An Unexpected Reunion

Swift's POV

Hunter's eyes narrowed in concentration, he stared at Jake, who had a smirk on his face. Hunter scowled silently and placed the cards down on the wooden table, Jake hummed then his smirk widened, he placed down his cards an Hunter's jaw dropped. Jake laughed loudly at Hunter's face, we couldn't believe our eyes.

"You cheated!" Hunter growled angrily, slamming his paws down on the table.

"It was a fair play!" Jake laughed, clutching his stomach. I chuckled under my breath beside Jake, Izzy patted Hunter's back to try and relax him, luckily he did. Only Laika and Kyle didn't really say anything. "Ah, the glory of winning three times in a row." He sighed, taking the two thousand gems worth of bets. Hunter glared at Jake.

"Admit it, you cheated." Hunter growled.

"You admit that you lost." Jake replied smugly, Hunter gritted his teeth.

"Why you!?" Hunter yelled and tackled Jake to the ground, they rolled around beating each other, me and Izzy went to break the fight quickly. Izzy managed to grab Hunter by the stomach while I was able to hold Jake by the chest, they struggled around our grip. "Izzy, let me go! I'll teach someone a lesson!" Hunter growled.

"Calm down!" Izzy yelped at Hunter, he huffed as he slumped. Jake growled, though I smacked him gently on the head. "Now, make up you two." Izzy said sternly.

"No." They said at the same time. They're stubborn as rocks.

"Now!" Me and Izzy growled, they looked at us then groaned. They walked to each other, raised their paws and shook them with unamused faces.

"Now, was that so hard?" Izzy asked innocently at Hunter and Jake, they glared at her silently. Suddenly, Kiki came flying to my back, she trembled and shook. "Kiki?" Izzy asked curiously.

"Kiki, what's wrong?" I asked worriedly, looking at the Phantom who now settled on my head. She pointed a stubby arm to the door.

"S-Someone's there.." Kiki squeaked in fear, she was buzzing nervously. My ears perked up, there was someone knocking on the door. Jake and Kyle went to investigate, I patted Kiki comfortingly. Izzy and Laika were wary, but when Jake opened the door..

"S-Sir Landon!" Kyle yelped in surprise, the crocodile teacher cleared his throat.

"Sorry to interrupt whatever you guys are doing, but we need you guys at Jamaa Academy." Sir Landon coughed, he beckoned us to follow him. "It's pretty important." He added, and turned his back and started walking. We all looked at each other, then we followed Sir Landon to Jamaa Academy.

Later...

"Thank you for coming." The healer spoke when we came in, they were waiting for us at the entrance. "You're all needed for something." She added, everyone else followed her to the healer's room, it was a little different now.

"What's wrong?" Hunter asked curiously, looking at the room.

"You've heard about our old enemies, the Phantoms, right?" Ms. Lilian asked. Me, Hunter and my friends looked at each other confusedly, then nodded. "Well.. Amanda found some disturbing news.." Ms. Lilian murmured, her big ears pointing back as her tail flicked nervously.

"Don't keep us in suspense, what's the news?" Kyle asked nervously. The teachers looked really worried.

"This afternoon, while I was taking a stroll around a river not too far from here, I found.. Phantom Sludge." Amanda said worriedly, she looked out a window, "There hasn't been any reports of Phantom attacks, mysteriously, which is both relief and bad news. They seem to be able to leave signs without anyone witnessing it, unlike before." She added.

"What could that mean..?" Izzy asked, she raised her paw to scratch the back of her ears. "I mean, they're so big, how could they not be noticed?"

"That's what we want to know." Sir Landon said thoughtfully, his tail curling up as he spoke. "It's been a long time since the Phantoms terrorized Jamaa, why only now do they start threatening us?" He started pacing, "We've been at war with them for a long time, even during the time of the Corruptors, which was hundreds of years ago."

"This is worrying.." Jake commented, his ears drooping nervously, "What will we do?"

Amanda then turned and walked to me, "Swift, young one, I assume Kira has already revealed she's your grandmother, right? Since you came back to life, the only way being through Life Restore." She told me, I was confused, but nodded. "Before, the Magic Alphas went on an important mission to help Jamaa, unfortunately they all disappeared for mysterious reasons.."

My ears perked up slightly. "My grandmother told me what happened to them." She said softly. Everyone turned to me in attention.

"What happened?" Hunter asked.

"She said they were attacked by a mysterious animal, they were ruthless, aggressive, and they.." I shook my head slowly, "..killed them all.." Everyone gasped in alarm.

"Who was that animal?" Ms. Lilian asked.

"None of them knew." I replied. "Though he was definitely a master of his magic." I added, silence fell in the room.

"They could be a threat.." Sir Viz said thoughtfully, "There hasn't been any record of an animal attacking the Magic Alphas before.." He added.

"..So.. what do we have to do?" I asked nervously.

"Leave us for a while, we have to talk about something important." Amanda said, we all nodded and walked out for them to talk.

...

We all waited anxiously outside, not knowing what they were talking about or what was gonna happen next. My tail flicked to the sides as I anticipated for the teachers to come out, Jake was pacing restlessly, Hunter and Izzy huddled together, while Kyle and Laika sat with no word at all, with Kiki just laying on my head nibbling her right middle arm. Suddenly, the doors swing open, we all stood up.

"What is it..?" Hunter asked nervously.

The teachers glanced at Amanda, who stepped forward. "Swift, you and your friends have to go to a faraway kingdom, it's at least a two day journey, but they know more about Phantoms than we do. They can help us, and you six are the ones we need for the job."

To Be Continued...