Dreamer
#2 of Incomplete Stories.
Darkness. That's all there was. The shifting, moving, liquid darkness. It didn't used to be like this. The being hidden in the darkness used to have a life, a home, a family. That all changed when he became apart of the game. Sentience stirred within the darkness, questing, poking, curious, continuously asking why, why, why? The slimy touch of darkness was the only reply. There was a shift. A tiny glimmer of light came into existance. For all it was a glimmer, it blazed like the sun. The being held off the darkness, reaching for the only thing visible, the tiny spot of light.
Awareness! The being gasped for breath, his eyes snapping open and looking in panic at the intense light and impossible to see forms, clawing and scrabbling at the things holding him down.
"Push him back down! We can't lose this one. It has to live!"
The being was forced back onto the hot surface against his will, strong limbs holding his ankles, chest, and arms. He opened his burning jaw, releasing a scream that could barely be heard as long unused vocal cords tried to work. Unimagineable power rushed through him, causing him to scream again in pain. Objects around the room tried to move. They had barely lifted when one of the beings noticed.
"Transfer success, it's trying to fight, get a collar, quick. Quick!" She said the last in a slightly panicked voice as she was raised up in the air as well. Another of the shapeless forms came through, snapping cold metal upon the being's neck. Eyes filled with pain and fear looked at the darkly furred hands, with claws for fingernails, as the metal snapped about his neck. He thought he was in pain before. He howled as electric fire raced through his brain. He collapsed, slowly losing consciousness. The new world turned dark as the beings congratulated themselves.
"This one will make a fantastic game piece. How are the nano's doing?"
"It's cellular structure is being rewritten now, they just tagged a few genes a little early."
"Excellent. Do we have a form yet?" Said a highly excited voice. A form appeared to be hugging itself just at the limit of the being's fading vision.
"No sir, still searching." Came the slightly weary reply.
The other snorted. "Don't set it yet, the owner may not like it."
Coloured lights played against the immensely faded vision of the captured being. His heart rate slowed as a soft blue tone spread across the room. His leg twitched at a sudden pain that surged through it, but it wasn't sharp enough.
"Heart rate's decelerating, It's losing consciousness." The being by what could have been a wall waved a limb. The blue blur flashed every few seconds as a minor alert was set. "It'll need to be watched and studied. No one's ever fully successfully incorperated a human before. We're going to be the most sought after makers for the Ahsgera!"
The being let out a silent mental scream as the darkness returned.
The young human dreamed as tiny machines within him rewrote his genetic code, unaware of the devestating effect they were incurring upon their host's body. The dream became solid as a scenery came into focus. Light, sounds, heavy beats and the smell of searing meat. A large hollow structure was quickly errected, within it many humans travelled along unseen pathways, sometimes stumbling into each other. Plants and water displays rose between them, small flying creatures flitting from tree to tree. The dreaming human sat upon dead wood that had been worked into a frame. Another young human walked up to the dreamer.
"Hey Matt, wanna grab a coffee?"
"Yeah sure.." The scene froze and twisted. Darkness washed it away as another came into being. A large orange sun slowly fell over a seemingly red ocean, small waves lapping up the dark sand. A little further down, a humanoid creature was trying to crawl it's way out of the water, but it kept falling back without anything touching it. Moving closer, the dreamer heard it's voice.
"...blood. So much blood. It doesn't stop. so much blood." The dreamer reached down, offering help. Upon touching the thing's darkly furred back, it collapsed, dissipating into nothing but air. The dreamer stepped back in shock, looking at his right hand. What he thought to be water was blood. He flicked his hand in a panicked effort to get rid of it as he looked out over the ocean. He stopped flicking his hand, the blood slowly dripping off the tips of his slightly curled fingers.
"Not an ocean, a sea. An endless sea of blood." A sweat drop formed, then fell. There came a roaring sound as the droplet fell upon the sand, and smashed the vision away. The roar came from the blood as it fell down into nothingness, along with the dreamer.
The dreamer awoke to a nightmare. Harsh orange light was flashing everywhere, and a high pitched noise was drilling its way into his skull. Forms were rushing about every where, and even though he felt immense pain in his lungs and bowels, he could still hear and make sense of their words.
"It's losing too much blood. The nanites started working on the major organs without treating them first. If they're not stopped it's gonna die in a quarter of a cycle." The female from before? Questioned the human.
"I knew it wasn't strong enough. Look at how white it is, I'd be surprised if it's seen sunlight at all in three lunar cycles." There was a snort, then the harsh orange light shutoff as a shapeless form crossed to the bottom of the dreamer's form.
"Sir?" Came a half sure voice.
The dreamer coughed, blood coating the inside of his mouth. Finally noticing that he wasn't bound anymore, he rolled to his right, stuck his head over the raised platform he was on, and vomited a long stream of blood onto the floor below. His long dark hair fell over as well, some of it getting splash back from the blood. Several faces scrunched in distaste.
"Should we remove the language nanites?"
"No, they've been fused to it's speech centre's already, they're useless now. Even if we could have reused them, they're attuned to it's genetic material now." The one by his feet moved to his side. It reached out a white fur covered hand, grabbed the hair that wasn't clouding his face, and hauled back savagely on it. The other furred hand curled into a fist, then was driven into his abdominals. The dreamer's eyes widened tremendously as a squishing noise became clearly audible. He coughed, then vomited a torrent of blood upon his abuser while curling up around the fist. Several forms grabbed the speaker, hauling him backwards as he readied another punch.
"Sir! That was extremely uncalled for!"
"I don't care! It's wasted several thousands of credits just to die in a disgusting way!" The creature tried to kick again, but was dragged further back by his colleagues.
Red lights flashed around the room where the dreamer lay dieing. A filtered voice was heard by all in the room. "This is the U.S.G.P. You have been tracked leaving the third planet from this system's star. As such you are in violation of Sentient Homeworld Law. Prepare for boarding and possible arrest." The voice stopped as the dreamer coughed up more blood. The machine monitoring him gave a shriek as his heart stopped.
The beings rushed about in a fit of panic as several purple particles appeared, and slowly coalesced into five heavily armoured creatures, weapons included. One immediately fell to it's knees infront of the dreamer, kneeling in the overly large pool of blood. A gloved hand reached out as the other aimed at the suddenly still creatures. "Sir, human, no vitals. Three Candarra's two Pergah." The armoured female stood up, aiming her weapon at the other creatures, blood dripping down her encased shins. The creature in the middle of the group stepped forwards, it's visored faceplate focusing upon the collar the dreamer wore.
The creature that had punched the human in his guts as he vomited blood strode forwards. "We demand to know why you're .." The one that was staring at the dreamer snapped a hand to it's holstered weapon on it's hip, pointed without looking, and fired at the vaguely rat like face of the dreamer's abuser. There was a slight hissing sound then the being flew backwards, hitting the wall and slumping down minus the top half of his head. The three females screamed in terror before they too were shot one at a time. The male was last. He was on his knees, bawling and gibbering that they had done nothing wrong, it was all for the game anyway, what was the harm? The gun wavered a moment, before focusing upon his right shoulder. His eyes showed comprehension and fear a moment before he lost his entire shoulder, and part of his lung. He had enough air for one scream before shock set in and he fainted, soon to die from bloodloss. Red blood painted the walls. The three remaining members of the group stared at the bodies, emotionless. The one that had been kneeling in the dreamer's blood turned to the one still holding it's gun as she holstered her own.
"Sir, what do we do now?" The leader holstered his tubular like weapon, turning back to the dead human. He sighed audibly.
"The humans aren't going to like this. I just hope he wasn't important to them." He turned to one of his packmates. "Jorgan, search for anymore people on the ship. I don't want to be shot when we leave." The taller suited humanoid to his left saluted, doing a quick scan with his helmet before moving off through the wall opposite the splattered bodies. "Gafe, be a good girl and find out everything you can about these people, and the human if you can." The female nodded her helmeted head and walked over to the computer at the foot of the dreamer's bed. She placed her gloved hands over the air in front of her and a many keyed alien keyboard came into being with a bright pink glow. Lines around her wrists that travelled all the way to the end of her gloved fingertips glowed. The leader turned back to the still bleeding human. He squatted down to look into his frozen fearfull and painfilled eyes. Giving a sigh, he reached out a gloved hand and closed his eyes. "Sorry human, we were too late" He stood up, his left thumb depressing a spot upon the left side of his suit. "Jorgan, make sure they didn't bring any animals from Earth with them as well." He received an acknowledged Sir! from his subordinate.
"Linette," The female before the human looked up at her squad leader. "I want you to clean yourself up. there's no telling what type of microbes that human has in his blood." She nodded, pressing a button upon her right shoulder as she stood up. "Bio Filter innitiated" reported a sibilant voice within her matt black helmet. Her suit glowed red for a moment, then steamed as a bright green ring covered her from the tip of her helmeted ears and tail, to the bottoms of her encased feet. The red and green lights flicked off "Contaminants found and neutralised. Warning, Micro technology detected." "Sir, there were nano's in his blood." The leader shifted his weight to his right side.
"Are you sure?" He asked, rubbing at a spot on the back of the neck of his suit.
"Positive Sir. She said there was micro technology present in his blood. What else could it be except for Nanites..?" She moved her hands into the universal "What do you think?" mode. She moved away from the human, getting slightly unnerved by his stare. Chills ran up and down her spine as his eyes followed her movement. A U.S.G.P. regulated weapon aimed itself at the human's face over her right shoulder. She froze, wondering just what was happenning here. She had been absolutely positive that the human had been dead.
"Everybody back to the ship now. He's a game piece in Super Defensive mode without an owner. Move it!" The bipedal that had been accessing information from the medical computer flashed out of existance in a spark of purple light, Linette took one last look at her squad leader before teleporting back. The other bipedal that had yet to do anything teleported back to the ship without saying a word. Jorgan came through the wall at a run, heading for his squad leader. Black eyes with smouldering red centres watched him run past. He was barely a step away when the dreamer lashed out at him. Deep black claws extending from his finger tips sliced through the protective armour Jorgan was wearing. Dark orange blood flew into the air in a stream of droplets, mixing in with the bits and pieces of armour that had shattered on impact. The squad leader fired point blank into the base of the dreamer's skull ending his life for real this time, but not before a shadowed fist rammed itself through his armour and into his lungs.
==================
The dreamer slowly woke up, his eyes barely cracking open. The orange light from his dream was flashing everywhere like before, and a high pitched noise was drilling its way into his skull again. Forms were rushing about every where, and even though he felt immense pain in his lungs and bowels, he could still hear and make sense of their words, knowing what was to be said even before they said it.
"It's losing too much blood. The nanites started working on the major organs without treating them first. If they're not stopped it's gonna die in a quarter of a cycle." So it was her thought the human.
"I knew it wasn't strong enough. Look at how white it is, I'd be surprised if it's seen sunlight at all in three lunar cycles." There was a snort, then the harsh orange light shut off as a shapeless form crossed to the bottom of the dreamer's form.
"Sir?" Came the same half sure voice.
The dreamer coughed, blood coating the inside of his mouth. Knowing already that he wasn't bound anymore, he rolled to his right, stuck his head over the raised platform he was on, and vomited a long stream of blood onto the floor below. He raised an arm over his hair to stop it from falling over as well, and getting blood in it. Several faces scrunched in distaste.
"Should we remove the language nanites?"
"No, they've been fused to it's speech centre's already, they're useless now. Even if we could have reused them, they're attuned to it's genetic material now." The one by his feet moved to his side. It reached out a white fur covered hand, grabbing at his arm, and hauling back savagely on it. The other furred hand curled into a fist, then was driven into his abdominals. Or would have been if the dreamer hadn't moved. The bipedal drew back his fist to try again, but was hauled off by his colleagues again. "What are you doing? Get off of me!"
"Sir! Grab a hold of yourself!" Said the vaguely racoon like female from before. The ferret like being swore, trying to free himself. Red lights flashed around the room where the dreamer realised he was about to die. A filtered voice was heard by everyone, though only one knew what it was going to say. He moved his lips in time with the words. "This is the U.S.G.P. You have been tracked leaving the third planet from this system's star. As such you are in violation of Sentient Homeworld Law. Prepare for boarding and possible arrest." The dreamer coughed up more blood, the machine monitoring him starting to squeak for attention as his vitals dropped below their normal functioning levels.
The two ferret people and three racoon people moved this way and that panicking about what was going to happen to them. Five purple lights fuzzed into existance, bringing with them five very large aliens in black armour. The dieing human recognised these shapes, and he held on just that tiny bit longer to warn them because he didn't want to hurt anyone. Just like before, Linette moved first, kneeling in the puddle of blood he'd just spewed up onto the floor. She raised her gloved hand to the human's face as her other hand drew her weapon and pointed it at the bipedals standing on the other side of the room. "Human, low vitals immediate attention required. Three-" She stopped, her weapon pointing directly at him as he grabbed her arm and tugged her closer. He tugged feebly, trying to motion for her to lean close. The weapon she held moved to his groin as she moved closer, the human seeing two more weapons pointed at his face from the other team members. He grabbed her neck with his free arm, tugging her head and possible ear close to his mouth. The cold metals or plastics of her weapon pushed directly into his unprotected privates. Grimacing and denying both his internal and external pain he whispered into the side of her helmet.
"My name is Mat, these things turned me into a game piece. I'm going to die soon, and when I do in a couple of minutes, some Super Defensive mode will be activated. You need to leave now Linette before I kill Jorgan and your leader again." Linette froze at hearing her name come from this alien creature's lips. Kill what? Who? The dreamer gritted his teeth as his heart gave out, unable to pump any more blood through his veins as there was none left to pump. His form fell limp atop Linette's armoured frame. Linette holstered her weapon, and pushed him back onto the medical bed.
"Linette." Linette turned to face her squad leader, her mind fuzzed from the shock of what she had just heard. Glassy eyes hidden behind a protective lens looked to where the eyes of her Squad leader should be. "What did he say Linette? You were right next to him. It had to be important if he risked pulling you down next to him with a naked gun in his genitals." Linette stared at her squad leader. "Linette..?" The team's squad leader moved towards Linete, an arm outstreatched to activate a recording function when she finally spoke.
"Jorgan..." Jorgan jumped slightly within his suit.
"What about me?" Jorgan turned his visored gaze to the still stunned Linette.
"He said that he didn't want to kill you and Jorgan again. He told me to leave. He knew my name sir, how could he know my name?" Linette's left arm trembled ever so slightly inside of it's casing.
The ferret and racoon people looked at each other nervously. If the armoured U.S.G.P. had been without helmets, they would more than likely have smelled the surge of fear coming off of them. The lead ferret stepped forwards, hands raised in a gesture of surrender. Four weapons aimed at him. He froze where he was, keeping his hands in sight.
"If what she says is true, we need to be gone before he wakes up." The squad leader turned, recognising the ferret.
"Hello Jian, still experimenting upon sentients I see. I thought I recognised the type of collar he's wearing. What happened? Did he show a display of power and scare you?" Jian's lithe body shook underneath the white water proof fabric he was wearing.
"The nanites had barely started working on him when he made things move. Tersa was already in the air before the collar was locked on him." Tersa nodded her head behind Jian, her brown ferret head speeding along. "We might have to scrap him anyway. Under no circumstances are we to incorporate a being with hidden abilities. If they're natural, like an extendable tongue, or acidic skin, that's fine. But something like this?" He shook his head. "We need to leave. Arrest us if you want, but we need to get off of this ship Now. The owner he was meant to have specifically requested a human game piece, even adding modifications to his makeup that I've never seen before."
The squad leader took a step forwards. Jian backed up one pace, before holding his ground, eyes darting to the human that at any moment could turn into a killing machine of unimagineable proportions. "What was the name of this....... prospective owner..?" The cold steel behind the pack leader's voice suggested how Very much he wanted to hurt Jian.
Jian shook his head quickly. "I don't know. We received the instructions and the credits for him annonymously, we then received instructions as to where we were meant to go in order to aquire him, and where to drop him off when we had finally succeeded in making a human gamepiece." The beings around Jian looked down when he said 'finally'. The armoured U.S.G.P. tensed within their suits at hearing the word. The squad leader, however, remained calm.
Keeping his steel filled voice squad leader Markin asked a question. "_ How many? _"
Jian quivered, unable to answer the question, knowing that the answer would be an automatic death sentence for him and his staff. "It doesn't matter, pretty soon, if what the female said is true, we're all going to be dead. Please, arrest us, take us off to the prison planet, but don't leave us here to be slaughtered by him if the super defensive mode activates!" Jian's chest heaved in and out, his heart raced with the fear that his entire life was going to be wasted by a damn animal.
The five U.S.G.P. stood straight as a message was broadcasted directly into their skulls. "Squad leader Markin and his group. You are hereby ordered to arrest the individuals of the ship you are in. Any other species found are to be terminated at once. This is a direct order from law marshal Kimin."
3 Months Later
Tria the skunk morph looked up from the book she had been reading. Laying upon her bed, she had been reading a romantic novel she had printed out. It was a story about how a young Skiri, or fox morph, had fallen in love with her partner. That would have been fine, except her partner was a game piece. The society that Tria lived in viewed the game pieces as animals. As interaction with animals in that way was forbidden. You couldn't get anything close to this in real life. Besides, Tria felt terrible that someone could use a non sentient being like that. If they were fully aware of their choices, and the consequences, Tria was all for being intimate with her partnered game piece, if she had one that is.
Sighing Tria put the book away, hiding it under her bed in a small DNA keyed safe. "Mother will be home soon anyway." Rolling off of her hovering bed she twirled when she hit the floor. Slender black feet twisted around as Tria pirouted, her white flowing robe twirling with her. The black and white V stripes that moved down Tria's back, ending at the tip of her gigantic tail, melded gently with the robe she wore, accentuating the soft S shaped lift of her tail. Giving a soft giggle, Tria walked down to the front door of the house she shared with her brother Skelt, and mother Linette. Tria was somewhat excited, because today, her mother had promised to get her something good when she'd returned from her scheduled duty as a United Sentients Galactic Police officer. She'd left hints that she'd finally get what she'd been wanting for the last seven years. Her very own Game piece. A partner that would grow and learn as she did.
Tria smiled, sharp little teeth glinting as her black lips pulled upwards. Mother had said that she was going to get a rare surprise. The doorbell rang, and instead of racing to open the door, she waited for the automated security system to register, then allow the person outside. The door slid open, hot air gusting behind it before the house's chiller kicked in, regulating the temperature. Tria raced to hugg the person standing there in her U.S.G.P. battle armour. She screeched to a halt as her mother put up one gloved hand towards her reckless rush.
"Stay back hunny, he doesn't like being crowded." He..? Tria blinked in the harsh orange sunlight, finally spotting the predatorial form directly behind her mother. Seeing the collar, she yipped, clasping her hands and jumping.
"OH Mother, I love you soooo much! You finally got me a partner!" She ducked to the left of her mother, and reached out long black and white arms to the collared panther behind Linette. The roar he gave off was deafening. Linette moved in front of Tria as she stood there, half crouched and dazed.
Removing her glove from her right hand, Linette slowly placed it within biting distance of the Panther. His eyes blazed, but he cautiously sniffed the offered hand. Remembering who owned it, he relaxed, but kept an eye upon the creature that had looked like it was attacking him.
Linette heaved a sigh through her mic. She reminded herself again exactly why she was doing this. For the good of the species, to try and undo the wrong that was done him, Etc Etc. Linette put her faceplate into her now glove free hand for a moment, before letting her hand drop back to her side. Picking up her daughter under her left arm, Linette moved them to the den where some form fitting couches resided. Sitting her daughter upon one, she sat down on the opposite one and whistled a tune. The panther was at her heel in an instant, dark fur contrasting strongly with the white of the couches. He sat upon his haunches, gazing upwards at Linette.
Tria finally regained her composure. "What is it?" The panther looked at her as she spoke, ears twitching. His tail curled around his right leg, the tip tucking itself under him.
Reaching under her jaw with her left hand, Linette swiped the pad that would retract her armour. Her entire suit whirred for a moment, before sucking itself into a small ball that hung from her right furred ear. Looking very much like her daughter, Linette sighed, rubbing her back into the couch. The couch moulded it's frame to suit her body, leaving her partly encased as she crossed her ankles upon the floor and looked to her daughter upon the other couch.
"He" Linette stressed the word, "Is your new partner. At least I would like him to be. You've wanted a game piece for years, and now, I'm finally able to give you one, but he comes at a cost." Tria stared up at her mother, having just yanked her gaze from the panther's.
"What cost?" she asked, a touch of confusion edging into her voice. When someone got a partner, usually they were kept for life, or untill the partner died.
"Well, you see Tria, he isn't exactly legal yet." Linette stalled any arguing before her daughter started by rushing on. "He's brand new. There has never been, nor will there ever be, any other like him. He was meant to be used for illegal purposes, but I'm hoping that you can use him correctly. You may have noticed already that he's highly intelligent. He learns very quick, and can even understand spoken language sometimes. He's extremely defensive, I had to personally inject him with a sedative before I could go out on a date with Markin."
Tria raised a furred eyebrow. "Woo Hoo, Squad leader Markin. Way to go Mom!" Linette grinned bashfully as the insides of her furred ears 'blushed'.
"Stop that. Skelt doesn't know that I'm dating Markin, and he may take it the wrong way if he found out. Under no circumstances are you to tell Skelt about me and Markin."
Tria nodded her head in agreement. "Anyway, get back to this guy here. How did you even find him? And what's so special about him that he's the only one ever made?" She leaned forwards towards Linette, eager to know what was so special about her soon to be new partner.
"Well.. Let's see. He's different because he was never trained. Everything he does he does because he wants to. Hmm." Linette frowned in thought, her forehead fur ruffling slightly. She smiled as an idea struck her. "You know how Pinasti's are trained in order to be able to use their bio electricity to fuel their electric attacks?" Tria nodded, remembering the strange two headed creatures resembling an eel with six legs along it's slimy form. "Well, they get specific training in order to do it. Without that training they are formidable water based opponents. Before they were taught how to use electricity, their main method of attack was to latch on with one head and suck the blood out of their host, while the other head acted as both sword and shield. Attacking and defending for the feeding head. Almost all of the game pieces have received some sort of training, otherwise they'd never listen to their partners. Normally through pain/reward training. This guy however." Linette reached down and gently stroked the black panther, elliciting a purr from him as her claws ran through his fur, scratching gently at his skin.
"This guy here will only listen to you if he wants to. For some strange reason, he wont listen to males. He totally and completely ignores them. Gods help the person who gets him after you if they're male." A flicker went accross Linette's eyes as she remembered the first trainer that had breen brought in to teach him something.
"Hello? Mom? Hellooooo?" Tria waved a hand infront of her mother's face, trying to get her attention. Linette blinked and focused upon the present.
"Oh, sorry Tria... I was just remembering the first person we brought in to try and train him. Before you ask, don't. All I'll tell you is this. Don't Ever, and I mean this, Don't you Ever play fight or fight with a male. He will kill him."
Tria blinked, confused and a litlle scared. "What do you mean..?"
"I Mean your partner will kill him. He will kill without thought in order to protect his partner. I'm tempted to keep him as my partner, but I can't. I'm trying to go out with Markin, I don't want to have to drug him everytime we come back to ...... enjoy some private time. And since you don't have a boyfriend, or potential mate, you wont have to worry about drugging him for quite awhile yet. And besides, the higher ups are starting to question where he came from. If I leave him with you, and you bond, you'll have a life partner who will protect you everyday of your life." Linette leaned back and smiled. "Also, you've been complaining about how you always want to go traveling, visiting different star systems and stations, fighting in the pits with a trusted and valuable partner. So long as you respect him, and you make small allowances for his behaviour, he will be the strongest game piece in the history of creation." Linette paused there, remembering exactly what she was leaving with her daughter. This was a being that should not exist. A one in a billion chance. Even his current form was something that shouldn't have been possible, but was. A sentient being, a human transformed into an animal, a game piece. She still didn't understand, even after months of searching for the person who had written the creation code for him. There were so many darkspots, hidden abilities and unknown strengths. Right now, all that was known about him was what the nano's in his body chose to transmit, and what they observed.
"Anyway, Tria darling, why don't you come and say hello to him propperly?"
"Propperly?" Questioned Tria with a raised fuzzy eyebrow. "What do you mean by Propperly? Do you want me to bow to him and kiss his tail?"
Linette smiled. "Nothing so formal as that. I just want you to slowly walk infront of him, sit down, and offer your hand to him. Make sure your palm is open, and facing him. Then don't move untill he sniffs you. If he likes you, you'll get a lick, if he doesn't, you'll get a growl."
Chapter XXXX
Tria was shoved further and further up the wall. She struggled, kicking at her attacker. A thought that ran through her head was that, if she could only reach her alarm, she'd have a task force sent to her immediately. A snarl from the end of the corridor reminded her why she was in this mess. Temaska's partner was fighting with Kesmet, both of them were biting and clawing at each other. Since this wasn't an actual match, their wounds healed almost instantly. So all Temaska's partner was doing was keeping Kesmet from her. Tria was close to cursing beating Temaska yesterday, especially seeing as he was taking it out on her.
"Once you die, I'll take your partner as my own. He'll be a fine addition to my collection, and he'll make a prize breeding male. Pwero could do with a couple of cubs." Temaska, a male Gwirion or black canine morph, squeezed Tria's throat, causing her to gurgle and kick at him again. She was using all of her strength just to hold her head up so she could breathe.
"Kesmet, Get out of here! Find some help!" Tria wheezed as Temaska's spare hand curled itself into a fist and rammed itself into her diaphragm.
Kesmet ducked his head up over one of Pwero's strikes so that he could glare at Tria. He was trying his best to get rid of Pwero, but how do you stop something that can heal almost instantly? His own awareness, heightened by adrenaline and the small machines within him, warned him about the strike heading for his chest. He sprang away, only barely moving faster than Pwero's outstretched claws were moving. Her silver claws shredded some fur from his chest, leaving a slight indentation before the nanobots within him increased hair growth for a moment, easily repairing the damage. Another strike from Pwero, and he dodged again. He was on the defensive now, not attacking. He was wracking his brain, railing at the locked door that hid all of his memmories from him. He knew somehow, that if only he could get through the door, he would be able to win easily.
Pwero lashed out at him again, catching the right side of his head and slashing through flesh, muscle and some bone. Kesmet's vocal chords locked, uttering a scream that was completely silent. The nanobots within him shifted, moving to the new injury and speeding up the rate of cell replication. Three drops of hot red blood fell to the cold metal of the space station's floor. The wounds that those three drops came from healed completely before they hit. Kesmet remembered how he healed faster than Pwero. For him, it only took a moment, but for Pwero. For Pwero it took a few seconds. Kesmet saw a swipe coming at him from the bottom right. He was moving left and back without even thinking of it. The instinct was to move in order to be able to think.
"Do you think if I rape you without any protection, you'll bear cubs?" Tria couldn't believe her ears. She watched his dark features smile. Had the Gwirion gone insane? Rape was an offense punishable by death. But then, so was murder and he was close to killing her. Tria felt helpless. She was being held against her will, her partner was fighting for both their lives, and she was doing nothing. She was so enraged at her own helplessness. There had to be at least something that she could do. Something to help Kesmet. The bracelet monitoring Kesmet flashed. Something important was going on with Kesmet, but because she couldn't reach the band containing all of his information, she couldn't know if it was good or bad.
"Do you think if I rape you without any protection, you'll bear cubs?" The next swipe Pwero made landed. Kesmet went rolling as those words reverbrated through his consciousness. The door that he had been trying to break through ever since he'd realised it existed, burst open. His heart stopped as a dark, burning rage slowly filled him. His limbs shook, tail straight, as a living tide of wrath washed through him. Pwero moved, he moved faster. As Pwero was lining a strike, he was already infront of her. Long incisors bit deep into the shoulder of her left foreleg. Muscles forged of energy and rage held her in place as he ripped her leg from her. Blue blood trailed down his dark pelt as Pwero screeched in agony. Kesmet turned to face the male who was holding his partner hostage. The one who had threatened her with death and rape. The one who would die by his claws, even if he had to surrender his own life.
The door that had been previously blocked was open. Inside the closed room within his mind, he had hidden away all of his memories. Everything that made him him. Memories of his life upon Earth. His eating habits, friends, family. Movies he'd watched, games he'd played. An image went past Kesmet's eyes, one of a light tan coloured hairless thing turning into something resembling the Gwirion holding Tria, his partner.
Werewolf
The name was there and gone. A whisper. The darkness behind the newly opened door urged him to take that form. To become stronger in order to protect the female. To use imagination, science, and magic to create a form that would be passable within this strange time. The rage within Kesmet burned his muscles and bones. His limbs lengthened while his body shrank a small amount. Limbs meant for a quadruped, shifted to fit those of a bipedal. Black paws elongated into fingers before they thickened in order to hold extendable cat claws. Moving from his newly created hands, the energy washed through him. Travelling up his arms, they changed to suit the mixing of human and animal. The shoulder placings altered, allowing wider movement while the back muscles thickened. His ribcage shrank, then expanded, his organs gaining more mass and strength. His spine shortened some what, but was made heavier, the bone protecting delicate nerve pathways. The legs and hips of Kesmet's former feral body changed, growing stronger and more flexible. His feet held the same feral shape as before, but they were larger, with a fleshier footpad to allow greater vertical stability. The nanites within him checked themselves for accuracy, touching up certain places that had been missed, or half completed. The last change to take place involved his skull and brain, and this was delicate work. The ears were moved down slightly, allowing greater access to sounds that would be coming from all around his new form. The facial characteristics were pulled out and stretched, the muzzle elongating a few more inches, the sensory input of the nose being increased as well. The jaw bone was dropped slightly, which created a greater over all bite capacity, which meant that Kesmet would now be able to make a bite wound almost twice as big as he used to be able to. His eyes under went a major transformation, a second pupil being added. This pupil was seen only as a dark ring outside of the iris, yet it was constantly functioning at one hundred and ten percent visibility. This alteration would allow Kesmet to see threats as they were coming at him, no matter what the direction.
Kesmet's transformation complete, he looked towards his partner, the female he was obligated to protect. Pwero's partner was looking at him in shock, his hand still upon Tria's neck. A low growl bubbled out of Kesmet's throat. Words he knew came from the open door of his room of memmories. " Let my partner go." The Gwirion's eyes widened, his grip increasing as Tria struggled for breath, a desperate plea within her eyes. That was enough for him, he'd given warning, the male's life was now his. Digging the thick claws of his toes into the surface of the space station, Kesmet ran like lightning at Temaska. The tide of fury within him moved to his claws, causing them to glow with a dark light. Temaska moved Tria between them, apparently hoping to make Kesmet kill his partner. A chuckle came from the previously locked room within his mind. A pink thing, a human, appeared within his mind. Kesmet watched the human in his mind jump over another human, spinning and keeping his head and face turned towards the other human. The image disappeared, and Kesmet did the same rotating jump that the human had done, the nanites within him feeding what his brain wanted to do, directly into his muscles. Kesmet reached out a darkly furred hand with it's black glowing claws. He made contact with the top part of the Gwirion's furred skull, dug his claws in, then used his momentum and rotation to slice the top of the Gwirion's skull off. He landed behind the now brain dead Gwirion, facing his partner's back. It took a moment for the body to recognise, and understand it's death. Once it understood, it toppled backwards and down, Tria falling with it. Kesmet moved in, grabbed the Gwirion's dead arm and crushed it, forcing it to relieve it's death grip upon Tria's neck. That done, he gently caught her as she fell backwards.
Kesmet moved his blue blood soaked muzzle towards Tria's neck. He gave a sniff, analysing her new scent. It was stronger now. He memorised her scent, so as to never lose her again. Now that he had confirmed that she was safe, he stuck the top of his head against Tria's neck and rubbed gently, hugging her back and tail to his front as a deep, rumbling purr came from his chest and throat.
Tria turned a fearful eye to her newly transformed partner. Her mother had warned her, but she hadn't listened. Kesmet had killed to keep her safe. Her heart pounded within her chest, her breath coming quick and heavy. She felt the rumbling purr, and knew that was a sign that he was happy, but she was struck dumb. She knew all the game pieces were essentially dangerous, but they were programmed to Not kill their, or other, owners. Yet Kesmet had effectively neutralised his opponent, then transformed into a stronger form in order to protect her. In so doing, he had killled an Owner of a game piece. Granted it was in defense of her, and to prevent her loss of life, but...
Tria looked behind the both of them to the dead Gwirion that had been about to rape and kill her. She felt a fear and terror that she had never known before. What was to stop her partner from killing her? She struggled from his grasp, and Kesmet quickly let her go, staring at her with the deep, obedient eyes he had only for her. Tria checked her wrist unit, bringing up information on Kesmet's new form. She re-input the information. She tried a third time. She was getting just a little anoyed now. The unit kept telling her that there had been no transformation, that this was Kesmet's form, had been his form, and always will be his form. Checking through his bio signs, she found new information. Kesmet's previous form had been a straight out offense form. Now, there were dark spots in her information. Kesmet was still offense capable, but his defense capabilities had been increased. How much, she couldn't ascertain. There were some new brain wave functions that were being monitored, aside from the original five that detailed stress, function, and emotional status. Stress was still high, but it was falling back to normal levels, his current status was green, meaning he had no injuries. The three eratic lines that deciphered his emotions said that he was happy/relaxed. That was okay. Next Tria checked his abilities selection. Kesmet had a new form, so obviously he had abilities to match it. Four new lines were present in his abilities section. The top one was locked, meaning it was inaccessible to her and hadn't been activated yet. The writing on the lock said 'Special'. She was confused at the meaning behind that word. The line below it had some information attatched to it.
Shield/Power Limiter. This monitors two things. The first is the Game Piece's personal shield, which it will use in order to avoid certain attack types. The second, is the power limiter. The power limiter is defaulted at 99% strength. This can be changed to suit your Game Piece's over all strength, but it is recomended to keep it at the 99% strength untill propper adjustment is made.
Warning. If at any time the personal shield is destroyed/nullified the power limiter will fall with it. If this should happen, forfeit the current match. With the power block removed, your improved Game Piece may have a power flux. It will have too much power, becoming unstable. Critical mass will be reached. If the monitoring unit of the partner senses critical mass reach, it will automatically kill the Game Piece. After critical mass is reached, the destructive power of a dwarf star going nova will be unleashed, depending upon Game Piece strength, a black hole may eventuate after the nova.
The hairs all over Tria's body stood on end. Just how much power did Kesmet now have? To be honest to herself, she was more terrified now then she had been with the Gwirion Temaska. Looking over to her partner, once again she felt confusion. He was still staring at her, his ears moved at certain sounds but his eyes stayed on her. Tria's heart skipped a beat. Kesmet looked so absoloutely gorgeous. His eyes had changed, there was now another ring of black around his slitted blue iris'. His eyes were almost hypnotic. Tria moved her hand to her tail, pulling the large piece of fluffiness to her front so that she could comb her fingers through it. Tria raised the unit again, wondering what the other two functions were. Her eyes shifted to the information below the Shield/Power Limiter. The one below it was completely blacked out. It had no inscription for the function. This would have been cause for concern, but then there was alot about Kesmet that nobody knew about. Her eyes moved down to the last item being monitored. Trans Dimensional Gateway.
Tria looked back up to Kesmet's eyes. No Way! was her immediate thought. The TDG's were propperty of the transportation ring. You had to pay through the tail hole in order to use one, but once you payed you could use it any time you wanted within your lifetime. The TDG's weren't exactly trans dimensional, but they did allow you to cross billions of light years in an instant. It was based upon worm hole technology, ripping a hole in the space-time continuum, then activating a resonating frequency at both ends of the rip. The frequency allowed the open gates to communicate and connect, forming one spot. Step through one side of a connected gate, come out the other side, instantly. Every occupied planet had a gate, and a certain frequency. All that was needed was another gate, and the frequency of the place you wanted to go.
Tria moved her gaze back to the dark bar that was labelled Trans Dimensional Gateway. Tria's confusion, fear, and uncertainty quarraled within her. She knew for a fact that no Game Piece in the entire history of it's creation had ever been able to use a TDG. There were some that could transform into a liquid or gaseous body to attack, but a TDG was unheard of. For a moment, she considered the possiblity of having her own personal TDG opening partner. Able to go anywhere at any time. She accessed the information on it, surprised to find that it was locked during battles.
Trans Dimensional Gateway, TDG. The TDG is only available outside of a battle/match. If this were available during a match, an inconsiderate owner could demand their partner to grab a hold of the opponent and activate the TDG, taking the opponent out of the match, then returning. As such this is a locked skill untill activated by the Transportation Department. The cost of activating the TDG is 13.7 billion inter galactic credits. Same rules and conditions apply for this and any TDG. TDG may only be activated once the personal field is up. Any and all items/people/objects inside the personal field will be transported to the destination.
Tria looked up at the sound of booted feet heading towards the alley that she, the wounded Pwero, her dead owner Temaska, and Kesmet were in.
"Down here, they're fighting down here!" Tria heard weapons being unholstered and charged, the crackle/snap of personal shields activating. "Orders are to shoot on sight. Pass the word, nobody gets out." Again, Tria's heart froze in terror. This was a station close to the Gwirion home planet. She was standing near a dead Gwirion that had just tried to kill her. Her mother's rank wouldn't save her from this, and she'd been warned by her mother that under no circumstances was Kesmet to be studied by any Game Piece examiner, profesional or otherwise. Tria backed towards her partner as the first one came around the corner. Seeing him, she glared. He'd been the official judge at her and Temaska's match. Even after him awarding Temaska so many points, she'd still won with Kesmet. The rest of the Gwirions followed behind him, dressed in full battle armour. While not U.S.G.P. regulated armour, the normal battle armour was still more than she or Kesmet could handle, especially seeing as neither one of them had any weapons. The seven armoured Gwirions raised their weapons at her and Kesmet. Tria's heart was racing, so she barely heard the growl Kesmet uttered. Looking behind her, her own eyes widened as she looked at his. His pupils had dilated, the blue iris surrounding the pupil widening to the point that it looked like his eyes were miniature targets. A ring of black, then blue, with a slightly oval black center. She watched as electric blue stripes appeared upon his face, neck, and the rest of his body. He looked like a black Telska, a tiger morph.
"Fire!" Screamed the judge to the armoured Gwirions. Seven bolts of energy launched at Tria and her partner. Tria stepped backwards as Kesmet moved himself infront of her, his left arm guiding her behind him as his right hand and arm rose to face the Gwirions. Moving with a reaction speed greater than what he had ever shown, Kesmet launched himself at the balls of energy heading towards him and Tria. As each ball came within reach, Kesmet used his shield to protect his hand as he swiped the ball of deadly energy away. The metalic wall to his left started to disintegrate as the first energy ball hit it, but Kesmet paid it no attention, his full focus on defending his owner and the energy balls still left. To Tria, it was merely a blink of an eye, but to Kesmet, time slowed considerably. He found it agonising to wait for the shots to reach him, but to go after them and leave his owner unprotected went against his priorities.
Tria blinked, her sensitive nose picking up the scent of heated metal. Looking around, she noticed that there were boiling holes within the metal surfaces of the space station's alley. Her unit beeped, raising it she saw a warning notice. Kesmet's shield was down to twenty-nine percent strength. Looking ahead of Kesmet, she saw holes within the walls of the alley way. She could see into the adjoining structures, some storage facilities. The armoured Gwirions appeared to be in shock, as well as the judge. Tria watched his eyes narrow as his rage overtook his intelligence.
"Shoot down that bitch and her Game Piece Immediately!" Weapons were raised again as their owners charged shots for another blast.
"Kesmet, please, get us out of here." Kesmet turned his face partially to the left and looked into her terrified eyes. He asked himself How..? and the room that was locked answered him. Turning around completely, Kesmet hugged his owner to him and extended his shield out around them. That done, he focused upon the place he considered home. From his feet, darkness swirled outwards in a spiral rotation. Extending only far enough, it rose upwards several metrics from three points. The three dark bars of energy rotated swiftly, the top slowly shrinking down as the gap between the bars lessened with each cycle. Finally the bars connected, forming a cylindar around Kesmet and Tria. Hidden within the darkness, Kesmet felt the bolts strike his shield outside of his personal space. A thought, and the barrier he had just errected absorbed the bolts of energy, turning them into fuel for what he was about to do.
Tria struggled slightly within Kesmet's grasp untill his blue stripes glowed. The darkness was chased away, the stripes upon Kesmet's form glowing with an electric blue light. Looking up into her partner's eyes, Tria hoped to gain an insight as to what was happening, but all she saw was concentration. As she looked into his eyes, she thought she saw a faint glow, then her world disappeared.
Within a large darkened room, several lights were flashing as a high alert alarm sounded. Superiors were called in as well as certain people with government connections. Holo screens flickered on their own, searching for a primary location. A large male Candarra (Raccoon Morph) walked smartly into the TDG observation room, trying to understand that jibberings of the techs inside.
"What happenned?" Motion stopped as everyone turned to him. Everyone recognised the head of the defense division.
"Sir.." Piped up one small Kimrilli (Falcon Morph) "Someone activated gate technology on an unassessed planet. The planet and it's inhabitants aren't even spacefaring. They've landed the dominant species upon their planet's one satelite and explored the next closest planet artificially."
"What planet? That's the only thing I want to know."
The Kimrilli shook slightly. The last person to keep the head of the defense division waiting had suddenly found himself without a job.
"Earth.."
Chapter XXXX