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Ch7. It's a Beast.

It was five in the morning and the sunlight was barely coming over the horizon and already anthros were getting up and ready for the day's work. Phillip was still sleeping peacefully as he rolled over, his arm landing on something soft and warm. The anthro just smiled as he watched the boy sleep.

"Why do you get to sleep next to him?" An anthro asked in a whisper as he came over and towered over the two as he looked over at the human that had his arm resting over the other's body.

The anthro looked up and glared at the other. "You know damn well that I've been sleeping here way before he showed up so don't start that shit." He shot back quiet enough not to disturb the human.

"Fine then how about we switch spots then." The anthro suggested.

"Nope."

The black wolf came walking up to the two bickering anthros and crossed his arms across his chest. "Get the boy up."

They both looked over to the wolf. "Come on Blaferis let the boy sleep a bit longer." The anthro that was standing suggested.

Blaferis looked over at the anthro and glared. "He starts work today and I'm sure the captain would like to meet him, if he's late on his first day then you two will have to explain it to him."

The two anthros looked at each other. "Fine." The one laying on the floor said, he reached up and gave to the boy a couple of shakes on his shoulder. "Hey time to get up."

Phillip let out a small moan before he slowly opened his eyes, his vision started to focus to see a cougar lying beside him. The boy's eyes widen to see how close the two were laying. In a split second the human gasped and tried to move away from the anthro but ran into a pair of legs, Phillip looked up to see Blaferis standing over him with a big smirk over his muzzle. The boy quickly looked around to see that the room was full of anthros moving around the room each one constantly looking at him, Phillip pulled the covers up over his body and tried to hide from his embarrassment.

''Hey,'' The cougar said as he moved closer to the boy, ''Sorry to scare you like that.''

Phillip moved the blankets down a little. ''I-It's ok.''

The anthro gaze the boy with a smile before leaning forward and giving him a quick lick across his cheek. The cougar was getting up before he heard a grunt come from the wolf. He quickly turned around and looked down at the boy with his ears laid back against his head. "Sorry, are you ok with me licking you like that?"

Phillip was still surprised at the quick gesture but managed a small nod. He looked up to the other anthro that was standing over them, A Dalmatian that was wagging his tail when the human looked up at him. The Dalmatian's body was in good shape but not thick with muscle. Phillip looked behind him and gulped when he seen the wolf standing near him. Blaferis was tall black wolf with blue tipped ears, his ice blue eyes were gazing down at him. Unlike the other anthros Phillip noticed that the wolf also had a tribal design on his upper part of his right arm, the same color blue as the tip of his ears. The boy was a little intimidated by him but settled down when the wolf gave the boy a smile before walking away.

"Don't worry about him." Phillip heard the cougar. "He's just high up in rank that's all. Other than that he's pretty much an ok person to be around."

The human looked back at the anthro. The cougar got up and gave out a long stretch, his muscles flexed under his skin, he fixed up his bedding before moving over to his chest and started to get dressed. Phillip was looking around to see that the room everyone in the room was getting up to get changed and fixing their bedding. Phillip decided he better do the same, he got up and fixed his bed before going to the back of the room to his chest, he grabbed his pants and shirt to slip them on before putting on some socks, the whole time he knew that he was being watched from almost everyone in the room.

There was a knock at the door before an anthro walked into the room over to the human. Phillip was just finishing up tying up his last boot before looking up to see Hikrit towering over him with a big smile. "Morning."

"Morning." Phillip responded.

"I came to get you for weapons training." The horse said as he lifted up and rested his axe on to his shoulder.

Phillip looked over to his side and gripped his sword before standing up. "All ready."

"Good." Hikrit said before leading Phillip out of the room. The boy walked close to the horse while they made their way down the hall and down the steps to walk outside. After walking for a while the horse lead Phillip to the sparing grounds, unsurprised to see those from his room were gathering but saw some that he has never saw before. They waited patiently before they were instructed to stretch and pick partners.

Phillip was busy stretching his legs when he heard someone walk up behind him, ''You're my partner.'' Followed by a bunch of groans the boy turned around to see Blaferis waiting patiently.

''Why do you get the human?'' The Dalmatian from earlier said as he rushed up to the two.

''Because I called him first.''

''But I wanted to spar with him.'' The dog whined and gave them his best puppy face he could.

Blaferis glared at the anthro. ''What did I say?''

''Fine,'' The anthro whined as he walked away slowly and looked for a different partner.

The wolf looked back down to Phillip and sighed. ''Sorry, sometimes you have to be rough with that mutt.''

The boy chuckled as he finished stretching and got up with his sword in his hands, the wolf lead Phillip away from the others before getting into their stances.

"Ok, let's first find out how much you learned so far."

The boy was staring at the wolf when he heard a load roar come from the distance. Startled he turned around but couldn't see where the noise came from when he heard it again, more and more roars were coming from nearby. Others had started their sparring when Phillip was still looking for the source of the sound.

''You ok?'' The wolf asked.

Phillip looked back at the wolf, ''Yeah, just never heard that noise before.'' he stated with a small shiver when he heard another roar.

''Oh that's just the Hounds, they love to make noise this early but you'll get to see them later for now though.'' Blafearis pulled up his own sword and was ready to attack. Phillip took a deep breath and pulled his sword out of its sheath. The wolf didn't hesitate for a second and was already attacking the boy, Phillip didn't get a chance to read the wolf and was already blocking attacks. The human was on defense till he seen the wolf take a step back and was left wide open, seeing his chance Phillip took a step forward but slipped when his foot touched the ground and fell onto his side. The boy was more than confused when he looked down at the ground to see a small clear patch on the ground. Phillip got back up onto his knee and placed his hand on it, it was very cold, and he realized it was ice. Phillip was still wondering where ice could have come from this time of year when the small patch of ice started to crack and break into smaller and smaller peace till it looked like a small pile of snow, the boy was still looking at it when it quickly moved away from the human and over to where the wolf was standing with a serious look on his muzzle. ''You lost this round that means you have to do twenty push-ups and sit-ups.''

''Hey, come on Blaferis. You used element on the boy.'' Phillip heard from another group.

''Yeah, you know he can't use element.'' another anthro said.

Blaferis took a deep breath and was about to agree with them when he saw Phillip extended his body outward and held himself up with his hands. ''You don't have too.'' The wolf announced. ''Their right, I shouldn't be using element on you.''

''I still lost though.'' The boy stated as he started his push-ups. Once he finished his workout Phillip got up and held his sword in his hands. ''Ready.'' Blaferis just grinned as he got ready and attacked. The two went back and forth from offence and defense but every time Phillip was the one that lost and had to do more exercises. After a couple of hours the boy was panting and his arms where shaking from holding the sword for so long, the wolf could see how tired the boy was getting and lowered his sword.

''Let's take a break.'' the wolf said while walking over to the benches nearby.

Phillip followed the wolf closely and sat down once they arrived. The boy looked over the wolf and watched as he rested his paws on the hilt of his weapon, his shoulder length head fur fell over his eyes as he faced downward but the thing that caught his attention was that the left wrist guard had a long scrape down it.

''What was that from?'' The boy asked.

Blaferis ears perked up and looked at what the boy was looking at, when he saw the scrape on the top of his armor the wolf gave a small smile before he looked back at the boy. ''This mark is given by someone who seen you behead a Bragin.''

Phillip never seen a Bragin and was getting more curious. The boy looked back up at the wolf, ''Are they that hard to kill?''

The wolf sighed and nodded. ''We have swords, use elements, and most likely smarter but because of their tough skin, strength, size, their endless will to kill, yeah there that dangerous. That's why it's important that you get trained as quickly as possible,'' The wolf's ears flattened against his head. ''And when the time comes that you do fight a Bragin face to face that you won't freeze up and get killed.''

Phillip could feel pain and guilt come from the wolf, ''You seen it happen before haven't you?''

The wolf let out a small whimper. ''Once, we were transporting families from our world to yours, we just got a new recruit that was maybe a few years older than you. We got ambushed and when he turned to see one charging at him, he didn't do anything but stand in fear. I tried to get to him, I really did but there was just too many.'' Phillip seen the wolf was trying his hardest to not breakdown as he tightened his grip on his sword. ''I just don't want to see that happen again.''

The wolf was looking down at the ground when he felt something warm touch his shoulder. He looked up to see the human moved closer to him and had his hand on his shoulder. ''I'm sure that you did your best and I'm sorry that you had to go through that.''

The wolf nodded. ''It's ok, it was a long time ago.'' The wolf let out a long sigh before he stood up and stretched his back. ''How about we get back to work.''

Phillip agreed and followed the wolf back to their spot on the practice grounds and continued. The group all continued their training for a few more hours till they were all let go for lunch.

''Ok, be back by noon.'' Hikrit announced.

Phillip stretched out his arms and was walking away from the training grounds. He just reached the side walk when he heard some running coming up behind him quickly. The boy turned to see the Dalmatian and a few others running up to him.

"Hey, is it ok if we join you." The Dalmatian asked with his tail wagging, the boy looked at the others to see that they all had pleading looks on their faces.

Phillip couldn't help but laugh on the inside at how hard the dog was trying to be near him, 'guess they weren't lying when they said they would try and be close.' The boy thought while be gave the small group a nod.

With the small group caught up to the boy they all made their way to the cafeteria and were quickly seated at a table by the window. Once the waitress came and took all of their orders, Phillip sat and looked at the group that was with them. Besides the Dalmatian, there was a lion that had Red streaks going down his mane, and two bears. One is a brown bear scar over his right eye while the other is a black bear that has a Red tribal design on both of his paws. All three were big enough to make them all look like they were the boy's bodyguards.

Phillip sat quietly and listened to the anthros talked when he got the same feeling from the last time he was in the cafeteria. The boy looked into the back of the room to see the same Husky from last night but this time he had company at his table. Phillip smiled when he saw that the dog was still looking at him even though he was talking to the anthros at his table, the boy gave the dog a wave which in return the dog's ears perked up and most likely his tail was wagging. Phillip smiled turned into a grin when he saw how happy the dog got.

"What you so happy about?" Phillip's attention was bought back to the black bear at his table.

The boy looked around to see everyone at his table was looking at him with smiles on their muzzles. Phillip looked down and blushed from embarrassment. "It's just that Husky in the back." Everyone at the table turned around and looked in the back.

They looked for a little before turning back at the boy. "What husky?" the Dalmatian asked.

"What?" Phillip looked up to see the seat that the dog was in was now empty. "He was just right there."

"I'm sure your Husky will show up sometime soon." The Dalmatian teased.

They were all making fun of the boy for a little before the waitress came up to them and delivered their food. They all ate quickly before having to heading back to the sparing grounds. As they approached the first thing Phillip saw was the lieutenant from yesterday standing at the grounds talking to Blaferis, the next was the white lion near them. As they all approached the grounds, the lion's head snapped towards the boy and a smile came over his muzzle. One by one all the anthro's attention came over to the boy. When the Lab seen Phillip his ears came up and his whole body turned to the boy. Phillip felt a lot of happiness come from the anthro and before he knew it the dog was running at him.

"Oh shit." The boy cursed before trying to hide behind the anthros he just had lunch with. The Lab blew right passed them, knocking over both bears and tackled Phillip and gave him a big hug.

"Hi," the anthro said in his high pitch giddy voice. "How did you sleep?"

"N-not too bad." Phillip struggled as he was being crushed.

The dog quickly turned and started to carry the boy. "That's good, the captain wanted to meet you, I told him all about you and how I already informed you on some of your duties." The lab walked the boy over to the lion and wolf before dropping him back onto the ground. "Captain Frasit this is Phillip." He said loudly.

Phillip looked up at the white lion that was now rubbing his eyes and shaking his head, "Thank you lieutenant." He said before looking back at the boy, he extended his paw. "As the loud dog said I'm Captain Frasit."

Phillip reached up and shook the anthros paw which to his surprise with how the anthro looked was gental. "Nice to meet you."

The lion smiled at the boy. "Now that your here, I was telling Blaferis here that because his squad doesn't have a human yet that you're going to be put into their group." Phillip looked over to the wolf to see that Blaferis was smiling at him while his tail was wagging behind him. "Also, when Xavier and Zach get back from their vacation I'm putting you under their care to see that you get trained but until then Blaferis is going to take over that duty, understood?" Phillip gave the lion a single nod so that he could continue. "Good, we'll get better acquainted when I have more time but if you have any problems please tell Blafearis, the lieutenant, or myself. More preferably Blafearis or me."

"I will sir." Phillip said in an almost a whisper.

The lion smiled and gave the boy a pat on the head before he started to walk off, Phillip was watching the lion till the Lab came up and hugged the boy in a death grip. "See you around buddy." The dog almost yelled before letting go of the human and running off to catch up with the captain.

Phillip looked back at the wolf who was trying not to laugh out loud, "Let's go." The wolf said while he started to head back to the practice grounds with the boy close behind him. Once they were both armed they continued where they had left off, one by one the rest of the other anthros started to return back from their break and continue their own training.

It was near the end of the work day that everyone in squad eight was called to gather around. Hikrit started to give the group assignments, he looked over to Phillip, "Phillip, Scrit, and Gradeg. You're on stall duty." Phillip heard a groan come from the two anthros as he saw the Dalmatian and the brown bear from earlier stand up and start to walk off. The Dalmatian motioned for the boy to follow, which he got up and quickly ran over to catch up.

They walked up the road to the back part of the base and made their way through the back gate. Phillip saw a fenced off field with five big barns. They all walked into one of them, Phillip looked around and saw that the stalls were all empty.

"What do we have to do?" the boy asked.

The bear moved over to a door and opened it to pull out two pitch forks, he handed one to the boy while moving to the first stall. "Clean up all the hay into the wheelbarrow and take it out side, and then lay new ones down and leave the doors open."

Phillip started on his own stall and took about ten minutes to completely get the old hay up and laid new hay down. It took them about two hours to have all the stalls done before the Dalmatian told Phillip to stand to the side. Once the boy was out of the way the dog looked up to the other anthro. "Hey Gradeg, all ready?"

"Yeah all clear on this side." The bear announced.

The Dalmatian opened up the back door before quickly stepping off to the side, Phillip was shocked when he saw huge beasts running on all four came through the door and each one went into its own stall.

Phillip was still up against the wall when both Scrit and Gradeg came walking up to him. "You ok?" Gradeg asked.

"W-what are they?" The boy stuttered.

"They're Hounds." The Dalmatian responded while he moved over to each one and started to close the doors.

Phillip slowly walked up to the closest stalls and peaked inside, he was still amazed that the animal was so tall. Phillip could barely see over the Hounds shoulder the creature had a canine head except for the sharp horn coming out from the forehead, Phillip looked down at its three clawed paws. It's whole body were full of muscle and had a tail that was long enough to touch the floor. Its sleek fur was a light brown mixed with grey. The Hound's bright ember eyes were gazing back at the boy. Unlike the other Hounds Phillip noticed that this one had a huge scar across his eye.

"What happened to it?"

Scrit leaned up against the stall. "Bragin attacked it and cut the poor thing with its sword. So we named him Scar. We use them to ride around or carry equipment if were out for a while so naturally they tend to get into the fights."

Phillip looked back at the creature, the Hound let out a small whimper as he moved his head closer to the edge. The boy slowly moved his hand up in front of the beast, Scar instantly moved his head under the human's hand. Phillip couldn't help but laugh as he started to scratch the massive head, his hand could fit perfectly between its eyes. Phillip found it funny that such a big creature was acting like a young pup but he enjoyed it. The Hound moved its head downward as Phillip started to scratch him behind its pointed ear. Both Phillip and Scrit laughed when the creature let out a small murr as he pushed his body up against the wall of the stall.

Gradeg let out a small whimper. "And why can't you pet me that way." He said in a playful tone.

The Dalmatian looked over to Gradeg and laughed. "Aww, the poor teddy bear wants attention."

They all laughed and teased each other a bit more while making sure that all the Hounds were alright for the night, Phillip stopped by Scar a couple of times because of his whimpering, once they were done and all the equipment was put back where they got it, they all left the stables, as Phillip left he could hear the whining and howling come from Scar as they headed back to the practice to meet back up with Hikrit.

"Looks like someone likes you." The Dalmatian teased.

They all made it back and were able to find the horse very easily, the anthro told them that everyone else had left and they could do the same, Scrit asked if Phillip wanted to head down into the village but the boy was pretty tired from his first work day. So after declining the dog's invitation, the boy quickly ate at the cafeteria before heading back to his barracks in the now late day and took a shower alone since everyone else seemed to still be out. The human went back to his room and stripped down into his underwear before moving over to his bed where he found a wrapped package on his pillow.

The boy lifted it up and felt that it had some weight to it, he looked all over to see if he could find anything that would tell him who had sent it, the only thing he found was small writing on it that said 'Welcome to Frozen Claw.' Phillip slowly unwrapped it, he couldn't help but smile when he seen that he now had his own pair of wrist guards in his own hands. After trying them on the human went over and placed them carefully into his chest before returning to his bed to get as much rest as he could.

To be continued.....................