Chronicles of the Nytes:
Episode 002:
Purgitory
"Hell hath no wrath like the Nytes" 
Prologue:
Purgitory. A place where beings are trapped when they have died prematurely. The sky here was a Technicolor void, and the ground a dismal black, blacker then coal from a fresh fire. This was a persons last chance to prove that they should be sent back to the land of the living, given a chance to live out the rest of their life. If they failed to prove themselves worthy, they were then given a choice between two doors. Few had picked the right one. Many never made the choice and simply remained trapped in the void, wandering aimlessly through the empty vastness. Occasionally there would be a ripple in the fabric of the dimension. A ripple signaling the arrival of a special spirit, one that contained great power. The ripple that shocked the void of Purgitory this day was massive, staggering every spirit but one, backwards a few paces. Everyone, fur and human alike looked to the new arrivals. 
Chapter 1
"This is just frickin' great," Nytewolf ranted. "What the Hell are we gonna do now, N.L.?"
I sighed deeply and looked around, "Calm down, Wolf. Take a look around. We're in Purgitory. We still have a chance to return to the land of the living."
"And just how are we gonna do that, babe?" Nytefox questioned me. She always had to question me, no matter what the situation was.
"Frankly, I have no clue, dear." A wandering soul passed by us, looking hopelessly lost. I looked around again, noticing that most of the spirits in this realm looked the same, weather they were human, fur, or other. They had all just about given up hope of returning to the real world. To stay trapped in this void was considered to be almost as bad as Hell itself...almost. 
As we talked among ourselves we walked down the center of the wide street. Oddly, no one had to move out of our way, we just simply passed through them. At first glance everything appeared solid, by if you tried to shake hands with someone, you simply passed right through them. However, we found out the hard way that we couldn't pass through walls or poles.
"At least there is some reality to this dimension," Nytecat moved to rub her nose, but her muzzle went completely through her paw. "This is one confusing place." Just then, a slim red, two tailed wolf spirit appeared in front of us. 
"Greetings," the odd wolf spoke in a subtle tone. "I am Loki, the caretaker of this void." He spoke as though he regretted taking this job.
Nytewolf scoffed, "This is the guy we gotta fight in order to get back to our world?"
"Looks can be deceiving," the wolf's eyes glowed pure white, his body suddenly going from transparent to solid. His pure red fur did little to hid the bulging form of his muscles. I could sense the extreme power coming from this being. "Not only will this be a fight for your life," his voice was suddenly deeper, more mean icing. "But a fight for your spirits as well."
I quickly spoke up, "Uh...could we have a few minutes to prepare first?"
"If you like," Loki sounded annoyed. "When you're ready, meet me in the center of the Muscle Dome." He pointed, clothes lining a passing human spirit in the process, to a large dome building in the center of the void. He promptly stepped through the fallen spirit and walked off, his two tails wagging as if blown by a gentle breeze. 
With a sigh we all sat down in the middle of the street. As I gazed at each of my closest friends, and my one true love, my heart sank. "We may never be able to beat him," my voice was dry and low, my eye staring at the ground. Nytefox moved closer and put her arms around me.
"Hey now," she lifted my muzzle and my eyes met hers. "That's not the Nytelion that 'I' know. No matter what happens, the important thing is that we'll all be together, right?" Nytewolf rose to his feet, "Right, but I really don't wanna spend an eternity trapped in this Hell hole." I had to agree with him there.
"This guy should be a push over, right?" Nytecat was trying to perk us up. "We still have our basic powers, don't we?" A look of puzzlement fell across my face. What if we were totally powerless. As if in answer to my thought, my body suddenly became solid. My golden fur stood out against the colorless walls of the building. In shock, I looked up and saw my friends had all become solid as well. Nytefox's soft red and white fur, Nytewolf's two tones of gray, and Nytecat's pure white fur were all a welcome sight to my eyes. The next surprise was the best of all. Our sheath's for our Lightning Staffs appeared in their normal places; mine on my back, slung across my left shoulder, Nytewolf's appeared in the same place on his body, Nytefox's appeared just above her tail, the slim leather belt around her waist that held it in place, and Nytecat's appeared at her left side. The best part was, our staff's were in their sheath's! A breathless moment passed between us all. 
"Now this is more like it," Nytewolf unsheathed his staff and sliced through the air. "I was feelin' lost without my staff."
Nytecat huffed, her paws resting on her hips. "Sometimes I think you love that staff more than me." Her tone was sarcastic.
"Alright," Nytefox rose to her feet, her tail swishing slowly behind her. The vixen unsheathed her staff, spinning it over her head with one paw, bringing it to rest behind her back, her legs spread slightly, an evil look on her face. "Let's go kick some tail!" her voice was a bit deeper than usual.
I rose to my feet, shaking my head at the shapely vixen, "You know this is no ordinary fight. Loki is said to have powers unknown to our realm."
"Don't be such a downer, N.L." Nytecat smiled. "I think we can handle one little two tailed wolf."
I almost choked on her boldness, "You're kiddin' me, right? We couldn't even handle my brother and the tigress triplets."
"Yeah, but that was one on one," the wolf shot back. "When we fight as a team, we're unbeatable. Four on one? That wolf is goin' down, hard!" I smiled. Maybe we did have a chance. 
It seemed as if every spirit in Purgitory had gathered in the Muscle Dome. The huge enclosure allowed seating for everyone in the void. Standing in the very center, just where he said he would be, was Loki. He looked at us, his eyes glowing a pale red. His lips curled, showing off his pearl fangs as we walked closer. The stadium was full, the sounds of the crowd almost overwhelming.
"This is a no holds bared match," Loki's voice echoed over the roar of the crowd. "Four on one. Let's rock!" He stood ready, as did we. Silence fell over the audience, a tense moment between the five of us. I started the battle. 
Chapter 2
I charged at the red wolf, putting a lot of power behind the flying kick. It would have connected, if Loki hadn't used an elusion technique. His body dematerialized as my foot connected with nothing but air. He appeared behind me, grabbed me by the tail and threw me into Nytewolf with one hand. The both of us tumbled across the ground for several yards. Meanwhile, Nytefox and Nytecat took over. Nytefox hit the wolf square in the chest with a fireball. It staggered him back a bit, a small patch of his fur smoldering. Nytecat followed her sisters lead and slashed Loki across the arm, opening a shallow wound. The fur around his wound became a deeper red as it was saturated with blood. An elbow to the head staggered Nytecat back, and a foot to the stomach doubled Nytefox over in pain. There was no doubt about it, this wolf could move faster and was twice as strong than any of us. 
"Hey, Wolf," I rose to my feet again.
"Yeah?" He slowly rose, dusting himself off.
"Remember that tandem attack we did a long time ago?" A smile crept across his face and he nodded. "Let's do it!" We charged at the red wolf, a trail of dust behind us, our feet hovering across the ground. Nytewolf leapt into the air, aiming for Loki's head, the form of his spinning roundhouse kick was perfect, but still Loki blocked it. As Nytewolf was landing, I connected with a barrage of punches to the red wolfs chest and stomach. Slowly, with Nytewolf's help, we pushed the large red form back. Nytecat tripped Loki from behind and he landed hard on his back. Nytefox was already in the air and beginning to fire a volley of fireballs when the three of us joined her. The smoke and dust rose rapidly as we pummeled Loki with more than a hundred fireballs each. We used so much energy that a large crater formed in the ground. The crowd was silent as the last fireball hit its mark and we hovered in our winged forms, panting. For long seconds nothing moved under the huge cloud of dust and smoke, and we started to relax just a bit. Then my keen eyesight caught the movement through the smoke, the large wolf leapt straight up at us. I could hear the gasp that swept through the audience as Nytewolf, Nytecat, and Nytefox all managed to avoid Loki's attack. But I was caught in the chest by the shoulder charge, and the next thing I knew there was a sharp stabbing pain in my back. 
I had been impaled on a spike in the ceiling, the long point jutted out from my belly just above my waist. I panted hard, each breath sending a wave of pain through my body. Blood ran down the length of the spike and dripped down to where the battle was still taking place. The ladies had been knocked about a bit, and I could see Nytefox laying on her side in pain. Nytecat was on the other side of the stadium, only her legs visible as her upper body was hidden in the wall. My vision was starting to blur, but I could still see Nytewolf as he went paw to paw with the lager wolf. A blur of punches and kicks from both sides were all blocked and dodged at an incredible speed. One wolf tried a sweep kick, the other jumped it and tried to break the leg of the kicker. Two punches to a wolfs head and then a leaping roundhouse sent a silvery-gray form flying backwards. I cleared the haze from my mind and realized that Nytewolf had lost. We were doomed to remain trapped in this dimension forever. 
The large red wolf casually walked over to Nytefox and picked her up by her scruff. He looked up and down my little vixen's shapely body and licked his lips. With a large grin he also picked up Nytecat. My eyes shifted from their normal state, to glowing bright blue as Loki ran his tongue along Nytefox's muzzle. I could see both of the females try to summon some power for a fireball, but they were just too scared to concentrate. With a groan I started to lower myself off the spike, inch by inch, the pain increasing greatly. I heard a loud rip and looked down to see Nytefox was now topless, the large wolf's paws reaching for her soft white, exposed fur. With a roar that shook the stadium, I dislodged myself from the spike, flipped forward, and landed on my feet with a loud thud. Two small holes in the shape of my feet, with several dozen stress cracks depressed into the ground as I rose from my kneeling position, blue arcs of energy formed all around my body.
"Oh," Loki scoffed at me still holding my friends. "You've still got some fight left in you." The hole in my body vanished before his eyes, my flesh returning to its normal state. His jaw dropped in shocked amazement.
"Put..the vixen..." Nytewolf's voice suddenly joined mine. "And...the cat...DOWN!" All pain had left me, my growl, and Nytewolf's cracked the walls behind the red wolf. He dropped both his captives to the ground and subsequently launched an ice blast at us. The spheres of ice hit our bodies and bounced off like they were rubber balls. A look of horror came over Loki's face. My entire body became surrounded with energy, half red, half blue. "No one touches my mate like that and lives!" A large sphere of compressed fire energy formed in my left paw, a sphere of lightning energy in my right. Out the corner of my eye, I could see Nytewolf was in the same state as I, in his paws a sphere of green wind energy, and one of lightning. I combined the two spheres into one, forming a red and blue swirling sphere of pure power. Nytewolf seemed to follow my lead, forming a green and blue sphere between his paws. Just as we were about to hurl them, Loki vanished before my eyes, reappearing behind us. As if in slow motion, I dodged his punch to the back of my head, spun, and connected with the, "Fire and Lighting Blast!"
Nytewolf wheeled and hit him with the, "Wind and Lightning Blast!" Both orbs impacted the wolf at the same instant, sending him flying. 
* * * * *
I helped my mate to her feet, our health slowly returning. All the spirits had left the stadium after we had defeated Loki. We walked to where the red wolf lay, moaning in pain. Passing through the missing half of the Muscle Dome and out into the open, we found Loki embedded in a wall, about fifty feet away from the stadium. In all, our attack had sent the wolf through eight brick walls, four light posts, and one solid steel door.
"How the heck did you do that, N.L.?" Nytefox looked at me, her eyes huge.
"When I find out, Fox, I'll let ya know." A low groan made us turn and notice the large red wolf as he dislodged himself from the stone wall, dust and debris falling all around him.
Returning to his spirit form, he spoke, "I apologize to you all. Sometimes I just get a little lonely here in this dimension." We all nodded slightly. "Since you have won I will send you back to your dimension exactly 30 seconds after you left it. You will be granted immortality, though if your head is ever completely severed, you will be returned here to prove yourselves once again. And now, I bid you farewell!" We were suddenly surrounded by a bright flash, and then we were standing in the canyon again, facing my brother and the tigress triplets. 
Chapter 3
My brother's voice snapped me back to reality, "I don't believe it. You four wimps beat Loki?!"
"Yeah," Nytewolf was about to start some trouble. "And now it's time to kick your tails for sending us to that Hell hole."
The tigresses roared and leapt at us. Nytecat, Nytefox, and Nytewolf calmly unsheathed their staffs and leapt at our attackers, each one missing each other and rebounding off the canyon wall like liquid steel. Stress cracks appeared in the stone wall beneath their foot pads as they used the momentum of their leaps to rebound back at the tigresses. Their speed increasing with each rising leap, vapor trails following in their wake as both groups rose higher and higher until they finally leapt over the canyon walls, disappearing from sight.
"Still bent on controlling the world, Heat?" I slipped my staff from its sheath on my back, giving it a twirl as I held the short bow like a sword.
Heat sneered at me, "But of course. And with you out of the way, it will be so easy." His thick black claws slide into view, his eyes shifting to a pale red glow. I sighed, not worried about having to kill my brother anymore. If any of us immortals died in battle, we would simply slip into a very deep sleep while out bodies healed. However, the warning that Loki had given us, "If your head is ever completely severed, you'll be returned here to prove yourselves again," still echoed in my mind. 
The wind rippled through my mane as I leapt at my brother, my war cry resounding off the canyon wall. Heat leapt at me, the sun glinting off his claws as he slashed at my chest. I blocked with my staff, blue sparks arcing through the air, the ground beneath our paw pads giving a bit as we landed heavily. We stayed locked in a power struggle, staring eye to eye, muscles rippling under our golden furred bodies. I could feel the lightning energy course through my body, rising through my arms and flowing into my Lightning Staff. The sudden surge of power shocked my brother, sending him flying back. He regained his balance in time to rebound off the wall and fly right past me. Only when he stopped did I notice the four slashes on my right arm, the blood oozing into my fur.
"Ugh, you've gotten better since our last fight, Heat."
My brother laughed, "And you've gotten worse!" He moved in, attacking me with punches and kicks. I blocked, dodged, and counterattacked, but still Heat managed to land a few devastating blows. Staggering back, I released a lightning ball from the end of my staff. The glowing sphere singed Heat's chest, his roar of agony was almost sweet music to my ears. Almost. 
* * * * *
The tigresses launched an attack in unison. The giant sphere of energy sped toward Nytewolf, Nytecat, and Nytefox. Each of them leapt out of the way, watching as the energy ball incinerated the group of near by cacti. The tigresses then separated as three balls of lightning energy sped towards them, leaving three smoldering holes where the triplets had once stood. The battle was fast paced, each fur locked in a close paw to paw combat. Blurs of kicks and punches, blocks and counters. Blood became spattered over the dusty ground as the battle raged on, each of the Nytes opening great wounds in their opponents bodies. The tigresses weren't doing as good as they had in their first fight. 
Nytewolf's body began to glow with lightning power. His entire being became surrounded with energy as he hovered across the desert floor, grabbing Tagra by the neck. As he swung his energy charged staff down the helpless feline, they both vanished into thin air, only to reappear just a few seconds later, the tigress' body broken and bloody. She had huge gashes in her legs, belly, and chest. He left ear was missing, her muzzle bent in three different directions, her left flank was torn open clean to the bone. Her right side was split open in the shape of four claws. A wide gash ran over he right eye and down her cheek. The Demon Wolf is what Nytewolf called it. And it wasn't finished yet. Swinging his staff upwards to the right, he added a fifth gash to the tigresses chest and stomach. He followed that up with the last hit of his technique, a perfectly horizontal, left bound slash. The force of the blow sent the lifeless body of the tigress skidding across the sandy ground. She came to rest in a battered, bloody heap, the dirt around her becoming saturated with her blood.
Nytewolf turned back toward the canyon, "And that's what happens when you call me 'Little Wolfy.'" 
* * * * *
Nytecat staggered back, the punch to her muzzle blurring her sight for a moment. By sheer instinct she blocked Black Blaze's fireball. The tigress stared dumbfounded as Nytecat regained her senses.
"Not bad, bitch," hissed Nytecat, her eyes glowing a pale shade of blue, lightning energy arcing up off her soft furred body.
Blaze hissed, "Thanks for the compliment, but you still suck!" And with that she launched a series of fireballs at the white cat. Nytecat grinned evilly as she spun her staff like a baton, knocking away all of Blaze's attacks. The final fireball, she knocked back at the tigress, sending the feline flying backwards. Black Blaze back fliped, recovering her balance just in time to be hit with Nytecat's, "Thunder Cat Slash!" A deep gash, down and to the left across the tigress' chest, the wound instantly cauterized by the intense heat of the lightning energy. A second slash, forming an 'X' on the feline's chest. The third slash split the X right down the middle, this cut going deeper than the last two. This slice struck bone, cutting through it like paper. The final horizontal slash split the tigress in two from the waist up. Her upper body flew back from the force of the impacts, landing and tumbling across the dusty desert floor. Her lower half collapsed right where it was.
As she turned back to the canyon, Nytecat licked the blood from her staff, savoring the sweet taste of victory, "Meow!" 
* * * * *
White Blaze streaked past the vixen, circling Nytefox at an ever increasing pace. The dust cloud rose higher and higher as Blaze lashed out at the fox, striking her in the muzzle, sides and back, almost all at the same time. Nytefox wheeled and winced in pain, staggering from the force of the blows. The young vixen retaliated blindly, catching the running tigress in the neck with her forearm. The big cat flipped up and landed flat on her back, several yards away. Holding her staff like a policeman's night stick, Nytefox summoned her, "Rising Fox Upper!" Followed by an elongating shadow, and a twisting column of fading lightning energy, Nytefox spiraled straight up into the air, carrying White Blaze with her. The poor tigress bounced up with each hit from Nytefox's staff and fist, her body becoming battered and bloody as the scratches were forced deeper into her flesh. A sudden geyser of blood ran from her mouth, White Blaze nearly choking on it as her intestines became liquefied from the electric beating. 
Nytefox landed as softly as a cat on the desert floor, hardly an inch from where she had started her technique. The limp, lifeless tigress, her nemeses since grade school, landed with a sickening thud a few yards away. The smell of blood was strong in the vixen's nose, as was the sounds of Nytelion's battle back in the canyon in her ears. Licking her staff clean of the blood, she turned and joined the others as they headed for the cliffs to watch. She hardly noticed that her fur was splattered with the blood of the tigress. 
* * * * *
I knelt in a pool of my own blood, clutching at the hole in my left side. My brother panted a few years away from me, clutching at the gash in his belly, but still standing on his feet. Slowly, I rose to my feet, blood running down my side from the claw shaped slit. The pain was so intense that it made me dizzy. Heat muttered something I couldn't quite make out, the throbbing sensation in my head drowning out all words. As if in slow motion, Heat attacked, his fist driving for my muzzle. I dodged to the left, he swung with his other fist. Dodging to the right, I countered with a shot to his side. Heat growled as I connected, and subsequently slashed my chest open, blood flying in all direction as his claws tore my flesh and ripped through my fur. I was later told that my roar of pain cracked the walls of the canyon as if they were glass. 
"It's over, brother," Heat sneered down at me. He stood like a proud hunter would over a fresh kill.
I rose to my feet again, slowly breathing as the pain started to subside, "It's not over yet, baby bro." Heat's expression changed from confidence, to pure hate.
Fire red arcs of power shot up from his body, his voice suddenly deeper, "DON'T CALL ME THAT!" He hated to be left in my shadow. His body became surrounded with Fire energy, focusing it all into his signature technique; The Demon Lion. As he hovered across the sandy ground, his paws not more than an inch above the desert floor, I shook my head sadly. The dust trail rose higher behind my brother as I unsheathed my staff, already glowing with Lightning energy. Just before my brother grabbed me, I attacked. 
"LIGHTNING LION'S CLAW!!!" my voice echoed for miles as I swung my staff through my brother's body. There was no blood, not even a tiny yelp of pain from him as I sliced his body in half with one quick swipe. The lightning power sealing the wound as it passed through him like a hot knife through butter. His body hovered for several seconds, a look of pure disbelief on his face, before it fell in two different directions as I licked my staff clean and resheathed it. Turning to my friends I heard the dual thud's of his lifeless form hitting the ground. Until you change your ways I thought. You'll always be nothing more than 'baby bro' to me. 
The sun was starting to rise in the distance, the golden rays peaking over the mountain tops as we regained our strength. We lay back on a grassy knoll, letting the sun warm our bodies, our wounds nearly completely healed. I leaned over and licked my mates cheek, she smiled up at me.
"Sometimes I think we're too nice," Nytewolf sighed as he rose to his feet.
Nytecat yawned and stretched, "What's makes you say that, Wolf?"
"Think about it," he pointed to where we had left my brother and the Tigress Triplets. "They'll be fully healed and back to normal in a few hours, and we'll just repeat this whole process again. We should have severed their heads while we had the chance."
I groaned, not believing the wolf's words, "Nytewolf, our not sending them into the afterworld is what sets us apart from them. They kill just because they can, we kill only as a last resort, and only then if absolutely necessary." The wolf opened his muzzle to say something, but couldn't seem to find the words.
Nytefox rose, looking at the sun, "We'd better go. It's getting close to time for our students to arrive." I had completely forgotten about our Dojo and the classes we taught everyday. I stood and stretched.  We were all completely healed now. We each lifted off the ground, our dragon-like wings catching the slightest breeze and making use of its uplift. In seconds we were soaring high, heading for home with the rising sun at our backs.