One by one their body particles reassembled inside the Antelope Canyon. They looked around, seeing the maze of striated stones around them, and they marveled at it. Trevor and Maria, who had been there before found it to be the same.
The curves of the stones, leading to darkened paths, bore them with confusion. Even Marie was clueless as to which road they should take.
"Now do we just stand here looking around? We should make some moves," Itsuki said.
"I think you need to calm down and allow us think," Trevor said to him.
"Alright, alright," he said.
Marie looked around for a few more seconds, then she pointed at a path that was illuminated by a beam of light above it. They followed her towards the place.
They walked warily, in expectation of something lurking around the curves of the stones, ready to attack them, and such thoughts made Six and Kahil grip their guns tightly. They walked until things began to seem familiar to Marie. There was a place in one of the stones where a tusk was dug, and it was kind of a landmark to her.
They passed along it and she began pointing out places and corners. She led them along until they got to a wide floor within the canyon, where she thought the hiona wolf laid. They didn't see any wolf there, all they saw were paw prints and claw marks on the walls. They looked around.
"Who must have taken her away from here?" Marie said. Then she heard a low growl coming from somewhere around the stones.
They all lurched and turned around. Six and Kahil readied their guns immediately, waiting for it. Like a natural response to danger, Itsuki began to transform gradually. His hair stood erect, and he began to grow alot of facial hair from both sides of his face. They heard the growl again, and they got more apprehensive.
"What or who are you? Come out now and let us show you that we ain't afraid," Itsuki said with a deep, rumbling voice.
As soon as he said that, they saw a mighty grey wolf descending from an unidentified place toward where Itsuki stood. Before Itsuki could turn around, Kahil shot a beam through it and it fell right before Itsuki, whimpering and quivering.
"A very nice one Kahil," Six said to him.
They looked down at the wolf, it's teeth jutting out of it's growling mouth.
"Is this the hiona wolf?" Expresso said.
Marie walked close to it. "No it isn't." She shrugged.
Suddenly, they heard a host of growls coming from unidentified corners.
"Come on, we need to run," Expresso said, spraying his cloud spray before them, concealing the place in thick dark smoke. Trevor did same too, and they all took to their heels.
While they ran they also heard the multitudes of growls coming after them. They sighted a path by the left, and Trevor sprayed some more clouds before they dashed into the place. The place they entered was a dead end with a blocking wall, and they just hid there, hearing the thumping sounds of the wolves as they ran by.
"Woah, that was a close one," Six said quietly.
They stayed there for some time, and when they found out that the coast was clear, they came out.
"Look people, I don't think the hiona wolf is in this canyon anymore. We have to look elsewhere," Fern said.
"Where do you think we find her then?" Trevor said.
"We could go out to the heart of Arizona to ask questions. I know she's out there somewhere," Fern said.
"A nice idea though. Who knows if one of the humans hasn't taken her out to monetize. You know humans," Itsuki said.
"He's right though," Marie said sadly.
"So we go back from where we came. The wolves have passed by already," Six said.
"True," Marie said, but when she gestured the way, she saw three fierce-looking wolves coming from that area and she gasped in fear. They turned around to take the opposite road and they saw two more coming.
Trevor brought out his cloud spray, but Fern held it. "You don't want us to fight blindly, do you?"
Itsuki began to transform immediately, while Six and Kahil pointed their guns at them. The wolves walked gradually towards them, unusually huge and red eyed.
"I need to do this now," Six said and shot a beam at one of them, but, as though it read his move, it dodged it and jumped at him, knocking him to the ground. It tried to bite his neck but Six was strong enough to hold it back, then it used it's claw to scratch Six's face. Six groaned in pains and transformed right under it. Six turned to a very fierce werewolf that scared everyone. He ejected sharp claws from his fingers and gave the wolf a very deep gore in its skin. The wolf growled loudly and Six yanked it away from his body, throwing it to the ground.
The wolf shook it's head vigorously to ward of the pain, then they came back reinforced. The rest, which included Expresso, Kahil, and Itsuki had already transformed into werewolves. They stood on both feet like werewolf versions of Anubis. They surrounded the humans, protecting them from the wolves around, while they charged against them.
One of the wolves dived at Itsuki, who was a bit smaller than the rest, but he proved to be more of a ferocious fighter. Itsuki held the wolf on both arms and bit it's eye off, throwing it away from him.
Kahil, who was the largest of them, dived at one of the wolves, and the little space he created gave space for one of the smart wolves to attack Marie. Marie yelled and Itsuki dived on the wolf's back, holding it's neck from behind and pressing it down, till the wolf gave up. The remaining wolves saw that they were being defeated, and the all ran away.
The brave werewolves that fought for them still remained in their forms, panting and looking at the humans. Marie watched in awe, she had almost forgotten they weren't as human as she was. Whom she had her eyes on more deeply was Itsuki. His werewolf form wasn't entirely beastly. He still looked human, only for a lot of facial hair on both sides of his face, wolflike eyes, and fangs. She unknowingly smiled at him.