With all the work they've been doing, the human masters of the Purifier Brigade are probably almost as wealthy as the Healers."

Windsor's whiskers twitched. "Lester, this doesn't mean you should be illegally purchasing Rodin drugs from the Cobrazors. I've been receiving complaints from Emperor Donovan of the Volcanines, and he says many of his Beginning Combatants were extremely sick after you breathed Black Mist over a third of the Volcanine battle ground. Such an affect would not have come from Black Mist summoned by a Beginning Ferrethawk, unless his powers were unnaturally intensified. That Rodin drug is dangerous, and should not be used by any genopet in our clan."

Lester snapped his teeth. "Increasing our powers to ten times their effectiveness would be beneficial, not dangerous! If the Ferrethawks of our Purifier Brigade had taken the drug, they would have cleared out the air by now. Our Healers may have already cured Milo a long time ago!"

Thepimus grunted. "Lester we are not going to put our genopets at risk. The Rodin drug may increase our powers, but at a terrible price. The side-effects include organ-purging."

Lester huffed. "I'm taking the drug and I'm not barfing my organs out. And it won't be long until those Cobrazorians find a way to block such side effects. They're an intelligent bunch." He twitched his nose. "Not to mention, if our clan agrees to allow the sale of Rodin drugs in our territory and help the snakes take down the Volcanines, Zexel will give us a portion of their territory to us. Think of all the land we can earn back—for free—once we get rid of every last Volcanine and Volcanian human master."

Thepimus's cheeks grew bright red. "Lester, we are not taking part in a Cleansing! Not only is it against a Clan Rule, it's against the Hoxian Law!"

Lester let out a screech. "Great Hox! Are you still that softhearted, even after all the trouble these Volcanines have caused? Even after they killed members in our own clan—including my parents and your first Prime Genopet?!"

Thepimus glared at the Ferrethawk. "It is immoral to wipe out an entire clan species without Hox's consent. Also, I don't wanna be paying huge fines for all the deaths we'd be responsible for."

Windsor flicked his tail. "Not to mention we'd be banned from the Genopet League if we are responsible for too many deaths. Dr. Z would no longer consider our clan as a part of the Wildheart Forest League, and we'll end up as a Stray Clan, one that lives and prospers without participating in Genopet Leagues, without receiving any exchange of imports and exports from other clans of the League."

Thepimus nodded. "You'd never want to be a Stray Clan. We'd never be able to purchase resources from other clans or participate in one-on-one battles with other clans again. Which means our humans would have no battle record to show on their resumes. There wouldn't even be any such things as jobs anymore—we'd be living as tribal freaks for the rest of our lives."

Lester snarled. "This is why the Cobrazors want a variety of clans to help them exterminate the Volcanine species. They already signed contracts with the Aquabunnies and Iciclaws so that the genopets in both clans can use Rodin and kill some Volcanines in their own respective Genopet League battles against them. That way, one clan won't be responsible for too many deaths."

Thepimus was shaking his head. "This is absurd! Talking about wiping out an entire species is completely unacceptable." He pointed his staff at Lester. "I want you to stop taking the Rodin drug at once. If I hear you've been using intensified powers again, I will have no choice but to throw you in exile for defying an important Clan Rule. Better to have one clan member go astray rather than the entire clan itself."

"What?!" Lester flapped his wings and seethed. "You can't make me! I'm probably a little more powerful than you are at the moment, so I can take the drugs if I want to!"

Windsor was shaking his head, narrowing his eyes at Lester. "I never expected someone even as feisty as you are to be in favor of a Cleansing," he flapped her feathery wings and hissed. "Despicable. This is what happens when we allow a mixed-blood to continue training with a genopet. They become just as disloyal as their human master."

Lester's head throbbed with rage. He spoke in a low, savage tone. "Then you should have never let me pair with Risa." He whirled around and shoved his way through the doors of the infirmary. "Stupid clan," he growled, racing through the white halls. "They think I'm a traitor? Well, wait till I deal with Risa and the other Volcanines. Then they'll see who the real traitor is."

Later that night after the Purifier Brigade had finally cleared the wildfire, Lester returned to the recovery room to watch Milo in the recovering tank. His light-gray flank was slowly rising and falling, as if he was still having trouble breathing. Lester's heart ached as he realized how much thinner he was becoming. Milo had always been a scrawny runt, but he had never seen his brother look this small and helpless.

"Lester?" A soft voice sounded from behind.

Lester turned to see Lula hovering on the other side.

"Great Hox, what are you here for?"

She blinked slowly. "I was here to check on Milo, just like you. And...I overheard the argument you had with Emperor Thepimus and Prime Windsor about the Rodin drugs."

Lester snorted. "Oh, goodie. You ought to stay away from me then, because I'm too dangerous and powerful enough to kill other genopets."

Lula winced, and then slowly shook her head. "Lester, don't talk that way. I don't believe them. I don't believe you're a traitor to our clan. You're just as strong and loyal as the rest of us."

"They should be questioning Risa's loyalty, not mine. She's the one who snuck out to see Randy in his territory. I may be sneaking to another clan's territory, but it's only for Milo." He flicked his tail. "He's dying, Lula. He's in a coma. The only way to wake him up is if he's injected with the Lux Potion. And only the Cobrazors are capable of producing such a potion, but they will only sell it to us if we all decide to intake the Rodin drugs and kill a few Volcanines in our next Genopet League battle against them."

Lula gasped. "So it's true? You really are siding with the snakes in...a Cleansing?"

"Only because those Volcanines killed my parents and nearly killed Milo. If we help get rid of them, the Cobrazors would help Milo," he stared deep into her eyes. "Also, if I help them, they would ensure a brighter future for our entire clan. If I help them, they will sell us Lux Potion, which would heal Milo and a variety of other illnesses in our clan. They will also share a portion of their land with us!"

Lula was silent. When she didn't reply, Lester went on, squeaking in a low tone. "Those mangy mutts deserve to be wiped off anyway. They're responsible for the deaths of genopets in different clans, and it doesn't matter if such murders were accidental or not. It just proves they are becoming more and more dangerous to the species that share this forest with them.

"And they're becoming richer and richer, more and more prosperous. The entire Wildheart Forest and the seven clans that thrive in it could do well without them. Their fumes are contaminating the air and we Ferrethawks are always having to clean it up because of them. It would be better if they weren't here at all."

"Lester, fire is still an essential part of the environment," remarked Lula. "Even if it gets in the way of our territory, we still need it. It keeps the growth of plants under control, especially those poisonous ones that the Cobrazors are always growing. Without fire, the forest would suffer from an overgrowth of deadly Paralilies and toxic trees."

Lester snorted. "Well, there's too much fire now. Those Volcanines are overpopulating and their growth is impeding the growth of other clans. It's time to bring them down and make them stop setting the place on fire, make them stop killing other genopets in battle. I'm only doing what's best for our clan!"

Lula's red eyes were narrowed. "How could you trust those snakes, first of all? Even if we did help them bring down those ow do you know they'll keep their promise?"

Lester paused for a moment. Then he met her gaze and chittered. "Because Zexel understands how I feel. His mate, Nagaine, was also killed by a Volcanine, so he and I share a common hatred against the Volcanines. I'm sure he wouldn't do anything to make things worse for me, Milo, or our clan."

"I see," Lula tilted her head. "I still don't think the entire species of Volcanines deserves a Cleansing." She gazed at him with a longing look on her face. But I do worry for Milo. And I worry for you too." She hovered closer to him and nuzzled her nose in his shoulder. "Just be careful, Lester."

  17. Risa

"I swear to Hox, Emperor Thepimus is a mindless pigeon-brain," Lester was gliding in circles in her room, glaring at the floor. "It's already the first week of a new month, and we're battling the Volcanines in the Genopet League. If our foolish leaders didn't refuse to let the Cobrazors sell the Rodin drugs to our clan, we could win easily!"

Risa bit her tongue. How could he think this way? Is it really natural for genopets to become this hateful toward an entire species of genopets after one terrible incident?

She also thought about Randy. The fact that their clan was going to battle them made her stomach feel queasy.

Lester was eying her. "Oh Great Hox. You're unwilling to see us win, aren't you?"

Risa blinked. Her heart started to race. "I want our clan to win as much as anyone else here."

"You like him," his whiskers twitched. "You're in love with that skunk-faced Volcanian, Randy. Clearly you care more about your relationship with him than with me." Lester turned to fly away.

Risa's heart sunk. She watched as her Ferrethawk disappeared in the upper branches of the home tree.

A rustle sounded in the branches in the tree beside her. She turned to see Kyrion and Lula watching her from the branch where their house was settled. Lula was staring up into the branches where Lester had disappeared. She was just about to flutter after him but Kyrion laid a hand on her. "Not now, Lula. Leave him be."

Lula gave a small whimper and landed on his shoulder, still keeping her eyes fixed on the upper branches.

Kyrion turned to Risa. "Risa, I'm sorry about your situation with Lester. If you ever want to talk about it, I'm always here for you."

She glared at him. "Yeah, I'm sure talking to the son of the man that defiled my mom would totally make things better."

Kyrion blinked slowly, stroking Lula as he kept his concerned eyes on Risa. "I am just as disappointed in my father as you are, Risa. Which is why I'd like to take full responsibility to better the relationship that my family has with yours."

"Oh, come off it!" She whirled around to glare at him from across their trees. "Our own Emperor is the reason why Lester and I have a complicated relationship. If he hadn't slept with my mother, my father would not have let his pet kill his Prime Genopet and his mate, who also happened to be Lester's parents." She whirled around and stomped into her house, slamming the door behind her. She leaned against it and felt tears streaming down her face.

Risa flew with Sir Odius in his Shuttle, gazing out her window. Winter had arrived, and there was abundant snow covering the tree-buildings, flower-towers, and boulder-homes across the forest.

"Ah, I love the winter," sighed Odius. "Perfect weather for our Ferrethawks to manipulate the air pressure and create appropriate clouds to behold buildings."

After half an hour, Odius's Shuttle flew out of the air tubes and landed atop a white cloud where there were rows of Shuttles parked. She stepped out of the cubic room and leapt out of the Shuttle, landing on soft, cushiony ground. She coughed as white dust dissolved in the air around her as her feet hit the surface of the cloud.

As Risa slipped out of the cubic room, she gazed ahead of her to see that there were clouds hovering everywhere. Shiny tree-buildings were built on each one. The clouds were all linked to one another with stairs, ramps, or chrome-laden branches that linked a tree-building on one cloud to a tree-building on another. Many of the clouds were crowded with people and Ferrethawks traveling to and from the buildings on the clouds or from one cloud to another.

She followed Sir Odius as he headed toward a silver bridge that linked their cloud to a bulky, snow-covered cloud. She carried a tranquilized Lester in his cage and followed Sir Odius and Hortense across the silver bridge and stepped off onto the snowy cloud hovering above the Genopet Arena. They walked way down a staircase that led into one of the towers at the corner of the Arena. Crowds of Ferrethawkians and their Ferrethawks were gathered inside.

"Good luck, Risa," Sir Odius gave her a nod. "Hortense and I are going to meet with the rest of the Advanced Rank. You go and find the rest of the Beginning Rank Combatants."

As soon as he turned to walk away, Risa turned and caught a glimpse of a blue-haired girl standing in front of a blue-furred, droopy-eared rabbit. Risa flinched. She easily recognized the girl, thanks to her long, high ponytail and sparkling blue short-skirt.

Devina Chevalier and her Aquabunny, Bianca.

What were they doing here? She turned and found the answer to her own question. A tall, thin young man in a dark suit and trailing cape was leaving the exiting doors of the tower with his lavender Cobrazor. Nokio Okimoto and Vitalia!

Risa looked around and saw that the Ferrethawkians and their Ferrethawks were too busy segregating into their own ranks to notice the Aquabunnesian and her pet. She stepped closer toward the two of them and listened carefully.

Bianca was letting out muffled squeaks. "You need to stop arranging meetings with Nokio like this. That Lux Potion he just gave you is not going to cure any of our Aquabunnies!"

Devina was holding a tall glass bottle filled with a lavender substance. She narrowed her eyes at her pet and spoke in her melodious voice. "Bianca, Nokio needed me to meet him here because he and Vitalia were going to make sure they were here for Lester in case he started organ-purging during the Genopet League battle. He's helping us too, just as he is helping that Ferrethawk. Give me one good reason why I should stop seeing him!"  
Bianca twitched her nose. "Well, first of all, his clan wants us to help them exterminate the Volcanines. The Cobrazors are forcing us to buy their drugs so that we can be reckless monsters to kill them. But think about it! So many of us are suffering from organ-purging as a result. Our own clan is suffering, and many Aquabunnies from our own clan are dying. As a matter of fact, more of us have died than the Volcanines that have been killed! The Lux Potion he's given to us in the past has failed to cure some of our illest Combatants!"

Devina huffed. "The Rodin side-effects are a mystery. We don't understand why the Lux Potion blocks the side-effects for some genopets and not others. Not even the Cobrazors seem to know."

"I bet they do know," Bianca's hanging ears gave an angry flap. "I think they just don't want us to know, because they want us to continue trusting them and buying their drugs so that we can have an advantage in our other battles and bring down more Volcanines. But I think they want us to die from these side-effects. I think that's the whole point—sell drugs to the rest of the clans so that they can all suffer from the side-effects and be unable to replace the Volcanines once they are wiped out. The Cobrazors desperately want to be number 1 in the League, more powerful than any other clan in Wildheart Forest. They don't want any other clans taking the Volcanines' place as number 1."  
Devina huffed. "Bianca, you're just angry because I'm seeing a guy from another clan."  
Bianca whacked her flipper on the floor. "Well, I can't help it! Like any other genopet, it's in my nature to feel resentment toward genopets of a differentspecies and the humans that train them."  
Devina rolled her eyes. "Honestly, you genopets can be unnecessarily prejudiced toward one another. Nokio may be very quiet and independent, but he's not as self-centered and deceptive as his clan-mates. I know him well."

Risa stiffened. Her eyes shifted from Bianca to Devina, and she couldn't help thinking about how much their argument reflected her own struggle with Lester. She recalled his words about Randy: 'You're in love with that skunk-faced Volcanian, Randy. Clearly you care more about your relationship with him than with me.'

And there was the problem with the Lux Potion. Apparently, it didn't always hold back the side-effects of Rodin. She wondered if one day, it wouldn't work on Lester too.

"Risa?" She heard a soft, sardonic voice. She turned to face Annelle, who was accompanied by Jynn, Anya, and their Ferrethawks. An unfamiliar caramel Ferrethawk was settled on Annelle's shoulder, looking just as calm, relaxed, and smug as she did. "You ready for our battle? Or are you too scared to fight against your own relatives?"

Jynn snickered. "I heard from Lester that she's in love with Randy Turner. I'm sure she's very hesitant now."

"Yes, Lester seems to be hating her more and more every day," The caramel Ferrethawk twitched his nose as he faced Risa. "Hmm, maybe she should switch sides and fight with the Volcanines. Might be easier to have her as an opponent rather than an ally."

Risa fumed. "Shut it! Lester and I are more willing to fight than any of you will ever be!"

Annelle giggled. "Great Hox, I doubt you two will surpass Sandicello," she stroked the caramel-furred Ferrethawk on her shoulder. "He's a much stronger pet than Milo. The two of us have won 167 battles already."

Risa rolled her eyes and stomped pass the girl. "It doesn't matter. As long as we all win this battle as a clan, that's all that matters for today."

The battle was intense. Risa swooped through the flames, whipping at anyone in her way. So far, she had defeated seven humans and three genopets, without being caught in Lester's gusts. But it wasn't until halfway through the battle that Lester released huge puffs of Black Mist. Soon, the entire Arena was filled with flames and black smoke. Both the Volcanines and Ferrethawks began coughing and whimpering. Risa gazed up to see her Ferrethawk zipping through the sky like a blur, circling over the Volcanines and their humans and surrounding them with thick black smoke. All of them coughed and collapsed, groaning on the ground.

A loud, ear-splitting screech sounded over all the commotion. Windsor blowing a white cloud through the smoke with Thepimus riding the cloud. Both of them were eying Lester.

"Lester, cut it out!" Called Thepimus. "Your Black Mist is also hurting our own clan members too!"

Risa whirled around as a great Volcanine leapt at her. She whipped it aside, and it crashed into a pile of coughing Volcanines and Ferrethawks. Then she turned to race toward her pet.

"Lester!" She cried. "Listen to me! Don't use your powers so intensively—you're hurting our clan too!"

She gazed around with horror as the Ferrethawks, distracted by the powerful clouds Lester exhaled, grew dizzy and lethargic from the powerful gray clouds, and disgusted and distracted by the green clouds. Volcanines leapt at them, yanking them to the ground and tackling them until they fainted. Many of their human masters were already unconscious from the overload of fumes and flames. Some had already given up and were racing toward the tower in the corner of the Arena.

Suddenly, there was a huge blast of fire. The last Ferrethawk had fainted, pinned to the ground under Redbone's paws.

"We've lost! Hox curse these mongrels!" Lester was yowling. He whirled around to face Windsor and Thepimus across the sky. "You fools. If we had all taken Rodin, we would have easily won this fight!"

Risa's mouth was hanging open. Many of the Ferrethawks in their clan were heading toward the tower while the Healers blew the unconscious out of the Arena.

Meanwhile, the Arena was filled with victorious shouts and howls from the Volcanine Clan. She spotted Randy and Emberly, racing together side by side with their genopets racing ahead of them.

"Wooo!" Yelled Randy. "Who's the strongest clan? We are!"

Shixy gave a victorious howl and fireballs erupted from her volcano. Risa ducked, wincing as they nearly hit her.

Randy caught sight of her. "Risa!"

Risa huffed. She wanted to stomp away, but she couldn't resist staring back at those emerald-green eyes.

"Congrats," she said dryly as he caught up to her. "I hope you use the award money to really power up your pets and slaughter those Cobrazors when you're playing them in the next Genopet League."

Randy sighed. He said nothing for a few awkward seconds, and then he lifted his head to gaze into her eyes. "Look, I'm sure Lester gonna hate you even more if he sees you talking to me after this victory. You should go comfort him, show him you really do care for him."

Risa opened her mouth to object. But Randy put a hand on her shoulder. "I don't want things to get worse between you and your pet. I don't want to see him beating you up again."

Apollo sniffed. "Yeah, we're already halfway through the year, and then you can decide whether you wanna stay in your clan and put up with his nonsense. Might as well make the rest of your year as easy as possible between you two."

Randy chuckled. "And tell your pet not to worry. Remember we battle each of the clans twice a year. You'll get to battle us once again in the next few months."

She sighed. "Yeah. Thanks for understanding, Randy."

"Of course!" He gave her a playful smile. "Hey, those were some sweet moves, though, even if you did them without Lester's aid. And even though you lost against us, both our clans are still tied in the winning streak, just behind the Cobrazors. If we both beat them in the next two Genopet League battles, we will both have equal chance of moving on to Round 2!"

She smirked. "Yep. Things will definitely get interesting then."

"Randy!" A well-built, muscular man with wild red hair was standing to the side of the Arena, waving his arm at him. Redbone was by his side, wagging his flaming tail.

Randy turned and glanced to the man. He gave Risa a nod. "I'm gonna get going. My dad and Redbone promised to throw another party at the Firestorm Playground if our clan won."

Risa chuckled. "Have fun."

She watched as he raced over to the man and his pet. She stared after him, feeling her heart ache. He was so sweet to her. So easy to talk to. Great Hox...what if I did join the Volcanines? They would be more accepting to me...and it would be easier to find a pet that wouldn't be so resentful toward my mixed-blood scent. Apparently, according to Apollo, she had more Volcanine blood in her than Ferrethawkian. Perhaps joining a Volcanian wouldn't be as bad as she thought, especially if she would have someone like Randy to spend time with....

She snapped out of her thoughts as she heard footsteps behind her. Risa turned around and faced a scowling girl with two red ponytails.

Emberly Summers.

"Hey, mixed-blood," she snarled. "Don't think Randy will always be there for you. He's mine. He and I have known each other since we were infants. And Shixy and Apollo are definitely in love—their competitive personalities have only drawn them closer."

She stomped passed her, giving her shoulder a sharp nudge with her own. Risa stared after her, fuming. She whirled around and raced toward the tower, feeling her cheeks burn with anger.

After cleaning up in the restrooms and recovering in the infirmary, Risa made her way toward the exiting doors of the tower, and then stopped in her tracks. Randy and Emberly were standing in front of each other in front of the Volcanine litter rooms, conversing as they waiting for their pets.

Risa crept closer to them and listened to their hushed conversation.

"What are you talking about, Emberly?" Randy sounded exasperated. "I am not in love with Risa!"

Emberly huffed. "Then why are you two always talking to each other and smiling like you've just had a drink of boiling lava-beer?"

Randy crossed his arms. "She and I are just very good friends. Our personalities just happen to click, even if the little bit of Ferrethawkian in her makes her a little less extroverted than I am."

"Just friends?" Emberly raised an eyebrow.

"Yes, just friends, that's it," he grimaced. "Honestly, I have no time for girlfriends. I'm not visiting the battle grounds to hook up with non-clan members. I visit to train my genopet to be as strong as he could possibly be!"

Risa's heart sank. She bit her tongue. Really? We're just friends? Is that all you'll ever see in our relationship?

She watched as Emberly gave a sideways smile. Her voice suddenly sounded smooth. "Oh? No time for girlfriends? But Randy, you're surrounded by Volcanian girls all the time. All my friends think you're sooo hot."

"Hah! That doesn't mean I'd date any of 'em," said Randy. He crossed his lean arms. "No girl would wanna date me, because my priorities will always be Apollo. All I'm focused on is just his winning streak and how well he will do in future Genopet League battles."

Emberly chortled. "Well, I am too." She pushed a strand of his red hair from his eyes. "Randy, you and I have a lot in common as well. We may be rivals, but we're closer than you think."

Randy raised an eyebrow. He suddenly looked confused. "Uh, yeah, we're both definitely pretty darn adamant about beating each other and being the best in our clan..."

"Exactly," Emberly put an arm on his shoulder and drew him closer to her. "But I've been noticing a change in Shixy's behavior lately. I mean, she definitely fights hard when she's battling other pets, because she wants to beat more than Apollo. But when they're actually playing together, their moods seem to change. Look," she bent down and opened the flap in the wall. She and Randy could see Apollo and Shixy were chasing after each other inside.

Randy chuckled. "Hehe, you're right. They do seem happy together."

Emberly stood up again and gently put her hand on his cheek. She turned his face to her. Risa watched with horror as she gazed deeply into his eyes. "I think the two of us could be happy together too. It would be perfect if we were together, with both our genopets becoming mates and the parents of the clan's strongest generation of Volcanine pups."

Randy looked deep into her eyes. He blinked and gave a nervous chuckle. "Yeah, that would be great." He tried to turn around, but Emberly's hand still rested on his shoulder, holding him in place in front of her. "But Emberly, I—" before he could finish, Emberly had leaned forward to give him a kiss on the lips.

Risa stiffened. Her heart skipped a beat, and her blood ran cold. The kiss between the two of them seemed to last forever. They finally parted lips, and stared into each other's eyes. Emberly looked dazed and dreamy, while Randy's eyes were wide with shock and confusion. The redheaded boy didn't say a word as he stared back at her, unblinking.

Apollo stepped through the flap in the wall and stopped in his tracks. He sniffed the air and faced the two Volcanians in front of him. "Randy?" He must have smelled his fear-scent. Shixy stepped out of the flap and stood beside him, gazing at their masters with a puzzled look.

Emberly didn't take her dreamy eyes off of Randy's shocked gaze. "It would be great, wouldn't it? Apollo and Shixy...and you and me." She pressed her lips against his again and the two of them indulged in another long kiss. Apollo's fur began to bristle, and Shixy let out a small whimper.

Risa's mind was spinning. She whirled around and raced through the trees until she came to a quiet, foggy clearing. A fountain was present at the center. She ran up to it, buried her face by the bench, and let the tears fall out of her eyes.

"Risa?" A young girl with short white-blonde hair was sitting on the bench across the fountain, looking up from a book.

Risa recognized Kyrion's 12-year-old sister. "Hey, Sora," she mumbled.

The short-haired blonde girl gazed at her with wide, curious blue eyes. "Were you just with Emberly Summers?"

"Yes," said Risa through clenched teeth. "She's like the Volcanian Annelle."

Sora wrinkled her nose. "Why do people have to make fun of you for being a mixed-blood? I think mixed-blood people are pretty!"

Risa looked at her and managed to crack a half-smile. "Really?"

"Yeah! I've always wished I had hair like yours. Red with yellow streaks is the prettiest hair color I've ever seen."

Risa's heart started to warm. She smiled at the little 12-year-old girl. "Thanks, Sora."

She giggled. "Kyrion loves your hair too. He probably finds it prettier than I do."

Risa winced. "Hmph. Well I'm not surprised."

Risa looked up and over her shoulder to see Kyrion approaching. Lula and Lester were hovering together behind him, squeaking quietly at each other.

"Oh...it's you," Risa wiped the tears from her eyes.

Kyrion knelt down beside her and handed her a tissue. She muttered a hasty "thanks" and blew her nose.

Then Kyrion sighed and said, "I saw Emberly speaking to you. I understand how you must feel...and how Lester feels."

Risa huffed. "Oh please," she got up and started walking away. "You're the last person I'll ever wanna discuss this with."

"I understand that. But my genopet, Lula, ought to be the first one you should to talk to."

Risa frowned and turned to him. "What are you talking about?"

Kyrion turned to gaze up and nodded at the two Ferrethawks fluttering after each other. "They love each other—Lester and Lula. Lester tells her everything. I can tell when I see them spending hours alone together in the top braches of my home tree."

Sora giggled and walked after them, watching them with admiring blue eyes. "They're so cute together."

Risa sighed. "I bet Thistletail must be extremely jealous now. I've seen him mooning over Lula before."

As soon as Sora was out of earshot, Kyrion turned to Risa. "Risa, I know you're not very fond of me. But at least let Lester come and train in my home tree sometime. Perhaps Lula and I can teach him a thing or two about respecting one's human master, regardless of what clan she came from."

Risa looked into his soft blue eyes. Then she looked up at Lester. She had never seen the feisty black-furred Ferrethawk look so calm and content. She gave a sigh. "Fine. We can start training together tomorrow."

Risa spent the rest of the month training with Kyrion. She had to admit Lula's presence really did help enhance the relationship between her and Lester.

"Alright, let's try the wind current riding," said Kyrion one day as they gathered at the top of his tree. "Lula, summon your air currents."

Risa watched as Kyrion gracefully maneuvered his way through the air currents that came from Lula's mouth.

Lester narrowed his eyes and huffed. "Why do I have to blow the mixed-blood?" He took a deep breath and exhaled an air current to blow Risa through the trees.

She caught up to Kyrion.

"Hey!" She whispered, finding herself brimming. "He's actually keeping me up in—ahh!"

The current disappeared. Lester had stopped exhaling.

Lula blew Kyrion downward and let him drop to the lower branch. He caught Risa in his arms. "Are you alright?"

She opened her eyes and gazed up at him. "Agh! Put me down!" She wriggled as Kyrion gently placed her on her feet. "Ugh! What gives, Lester?!" She gazed up through the branches at the top branch where Lester and Lula were still settled.

"Sorry, I couldn't stand blowing a traitor to my own clan," Lester chittered.

Lula gave him a nudge. "Come on, she's your master," she chittered.

"She's a good-for-nothing Volcanine player who would rather play fetch with my parents' murderer than train me."

Kyrion made his way up a set of stairs that led to their branch. "That's not true, Lester," Risa watched as he caressed the genopet's black, lithe body. "Your human master cares about you. Otherwise, she wouldn't even be here, joining me in a training session with you."

Lester narrowed his eyes at him.

Lula giggled. "He has a good point. Risa hates being around Kyrion. Remember his father slept with her mother and started this whole feud between your parents and her parents. It's rather loyal for her if she wants to spend any time with him, just to make sure you get adequate training with me."

Kyrion chortled softly. "And not to mention: she did see Emberly kiss Randy on that day their clan beat us in the Genopet League."

Lester turned to gaze up at Kyrion with his eyes narrowed. "Randy and Emberly kissed?"

Risa felt her cheeks burn. Great, so Kyrion saw them too.

She watched as the white-blonde boy nodded. "I'm sure she and Randy won't be growing any closer after that. Especially after Emberly warned her to stay clear from him when they not battling each other."

Lester's nose twitched. He gave a huff and fluttered away. Lula fluttered after him and continued talking to him in her soft, smooth chitters.

Risa made her way up the stairs and joined Kyrion on the branch. She was facing him with a scrunched face. "You didn't have to tell him about the stupid kiss. Now he'll have more ways to aggravate me whenever we're training."

Kyrion chuckled softly. "Risa, I don't waste my breath with pointless gossip. That's Annelle's job." He added with a twist of humor, "And my little sister's. But if I shared any news about you to your pet, it was only for the better."

Risa just scoffed.

However, after a few days, Risa had to admit that from that point on, Lester did treat her with a little more respect. Soon, her Ferrethawk was able to blow air currents that would efficiently and carefully carry her body through the winds.

By the time it was the last week of that month, Risa found herself feeling comfortable to fight with her pet. One evening, they returned to the home tree and Risa had smoothly landed on the branch. The first time she had landed without crashing. Kyrion landed beside her. He turned to Risa with a calm but slightly enlightened look on his face. "You two have been improving quite well. Would you like to train over at the Silverclouds tomorrow?"

She flinched and then turned to stare at him blankly. "Kyrion, what are you talking about? The silver clouds are dangerous spots to train—it's a training spot recommended for Elite Combatants!"

Kyrion chuckled. "I'm sure by now we can trust our pets to keep us safe. Lula and I were actually training there with Annelle, Sandicello, Russell, and Thistletail the other day."

"I've never trained with Lester up in the clouds before..."

"Oh, then you haven't lived," Kyrion murmured. "Come on, you'll love it."

"Kyrion, I can't," she turned her back on him and stared up at the distant pink clouds with a vacant look in her eyes. "I still don't think Lester and I are on the best of terms right now."

"You haven't gotten the best out of Ferrethawk training if you haven't trained with your pet on the Silverclouds," Kyrion chuckled. He stepped around and laid a hand on her shoulder. She lifted her head and looked him in his blue eyes, her heart pounding. "Just this one time, Risa," he said gently. "You'll love it."

She gazed into his gentle eyes. A warm sensation started to submerge her heart. "Alright," she murmured. "But let's make it quick...I don't want to vomit over the entire city."

The next night, Kyrion and Risa were walking across a silver bridge that led to a silver, snow-covered cloud that hovered over their clan's territory. As they stood at the edge, Risa felt goosebumps form over her skin as she looked down at the faraway trees, tree-buildings, and bridges. Then she took a deep breath and spread her arms. As soon as she felt Lester's breath behind her, she stepped forward. Soon, her body was riding his air current, soaring through the sky.

For the few minutes, Risa had her eyes squeezed shut. I can't believe I'm doing this...Lester can easily kill me up here!

"Risa, open your eyes," came Kyrion's soft voice. "Don't be scared."

She lifted her eyelids and peeked at the scene before her. They were soaring over soft, billowing clouds, each glowing with different color. Risa gasped and slowly sat up straight. Waves of light stretched from one cloud to another. Their Ferrethawks exhaled the air currents to keep them up in the air, while the Ferrethawks bounced from cloud to cloud, leaping through the beams of light. Risa felt as if she were riding through a million rainbows. The clouds were glowing everywhere, and every beam was a different color.

"You doing alright, Risa?" Came Kyrion's voice beside her.

Her eyes were wide and mesmerized. But she managed to give a small smile. "Yes...yes, it's wonderful up here."

Soon, their genopets were directing their air currents across a long chain of linked snowy clouds. They were high up in the sky, and Risa was able to gaze down where multicolored lights twinkled from the buildings of the metropolis. She watched the numerous snowflakes fall from their cloudy bridge and descend to the faraway cities below them.

As she glided by Kyrion's side, she felt a warm surge of happiness sweep through her. She felt light as a feather. She could soar like this all night. She closed her eyes, enjoying every last moment as she and Kyrion soared side by side over the clouds.

When Kyrion finally landed on a silver cloud, he looked over his shoulder. He watched as Risa slowly and efficiently landed beside him.

Risa stood on the soft, billowy platform, blinking. Oh...we're finished already? She almost wanted to ask Lester for another ride, just so she could spend more time soaring beside Kyrion. But she was too breathless to speak a word.

She looked up to gaze into Kyrion's blue eyes. "Thanks..." she murmured. "I really enjoyed riding up there."
Kyrion smiled back. "Of course. I'm glad you had a good time."

Risa sighed. From the corner of her eye, she could now see Lester and Lula flying after each other, bounding over the clouds and streaks of light.

She turned to Kyrion and spoke in a low voice. "Sorry I've been such a brat to you lately. You've been very helpful to me and Lester. I think our relationship has really improved, thanks to you and Lula." She huffed. "As a matter of fact, I think Lula's the only reason why Lester hasn't been sneaking out to spend time with the snakes lately. His powers seem to have subsided, which means he may have stopped taking Rodin."

"That's great," said Kyrion. "Well, you're welcome to train with me and Lula whenever you'd like."

Risa chuckled. "I'm sure Lester will always be up for a training period with you and Lula."

When they arrived at Kyrion's home tree, Risa watched as Lester and Lula nuzzled their noses against each other. Then she turned to Kyrion and opened her arms to give him a hug. He willingly hugged her back.

Then Kyrion spoke in a quiet voice. "You know, there are legends that speak of the secret lands of Genotopia. Some believe that Hox keeps the place hidden from Dr. Z."

Risa released him and gazed up in his eyes. "How do the genopets get along with one another?"

"Hox uses the power of Aether dust to keep the genopets at ease. But only Hox can use the power. No human has ever learned how to make the gene. But according to the legends, Hox gives the particular gene to certain genopets to make them guardians. The genopets are chosen every 500 years, and as a matter of fact, the most recent genopet to receive Aether was in the Rainbowleaf Jungle League. The League that the Cobrazors originated from."

Risa raised her eyebrows. She sighed. "But those are just legends. I don't think there are any genotopian societies in this world. Not with Hox under the power of someone as tyrannical as Dr. Z."

"Yes, there are differing opinions about that. Most genopets believe Hox is capable of doing things behind Dr. Z's back. They don't believe any human can enslave such a powerful beast. But most of us humans believe Hox's mind is completely under Dr. Z's control, and that Hox cannot operate without him."

Risa shrugged. "I prefer not to think about stuff like that. If I think about Genotopian societies too much, I'll start to crave it. And that's not good for me if I want to improve my status in the clan I want to identify with."

Kyrion smiled. "That's good to hear. You have a strong heart, Risa. I believe in you."

Risa smiled back. "Thanks again," she murmured.

Kyrion let her go and gave a nod. "Good night, Risa," he said gently.

She watched as he and Lula disappeared up in the branches of their home tree.

Then she turned to Lester, who was also watching them leave. "Lula's a wonderful pet," she said. "I'm glad you and her can train together. She really seems to know her way in the sky."

Lester nodded. He turned and silently flew toward the branch of their home tree.

Risa turned to grab a nearby vine. She swung toward one of the mid-level branches and walked up to her house by the trunk. "Good night, Lester."

The Ferrethawk paused in midair and looked over his shoulder. She felt his gaze as he watched her unlock the front door of her house. Then he fluttered up and disappeared in the higher branches.

The next morning she found Lester practicing his battle moves in the sky. He was doing somersaults in the air, exhaling gray smoke that became a spinning vortex. When he noticed her watching him, he stopped and gazed at her with an irritated frown.

"You know, I've found that I train better if humans aren't watching me," he squeaked.

Risa sighed. "Sorry. I was just gonna collect some nutflowers for breakfast." She walked passed him and kneeled to pick some berries.

Lester let out a huff and continued somersaulting.

Risa bit her lip and finally forced herself to speak. "You know, I'm really sorry about your parents."

Lester suddenly paused and whirled around to fix furious eyes on her. "Why in Hox's name are you bringing this up?"

Risa stood up and dropped the nuts in her basket. "It's just...I've never gotten a chance to give you my condolences before." She lifted her head and looked Lester in the eye. "You're my pet and...I really do care about your feelings. So I'm sorry about the fate of your parents. I'm sorry that things haven't been so well between us because of my relations with the man and genopet responsible for their death."

Lester held her gaze, hovering in midair. Risa was expecting him to blow another wind current in her face again. But it never came. Lester flew forward and slowly landed on her branch, a few feet in front of her. The black, white-faced Ferrethawk sat up and folded his wings.

"I'm sorry for the loss of your parents too," he chittered rather tartly.

Risa gazed at him for a moment and then sighed. "And I'm terribly sorry about my visits to the Volcanines. It was really stupid for me to just disrespect you like that. I totally didn't mean to hurt you in any way."

"It's alright," Lester's whiskers twitched and he looked away. "I think I deserved to have you do that to me. It makes us pretty even in our loyalties to each other since I'm seeing the Cobrazors."

"Oh..." she forced herself not to burst with surprise.

Lester huffed and went on. "But you must keep in mind: I'm only doing it for Milo...and for the good of the clan. Zexel made a deal with me: if I help him destroy the Volcanines, he would send me Lux Potions for Milo."

Risa looked up at her pet. "Lester...I'm not questioning your loyalty, but how can you trust Zexel? How do you know he'll keep his promise and give us a share of the Volcanines' land, or give you the Lux Potions to cure Milo?"

Lester shook his head. "He won't go back on his word. His mate was killed by Roxanne, the Prime Genopet of the Volcanine Clan, so he knows how I feel."

Risa gazed at her Ferrethawk. She wanted to reach out and stroke him, but she didn't want to get any closer and risk agitating him with her scent. She gave him a quick nod. "Well, if you feel safe with what you're doing, I'm not going to stop you. But please, Lester. Just be careful." As difficult as he had been, Risa truly did care for him. Especially right now. She couldn't bear to lose him to the snakes, the same way she had lost her parents.

  18. Lester

Over the next few months passed, Mother Nature's monstrous tone grew fainter in Lester's head as he trained with Risa. Whenever he would hear her voice, he learned to take his anger out on his opponents. By the time it was the 11th month of the year, their winning streak was up to 238. 62 victories away from their goal.

Lester couldn't be prouder of himself, Risa, and their clan. In the past few months, they beat the Boulderbears again, the Aquabunnies, the Armadrillos, and even the Volcanines. Only the Cobrazors were unbeaten again. And in this next and last month of the year, they were going to be up against the Iciclaws, while the Cobrazors would be facing the Volcanines a second time. Lester shuddered. The first time they had beaten the Volcanines, they had killed eight members. Now, they were tied with the Volcanines. Their next battle would be this next month, and the winner would determine which clan was number 1 in the Wildheart Forest Genopet League.

On the 22nd day of that month, Lester arrived at the front of Emperor Hozami's Lab on the great flower. Zexel had finally promised to give him the Lux Potions. He spotted the Prime Genopet, Nokio, and Vitalia awaiting him at the crack of dawn atop the highest leaf of the stem.

"Hello, young one," Zexel greeted. "Awful late for you to be out tonight. Shouldn't you be resssting for the last Genopet League of the year? It's already almost the beginning of the next month, and you're going to be battling the Iciclaws again. I'm not afraid to admit they're quite a tough clan to beat."

Lester nodded. "You said the Lux Potions would be ready by tonight. I didn't want to wait until tomorrow to come—I need them right away since Milo's lungs are on the verge of collapsing."

Zexel chortled. "Well, you're lucky I'm offering this for you." He turned to Nokio and nodded. Nokio came forth, holding a glass bottle filled with lavender substance. "I am only giving you one bottle of Lux Potion, only because you have been loyal to me. You can help your brother now, but the other sick Ferrethawks in your clan will not be permitted to purchase any Lux Potion bottles from us unless they agree to help usss defeat the Volcaninessss."

Lester looked into the snake's eyes. "About that, your clan will be up against the Volcanines in this last League battle. And both of you are tied. The winner will move on as number 1 in the Wildheart Forest League, and move on to battle other clans in the Silver League battles. I was wondering if you take down those Volcanines and make it to number 1, would you still want to continue with the Cleansing?"

Zexel narrowed his crystal-like eyes. "Are you asssking thiss because you are worried for your massster?"

Lester's whiskers twitched. "I am not worried for Risa at all. I'm just wondering what your plans are since you've made it this far. You're tied with the Volcanines, and if you beat them, you would achieve your ultimate goal to be number one in the League. Would you really need to Cleanse the forest of Volcanines after that?"

"Why, of coursssse," Zexel leaned down so that his face was inches away from the Ferrethawk's. "Those Volcaninesss deserve more than just a downgrade in their rank. They deserve to be exterminated. Our ultimate goal is not only to become the most powerful clan in the League and make it to Hox's Island by the end of the Genopet League period, but also to ensure we continue to make it to Hox's Island at the end of future Genopet League cycles. We don't want to risk having those Volcanines beat us again and reclaim their rank, so we must do away with all of them—every single one."

"And that includes Risa?"

Zexel narrowed his eyes. "She sharesss blood with them, ssso yesss. She mussst be killed too."

Vitalia lifted her head and tilted it. "Why do you asssk? Do you actually like her now?"

Lester shifted his gaze to the young lavender cobra. "I–I just think she may be more useful to my clan than I thought," he looked down. "I've been training with her, and lately, I haven't been hearing the irritable voice of Mother Nature taunting me in my head to attack her. At least I haven't been hearing it as frequently as I used to. Perhaps now that she's putting in more of an effort to train me, Mother Nature could be trying to hint that she may be worth protecting."

Zexel hissed. He coiled around the Ferrethawk. "Isss she really a loyal Ferrethawkian? Or issss she only showing commitment because she doesssn't have that silly Volcanian boy to make her feel ssspecial?"

Lester narrowed his eyes. Zexel may be right. Ever since Risa saw Randy and Emberly kissed, her relationship with Lester had improved, especially after she had spent more time training him with Kyrion. What if Risa simply turned back to the Volcanians the moment Randy came up to talk to her again?

"I guess we'll have to see how she fares with me once we continue our one-on-one battles for the rest of this week," Lester said.

Zexel nodded. "Of courssse. We'll sssee if she deserves to ssssuffer like the rest of her father's clan. At the moment, we have planted Paralily seeds around their territory. They should grow throughout the week, and by the time we battle them during the Genopet League, there will be enough full-grown flowers that will release pink powder in the air." He leaned closer to Lester and spoke in softer, calmer hisses. "Here's the plan for next month's Genopet League. We will battle the Volcanines and kill as many as we legally can. Once we beat them, you and Milo are to release Nox Clouds over the Paralilies that we planted around Volcanine territory."

Lester shot up to his two feet. "Milo will be helping us too?"

"Why, of courssse. Milo's receiving our Lux Potion, isssn't he? He ought to pay usss back with his loyalty, jussst as you have done." He chortled before resuming the outline of his scheme. "Once the Nox Clouds mix with the pollen that's released from the Paralilies, Pink Dust will form. After you mix your Nox Clouds with enough Paralily pollen, the Pink Dust will accumulate and become powerful enough to kill off the remaining Volcanines."

Lester stared at Zexel with his eyes wide. "So you want me and Milo to start a Pink Sandstorm?"

Zexel nodded. "Cobrazors are the only genopet species who can grow Paralilies. And Ferrethawks are the only genopet species who can exhale Nox Clouds. Together, the pink flower-powder from the Paralilies and the gases of Nox Clouds can combine and create the Pink Sandstorm—the deadliest natural disaster in Wildheart Forest. And since you have been using the Rodin drug, your Nox Clouds will be extra-powerful. This will therefore be an extra-powerful Pink Sandstorm, strong enough to kill the Volcanines within an hour."

"Then I take it Milo will be intaking Rodin as well, if you want us to create a Pink Sandstorm dangerous enough to wipe out an entire species."

"Yesss, of courssse."

Lester's heart cringed. The time was almost nearing. Soon, there would be no more Volcanines. No more firestorms. No more diseases or natural disasters associated with the heat and flames given off by their clan.

Vitalia was swaying her head, snickering. "Daddy, it will be jussst like the Septolegs. Their speciessss was eradicated by our clan in India. We could completely take care of the plants and treesss much better than they did."

Lester blinked. "Septolegs?"

Vitalia smirked at him. "Seven-legged racoons. They were raised by a clan of Septolegan humans to grow the trees here with their venom. But Hox had to call for a Cleansing for their entire clan. Those creatures and their human masters would always steal from other clans, which was against the Hoxian Law. Their fate is a good demonstration of what happens when your clan breaks the Hoxian Law too many times. Hox will eradicate your clan, and there will either be a new species to replace you, or an existing species will split and play in your League. Since we Cobrazors had the greatest population in the world, Hox ordered the Cobrazor Clan in India to split and send some members here. So half of us came here to eliminate the Septolegs and replace them in this League."

Lester turned to Zexel. "But it was Hox who called the Cleansing and ordered you to wipe out their clan. It doesn't sound like other clans are allowed to start a Cleansing without Hox's permission."

Zexel rasped. "Why should we care what Hox thinksss? We're ssstrong enough, and we can carry out a Cleansssing all by ourselvesss. Plusss, those Volcaninesss deserve a Cleansing. You Ferrethawks are much better and useful than those wolves, just as we Cobrazors were much more useful than those Septoleg thieves."

"Not to mention, our clan produces more medicines and useful chemicals with a variety of Cobrazor venom," remarked Nokio in his quiet voice.

Zexel nodded. "Exactly. Emperor Hozami had me slay the Emperor and the Prime Genopet of the Ssseptolegs, and after that, he was able to break into his Lab and take it as our own. We killed the other Ssseptolegsss by growing a multitude of carnivorous plantsss in their territory. We also killed their green-haired human massstersss, because what good would they be if the only genopet species that can tolerate their smell was extinct? We took their place here, ssso now we have a Cobrazor clan occupying two parts of the world now. Pretty ssssoon, we'll have Cobrazor clanssss in every part of the world. Sssoon, we shall become the ssssupreme ssspeciessss, and every genopet speciessss will be under the control of ussss and our human masssterssss."

  19. Risa

The first day of December had arrived. Risa walked to the edge of the Gathering Tree tree to gaze at the empty battlegrounds. Then she took a good look at her own battleground where numerous Combatants from all four ranks were battling alongside their pets in their own one-on-one battles. The field was full of Beginning Combatants. Everyone was working hard to increase their winning record during these final weeks.

As she gazed at most of the Beginning Combatants, she noticed how much the Ferrethawks accompanying their masters had grown. Their bodies were longer and their wingspans were much wider. She turned to Lester, who was gliding by her shoulder. It was hard to believe he was already a full-grown genopet.

"Ready for our battle?" She turned to her Ferrethawk. "Our first opponent is an Armadrillo."

"Of course," snarled Lester. "We have four weeks to win 62 more battles. Then we'll be Elite Combatants."

Risa nodded. "We can do this."

For the rest of the afternoon, Risa and Lester worked side-by-side, beating every opponent in less than thirty minutes. By the time it was evening, they had beaten 14 Combatants and lost to only 4.

She waited for Lester to clean up and recover in the genopet litter room, leaning against the wall and closing her eyes. She had never felt so exhausted and so accomplished.

"Hey, Risa!" She opened her eyes and felt her race at the sound of Randy's voice. She turned to see him pacing up to her down the hallway. Apollo was by his side, looking like a young, full-grown wolf. "How have you and Lester been?" Randy faced her with a hint of a smile on his face. "I never heard back from you after our victory. Hope you haven't been mad at me for it."

Risa frowned, not meeting his gaze. Images of him kissing Emberly flew through her mind and she felt her cheeks turn red with anger. "Of course not! It would be so childish of me to take my anger out on you for beating my clan fair and square."

As soon as Lester pushed his way through the Ferrethawk flap in the wall, she immediately walked forward before Randy could say any more to her. "Come on, Lester!" She said urgently, not looking back to see the befuddled look on Randy's face. "I'm not gonna waste my time talking to the non-clan member when I could be winning more battles with you."

She heard Lester give Apollo a sharp hiss and then zoomed after her.

Later, during lunch, she bumped into him again while waiting in line at the vegetarian feeding station.

"Hey," Randy happened to be waiting in front of her. He gave her a friendly smile.

Risa raised an eyebrow. "Randy, you're not a vegetarian. Why are you in this line?"

He chuckled. "I was just going for the cheese sticks to dip in my moose blood." He glanced at the long line ahead of them and sighed. Then he turned back to face her. "Wanna do a one-on-one battle? It's been a while. I know I said we should spend less time with each other so that you and Lester could work on improving your relationship, but that doesn't mean we have to stay away from each other for almost four months."

She stuck her chin at him. "Sorry. Emmet and I are actually going to partner up. He asked me first, just after our victory against Aquabunnesian Combatants."

Randy blinked. "Oh okay. You don't have any room in your schedule to squeeze an extra battle with me after you finish with Emmet?"

Risa shrugged. "If I'm not already battling another student in your class, feel free to battle with me."

Of course, Lester was more than willing to battle with Randy.

"Lester, I really don't want to be around him," she muttered as they headed down the hallways within the branches of the Dining Tree. "Especially not after what he did with Emberly."

"Then battle him and smack his face with your feather-whip!" Said Lester. "This should make you even stronger when you're battling him with me. Now we both have a reason to loathe both of them."

Risa clenched her fists and looked away, feeling queasy. Later that day, Randy caught her on the battle ground of the Boulderbears.

"Hey, Risa? We need to talk. You've been avoiding me all day."

Risa looked at him. She bit her lip. "We're in the middle of a warm-up," she remarked, turning to face her Boulderbear opponent and his pet. "Lester! Duck!"

He gave her a solemn look. For once, he looked a little saddened. "Risa, is everything alright? I thought you weren't scared about having people look at us like we're crazy whenever we're talking to each other. I mean, I totally enjoy no longer being teased by Dedric and Bruce, but what's wrong?"

Risa huffed and spun around to meet his gaze. "Can't you wait until later?"

"Not really. Emberly and I are going straight to our flame-surfing contest after school. And she'll be following me for the rest of the day."

"Oh sure," Risa rolled her eyes. "Having fun with Emberly again. You know, I'm really disliking the idea of joining your clan after the year is over. Especially after all I've been through with Lester. And especially after your stupid kiss after your clan beat us."

Randy blushed. He stepped forward and spoke carefully. "Look, she's just a good friend of mine, Risa. Apollo may be in love with Shixy, but that's not how I feel around Emberly. She's nothing more than just a friend to me." Randy gave her a small smile. "Since you were eavesdropping on us, you should have heard that I don't have time to date girls, including someone like her."

Risa scrunched her face at him. She didn't know whether to feel relieved or even more disappointed.

Randy went on, "I hope you're not going to let my silly behavior keep you from joining us after graduation. If you're still thinking of joining, that is."

Risa sighed. "I would love to join you, Randy. But it's just such a tough decision for me to make. I still want to become a Healer in my clan, although I'm not sure if it will be worth it if I'll be working around people and animals who just won't respect me for who I am."

Randy shrugged. "Some humans and genopets are just more discriminating than others, that's all. If they see two students who train different species of genopets spending time with each other, they automatically assume that they are in love and will become traitors to their own clans. But none of that is true with us."

"Really?" Risa raised her eyebrows. She looked over her shoulder to make sure Lester and Apollo weren't watching them. She saw her Ferrethawk circling the Boulderbear in the air and Apollo barking rapidly, watching them warm-up. Then she turned back to Randy and said quietly, "I believe part of it is true."

"Huh?" He blinked at her. "What do you mean?"

"We are friends aren't we? Pretty good friends," she felt her heart throbbing faster. Please, Randy. After all those one-on-one battles and conversations we've had, surely you see something more in our relationship than just another simple 'friendship.' "I mean, you've asked me more than once to really consider joining your clan after graduation—something that has really aggravated Lester. I've really considered it, and it's not only because I feel more natural training a Volcanine."

Randy looked into her eyes. "Are you saying you'd join the Volcanians just to be with me?"

Risa felt her heart throbbing faster than ever before. "If I join your clan, I know there will for sure be someone who would accept me there."

Randy raised an eyebrow. "But what about Kyrion? I thought he was kind of a good sport to you."

"He is," she looked away. "He's actually been very helpful to me. I think if I just spend more time with him, Lester and I can enhance our relationship. And at the same time, I've grown a little more appreciative of Kyrion. He's the only person in my clan who understands me." She squeezed her eyes shut. "That's why it's been so difficult."

Randy gazed at her. For once, the redheaded boy was at a loss for words. He looked away and spoke rather downheartedly. "Well, I would persuade you to just come and join my clan, but apparently, it doesn't seem like I can tell you that anymore. Especially if you really feel that way about Kyrion."

Risa's heart was throbbing. Her face was swelling up with disappointment. But Randy, I feel the same way about you too.

He looked back into her eyes again. "Risa, this is something you need to think deeply about. Whatever you want to do with yourself at the end of this year is entirely up to you." He gave a small smile. "And regardless of whether you join my clan or not, we can always be friends. I will always be willing to see you for a battle, or if you just wanna hang out."

Risa stared at him, feeling her eyes water. Though his words really uplifted her, she couldn't help feel slightly disappointed. Just friends? Is that all you'll see in our relationship, whether I join you or not?

When neither of them spoke for a long moment, Randy checked his netphone and finally gave a sigh. "Anyway..." he turned to walk away. "We should probably get back to our battle schedules. Apollo's got to win ten more battles before we beat Nokio's record."

"Randy, wait," Risa held out a hand in his direction.

Randy looked over his shoulder. His eyes were clouded with emotion.

She took a deep breath and finally dared to tell him. "Since Lester and I did get a lot closer after training with Kyrion and Lula over break, he did share some pretty important news with me. I think you ought to hear it, too."

Randy narrowed his eyes. When he didn't say anything, Risa told him everything she had learned about the Cobrazors' scheme for the Cleansing.

When she had finished, Randy was still facing her with a suspicious gaze. "Risa, all seven clans in the forest know about the Cobrazors' plan to rid our species. Why are you bringing this up?"

Risa huffed. "I think what started this huge rivalry between the Cobrazors and your clan was the crime your Prime Genopet committed almost three years ago, at the beginning of the previous Genopet League cycle. During the year of Regional Genopet League Battles, Prime Roxanne of your clan killed Zexel's mate, Nagaine. So he carries the same grudge Lester carries against you Volcanians. However, the big question I have was why the Volcanines killed so many pets in battle." She narrowed her eyes at him. "First of all, Apollo's dad killed Lester's parents, and Roxanne killed Nagaine. And several months ago near the beginning of this year, Apollo technically made an attempt to kill Milo. It's been making me rethink whether I should join your clan or not."

Randy gazed into her eyes. "Risa, Redbone never actually planned to kill Lester's parents. He was hypnotized during our battle against the Cobrazors last year."

Risa raised her eyebrows. "Hypnotized?"

Randy nodded. "When we were battling the Cobrazors during the last Genopet League Cycle, we were excelling. We nearly had all the Cobrazors wiped off the field after the first hour of the battle. Of course, those Cobrazors probably didn't want to suffer another loss. So Zexel stabbed Redbone's neck with his tongue. He infected him with Magnetoxin, a toxin that can shut down the minds of genopets and make them submissive to the attacker. Since by that time, the entire forest had heard about Emperor Thepimus's scandal with your mother, he ordered Redbone to leave the Arena and kill Thepimus's Prime Genopet, Boreas. Lusera, Boreas's mate, was killed as well since she had tried to defend him.

"But overall, Zexel had hoped that by slaying the Prime Genopet of the Ferrethawkian Clan, he could create a stronger enmity between the Ferrethawks and the Volcanines so that you Ferrethawkians could aid his clan in the Cleansing of Volcanines."

Risa crossed her arms. "Well, that didn't work out, did it? Emperor Thepimus, like most of the past Ferrethawkian Emperors, are very pacifist. After Boreas's funeral, I remember Emperor Hozami and Zexel meeting with Thepimus and offering to help him seek revenge on the Volcanines for allowing their pets to commit such an act. Thepimus refused, telling him that Redbone's master—my father—had already paid the fine for murder."

Randy nodded. "Thanks to your Emperor, Sir Myko and Redbone didn't have to serve your clan in prison. According to the Hoxian Law, Combatants who are responsible for murdering other genopets must pay a fine to that genopet's master, and serve the clan of that genopet in prison for as long as the clan's Emperor wants. But Emperor Thepimus didn't even want to have Sir Myko thrown in his dungeons." He chuckled. "I don't think it was just because he was very pacifist. I bet he just felt too awkward to confront the husband of the woman he slept with, especially after his genopet killed his own."

Risa glared at him. "It's not funny. After Thepimus's refusal to get revenge on the Volcanines, the Cobrazors grew more hateful toward you guys. They planted carnivorous flowers all over your territory, and my father was killed by one. My mother had died, trying to save his life." Risa looked away as tears filled her eyes. "She was the only non-clan member to venture into Volcanine territory and try to save him."

Randy clenched his fists. "It's all Zexel's fault."

She lifted her head and looked into his fierce eyes. He was right. Redbone had never meant to kill Lester's parents. Zexel had taken control of his mind and had driven him to do so. It was all part of his dirty scheme to rid the forest of Volcanines. And since Emperor Thepimus had refused to side with him and lay revenge on the Volcanines, Zexel's next target was Lester, who—being a genopet driven by natural, animalistic impulses—would not easily forgive another genopet species for killing his parents. Lester, being the son of the Prime Genopet, would feel more naturally inclined to lay revenge on the Volcanines and aid the Cobrazors in a Cleansing.

But of course, that was because he never knew the real reason for his parents' death. Perhaps if he knew who the real murderer of his parents was, he wouldn't feel so hateful toward the Volcanines!

"We should have talked about this long time ago," Risa gasped.

Randy shrugged. "I guess neither of us brought it up."

"This really clears everything up," she clenched her fists. " I must tell Lester about this right away."

Later that night, she sat on the edge of her home tree's house-branch, explaining to Lester everything that Randy had told her. The Ferrethawk was settled on a skinny, short branch that jutted from the thicker branch above her.

Lester was bristling as he listened to her story. "You wanna believe that blood-haired freak? He's probably just trying to save his clan and keep me from doing what Mother Nature and my own natural instincts drive me to do."

Risa gazed up at her pet. "Lester, think about it. Zexel's just using you to get what he wants. I'm sure if you do help him rid the Volcanines, he would start a Cleansing on the next strongest clan in this forest. All he wants is Cobrazor superiority. You've seen how clan-centered those Cobrazorians are! They are the only clan that prohibits clan membership of mixed-bloods and foreign-bloods. They've killed non-clan members for trespassing into their territory in the past. They want their species to be the strongsest and most dominant in the forest, so once they get rid of the Volcanines, there's no doubt that they will takeover the other clan territories and wipe the rest of us out."

Lester snorted. "You're going too far! The Cobrazors only want to rid the Volcanines because they are creating an imbalance in this forest. All clan territories are facing extreme heat strokes, thanks to those mongrels. Just look at how overworked our Purifier Brigade is!" He swished his tail. "Not to mention, those Volcanines are responsible for the death of a very important Cobrazor. The whole forest knows that Prime Roxanne released a fire-cloud from her volcano, attempting to have fire-balls hail in a portion of the Cobrazor's territory. The Volcanines had purchased another piece of Cobrazor's territory, claiming it as their own, but Roxanne's fire-cloud expanded too much and the fire-balls burned more land than intended. A few Cobrazorians and their pets were killed and Nagaine happened to be one of them. Those Volcanines are responsible for the deaths of more non-clan members than the Cobrazors are!"

Risa bit her lip. "That was an accident. The Volcanines never killed other species and foreign-blood humans on purpose, but the Cobrazors have."

Lester snarled. "The Hoxian Law says that genopets and humans must never kill a non-clan member, unless the non-clan member purposely trespasses into their territory without paying the Toll Booths of that territory."

"Well, the Cobrazors have no Toll Booths!"

"Exactly. They don't want to permit any non-clan member to set foot in their territory unless they have given prior permission, like Zexel has given me. Otherwise it's an automatic death." He swished his tail. "They've abided by the Hoxian Law. The Volcanines haven't. They are responsible for a myriad of deaths, and they've got nothing to justify themselves except that they just had a few 'accidents.' Such a pitiful justification just proves that they are becoming a handful for this forest."

Risa stared at her pet, wide-eyed. How could he be so hateful toward the Volcanines, even after learning that they weren't completely responsible for his parents' death? "But Lester!" She protested. "Do you really think it's worth initiating a Cleansing for their species? Think about it. They haven't really done any harm to your parents. Their heat can be controlled, as long as species like Ferrethawks, Aquabunnies, and Iciclaws continue to work hard and maintain the balance of water, air, and ice inthis forest."

"Badger-droppings!" Lester rose up to his feet and beat his wings. "Why should other clans have to clean up after another clan?"

"Well, no clan has a right to wipe out an entire clan unless Hox says so."

Lester crouched on all fours and glared at her. "You're only saying these things because you still care about that Volcanine boy, don't you? After talking this over with Randy, your old feelings for him are coming back, and now you're considering his clan may be where you belong."

"What?! No! That's so not true!"

Lester exhaled a gust of wind in her direction. But this time, it didn't knock her over. It was a soft, but very chilly, draft of air. Risa felt goose-bumps form on her body as the air overwhelmed her.

"Then don't try to defend those mongrels who are responsible for my parents' death and Milo's injury," his chatters were slow and threatening. "Regardless of whether they killed them on purpose or not, they still killed them. They are still becoming more dangerous every month. My natural instincts tell me that they deserve to die—every single one of them—regardless of Hox's orders."

  20. Lester

The 12th month had arrived. Lester rode in the back of Sir Odius's Shuttle, shaking with excitement. He, Risa, Hortense, Bondo, Rosco, Sir Odius, and Dame Nadine were on their way to the Genopet League Arena.

This will be perfect, Lester thought. Finally the Volcanines will get what they deserve.

Lester looked over the Shuttles and through the clear, chrome walls of the air tubes. They were soaring passed magnificent platinum buildings that reached up to a hundred feet into the sky. He eyed the network of tunnels snaking through the metropolis's buildings. Each tunnel was filled with Shuttles flying in one direction, heading toward the great platinum dome located on the island of the Genopet Arena and the battle grounds in the distance.

Hordes of Shuttles were headed toward the magnificent dome. Looks like the entire Forest is excited to see the final showdown between the Volcanines and the Cobrazors.

Surrounding the dome was flat, metallic ground of the island it was situated upon. On the mainland surrounding the island were gargantuan buildings. Surrounding the buildings were strips of chrome roads, many of which branched into a web of freeways where genopets and their human masters traveled on foot from building to building. Tunnels filled the skies, crowded with Shuttles that carried people dressed in expensive, sparkling attire, and their exotic, powerful super-pets. Occasionally there was a simulated model of Hox hovering next to a building, each nearly the size of the buildings it hovered beside.

Lester gazed with wonder at the magnificent dome, polished in platinum that blazed beneath the sun. At the very top center of the dome was a circular hole to allow sunlight to shine into the Arena, so that genopets could use the sun and the sky to harvest their powers. There were seven towers attached to the dome, each for the Ferrethawks, Aquabunnies, Volcanines, Iciclaws, Armadrillos, Boulderbears, and Cobrazors. Each tower served as entryways into the Genopet League Arena.

The Shuttles flew down through the tunnel, and escaped into a wide open space on the ground. They found a place to situate their Shuttle near a clear wall on the left side of the room. Risa, Odius, Nadine, and the genopets Hortense, Rosco, and Bondo jumped out of the Shuttle and gazed around with wide, excited eyes.

"I sure hope those snakes kick butt here," said Lester. Once Milo and I form the Pink Sandstorm, I'll make sure I sink my teeth in Redbone's flesh before the storm kills him.

The audience in the stadium watched the battle take place before them. A huge netscreen hovered over the Aquabunny side of the stadium, where the audience could clearly see what was going on in the field. But since Sir Odius had reserved seats in the front rows of the stadium, Lester was able to get a good view of the field before his eyes. The entire field was crowded with tall flames and gangly trees on fire. Volcanians and their orange-suited human masters were racing through narrow passages around the flames and fiery trees, leaping over rivers of lava, while the fast-moving, dagger-tongued Cobrazors slithered across the scorched lands, spitting venom while their gangly, slick-haired Cobrazorians waved their thorny vine-whips in the air.

The Arena was filled with screams from the teeming audience of people and their genopet pets. The first two hours of the battle were already up, and both clans had the same number of Combatants left on the Arena.   
Lester watched as Redbone leapt in the air in the air and released a spiraling fireball from his head. Randy waved his sword in the air and hit it in the direction toward a snake. The snake gave a shriek and was engulfed in the spiraling flames.  
There was a thunderous groan from the bottom rows of the Arena.

The snakes rounded up and raised their tails, summoning tangled roots that surrounded Redbone. The flaming wolf dodged them all, but was instantly paralyzed as Vitalia slithered out of a cracked boulder and spat orange venom at his face.

"Sweet move Vitalia," muttered Lester. "But try not to kill Redbone right away. I want to be responsible for that mutt's death."  
The crowd continued to scream, shout, bark, and roar. A huge groan swept through the Arena as the flames around the wolf's paralyzed body intensified, burning the tangled roots that began to surround him and hold him to the ground.

Lester sat back down, fuming, and cast a glance at Devina at his right. Her friends were screaming. But Devina and Risa were sitting together, whispering.

Lester narrowed his eyes. Why were they sitting together? And what were they whispering?

Then Devina pointed to the back of the Arena behind them, where the rest of her clan was sitting with their Aquabunnies. "They'll be ready to strike once the Pink Sandstorm hits. We'll make sure we create a flood that will wash the Cobrazors into the storm, while your clan will blow the Volcanines to safety, above our flood."

Risa nodded. "I spoke to Thepimus and Windsor about this. They think it's a great plan. I'm just devasated about what they're going to do to Lester and Milo after this." She bit her lip. "The two of them will be exiled once we stop their Pink Sandstorm."

Devina gave her a raised look. "Honey, they have to do what they have to do. Traitors and Hoxian Lawbreakers don't belong in the clan."

Tears were streaming down Risa's eyes. "I just can't believe I'll have to say good-bye. Especially after all I've been through with Lester this year. I'm going to have to start over in the Beginning Rank next year with a new Ferrethawk."

Lester widened his eyes. So they were trying to help the Volcanines. And he and Milo were going to be exiled?!

Lester backed away, his mind spinning. He had to warn Zexel about this. Ensuring that the rest of his family was not looking as they watched the battle, shouting and cheering, he turned to fly away. He flew into the Cobrazor territory and into the cave where he was to meet with Zexel and start the Pink Sandstorm.

As he flew deeper into the cave, he spotted the Prime Genopet beside a jagged boulder, coiled up beside Emperor Hozami and a hovering, shaking Milo.

Lester's heart warmed to see his brother finally awake and recovered. But the thought of him being exiled—along with Lester himself—sent chills down his spine.

Zexel let out a long hiss. "Hello, young one."

Lester landed in front of the violet, crystal-eyed snake. "Zexel, there's something you should know." Lester reported everything he heard Risa and Devina saying.

Zexel stared at him without moving, without blinking. Then he gave a nod. "Thank you, Lester. Sounds like we have no other choice now. Emperor Hozami and I will be sure to lay a siege on the Ferrethawks before they can rescue anyone."

Lester swallowed. Attack his own clan? He couldn't help but feel a surge of abhorrence. But before he could say anything rash, Emperor Hozami handed Milo four pills.

"Excellent. Now take these Rodin pills," Emperor Hozami handed Milo the pills. Lester watched as his brother sniffed at them worriedly, and then swallowed them one by one. Then Zexel handed him a purple bottle with his tail.

"Don't forget Lux Potion," the gangly, slick-haired Emperor was grinning as he unscrewed the top of the bottle.

Milo's nose twitched. He gave a small whimper before he hovered forward and let Hozami pour a few drips of potion into his mouth.

Then Zexel nodded toward the opening of the cave. "Lester, release the Nox Clouds over the flowers on the western side of the Volcanine territory. Milo, take care of the eastern side."

Lester and Milo exchanged glances. His brother was shivering, although for once, Lester could not smell his fear-scent. Poor thing. He must be overwhelmed with guilt rather than fear.

But the two of them said nothing to the Prime Genopet. They bowed to Zexel before turning to fly out of the cave and part ways in silence.

Lester flew over the exuberant, scorched territory of flaming buildings, scanning the ground for any sign of flowers. Most of them were growing to the sides of buildings. He maneuvered his way through the flames and the arching golden buildings, releasing gray, noxious clouds over the flowers. Finally, he stopped in midair and gazed at the scene below him. The gray clouds were still hovering where he had released them. A pink, powdery substance was mixing into the clouds. Perfect. It would only be a few minutes before a Pink Sandstorm would form.

He glided through the air, searching for Milo on the eastern side of the territory. Then he stopped in midair. Several yards ahead of him was Milo, coughing up chunks of blood. He swooped up to him. "Milo? Are you alright?"

Blood was gargling out of the side of his mouth. "Oh d-d-dear...I don't feel so good..." he let out a heavier cough, regurgitating a red glob. Lester watched as it hit fell through the sky and splat on the ground.

Lester stared at the glob, aghast. "Great Hox, that must have been an organ," he turned to Milo, who was shivering.

"Oh no..." he whimpered. "I think I'm getting organ-purging."

"But how?!" Lester couldn't believe it. "You drank the Lux Potion. I saw you!"

Milo couldn't reply. He fell into a fit of coughs and gags. He flew forward and landed on the ground, in front of a flaming fountain.

"Milo?" He swooped down and then stiffened as he saw Prime Zexel and Emperor Hozami coming their way.

He glared as he noticed the smiles on their faces. "What in Hox's name is going on?!" He hovered up and flapped his wings angrily. "Why is Milo organ-purging? Did you really give him Lux Potion?"

Zexel was swaying his head. "Haven't you heard the Aquabunnies complaining? The Lux Potion doesn't work forever. It doesn't block the side-effects—it only postpones them."

Lester blinked. "Postpones?"

"The side-effects will affect the user much later. Some users are more sensitive, and the side-effects aren't post-poned for too long. Like your brother. Sensitive users like him may receive the side-effects only several minutes after intaking the drug, as if the Lux Potion had no effect whatsoever." He nodded at the writhing Milo as he continued coughing up blood and organs. "As for otherssss..." Zexel turned to Lester with a sly smile. "...the side-effects can be postponed to as long as several months later."

Lester widened his eyes. He watched as his brother struggled to get up, and then fell limp. "You're saying I'm still vulnerable to organ-purging? And that it can happen anytime soon?!"

Zexel chortled. "Correct, my dear Ferrethawk. I'm ssssorry, but that'sss jussst the way Pink-Dust worksss. Pink-dussst is a rare and very mysterious resource. Not even we know why it affects ssssome usersss more quickly than otherssss."

Emperor Hozami smirked at the coughing Milo. "Good thing he managed to release some Nox Clouds over a few flowers before this happened."

Zexel nodded. "Once the Volcanines are wiped out, we will be the ssstrongessst clan in the foressst. By then, it won't be as hard to rule the other clansss."

Lester flinched. "Rule the other clans? Including the clans that purchased your drugs and helped you get rid of the Volcanines?"

"Of courssse," Zexel hissed. "We Cobrazorsss deserve more than just the Volcanines' prestigious territory. We ought to roam any territory we please. We can't do that if the clansss are still living in their own territories, can we?"

Lester was backing away. "You deceivers," he hissed.

Zexel chortled. "Don't worry, Lessster. It's not like there will be a Cleansing of the other clans. You would jusssst ssserve usss. We Cobrazors are the only genopets capable of producing the ailments, medicines, and treatments to cure any type of wound or sicknessss in this foressst. Thusss, if you want your clan to continue thriving in thisss foressst, you ought to ssserve ussss and let usss roam your territoriesss as we please."

Lester narrowed his eyes. "Never. You Cobrazors have no right to just take whatever you want from our territory and tell us what to do!"

Zexel's eyes flashed. "Very well, then. You'll be the firssst genopet who will experience the punishment for refusing to comply with my ordersss." His mouth opened, revealing a mouthful of long, razor-sharp fangs and a rattling dagger-tongue. His head darted forward, but Lester dodged to the side, barely avoiding the strike. He released a black cloud and grabbed his brother. As he heard Zexel and Emperor Hozami coughing, he turned to fly up into the red, smoky sky.

Hox curse Zexel and all the Cobrazors in his clan! Lester's head was throbbing with rage and shock. Risa was right. All they care about is clan superiority. They want the rest of us to suffer while they glory in their status as number 1 clan.

He turned and flew as fast as he can, clutching Milo's limp in his small arms. He had to get him to his hospital right away. But as he flew towards the Toll Volcano, he saw the Volcanines returning, cheering for their victory.

"The Volcanines remain number 1!" Howled Prime Roxanne, releasing a shot of fire from her volcano. The other Volcanines did the same, though with different colors of flames. Their fires exploded into the sky, filling it with streaks of multicolored flames. Lester had to stop in midair to avoid the fiery, colorful explosions.

He snorted, feeling the familiar urge to attack the Volcanines. Fire, fire, kill...the dreadful tone was faint in his head.

But suddenly, the voice disappeared as he inhaled a new scent, one that made his lungs burn. "Great Hox!" He squeaked and whirled around, holding his breath. The sky was no longer filled with streaks of colorful flames, but pink, hazy dust.

"What in Hox's name is this stuff?!" Emperor Donovan yowled, covering his nose. "It burns to breathe!"

"It's Pink Sandstorm!" Came Randy's yowl.

The Volcanians panicked as the pink haze spread throughout their city. They scattered as the sandstorm surrounded their bodies like a swarm of bugs. The humans coughed and writhed, dropping to the ground and coughing up blood. The Volcanines shot out fire from the volcanoes on their heads, though they too coughed out blood from their mouths. Organs erupted from their heads, filling the ground and air with blood.

Lester watched in horror, suddenly feeling guilty. He turned to see the Cobrazors gathering with the Aquabunnies and the Iciclaws. They were rushing over to their territory, yowling and shouting.

"Great Hox, what have I done?" He muttered.

Suddenly, Milo writhed in his arms. He gasped and then turned to fly away. He hadn't gotten a chance to slay Redbone or see if the Pink Sandstorm would kill him. But that didn't matter. All Lester cared about was getting his brother back to a hospital. He was not going to lose another family member again.

"He'll be alright," said the nurse as she tucked him in a nest inside a clear tube. "We still have some Lux Potion leftover to ease the pains."

Lester let out an agitated hiss. "But there's nothing you can do to cure him. He'll be purging organs until the moment he dies."

Lula was hovering beside him. She turned to gaze at him with her eyes wide. "Lester, you need to see a Healer too. The same can happen to you any moment!"

Lester shook his head. "It's no use. No one knows enough about Pink-Dust to stop it before it affects me. There's no Ferrethawkian Healer who specializes in it because not enough research has been put into it."

"But what are you going to do? You've been taking Rodin for months. The side-effects are going to accumulate and your organ-purging might be fifty times as worse as Milo's since you've been intaking it for so long!" Lula grabbed his wing and pulled him out of the room. "Go see a Nox Doctor now! Maybe they can at least examine you and see if they can detect any traces of Pink-Dust in you. They might be able to flush it outta your system before the side-effects kick in."

Lester rolled his eyes. "Fine, if you insist."

But moments later, Lester was flying out of the room, shaking his head. Lula turned to him, her eyes wide. "Well?"

Lester hung his head. "They can't find any trace of Pink-Dust in my bloodstream. So there's nothing that can be done right now. I guess I'll just have to wait until I start puking my guts out before a Healer can treat me."

"Oh dear..." Lula's voice was shaking.

Lester turned to the room across from his. He flew back inside and hovered by Milo's side. The Ferrethawk was shivering on his little nest.

"How are you feeling?" Asked Lester.

"O-oh...a little b-better I guess..." Milo coughed a few times and then shook himself. "Pardon me..."

Lula joined Lester's side and peered down at the frail Ferrethawk with sorrow in her red eyes. "Poor thing..."

Lester was raging. "Hox curse Emperor Hozami and Prime Zexel. They wanted this to happen. They want us to suffer these side-effects and grow weak. They want all clans to suffer so that they can easily seize power over our territories and treat us like their slaves."

Lula narrowed her eyes. "You're just realizing that?"

Lester looked to the floor. "I thought all they wanted was to rid the Volcanines and restore balance to the Forest. I didn't know things would be worse if they replaced the Volcanines as the strongest clan in the League."

Lula tilted her head. "I think you've just been too conflicted with everything that's happened to your parents. You've been so caught up with revenge and hatred, so you were unable to think rationally about the genopets you were planning to avenge."

Lester narrowed his eyes. "Mother Nature never lets us think rationally when she speaks to us. Her voice is like the software that controls our actions, regardless of whether we are aware of it or not."

Lula gave a low whimper. "We are still her children. Regardless of what man has done to our genes, we are still animals of Mother Nature. We will always be under her power." She added in a quieter chatter, "But that doesn't always have to be a bad thing."

Lester hung his head. "It's definitely bad if she's making us feel nothing but hatred and prejudice toward a species that's different from us. I can't believe I've gone so far as to wipe out the entire Volcanian race. I've...I've become as evil as Zexel."

Lula nuzzled next to him. "Lester, you are not evil. You were just caught up in your anger, consumed by the rage Mother Nature was feeding you. It can happen to any beast."

Lester's fur bristled. "I should be the one nearing death in the hospital, not my poor brother Milo."

"Oh, Lester..." Lula gazed at him with a soft look in her eyes. "Don't say that. Regardless of how big your mistakes have been, you have to learn to forgive yourself and learn from them."

Lester turned to her. Her red eyes were shining. "Don't let your mistakes make things any worse for you."

For a moment, they sat there, silently gazing into each other's eyes. Then there was a soft, feathery voice.

"Lula?" It was Kyrion. The long-haired, white-blonde man was standing in the white hallways. "The Beginning Combatants are meeting with the other Ranks in front of Emperor Thepimus's tree."

Lula touched her nose against Lester. "Good night, Lester. Stay here, just in case you start organ-purging as well."

She turned and glided back to her tree. Lester watched her go until she was out of his sight.

  21. Risa

Risa was standing in the midst of the Beginning Combatants and the other members of the Standard, Advanced, and Elite Ranks. The entire clan was facing the great tree of Emperor Thepimus.

"The Purifier Brigade shall stay in the air and concentrate on clearing up the Pink Dust," Thepimus's voice boomed over the crowd. "Meanwhile, the Beginning and Standard Ranks shall remain in the air, attacking the Cobrazors below. It would be too risky to have you work against Pink Dust and risk breathing some in, but it would also be dangerous to have Combatants as underdeveloped as you to fight those genopets face to face. Make sure you all remain fifteen feet in the air as you fight. The Advanced and Elite Ranks will fight from any angle and height they wish. The Aquabunnies have sent a flood to wash away the Cobrazors, but of course, it's possible that by now, it's swept up some of the Volcanines. Only the Advanced and Elite Ranks shall focus on rescuing from there.

"And of course, our Healers in the Elite Ranks will do their best to rescue as many Combatants as they can. That includes the Volcanines. It is time we step up to help another clan in need, for the Cobrazors care about nothing but species superiority. They want to rid the forest of the strongest clan in the League, with the hopes of replacing them and gaining the strength to dominate the other clan species in the forest. Without the Volcanines, the Cobrazors would multiply at a faster rate and their powers will be unhindered. They would takeover the other clans, especially those that are suffering from the permanent Rodin side effects. It is time we take action and save the balance in this forest, for the good of our clan, and for the good of all seven clans in the Wildheart Forest League."

As soon as they dispersed, Risa stayed behind, alone and confused. Well, Lester's not with me at the moment. What am I supposed to do without a genopet?

Something rustled behind her. She turned around and gasped. Lester was hovering several yards behind her. But for once, the Ferrethawk wasn't glaring at her. She hesitated for a moment, and then made her way to her pet.

"Lester?" She whispered.

Lester hovered to a nearby branch that jutted out from the tree beside him. He stood on his hind legs and chittered very slowly. "I just wanted to tell you I'm sorry for all the trouble I caused. I've put an entire clan in danger by helping Zexel."

Risa looked into her ferret's eyes. "It's alright. I forgive you."

Lester snorted. "Forgiveness. You humans seem to be better at it than us genopets. You humans seem to be better at anything that involves changing the way nature works, or the way you feel about something."

Risa chuckled. "Well, we humans don't really have a defined purpose in nature like you genopets. We're free to change and choose what we want to do in our lives."

"Puh," said Lester. "And we pets just have to comply with whatever our natural instincts tell us. Unlike you spoiled, lucky humans, we genopets cannot change our perceptions and senses. We cannot change the way nature has designed us." He wrinkled his nose. "Nor can we change the way man has modified us. I'm always going to be intolerant of any foreign clan smell—it's just the way I am. I can't just simply get used to it like you can. You may be able to befriend non-clan humans, but we genopets will never be able to feel the same way among non-clan genopets."

Risa chuckled. "And you can't help that. That's why you have humans to train you and keep you under control. All species play an important role in this world. So although it's important that nature has made you loyal to your own species and value your own kind, it's still just as important that you respect other species and understand that they play an important role in balancing the environment as well. That's why you have us humans to train you and teach you that—we are the ones who can choose our paths, we are the ones who aren't so enslaved to the way nature has made us. We're the ones who can modify nature—just look what we've done to all of you, we've given you superpowers to shape nature. We've found ways to combat illnesses and the new natural disasters that nature has brought upon us. We can help keep the world in balance if we work alongside you genopets and teach you to both value and preserve your own kind, while respecting the existence of other species."

Lester huffed. "I should have been a better listener to you then, shouldn't I?"

Risa gave a dry laugh. "I just should have been a better trainer. Instead of messing around with Volcanians and letting the discriminatory attitudes of Ferrethawkian students bring me down, I should have just focused on bettering our relationship."

For a moment, the two of them gazed at each other in silence.

Then a boom sounded. Screams were in the distance, and the sound of Windsor's battle cry pierced the air. A massive pink cloud was heading their way.

Lester flinched and bared his teeth. "Great Hox, the Pink Sandstorm is spreading."

Risa widened her eyes. "Come on. We've got to help!"

Lester and the other Ferrethawks tried desperately to cleanse the air while others in their clan tried to blow the Volcanines on wind currents, away from the storms.

Meanwhile, the snakes were wreaking havoc on the city. Risa raced through the branches, ducking from toxic venom and dashing snakes. Lester was zooming around, fighting and releasing winds with the other Beginning and Standard Combatants, targeting the Cobrazors below.

"Risa!" Came Kyrion's cry. "Are you down there?"

But before she could answer, a huge burst of flames exploded beside her. Risa screamed and jumped aside, holding her hands over her head.

A Volcanine leapt over her and released a burst of flames at the snake, catching its body on fire. The snake bellowed and fell over, immediately surrounded by flames. His Cobrazorian master, riding upon his back, jumped aside and waved a spear in the air to summon a circle of leaves, desperately trying to stir up some wind. But the leaves instantly burned to ashes. Within seconds, the snake had fainted.

"Hox curse you, Zexel!" Behind her, Windsor was tussling with the huge snake. Both beasts were tumbling over the benches, wrecking the trees and buildings.

"Get out! Get out!" Volcanine Emperor Donovan was yelling at the top of his lungs as the two pets tumbled down. Risa nearly fell over as hordes of people got up and ran toward the towers. "Retreat! We must this place immediately!"

"Risa, let's go!" Risa felt Randy grab her hand. He pulled her into a fiery building after them.

Risa and Randy made their way toward the elevator, pushing pass hordes of Volcanian people who ran in the same direction.

Before she knew it, Risa was running through the scorched, dusty territory, passing through screaming hordes of humans, Volcanines, and Cobrazors. Shuttles fell to the ground as Cobrazors crashed inside their cubic and slaughtered the humans inside.

"Iciclaws!" Randy cried, stopping in his tracks. A purple feline was clawing at a Shuttle full of genopets and humans above them. The Shuttle plummeted and crashed into pieces by their side.

Then another Shuttle crashed straight through the feline. Risa nearly fainted from the gruesome image of bloody organs spilling from its body.

"Come on!" Randy turned and raced away from the bloody site. He held his nose as the Pink Dust intensified in the air. "Let's head into the underground stations. We might be able to catch a Shuttle and stay clear from this dust. "

Risa and Randy ventured into an elevator that took them to the undergrounds. They stepped out and gazed around at the spacey, dimly-lit room around them. Before them was a long, winding pathway where people and Armadrillos were walking or waiting at the benches on the sides of the path. On the left side of the path, Risa watched as a Shuttle flew up to stop at a red-rose pole.The Volcanines and their human masters waiting beside the red rose climbed up the ramp and poured into the many cubic rooms on its rocky back.

Risa narrowed her eyes at the right side of the pathway. Instead of a wide space for a Shuttle to fly through, there was slow-moving river flowing to the right of the path. She looked down the river to see an underwater Shuttle stop at red-rose pole beside the river.

"Those Shuttles will take us to Aquabunny territory," muttered Risa. She watched as a tunnel emerged from its back and hit the shore. The driver made his way down the ramp and stood beside the Shuttle.

But Risa was gazing at the driver meticulously. She swore she saw a tail swaying under his coat. "Randy?" She turned to see that he was also frowning at the strange driver. "This may sound crazy, but did you see a tail sticking out of that bus driver?"

The driver narrowed his eyes at the both of them. He was dressed in a black coat and a shiny cap. But there was something familiar about his wide blue eyes.

"Err...what in Hox's name are you two staring at?" He spoke in a gruff voice.

There was a second driver sitting next to the front seat—a lady dressed in the same dark coat and cap—narrowed her eyes. "Back off, you kids! This is a Shuttle for genopets only!" She had a high, shrilly voice.

Risa heard a sharp cry in the back of the seat. She turned to see that a purple Iciclaw had slashed a few dark forms with her long icy claws. Lester and Apollo were at the back seat, frozen.

"Drake and Loalla!" She turned to the two drivers and noticed a white, bushy tail was hanging from the lady's seat. "You two are the famous half-bloods who tried to turn yourselves into genopets!"

The two drivers pulled off their hats and revealed a pair of white, pointy cat ears.

"Surprise, Beginners!" Drake spoke in his drawling voice.

Loalla giggled. "Wish we could stick around, but we've got better things to do. Let's go, Drake!"

Her partner powered on the shuttle and zoomed through the water tunnel.

But before they disappeared, Lester broke out of his frozen state and inhaled a strong gust of wind, pulling both Randy and Risa inside. They landed on the floor, right before the half-bloods' Iciclaw screeched, slashed him again, and turned him back into a statue.

Risa stared out the window of the shuttle with horror. Instead of flying through flower-towers, leaves, and fruits growing off the buildings' branches, their Shuttle was zooming through corals, anemones, and sea-plants of all shapes and sizes growing beside the buildings and off the branches. Humans and Aquabunnies were swimming over the chrome roads rather than walking along them, and the humans were covered in different styles of wetsuits with the same spherical air bubble around every human head.

Then she turned to the half-bloods, who were snickering as they maneuvered the shuttle through a tunnel.

Finally, Randy spoke up. "Okay, obviously you Iciclaws don't want the Ferrethawks to be helping my clan, so where exactly are you half-bloods taking us?"

"You'll find out," sniggered Drake. As soon as he spoke, he drove the shuttle up a tunnel that soared out of the water and over the Volcanine cities. Their shuttle zipped through tunnels that arched through tall, rocky slopes covered in magma over a land of volcanoes of different shapes and sizes. The shuttle tube branched out into networks of tunnels where Ferrethawks soared through the ash-filled skies, releasing white clouds and air currents that carried many humans, Volcanines, and Aquabunnies to safety.

Suddenly, a loud cry echoed through the tube. Their Shuttle was swaying, and their room started to spin.

Loalla gave a scream. "Drake! Drive straight!"

The Shuttle gave another jolt.

"Eek!" Drake whined, glancing at the rearview mirror. "There are Shuttles heading in our direction!"

Risa turned to see Windsor and several Ferrethawks and human masters of their Elite Rank in their own shuttles, flying after them.

"Ferrethawks!" She cried. "Emperor Thepimus and our Elite Rank Combatants are here!" She dropped her mouth open. "And...lions are here." She spotted dark-skinned humans, each accompanied by a lion with fiery flames and a spear at the end of their tails. "No way. Emperor Thepimus contacted the Lavalions! All the way from across the world!"

Randy gasped. "No way. Those flame-headed lions came all the way here to help us?"

"What?!" Loalla glared over her shoulder, baring her fangs.

Suddenly, a long-bodied eel-like beast stuck its head their shuttles and released a lightning bolt that struck the inhabitants. Drake, Loalla, Risa, Randy, and the Iciclaw screamed.

Risa shook herself. "What was that?!"

Randy groaned. "I think that was an Electrikeel. We must be trespassing into the Stray Clan territory of electrical genopet eels."

The Electrikeel struck their tube again and the lights in the vehicle went out. The shuttle crashed straight into the wall of the water tube.

"Drake!" Loalla's scream sounded in the darkness. "Help me fight off these intruders!"

As the two half-bloods leapt out of their crashed shuttle to fight the shuttles of Ferrethawks and Lavalions that surrounded them.

Risa whirled around to face the windows to their right. A colony of crossbred hog-bats was in their shuttle tube, each of them opening their wide mouths to reveal their extensive, sharp fangs. "Ahhh! Hog-bats!" She screamed. "Another Stray Clan species are attacking!"

"Hey," Randy pointed toward Apollo. "I think he's breaking free from his frozen state!"

Risa turned and watched as the ice slowly melted around Apollo's red-orange body. As soon as he was able to move, he lowered his head toward Lester and a small burst of flames erupted from his volcano. Lester let out a screech and spun in the air.

"Argh! Why you—" he glared down at Apollo, but then paused as the Volcanine ran toward an opening in the shuttle, leaping out to release fireballs toward the two half-bloods that were slashing at Windsor, a group of Elite Ferrethawks, and a dozen Lavalions. "Lavalions?! What in Hox's name is going on?"

And they weren't the only species in the shuttle tube. Another shuttle was flying up behind them. A familiar blue-haired Aquabunnesian girl was sitting in the front seat.

"Devina! Bianca!" Cried Risa. She watched as the top of their shuttle opened.

"Watch out!" Bianca leapt out and summoned a strong whirlpool beside their shuttle, blocking the golden dust that Lester extinguished. The golden dust spun in the whirlpool, turning the entire spinning vortex a brimming, shining yellow. The incoming Hog-bats were sucked into the eye of the whirlpool.

"Ahh!" Devina screamed and fell over as a Hog-bat escaped and crashed into the tube, flapping its flat, black wings. The genopet leapt onto Drake's back and ripped its talons across his neck, making the man scream with agony.

Bianca hopped toward the fighting Lavalions, Ferrethawks, and half-bloods. She spun her long, drooping ears to summon a whirlpool, and then flicked her flipper. The whirlpool caught all of them in its vortex. Risa felt herself spinning and spinning until she fell from the bottom of the whirlpool and tumbled into a dry, airy tunnel.

She raised her head, and gazed around the dark, shadowy room around her. Behind her, water was pouring through an opening in the ceiling. Randy and Apollo fell through it, both landing on their sides.

"Risa! Devina!" Randy cried. "Are you guys there?"

"Yes!" Shouted Risa. "Is everyone alright?"

"Not exactly," Apollo growled, shaking his fur. "Water is not good for my power-cells!"

Randy gazed around, narrowing his eyes. The sounds of shouting voices and deep growling sounded on the other side of the walls. Steam filled the room, and the walls were leaking with green chemicals.

"We must be under the Cobrazorian Emperor's Lab!" Gasped Randy. "The shuttle tube route Drake and Loalla were taking must have led here."

The room suddenly began to shake. To the left, turbulent waves were crashing down the halls, heading their direction.

"Great Hox, look out!" Screamed Devina.

They turnedto race down the tunnel. But Risa felt ice-cold claws slash at her heels. She screamed and fell forward on her chin.

"Risa!" Lester stopped in midair and turned to face down at his master.

Risa felt her body turned to ice. Her vision spun for a moment, and the last sound she heard was Loalla's shrill cackle.

Risa opened her eyes, her head spinning. She sat up, panting, only to gasp and hold her breath. Several meters down the aisle was the tall, dark figure of Nokio Okimoto. Though he hidden in the shadows, Risa could easily recognize his thin, gangly figure. In front of him was another figure hidden in the darkness. Beside the other figure was a four-legged beast with a long, noodle-like tail. Claws flexed from its paws, extending to almost a yard in front of it.

It must be an Iciclaw, thought Risa. Nokio must be speaking with an Iciclaw!

She heard the hushed voice of the Iciclaw speaking to Nokio. "I owe you my life," her voice was feminine, though with a familiar hard-edged tone that made Risa's blood run cold.

Great Hox. That's Lady Belladonna! She widened her eyes at the shadowy form of her Iciclaw. And Isis.

Lady B continued to speak in her icy voice. "Thank you, Nokio, for risking your life to see me...to save me."

Nokio touched the shadowy figure's cheek with the back of his hand. She was almost as tall as he was.

"It better be worth it, Empress Belladonna," the Cobrazorian spoke in his dark tone. "You have no idea how stressed I've been."

"I can only imagine," chortled the Iciclawese Empress. "But I promise you, Nokio, I will make sure your efforts will pay off. The entire Iciclaw Clan will make sure of it. Once the Volcanines are gone, it will be much easier for my clan to grow stronger and rise to power. The Cobrazorians will never suspect the sudden end of their short reign of terror after the Cleansing."

Risa narrowed her eyes. Sudden end? Short reign of terror? What was Empress Belladonna talking about? Risa stood up to her feet and stepped closer, staying close to the white wall beside her.

Nokio gave a disgruntled murmur. Risa was unable to comprehend. She watched as the Iciclaw beside the lady swished its long, skinny tail. "Don't say that," she hissed. "Your mother's a well-respected member in our clan. She would never let anyone hurt you when the time comes for the Iciclaws to rule the forest."

Empress Belladonna nodded. "And neither will I, my love," she lifted her arm and held Nokio's thin face with her cold, skinny-fingered hands. "You've done so much for us, and I know you will continue to help us grow stronger. Though Emperor Hozami, Prime Zexel, and all the other Cobrazorians may see themselves as superior to us, you are the only one who understands which clan really deserves to rule Wildheart Forest."

Nokio gave a slight nod. "Of course. The Iciclaws were the first genopets modified in this forest. Your species deserves to increase in power."

Empress Belladonna nodded. "And as the first race of humans to train genopets in this first, only Iciclawese and Iciclaws can work in the Beginning Rank Administration, where they work together to regulate the schedules of Beginning Rank training periods for the first week of the year. But we deserve more." She pushed a strand of hair from Nokio's eyes. "I'm glad you, of all Cobrazorians, would understand."

Risa watched as she leaned forward and kissed Nokio on the lips. The two of them endured the kiss for a moment, and then Lady B drew back and turned to Isis. "We must return to the surface and help your clan in the battle."

Isis hissed. "This may be the last time we will ever help you Cobrazors. Next time, you may be facing us Iciclaws in a battle like this."

Nokio gave a quiet chuckle. "Let's not hope it comes to that."

He watched as the two of them turned and raced toward the doors at the far end of the room. As soon as they were out of sight, Risa took a step back. Great Hox, what have I just heard? I gotta get out of here and think about this more clearly. But suddenly, Nokio's voice made her pause.

"I wouldn't step outside if I were you," he spoke in a dark tone. "Vitalia's out there. She'll kill you right away."

Risa blinked. She looked around the lab, and realized there was no sign of Vitalia. She narrowed her eyes at the violet-haired young man. "Why isn't she here with you? "

Nokio kept his back to her as he spoke in his dark, unfriendly tone. "She would never do that."

Risa tilted her head. "What are you talking about?"

Nokio looked over his shoulder. Through the shadows, she could see the glare in his eyes. "Vitalia knows nothing about what's come between Empress Belladonna and me."

"Oh?" Risa almost laughed. "Don't tell me you and Empress Belladonna are secretly—"

The threatening glare on Nokio's face made Risa stop smiling. "Hmm. Devina would love to see this."

"I never loved Devina," he snapped.

"I can see that now. You only used her to get the Aquabunnies to trust you, since she's the Aquabunny Emperor's daughter."

Nokio narrowed his eyes. "If you ever speak to her about what you just saw, I'll kill you."

She stiffened. Then she spoke in a soft tone. "I won't tell Devina anything. But at least explain to me what's going on here. What exactly are the Iciclaws planning? And why in Hox's name are you—a Cobrazor—helping them?"

Nokio sighed. He hung his head and spoke without looking at her. "I carry the same weakness my mother carries. I've always been attracted to the Iciclaws, both the genopet and the humans that train them. Empress Belladonna and I fell in love almost three years ago before she became Empress. When she finally rose to power as the first female clan leader, she and I would always spend time in her castle, the same place where she allowed my mother to spend time with the Iciclawese she had fallen in love with before he died."

Risa listened, feeling her heart race with awe. "Does your mother know about your relationship with Empress Belladonna?"

"Of course," growled Nokio. "There's nothing more both of us want than to have me join the Iciclaws. But that can't happen until the Iciclaws grow stronger."

Risa blinked. "So you're planning to let the Iciclaw Combatants train harder until they're strong enough to fight the Cobrazors?"

Nokio nodded. "They are the masters of winter. They regulate the cold and are responsible for all the snow, hailstorms, and ice our forest receives throughout the year. Thus, their species is also a hindrance to the prosperity of our clan. But with the Volcanines growing in power, they have fallen behind in the Genopet League. They aren't as strong as they used to be, so my clan hasn't had any trouble with the Iciclaws." He raised his head. "But once we get rid of those Volcanines, my clan will be the next one to rise to power. Then, the Iciclaws can grow strong again. Hopefully they can grow strong enough to become number 1 in the League and rule the forest, like they truly deserve."

Risa frowned. "Okay, so let me get this straight. You're helping your clan make it to the top of the League, but secretly, you want the Iciclaws to be number 1. At the moment, they're helping you get rid of a common enemy—the Volcanines—but after that, you will focus on helping the Iciclaws get rid of the Cobrazors and your very own clan."

Nokio continued to glare at her. "There's no need to repeat everything you just heard me discuss with Empress Belladonna."

"What about the Rodin side effects? I thought you were going to let the Iciclaws suffer from the side effects, just as you did with the Aquabunnies."

"I learned the secret formula to create a treatment for the side effects," said Nokio. "It's not exactly a cure, but it's the best treatment to diminish the severity of organ purging once it takes place. I created it, using a variety of Cobrazor venom and some added chemicals."

Risa raised her eyebrows. "So that's why Empress Belladonna and Prime Isis met you here? You wanted to give them the treatments?"

Nokio nodded.

Risa stared at him, not knowing what to say. When a few moments of silence passed, she gave a small chuckle. "Well, I guess I can see why you would keep your alliance with the Iciclaws a secret. Emperor Hozami would hate the Iciclaws even more if he lost his wife and his own son to their clan."

Nokio's eyes grew narrower. "Emperor Hozami is not my father."

Risa stiffened. "What?"

Nokio slowly got up and stepped out of the shadows. Risa's heart skipped a beat. In the dim light, she noticed the streaks of white on his purple hair.

"Y-you're a mixed-blood..."

Nokio narrowed his eyes. "My mother is Dame Zierra, a pureblood Cobrazor. My father is Sir Claudius, the Iciclawese she had fallen in love with."

Risa was speechless. She stared at him with her mouth slightly open.

Nokio went on, "I keep the streaks on my head hidden because I use a special dye that I apply every week. Vitalia cultivates the potions that I use to make it, but she doesn't know that I'm using it for that purpose. She knows nothing about my mixed-blood heritage. I've covered my scent with a special drug called Isoscelax, which involves an ingredient that only the Iciclaws cultivate. With it, they can hide their scent from other species so that they are unable to smell their blood and feel the typical rage against their species. But it's a very rare and expensive resource. Luckily my mother has been rich enough to purchase enough for me so that I can become the strong Combatant I aim to be."

"In a clan you don't even like," Risa narrowed her eyes.

Nokio looked to the side. "It's not that I don't like the Cobrazors. I share a lot in common with them, from their cold, ambitious personalities to their tall physique. But that's the reason why I would prefer not to stay with them forever." He looked down, letting his hair fall to the the side of his face so that Risa was unable ot see his expression. "We Cobrazors are very narcissistic and deceitful. Even among each other. I can't stand living with a bunch of Combatants who are almost as smart and strong as I am."

"But you're stronger than all of them," said Risa. "At least that's what your battle record says. You and Vitalia have the highest winning streak, not only in the entire Cobrazor Beginning Rank, but also of all Beginning Ranks in the League."

Nokio turned and faced her with his fierce, dark glare. "Exactly. And I know my fellow clan-mates are jealous of me. They may never show it, but I know them well. Every Cobrazor aims to be the strongest in the clan, and just like they would do anything to become the strongest species in the forest, each individual Cobrazorian and his pet would do anything to become the strongest Combatant pair within the clan." He clenched his fists. "I hold the highest winning streak in my Rank at the moment, and I want it to stay that way. Without constantly worrying about being replaced by one of my surrounding clan-mates. I'll never escape the constant stress and fear as long as I remain in this Cobrazor Clan."

Risa gazed at him with wonder. "But Nokio, you're only a Beginning Combatant. It's not like you've invested too much with Vitalia yet, so you can still leave your clan and join the Iciclaws once the year is over. You can be happy in the clan you feel most at home in."

"It's not that easy," snapped Nokio. "Vitalia and I excel together. We make great progress. And the Cobrazors are almost at their peak—if we wipe out those Volcanines, our clan will be number 1, and we would move on to the Silver League of the Genopet League Cycle."

Risa huffed. "Sounds like you're taking a huge risk. You could just reveal your true identity, join the Iciclaws, and help them grow strong. But instead, you choose to live in hiding and strengthen an entire clan you're prohibited to keep in touch with."

Nokio looked away again. "I don't mind living in hiding. It's better than suffering the same stigma you suffer as a mixed-blood."

Risa narrowed her eyes. "Wow, all this time I thought you were strong, immovable, and brave. But you're just a coward, afraid to reveal your true identity and embrace it. I'm a mixed-blood, but I want to stay in my birth-clan because I love the genopets there and there's nothing more that I want than to be a Ferrethawkian Healer. But you—you want to hide your mixed-blood identity and avoid being frowned upon by society."

Nokio met her gaze. A sly smile cracked on his face. "Sounds like we both face a dilemma that's similar, yet still very different."

Suddenly, a loud cry sounded. Risa flinched. She heard Lester's screech and the hissing sound of a Cobrazor. "Oh, great Hox! Lester!"

She raced out of the room and gazed down the hall. Lester was tussling with the long-bodied, lavender king cobra genopet. Vitalia finally let out a sharp cry, spinning around to slither away, disappearing behind the corner of the wall. But by doing so, she had flung the Ferrethawk against the wall, banging him against his side.

Risa covered her mouth. She watched as Lester fell limp onto the floor. The genopet began shivering violently. Suddenly, blood was leaking out of his mouth, and he began to cough. The coughing instantly grew worse. Huge chunks of thick blood flew out of his mouth, covering the floor and the walls with an oozing, dark-red substance.

"Great Hox, the Rodin side-effects are kicking in," Risa was breathless.

Nokio walked up to her side. "They're gonna get far worse than this, since he has been taking them for so long," he muttered. He turned to her and handed her a bottle. "Take this," he mumbled. "This is the Diminisher. It's the treatment I just mentioned to you a few moments ago. It may not stop the organ purging from returning, but at least it will ease the severity and quantity of the purging."

She took the small bottle and gazed at it with wonder. Then she looked up. "Thank you so—"

There was no sign of Nokio. She winced, and then gazed down the hall to see his tall, dark figure turning around the corner where Vitalia had disappeared.

Then she turned and raced up to Lester. The Ferrethawk was limp and unmoving now, surrounded by a pool of thick blood and dark-red globs. As she stared at the unmoving beast, her heart ached with more fear than disgust. She had never seen her fierce pet look so helpless.

"Oh, Lester..." she squeezed her eyes shut and looked away. She couldn't bear to see him so critically wounded. But then she opened her eyes and caught sight of a cabinet of Lux Potion behind her. Suddenly, it hit her. Of course! Lux Potion postponed the organ-purging, so it must have some kind of chemical that temporarily stopped the Pink-Dust from spreading in the bloodstream. Then she looked at the Diminisher in her hand. It must contain ingredients that weakened the effect of Pink-Dust, although not completely since the user would still experience a small amount of the organ-purging side effect. Perhaps if the Pink-Dust wasn't actively spreading throughout the bloodstream, it might be easier for the ingredients in the Diminisher to target the Pink Dust and weaken it until it is completely useless.

She took a deep breath as she stood up and took one of the bottles. She was going to give it a try.

Lester sniffed at the Diminisher. Risa smiled. "And you can thank Nokio for handing me that."

"Thank Nokio...?" Lester's chatters were slow and slurred. "Ugh...I'll never thank another Cobrazor for the rest of my life."

Risa chuckled. "If he hadn't given me this, I probably would have never found a way to completely help you."

Lester frowned. Then his expression diminished and he almost seemed to be looking at her with an exhausted, but grateful, expression. "You're my true hero," he said quietly.

Risa smiled. She hugged her Ferrethawk. "Oh, I'm so glad you're alive."

A quiet moment passed between them. Lester snuggled in her arms and affectionately nosed her cheek.

  22. Lester

Lester woke up, blinking at the blinding bright light that surrounded him.

Great Hox, where am I? He gazed around himself. He was settled on what seemed to be a soft, billowing cloud surrounded by golden light. Am I dead?

He turned to face forward. A streak of light was shining a few yards in front of him. He looked up the streak and saw a pair of two shining Ferrethawks descending. As they neared him, he started to notice their features. The Ferrethawk to the right had amber eyes with fur as black as his own. She had beautiful black, hawk-like wings. And she was smiling at him. A tender, motherly smile. Golden light surrounded her, as well as the Ferrethawk that hovered next to her. His fur was light-gray, just like Milo's. It was his father and the former Prime Genopet, Boreas.

For once in what felt like such a long time, Lester felt a surge of happiness flow through his veins.

"Mother...father..." he whispered.

They smiled calmly at him, and held out their small, clawed hands. He came forth, and they embraced him with a warm hug. And Lester embraced them too.

"We love you, Lester," his mother was speaking to him in hoxtongue. "You're our son. Our noble genopet Combatant."

Lester shut his eyes, suddenly feeling shameful. Noble was the last word to describe how he felt.

His father now spoke, also in hoxtongue. "Be brave, Lester. But be wise. Your powers are to be used for the good of all genopets—not just for own species. Our instincts and urges to resent other clans should be used to maintain loyalty to your own species, but they should not be used to harbor hatred for the other clans."

Lester blinked. "So you're saying we should let Mother Nature tell us what to do and feel what she makes us feel toward other clans. But at the same time, we shouldn't let those feelings become dominant. That sounds rather difficult."

Boreas nodded. "It's difficult to be both a beast of Mother Nature and a beast modified by man. But it's rather beneficial. Both Mother Nature and Man can teach us some useful behaviors. While Mother Nature's unavoidable voice probes us to resent a species different from our own, we can learn to use the urges to maintain a strong loyalty to our clan. But at the same time, we can work with man and learn to control what feelings Nature gives us."

Lester snorted. "But man isn't so good at controlling his feelings either. Just look at what Emperor Thepimus did to Risa's mom. Just look at how Risa let her feelings for Randy nearly sabotage our relationship with each other!"

Lusera hovered forward. "Man is not completely separate from Mother Nature. No beast is. But of all the beasts on this planet, man is the only one that has distanced himself from Mother Nature the most. Thus, she has the least control over him now."

"And as a result, man's instincts have grown stronger." Added Boreas.

Lester tilted his head. "So man can decide for himself now. He know longer has to rely on Mother Nature to guide him."

"Yes. But there's something you should keep in mind when you compare the influence of Mother Nature and Man: Mother Nature is not the reason we genopets can easily hate other species."

Lester winced. "Huh?"

Boreas dipped his head. "Mother Nature never wanted her children to fight among one another. No, she only wanted her children to notice the differences among other species, and concentrate on the prosperity of their own. That's why we all feel the urge to survive and reproduce. It's because Mother Nature places a strong emphasis on the law of survival of the fittest. Therefore, her voice allows us to distinguish our species from the others, but she never wanted different species to hate one another."

"Then why does she speak in such a monstrous tone when I smell a different species? If she just wants us to notice the differences without any judgment involved, she should speak in a less forceful, hateful tone."

Boreas's whiskers twitched. "Her tone was never that dreadful. The only reason why we hear her speak that way is because we've been under the influence of man too long. Like we said, man is still under the power of Mother Nature, regardless of how much he's distanced himself. Although he has learned to control his hunger, become self-aware, and feel empathy with less difficulty, Mother Nature's 'survival of the fittest' law still exerts controls over him. For example, he can still distinguish his species from other species as well. But he has learned to distort that natural perception, and perceive his distinction as something to be valued. He prides himself in his own species, and aims to be the dominant species over all others. Even among his own. That's why it's so easy for humans of different clans to hate one another, even if they are all the same species. They look at each other, notice subtle differences in their qualities, and to make themselves feel better, they convince themselves that their qualities are superior over the those of other humans in their species."

Lusera nodded. "Though they aim to train us so that we overcome some of the negative qualities Mother Nature gives us – such as the inability to feel empathy and lack of self-awareness— they've made minor mistakes and have instead trained us to be worse. Whether they know it or not, they are the reason why we feel so resentful toward other species. The Cobrazors want to be superior, not because Mother Nature is telling them to be, but because of Man's prejudiced influence."

Lester stared at his parents, stiffened. "So all my impulses and uncontrollable urges were sparked by both Mother Nature and Man."

Boreas swished his tail. "Yes. Therefore, we must not rely solely on Mother Nature or Man. We would return to our dumb, indifferent selves if we only relied on Mother Nature's guidance, but we would become too impulsive and prideful if we relied on Man's guidance alone. We must learn to balance the instincts we receive from both of them, if we want to function as true genopets in this world."

Lester hung his head. "I've already let my urges get the best of me."

When a few moments of silence passed, Lusera's nose touched his forehead. "It's not too late, Lester. You can still clean up your mess and then learn to develop a better way of thinking."

Lester huffed. "How can I think better if neither Mother Nature nor Man can be completely trusted?"

Boreas chuckled. "Man and Mother Nature aren't the only sources of influence in this world. Since your mother and I have left your world, we've passed onto another life and have learned that there are other forces out there, some much stronger than even Mother Nature herself."

Lester tilted his head. "Where exactly are you guys now? And what kinds of forces have you encountered?"

Lusera chortled. "My son, we cannot give too much away right now. All we can tell you is that there are forces, other than Mother Nature, influencing the world and all its inhabitants right now. There are actually some humans out there who dedicate their lives to studying these hidden forces to understand how the world really works. But no one has yet achieved a complete understanding."

Lester bristled. His mind was starting to spin with confusion now. He looked down. "I just wish Redbone didn't take you away from me. It's not the same if I'm continuing to live on earth while the two of you are...Hox knows where."

Lusera chuckled. "Not even Hox knows where we are. Like I said, no living beast understands how these hidden forces work. There's so much the beasts don't know, so much that not even man has uncovered."

Boreas leaned forward and touched noses with him. "But it's time for you to leave us and wake up in your world. The Volcanines need help out there—you cannot let another clan species die off nor can you let another species takeover the entire forest. Your main goal should be to maintain balance in your world. Use Mother Nature's gifts to take care of your species but use your man-made superpowers to maintain balance in the environment. And most importantly, use both gifts to ensure the prosperity of all species in your habitat."

Lester stared into his parents' bright eyes. He felt his heart start to warm. He bid them a quiet farewell, and then watched as the two of them turned and spread their wings. They flew further up into the bright sky and disappeared behind a group of shiny, billowing clouds.

"Wake...wake..." Lester woke up to the sound of Mother Nature's faint voice in his head. He found himself in a dark room, the same place he had been before he had lost consciousness.

"Lester?" He recognized Risa's voice. He turned to see her kneeling beside him with two empty bottles in her hand. She brimmed as he met her gaze. "Oh, thank Hox, you're alive!"

Lester slowly sat up. "Ugh... did you just cure my side effects?"

"I'm not sure if I cured them..." said Risa, gazing at the two empty battles. Then she set them aside and grabbed his slender body. "Oh, but I'm so glad you're still alive!"

Lester stiffened as she held him against her chest, embracing him. He was inhaling her scent. But for once, he couldn't hear Mother Nature's dreadful tone. Instead, he heard the soft sound of a voice telling him, "Wake...wake..." he was struggling to remain conscious.

Lester closed his eyes and didn't struggle in Risa's grip. She saved me. She really does care about me.

He held his breath as he nosed his master affectionately, giving her soft Ferrethawk kisses that he had seen so many other Ferrethawks do to their masters.

Then they gazed into each others' eyes.

"Let's get you back to our territory and into hospital," said Risa. "We must have a Healer treat your wounds and...your missing organ pieces."

Lester tilted his head. "What about the Volcanines?"

Risa blinked. "There are a few still fighting. Why?"

"Well, we ought to help them," said Lester, narrowing his eyes. "We can't let the Cobrazors become number 1 in the League. They'll gain too much power and the imbalance in Wildheart Forest will be worse than it was with the Volcanines."

Risa widened her eyes. "You actually want to help the Volcanines. But Lester, you're hurt! You're missing organs! You'll probably collapse any minute if I don't take you to a Healer soon."

"You stay here and help the Volcanines," Lester insisted. "I can make it back to our territory myself."

Risa gasped. "Lester, are you sure?"

He nodded, gazing deeply into her eyes. "I've got enough energy to fly back and take a few wounded Volcanines with me."

"Oh...Lester..." a smile was forming on Risa's face, though her eyes still betrayed worry. "I'm

Lester flew pass her. "Well, let's hurry up! If you want me toget to a hospital right away, let's get going!"

They made their way through the underground tunnels until they emerged out of a manhole in the Volcanine territory. But as soon as they climbed out of the manhole, a loud hiss sounded behind them. Vitalia was slithering behind them. "There you are, mixed-blood!" She hissed.

She darted forward and jabbed her tongue in Lester's forehead. The Ferrethawk shrieked. He fluttered back, feeling as light as a feather. Great Hox, how much have I purged? He steadied himself in midair and stared at the scene below him.

Risa was wrapped in Vitalia's slim, long body, gasping for. Vitalia tickled her chin, drawing blood on her skin with the tip of her spear-like tail. Risa gasped as the snake tightened. A green mist released from her nostrils and surrounded them both.

Lester narrowed his eyes. No non-clan species is hurting my human master. He exhaled, releasing Black Mist. As the smoke surrounded them, Vitalia released her grip and began thrashing and screaming. She snapped her fangs, trying to whip her tail and jab her tongue at Lester. But Lester breathed out another black cloud, this time straight at her face. Vitalia dropped to the floor and lied there, unmoving.

Then Lester raced through the city, releasing full-power on every Cobrazor in sight. I'll slay these Cobrazors if it's the last thing I do!

Made Cobrazors were screaming and collapsing from his powerful Black Mist. But one had avoided the spreading smoke. Lester spotted Zexel behind a flaming building, coiled around Apollo and Randy. He released another black cloud, making the snake cough and loosen his grip. Lester inhaled, summoning a gust of wind that swept Randy and Apollo out of his grip and into cleaner air. Lester maneuvered their bodies with his current and headed over the city to take them to the hospital.

"Lester, you're saving us," Randy coughed, gazing at him with awe.

Lester frowned. "Great Hox, I know that, you think I'm blind?"

"Hey..." Apollo peered down. "The Cobrazors are fleeing! Lester, your Black Mist is really getting to them!"

Lester watched as his great black cloud expanded, overwhelming the pink dust in the air. Many snakes slithered toward the easternmost part of the city, where the Toll Volcano was settled. There, a group of Aquabunnies awaited them. They spun their ears, releasing let a wave of water that washed many of them out of the city and back toward their own territory.

"Fools! Weaklings!" Lester gazed down and saw Zexel slithering below him, watching as his fellow Cobrazors and their humans fled pass him. He stopped and turned to see Risa passing him. She was locked in battle with three tall Cobrazorians boys, whipping at them with her feathery whip. They dodged her attacks and waved their own, thorny whips back. Finally, Risa stopped striking at them. She waved her spin in rapid circles above her head, and then jumped up. She hovered a few feet into the air, out of their reach. Then she aimed her spinning whip down, soaring back toward the humans and whipping them all in different directions. Lester watched as they crashed into buildings, or got up and ran away.

"Fine then," hissed Zexel, narrowing his eyes at the sight. "I'll kill the mixed-blood myssself."

Zexel lunged at Risa, jabbing his tongue into her neck. She let out a loud gasp and fell to her side, l unconscious.

"Risa!" Lester stopped in midair, and landed Randy and Apollo on a tree.

But before Lester could do anything, golden dust blew pass them, nearly knocking them off the tree. A current of golden dust was blowing through the land, clearing up the Black Mist. Lester turned to where the source of the golden dust was coming from. He looked up in the sky and spotted a strange, bug-like creature hovering in front of golden, billowing clouds.

"What?!" Zexel was wheezing as the golden dust embraced his body.

Lester looked up and stared at yhe familiar form of a long-bodied praying mantis with bulging alien eyes hovered above the great snake.

"What in the..." Randy's eyes were wide.

"It's...it's him," said Apollo.

"Hox," Zexel whirled around and hissed the name of the genopet.

Risa sat up and gazed at the hovering bug-like genopet in the sky. "Looks like your forefather isn't very happy that you broke his law."

Zexel swayed his head as he watched the shining genopet descend from the sky. "I'm not afraid of you," he hissed. "I'm the one who's magnified my powers. Pretty soon, I will be the strongest species in this forest...even stronger than the great forefather himself." He lunged forward to sink his fangs into Hox's side.

Lester, Randy, Apollo, and Risa all gasped at once.

A blast of white light emerged from the tear in Hox skin, overwhelming both Zexel and the bug-like genopet. Risa screamed and raised her arms to cover her face. She was lying right beside them, and the light was blinding her face. Lester dived forward and swooped down, blowing Risa back from the overwhelming, expanding light.

Finally, the light disappeared. Hox and Zexel were nowhere to be seen.

  23. Risa

Risa opened her eyes. A cold, wet cloth rested on her forehead. She blinked heavily and gazed at the pale face of a young man. He had white-blond hair that hung pass his shoulders.

"Kyrion?" She gasped.

"Hello, Risa," he spoke in his soft, feathery voice. He lifted the cloth off her forehead.

She raised her head and looked around. She was lying beneath a tree on a wide, grassy meadow. Up ahead, she could see a small small village of boulder-homes where humans and Blossombucks were wandering around shiny-coated boulder-homes.

"Wh-what? Blossombucks? Am...am I dead and in some sort of afterlife with the extinct species?"

"No, no," said Kyrion softly with a chuckle. "We're in a Stray Clan's territory, because all the hospitals in our territory are full. But don't worry—the Blossombucks are very hospitable, and since you only need to have your wounds healed, we are welcome to purchase some treatments from their territory to help you."

Risa blinked. She felt woozy. "Wh-where's Lester?"

He smiled. "Your pet was very brave. He finished off the last of the Cobrazors, and he brought Randy and Apollo to our clan's hospital. He insisted on helping out many of the other Ferrethawkian healers at the moment, since there are a flood of wounded, Pink-Dust diseased patients, but Lula and I convinced him to find a Healer to take care of his own wounds. He's resting in a room in the same hospital Milo had rested in."

Risa smiled. "That's wonderful." Then she blinked. "What exactly happened to Zexel?"

Kyrion rubbed her forehead and spoke carefully, "I'm not so sure. But Lester told Emperor Thepimus and Prime Windsor about the incident with Hox. According to Windsor, Hox had taken him to his island, where he will be imprisoned for attempting to wipe out an entire clan species."

Risa sat up. "What about Emperor Hozami?"

"Hox took him too. So now, the entire Cobrazor clan will be under the rule of Nokio Okimoto and Vitalia."

"What?!"

Kyrion nodded. "Nokio and Vitalia hold a higher winning streak than any Elite Combatant. By the end of this month, they will be able to transition into the Elite Rank for the next year, and then immediately take the position as Emperor and Prime Genopet."

Risa's mouth was wide open. Emperor Nokio and Prime Vitalia, her skin grew cold as she thought of such names.

"Meanwhile," said Kyrion, "the 12th Genopet League battle between the Volcanines and the Cobrazors will be considered null. The Cobrazors will be put at the bottom of the League for their misbehavior."

"Wow that's amazing!" Risa beamed. "So the Volcanines are still number 1. Looks like their clan will fight in the Silver League again."

Kyrion laughed. "They would, although a ton of them are resting in our hospitals right now. They are in no shape for any kind of battle."

Risa blinked. "Wait...so then that means we're next in line."

Kyrion smiled. "Exactly. Thank Hox we beat the Iciclaws in our 12th battle. Now we get to move onto the Silver League."

"Great Hox!" She got up and cheered. "This is amazing! Well, not the fact that so many Volcanines are wounded, but the fact that we're moving to the Silver League! Lester and I are so ready for this!" She hugged Kyrion. "Oh, thank you so much. Lester's relationship would have never improved if you hadn't helped us train."

He hugged her back. "I'm sure you have nothing to worry about when you become a Healer now," he releaed her and nodded to his shuttle parked behind them. "Speaking of Healers, let's see how Lester's doing. The Ferrethawkian Healers in his hospital are concerned about how effective it was to give him a potion mixed with Lux Potion and Diminisher."

Risa gasped. "Oh right. I really hope I haven't made anything worse."

Kyrion flew Risa back to their territory and landed on the branch where the hospital building was settled. Risa walked by his side into the building, feeling her head throbbing with nervousness. She widened her eyes at how crowded it was inside, feeling an increase in her anxiety from the congestion. When she finally reached Lester's room, the Healers greeted her with warm hugs and their Ferrethawks released warm drafts of wind.

"Risa, your idea worked!" Cheered one of the ladies.

Risa blinked. "You mean Lester is going to live?"

The lady's Ferrethawk landed on her shoulder. "According to his X-rays, there's not a single trace of pink dust flowing in his bloodstream. Apparently, mixing Lux Potion with those chemicals worked!"

"Where did you find such chemcals?" The Healer was staring at her with her eyes wide. "Such ingredients and chemicals mixed into that potion are very rare."

Risa shook her head, feeling a surge of guilt. "I-I'm sorry I don't know." Though she still had mixed feelings about Nokio, she couldn't bring herself to mention his name. "But I do know that I found the potion in a bottle labeled "Diminisher."

The Healer looked over her shoulder as her Ferrethawk flew to the computer screen to check on the X-rays. "Hmm, well whatever it was, it's very complicated to make and requires rare resources that only the Cobrazors are capable of producing. That means it will take a long time before we cure all those Volcanines in our hospital."

Risa bit her lip. "I'll do as much research as I can," she promised. "I'm sure I'll find a way to find a cure for the other genopets, just as I've done for mine."

The Healer smiled. "That's great to hear. Well, if you'd like to see your pet, go find the second door to your left," she nodded at the opening over her shoulder.

Risa thanked the Healer and made her way toward the room. There was no sign of Lester in the tube.

"Lester?" She looked to her right and spotted the Ferrethawk hovering by the corner of the wall with his back turned to her. She stepped up to the ferret and gazed down the halls. "Hey, Lester, why are you—"

"Shh!" Lester pressed his tail against her mouth.

She followed his gaze and jumped back as she noticed the genopet he was staring at. "Vitalia!" She hissed.

The snake was coiled beside two thin figures: Nokio Okimoto and Dame Zierra. After a few moments, the three of them disappeared around the corner of tha hallway.

Lester began to hover forward. "Let's follow 'em."

"Are you kidding?" Hissed Risa. "You should be resting in your room!"

"And let the new Emperor of Cobrazors roam through our hospital like they're Ferrethawks?" Lester narrowed his eyes at her. "I'd like to know why Emperor Thepimus let those leaders and that Iciclaw in our hospital!" He turned and flew after them.

Risa hesitated, and then hurried after her Ferrethawk. She was curious too. She and Lester stopped at the end of the hallway and peeked around the corner. They saw Dame Zierra's prim, stick-thin figure heading down the halls with Vitalia coiled behind her. But there was no sign of Nokio.

"What the...?" Lester tilted his head. "Where's that amateur Emperor?"

Before Risa could reply, she felt a cold hand grab her arm and she whipped her head to see Empress Belladonna standing behind her.

"Curious, are we?" Lady Belladonna's voice was testy.

Footsteps approached Risa from behind. She looked over her shoulder to see Dame Zierra coming up to them. Her hawk-like eyes were staring straight at Lady Belladonna with a stern, unreadable expression.

"Empress Belladonna," she addressed her in a monotonous tone.

"Hello, Dame Zierra," Lady Belladonna smirked at her clan-mate. "I'm terribly sorry, but it appears that this troublesome girl and her naughty pet were following you around. As if they don't have any respect for non-clan members who are only here to visit a few of their friends in the hospital."

Risa stiffened as Dame Zierra gazed down at her through her sharp-ended, purple-rimmed glasses. "Oh," she muttered, sounding disgruntled. "I see..."

Lester curled back his teeth. "So there are Iciclaws and Cobrazors recovering in our hospital?!"

"Your Healers can heal illnesses caused by windstorms, can you not?" The Empress raised a pencil-thin eyebrow. "And I heard there was a recent breakthrough. Apparently, a cure for the Rodin side effects does exist, and it was discovered here in this hospital today."

Risa crossed her arms. "Right. You can thank me for that." And Nokio, who gave me the resources, she added silently.

Empress Belladonna didn't even glance at Risa. She turned her head to face Zierra. "Don't worry, Dame Zierra," Lady Belladonna tightened her grip on Risa's arm, making her gasp and hold her breath as she felt her body start to freeze. "I'll make sure this girl and her pet will pay for their nosiness." Risa felt her entire body freeze. Her entire vision went black.

Risa woke up in a shadowy room where stars twinkled on the ceiling. She was lying on a soft beside a purple wall covered with yellow spirals. She sat up, feeling dizzy, and looked across the room.

She widened her eyes.

Dame Zierra was sitting at a desk to the left of the sofa, tapping her fingers over the screen of her netphone. Panthero beside her, purring loudly.

The Iciclawese must have heard her gasp, for she had turned to gaze at Risa with her hawk-like eyes. Risa stiffened as Dame Zierra rose up from her chair and approached her with a glass of green fluid. "Drink this," she said, handing her the cup. "It will stop the infection."

Infection? Risa looked at her right arm where Lady Belladonna had grabbed her. There was a white bandage plastered across it. Then she looked up at Dame Zierra, gazing into her eyes. The lady was neither smiling nor frowning at her.

But Risa took the cup, feeling a minor surge of relief. She drank the fluid and then handed her back the cup. "Thanks..."

Dame Zierra gave a subtle nod and then turned to head back to her desk. "Has Nokio already spoken to you about his relationship with Empress Belladonna?"

"Yes. Yes he has."

She gave a slight nod. "Good."

Risa blinked. "It's a pity he doesn't want to live in the clan he feels most at home in, especially since he's got the freedom to choose. He's not a genopet, so he can choose whichever clan to live in without Mother Nature holding him back."

Zierra looked into her eyes. "My son is very adamant about becoming a success. It's not a surprise, since he's got Cobrazorian blood in him. But I'm not worried for him. Though he's Emperor of his clan now, he's promised to inform my clan about every future scheme he discusses with the Cobrazors. He'll find a way to help my clan become strong again, even if it will risk his leadership."

Risa wrinkled her nose. "I'm more concerned about his real reason to stay with the Cobrazors. He's not staying just to be a spy for them. He's staying because he's scared to reveal that he's a mixed-blood. And now, he's Emperor of a clan he doesn't like. It's better to be of average status in a clan you love rather than have high status in a clan you aren't very passionate about."

Zierra didn't take her hawk-like gaze off her. "But you're aiming for a high status in a clan you're passionate about, aren't you? You want to be a Ferrethawkian Healer?"

Risa nodded. She chuckled. "I mean, I'm love both the Volcanine and Ferrethawkian Clans. It's been difficult for me to choose, but after this, I'm most likely sticking to the Ferrethawkians since this whole incident with Pink Dust makes me want to learn more about airborne illnesses."

Zierra looked into her eyes. "I can help you with that."

Risa blinked at her. But Zierra continued speaking before she could question her. "I was the one who learned how to make the Diminisher," said the Iciclawese. "I have all the resources hidden in my house. I know what plants to grow, but seeds to cultivate, and what chemicals to mix. If you promise to keep his secret, I can teach you how to plant the sources for Diminisher. You can be the first Pink-Dust Healer to lead the first healers of pink-dust."  
Risa widened her eyes. "That...that sounds wonderful."

Dame Zierra turned to the small ovular bed at the corner of her room. "Ill have you and Lester battle Panthero and me first."

Risa flinched. "Battle you two Elite Combatants?!"

"If you beat us, you'll have your 300th win, wouldn't you?"

"Yes..."

Zierra gave a nod. "If you win, I shall teach you."

The crowds were cheering as the Beginning Ranks made their way down the aisle. It was the final day of the year, and the Beginning Combatants from every clan were gathered in the Arena to celebrate the Beginning Rank Graduation Ceremony. Empress Belladonna was at the front of all seven segregated groups of Beginners, calling out the names of each human master and pet. Each pair was separated into three groups in front of Empress Belladonna's podium at the center of the Arena, either in a group with Standard, Advanced, or Elite Combatants.

Finally, Empress Belladonna called out the names of Ferrethawkian Beginners. "Risa Larke and Lester," announced Empress Belladonna, her voice projecting through the Arena. "Elite Rank Combatants."

Risa's heart lifted. The Arena cheered, and the loudest cheers came from the Ferrethawkian and Volcanian Clans. She smield as she and Lester made their way down the aisle. But she couldn't help feeling goose-bumps as she passed Empress Belladonna. She could feel the Empress staring at her from the corner of her eye, watching her as she joined the group of Ferrethawkian Elite Combatants.

Her heart skipped a beat as she gazed at the Cobrazors. Nokio and Vitalia were at the front, glaring at her. None of their Cobrazorians and Cobrazors was cheering as she made her way down the aisle. Of course, they hadn't cheered for any Beginner pairs except for those that were from their own clan.

She locked eyes with Nokio without blinking. She was no longer scared of the mysterious man; rather, she had grown more suspicious of him. If he keeps his promise to the Iciclaws, they will be the next threat to the forest, Risa thought. She turned to where the Iciclaws were sitting, across from the Cobrazors. Empress Belladonna was gazing at her with the same icy glare. The Cobrazors may not be the most deceitful and dangerous clan after all.

Risa looked away from the Empress. She didn't have to worry about the other clans right now. At the moment, she only wanted to focus on her success with her pet.

"So, Doctor Pink-Dust," Lester muttered as they took their place behind all the Elite Combatants. "You're gonna rely on a non-clan member to enhance your career?"

"Nonsense!" Risa laughed. "Dame Zierra only promised to teach me how to grow the resources once. She's not going to offer me training sessions or anything. I have to learn how to do it by myself after she gives me the directions."

After the ceremony was over, Risa exited the Arena with Lester by her side. She ran up to Sir Odius and Dame Nadine, who both embraced her.

"Congrats, my love!" Sir Odius cheered. "See, I knew you would make it."

Hortense, Bondo, and Rosco squeaked and fluttered around Lester, congratulating him in hoxtongue.

"Thanks," she said, smiling. "I couldn't have done it without Lester."

Her Ferrethawk hovered by her shoulder. He turned to her and nodded. "Not bad, mixed-blood. I still have to hold my breath when I'm around you, but at least I can handle Mother Nature's voice in my head in case I don't."

She gave him a sideways smile. "That's good." She turned to see Annelle, Jynn, and Anya leaving with their Ferrethawks. The three girls were giggling softly. Annelle was followed by Sandicello, who was chittering with a gray, white-faced Ferrethawk.

"Milo!" Risa gasped. "Great Hox, he looks so much better now." Her heart warmed. The Ferrethawk still looked scrawny, but at least he was as healthy-looking as he had been before he was burned by Blue Flames.

Lester was nodding. When they saw Annelle, her friends, and their Ferrethawks approaching Kyrion and Lula, Lester gave a short squeak. "I'm gonna go give Milo a huge pat on the back. The runt wasn't battling for half the year, yet he still made it to the Standard Rank."

"Really?" Risa gasped.

Lester nodded. "He worked hard with Annelle and Sandicello after he recovered at the beginning of this month. It's a little awkward for Annelle, though, because now she's a Standard Combatant when she partners with Milo, but she's an Elite Combatant when she partners with Sandicello."

Risa frowned. "Oh great, she's an Elite Combatant too?"

"Yeah, and according to what Milo told me, she's also going to apply to become a Healer," he gave her a wink.

Risa rolled her eyes. "Wonderful."

Lester shrugged. "I'm just glad Milo doesn't have to repeat another year in the Beginning Rank." He turned to fly their direction.

Risa nodded. "Me too. I'll join you guys soon...there's something I was going to do first." She turned to excuse herself from Sir Odius and Dame Nadine and made their way toward the Volcanian tower of the Arena. She spotted Randy and Apollo to the left of the exit, watching Emberly leaving the tower with Shixy.

Risa chuckled. "Congratulations. There was no doubt you two would become Elite Combatants by the end of this year."

"Hehe, thanks," said Randy. "I'm just a little annoyed we didn't get to beat Nokio's record."

"But you guys did beat Emberly and Shixy, right?"

Randy grimaced. "Yeah, but they still made it to the Elite Rank."

Risa chuckled. "So have you applied for your job yet?"

"Yep! Apollo and I applied to be Core Bearers. We'll be working with other fire-like genopets at the core of the earth, regulating its heat and such."

"Well, you two better do a great job taking care of the earth." She looked over her shoulder. She saw Annelle, Milo, and the rest of their group dispersing. "Well, I guess I'll see you later. Kyrion's going to fly me back to our home trees."

Randy turned to her with a sideways smile. "Still can't own your shuttle?"

She wrinkled her nose. "Mixed-bloods can't have a license to fly their own shuttle. At least not those who live with Ferrethawkians."

"Hah! If you live with the Volcanians, anyone can have a shuttle."

"Well, Lester and I are going to be Healers now, so it will be worth putting up with all the inequalities in our clan, as long as we get to do what we love."

Randy nodded. "Well, considering you found the Pink-Dust cure, I'm sure you'll make a fantastic Healer with Lester."

Risa laughed. "Thanks, Randy."

She looked up in the sky, catching a flash of bright light. Soon, she was gazing at a slender, eight-foot-long, insect-like creature. A shroud of bright light surrounded its crescent body. No longer was she staring at a simulation, but she was staring at the true Hox himself. His golden jelly-like eyes were distinctive on his shiny-black body, while his long, scythe-like arms jutted beneath his body at 45-degree angles. He looked like a praying mantis, gazing at Risa a warm, golden gaze.

Risa found herself giving the forefather of genopets a small smile. Beside her, Randy gave a sigh. "Well, I'm gonna get going, Risa. But let's continue to have battles together!" He gave her his playful smile. "We're still going to have to win a certain number of battles a year in order to maintain our position in our Ranks."

She nodded. "Of course." She and Randy embraced each other for a long moment. She felt a surge of excitement as they held each other for what seemed like the longest, sweetest moment. Then they slowly released each other. As they parted ways, she looked over her shoulder to glance at him one more time. He and Apollo were already heading toward their Shuttle.

She turned and ran toward the shuttles by the Ferrethawk tower. Lester hovered up to her shoulder and accompanied her to the shuttles.

"You still have feelings for him, don't you?" Lester squeaked.

Risa turned to gaze at her pet. His eyes were narrowed, and his whiskers were twitching.

She sighed. "Of course I do. I'm still not sure if he sees me any more than just a friend yet, but I'm not too worried about it anymore. Whether I end up marrying him or not, I'm never going to leave our clan."

Lester gave a small snort. "Why don't you focus on the humans in your own clan? Kyrion is definitely into you."

Risa blushed. "Yes, I know that. But I don't feel the same way about him. He's a wonderful friend and I'm sure we'll grow even closer now that we're working in the same hospital together. But...I definitely don't feel the same way about him as I do for Randy." She huffed and gave a shrug. "But it's nothing to worry about. Like I said, I'm just happy you and I made it to the Elite Rank. We can finally practice being Healers now, and nothing will make me want to leave our clan, regardless of how things will fare between me and Randy."

She found Kyrion sitting in his shuttle, waiting for her. Lula was already in the back seat. She stepped in and sat beside Kyrion in the front seat, exchanging smiles with him. Lester settled in the back, touching noses with Lula.

Risa gazed out the window as they flew over the vast lake and the mainland of Wildheart Forest. They flew over the Volcanine territory, where Risa could notice a few restored flaming cities. Then they entered the two Toll Trees and entered their crowded territory of tall, gigantic trees. Risa smiled, watching as they flew through the numerous networks of branches and bridges until they approached their home trees.

