Prologue: Part 1
The dog was surrounded by pure white. The world he had known had turned into a winter wonderland as Shadow trod across the snow. Shadow looked up at the snowy sky. The snow fell to the ground like an angel descending from heaven. If he were to make a wish, he would only want one thing in this world. Eternal happiness for his dearest best friend. He hears his name being called from a distance. It was a voice that gave him joy and comfort as he ran toward the light and into the warmth.
"Shadow......Shadow?" Shadow opened the curtain of his vision. Lily was staging at him innocently as she patted his head with her delicate fingers. She gave him a faint smile. "Good evening, sleepy head."
Lily got off from Narita Airport. She had not returned to Japan in quite a while; however, it was Shadow's first time here. The air smelled different from Australia as Shadow wrinkled his nose and sneezed. Lily did want to look around the airport to see all the antiques and goods they had; however, Lily had no money to spend, so her world had only stared at things she couldn't have. Shadow could tell that just by looking at how she behaved.
She was a very timid and shy girl, but she was not always like this. Lily used to be bright and loved singing; however, after her mother passed away, she became more reserved and quit her hobbies. Lily had a beautiful voice and won many awards in her junior competition; some even touted her as a famous singer. Her mother wanted that, it was her dream, but ever since her passing, she hasn't sung since.
Lily and Shadow met his father, Michael, at the Taxi as he gave them a fake wary smile. Michael was German, and his deceased wife was Chinese and Korean, which made Lily half-german, a quarter Chinese-Korean. However, despite Michael having blonde hair, Lily had dark hair, which she got from her mother with blue eyes from Michael.
Lily stared at her taxi window as she barely blinked even when views passed by. Shadow saw her hollow eye's reflecting the dull gray cloud. As raindrops trickled down the window, she was staring at her blank reflection. From the window reflection, Shadow could see water droplets around Lily's eyes, falling just like the other droplets from the window.
They got to the new home they would live in together as Michael was overly kind to the taxi driver, making Lily's stomach curl. The building was made out of old brown wood and looked like it was about to fall apart. Some of the windows were cracked, and the area they were in was not clean. Any 16-year-old girl would have been horrified to stay in such a place, but not Lily, as she threw away herself a long-time ago.
Their room was on the second floor, all the way to the right. Michael opened the creaking door as they came in. It was a two-bedroom apartment with one dining room and a kitchen, which meant Lily could have her own room, a fortunate thing in Japan. Lily immediately dropped her luggage in her room and took Shadow for a walk. Except for the place she lived, the neighborhood was clean and friendly as everyone she walked passed by greeted her with a bow which she bowed back. They came to the plaza, where there were a lot of girls her age as they strolled past her with their friends. Lily walked and looked around all the stores in the plaza to see, not buy, as she had no money to spend. Shadow could see the desperation on Lily's face as he had the power to buy things for her. As Lily was looking at a crepe stand, something caught a glimpse that brought her nostalgia. It was a girl her age singing karaoke with her friends. She stared at the girl, her lips trembling.
"Hello, are you new here?" Lily turned around, and two-three foreign girls were directing a smile toward her. They seemed like Europeans and had a very genuine natural beauty to them. "Oh, how cute your dog is adorable," the other brown-haired girl said.
"I…I………I," Lily tried to respond, but the voice would not come out. Shadow nudged Lily to talk to them, but Lily was dead silent, mumbling something. So Shadow came towards the girls and let them pet him.
"Awww, what a good boy Shad…. I mean dog." the blonde-haired girl's tongue curled as she started fumbling. The tall, brown-haired girl had a huge bright smile that somehow said say another word, and I will kill you. The other brown-haired girl was petting me so much that she was too touchy-feely with me. "He is so soft!!!! So cute!!!!!" the brown-haired girl squeaked as she rubbed me all over the place."
"STOP THAT!!!!!" Lily shouted; it was so loud the whole plaza could have heard it. "I'm so……..I…I.." a surge of anxiety rushed through her as she felt the panic growing inside. A long silence passed by.
"Okay, That is enough, Frenda" The tall brown-haired girl dragged the brown-haired girl away, and the blonde-haired girl looked at Lily with a puzzled look. Then they were gone blending in with the crowd.
Shadow came up to Lily to comfort her as he nuzzled against her. Lily had her hands to her mouth as she was sweating. Ever since her mother passed away, Lily has suffered from significant panic attacks caused by social anxiety. Nobody knew why as she refused to talk about it as her father would shame her for it. However, even though Shadow didn't know what it was, he wanted to understand. Because whenever Lily has those, she can see the agony on her face. Lily looked at Shadow's worried look and told him," Let's…go home."
When Lily and Shadow got home, it was already 6pm and dark outside. When she opened the door, crumpled beer cans were everywhere, and the house already reeked of cigars. Michael's eye glared straight toward Lily as Lily looked away. She strolled to her room, sparing a glance at her father as she tiptoed with her. When she closed the door, the last words she heard from her father were, "clean it up."
Lily hugged her arms as she was shaking, as she didn't know when he would have another violent outburst again. She took off her clothes to take a Shower, and Shadow saw. Her body was covered with bruises as ever since Michael's wife's death, he had become an alcoholic and would have violent outbursts aimed towards her daughter. Shadow could remember the first time it happened as it was a shock for her and Shadow as that night Lily cried herself to sleep. The second time was also shocked after he apologized for it, and she
called herself to sleep again. Then, third, fourth, fifth, sixth, and eventually, Lily stopped crying. Her father acted kind in public with her, but when he was alone, he abused her physically and mentally. Finally, she lost her voice as she could no longer speak to anyone besides Shadow. Shadow wished he could lick away all the bruises on her skin, but no matter how many invisible tears he shed, it would never bring back the old Lily.
After Lily finished taking a shower, she fell on top of the bed as Shadow came and joined her. She played next to Shadow with her wet hair and hugged Shadow's fur.
"Shadow, I'm sorry," Lily spoke softly as Shadow gave a doggie shrug. "I know this house is nowhere near as big as the one in Australia we had, but I promise I will make you happy before…." Lily paused and then spoke again. "Oh, I know! From now on, you don't have to brush your teeth anymore" You know I'm not a puppy anymore, Shadow rolled his eyes. "Also, I'm giving you free belly rubs daily, every day." I've had enough belly rubs, Shadow yawned. "Lastly, no more cutting nails; I know you always hated that." Wha, but then who is going to clean my beautiful paws, this time Shadow growled tiringly.
"And Lastly," Lily said, "You're going to buy me a car too? Shadow snorted. "I won't forget you."
!!!!!!
"Shadow, thank you for being our dog, making my mom and dad happy, licking my wounds, cheering me up every time I got down. Finding you on that street and taking it was the best decision I ever made; that's why…." Shadow saw Lily's face. "I will be okay, Shadow."
Why, Shadow thought, Why are you smiling like that, Lily? Shadow burst into weeps as he buried his face into Lily's body. All I want is for you to be happy; I want my Lily to keep smiling. Shadow was sad and frustrated for being so weak. Shadow wept as Lily patted his head with a worried look.
It was 2 months ago Shadow was diagnosed with a disease, and Lily's family didn't have the money to treat Shadow's illness ever since her mother passed away. The doctor told Lily that Shadow only had 2 months to live. It had been 1
month and 1 week since the news, and Shadow could feel his body getting weaker and weaker; all Shadow could think about was what would happen to Lily once he was gone. She will be alone all by herself. Shadow thought and worried about it until the morning sun came.
Today was the day Lily was going to Japanese High School for the first time. She wore the student's uniform and got ready. While she was getting ready, she couldn't help but worry about Shadow, who didn't seem like he had gotten any sleep.
She fidgeted. "Bye, Shadow." Shadow's ears flopped, and she was gone.
The thought of Lily being alone was racing through Shadow's mind all night. He wanted to stay with Lily. He wanted it so bad he clinched his jaws tight. What will he do without him? Who is going to protect her from Michael? Who is going to be there for her when she is crying? The thought of not being able to stand next to her anymore made Shadow's Breathing harder. Why am I so weak? Why can't I protect just the one person I care about!!!! Anger welled up in Shadow as the sea level kept getting higher. Shadow started crisscrossing across the room. He was so angry with his worthlessness that he hated himself for it.
Lily returned from school early as today's lesson was just taking a tour of the school; when Lily got home, she could feel uneasily that something was wrong. The apartment oozed with dryness. "Shadow?" Lily strolled towards the door and opened the door as slowly as she could, hoping her horrible feeling wasn't natural. But it was too late.
"SHADOW!" she screamed as she dashed towards him and held him in his arms." Why? Why did you do this to yourself? Why????"
Shadow's right arm was completely covered in blood. Teeth marks were made across his arm as she was gone. Shadow was gnawing at himself.
Lily could control her emotions as her eyes were bursting with tears. "Shadow, I..I…." Lily's lungs were burning, and her breathing was hard, but she managed to speak for herself with her own voice for the first time in a while.
"Shadow, All I wanted was for you to be happy; all I wanted was for you to keep being my Shadow!!!" Lily's voice shook like a child's. "Please, Shadow, don't go; I don't want you to go; I want to keep living with you, In our small house, with Mom and Dad. I wanted us to be a family again; I wanted it so bad." Lily cried her face out.
Shadow remembers the promise he made her as a child when he got lost by accident and made her cry. He promised himself that he would never break that promise again. Sorry, I couldn't keep my promise. Shadow Weeped as they both cried.
Prologue: Part 2
Since that incident, Lily was by Shadow's side, hugging him as she rubbed all her tears on his fur. She never left his side, and for the rest of the day, she stayed with Shadow hugging him until the next morning arrived.
Lily changed into her uniform to prepare for the first day at school. She looked cold and stern, as if her emotions were completely turned off. She hadn't eaten since yesterday morning, as she wasn't planning to eat today. Lily was ready to leave, walking toward her bedroom, but then stopped. A moment of silence passed by. Then turned around teary-eyed and hugged Shadow for the one last time. She knew there wasn't much time for Shadow, so she didn't know if this would be the last time she saw him. Lily squeezed as Shadow could feel her heartbeat next to his. She whispered, "I'm sorry," and let go of her grasp and left the house.
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Shadow felt so weak that he could feel his body slip away. He could feel his body sinking into the ground as he became sleepier. This is goodbye then, Lily; I wish I could have loved you so much more. He noticed his breathing becoming heavier and heavier until his vision was pitch black.
Then suddenly, he heard the front door open, which brought Shadow to his senses. He thought it was Lily, but the scent was unfamiliar. An intruder. Shadow got up on his feet with all his might as he was ready to bark the intruder away. Even if I am a burden, let me have this role, he thought as he sprang toward the half-opened door and jumped on the intruder.
He was about to bite the intruder, but the intruder dodged it just in time. When Shadow looked from behind, the three intruders pointed a gun at him. However, they were girls the same age as Lily. Wait, aren't those the identical girls I saw at the plaza; Shadow thought.
"Well, yes, we are Shadow," the blonde girl looked amused as they all stopped pointing their guns at them, "but did you see me dodge his attack? I never fail to amuse how cool I am," she said, that the blonde girl started dancing.
"Knock it off, Frenda, we are here to negotiate, not fool around," but Frenda didn't care as she kept dancing to the turn in her head about how cool she was.
Then Shadow realized that they were responding to his language; not only that, but they knew his name, which made Shadow scared and confused. Who are you? Shadow barked at them.
"We're here to take your soul!" the blonde-haired girl smiled with a thumb up.
"Frenda," the tall brown-haired girl gave her a kind, innocent smile," Stop talking, or I will have to get angry," she said as her smile stayed still.
Frenda gulped. "If you're gonna get rough with me, please start gently!" Frenda said with a nervous tone.
"Wh-what!!! I didn't mean it like that!!!" The tall brown-haired girl burned up red.
"Oh wow, that's too bad; it's really no wonder you're still a virgin!" Frenda sighed as she gave a shrug.
"You can't just say that out loud, Frenda!!!! Don't you have any shame?" the brown-haired girl shouted, but all Frenda did was stick her tongue out and go back to a teasing chuckle.
The tall, brown-haired girl regained her composure as she answered Shadow's question. "Shadow, we are from the organization, Pahw, and we have been following your story for a long time now."
How do you know who I am? Are you dog whisperers? Shadow barked again.
"No, we are just like you," the third member of the brown-haired girl spoke. "We're actually dogs too! We're shapeshifters," she said with a friendly smile.
Shapeshifters Shadow thought. He had heard of werewolves before but had never heard of shapeshifters. Your dogs too?
"Yes, Shadow, we are, but from a worldline with a different possibility, where animals can talk, act and live anthropomorphically like humans." as she saw Shadow's puzzled face, she told him, "We're here to take you there and give you a new opportunity at life!"
A new opportunity, Shadow immediately thought about Lily and how he wanted to keep staying by his side. All this time, he was in agony about what he should do, but now he could see hope as these girls were giving him an opportunity, as all three of them gave him a friendly smile.
I will go, Shadow barked to not let this miracle of an opportunity slip him by.
"Good choice," The tall brown-haired girl said. "I'm Claudia, the other brown-haired girl is Marie, and the blonde girl is Frenda, be careful. She bites."
"Only if you're fun to tease," Frenda winked at Shadow.
Claudia took out something that looked like a remote and pressed on as the small living room television turned on. Then she typed in the worldline they were going to. As she finished, the tv changed channels, and it was an empty room. "Let's go," Claudia told Shadow.
Shadow didn't know where to go, but as soon as Frenda jumped into the TV on the television screen, Shadow's eye's got wide open. Claudia followed her, and Marie guided Shadow into the other world.
When Shadow opened his eye, he was in a building. He breathed in the new world, which smelled like an environment he had never sensed. When he looked up, people were walking around the building, waiting, not people but animals of different species walking on two legs, wearing clothes. He was in a different world.
"Welcome to our world, Shadow" Claudia patted his head.
When Shadow looked up at them, they were turned into dogs.
Shadow couldn't walk on two legs since it was his first time. So he had to use a doggie cane until he knew how to walk on his own two feet. The girls gave him shirts, which felt weird because he only knew they wore shirts while he was in costume.
Claudia had brown fur with some white spots on her cheeks, Her eye's were deep as the ocean, and it was beautiful. She dressed very professionally, and she had innocence to her. Marie had black, white, and brown fur and was the smallest of the group. She dressed cutely as her favorite color seemed to be pink. She had a bubbly personality and always smiled at him. Then there was Frenda; she was teasing the whole time we walked inside the building as she was very mischievous and playful. She was a blonde dog with an art cap as she liked to flip her floppy ears with her paws often.
They eventually got to the big door, and Claudia opened it, "We brought him." Claudia yelled. A couple of anthropomorphic animals were staring at him in the middle of the room. A corgi with sunglasses was on the desk smoking a cigar.
"Congratulations girls, you kidnapped the prince-charming." the German shepherd said with a chuckle and a smirk.
"You make us sound really creepy when you say it like that!" Claudia glazed at him.
Frenda, teasingly smiling, "I don't mind that if it means I can have my way with him."
Shadow panicked with broken words" Wh-what are you talking about?" Frenda chuckled," Haha, this is going to be fun!!!"
The corgi took off his sunglass and spoke as he tried to look superb. "Welcome, Shadow; my name is Mr. Wesler Seiluven, the Wesler Seiluven; it's nice to meet you," he spoke his name with a pompous attitude. Apparently, he thought Shadow knew who he was.
"Who?" Shadow answered confusingly.
A long silence passed as Wesler was still in his awkward pose. "Are you kidding me? Seiluven! The Wesler Seivelun! The dog who runs this Organization!"
"Oh…..Congratulations," Shadow said blankly, and Wesler's jaw opened.
"I swear the human world has no idea how much they owe us. After all, we've done for them," Wesler seemed like he was going to go into some kind of rant. He started cursing and spitting out words like an angry puppy.
"Yay, here we go again" The fox sighed.
"Our boss" A pitbull with bandages and scars across his face also sighed. Shadow questioned "Did I offend him?" he asked around him.
"No, Shadow, you said all the right things!" Frenda encouraged Shadow as she was filming Mr. Wesler's outburst.
Then the door slammed open again. "Papa!!!" the puppies burst in as Mr. Wesler turned from an angry dad to a happy dad.
"My pups," he said as he hugged all of them. "Papa missed you!" he said as he became more soft and tender.
As Mr. Wesler's puppy was on his head, he continued the conversation with Shadow. "Do you know why you're here, Shadow?" Shadow shook his head. "You're here because we want to give you an opportunity and a second chance in life. We want you to join our Organization and become part of our family." Shadow asked what the Organization was as he was confused but determined already. "The organization is Called Pahw, and we help rescue abused animals from the human world and bring them to our world where they can start a new life, and we want you to be in our team because of what you went through in life." Shadow had a flashback of when Lily saved him when he was a Puppy. "I can tell you are thinking, is it about Lily?" Shadow noticed.
How do you know about Lily and me, "We were just doing an examination on which candidate was the best option," Wesler said as he was sweating from the tongue?
"We were stalking you!" Frenda told him bluntly.
"How" Shadow retorted
"With pigeons, you know we use pigeons to navigate our mission." "FRENDA!!!" Wesler yelled at Frenda as if he was going to have another rant.
"Oops, sorry, Mr. Wesler, I didn't mean to spill your secrets to him." everyone's mouth opened in a gape.
"Wh-what secrets?" Wesler said, dazed and flustered.
"Oh, you're not interested in him, then that means I'm taking him back home tonight," Frenda said as she winked at Shadow. Everyone's jaws dropped ever further. Shadow felt so flustered that he didn't know what was happening anymore. After a while, Frenda smiled at Shadow. "Just kidding!" she chuckled. Everyone decided to ignore Frenda.
"Mr. Wesler, I need to let you know I don't have much time left," Shadow said as if he was afraid to disappoint everybody. "I... I'm" Shadow stuttered as he tried to bring out the words.
"You're about to die?" Wesler said precisely what was on Shadow's mind. "Don't worry, Shadow; one of the great things about our world line is that medicine and technology are far ahead of their time here. So we can extend your life for a long while."
"Really?" Lily's image flashed in Shadow's mind. "Then I will do it," Shadow told Wesler.
"Fantastic!!! Now let's get everything signed!!!" Wesler said in excitement until Marie caught her hand.
"Do you really want to do this?" Marie asked Shadow with a worried tone. "You're going to have to fight humans, and not only that, you're going to have to witness awful things; something terrible could ruin you." Everyone looked down with a worried look as if they were purposely hiding something from Shadow.
"I know," he told Marie with an affirming tone. "Because I was an abandoned puppy once until one day I was saved by a kind-hearted girl," Lily's smile came to his mind. "She gave me a second chance in life, an animal on the street who she had no obligation to help, but she did it, and now I want to save other abused beings too, just like she saved me." Marie looked teary-eyed, "Also, I can't leave behind Lily, not yet."
"Are you sure you won't regret it?" Marie said, holding Shadow's paws. "I sure," Shadow nodded.
Mr. Wesler was ecstatic as Shadow signed the papers. "It's time to meet your teammates, Shadow; you already met Claudia, Marie and Frenda already, haven't you." Shadow nodded. "Now, everyone, introduce yourself to Shadow!"
The german Shapered came first, and then the others followed. "Hey, I'm Hunter, nice to meetcha." He said with a small salute sign as he gripped his hand, and Shadow gripped back. "Maybe I can show you around here sometimes; you're actually pretty cute!" Shadow thanked him, as he couldn't figure out if he was being friendly or flirty.
Then the orange fox followed in "Hey, I'm Roger, nice to meet you." Shadow shook his hand as he seemed uninterested in him.
Then the bandaged pitbull introduced himself, "Hey, I'm Redbull; nice to meet you, and congratulations." Despite the scary appearance, Shadow could tell deep down inside he had a big heart, which made him feel bad for judging his character early on.
A shirt tucked behind Shadow's back. As Shadow turned around, he saw a blonde kitten-faced cat with an eye patch on her left eye. She stared at him, but her gaze was so innocent that Shadow didn't feel any malice or awkwardness." Alice doesn't talk so be nice to her, okay." Claudia told Shadow. Shadow held up his hand, and Alice shook it timidly. Her grip and shake were so gentle that he swore she was the most innocent being in the world.
The last teammate was an orange cat with a baby kitten's face. But she looked unfortunate as if something was bothering her. It was hard to make eye contact with her as when their eyes met, her gaze would drift away to
something else. "I'm Shadow, nice to meet you." The orange cat mumbled something as if she was on the verge of tears. Everyone around her was trying to encourage her, but she ended up running out the door with tears. Shadow watched her go as she reminded him of someone. "I hope Allen is okay," Marie said as everybody looked worried. "I hope she is not getting bullied too hard."
When everybody was in a depressed mood, a giant brown wolf came from the corner and introduced himself as he was smoking a cigar. "I'm Marin, the team boss; we are happy to have you." He said in a deep voice.
After the meeting, the door slammed open as a human girl came bursting inside. "Is everything okay? Allen was crying." she sounded worried.
"Oh, Shadow told Allen that he didn't want to be his friend and ran out," Frenda told her as she pointed at Shadow.
"Whaaaaaaat" Shadow's face turned to shock.
"Rookie, you made a big mistake!!!" as the girl flew towards Shadow and twisted his body Judo style. "This is what you're for.."
“Stop Katsudon,” Frenda set you up.
"Huh, where's Frenda?" Everyone searched around the room. But Frenda was gone. Katsudon looked down at Shadow, who was capacitated. "Uhhhh, heh, Sorry!"
"Shadow, this is Katsura Hoshino, the only human that works in our group, but everyone calls her Katsudon because it's a delicious name."
"Heh, hey there, nice to meet you," Hoshino said awkwardly. Shadow just waved.
As the day ended, Shadow returned to the human world as tomorrow, his first day in training, was going to start. Tomorrow was the start of his first test and his first step to becoming the dog he wanted to be.