She relaxed as she sensed the primordial signature of the creature on the other side. Zaya was relieved as she stood up on her feet with one of her legs and began shifting the big fallen rock overhead to the side, using her hand to shield her head as a large pile of other materials came crashing down. She could see a little ray of light away. She climbed up, opening it wider, the broken wall moved as Zaya began to use her primordial strength to increase the gap.
Ashara appeared above her head, breaking the wall into pieces with a punch, both she and Ashara landing on the ground. Zaya looked to the left as she transformed back to human, "I'm glad you're still alive."
"No, Zaya said, "Ashara, I'm the one meant to say that."
"We have to go find the rest," said Zaya. She then asked, "How bad is it?"
"The whole city has fallen," Ashara replied.
Is it in flames? A glimpse of thrill could be seen written on Zaya's expression as she asked.
"No, it's not," Ashara replied, "The dragon only used the force in its wings."
"Should we go up?" Ashara asked, "It won't be long before it attacks in flames," spoke Zaya.
"Come, follow me," Zaya said, "We must find the others and save anyone we can and bring them back here."
They both went deeper into the rubbles, they began to dig through, saving part of the students that were still alive, and thanks to the innate senses of a fox and a cat, it was a lot easier.
After a couple of hours, it was evening time, and they'd found about two hundred students in the middle school. Soon enough, the survivors were at the center of the rubble, each of the students along with a few teachers all seated down, chattering with each other about what had just occurred.
Luckily for the Phantom girls, they were all fine. The weregenes in their cores helped them stay alive.
Zaya could sense the fear and sorrow in the other hearts of each and everyone amongst her. She took the opportunity as she stood up and calmed them down.
Most of everyone didn't know who she was, except for a purple fox who had saved each and every one of them. They all kept it shut, waiting to hear what Zaya wanted to say.
Zaya had never been good at giving speeches, but she knew she had no choice but to talk some sense into these people. She cleared her throat, then spoke.
"I know you all have so many questions, some of you are wondering where your parents and families are, but I assure you, it will be alright."
Zaya then continued, explaining that they were now headed towards the downtown of the city, an underground facility called the sanctuary and safety cabinet.
She then yelled, "The Phantom City would not fall!" They all answered, chanting after her continuously. A wry smile crept across Zaya's face, there was yet a spark of hope.
Zaya turned her back towards the crowd, they all stood up, waiting in silence for what the purple fox had planned to do next.
She stretched her hands as she transformed to her fox form, the blanket she had used to cover her nakedness fell to the ground. She then growled. The whole place shook immensely, there was a loud rift, the whole place Zaya growled to was immediately void of the rubbles.
The soothing movement of the wind crept across Zaya's fur, she faced back, gesturing for them to follow her. With Zaya at the front of the crowd, June positioned at the back to protect them with the new nano shield she just made.
Ashara and Natasha at the front on the left and right-hand side, while Pauline and Zoey at the back on the left and right-hand side.
As they got out of the school, Zaya stood and stared in awe at all the buildings that had been leveled to the ground. If not falling at the moment, there was no trace of living beings as they were all under the remains of the city.
Zaya shuddered in fear as she stared at the sky. There was no sign of the moon or sun, it had become crimson red, like it was painted in blood.
Her heart sank when she saw that far away was a red and black dragon flying towards their direction. Zaya became furious as she began to run forward, getting faster in each step she took, she didn't care anymore about what had happened to the city.
Her priority was to get these people to safety. She increased the speed in her steps, ignoring her leg injury that hurt. She tied a bandage to it to stop the bleeding. It wasn't much, but it was enough for her to maintain her stamina.
They successfully got to the road that led to the downtown sanctuary, they could see it far off. Zaya ran fiercely, each time facing the back to see if the other students were still behind her.
They got closer to the sanctuary, it was now one mile ahead. At Zaya's front, on the right-hand side, was a tall building, it had been broken into two halves, which had crashed into the lower half of the building.
The building started moving sideways, aiming to block the road path towards their front. Zaya stopped as she was getting ready to use her growl to blast the building off.
About to destroy it, she heard a loud roar behind her. She faced back as she saw the dragon wasn't far away from them anymore, it began descending slowly from the sky, sending wind rifts to their location.
The mythical beast blasted flames from its mouth, aiming towards the group of people. Zaya yelled for June to activate the nano shield. June activated the shield, which was immediately destroyed due to immense heat from the coming fire.
Zaya jumped upwards, landing in the midst of the middle school students as she prepared to growl. Another nano shield appeared above them, and this time it was hit by the blast of fire from the dragon.
Zaya was shocked that the shield could hold the fire. After the blast, she looked towards where the shield had originated from. Standing on the half-crashed building was a woman, from the outfit she wore and the aura she carried, Zaya knew she was one of the top executives in the "WMCO".
She wore a white battle suit, which had two swords behind her back, a shining white glittering shoe, a mask, and one long black hair. Zaya stared in curiosity, she knew who this person was, "Pauline's mum!"
The dragon landed on the ground, sending huge shock waves to the whole surroundings. Pauline's mum yelled on the top of her voice, "Get into the sanctuary!" as she stared at the dragon, "I'll buy you time!"
The formation scattered as they all began to run towards the sanctuary. Zaya destroyed the crashed building at their front using the Ancient fox clan's growl. Soon enough, they got closer to the sanctuary, along with the other middle schoolers.
Zaya looked into the sanctuary, she saw an ocean of humans. It was an underground protection facility built in Tantalum and hafnium to resist the heat from the dragon. They'd been expecting it, after all.
She heaved a relieved sigh, glad that most people in the city were alive. They all entered, the others disappeared into the massive crowd in search of someone or the other.
Zaya was also about to join, all except for Pauline. She was still at the dragon's location, seemingly staring at her mum as she shielded herself and dodged continuously from the dragon's attacks, along with a couple of other soldiers who pestered the dragon.
Zaya ran back towards where Pauline stood, "Pauline!" She yelled, "Get back, you're not protected!"
Pauline stood there like an unyielding rock, unmoving. Zaya got closer to where she stood. She then realized that Pauline wasn't staring at her mother, it was something else.
Zaya looked forward; she could feel nothing was wrong with Pauline. "Pauline, are you alright?" Zaya asked, "What's the problem?"
"Can you not sense it, Zaya?" answered Pauline, "A swarm of evil beasts, they are coming from far and wide, swarming the area in a vast expanse."
"What?!" Zaya asked, dumbfounded. Pauline never talked like this, she thought. Maybe she'd been pushed too hard, Zaya pondered.
From a heist to her school falling apart, then her mum becoming some sort of warrior, all these were too much for her to take in.
Zaya then spoke, "Pauline, your mum will be all right, the shield can definitely protect her from the dragon, alright? And she's not the only one, some soldiers have joined too."
Pauline stood still, her gaze unmoving. Zaya tried to drag her back towards the sanctuary, but Pauline felt as heavy as a mountain.
Zaya then thought it was her half-breed form kicking in, she, after all, knew nothing about the Lion clan. She didn't move from where she stood, and that's when Zaya sensed it too.
Pauline wasn't wrong at all; there was a swarm of fire creatures. Zaya could feel they were in thousands, if not tens of thousands, gaining on the city at the craziest of speed.