As Hoshi and I headed for the northwest corner of the pine park we bumped into one of my friends Erin Cross "hey Esmond" as he runs towards us I start to smell something coming off him. I turn to Hoshi do you want to meet him? "I'm not in the habit of meeting other things so no thank you I will be over" there as she walks away. As she walked away I was wondering why she called him a thing? Once Erin got closer the smell got stronger "hey Esmond how have you been I heard about the break up with Jade." Ya, it was out of the blue and I took it pretty hard. "Hey Esmond you sound different did your voice get deeper." Well, heartbreak does change a person. "I guess that true also who was that girl?"

That was Hoshi, my friend. "Your friend" As I see him do air quotes with his hands. Yes, my friend as a low growl slips out. He moves back a little bit "what was that!" It was a tickle in my throat sorry. "That alright well I have to go I'll see you around." With that, he runs off and I walk over to Hoshi sorry about that now let's get going. "You should be careful around others you know until you can tell the difference between monster and human." Wait are you say Erin is a monster. "He is not a monster but is something that's all I could sense from him." If I see him again I'll ask him. "You should not do that some monster finds it disrespectful to reveal what they are." Well, I would hate to make an enemy out of my friends I guess he can tell me when he wants. As we head northwest we see a small building as we walk you to the window a man was sitting at a desk "hello can I help you?"

Yes, I was told this was a place to train. "It is if you have a mid brand." Yes here is I hold up my necklace Hoshi show her hair clip. "Is this your first time here?" Yes. "Well, there are some rules that must be followed. Rule number one we don't allow killing anyone well on the grounds. Rule number two you are not to reveal your real name. Rule number three everyone on the grounds must remain in their monster form at all times." Those seem easy to follow.

"Now with that said you will need to come up with either individual names or a team name to go by well inside and if you want to use them outside too I have paperwork for that's well." As I look at Hoshi I see that she was thinking "I would like to Be called Saki." As she looked at me "well what are you going to go by?" Well I don't know I turn to Hoshi do you know of a name that means shadow? "Well, the first name the pops into my head is kage if that helps." I stood there a moment letting the name sink in I like it that's Hoshi "you are welcome." Turning back to the man "ok so from now on your monster names are Kage and Saki if you head inside there are lockers for your mid-band and personal items.

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As we thank the men and walk-in as so as we cross the doorway was a room full of lockers and shower. There was some monster around in towels both Male and female from the look of them. There were so many new sounds and smells I was getting dizzy. Then a hand was put in front of my face the smell blocked out the rest. I look down to see it was Hoshi's hand "focus on my smell and my voice by the end of the day you will learn to focus your hearing and sense of smell and you can owe me a lot of food ok." Ok as we walk to an empty locker and put my band inside with my cellphone Hoshi wanted to share a locker with me after I took my necklace off so did the illusion.

The whole room went silent for a moment the low noise started as I felt eyes on me. "That's him" "him he looks weird" "I could take him" "you can't till next month." My ears perked up with that last bit look at Hoshi but she was at the door as a fox looking at me. I run after her "before we go in I need you in this form" I thought we are training "we are but your first lesson is one of most important for kitsune how to dodge and evade that will also help with your sense as it's a win-win now shift for me." As I shift I can only imagine everyone around us hears a conversation where one is talking and the other is barking as I chuckle to myself as I shift.

As I walked out the training ground was massive it had terrain of ever type mountains, forest, desserts just to name a few as we walked around the was a board with a map on it. If we kept going straight we would be in the forest area. Hey Hoshi where do you want to go? "Let go to the forest" so how will we be training? "That easy we play a game call tag." Wait you know the game tag "yes but I was called something else long ago" ok so who's it first? "Haha, silly little fox I'm always the tagged you have to not get tagged, and trust me it not be that easy." That's not how you play "well it's how I play it now run I'll give you a moment to get ahead." We played tag for what seemed like hours and I was getting better at dodging and I'm able to focus my hear and smelling a little better. Hoshi has missed me a few times now I'm currently hiding in the bushes when I hear her coming. She jumps at the bush I'm in but I rounded out of the way as she flies through the bushes then stopped. I head out to see her standing in front of someone as I come out I barked at her hey what's up why'd you stop? "We have a visitor" as I looked I saw my mom Hoshi I bark it's my mom what is she doing here?

The next I hear is "Esmond move she's..." as I feel my body fly through the air I was heading for a tree with spikes on it I managed to roll out of the way and jumped off the tree and landed on the ground and look at Hoshi did you see that as I feel something warm at my paws and I start to feel cold and my vision darkens a look of shock on Hoshi face was the last thing I see before darkness takes me.