Story bought of this writer:
https://www.furaffinity.net/user/gamertron7500/

Art bought of this artist:
https://www.furaffinity.net/user/trevor-fox/


Coal Winter
Tom is an anthropomorphic grey wolf who enjoys going out on some long walks
during the calm nights after spending most of his days gathering resources and
helping out with some construction works around his area to help out his pack of
wolves to keep them developing and striving, as well as working out to help him gain
and maintain his strength for his heavy construction work while he takes his time off
from working. He also likes to sleep through the daylight while he rests from his
heavy work and intense workouts before getting up to carry out his duties when dusk
arrives as he always aims to try and do his best and help the other wolves out as
much as he can.
Tom lives inside a large cave that started off as a small den for a small pack of
wolves located on the side of a large mountain before it slowly began to expand into
a large cavernous resort for all kinds of wolves, whether if they’re seeking for a new
place to live, or if they want to have a short stay before heading out into the far
reaches of the wilderness to quench their thirst for exploration. He’s currently helping
some construction wolves out to finish their next project of expanding the cave once
more to make some more room for the slowly ever-growing pack of wolves as they
set some sturdy, rigid wood up.
“Hey, Tom! We need some logs up here!” Some construction wolves wave down at
Tom as they currently sit on their sturdy wooden scaffolding, banging some wooden
nails in place with their hand-made stone mallets on the columns of logs.
“You got it! Logs are coming up!” Tom smiles as he nods before walking over to the
large storage of logs as they’re about at least twice the length of his height, picking
one up with ease as he rests it on his left shoulder before picking up another two
large logs and hauling it across to the construction site.
“Tom, your strength never ceases to amaze me!” The construction wolf nods at Tom
as he sees him carry three large logs on his shoulder at once, a feat that’s purely
impossible to achieve, let alone see it happen right in front of their eyes.
“It’s what I always do best as we work hard and push ourselves as much as we can!”
Tom huffs as he makes his way back to the construction site, nodding and giving
them a smile as he places the logs down on a large wooden basket as it gets hoisted
up to the wolves up above in the scaffolding.
“I agree, Tom! We must keep on pushing ourselves as much as we can as once
we’re done with this project, we can all take a rest before we move on to the next
project.” One of the construction wolves talks to Tom while the others begin to slowly
drag the heavy logs out from the wooden cart, one by one.
“H-h-hey, boss!” One of the wolves calls for the wolf’s attention that’s talking to Tom.
“Yes, Frazz? What is it?” The wolf diverts his attention away from Tom as he looks at
Frazz, who is a scruffy and cranky wolf that’s aimlessly hammering the wooden nails
down on the sturdy logs, often missing it as there’s numerous dents and marks of
chipped wood from his missed poundings.
“W-w-we n-n-need so-some more l-l-logs f-f-fur th-th-this si-si-side! He-he-hehe!”
Frazz fidgets intensely as he shakes and blinks as he tries to hold the wooden nails
in place while constantly missing them by a fairly large margin.
“Oh, you’re right, Frazz! Say, Tom? Can you fetch us some more logs, please?”
“Of course, Snarl! I’ll fetch some more logs for you!” Tom nods to Snarl as he walks
over to the log storage area to pick up and haul another three large logs over to
Snarl.
“H-h-he’s a-a… str-strong w-wolf in o-o-our p-p-p-pack!” Frazz pants excitedly as he
frantically swings his mallet on the chipped and dented logs.
“Just watch your hand, Frazz. You’ll hurt yourself like that.” Snarl looks over to Frazz
for a moment before walking past him as Tom arrives to deliver some logs.
“H-h-hehe-he! I-I’ll b-b-be c-ca-caCAAWWWWWWWOOOOOOOOOOOOOWOOOWOOWOOWOOWOO!” Frazz
yelps as he hits his left hand with significant force, interrupting his dialogue as he
howls in pain as he immediately drops his mallet on the scaffolding as he shakes his
left hand in all directions while he blows on it to relieve his pain.
“Oh, Frazz…” Snarl facepalms on his face with his left hand as he shakes his head
left and right as he walks past the howling Frazz as Tom comes back to the
construction area with some logs.
With construction nearing completion, the construction wolves hammer the final
wooden nails and tie some cords of vines and leaves before they commence their
final inspection to ensure that the foundation is secure.
“Tom! You have been a great help to us!” Snarl smiles as he gives Tom a firm
handshake with his right hand.
“I’m glad that I can be of help to you, Snarl!” Tom nods as he smiles back at Snarl,
feeling proud of his efforts that he contributed to them.
“I-I-I-I’ll s-say th-th-that he-hehe-he’s a g-g-great w-wo-wolf in o-our pa-papa-pack!”
Frazz pants as he walks past Tom and Snarl with his left hand wrapped in some
twigs and leaves as it rests on top of his right arm while he’s being escorted by
another worker wolf.
“Is he going to be alright?” Tom asks as he notices the crazy injured wolf being
escorted away from them.
“Uh, he’ll be fine.” Snarl looks at Frazz with a bit of a concerned look on his face.
“He’s always been like that ever since he was a pup, you know…”
“What happened to him?”
“Oh, well, he just wanted to help everyone out, just like you, and that’s alright and all.
He just ended up taking a few unfortunate bumps on his head as he grew up, which
you can see the result of him now…”
Tom’s ears lower a little as he feels a bit sympathetic towards Frazz. “I feel bad for
him right now. I do recall seeing Frazz when I was a pup, and he was quite playful
with all kinds of various games that he often made up...”
“Yeah, he was a very playful pup. While he can be quite annoying at times, I feel like
we all should do our best to support anyone, no matter what.”
Tom smiles at Snarl as he agrees with him. “Yeah, you’re right, Snarl. It’s what we
do around here: We work together, help each other out and, more importantly, strive
together!”
“That’s the spirit, Tom!” Snarl smiles and nods at Tom. “Now, what do you think
about us heading down at the Cosy Cave Cafe for some fresh water?”
“I can certainly use a drink of some fresh water!” Tom nods as both he and Snarl
begin to walk down to the Cosy Cave Cafe. “All of this hard work is making me
thirsty! And hungry too!”
“Don’t you worry about that, Tom! With your help, our project is way ahead of our
schedule! If we carry on working hard like what we did today, we can certainly
complete it within a few days!”
“I’ll continue to help you out, no matter what!”
“It’s all going to be worth it in the end as this will make our future projects so much
easier for us!”
As Tom and Snarl head down to the Cosy Cave Cafe, a loud howl echoes through
the caves, immediately startling and stopping everyone with their activities as their
ears twitch and perk up as they look over to where the howling emitted before
making their way towards it.
“What’s going on?” Tom asks as he sees the wolves walk over to a small pathway
through the cave.
“I’m not sure, but it seems like the chief has something important to say to us…”
Snarl responds as he looks to see where the wolves are going before following along
with them, while Tom follows him from behind.
“Wait for me, Snarl!” Tom dashes towards Snarl to catch up to him before slowing
down to a walk as they follow the wolves down as it leads them through a small,
rocky corridor. It then reveals a fairly large area with a large comfortable and
crackling campfire in the middle of the room, filling the area with a warm yellow and
orange glow as the wolves slowly sit down around the campfire, all facing forward in
one direction as they look at a couple of large, muscular wolves donning some vines
and leaves as they wield a large wooden spear with a sharp stone point that’s about
as tall as their height. And in between them, an old, scruffy wolf sits in his throne
that’s made out of wood with some leaves around to decorate it as it creates some
comfortable cushions for his seat and his back.
“Oh, sorry. Excuse me, pardon me. My apologies…” Tom awkwardly steps around
between the seated wolves as they exchange some annoyed looks at Tom as he sits
down with Snarl while the rest of the wolves come in to sit around in the gaps that
are between the wolves.
“Is everyone here?” The wise wolf leader croaks as he sees all the wolves seated
down around the lit campfire through his semi-closed eyes. “Then we shall begin our
meeting.”
The wise wolf slowly gets up from his throne as he picks up his wooden stick before
walking forward towards the small ledge. “You all might be wondering why I called
you here, and I’m afraid that I have some bad news to share with you…”
The wolves sit silently as they all begin to feel concerned as to what the bad news
might be, whether it might be an attack or some other form of danger.
“Before you all begin to feel concerned about what the bad news might be, allow me
to reassure you all that there’s nothing wrong with me or the pack as there’s no
reported attacks with any other species…”
The wolves breathe a slight sigh of relief as they feel less concerned about some
bad news.
“However, this doesn’t mean that the news isn’t any worse…” The wise wolf croaks
once more as he takes a deep breath in and out. “We have a long and cold winter
coming up in just a few months. And this winter isn’t just like the other winters that
we went through…”
“The winter isn’t just like the other winters?” One of the wolves asks the wise wolf,
wondering what he means by that statement. “What do you mean by that?”
“The next upcoming winter period is going to last a lot longer than the previous
winters that we had, and it’s going to be colder. A lot colder…” The wise wolf
answers the concerned wolf’s question. “While we're indeed wolves and we’re very
good at withstanding the cold, I’m afraid that our ordinary fur isn’t going to do us
much good if the winter is going to be colder than it normally is…”
“But we’re wolves! We can withstand the extreme cold, can’t we?” Another
concerned wolf raises another question, making the other wolves nod.
“You might be right with that, but we cannot strive in the cold for too long as it will get
to us, one by one. That’s why I’m here to announce that we must focus all of our
efforts on gathering as much resources as we can before the winter period comes…”
The wolves begin to whine as they feel concerned about a dangerous winter period
that’s approaching imminently.
“This winter is too cold for anyone or anything to thrive, and all trees, lakes and
bushes will be frozen over, which will make it nearly impossible for us to gather any
resources for the winter…” The wise wolf explains further, slowly looking over the
anxious, fearful crowd of wolves that are sitting in front of him around the flickering
campfire. “We’ll have to make good use of our time now as time is of the essence
between our survival through the harsh winter period…”
“And how will we do that?” A young wolf raises their concern to the wise wolf.
“We need to spend more time and allocate more wolves to do some gathering and
hunting as much as we can as the sooner we do this, the better it is for us to prepare
and endure the oncoming winter period…” The wise wolf pauses for a moment as it
looks over his crowd of wolves who are awaiting his answer. “We will have to split
our pack into groups to each gather different resources as one group will gather
some wood, leaves and other burnable resources to keep us warm; the other group
will focus on gathering some food and water to keep us alive and well; and the third
group will focus on constructing some warm shelters for us to keep ourselves warm.”
The wolves nod and agree with the wise wolf’s plan for them to endure the harsh
winter period as they smile before beginning to howl in cheers.
“I agree with this plan!” A wolf calls out from the crowd.
“I will do whatever I can to help out!” Another wolf yelps.
“We will get through this harsh winter period!” A third wolf cries from the pack.
“Excellent!” The wise wolf controls the howling crowd of wolves as he slowly raises
his arms and waves it up and down, signalling the wolves to quieten down. “While
we all carry out our duties, myself and our trustworthy wolves here will keep an eye
out for any seasonal changes to warn you when it’s time to return. We will howl once
before the winter settles in, and again at least two more times to warn you all when
it’s time to return back to our den.“
The wise wolf pauses once more as he slowly returns back to his wooden throne as
he sits down and rests before croaking out once more. “You may all leave.”
As the wolves pour out from the wise wolf’s meeting cave, Tom walks out with Snarl
and Frazz as the three wolves converse with each other while they head to the Cosy
Cave Cafe, which they all sit down on some polished stone chairs with a large log
table to accompany at least four wolves.
“The harsh winter is coming?” Tom asks as he looks at Frazz and Snarl with a
worrisome look.
“I mean, it’s not something that I’ve heard for a very long time…” Snarl looks at Tom
as he takes a sip of fresh water from his wooden mug.
“I-I-I’ll s-say! I-I-I-I’ve ne-ne-nevv-v-ver he-heard of th-th-that s-s-since my gr-grgrandp-p-papppp-p-py to-to-told me a s-s-story when I was a-a p-pup!” Frazz pants
and wheezes as he noisily slurps some fresh water from his wooden mug with his
right hand while he rests his bandaged left arm on the log table, making a mess as
some water splashes and drips down on his scruffy fur. “I th-th-think it-it-it’s cr-crcrazz-z-zy!”
“Well, if the old wolf is telling everyone about it, then it must be true…” Snarl takes
another gentle sip of fresh water from his wooden mug.
Frazz slams his empty wooden mug down on the log table, letting out a heavy
wheeze before coughing and clearing his throat. “Y-y-you mean th-th-th-that ol’ f-ffella? He m-m-must be o-o-o-out of hi-hi-hi-his mind! He-he-he-hehe-ha-ha-haha!”
“Frazz! This is serious…” Tom’s ears drooped a little as he couldn’t help but feel bad
for Frazz not taking the upcoming winter season seriously before taking a small sip
of some fresh water from his untouched wooden mug. “We need to prepare
ourselves for the winter.”
“I agree, Tom. This isn’t a laughing matter to you or anyone else, Frazz. We need to
start preparing ourselves if we’re going to have a chance to survive through the
winter.” Snarl takes a long swig of fresh water from his wooden mug before putting it
down on the log table as he finishes his drink. “Although, you do have to admit that
this is some really fresh water that they have here! It’s honestly really refreshing!”
“Oh-oh yeah! I agree! This is the best fresh water that I ever tasted!” Tom’s mood
shifts from a concerned look to a bright smile as he notices the conversation switch
before gracefully taking a large gulp of some fresh water from his wooden mug. “It’s
really good!”
“Hehehehe! AWOOOOOO!” Frazz giggles as he then bursts into a howl before
slamming on the log table with his face.
*SLAM!*
Upon impact, the atmosphere around the cafe breaks into complete silence as all the
wolves quickly turn to Tom, Snarl and Frazz as they see the scruffy wolf lie face
down on the log table.
“Oh, don’t worry! He’s fine!” Snarl reassures the patrons as looks at them with a
nervous smile that’s running across his face.
“Yeah! He’s totally fine! We’re just tired after having a long day at work, and Frazzy
here has, uh… passed out!” Tom supports Snarl as they both stumble for a moment
before they pick the unconscious scruffy wolf up from the table before leaving.
“Well, I think that’s about it for tonight! I’m exhausted!”
“Me too, Snarl! Me too!”
The wolves continue to look at Snarl and Tom with some confused and awkward
expressions as they awkwardly carry Frazz out from the Cosy Cave Cafe until they
leave, which the patrons soon slowly resume chatting with each other while the
wolves leave the area and head back to their dens, starting with the unconscious
wolf as they open the wooden door that leads to Frazz’s den.
“Oh, Frazz. I hope that you’ll be okay, buddy…” Snarl sighs as he continues to escort
Frazz with Tom as they both lie the scruffy wolf down on his bed.
“For a scruffy wolf, he sure does keep his place nice and tidy!” Tom looks around
Frazz’s den after helping Snarl place Frazz on his tidy bed, seeing everything appear
all nice and tidy.
“He does have a bit of a habit of keeping things neat and tidy.” Snarl explains to Tom
as he walks over to Frazz’s collection of rocks on a wooden shelf as they range from
being in various mini towers to having unique shapes and colours. “He’s quite the
collector of some fascinating things as I’ve never seen any rocks look like this!”
Tom walks over to Snarl to see all kinds of rocks being in different shapes and sizes,
as well as being stacked in unusual forms. “He really likes anything that’s out of
place or unusually different, doesn’t he?”
“He does! It’s just like him as he’s different from every other wolf, including us, but
he’s still a part of our pack!”
“Just like these stones! They’re all different, but they’re all rocks!”
“That’s correct, Tom! You hit the wooden nail in the rock there!” Snarl smiles as he
nods and agrees with Tom’s answer.
“Thank you, Snarl! I appr-!” Tom gets interrupted by Frazz as the scruffy wolf snorts
and whines a bit before turning over to his left side with his back towards Tom and
Snarl.
“I think we should leave…” Tom quietens down as he slowly heads to the door to
leave Frazz’s den.
“Yeah, I agree. I think I might head off to bed as it’s been a long day for me.” Snarl
yawns with a whine at the end of his yawn. “It’s quite tiring when you’re handling a
large pack of wolves to make sure that our project is on schedule without any delays
or problems.”
“I can imagine that as you're quite capable of doing that really well.” Tom
compliments Snarl as he gives him a warm smile. “After all, I spend most of my time
working out and exercising as I do want to help out as much as I can.”
“And I can see that you’ve been doing that really well!” Snarl compliments Tom back
with a warm fanged smile on Snarl’s face. “Without your help, our project will never
be completed at this rate!”
“I’m glad that I can be of help to you and everyone else, Snarl!”
“I appreciate it! I’ll see you tomorrow at sunrise so we can make some more
progress on our project!” Snarl waves goodbye at Tom as he heads back to his den
to sleep through the night.
“I’ll see you tomorrow as well! I’m going out for a nice walk in the woods tonight!”
Tom waves goodbye as the two wolves both walk in separate ways as Tom heads
out through the main entrance of their cave area.
Cricket chirps in the night, accompanied by the occasional hoot from a distant owl as
Tom leaves the main entrance of his large home that accompanies a large pack of
wolves inside. The full moon shines in the clear, starry night sky as the moonlight
shines down on Tom and the entire forest, all while a gentle cool breeze brushes
past against the trees’ leaves and bushes.
“A great winter is coming?” Tom mutters to himself as he walks towards the forest,
thinking about the meeting that he had with the rest of the pack earlier today. “But
that’s got to be impossible!”
Tom stops for a moment as he looks around, seeing the towering trees and the
miniscule bushes around him as he tries to envision what a long, cold winter would
be like as he imagines that there would be a layer of densely-packed snow and ice
going up to his knees as it buries nearly all of the small bushes while merely burying
the stumpy part of the trees.
“I could imagine that there would be a lot of snow around here, which is nice and
all…” Tom continues to look around as he ponders through his vision of what a great
winter would be. “But as I think about it, I can see why it’s not a good thing…”
His vision continues to develop some more thoughts about the great winter as he
imagines the trees not only losing their leaves as it leaves a twiggy skeletal-like shell,
but he also imagines how the trees would eventually be frozen over in a layer of ice -
the very material that’s essentially the bane for all kinds of wolves - along with rivers
and lakes being turned from places to socialise, fish and collect water to being
completely sealed off in a thick coating of ice.
Tom shakes his head as he clears his wintry vision before walking through the forest
once more, muttering to himself to try and keep his thoughts occupied. “I don’t want
to worry about our upcoming great winter right now. I should really focus on taking a
nice walk through the moonlight at midnight.”
Tom continues to walk through the forest, passing a few lakes before coming across
to a river that has some flat stepping stones lined up for anyone that wants to cross
over. He hops from one stepping stone to another as he alternates his landing with
his left and right feet before landing on the soft, grassy ground with both of his legs.
“I wish that we get to do this again…” Tom smiles as he recalls some memories of
him being a young pup playing along with the young Snarl and Frazz by playfully
hopping from stone to stone while occasionally slipping and falling into the river with
a splash. “I definitely should ask Frazz and Snarl for us to meet up outside from our
cave to go out on a trip or something. That would be nice!”
Tom continues to head down straight through the dense forest, happily strolling as
he swings his arms while humming to himself. He can feel the moonlight brush on
his fur as it penetrates through the small gaps from the tall trees swaying its leaves,
giving Tom a relaxing, yet somewhat taunting, feeling of him being wrapped up tight
while he resists the urge to howl at the moon, which the other wolves would pick up
as a signal of distress or trouble. Yet, he’s able to keep his urge to howl at bay as he
focuses on humming and walking before noticing something up ahead that would
make him stop in his tracks.
“Hmm, what’s that over there in the distance?” Tom narrows his eyes as he focuses
on a somewhat rectangular object that’s ahead in the distance as he makes his way
towards it.
His curiosity peaks as his pointy ears twitch and perk up as he approaches the area
as the size of the rectangular object gets larger as he enters the area, soon revealing
an abandoned building that consists of red bricks and square grid-like windows that
appears to be smashed and covered in a somewhat thick layer of dust. With his
curiosity peaking even higher, Tom peeks through one of the broken dusty windows
as he narrows his eyes to scan the interior of the abandoned red brick warehouse,
only to be proven fruitless as a large portion of the area inside is completely
shrouded in darkness as the shining beams of moonlight penetrate through the
warehouse from Tom’s side, lighting up a couple of metres while the other half
remains in darkness.
“I can’t see anything in there…” Tom whines as his ears droop to the sides slightly as
he continues to scan the dark area again. “I don’t know if I should step in here or
not…”
He tilts his head to the left as his ears perk up again to pick up any sounds of
movement that might come from inside the dark warehouse as he continues to watch
and wait from outside, just in case if there’s anyone or anything that might be lurking
in the shadows. Yet, the sounds that he picks up are the calming cricket chirps and
the soothing gentle wind blowing through the night as the leaves rustle and sway
from the tall trees.
“I don’t seem to hear any movement in there. Maybe I should go and check it out…”
Tom comments as he tilts his head to the right for a brief moment before aligning it
back to normal as he lifts himself up to leap through the broken dusty window to
enter inside the abandoned warehouse.
Tom looks around from his starting position as he stands in the bright beam of
moonlight after leaping through the broken window, trying to get a closer look at what
could be inside as he notices that the floor feels somewhat grainy and rough
underneath his feet.
“What the…?” Tom looks down as he bends down on his knees as he passes his
right hand on the grainy floor, feeling the rough texture rub and brush against his
hands before lifting his hand and turning it over with his paw pad facing towards him
to inspect the grainy material with his left hand.
“It’s… dust…?” Tom takes a small pinch of the dusty, grainy material from his right
hand with his left hand as he holds it up in the moonlight while he rubs his grey
fingers as the grey particles gently fall back down on the grainy floor. “Or… ash…?”
Tom looks confused after seeing and feeling the grey, grainy material falling from his
hands as he dusts his hands off before slowly walking around the area, looking
around while thinking to himself about what might’ve happened around the area.
“Nothing got caught or set on fire around here, did it?” Tom ponders as he walks
around the seemingly empty warehouse in the dark as he steps away from the
shining moonlight. “It can’t be as the whole area’s intact…”
While the darkness makes it difficult for Tom to see, it’s somewhat barely light
enough to provide a small level of visibility to view any objects up close without
utilising any sources of light as Tom sees some faint outlines of wooden crates
scattered around the warehouse, prompting him to search through them as he walks
over to see them open with the lid of the crates removed.
“Nothing…” Tom searches through a small bundle of crates that are stacked next to
each other before moving on to the next set of crates.
“Nope. Nothing…” The next bundle of crates yield nothing of value to Tom.
“Nuh-uh…” Some small crates contain a somewhat fine layer of ash inside of them.
“Hmm…” Tom tilts his head as he peeks through a large and empty rectangular crate
that’s lying down flat rather than being in the recommended upright position.
“It doesn’t seem like there was a fire around here as it looks like it’s been abandoned
here for a long time…” Tom strokes his chin with his left hand as continues to look
around the dark warehouse for some more items to search through, confirming that
the ash wasn’t from a fire that hasn’t been ignited, but a possible product of age as
the building does seem to be abandoned for a long time.
He comes across some machinery that appears to be caked in ash, as well as being
in a poor, rusty condition as he finds some rusty drills lying around on the floor.
“Drills? Now this is quite a find!”
Tom picks one of the drills up, feeling the heavy weight press under his hands as he
examines the rusty drill. The drill appears to be small and portable as it’s been
designed to be used while holding it, but the drill head is extremely rusty and
corroded as the once pristine swirly drill head is now completely dull in rust with its
rough, sharp texture now replaced with a smooth and dull drill head. “Yet, these
appear to be worthless as they wouldn’t even drill through some stone without
crumbling apart…”
He takes another look at the rusty drill as he fiddles around with it, holding it while
pressing the trigger as the lifeless rusty drill responds with a weak mechanical whirr
for a brief moment before toning down, returning back to its lifeless, useless rusty
tool.
“Hmm, I didn’t expect much from this mini drill, anyway. Oh well…” Tom shrugs as
he tosses the rusty drill back to the pile as he carries on searching around the dusty,
abandoned warehouse in the middle of the night.
Resuming his search around the warehouse, Tom passes the rusty, dusty machinery
that stands in a perfectly straight line with a fairly large space between them as he
looks at the current state of the machines. One line of machines appears to be a row
of tables that’s entirely caked in rust and dust with an extremely jagged and rusty
saw blade that’s supported by a lever-like mechanism that would help to raise and
lower the saw blade.
“We could use some machines like this for our den as this would speed up our
construction…” Tom ponders as he conjures some inspiration to help come up with
some ideas that could be passed on to his pack of construction wolves, despite the
current unusable state of the machinery that stands before him.
The next row of rusty machines consist of a fairly tall square table that’s about up to
his waist, all covered in large patches of rust with a thin layer of dust on top while the
top half of the machinery is patchy and corroded with rust. The machines appear to
be some drilling table stands as some of them either have a completely rusty and
rough drill bit in the middle while other machines are either missing one or have half
of the drill bit broken off. Nevertheless, they all appear to be in a state of beyond
repair as it sits there slowly crumbling and rusting away.
“Drilling stands?” Tom walks up to the machines to take a closer look at them as he
draws some more inspiration from them. “If we were able to have these, this would
make it a lot easier for us to mark where the wooden nails and screws would go…”
After drawing in some inspiration and looking around the warehouse, Tom decides to
leave the warehouse as he makes his way towards the broken dusty window that he
climbed through before.
“There doesn’t seem to be anything else of interest around here.” Tom reaches the
broken window as he takes a final glance at the dark warehouse to see if he missed
anything, seeing a faint glimmer of shine in one of the dark corners of the
warehouse.
“Wait a minute…” Tom narrows his eyes as he looks at the flickering shine that’s
tucked away in the far dark corners of the warehouse. “What’s that over there?”
Without any hesitation, Tom walks towards the glittering shine as it gently lures him
over towards it as he moves away from the dusty window to stay inside the
warehouse to examine the shining object. Upon reaching close towards it, he finds a
shiny glass bottle glittering in the moonlight in a perfectly clean condition sitting on
the very top of a large dusty wooden shelf, showing its worn, bendy age.
“A glass bottle?” Tom ponders as he looks at the contrasting difference between a
pristine glass bottle and a dusty shelf. “Did… did someone put that there?”
He takes a few steps away from the shelf to see if the glass bottle has any contents
stored inside, which is quite difficult to do as the glass bottle sits on top of the
towering dusty shelf while it glitters in the moonlight, obstructing his view of what
might be inside it.
“I wonder if this shelf is sturdy enough for me to climb on it...” Tom examines the
dusty shelves as there’s a few cardboard boxes that are completely covered in a fine
layer of dust while he puts his hands on the shelves. The shelves let out some
disgruntled creaks as he feels it bend downwards under his hands slightly. “They
don’t look like they can support my weight for too long, but maybe I could get it if I’m
quick enough.”
He takes a few steps away from the dusty wooden shelf as he swings his arms
forwards and backwards a few times before tilting his head left and right, getting
himself ready to perform a quick dash as he kneels down with his hands planted
down on the dusty flooring. He hears his heartbeat beating rhythmically as his vision
focuses on the wooden shelf with the glass bottle on top, his grey fur slowly standing
up from his body as the rushing feeling of adrenaline washes over him. With a few
deep breaths in and out, he closes his eyes for a moment before slowly opening it
before he quickly dashes off from his starting position without any hesitation, like an
athlete getting a head start upon hearing the sound of the starting gun going off. With
a quick dash towards the dusty shelves, he hears his heart beating faster as his
arms and legs quickly scrambling on the dusty shelves, muffling the creaky groans
from the dusty shelf as he gracefully leaps upwards from shelf to shelf, getting closer
to the sparkling glass bottle while he feels the wooden shelves quickly collapsing as
it gives in under his weight after making contacting for a few seconds.
“I can do this!” Tom snarled as his heart rate beats even faster, further muffling the
creaking sounds around him as he’s only a few shelves away from reaching the
prized sparkling glass bottle. “I’m almost there! Just a little more!”
With tensions running high as the collapsing shelves are quickly catching up to the
panting wolf, Tom can feel his body quickly slowing down as his tiredness is quickly
catching up to him. Despite being fit and healthy, his adrenaline rush allows him to
focus and quickly excel at a high speed as it makes him run faster than any other
wolf, but it comes at a huge cost where it consumes a lot of his stamina as it quickly
tires him out the longer he continues to rush.
“I’m… almost there…” Tom pants as he flails his arms about as sweat begins to drip
from his forehead. “Just… a little more… to go…”
As his tiredness is quickly kicking in, his vision begins to blur as the prized glass
bottle appears to be far away with many more shelves for him to climb when it’s only
a few shelves away. His heart rate continues to beat even faster and harder as it
peaks for a good while before it begins to decelerate, muting the sound of the
collapsing shelves that follows behind him. He grunts and pants as his vision
continues to feel distorted for a short time as he struggles to put his arms and legs
on each ascending shelf.
“Please… Just… a few more… shelves… to climb…” Tom pants even more as he
slows down to a crawl as he finally reaches the last remaining shelf before putting
his hands on the top, struggling to pull himself up to meet eye-to-eye with the glass
bottle. “Come on… I’m… almost there…!”
His heart rate continues to slow down drastically as it quickly reaches down to what
was half of his heart rate during his adrenaline rush before slowing down even
further as it beats below his normal heart rate, reaching to a low, but stable, heart
rate that he normally gets when he’s sleeping, albeit at a slightly higher heart rate.
His arms and legs feel heavy as their muscles feel rather sore and tense from the
excessive running and climbing as the simple process of putting his arms and legs
over each shelf becomes more tiresome with each passing moment of his body
cooling down from his adrenaline rush, much like a truck that’s speeding down a
highway while it tries to brake and slow down for a sharp turn up ahead.
“Please…” Tom wheezes for a moment as he attempts to lift himself up to reach the
top, only to slip back down after each attempt. “I can… do this…”
With his body becoming more tired as he exits from his adrenaline rush, he feels the
shelf under his feet slowly bending and cracking the longer he stays where he is. He
pants as his tongue droops out from his mouth, trying to regain what little energy he
has left from his body before attempting to try again.
“I…” Tom pants as he tries to lift himself up before going back down.
“Will not…” He barks as he lifts himself up again by pushing his arms down on the
top part of the wooden shelf.
“Give up!” He snarls as he raises himself up by using his stiff arms and legs, slowly
meeting face-to-face with the sparkling glass bottle as it awaits for it to be claimed by
Tom. He moves just in time as the last shelf that’s underneath his feet cracks away
as he rises above the top to anchor himself with his left arm while reaching the glass
bottle with his right arm.
“Finally! I did it!” Tom feels revitalised as he clenches the shiny glass bottle with his
right hand, bringing it to himself before looking down from the top part of the wooden
shelf. “Now how am I going to ge-”
*CLUNK!*
A sudden jolt is quickly sent upwards on the dusty wooden shelf as Tom’s fur quickly
stands up in response to the jolt that was passed onto his body, interrupting his line
of dialogue as he looks down to see the shelf slowly tilting forward.
“Huh? What the…?” Tom panics as he clenches the top part of the wooden shelf as
he feels it slowly tilting forward.
*Creeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeaaaaaaaaaaaakkkkkkkkkk!*
The tilting wooden shelf slowly tilts forward in response as it wobbles for a while
before it begins to tilt forward after a brief pause in suspension. With the other
wooden shelves broken below him, Tom has no choice but to cling onto it in the
hopes that he’ll be unscathed by the accident.
“Uh-oh…” Tom whines as his ears flop down to the sides of his head as he clings
onto the top shelf to brace himself for impact.*
*CreeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeaaaaaaaaaAAAAAAAAKKKKKKK!*
“AAAAAAAAAAAHHHHHHHHHHH!” Tom screams as the tilting wooden shelf tilts
forward, quickly accelerating as his view quickly transitions from seeing a much
wider area of the facility to the oncoming dusty floor. He clings onto the wooden shelf
while he grasps the shiny glass bottle on his right hand, trying to keep it clenched in
his possession.
*THWAM!*
*Crunch!*
Tom blacks out from the impact as his last few moments before the impact was the
dusty floor being up close to his face as the wooden shelf lands with a sudden loud
bang on the floor, kicking up a massive cloud of ash around the area. He slowly gets
up from the fallen wooden shelf as he whines before coughing the dusty ash that he
breathed in.
“ACK!” Tom wheezes as he swats the airborne ash away from him with both of his
hands. “Dust! I hate dust!”
With the dust particles slowly settling down, his coughing begins to cease as Tom
takes a few deep breaths in and out to clear his body out from any excess dust.
“I didn’t think it would be this dusty!” Tom complains as he clears his throat for a
moment as he uses his arms to push himself up from the tipped wooden shelf to dust
himself off.
“At least I have this shiny glass bottle he-!” He smiles as he raises his right hand in
front of him, only for his expression to change in an instant as he’s only holding the
sealed top section of the tube. “What the…?!”
Tom frantically looks around the area where the wooden shelf gave way and fell to
try and find the missing bottom section of the bottle, only to yield with no success as
he looks down at his feet to see a wet patch on the layer of dust on the floor with
several small shards of glass scattered around like stars in the night sky.
“Aww, dang it!” He throws the broken sealed tube on the ground as it responds with
a tiny shatter, upset at his loss of putting in some effort to obtain the glass bottle and
bring it back to his den for inspection. “It would’ve been a good find for us if we knew
what was inside that bottle!”
Tom sighs before he perks his ears and tilts his head up to look over at the distant
window that he entered in before, remaining optimistic as he was able to perform a
short, but intense, running and climbing workout before. “Well, at least I was able to
work out, but I’m feeling really tired!”
He stretches his arms up as he lets out a long yawn before he begins to head back
towards the window where the moonlight was guiding him to his exit, taking his first
step off from the wet patch of dust as he briefly loses his footing for a moment.
“Wh-whoa!” Tom sticks his arms out as he suddenly jerks forward upon taking his
first step with his right foot, stopping for a moment. “I may be tired, but I’m not that
tired!”
He takes a deep breath in and breathes out as he slowly stands up straight to regain
his footing. “Okay, let’s try that again.” Tom raises his left foot as he moves it forward
in front of him, taking a step forward as he gently anchors it down on the dusty floor.
“I think I got this…” Tom sticks his arms out again to try and stabilise his balance as
he didn’t jerk forward with his footing. “Maybe my leg is just a bit numb from that
workout or something. It should clear up soon.”
Just as he is about to take a step forward with his right foot, his left foot would then
quickly crumble underneath his weight while he swings and puts his right foot down
on the ground in front of him, quickly disintegrating into the dusty floor as it throws
Tom off-balance.
“ARRRGHHH!” Tom yells as he touches the dusty floor with his hands to stop him
from falling over to the side, breaking his fall.
“What’s wrong with me?!” Tom exclaims as he pants while he holds himself up with
his arms. “I cannot lose balance just like this all of a sudden!”
The stumbled wolf takes a few deep breaths as he tries to regain his energy back
from his intense sprinting climb on the towering wooden shelf, slowly pushing himself
up and down as he performs some pushups on the dusty floor.
“One…” Tom bends his arms down as he builds up some energy to spring himself
up.
“Two…” He springs himself back up as he straightens his arms before getting ready
to bend them down again.
“Three! AAAAAAAARRRRRRGGGGGHHHHHH!” Tom lets out a loud growl as he
attempts to spring himself back up from the floor, only to have every single ounce of
energy sapped away from his arms as he immediately flops onto the dusty floor,
creating a cloud of dusty ash around him.
“Maybe I’m just a little bit tired…” Tom moans as he gently picks himself up from the
floor. “But I need to get back to my cave or I’ll be deemed as missing!”
Tired but determined, Tom gently pushes himself up by using his weak arms to allow
him to sit up on the dusty floor. He sticks his legs out while his tail rests on the floor
behind him as he takes a moment to check on himself.
“I’m incredibly dusty…” Tom comments on his current state of him being covered up
in the dusty ash from the floor, dusting the ash off from his legs before dusting his
arms off. “Maybe a nice relaxing bath will help me to get some rest while I get
cleaned up.”
As he dusts the troublesome ash away from his body, Tom begins to feel rather
strange as he soon develops an itchy feeling during his dusting process.
“Ugh, this ash is making my fur itch!” Tom growls in annoyance as he uses his claws
to scratch the grainy ash that’s ingrained in his thick grey fur from his arms.
While it feels relieving that his itch is being scratched, he cannot help but to keep on
scratching his arms as the itch doesn’t feel like it’s going away.
“Why is it so itchy?!” Tom growls again as he begins to scratch his arms faster and
firmer to try and alleviate his itch. “I hate this! I hate it!”
As Tom continues to scratch his ever-lasting itch, he begins to notice an everincreasing grainy-like feeling from his left arm. Nevertheless, he continues to scratch
until he tires himself out.
“I… I can’t get rid.. of this… itchy feeling…” Tom pants as he stops scratching his
arms. “What… what is this… feeling…?”
He takes a moment to look at his left arm as he slowly turns it around while wiggling
his fingers. At first, it looks rather clean as the ash is no longer present as his pristine
grey fur is seen, but the feeling of having some ash ingrained in his fur is still present
as it slowly begins to spread around his arm.
“What the…?” Tom looks rather confused as he doesn’t seem to understand how the
itchy feeling is still present as he would try to give his left arm another scratching
session, only to feel his fingers from his right arm slowly dig into his fur.
“Huh…?!” Tom’s eyes widens as he notices his fingers slowly sink into his left hand,
immediately stopping to scratch his arm. “W-what’s… g-going… o-on…?!”
A sudden feeling of dread slowly sweeps down on the worried grey wolf as he begins
to lose his physical feeling with his left arm as a darker shade of grey slowly begins
from the tip of his fingers before slowly spreading down to his elbow. His mouth
opens in complete shock as he sees his fingers slowly begin to crumble and
dissipate into the same grainy ash on the dusty floor, falling off like streams of sand
flowing downwards in a sand timer.
“My fingers…” Tom looks at his hands in horror as his fingers slowly crumble away
into ash, with his fingerless paws shortly following after. “It’s… it’s gone!”
The sense of dread quickly grows stronger as each passing second means more of
his body slowly crumbling and falling away into ash, and Tom needs to get back to
his den before he crumbles away. The strong itchy feeling rapidly grows around him
with each passing second as he tries to resist the urge to scratch his entire body,
knowing that the more he scratches, the more it itches.
“I need to get back home before it’s too late!” Tom whines as he quickly gets up by
using his now-handless left arm to push himself up from the floor with difficulty as the
grey ash continues to spread past his elbow while his right hand begins to turn ashy
grey and dissipate his hand and fingers away into shaky streams of ash, quickly
reaching up to his elbow. “This is not good at all! Not good AT ALL!”
The worried wolf quickly looks ahead at the shining beam of moonlight breaking
through the window that he climbed through before as his only objective is to leave
and return home before it’s too late. He immediately runs towards the window as he
kicks up a cloudy trail of ash behind him while he swings his half-remaining arms as
it leaves some trails of ash dissipating in the air with it.
“HELP ME!” The wolf calls out as he continues to run towards the moonlight that’s
guiding him towards the window. “I’M TURNING INTO ASH!”
He has no time to waste as every second counts for him to return back home before
he crumbles away. He takes a quick look at his crumbling arms as it continues to
crumble and turn into ash as it nears towards his shoulders, making him no longer
feel his arms swinging to assist in his running. Yet, this doesn’t stop him from
running as he tries to run faster towards the bright moonlight.
“Come on!” Tom growls as he flails his shoulders about while he continues to run
towards the window. “I need to get home!”
Tom runs past the pile of rusty, dusty drills that he inspected and thought about how
they could be useful back at his den as he continues to kick up a cloudy trail of dusty
ash behind him. He pants as he takes some deep breaths to keep his body topped
up with oxygen while his legs continue to run in a perfect circular motion,
uninterrupted by the shifting ashy floor. That is, until he begins to feel himself wobble
and shift left and right all of a sudden.
“WHOA!” Tom yells as he tries to maintain his balance as he begins to slow his
running down to maintain it. “What was that?!”
He looks down at his legs as he wobbles and shifts to the side again, slowing his
pace down to avoid tripping over on the ashy floor. As he continues to move forward
towards the moonlight while he looks down at his legs, he begins to notice the
familiar-looking shade of grey slowly spreading upwards from his feet, much like the
one that was spreading up to his arms while it crumbled away.
“Oh no… Not again!” Tom’s ears flopped down as the feeling of dread looms closer
towards him once again as the darker shade of grey slowly creeps up towards his
waist, passing his knees before he sees his feet slowly crumble away into small piles
of ash upon hitting the floor. “Please don’t let this curse stop me from running!”
He tries to pick up his speed as he tries to run, but this causes him to quickly
stumble and suddenly jerk to the left and right, leaving him with no choice but to
gradually slow down to his walking pace to avoid falling over. As he moves past the
machines, he begins to see the machines slowly rise as each step causes his legs to
crumble into dust, slightly reducing his height as his feet crumble away into small
piles of ash that’s been left behind him to mark his footprints.
“I need to run…” Tom pants as he tries to cool his body down while he slows down.
“But I can’t… I’ll lose balance… and fall…”
The tired, crumbling wolf slowly slumps his body forward as his footsteps now feel
rather heavy, stumpy and unstable as he quickly looks at the machines that are
beginning to tower over the crumbling wolf while he nears towards the moonlight
that’s within his reach in only a few metres.
“I’m… I’m almost there!” Tom encourages himself to keep on moving forward
towards the moonlight as he’s now up to his knees, making it difficult for him to lift his
legs up without his lower halves to work with. He grits his teeth as he gently lifts and
slides his knee-legs over towards the moonlight on the floor, leaving a trail of ash
behind him while he quickly shrinks down towards his waist.
“I… I can do it…!” Tom growls as he feels the bright moonlight slowly shining down
on him as he approaches the window at his waist. “I can do it!”
With the determined wolf now up to his waist, he looks up at the window as he
becomes sad with the realisation that he’s unable to climb out at his current state.
“I… I can’t… get out…” Tom whines in sadness as he looks down at his chest and
tail as the same looming shade of grey slowly spreads up on his chest to his neck,
including his tail as it begins to crumble and leave a small pile of ash behind him..
“I’m… tired… and weak…”
Tom lets out a final howl at the moonlight shining down at him through the window as
his chest begins to crack and shift while the shade of grey slowly spreads around his
face and mouth, all the way up to his pointy ears. He closes his eyes and mouth as
he slumps forward, causing his chest to crack and crumble away into a pile of ash,
causing his head to quickly dematerialise into another smaller pile of ash as it hits
the floor, only leaving a few piles of ash in the shining moonlight near the window.
On the next morning, Frazz quickly storms into Snarl’s room as he gives the sleeping
wolf a rude awakening as the shaky wolf grabs Snarl by the shoulders to frantically
shake him awake. “S-S-S-Snarl! W-w-w-wake u-u-up-p-p!”
“What?! WHAT?!” Snarl shouts as he quickly bats the frenzy wolf’s paws away from
him. “What is it, Frazz?!”
“I… I… I… I-It’s T–T-T-Tom!” Frazz stammers as he jumps to point at Snarl’s door.
“H-h-h-he’s n-n-not-t-t-t… he… he… he-here!”
“What do you mean he’s not here?!” Snarl scowls at Frazz as he feels rather certain
that the crazy wolf is trying to fool him again.
“F-F-F-F-Follow m-m-m-me-me… me!” Frazz shakes his head as he quickly guides
Snarl to Tom’s room, seeing Tom’s bed still neat and tidy as some bright daylight
shines through his open window.
“That’s odd…” Snarl’s ears flop down as he wonders where Tom went last night.
“Tom would be up and awake by now, and we certainly cannot just work on our
current project without him…”
“Wh-wh-wh-where… where is… h-h-h-h-HE?!” Frazz barks as he continues to shake
in worry while he looks up to Snarl.
“I don’t know, but we need to find him! Come on! Let’s go!” Snarl leaves Tom’s room
as he begins to run towards the entrance of the main cave.
“W–w-w-w-wait f-f-f-for m-me!” Frazz turns around to leave Tom’s room, only to bash
himself towards the rocky wall of Tom’s door as he begins to twirl around, dazed and
disoriented after the impact for a moment before collapsing. “O-o-o-ow…”
The crazy wolf then gets up after being knocked out for a few seconds before
dashing out towards the entrance of the cave to catch up with Snarl.
“Tom!” Snarl calls out as he cups his hands around his mouth to make his voice
echo around the forest.
“T-T-Tom!” Frazz shouts in a rather stammering tone as he wheezes while he walks
next to Snarl.
“Tom! Where are you?!”
“T-T-T-Tom!”
The two wolves look around the forest as they continue to search around to find Tom
as Frazz quickly runs off into the distance to search around for any clues for where
Tom might be.
‘TOM! WHERE ARE YOU?!” Snarl shouts as some birds quickly fly away from the
trees and into the sky as his voice booms around the forest, shocking the area
around him and the crazy wolf.
“S-S-S-S… SNARL!” Frazz shouts at Snarl in a rather shaky tone as points to a
somewhat large building up ahead.
“What is it, Frazz?!” Tom runs towards Frazz as the crazy, shaky wolf points to a
large rectangular building that’s made out of red bricks with some square-like
windows, located in the area that’s cleared around while the trees surround it in a
circle. “What the…?”
“O-O-Over… he-he-he-here!” Frazz stammers as he picks up a stick that’s about the
same length as his height before quickly running towards the open window and
stumbling inside, kicking up a cloud of dusty ash from inside.
“Frazz!” Snarl runs over towards the window that the shaky wolf climbed into, leaping
over the windowsill with grace and the fallen scruffy wolf on the floor. “Come on,
Frazz! Get up! He must be around here somewhere!”
Frazz groans as he lets out a long whine as he quickly scrambles his arms and legs
to get up from the dusty floor while he carries his long stick with him.
Frazz and Snarl begin their search around the abandoned building as they look
around with ease thanks to the sunlight that’s emitting from the windows around
them. Snarl thoroughly inspects the rusty machinery that’s stationary while Frazz
nervously pokes at the small piles of dusty hand drills with his stick, gently knocking
a few of them down.
“Tom? Where are you?” Snarl looks around as he pushes some dusty wooden
crates to the sides to see if Tom is hiding behind them. “Where did you go? We’re
worried about you…”
As the two wolves continue to search around for Tom, some piles of ash begin to
shift and slowly move as it reaches towards the sunlight from the window that they
went through, slowly accumulating together into one large mound of ash as it begins
to shift and slide. Frazz, meanwhile, continues to look around with his back facing
towards the shifting mound of ash as he wields his wooden stick up close to his
chest, shaking and quivering in place.
“Wh-wh-wh-where a-a-are y-y-you, T-T-Tom…?” Frazz stammers as his eyes quickly
dart around while Snarl is off into the distance to inspect the wooden shelf that’s
broken and lying on the dusty floor.
Unbeknownst to Frazz, the shifting pile of ash continues to shake and shift as it
slowly expands to the sides as a pair of grey, ashy hands slowly forms and
accumulates to create a pair of hands and fingers as it gently plants itself down on
the dusty ground while its arms begins to form along with it. The shaky wolf
continues to look around, turning to the left and right slightly to try and look ahead at
the far corners of the building.
“Frazz? What are you doing?” Snarl looks up at the shaking wolf after inspecting the
fallen wooden shelf.
“I-I-I-I’m… ke-ke-ke-keeping gu-gu-guard!” Frazz nods at Snarl as he begins to
shake even more.
“Heh, well, alright then. Tom isn’t going to turn up like that without you helping me!”
Snarl chuckles as he moves to the right to take another look at the rusty machines.
“Y-y-yes, s-s-sir!” Frazz nods as he quickly salutes at Snarl like a soldier keeping
guard of the area around him while he thinks about some military music playing in
his head for a brief moment.
The expanding pile of ash begins to slowly contract and shrink as a dark grey body
begins to form while the hands are still planted on the ground to try and push
whatever’s emerging from the pile of ash up from the ground. A familiar-looking
muscular chest begins to form while some ash quickly flows upwards at the neck to
form a rather grainy wolf head while it keeps on pushing itself upwards from the
contracting pile of ash.
“Frazz…” A voice groans around the shaky wolf, causing his ears to quickly perk up
as his eyes widen and pupils shrink in fear.
“H-h-h-h-huh…?!” Frazz whimpers as he holds his long stick close towards him,
looking around while he shakes.
“Frazz…” The voice calls out again as the half-formed wolf begins to drag himself
towards the shaky Frazz while his legs slowly form.
“W-wh-wh-who’s… who’s th-th–there?!” Frazz barks as he frantically looks around.
“Turn… around…” The ashy wolf calls out towards Frazz as he slowly lifts himself up
from the dusty ground as his legs slowly form while the pile of ash shrinks away into
nothing, leaving no piles of ash left over from the newly-formed ash-made wolf.
Frazz slowly turns around as he sees a dark grey anthropomorphic wolf made of ash
slowly limp towards him with its hands slowly reaching out towards him.
“G-G-GET BACK! S-S-STAY A-A-AWAY FR-FROM M-M-ME!” Frazz yelps as he
jumps back from the limping ash wolf while he grips his stick with both of his hands
tightly.
“Frazz? What’s going on?” Snarl looks over from the machines that he’s currently
inspecting to see the commotion that’s happening with Frazz and the grey ash wolf.
“Frazz… Listen… It’s me…” The grey ash wolf calls out as little bits of ash slowly
drop from its body while it keeps on moving towards the scared, frazzled wolf.
“S-S-STAY… B-B-B-BACK!” Frazz yelps out at the ash wolf once again as he tries to
find the courage to take a swing at the creeping ash wolf.
“Frazz!” Snarl runs over towards the panicked crazy wolf as he sees the grey, ashy
wolf still trying to move towards Frazz with its arms reaching out at him while some
more grains of ash continue to trickle down its body.
“G-G-G-GET…. AW-AW-AW-AWAY!” Frazz lets out another yelp as he quickly
swings his long stick at the slow-moving ashy wolf’s head.
*POOF!*
A large cloud of ash spreads around Frazz and the grey wolf as it covers the area
around them in thick dark ash for a while as the frazzled wolf coughs for a good
while before looking at the ash-made wolf. The ashy wolf’s head is seen to be
heavily damaged as a vertical swing was made to mostly deform half of the ashy
wolf’s head off into a thick cloud of ash. It raises its right hand as it slowly raises its
finger before muttering.
“It’s… m… e… To… m…” The ash wolf slowly mutters his words at Frazz before his
body quickly crumbles and dissipates onto the ground.
“Tom…?” Snarl looks over at the ash that’s been scattered around on the dusty floor
where Tom crumbled. “Is that you, Tom…?”
“Yes…” Tom groans as he slowly reforms his head from the ground, with his body
slowly shortly reforming after. “It’s me… And… ow…”
“S-s-s-s-sorry, T-T-Tom…” Frazz shivers as he apologises to Tom for disintegrating
half of his face.
“It’s okay, Frazz…” Tom accepts Frazz’s apology as he gently plants his ashy hands
on the ground to pick himself up again.
“Tom? What happened to you? Why are you so… dusty?” Snarl looks down at the
ashy wolf as he watches Tom pick himself back up with some fine grains of ash
slowly flowing down from his body.
“It’s… It’s a long story…” Tom gets up as he points his ashy right finger over to
where the tall wooden shelf fell last night. “I found a glass bottle that was on top of
that wooden shelf containing some sort of liquid, and it fell when I tried to grab it…”
“A glass bottle?” Snarl asks as he looks over at the collapsed wooden shelf while
Frazz scuttles towards it to investigate it.
“G-G-G-Glass!” Frazz calls out as he pokes the broken glass with his stick on the
dusty floor.
“Don’t touch it, Frazz!” Snarl runs over to look after the investigative scruffy wolf to
stop him from possibly hurting himself.
Tom slowly walks towards the pair as he tries to maintain his new ashy form as he
feels his feet slowly destabilise and reform whenever they touch the ground before
being lifted up as he walks. “As for what happened next, I don’t know… I was tired,
itchy and I was… crumbling apart…”
“Listen, Tom. At least you’re safe with us as we found you.” Snarl smiles as he tries
to reassure Tom. “And besides, you’re not even hurt or anything! You just look, uh…
rather different!”
“Y-y-y-yeah! D-d-d-diff-f-f-ferent! Different!” Frazz yelps happily as he nods and
smiles at Tom.
“Well, thank you, but…” Tom smiles before he pauses for a moment, looking at his
hands as he sees some trails of ash slowly flowing down from his hands and fingers.
“How can I help you with some heavy lifting when I’m weak?”
“We’ll work something out for you, Tom. Let’s just get you back home, alright?” Snarl
smiles as he gently rests his right arm over Tom’s ashy left shoulder, trying not to
apply too much pressure to make him crumble again.
“Y-y-yeah! L-l-let’s g-go ho-home!” Frazz yelps happily as he firmly places his left
arm over Tom’s right shoulder, causing Tom’s body to crumble slightly.
“Oh! Be careful, Frazz!” Tom exclaims as he begins to walk towards the window that
they entered from with Snarl and Frazz.
“S-s-sorry…” Frazz apologises as he releases some pressure from his left arm on
Tom’s shoulder slightly while he firmly grips his long stick on his right hand