Set within Train's Colmaton superhero universe. I want to thank him and the other authors of that same setting to allow me to craft stories in their universe.

And now, on with the show...


Prom Night

“I can’t believe I overslept,” Chris muttered to himself, as he quickly pulled on his clothes. His alarm clock hadn’t gone off, and if it weren’t for the trashmen picking up the neighbor’s garbage cans, he wouldn’t have woken up til later in the morning.

He didn’t have to worry about anyone else seeing him since he lived alone, while pulling his regular pants on. From the closet, he pulled out his Dook running costume, and struggled to slip that on over his regular clothes.

The ferret hob narrowly avoided colliding with a familiar raccoon in a green costume. Instead, he briefly began running circles around her.
“HiMiraclesorrycantplaynowgonnabelateforschoolbye!”

Chris ran out of the house, and sped to the school. “Cantbelatehavetobetherenow!” The school was several miles away, but with his speed, the trip wasn’t long.

*********

Kate and her adoptive sister Jill had arrived at the school and were picking up their books at their respective lockers. “I can’t believe you choose to go with George,” Kate said to Jill, continuing the conversation the pair had held on the way into school on the bus.

“Oh, you’re just jealous, Kate,” Jill replied. “Besides, he’s safe. He’s in our church.”

Yashira mentally groaned at that, which caused Kate to smile. And Jill noticed it.

“What’s that over?”

“What’s what?”

“The smile, silly.”

“Oh, Yashira is groaning over the idea of church. Again,” Kate replied.

“...ookdookDookDOOKDOOK...WOAH!”

The conversation between the lioness and the racoon came to an abrupt halt as in rushed a stream of wind and leaves, when the Dook raced past them as Chris headed to the men’s room.

“What in the hell…” Kate muttered, as she looked back and forth as the wind finally died down. “What was that?” as she and her sister glanced up and down the corridor.

Chris stumbled out of the men’s room, stuffing his suit into his backpack. His clothes were pretty rumpled from the long run to school, but he could smooth them out a bit. And thanks to his short haircut, he didn’t have to worry about looking like he had gotten caught in a windstorm.

“Phew, made it. Looks like I might have some time to catch up with some of the video game guys before…”

And then, he saw her.

Standing before him was the prettiest, most exotic girl he had ever seen in school - a lioness, black as obsidian, with eyes like pure emerald, and hair like spun gold. As his eyes traveled up and down her body, he could find no flaw in her hourglass figure. He swallowed hard, feeling an unwanted presence assert itself within the front of his pants.

“Uh...h-h-hi...I’m Chris. Chris Manning.” His heart was racing faster than his feet usually did as he extended his hand for a shake, displaying the large birthmark on its back.

“Umm, hi Chris,” Kate replied, as she looked the smaller ferret over as she automatically accepted his hand. “Umm, did you just get a rush of wind go past you?” she asked.

“Uh...yeah. Sometimes this school gets...really...weird...drafts.” Mentally, he was kicking himself. What a lame explanation! And he was sweating hard. “Erm...what’s your name?”

“Kate, Kate Fletcher,” the bigger lioness replied. “You know,” as she rolled her eyes. “Probably the best chance this dump has to win the next spring’s athletic games.”

“Oh, so you’re on the sports team? Awesome. I ran track for a while, but then, well...something happened.”

“Oh?” Kate looked like she wanted to continue the conversation, but the five minute bell rang, and Jill jumped in. “Come on, we don’t want to be late,” as the smaller racoon dragged her bigger sister away from the ferret.

“See you later, Chris,” Kate got out, before the two girls hurried around the corner.

Chris, one of the fastest kids in Colmaton, stood still for a full two minutes before he managed to gather his wits and make his way to his first period class. His mind was whirring in circles, all revolving around one perfect, ebony figure.

“If this isn’t love, I’m gonna need to see a doctor.”

Once Jill and Kate were out of sight, Jill nudged Kate. “And what was all that about?” Jill asked.

“Oh, come on. He seemed cute enough.” The two giggled, then ducked into their first class of the day, English.

*********

Several days went by, and as the late summer weather turned to early fall, fliers went up about the school on the upcoming prom night dance. Someone in the school’s council had gotten the idea of reliving the old late 70’s disco era, and that became the year’s theme.

Kate and Jill had discussed several ideas about attending the prom, but so far, the tall lioness hadn’t found anyone willing to ask her out. That is, until she bumped into Chris again.

Chris, meanwhile, was taking deep breaths. They had been occasionally running into each other, and had gotten to know a few things about each other. For example, that Chris was a professional beta tester. She had seemed amazed that somebody could actually be paid to play video games. And now, he was thinking of taking a new step forward.

“Hi, Kate!”

“Oh. Hi Chris.” The lioness had been on her way to science class, when Chris had almost run into her again. “What’s up?”

“Um...Kate...I was kind of wondering...ifyouwouldgotothepromwithme.” The last few words spilled out of his mouth so fast that he doubted that the lioness would understand what he was saying. Confound his nerves!

Kate tilted her head, looking back at the nervous ferret. “You want me to come to the prom with you?” She was flabbergasted. She hadn’t considered anyone asking her before now, especially since her time after school was mostly used to allow Yashira to take over and fly around the town.

He’d been a bit nervous, since his councillor, Manuel Vasquez, was very insistent that he behave himself, or next time he gets into trouble as The Dook, “Miniguns” isn’t going to be there to vouch for him and keep him out of jail.

‘Oh, go on, sister,’ Yashira whispered. ‘I think the city will be fine with one night off from exploring this new world.’

Kate nodded. “Alright, Chris. What time would you like to come get me?” she asked. Meanwhile, she was trying to come up with a way to convince Jill into creating a dress for her to wear to the dance.

*********
“Hey, boss. Take a look at this.” An advertisement got tossed onto a table, which had various piles of papers, drawings, and notes from different buildings around Colmaton.

“And what have I told you about bothering me when I’m trying to plan…” a voice said, before going quiet as a neatly dressed duck glanced over the paper. “A disco dance?”

“Yeah. I figured you would want to know about it right away,” replied the small wolfess who waited nervously as the duck continued to examine the paper. Further down the paper, there was also a sub-announcement about this being part of a charity drive for a local SCA chapter to preserve a wooded dell so that they could continue to perform their yearly festivals for the public.

“You guessed correctly, Litah,” the duck replied, a small grin growing at the corners of his bill. “I believe the dance will have a few crashers, don’t you?”

The wolfess nodded, her tail wagging quickly at the prospect of having a little fun on the town.

*********

Later, on the night of the prom at the Vasquez home...

“Alright, nino. I can’t give you much advice, considering my success rate, but I can give you a bit.”

Chris rolled his eyes as he fiddled with all the parts of his rented tuxedo. So many fiddly bits! Still, he thought it looked good on him, accentuating the physique he carefully maintained. Behind him, a very short Kit fox that looked like he could easily throw Chris across the room was pacing.

“Be sure to compliment her dress. If you do a close dance, always keep your hand on the small of her back - no drifting down! And if somebody tries to start something-”

“I know, Mr. Vasquez. Use your words, not your fist, and if he gets violent, always stay between him and the girl.”

“That’s right. The others running the place should be able to take him down without you having to lower yourself to his level.”

“Mr. Vasquez,” Chris said, turning around. “I know you’ve been there for me every time I’ve gotten in trouble...which,” the ferret ruminated as he did up his tie, “is...quite a lot of times...but I know. I’m going to be a perfect gentleman for Kate.”

“Good, because if I hear anything about you getting involved in any mierda, causing trouble there or trying to besmirch her honor, then the next time you’re in front of a judge, I’m not going to be standing next to you.”

The ferret swallowed hard at that.

“Understood.”

“That being said, this night is supposed to be fun. Go out, and have a good time - and make sure she has fun, too.” Mr. Vasquez reached up and gave Chris a slap on the back, making the taller ferret stagger a bit. “The limo rental should be waiting outside.”

*********

Minutes later at the Fletcher household….

Sarah, Kate’s adoptive mother, was looking like she could almost cry as she assisted Kate in straightening out the last of her dress. “There you go,” the raccoon mother finally said as she stood back to look over her lioness daughter.

“Thanks, Mom,” Kate replied as she turned to one side, then the other as she looked into the mirrors that had been set up by Jill to reflect as much as possible back to Kate’s eyes. “Sis, you did a wonderful job!”

“Just don’t try and run in that outfit,” Jill replied. “Otherwise you might end up having some very serious wardrobe problems.” She couldn’t help but giggle as Sarah shusshed her down.

“Now you take it easy, Kate,” Sarah said. “And don’t forget to take your cell phone with you.”

“Don’t worry, Mom,” Kate replied. “I can handle him if he tries anything.”

“Well just call if something comes up, alright?”

A car horn beeped from the curb, and all three of the girls hustled. “Don’t forget your purse,” Sarah called out as Kate and Jill hustled downstairs.

“I’ve got it, Mom,” as Jill opened the door for her bigger sister. She handed Kate’s purse to her, then leaned in to whisper. “Listen, I couldn’t make any alterations for you know who. So if you have to change, you won’t have much left to wear.”

“I shouldn’t have to change, Jill,” Kate replied. “We’re just going out for some dancing is all.”

The limo driver got out of the driver’s side, and walked around to open the door for Jill as the tall lioness walked hurriedly towards the car. “Please keep your head low, ma’am,” said the driver as she bent over to get into the vehicle.

Inside, Kate found Chris already seated, nervously looking at the bigger lioness. “Hi Kate,” Chris stammered as the lioness settled into the seat next to him.

“Hello Chris,” Kate replied, as Yashira hovered in the background of Kate’s mind. While the driver crawled back into the front of the limo, Chris looked rather uncomfortable as he adjusted his tuxedo.

The trip to the school took a few minutes, and eventually Chris crawled out first, then extended a hand towards Kate who climbed out next. As they proceeded towards the front door, Kate noticed quite a few jocks from the football and basketball teams out front.

“Hey, Kate, who’s the shrimp?” called out one of the jocks, a burly wolf asked, while the others snickered at the height difference between her and the smaller ferret.

Another fur called out. “Taking your pet out on a walk?”

“Cool it, Richard. You might be the head man on the football team, but at least Chris here had the balls to ask me out for the prom,” Kate replied to the first speaker.

“Whoooo,” uttered Richard’s friends, as the wolf scowled at Kate’s remark. But before he could reply, another voice stepped in as a teacher approached the gathered furs.

“What’s going on here?” grumbled the rabbit, who looked back and forth between Kate and Richard.

“Oh, not much, Miss Evans. Richard was just complimenting on my dress,” Kate said quickly.

“Ahuh,” Evans replied with a guarded look between the two bigger furs. “Why do I get the feeling that’s a load of borsh, as my grandmother would say.”

“Why, Miss Evans, I declare I’ve no idea what you mean,” Kate said with a fake southern accent.

“Go on in, Kate, Chris. I want to have a little conversation with Richard and his pals,” Miss Evans said, as she waved the two into the building.

“Now, as for you and your friends,” Kate heard, as the door closed behind them. Kate wheewed, as she leaned up against one of the hallways.

“How’d you do that?” Chris asked.

“Do what?” Kate replied.

“How’d we get out of that mess?” Chris asked, as he was almost expecting a fight to break out.

“Don’t ask, and I won’t have to tell,” Kate replied with a grin, before extending an arm towards Chris. “Now come on. We’ve a dance to attend.”

They entered the basketball court area, where several groups of their classmates were already gathered. A few couples were holding hands while dancing to the old disco music, swaying upon the open floor. A long table of punch bowls and sandwich pieces were laid out in a buffet, next to an area which had been cordoned off to host twenty tables and chairs for those who wanted to take a break between dances.

“Would you like a glass of punch?” Chris asked, looking up at his taller date. “Or would you rather dance first?”

“Let’s try the dance floor,” the lioness replied, smiling down at her partner for the evening. “We can try the drinks and snacks later.”

The two walked out onto the floor, and after a few minutes of stumbling as they tried getting used to their height differences, found themselves slipping into an easy dance. Several other kids snickered upon seeing them on the dance floor, but eventually they all shut up as the dance continued. It didn’t hurt with the DJ doing a few slow songs in order to allow the kids to get into the grove for the night’s main dancing. Especially with music older than most of the listeners.

*********

Outside, Disco Duck and his gang arrived at the school. With snaps of his fingers, the gang spread out to cover all the doorways that they could in order to prevent anyone from slipping away from the school. And to keep all the kids and teachers inside so it’d be easier to keep them under control during the hostage event.

*********

It was only when the music became faster that Kate begged off from any further dancing at the moment. Chris led her away from the floor, and towards the tables. “Which drink would you like?” he asked.

“Humm, well, let me have a few minutes first, okay sweetie? I need to go powder my nose first, okay?”

“Oh? OH, okay. Yeah sure,” as Chris realized just what she meant. As Kate headed towards the ladies room, Chris wandered over to the table where the DJ had set up his sound system and fell into a conversation with him over his computer setup.

*********

Kate was just finishing washing up when she heard a stifled scream from outside the door. Curious, she cracked open the door and saw two larger men carrying guns motion for two girls to turn right back around and march towards the auditorium. And to hurry about it, as more noise came from an area Kate couldn’t see from.

She let the door close and turned off the lights, trying to think on how to handle this while stripping down fast. She slipped over to one of the stalls and stood on the toilet to stuff her clothing and shoes into the upper tile ceiling overhead. After all, Jill had taken a lot of time and effort to make the dress, and she didn’t want to get it ruined by fighting in it. Once that was done, she allowed Yashira to fully took over their shared body. As the succubus stepped out of the stall, her wings snapped wide open, before curling around her body once again. “Ah, that’s so good to stretch them out once more,” Yashira thought to herself.

She grinned to herself. “Perhaps tonight won’t be as boring as I thought it would be.”

*********

After the conversation with the DJ, Chris headed over to the buffet tables to pick up a drink for himself. So he was almost the furthest from the main doors when they slammed open as Disco Duck and his gang barged in.

“Ladies and Gentlemen, Let the Party get STARTED!” he cried out, motioning for his henchfurs to spread out and prevent the party goers from leaving.

"Crap," Chris whispered. Thankfully, he could run pretty fast even without going at super speed, and he managed to duck out the doors before Disco Duck's minions could stop him.

"Hey, get back in there!"

"Sorry, need to use the little boy's room! About to wet myself in fear, and this is a rental!" Once he turned a corner, though, he picked up speed, zipping through the hallway until he found his locker. Dialing in his combination, he opened it up and pulled out a small flat box, which wound up containing one of his costumes. Then he ducked into the men's restroom - just in time to miss Yashira emerging from the lady's room.


*********

Yashira slipped out of the bathroom, using her shadow merging ability to sneak close to the auditorium. While she could use the shadows inside the room to view the events, she didn’t dare just pop into the room and have the guards start shooting wildly at her and hit anyone else by accident.

Taking a chance, Yashira returned back to the normal world near one of the side doors that led to the auditorium. She glanced through the heavy glass window towards the party, and spotted Disco Duck dancing away to the music, along with over two thirds of the kids dancing along with him. “Now how in the world did THAT happen?’ she wondered to herself, before sighing. Her keen vision showed at best from her angle a dozen or so thugs working for the criminal avian.

Yashira considered her options. Should she hit the fire alarm button, and alert the authorities to the problem? After all, nobody was in danger at the moment. As she and Kate thought it over, Yashira could hear barely the music coming through the door. It was very vague, but the deep base notes made the door vibrate as she settled a hand upon the thick wood. She closed her eyes, and found that the beat made Kate’s mind drift for several seconds. A stray memory came to them of another lioness dancing by firelight, which slowly faded as Kate struggled to remember who she was.

Their introspection was ruined, however, when a voice caused Yashira to open her eyes. “Hey, you!” the voice snapped. The demoness turned her attention around towards the source and spotted two males, a fennec and an ox, standing with guns drawn and pointed at her. “Oh, crap,” Kate whispered to Yashira.

“Hey, Louie, looks like we captured ourselves a superhero,” the smaller fennec said as his bigger partner nodded. “Don’t just stand there, girl. Open the door and go right on in.”

Yashira cursed under her breath as she was forced to obey their commands. She folded her wings about herself, turning them into what seemed to be a very tight single suit about her body at Kate’s urgings, as she walked into the auditorium.

“Hey, boss, look who we caught!” called out the bigger oxen, while the fennec kept his attention upon Yashira.

Disco had been enjoying himself upon the dance floor, having had to use his suit’s hypnotic abilities to tire out the captives in order to keep them under control. “Where’d she come from?” he asked.

“We found her in the hallway, after we failed to catch that kid,” the fennec replied.

“What kid? Did you two idiots let someone get away? Shoo, go get them,” Disco yelled. “Before they call the cops here!”

“Right, boss. Ah, what are you going to do with this one?” the ox asked.

“Why? Is he supposed to do something with me?” Yashira jumped in with. “I’ll admit he’s a sharp dresser, but he doesn’t seem to be threatening. Besides, he’s not my type.”

“You’ve got a big mouth for a hero,” replied the smaller crime boss.

“Hey, who says I’m a hero,” Yashira shot back. “Maybe I just like good music, good wine, and a well looking male to be with,” she finished with a smirk.

“Isn’t that line usually wine, women and song?” asked the fennec.

“Hey, I’m equal for either sex,” the succubus replied with a shrug of her shoulders.

“Hey, don’t I get a say in this?” Kate asked mentally.

“I only said that to keep the quack off balance,” Yashira replied within her mind.

Disco looked the demoness up and down. Yashira had wrapped her wings about herself at Kate’s urgings, and they appeared to be a very thin dress that clung tightly to the lioness’s form, leaving almost nothing to the imagination. So tightly, in fact, that it seemed that impossible that Yashira could breath without tearing the dress apart.

“Alright, if you like good music, I’m just the one to handle that,” Disco announced as he turned on his suit’s electronics once more. The music began to blare out, seizing control over the prom attendes, including Yashira who found herself dancing against her will.

“Hey! What is this?” Yashira exclaimed as her body began to imitate the drake’s movements.

“You wanted some music, so I’m just giving you your wish,” Disco replied.

Fury erupted from within Yashira, as she fought to regain control over her own body. Her anger burst forth as profanities. “You illegitimate son of an efreeti!” she cursed, as Kate blushed at some of her mind sister’s mental suggestions Yashira was contemplating doing to Disco. “I’ll roast your ass for this! I’m going to pluck you bald!”

*********

Chris had finished changing into his Dook costume, and had slipped up to peer into the basketball court just as Yashira had done several minutes earlier. In fact, at first he considered the black lioness being part of the gang, until he overheard Disco complaining about Yashira having a big mouth, and her reply about being open for either sex.

The young ferret shook himself. Now was just NOT the time to let his imagination run away and ruin his surprise. Chris eased back from the doorway when Disco started dancing, for he’d seen the two underlings headed towards the same door he’d hiding behind. A quick dash got him around the corner and out of view when the door opened as the thugs left the dancing floor.

The music blasted past the thugs as they started down the corridor, finally muffled once the doors were firmly closed behind them. The ox shook his head, then reached up to pull out an ear piece before digging one fingertip in to clear something from his ear canal. “I’m so glad the boss made these to protect us from his music,” he said.

“Hey, you’re supposed to leave that in,” his fennec friend snapped at him, as he reached up to slap the bigger ox on his backside. “You know the boss wants us to leave them in place while we’re on an operation.”

As the pair continued to argue with each other, Chris rubbed two fingers against his lower lip. “Hummm, the music controls the dancers, eh?” he thought to himself. “Interesting…”

*********

Yashira was finding it increasingly harder to curse out Disco, as the dancing was taking up her attention. So while she continued to fight the commands to keep dancing, Kate was struggling to come up with a solution to get them out of the room quickly. While parts of the room was dark enough the demoness could slip into the shadows to escape, the dance floor was fully lit and exposed to everyone’s view. As for unfurling her wings, well, Kate blushed as she considered flashing all of her current class mates to allow them to see her unclothed. Let alone the problem of how to get away from the music and not keep dancing in mid-air.

That’s when a gust of wind blew through the crowd, sweeping past the demoness right up to Disco Duck. As a blur rushed past, the duck’s coat swept upwards before slowly falling back into place about the criminal mastermind.

“What in the hell is this?” Disco demanded, as he halted dancing. The gust of wind rushed past the rest of the slowly stopping dancers, who collapsed upon the floor in exhaustion. “What’s going on here?”

Chris merely grinned to himself. His idea of moving quickly was working, because he could concentrate on defeating Disco’s suit.

“It’s called the Doppler effect,” the ferret said, a constant orange blur. “Because I’m constantly moving towards and away from you, the frequencies of your music are getting distorted, so the only thing these feet are doing...is RUNNING!” As he ran past the duck once more, his outreaching fingers gripped, then tugged at various pieces of the foul fowl’s coat.

“Oops,” The Dook giggled, holding up a piece of Disco Duck’s costume. It was spitting sparks furiously. “Hope that wasn’t a rental.”

Disco cussed when a low growl of promised anger echoed about the court. He turned slowly towards the noise, only to spot Yashira who was growling, her teeth very sharply contrasting with her black fur.

“And now it’s my turn,” the demoness replied as she licked her lips eagerly.

“Get her!” roared Disco towards his henchfurs. They charged, thinking that they would be able to overpower the lioness quickly with their superior numbers.

Chris darted back and forth, tripping and shoving several into their partners, preventing the entire mass from hitting Yashira at once. “Scusemepardonmewatchitsorryhaveanicetrip,” he rapidly said, while Yashira quickly grabbed the first fur that had reached her, flinging him towards the duck leader. “You two were made for each other,” she exclaimed.

While Yashira’s attention was focused towards Disco, Kate spotted a pair of big henchfurs coming from the side. “Yash, get down!”

The lioness ducked and rolled, but found her path interrupted by another fur. “I got her,” cried out the female possum girl who struggled with Yashira.

“KILL THE LIGHTS!” the demoness roared towards the blur that continued to sweep past the other henchfurs. She turned towards her captor and reaching up to grab her head, pulled her in close for a quick kiss. The poor girl was so shocked she stiffened in panic at the change in Yashira’s tactics. By the time she shook her mind free of the surprise, she discovered her hands had crept up to grip the lioness’s shoulders, as if to try to push her away.

That was all Yashira needed in order to break free of her grip, as the lights suddenly went out as Chris turned the main switches off. Now that the room was in darkness, she was in her element and free to move.

Yashira slipped close to Chris and whispered. “Wait 30 seconds, then turn the lights back on. Then turn them off again 5 seconds later, and keep repeating until I say otherwise,” before she shifted across the auditorium.

Now that darkness ruled, Yashira went to town on the thugs. Wispy tendrils of darkness that wouldn’t have survived in the light sprang out of the floor, wrapping themselves around the henchfurs legs, trapping them as the demoness flowed about the room like a ghost. Her fists struck rapidly, as she hit hard in order to do as much damage to them while they were tied up, unable to move in turn.

As the lights turned on again, the tendrils vanished in the light, and several of the furs fell to the ground unconscious. Yashira had just finished one last smack upon a larger bison, and turned her attention to the next person who stumbled about, newly free of their bonds. That’s when Chris flipped off the lights once more.

It took two more bouts of flipping the lights on and off, until only Disco and the possum girl were the last ones of the gang standing. The girl gulped, as Yashira waved at Chris. “Okay, leave the lights on,” she called out, before turning towards the other girl.

“What are you waiting for?” Disco cried out, as Chris zipped over to grab him by his coat. “Eughp,” as the young speedster yanked his jacket down to pin his arms at his sides. “Hey, what the heck???” A quick jerk upon Disco’s belt pulled it free, then Chris reset the leather piece around the duck’s chest, completing the pinning of his arms.

“Sorry, but I don’t have a pair of handcuffs,” Chris said with a shrug. “So this’ll have to do for now.”

The possum girl looked onwards in fear as the taller lioness walked up to her. “What are you going to do?” she asked, trembling in place.

“Nothing. Because you’re going to stay here and let the police arrest you. And,” as Yashira winked at her. “I’d suggest you quit your life of crime and go straight. It’ll pay off better in the long run.”

A wide range of expressions rolled over the smaller fur’s face. “Ummm, yeah, okay then.”

Yashira grinned, then leaned in close. “Besides, I could tell your heart wasn’t in this. You just aren’t cut out to be a criminal.” She winked at the possum girl before pulling back. “Now, I’ll tell you what you should do,” as she turned the other girl towards her ex-boss. “I want you to guard him, and make sure he doesn’t get away until the cops arrive, alright?”

“Yeah, sure,” she stammered out in shock. This whole night had taken one strange twist after another for her, and she was still partly stunned from the kiss she’d received earlier. Disco was squirming as he struggled to get free, when Yashira pushed him down to the floor, making it easier for the possum girl to hold him there.

“I’ll get even with you for this,” he snarled out at the pair. “Just you wait. I promise I’ll get my revenge,” as he fought to get his arms free of the jacket and tight belt about his chest.

“Uh, we’d better go,” Chris said as he motioned for Yashira to join him in leaving. “I called the cops from the office, before slipping inside.”

“Fair enough,” the demoness replied as they broke into a trot towards one of the nearest exit.

“How fast can you run?” Chris asked as he sped ahead to open the doors for them both.

Yashira didn’t reply as one arm reached out to snatch the smaller male ferret and drag him close to her chest. She smirked as she spoke, her wings having unfurled and spreading outwards to catch the air. “Why run when you can fly?” She leaped into the air, her wings flapping quickly to lift them up off the ground.

“Oh nOOOOOO,” Chris exclaimed as he noticed the ground fall away under them. While he wasn’t terrified of heights, the suddenness in leaving solid earth scared him. His legs pedaled rapidly in a blur under him, almost kicking Yashira in panic at not feeling the ground under them.

“Hey, stop that, or I’ll drop you on purpose,” the demoness growled as she adjusted her flight, landing atop a nearby building across the street from the school.

“Just set me down, please,” panted Chris, who’s heart was racing inside of his chest.

Yashira chuckled as she landed upon the roof. “Hey, I’ll have you know I’ve never dropped anyone. At least, those that didn’t deserve it,” she quickly amended.

No sooner than Chris could feel the rooftop under his feet when he zipped a few feet away to make sure that he really was down on something solid. “I never want to try that again,” he panted.

“Scared?” Yashira asked, her expression turning softer as she walked up to him.

“Terrified!” he snapped back. While he straightened up to look towards the lioness, they heard the beginning of another song coming up from an open window below them. That reminded Chris of Kate back at the school.

“Oh, shit, my date,” he said, his eyes widening in surprise. He’d forgotten all about her! “Oh, she’s never going to forgive me for this,” as he rushed towards the escape ladder.

That reminded Kate of Chris at the prom as well. “You mean the school? You had a date there?”

“Yeah, Kate’s never going to forgive me leaving her like this,” he shouted as he hurried down the stairs, speeding off towards the school as police cars started pulling onto the school grounds.

“Wait, do you think he is Chris?” Kate asked as Yashira folded her wings back around her body.

“We’ll see in a few minutes,” the demoness replied, shifting through the shadows until she could exit into the girl’s restroom once more. She hurriedly released her body back to Kate, who grunted while climbing up upon the toilet once more to retrieve her clothing.

It took a few minutes to get dressed once more, before Kate felt comfortable in sticking her head out of the bathroom. “I hope nobody noticed me missing while this all took place,” she muttered, walking quickly towards the end of the hallway, where she joined a few stragglers coming out of the basketball court, then followed them to the parking lot. She got the chance to see the prisoners, including Disco Duck, being cuffed and stuffed into waiting police vans while other officers took down notes from the different teachers who’d been inside when the hostage situation had taken place.

“Kate! Kate!” called out Jill, whose parents had come down with their daughter upon hearing the news that the hostage situation had started. “There you are,” as the trio of raccoons gathered around the taller lioness and hugged her tightly.

“Are you alright?” Richard asked, as Sarah brushed her hands over Kate’s head, sweeping over some stray strands of hair.

“I’m fine. I had to hide in the ladies room until the ruckus was over with,” Kate replied.

“I bet it was frightening,” Jill said, while winking up at her bigger sister.

“More worrying than terrified,” Kate replied. “But at least it’s all over with now.”

They started moving towards the family car, when Kate heard a voice to one side. “I just heard Chris,” she said to Jill. “I’ll meet you all at the car.”

While her other was fine with that, Jill giggled as their parents moved out of earshot. “Don’t do anything I wouldn’t do,” she sang back to Kate.

“Oh, come on, sis. He’s probably worried about me by now,” Kate replied, as she motioned for Jill to catch up with their parents. She slipped around a police car, then walked up behind the shorter ferret. “Hi Chris,” she said softly.

He turned around quickly, then looked up with a smile. “Oh, Kate. I’m so glad you’re alright,” he said, stepping up to take her hands in his. "I was wondering where you were during all of this mess, and hoping you were safe.”

“I was probably more safer than you were,” Kate replied. “Besides,” as she leaned over. “I’m more used to flying.”

Chris’s jaw dropped as he looked up into Kate’s smiling face. “Uh, you, what?” he stammered out, stunned as she continued to speak. “After all, you’re the only ferret to ask me out tonight to the prom.”

“Yashira?” Chris could only ask, his head whipping back and forth to see who was nearby and could overhear them talk.

Kate winked back at him. “I have a feeling we’re going to see a lot of each other in the future, Chris,” she exclaimed, before leaning over to kiss him.

Even she was surprised at how true her statement would turn out to be in the future..