A/N: Longest chapter yet and the next may be even longer. They get some crappy luck right off the bat. haha Thanks for reviews, enjoy. ^^

Night had come fast and rain had begun to fall. They used the knowledge they'd gathered on camping from all the books they'd read and made a shelter that would only be suitable for one night. They huddled together in their makeshift shelter of leaves and sticks. It wasn't the best shelter but it kept them out of the rain.

Neither of the two could sleep after entering the forest. The images of deadly animals they'd seen in books kept them from sleeping. The rain slowed down and was now softly pitter pattering against the top of their shelter and they could hear every drop as they sat in silence.

Jerry flinched when he heard the hoot of an owl, and then quickly realized that he no longer had to fear the bird. He almost found himself laughing. He couldn't say that he hated being human, but he had liked his simple life of a mouse.

As he settled down from his momentary fear, he smelled something. It smelled of wet fur and he could tell it was heading towards them. His heart began to beat faster, he didn't realize he had grabbed onto Tom's hand in fear.

He looked over in the darkness and could see Tom looking over at his with fear in his eyes. Tom could hear as the paw steps drew closer. It was a different much more eerie sound that caused him to feel great unease. They had read about this animal, a type of cat, deadly to humans, which lived in a forest. Tom's mind calculated all possible choices they had, and he decided they needed to run and now.

Jerry didn't need to ask as Tom held onto his hand tighter; they left their shelter, and began to run upwards. As if nature was against them the rain began to fall harder and faster, water splashed around them as Tom pulled them along. If they had been completely human they won't have made it, Tom's hearing had given them a head start and his ability to see perfectly in the dark had helped them greatly.

But they still weren't any where near being safe. Tom could hear the steps getting closer. He looked about trying to find a suitable tree to climb; the rain was making it difficult to see far away. Tom refused to get himself or Jerry eaten just after they'd escaped their prison.

Jerry was covered in mud and it was becoming difficult to walk. He tried to keep his balance and had succeeded until Tom turned to the left to fast for him. Jerry couldn't keep his balance as he fell into the wet dirt, he lost his grip of Tom's hand, and his face was covered in thick mud. He pushed himself up and choked on the dirty water that he'd accidentally sucked in.

Before he could begin to panic, Tom was over him in a matter of seconds. "Are you okay?" His voice carried great concern and Jerry nodded finding is difficult to breathe still.

Tom picked him up with great ease as he ran to where he knew Jerry would be safe. He looked at Jerry and was glad to see that he was now breathing normally again. "Here, climb up." He lifted Jerry with his arms and watched as he grabbed onto the branch and pulled himself up.

Jerry settled himself onto the branch; he looked down at Tom expecting him to follow, but realized that there was only enough room for him. "Tom!" He yelled out his name not knowing what else to say.

"I'll be okay." He winked at Jerry again, it came natural.

Jerry could only watch in silence as Tom walked away and sat against a tree across from him. Jerry wished he wasn't so helpless, but in the back of his mind he knew that he will never be as strong as Tom. He remembered hearing the doctor say something about two types of weapons, he couldn't recall when or much detail, but he knew that he wasn't the strong type. All he could do was hope that Tom was strong enough to fight off the Puma.

Tom knew when he'd pushed Jerry up into the tree that he wouldn't have time to find himself somewhere to hide. Tom had decided, he didn't know exactly when he had decided this, that Jerry's life was more important then his, that he would protect Jerry first and foremost.

He could hear the breathing of the beast as it drew nearer. Tom could even hear the hunger of the animal, as its belly rumbled. Tom knew where the mountain lion was coming from and was already going through the options he had to fight the animal that was starving and would most likely go to the extreme with a possible meal in front of it.

Tom didn't know exactly what type of abilities he'd been given. He didn't know for sure if he'd be able to fight off this animal that weighed at least two hundred pounds, he didn't know what the next few seconds would hold. But he knew that he'd fight to his fullest.

Tom finally opened his eyes; he could hear the mountain lion now running straight for him. He took one long deep breath and jumped from his spot much like he would have as a cat. Except with more speed and power, the mountain lion nails dug deep into the bark of the tree he had been sitting in front of, it looked around, as if confused.

Tom didn't want to kill the animal, but he could see the desperation in the eyes of the puma. That it had gone to long with out eating and pegged him as an easy meal. It turned to look at him and began to slowly walk towards him, Tom walked to the left making sure to keep his eyes locked with the beast.

He could almost feel what the puma would do next as he effortlessly dodged the animals next strike. The puma nails racked across bark again and Tom could feel the animals' desperation grow as it immediately turned and pounced at him again.

This time he didn't try to move as the animal jumped onto him. He grabbed the front paws of the puma and fell onto his back the water and dirt splashed around them. Tom placed his legs under the animal and concentrated on his strength kicking the animal against the tree he had walked in front of for just this purpose. It had taken him less then a minute to take down the animal.

He flinched when he heard the crack of the puma hitting the tree. The animal yelped out in pain as it fell in a heap onto the mud, it tried to stand up but couldn't hold up its own weight any more. Tom could tell, the animal was slowly dying and felt sorry for the puma. But it had been a life or death situation and it was not time for him to die.

Tom stood up; he closed his eyes and strained his ears. He could hear far away many paws heading his way. He knew that wolves were coming and he wanted to be far away from here before they came. He turned and walked towards the tree he'd placed his Jerry in.

He looked up and put his arms out, Jerry fell into his arms effortlessly. Seeing that Tom was okay Jerry felt many different emotions run through him, he didn't know what these feelings were but he felt true relief to see Tom unharmed.

"Are you okay?" Jerry asked as Tom let him down.

"Yeah, but we better get going."

"Okay."

Tom grabbed onto his hand again and they walked away from the dying animal. The wolves would be there soon to finish him off and they'd be the end for him.

There were no other predators around as they walked slowly down the path they'd ran up earlier. If they didn't go back, they'd get themselves lost and that wasn't something either of the two wanted to happen. They saw their makeshift shelter now flattened to the ground and continued on.

A few of walking and Tom found a tree suitable for the both of them to climb up. He helped Jerry up before climbing up himself, he noticed that his nails had grown a bit; he'd look into it later. Though he hadn't really exerted himself he felt tired now.

He sat down onto the sturdy branch, Tom made himself comfortable before Jerry slowly crawled over to him and Tom pulled him into a hug. They were both cold and shivering now; they were covered in mud and didn't know what morning held.

They were hungry, dirty, and freezing but they were alive.

The rain had finally stopped as the sun beamed down on them. Tom was the first to wake up, he felt Jerry shift in his arms, he looked down at him, and he felt something he couldn't explain as he watched Jerry shiver a bit. He'd think about it later. He gently nudged the smaller of the two until he woke up.

"Morning." Jerry groggily said as he wiped the sleep from his eyes.

"Good morning Jerry." A sad smile passed between them.

They climbed out of the tree and stretched a bit. Sleeping in a tree wasn't very comfortable. After settling their aching muscles Jerry stood and waited to see what the plan was.

"We need to find a stream or creak to clean ourselves before noon... hopefully, then we should be able to build a sturdy shelter before night fall."

"Understood." Jerry could use his smell to find a source of water while Tom listened for any running water. They walked side by side concentrating on finding water. Somewhere they could build a sturdy shelter and stay for a while.

Along the search they found some edible berries to eat, they cleaned them off as best they could before eating their fill. All those books on the wild were really helping now. Once they were satisfied they continued walking.

After a couple of hours of walking Jerry had finally caught the scent of concentrated water. Tom could hear the running of the stream and they began heading towards the source. Once they reached the area they were surprised to see hot springs.

"Wow, this is a nice surprise." Jerry said with out thinking, he walked over to the water and placed his hand in the water, it felt nice and hot and he wanted to jump in right away. But his brain came back into focus and he remembered that now wasn't the time. He looked back and could see the amused look on Tom's eyes. He got up and walked over to Tom, waiting to see what they needed to do first.

"We wash our cloths first, hang them up to dry, then we can get in the hot springs for a bit before we have to start building out new shelter."

Jerry nodded easily at this, it was a good plan, and he couldn't have made a better one. But when they walked to the bottom of the hot springs where the water ran down, he couldn't help but feel nervous as Tom took off his shirt and began washing it.

He couldn't quite place his finger on what he was feeling but seeing Tom with his shirt off made him feel something. He shook his head a bit, he really didn't have any idea, and he quickly took off his own shirt and began to clean off the mud that had dried on it. He pushed whatever feelings he wasn't used to and went to work on the rest of his cloths.

It took a little under ten minutes for them to clean and hang their cloths. They wasted no time as they made it to the hot springs. Jerry was the first to jump in and he almost found himself moan at the feeling of the heated water on his body.

Tom followed him in and they both leaned against a stray piece of wood near the center as they floated in the water. Jerry closed his eyes and sighed, it felt wonderful, all his coldness drifted away with each second that went by.

"How is your arm?" Jerry looked over to Tom and then looked at his arm he hadn't thought about it since it had been bandaged.

"I haven't really checked, but it feels alright."

"Want me to check it?"

Jerry hesitated for a second. "Yeah."

Tom moved closer to him and Jerry put his arm out, they were both naked and that was on the forefront of Jerry's mind as Tom began to pull the bandages off. Jerry spent the time reminding himself that neither he nor Tom had worn cloths their entire lives. It was no different then when they had been animals, except he'd seen himself and knew the one major different, other then not having fur anymore.

"The wound is completely gone." Jerry looked at his arm and was a bit surprised to see no scar there. "I guess we can heal faster then average, if we were normal it would have taken you five days at the minimum to heal."

"We were made for fighting I guess it only makes sense."

"Yeah." Tom answered as he moved back to his original spot. That sat silently for awhile.

"Your fight with the puma..." Jerry paused, what was he trying to ask?

"It was easy, I didn't even strain myself." Tom turned and looked at his fingers again, the nails appeared normal now, last night they'd been sharper. "It was a one-sided fight from the beginning."

"I heard say something about us being weapons, one to fight, one to find...I think that's us..."

Tom didn't know this, he let the information sink in and realized that it actually made since now. He was faster, he could easily see in the night, his hearing was superb and he was strong enough to carry Jerry with out straining himself.

If they had still been in that place then most likely they would have been shipped to a different area. A place where they could learn all their new abilities and molded into the perfect soldiers. Though he wondered if they had really meant to make them as smart as they were.

"Sometimes..." Tom started and his eyes met with Jerry's " I don't know if I should be happy or not."

Jerry nodded in understanding, he had been feeling the same way. He was happy that he could be near Tom without worrying about becoming dinner, yet when he was a mouse it was his play time. Even though they were running for their lives it wasn't all bad now, but then again it wasn't good either.

After almost an hour Tom got out of the water, it was still morning and he decided to leave Jerry to relax a bit longer. He knew that they had to plan out their day, but still he secretly despised scheduling, it was one of the feelings that stayed with him from when he had been a cat.

He could feel his tail swishing behind as he walked over to their now dry cloths, he'd have to wait until he got dry before putting his cloths on. He felt the urge to lick himself and almost rolled his eyes, he'd seen the nurse do it once, he hadn't thought about something like that in months.

Tom walked to a spot where the sun got through better and sat down. They'd build a sturdy shelter, he'd get some traps set to scare of predators, and they'd talk about what to do next. He could hear as Jerry walked over to where he was and sat beside him. Their eyes met and they smiled at each other, the sun really did feel nice.

Part 1 of their journey in the forest, the doctor won't be coming up for a while. Time to watch their relationship blossom. lol Reviews loved as always! Hope you liked this chapter. :D