"You know freedom comes with a price, Okami," an unknown voice spoke out the orange wolf. Okami looks around his surroundings to see that he was in some kind of black void.
Okami was growing Anxious in the current situation he was in; he wanted to know where he was; or where all of his friends were, he wanted to make sure that they were safe.
"Where am I? Who are you? Where are my friends?"
Okami asked the mysterious voice; he was growing more anxious due to the silence he was receiving. The orange slowly walks around; it had felt like he was walking on nothing.
The voice that had once spoken to him had spoken once more with that same creepy saying. "Freedom comes with a price, Okami." the orange wolf stopped dead in his tracks. Was this Archen, no it couldn't be.
He doesn't have any animals like that.
Okami didn't know what the voice had wanted from him; the last thing he remembers doing after he dropped those kids off was arriving back to the group and going straight to bed.
A light suddenly comes into view as Okami makes his way to it. Under the light, two figures could be seen sitting in chairs tied up. What did I walk into? This has to be a dream, right?
Okami stops thinking to himself when he notices the tied up entities, one human and one wolf. He had known what the voice had wanted, or well think he knew what the voice's intentions were.
The voice soon booms again, "I need you to decide since freedom comes with a price. You've gotta make a sacrifice." rope had pulled up the two entities' heads to reveal that they were his closest friends. He knew what had needed to be done, but he couldn't; they were like family to him.
"You just need to choose which one of these folks gets to live or die, as simple as that. We have Monster on our left and Mark on our right. Which one dies and which one lives to see another day."
Okami couldn't take it; the orange wolf dropped to his knees and clenched the fur where his heart was located. No, not now, please! The orange wolf was having another one of his panic attacks, and the worst part was that no one was there to help him with his situation.
The strange thing about it was it hurt more than his other panic attacks; Okami was experiencing so much pain to the point of tears. He had screamed for help, but he had gotten no response in return.
"CHOOSE!!"
The voice was growing pissed at the wolf for not answering quickly; his breathing got worse, and so did his crying. He couldn't choose; if this was real and he killed one of his friends, no, he couldn't do that. The orange wolf wouldn't be able to forgive himself if he had done that.
"I-I can't, their family. If this is reality, I can't risk losing them. I don't think I would be able to forgive myself if I did."
A gunshot sound is heard whistling through the air; Okami could feel his body tense; he didn't like the sound of guns. As his body tensed, he felt immense pain go through his chest, No it can't be!
Okami looked down at his chest to see that he was bleeding heavily. Is this what he had deserved for not choosing? Are humans this evil? The orange wolf couldn't see what was happening; he was too shocked to scan his area once more.
Okami could hear a male's chuckle behind him; it didn't sound like Archen. Who could it be then?
Okami's eyes start to close as he falls straight ahead of him before whispering to himself. "I'm sorry, mom and dad; it seems that I have failed you." the orange wolf feels his body go numb before going completely limp, letting the darkness take over him.
"-mi! Okami!"
The orange wolf shoots up, breathing heavily; his eyes go wide as more tears come out of his eyes and down his already drenched cheeks.
Okami could feel a soft hand rubbing his back in a calming manner. He turns his head to the side to see Mark was behind him, trying to comfort him in the process.
"Do you want to talk about it?" Mark quietly asked the crying wolf; Okami gives a slight nod; it would be better to get it off his chest than hurting himself from the painful memories no one would ever know about.
"It was another Nightmare, but not the same one I usually get about my parent's death. This one was of some dark void; I couldn't move. You and Monster were there tied up; there was a voice, it had asked me to Ki-" Okami couldn't get the word out, it hurt him too much.
Mark knew what the wolf was going to say as he pulls the wolf into his arms. No person should have to go through something like that; He had known this was one thing that Okami had liked the most; the orange wolf cuddled into Mark, enjoying the embrace.
Cuddling was something Mark wasn't used to; he knew that Okami enjoyed it dearly because it made him feel warm inside. Since Okami was family to Mark, the situation wasn't awkward whatsoever.
"Hey, Mark." Mark had given the wolf a simple hm as he looked down at the wolf who had looked up at him.
"Can-Can we stay like this for the night? To be honest, I'm scared that I might have the same dream again." Mark nodded to the orange wolf with a smile on his face; the male had thought this was adorable. Okami was just like a kid; he had probably never lost his kid side when he was living independently for such a long time.
Both of the males had fallen asleep shortly after, as none of the males worried about having another sleepless night.
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Everything was slow-moving today in the laboratory; Archen was currently in his office trying to figure out some new designs for an animal he wanted to make to help him in the war.
The male looked up; there was a calendar that he had pinned to the wall, so he remembered how much longer he had until the war. The war was coming up faster than he liked; he had barely any animals on his side. He had one of the army forces, but they wouldn't last for long.
He needed help creating this new animal; it would surely kill Okami if he would just take his time developing it. He couldn't come up with any ideas whatsoever; he was sketching rough ideas of what he had wanted, with a picture of the orange wolf to the side of him with all of his traits.
A scientist interrupts his thoughts as they had a question to ask the male.
"Yes, what do you need."
The scientist flinches at the man's tone but continued anyway, "you have guests sir, can I let them in."
Archen looks over at the scientist with shock as he hesitantly nods his head for the scientists to bring the guests into his office.
Archen is shocked when he sees the two males entering the room; these were the other two top people working at the different laboratories. He didn't think these men would visit him, especially on a day where next to no work was getting done.
"It seems that we came at the right time; we knew the war was coming up, so we thought we would give you a visit to discuss some plans."
Archen gives the males a nod as he shows the two what he was currently working on.
"I've been trying to design a new animal to help us in the war. My goal is to make something stronger than this orange wolf right here; he is the so-called savior to these animals. The one who will set his kind free." the two men take a look at the designs, and all of the traits that Okami had before one of them speaks up.
"Well, it's impossible to make an animal stronger than the strongest living creature on this planet; the most we can do is make it almost as strong as him. We can't do much since it was never technically born as one of their kind. It would only be able to use one ability instead of two or more."
Archen agreed with the two males that things like that couldn't just happen; he had to deal with the hard cold truth.
"My, how rude of us, we have yet to introduce ourselves. My name is Marcus, and this is Garret. We work together at the other laboratory."
Archen stands up from his desk, walks over to the two of them, and shakes their hands. He knew that introductions were vital if they worked alongside each other, so he straightened himself up before speaking.
"Yes, it's good to meet you too; my name is Archen, as I am the head worker of this laboratory." Marcus and Garett nod their heads before walking to the man's desk.
They spent the entire day going over design ideas of what they had wanted or what would be best.
Archen knew that these guys were severe in animal creating, as he needed to make sure he thought about this and not throw some ridiculous ideas out.
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It was early morning as the group of men had yet to get some sleep. It took them a while to get the rough design that they had wanted finished.
They had gone with a wolf design since more than half the population of half-animals consisted of wolves.
Instead of making another animal like Amzi, they decided it would be easier to control a robot than an actual living animal. They made sure that it would have the correct wiring to maintain itself but still listen to the commands they would give the animal.
The next step they had to do was decide what the name that the robot would respond to.
They looked up what they could but couldn't think of anything; they finally decided on the name Shuen, which meant Demise in Japanese. Since this animal was supposed to be the fall of Okami, they knew that this name was best.
The last step that needed to be completed before the war had started was to bring this animal to life. They slowly started making the code that would power the animal; they ended up stopping halfway. Thinking it would be best to get some rest before they had continued making this animal.
You better believe that Archen was ready for this war; Okami would see the real him. He would not let that mut ruin his life, merely wanting to set his kind free.
That orange wolf had taken his only son away, the only worker who made a lot of progress around the laboratory.
"Okami, you better be ready. I won't be going easy on you. Not only will I prove that your kind is worthless, but that your kind shouldn't have ever existed. All of the human race will soon be on my side, and I'll just sit back and watch while they will tear your life apart. Just like your kind did to my life."
That was the last thing Archen had said before he had closed his eyes with a big smirk growing on his face.
"I will win this war, no matter the cost, and no matter how many Armies that I have to hire. You are dead, Hikari."