A/N: Well, I have been getting a whole lot of new characters lately and I'd like to say thank you to everybody who has contributed to the long list. Well, I'd also like to say that I don't need any more characters. At the beginning of this story, when I first started, I didn't think that I would get a lot of characters from you people, so I asked for tons of characters. Well, I finally don't need any more characters.

Okay, just to let you, the creators of the characters, know, I have changed some of the small details of the characters you have submitted. I have changed anything from small personality change to species change. I'm sorry if I have changed your character and you didn't want it to be changed; I'm trying to fit them all together. Since you have submitted your characters, you have given me full permission to do what I like with your characters, such as small changes.

Locket123- for your 2 characters, I'm also going to change a few things to the twins you have given me. I am going to use them, but probably won't be in this chapter. I am going to change their age, because they're way to young.

Anyways, I think I'm done ranting for right now…. Okay, well, I hope you like this 7th chapter of 'Different.'

Enjoy.

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Eriko looked up at the darkening sky. Her long hair was billowing in the wind that was rapidly picking up speed with each minute. She saw the sun being blocked by the storm clouds and gasped. Storms never came so fast in the city; not even once.

"We have to get out of here." She said to Kiba's pack. She had been talking with them next to the cherry tree for some time now and took no notice to the weather. "Come; we have to get back to Echo."

Eriko jogged around the group and through the alleyway in which they came through. Of course, the pack followed, mostly because they were foreign to the city. They jogged down the street, dodging the running humans and hopping over small obstacles. It didn't even take long before they could see the small house on the corner.

"Where have you been?" Chris asked. He had been standing outside, looking at the sky with worried eyes. "Do you have any idea how worried we've been?"

"No time," Eriko said quickly and ran into the building. She ran past her friends in the living area and up the stairs. The pack was still following.

"ECHO!" Eriko shouted as she made it to the top of the stairs and ran to the elderly woman's room.

When the room was reached, it was dark and dreary.

"Echo, something is happening and I think tha-" Eriko started but then was cut off by her shear surprise and shock.

"What is it?" Tsume asked as he and the others made their way into the room.

Eriko started to shake and her breathing began to stagger. She turned slightly to face the new comers with frightened, dead, green eyes. "Echo… she's…. gone."

And with that statement, they found out that Cheza and Blue were missing also.

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"Cheza, where are we going?" The blue-haired woman asked as she and the purple-haired girl walked further into the woods that surrounded the city (inside the barrier).

"This one feels something up ahead. Something important." She answered and continued to walk. "Something that this one needs to do… without Kiba."

It was true. Cheza had wondered off while the four boys ran after Eriko. Blue had spotted Cheza walking the other way and decided to follow. The boys would be fine without her for a bit.

They came upon an opening in the middle of the forest that held dozens of flowers and plants. So many colors and scents. In the middle, there was a small tree stump and was directly positioned under the open sky. But, the odd thing was that there was an old woman sitting upon it, looking up at the darkening sky.

"My, my…" Said the woman. "Looks like there will be some strange storm, huh?"

Cheza walked closer as Blue stood her distance.

"It's good to smell the fresh air; I haven't been able to in a long time." The woman said. "It's nice of you to join me, Flower Maiden."

"Echo… why have you left your bed? Your friends are worried; this one can tell that they are terribly worried." Cheza walked closer until she was directly behind the dieing keeper of Chiyo.

"Please, don't make me go back." She said in a rush. "I haven't been able to go anywhere in years and all I do is worry the children! I'm a mess."

Blue, who had been further back, now approached the two. "You're not a mess; you're just… ageing."

"Soon, I'll have to leave behind this city and hand it over to Eriko. She will be all alone with nobody to help her through these tough time; it seems I'm dieing at the worst time. She has no experience in this sort of thing. Things are going to be so hectic around here for a while."

Blue simply nodded as if she understood and sat down in the grass next to Echo. Cheza stood, still.

After a few minutes, Cheza broke the silence. "Can you tell this one something?"

"Yes, honey. Anything,"

"Why did you lure so many animals here in the first place?"

Echo's smile slowly faded as she thought. "Most of the children here had horrible pasts. Some were in zoos and some were tested on. Most don't have families to go back to and almost all of them wanted to die at one time or another. All of them were hurt emotionally, physically, or mentally. I had to do something about it… I couldn't just leave them to die or get captured."

"But what if they didn't want to be saved?" Blue asked.

Echo's smile returned to her wrinkled face. "Oh, no. I asked them if they wanted to live with me in Chiyo or not. All of them said they wanted too… besides a mere few who actually wanted to find their missing family. Eriko's family… they grew up here in Chiyo…"

"Eriko didn't have a miserable past like the others?"

"Oh, I said that her family grew up here, I never said that she did. Her mom and dad- I rescued them many moons ago from some hunters. They had a love/hate relationship and didn't really get along. But, then, they grew on each other and eventually got married." Echo's smile got bigger. "After a few years, Eriko's mother, Chika, had managed to get pregnant for the first time. Her father, Yuki, was so happy that he literally skipped to me to tell me the great news!" She laughed.

"Was she born here in the city?" Cheza asked.

"Yes, she was. She was born right in my very own bedroom. But, later on, Chika and Yuki decided that they rather have Eriko raised the way they were- in the wild. They left after a full year of her being born.

"After about five years of their leaving, somebody came within reach of the barrier. I opened it up once I could smell the scent of blood. When I reached her, I knew who she was; she had Yuki's hair and face and Chika's eyes and smile. When I asked her what had happened, she told me that her family had been attacked by poachers and that the last thing her parents told her was get away and head to a city within a barrier- to use her nose to find it."

Blue sighed. "How horrible,"

"Did Chika and Yuki survive?"

"To this day, I have no idea if my long lost children are out there, living, breathing, looking for their beautiful daughter, and still madly in love with each other. But, instead of wondering if they're dead, I simply think of them when they were little and once they had gotten married. I swear on my life that Chiyo grew brighter once the wedding was over- and even brighter and cheery once Chika had Eriko in her arms."

"Fond memories are always good to remember," Cheza smiled and closed her eyes.

The wind started to rush around them once again; this time bringing a few rain drops.

"Do you know what this storm is all about? Everybody in the city seems very frantic about it." Blue asked.

Echo, who had been sitting on the tree stump, stood up and grabbed her walking cane. "This storm is nothing to fear… as long as the barrier lasts."

"Why is it different, though?" Cheza asked as she and Blue walked slowly beside the ageing woman.

"Because, nature didn't create this storm. Something… or someone created this storm. And, they're using it to cover up their murder path."

They were silent until they reached the end of the forest. Once they reached the outside of the tree line, Echo sighed and looked up towards the sky.

"God… I'm going to miss this."

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Everything was so frantic back at the small house, now that everybody knew the Echo had somehow slipped out without them noticing. They all felt pathetic about having an old woman leave without knowing.

"This is all my fault- sorry guys." Eriko scolded herself again from the corner of the kitchen.

"It wasn't your fault. You weren't even here." Maddy said. "And get out of the corner. You're acting like a little girl."

"Where were you anyways?" Hail asked with his usual grin.

Eriko shot him a dirty look and sighed. "We should find Echo-"

"No!" Neru almost shouted.

Everybody turned to the sigh girl who was sitting on the couch without a single word. They were surprised that she actually yelled, not that she talked. She was usually a person who only talked when needed.

Neru stood up and placed her hands on the closed door- blocking the exit.

"Why not? We have to go find her! She could get hurt or maybe actually die out there without somebody with her!" Eriko pleaded while her friend shook her head.

"No. Echo needs some time alone right now. She hasn't been out of that bed in so long and she was probably feeling as if she needed to say goodbye to the city the proper way. Leave her be. She is a strong person- and you all know it! She took us all in as her children and the least you can do is let her have her freedom." Neru said with a stern face, still not moving from the door. "Plus, I know she's fine."

Liz asked how she knew, and that caused Neru's face to go a bright red.

"Well… I kind of… umm… saw her…"

"Get on with it!" Axel shouted.

"I SAW HER LEAVE AND SHE MADE ME PROMISE TO NOT TELL!" Neru shouted while covering her eyes with her long bangs and looking at the ground.

Eriko's mouth was agape and her eyes unmoving. "You're right, Neru. But, I have to," Was the last thing she said before she flung herself out of the kitchen window. She knew, even if she tried, she wouldn't be able to get around Neru to go out the door.

"God damnit!" Hail shouted and slammed his fist into the wall. This causing Sora to grab his reddening hand- trying to sooth the pain. "Why is everything happening now? Right when these… these… wolfs show up?!" He pointed to Kiba and the others.

"This isn't our fault." Toboe whimpered. "I don't even know what's going on!"

"This isn't your fault." Maddy said and lifted herself off the chair she was sitting on. "If anything, it's Eriko's fault."

Everybody was shocked (except for Kiba, Hige, Tsume, and Toboe). Nobody ever blamed Eriko, their soon-to-be leader.

"Eriko needs to keep lookout on this city now. She needs to know what's happening. She needs to start acting like a leader- the leader she was born to be."

Everybody was silent.

Even though everything Maddy said was true, nobody ever blamed a leader. Ever.

A/N: So, this chapter is over now. Still short, but I didn't really have anything other to put here. Please review. And, repeating myself, I'm nto excepting any other characters as of right now. Sorry.

Review and keep a lookout for the next chapter.