For six months after Megan and Brimstone’s disappearance it was relatively quiet in the Vashtalian realm. Junior pretty much hung out with Morgaine, either at her Inn, or at Drac’s castle, usually resting quietly nearby Randall as he busied himself, picking up from where BS had left off in the retrofit plans. Junior’s furry kin were more a undisciplined duo, spending most of their time roaming the fields and forests, though they didn’t stray too far from the castle. Their education, however was nearly non-existent. Morgaine had tried, but the gold and silver pair proved to be too unruly and Drac had left them to their own devises.
It was Emma that had shown the most promise. She never even questioned Megan’s disappearance. In fact the only one she listened to now was Melissa, and is was mostly a student/master type relationship. The halberd wielding angel knew this and made sure to keep her student in check. Emma threw herself in her studies, not only with learning every sort of weapon and fighting technique available, but into reading and writing as well. Melissa noticed that spoken words were almost painful for her student to articulate. Syllables were slurred and Emma’s jaw line seemed to refuse to move in several key planes. Possible this was due to her genetic makeup, that the more reptilian hinge on the mandible didn’t allow for certain movements, or that the vocal cords couldn’t stretch to attain certain pitches. It may have made Emma sound slow at times, but Melissa knew the girl was much more observant and resilient than most of her pupils.
Emma constantly pushed herself. She worked with full sized weapons, ones too large for her petite frame, then cursed herself when she stumbled and tripped while performing difficult routines. Melissa had to remind the girl to calm down and focus on several occasions. But focusing was difficult. Especially when her kin Junior would interrupt her via his mental questioning.
One volley of psionic vibrations nearly got Randall decapitated. The scientist was ever trying to determine the chemical composition of Junior caustic spit. When Morgaine had sent a telepathic query to her dark demonic-looking charge, Junior has sent back an image of Randall pointing what looked to be a gun at the dragon’s chest. Morgaine wasn’t too concerned since she knew that the scientist was normally amiable, but she had some concern, which funneled back to the dragon.
So he was on a bit of an edge when Aerich, whom had been working away at the mecha armor, trying to make it more “mutant-proof” suddenly yelped in pain and dropped one of the scuts he had been welding into place. Junior turned sharply, snarled, then snapped at the offending plate, the caustic drool burning several inches into the metal.
That snap is what Emma had heard mentally. She grabbed the spear she had been practicing with and bolted from the training field and into the castle, with Melissa in tow, cussing up a storm. When the petite mutant barged into the service bay where Aerich worked on the mecha, the hubbub that had started the mess was over. Junior was chewing on the offending plate like a rawhide bone while Morgaine scratched under his ear. In fact is was Junior that calmed her down, flashing her a stack of mental pictures to explain what had happened. Only then did the girl turned to face her mentor, knowing she had left without permission and was now willing to pay the penalty.
Melissa just frowned at the girl and crossed her arms. “Well, now you know there is nothing to worry about. Return to the grounds and start your drills again.”
“Yes, Ma'am,” and the girl trotted away.
Morgaine had tried to smile at Emma, to show her that all was well, but the girl didn’t even look at her. Which was well enough. At least she had moved on from shooting the Soothsayer sour looks. Melissa tried to firmly explain to her charge that they were safe in Vashtalia; that there was no need to run off every time she heard a grumble. Melissa knew this would be a fighting battle. Emma had precious kin left. Despite the fact she didn’t Like many of her kin, she knew that those that had left may never return, and that she was probably the only one, at least in the child’s eyes, that could protect those that remained. That would be very difficult to overcome, but Melissa knew it would take time.
Emma mood didn’t improve when her furry cousins ambushed her. Though she wielded the spear better than most, she still couldn’t land a blow when they swamped her from behind. In fact the only way she could dislodge herself from under the dog pile was to use an unfocused TK blast. The fact that she had to use so much power because she was so unfocused made her even more surely. Most of Dracs’ kith and kin were telepathic, able to communicate mentally with each other, but precious few had any telekinetic abilities, and none would train Emma. She had relied on what few exercises she could remember when housed in the Del Marian Eastern stronghold before BS had "rescued” her. She didn’t think of it as a rescue as much as a relocation and a change. She had been fine where she had been. It wasn’t “home” per say, more like a military boarding school where she had been training, much like she was now. Only they had emphasized her psionic abilities, where here it was more physical. She wasn’t sure which was better.
The mutant girl’s efforts with the bow were much better. In fact the girl could drill a target at 250 feet with amazing accuracy, but still she frowned when she missed center. Emma was a perfectionist and any flaw, even under such astounding odds, fanned her anger at herself. Melissa, for the most part, stood back and observed. She wouldn’t dare criticize the girl, but would offer suggestions when Emma’s arm finally began to tire and she needed a break. She also had started wearing the more traditional garb, skirts and dresses and leathers; in lieu of the t-shirts her uncle Brimstone used to dress her in. But even dressed as such, she didn’t feel she was part of the Vashtalian populous. “Ma'am,” she asked after an impressive volley. “When will I train with the others?”
Melissa hadn’t wanted to introduce the girl too soon, but she had shown at least some restraint within the past weeks. “I’d say within the week. I’ll start mixing you in with the rest of the other trainees.”
Emma shook her arm out and drew her bow again. “What do they think of me?”
It was an odd question but an honest one. “Some think you’re a bit too young but they won’t question my judgment any further than that.”
The first two arrows struck home, making Melissa think she needed to move the targets out to the 275 yard range. Emma paused again. “They know I’m a mutant?”
“Yes,” Melissa cautiously replied, wondering where this line of questions was going.
“And they do not care?” The third arrow drifted right, hitting the 5 pt marker, bringing a frown to Emma face.
“Most of them don’t. Like I said, there are a few who have voiced their concern, but there have been no further complaints on the subject.” She was beginning to see what Emma was worrying at. She had heard the grumblings when Megan and her brood first came to the castle, and granted things didn’t always go smoothly when they were on the premises, but for the most part, she found them loyal to a fault when the chips were down. Apparently Emma had caught wind of some of the disgruntled comments.
Another thunk, this one back on center. “But they will be comrades in arms. If we are to train, they must trust me, and I them.”
“They will,” Melissa insisted. “Now why don’t you take a break.” She had noticed that Emma was taking longer to draw, rubbing her arms in between shots. The girl pushed herself too much, and even her young bones and muscles couldn’t take the constant punishment. Emma nodded, thankful for the reprieve, then picked up her bow and quiver and headed inside for a soak and to ponder.
Randall felt it a duty to try to determine why Junior’s toxic enzyme played havoc with Brimstone’s body. Of course BS wasn’t around to glean samples from, so Randall spent much of his time trying to obtain samples from the heavy demonic looking creature. The spit would eat its way through metal, glass, and plastic, but something about heavy ceramics seemed to keep it contained, at least long enough for Randall to run his tests. His tests probably would have yielded results earlier if he didn’t have the help of two rather pushy metallically furred kindred. He only managed to rid himself of the help by throwing food down the hallway for the duo to chase and fight over.
Finally results. Oddly enough, the toxins also emitted something akin to an EMP field. Not only did the ampage send his own scanners dizzy, it fluctuated to a degree that Randall couldn’t help but think that there was enough of a surge to cause a mild temporal distortion. But how did Junior, whom had been born and bred away from the Del Marian realms, develop the off-kilter vibrations that clung to those born to the chaotic land?
As he gazed under the magnifying scope, trying to analyze the sample further before it melted through the slid, Emma ventured into the lab. She would normally watch from the doorway, but was curious. “Can… I .. see?” she asked haltingly. Randall knew that Melissa was trying to get the girl to speak, but she obviously had great difficulty in doing so. Morgaine was encountering the same problem with Junior. Though the dragon could beam loads of information mentally, he had a very difficult time with the spoken language, eventually falling back on his psionic speech and augmenting it with physical gestures. So he encouraged them both when they did respond as “normal” folks would. He stepped back and allowed Emma to see. She had to pull up a chair to look down through the machine, then frowned and adjusted the viewing mechanism to her stronger eyesight. “This…Joo… Joonor?”
“Yes. That is was his drool looks like. I’m trying to find some sort of antidote in case he attacks somebody else.”
Emma frowned, then turned to look accusingly at Randall. “This.. bad?”
“Well, it can be. You saw what it did to Brimstone.”
Emma huffed and stamped a foot. “Joo-nor not bad! BS bad!”
Thankfully Melissa wasn’t too far away and she stepped into the room before Emma’s temper flew. “Back down, trainee!”
It was as if Emma had been physically snapped, Her head jerked back, then dropped down in submission to her mentor. “Yes Ma'am.”
Melissa took up the reins of the conversation. “Now yes, Brimstone has done some bad things in his life, but that was in the past. It has no bearing on how he is now.”
Emma’s face twitched, but she didn’t retort.
Randall added his own two cents, determined to make Emma see the light. “Your Uncle is a pretty good person. He has done a lot to help everyone around here.
Judging by Emma’s body language and posture, she clearly thought them both nuts and that she knew deep down inside exactly what BS was all about. But again, she didn’t argue, which in Melissa’s eyes, was at least a step in the right direction.
Outside the castle, Junior was resting in the shade of the great building, letting Morgaine rest against his side. He had picked up his head, then relayed the conversation he overheard to his own mentor. Morgaine was amazed as to how much information the dragon could convey. Currently he was transmitting Emma’s harsh vibes, translating them into red violent pictures. He didn’t embellish any of it, nor did he himself become irate. To the dragon, this was just the way things were and he had heard enough of Emma’s rampages to not be so rattled by them himself. Besides, he didn’t fully understand what his kindred was so upset to begin with. Morgaine had to suppress a mental thumbs up for Emma. She had no warm regards for Brimstone, but didn’t want to encourage bad ideas in her charge’s mind, especially since he had inflicted so much damage the last time. Instead she sent the warm encouragement directly to Emma. She hadn’t expected any reply at all, but the girl inhaled sharply, then performed the equivalent of slamming the door right into Morgaine’s nose, shutting her brain off from the Soothsayer.
Junior may not have been jostled by Emma’s fuming, but the twins had caught wind of the argument. Unlike Junior, they had not been exposed as much to Emma’s fits, and when they felt Emma slam Morgaine with a mental shout, they picked up the ball. Even though they had played with the Soothsayer and enjoyed her mental companionship, something in them jerked awake and the instinct to protect their brethren kicked in. With snarls and barks, they charged across the sparring field at her. Junior whipped about to shield her, taking the brunt of the charge, but their momentum sent all four participants tumbling. Morgaine had only gotten a few bumps and scrapes, thanks to her heavyweight protector, but the skirmish brought everyone out from inside. “Do you see what can happen, Emma?” Randall pointed out. “Junior could have easily slimed either one of his kin, or Morgaine, and they could have been seriously hurt.”
That gave something for Emma to ponder on for most of the afternoon.
Triumphant Return
Randall had been used to hearing noises in the middle of the night. The furry set of dragon twins normally were active in the wee hours of the morning, rutting around in the pantry. Drac had to spook them out of the storage areas on many a night lest they found the cupboards bare the next morning. So when Randall hear the familiar scuffles, he reluctantly left his bed to shoo them from the kitchen
But it wasn’t the twins he found. When he stepped into the kitchen, there was a figure hunched over, peering in the icebox. He sported the familiar tan duster and the Stetson hat seemed to hang askew. “BS? Is that You?”
What turned around caught Randall totally off guard. The acid etched face had been replaced with a soft furry muzzle extending into a triangular face and mulish ears. When it stood up fully, Randall could see huge muscular hind legs and a thick wedged tail that acted like a tripod. It’s coat was mottled in reds, blacks and whites with a thick Rex pelt.
What Randall found himself staring into was a 6’8” calico kangaroo.
What came next was even more perplexing. It spoke
“I’m gone a week and youse guys drink All my beer?”
It was clearly Brimstone, but the animal body seemed to have a hard time expressing certain sounds normally issued by the human voice. It was raspy and lacked any clarity. “A week?” Randall echoed, the information delayed by his overloaded brain.
Now the ‘roo’s arms dropped a bit. “Oh crap. You’re gonna tell me it’s been longer than a week, ain’t ya.” The petite arms dropped further. “Great.” He shambled over to the table, moving much like a kangaroo would in slower speed, placing his undersized arms on a shelf, then swinging his legs up, using his tail as a brace. He stopped at the counter, then pulled out several scraps of paper and a pencil from the natural pouch on the front of his belly. With a pen clenched in his relatively tiny fist, he began to scribe several long and difficult computations; so difficult that Randall could not make sense of them,
The scientist ventured a few steps closer, staring in amazement as his transformed friend. “Is that really you, BS?”
The kangaroo huffed. “Yeah… it was an accident. Long story. Tell me, when did I disappear?”
“Nearly six months ago.”
“Oh crap in a hat.” He turned the pencil and vehemently erased several notations, several of which Randall had never seen before, then replaced them all with the number 6.
Randall slowly eased into a chair, keeping the table between him and the strange apparition. “What happened? I thought you and Megan left to help Aurora on her sphere hunt.”
At the mention of the word “sphere” the tip of BS’s pencil broke. “We did.”
“Well, was it with good or bad results?”
Randall was not sure he wanted to hear the answer, but the ‘roo’s reply was ambiguous enough. “I don’t know yet.”
The scientist leaned over the table a bit, trying to make heads or tails of the scratching on the paper. “Why do I get the feeling that a lot of stuff went wrong?”
The kangaroo leaned back on his haunches and slipped a paw into his pouch once again. (Didn’t only female kangaroo’s have pouches? Randall had to ponder momentarily.) He withdrew a small pencil sharpener and spent more than a little effort sharpening the pencil, sending shavings flying, “That would be an understatement … in a way. But we did win…. Sort of… I think… So far… Grrrrrrr!” and in a marsupial hissy fit, the roo pitched the pencil, sticking it into the wood graining of the cabinet to the right of Randall’s head. Brimstone stood back up. “I need a beer,” he decided and turned back to the fridge to shuffle through its innards.
“And Megan?” Randall asked.
The ‘roo found one of Drac’s ales and had drained it in several gulps, then gave a long satisfied sigh before turning slightly to look over his shoulder at the scientist. “They’re still… were… alive when I left them.. if that’s your worry.”
It was a worry, but it seemed that BS wasn’t too upset so Randall’s mind drifted to the paper. “Can I help you with that?”
“Doubt it. I don’t even understand them. I just get glimmers. The merge wasn’t as fluid as it was with Aurora and them. It’s a lot of stuff floating around unattached up here.”
“ ‘Merge’?”
The kangaroo had started doing a very kangaroo-y movement, grooming the fur on his left arm when he paused. “Oh. That’s right. You wouldn’t know. You can’t tell just by looking. I… well.. I’m the new sphere bearer of time.” He sounded very sheepish. (or would it be ‘roo-ish?)
Randall stared a moment. “That sound’s very complicated. According to Lyra, it caused the death of one of her kin.”
“Well yeah, it’s complicated. Probably not That complicated. It’s hard enough trying to keep everything in synch while walking across the room.. then this happened.” He pulled at the fur on his chest as if it were just a removable fur jacket. “I just Had to be the hero.” He reached into the fridge and pulled out two more and sent one sliding across the table where Randall could catch it. “So what’s up with the rest of the crew?”
“Emma’s turning into one heck of a warrior,” Randall started as he uncorked the bottle and too a sip of the thick amber brew.
Brimstone chucked a deep throated cough from the ‘roo throat. “I didn’t need to see the future for that one.”
“And Junior’s bunked down around here tonight, though he usually stays over at Morgaine’s.”
With the mention of the demonic-looking dragon, the kangaroo’s fur seemed to blanch, if that were possible. “He’s still here?” He looked around anxiously, expecting to be pounced upon at any moment.
Randall gestured for Brimstone to settle down. “It’s okay. Since he’s been hanging out with your Soothsayer, he’s mellowed out quite a bit. And you’ll be happy to know we got most of your systems up and running. The castle is secure.”
BS snorted. “Well that’s good. Totally useless now, but good, for the most part.”
“What do you mean useless? We worked hard to implement all your upgrades!”
“Well, think about it, You know have a creature on the premises that can slip through time. No physical or magical barrier is going to keep me out, and if I can do it…. Oh, don’t worry about it,,, the battle grounds are still way off,, thataway-ish,” He gestured with a rodent-like paw towards the east, though the impression was that the battle was much much further.
But Randall’s worries were not allayed. “Whoa, this is sounding pretty bad….”
“Na…. Really… They ain’t gonna mess with you. Not with the major players still over there. Besides, this crap’s been going on for a while now. If it Were bad, you would’ve know by now…. I think…. I guess… oh I dunno. I haven’t quite got the feel for this flow thing yet, but I’m Pretty sure it’s nothing to fret about. It’s just me, and Chaos, and Energy, against the others. Well, maybe not against all of them… and not really so much against them as in disagreement with them. You know, if Aurora would have Just kept her jaws shut, most of this could have been avoided. But you know her… well you know her clone.”
It sure sounded pretty vague to Randall, but he didn’t push it. “What about your body? Any chance of getting yourself back into your human form? That seems to be a bit of a handicap for you.”
Again that marsupial sheepish body posture. “Well, that’s the other problem. I’ve been trying but this was the best thing that came up.” He pulled at the fur on his chest like a tight knit sweater. “This wasn’t from the sphere. This hiccup came from my little curse.” BS avoided saying ‘icikty-ackity-oop”, the proper name of the spell, for good reason. When spoken by the mutant, something would change, usually on a cosmic scale. And when he explained why, Randall was surprised that BS was even alive at all. “Apparently my little curse got way amplified when it brushed up against the sphere’s power base. It twisted time and space. A really bad combo.”
“Oh boy,” Randall groaned.
“Now you see why I drink,” Brimstone gestured, even as he sent another bottle of brew skittering across the kitchen table for Randall to drink and easy the growing pressure as his brain attempted to sort through the muck of what happened. “Anyhow, I’ve been jumping around for a week, trying to get anywhere close enough to here to make an anchor so that the rest of them can come home when they’re ready.” He peeked back in the fridge, looking for something to eat with his refreshment. Normally he would had grabbed the plate Megan had stashed in the back, the old fruit slowly collecting an interesting collection of bacteria and mold, but it just didn’t appeal to his palette. “Hey, Dude, I’m gonna hafta slip outside to find something a bit more appealing. Why don’t you work on this and see if you can make heads or tails of it.” He shoved the mangled papers towards Randall then shuffled down the hall. His mannerisms were all ‘roo at this point; stopping to sniff the air every few strides as if sensing for danger, his whiskers twitching with apprehension.
Randall watched Brimstone make his way down the hall then turned to the papers. The man-turned-marsupial was right. He could barely fathom the symbols used, much less how they interplayed with each other. As he squinted at the script, he felt he saw Some of it before, then he realized that certain parts of the equation bore some resemblance to the ones he had sued when building the generators Nine used to amplify her power to operate the massive ships ad shift them through time and space, but this variable seemed not only to bent the laws of the universe, but out and out break them Perhaps what he needed a bigger brain, and the scientist scurried down the hall to fetch his laptop.
When he returned he found Emma standing in the hall. Her hair was all tussled; clearly she didn’t sleep well at nights which surely added to her surely disposition. She had her sword drawn and was slowly pausing from doorway to doorway, looking for what had drawn her out of her fitful slumbers. She paused when she saw Randall, then bowed her head as she had been instructed by Melissa, showing proper respect to those welcomed by the castle’s owner. “Are you.. okay.. Sir Ra..andall?” Her speech was stilted, but at least she was attempting to speak, and Randall wouldn’t have dared criticized her speech for fear she would stop talking all together.
“Oh, I am quite fine. We have a new visitor, though you may not recognize him right now. It’s your Uncle BS.”
He hadn’t been sure if he should have mentioned that fact. It had been clear that she wasn’t overly fond of Brimstone; but she didn’t fly off the handle either. In fact she stood a moment, lifting her head slightly. Randall was by no means psionic, but even he could feel her “reach out” with her mind, groping for her kindred. He knew when she found him because she inhaled sharply, then stiffened. “Power..” she breathed, then titled her head slightly askew. “Like them.. but.. not..” now the brow furrowed as she tried to comprehend what her senses were telling her. Suddenly she brought the sword higher up and charged from the room, following the trail BS had left behind.
The tricolored ‘roo found himself on the south lawn, his nose drawn in inexplicably to the cool green grass slightly damp with the drawing of morning dew. Soon he was grazing away at the tender shoot, though almost repulsed by the same idea. Was he destined to revert back to a primitive animal, or was this just a mild symptom?
Suddenly it didn’t matter anymore. He felt Emma a spilt second before her brain burrowed deep into his. He never had a chance to erect a barrier, or even blink; but the sudden intrusion caused the furry creature to double over then flop to the ground, violently spewing a gross combination of grass fermented with beer. There was no way to defend himself from Emma as she ran up to the beast.
But Emma stopped short in her tracks. She hadn’t expected this. The vibration and aura told her it was Brimstone, but clearly he had undergone some changes. She reached out with her talent, making her way through his brain with more determination, gleaning heavy strands of information, much of with Brimstone wasn’t ready to give over
Finally Randall caught up to her, even as she knelt down and placed a palm against the thick fur on Brimstone’s neck. “Let him go!” Randall railed, afeared that she had done irreparable damage.
“I don’t… have him,” she insisted. She just stared and the kangaroo continued to dry heave. A moment further and she stood up, having gotten quite a bit of back story, and content enough to see that her “uncle” was not an immediate danger. With nary a comment to anyone, she turned and went back inside the castle, leaving Randall to tend to BS.
Finally Brimstone managed to get in a few good lungs full of air, then rolled back to his feet, clutching his gingerly sore head. "Man, that hurt. She’s been practicing, hasn’t she?”
“Well, not as much as she probably should. She doesn’t get along with Morgaine and nobody else seems able to show her what she can do.
The ‘roo shook his head, clearing his eyesight. “Man, I think they gave the wrong Orb to the wrong chick. We coulda used her.”
The next few days proved interesting. When they plugged in Brimstone’s equations into Randall’s computer, the machine hummed for a very long time, then just froze up. Undaunted, the kangaroo set about piecemealing his old computer back together. He had to sift through the parts as the twins had found that floppy disks made excellent chew toys and that most of the mechanized parts had been fried due to the fact the basement had been waterlogged so long during the incubation of Aurora’s eggs. Once the juice was turned on, the computer churred to life, clicked, burped, then backfired. Smoke wafted out from the vent in back of the brain box before the plastic casing caught fire and began to melt.
And still no answers to even the most basic of temporal questions roaming around in his brain. “This absolutely sucks!” he proclaimed. “No wonder Jupiter went mad. Heck I’m surprised he didn’t go mad sooner!”
As for Brimstone’s new body, it didn’t spark the controversy that he thought it would. Echo Nyght had just assumed it was one of those ‘mutant’ things and continued on her business. Drac was a little more questioning, though he seemed more concerned for Megan and Aurora’s welfare than the one time ‘borg’s. Brimstone did allay his fears somewhat, assuring the Vashtalian king that Aurora and company were alive and well.. a least when he left them; and that BS was in the process of trying to retrieve them. “And the pendants didn’t help?” Drac had asked as BS rewired his backup computer to attempt another pass at the plethora of non-sensical equations.
“Oh sure, they help with the “where” part. That’s not my problem. It’s “when”. You know how many echoes I’ve been chasing?” He stopped short when computer number two popped then began to smoke profusely. Nothing settled it. Even BS waving his hat over the machine to thin the smoke out failed to help. The ‘roo had to kick the appliance into the garbage can, cover it with a wet towel, then shove it out into the hallway. “Why don’t we see if Aerich’s got anything,” he insisted, letting Drac lead the way through the corridors.
Aerich didn’t even bat an eye at the strange sight, mainly because he was still mired in making his mecha work. Between Emma and Megan, they had exposed several design flaws that he had to rework and he was just about done with the finishing touches. Not even an oversized tri-colored ‘roo was going to stop him now. And Brimstone’s curiosity got the better of him. A mechanic at heart, he was soon side-by-side with Aerich, helping piece the mecha back together so that it could be test driven.
When he finished, he turned to see Morgaine staring at him. The Soothsayer had come
down to the castle to see what had set Junior off. When she had woken that morning, she had the dragon’s mind broadcasting alarms so loud her nose almost bled. Morgaine had to wipe the dragonling down as the metallic menace had broken out in a sweat, the acid based liquid collecting on his hide no where near as caustic as his spit, but it still stung when touched with bare hands. When she finally calmed him down enough to “think” clearly, the flurry of images showed that Emma was very upset about something. She hadn’t believed the pictures of the huge oddly marked kangaroo until just now when she saw BS in person. She broadcasted back to Junior that there was nothing to be upset about, but only when the demonic looking dragon spotted Emma, and he had rushed over to his kin did he even begin to wind down. Surprisingly, it was Emma that managed to calm him further; freeing Morgaine to investigate.
Brimstone was already on the defensive but he just had to get the first barb in.. “Well lookit here. It’s the wicked witch of the west. How’s tricks?”
Morgaine didn’t hold Brimstone in high regards, especially in light of some of the history that had been discovered between him and Megan, but she was not about to start a fist fight in front of the entire Vashtalian royal court. Besides, it seemed that the one time ‘borg had suffered a bit of a setback. “Never been better, Tin Head. Looks to me that Fate dealt you a funny hand though.”
“Well ‘funny’s a relative thing.”
“Megan?” she asked.
BS thought about toying with the Soothsayer, but after seeing that worried look in Megan’s former drinking buddy, he had to relent. Besides, his body had never been very spell-tolerant to begin with. “Well… it’s sort of… complicated..”
“ ‘Sort of’?” Morgaine echoed. “Sort of” wasn’t ever a good state for friend to be in.
“Well she’s okay at least. You’ll be glad to know that she and Aurora are getting along now. They have to. They’re both alive and well… well as well as they can be sharing a body with yet a third person.” He lifted his tiny forelimbs in a defensive stance as he watched Morgaine’s reaction. “Now afor’ ya go off… it’s okay. They were all okay when I left them.”
The Soothsayer hadn’t advanced any. She was spending most of her energy trying to shield her knee-jerk reactions from Junior, hoping he wouldn’t catch her fear or her mood. “She better be okay,” the spell caster finally warned. “You remember what happened the lat time I found out you were behind what was hurting her.”
“But it wasn’t me this time! Heck it was Their hair-brain idea. They were the ones that made me use the curse! Like I wanted to become some sort of sideshow freak!”
Megan quirked a brow. “Megan chose to use magic?”
It was a valid question. Megan was not one to use magic, or ask for magical aid, especially in the unbalanced form that it came in when it came to using BS’s “curse”. But the ‘roo had the answer. “Well, after she merged with the Orb, she sort of got a swelled head. That power’ll do that to ya. Make you feel invincible. Plus she has that damn hero streak in her. And with Aurora in pull pounce mode, and Clone wanting a piece of the action, we all kind of just got swept up in the moment."
“And How to you plan to get her back!” This from Drac.
Brimstone had to wonder Why Drac was so fond of Megan and so worried about her whereabouts. He tried not to wonder too deeply. He sighed deeply and sat back on his wedged tail, using it much like a chair. This body wasn’t So bad. “I’m working on retrieving them. It’s not easy. It’s them that keep breaking all the rules, but then again, they Are Chaos now.” He rubbed his brow, feeling another migraine brewing.
“How soon?” Morgaine pushed, sounding just as worried as the Vashtalian king.
“Soon. I hope. I’m still working on this Time thing. It ain’t that easy, you know. There’s so many variable to contend with, and with everything around Them in flux… oh.. never mind..”
Drac turned to Randall and Aerich. “You both need help him. See what equipment he’ll need.”
The calico kangaroo smirked, a strange sight on such a furry face. “How about a whole new system. With memory. Lots of memory.”
Drac had to wonder if Brimstone was really working hard to bring his kinfolk back. It seemed the kangaroo spent more time in the local bars having a few pints than working, but when he found the mutant marsupial, he was deeply involved with yet another non-sensical equation. This was written on the back of three napkins, sprawling over as BS’s brain attempt to grasp the concepts offered to him by the Sphere of Time. He seemed to work in spurts. HE would get an idea, start scrawling the mathematical equation across the paper, then stop short. Finally he snarled, crumpled the paper and threw it across the bar and into the waste basket. “Another round, please,” he grumbled at the bartender.
Torin, the current tender at the bar, had been watching the strange creature for an hour now. Granted Torin wasn’t quite normal fare, being a gargoyle and all, but where did this kangaroo come from? He even found it more odd that Drac seemed to know the beast as he sidled up in the empty stool next to the duster-clad creature. The Vashtalian ruler slid several coins over towards Torin. "This should cover Brimstone’s tab for a while.”
The gargoyle refilled the kangaroo’s drink, whom just grunted a thanks and guzzled half the contents down. Drac looked over BS’s shoulder for a moment, unable to fathom just what the strange equations were. He noticed that BS was having a difficult time handling the pen in his delicate paws. The larger hindquarters were not much better. As he turned to talk to Drac, the wedged tail knocked over a chair. When he turned to pick up the chair, he upended the table. Drac helped him right everything. “We need to get you back into your former body. You’ve become a property hazard.”
“You have no idea how much of a hazard I’ve become,” he groaned back, giving up on trying to sit on the furniture and instead used his tail as a living stool. “But I wanna get the other’s home first. I trust those Sphere bearers almost as much as I trust Tim.”
“What about the equipment Aerich loaned you?”
“Its’ not the equipment at fault. It’s my brain. I know the answer’s up here, but all this new info… it’s So overwhelming. I think I get it for a brief second, then it slips away. I can see why the other guy went mad.”
Torin returned with two ales, but his curiosity finally overcame in. “What was he before?” he finally asked Drac.
“Human, or close to it. A spell went haywire. His kind and magic don’t mix too well. It gets… complicated… after that”
Brimstone snorted into the thick foam, but he didn’t bother to correct Drac. It would take too long to explain to the un-initiated. Torin was already nodding his head. “That’s why I don’t play around with magic.”
Another snort and a raised glass to the gargoyle. “Finally, somebody smart. You stay away from magic, kid. Trust me. It ain’t pretty when it goes bad. Besides, it was curse, and it just backfired, that’s all… sort of..” he grimaced at the words. It seemed that everything now had the “sort of” tag attached. Everything about the whole scenario was too vague.
But it looked to want to turn for the worse. Melissa at entered the bar, responding to the mental summonings of the Vashtalian King. Drac wasn’t about to leave the only line of possible connection to Megan alone and vulnerable, even in a somewhat tame environment as the bar seemed. Sure as sin, BS would get into trouble. Melissa had Emma in tow. The girl wore the scaled down version of a soldier’s gear and acted the part. She had a suspicious eye on everyone, but Melissa also noticed that Emma kept her talents in check. Emma’s psionic probing could be painful and downright deadly if pushed, but the winged angel also saw that Emma pushed herself in all aspects of training. She wouldn’t “cheat” and scanned the room using her normal senses, conditioning herself to looking for trouble rather than mentally routing it out.
And this was training, in a way. Melissa was trying to get her charge to become more relaxed around people. The girl was wound way too tight, but Melissa didn’t push or pressure her. Instead she would just expose her to situations and let the young mutant deal with it on her own terms. Once she felt Emma was comfortable enough in mixed setting, then she would begin training her with the others in her class. “Would you like something to drink, Emma?” she asked, not in the sweet honey tones that one spoke to a child with. More like talking to a young adult. Which she believed Emma to be at least mentally. She didn’t coddle the girl at all.
Emma looked about the room staring back at the different creatures. She showed no fear, but she didn’t smile. She didn’t smile much at anything, except maybe after a particularly challenging sparring match.
After assessing the room, she turned to Melissa and spoke, with great difficulty. “Water. Please. Ma’am.” It was painful to watch her speak. The jaw didn’t want to co-operate, so it looked as she had a mouth filled with gum as she tried to wrap her lips around syllables. The girl wasn’t stupid, and her mind could flood one with flashing images and nuances of ideas. But at least she was making an effort at vocalization.
Melissa gestured at a seat opposite from Brimstone and Emma’s butt slammed into the padding as if it were a magnet. The girl was still too tense. “Relax. There is no danger here.”
Emma just pointed an accusing finger at Brimstone as if his mere presence screamed danger. The ‘roo just rolled his eyes at the accusation and went back to his math problem.
Melissa hid her smile, but it was funny. “Just ignore him.”
“Yes, Ma’am,” and Emma stare shifted from the ‘roo to the gargoyle bringing the glass of water. Her eyes lingered on the strange creature for just a moment, but a white block of fur caught her attention as a rather large white-phase tiger strolled into the bar, sniffing the air, clearly on the scent of the ‘roo. ‘Course BS was too busy scribbling on his napkins to notice until it padded up to the table. Melissa leaned over and scratched the massive feline between the ears while she continued to stare at BS. She had gotten glimpses when Emma was broadcasting, but to actually see the one-time ‘borg all cute an fuzzy. “So how are you enjoying your life in the animal kingdom?”
“I’m not,” BS grumped back, then he finally saw the tiger. “I sure hope by Teeth and Talons that he’s somewhat sentient.”
“Don’t worry about Bob. He’s not going to eat you or anything.” In fact Bob was beginning to broadcast happy thoughts, thankful that Melissa had found the itchy spot on the poll of his head.
Who was mesmerized by the massive cat was Emma. She stared in that not-friendly way at the creature, but curiosity finally won out. She brushed her finger against one of the massive paws, almost wincing, until she felt the soft fur. The big cat, taking her as harmless, gave her a big wet kiss with his tongue. She jerked at the contact, but then froze at the sound of Melissa’s voice. “Relax, Emma.” To her, it had been a command. She couldn’t relax, of course, but she froze as the large cat proceeded to clean her face with the course tongue. He was purring loudly, She could feel the vibrations from his chest, and after a minute or so, she Did find herself relaxing. She tentatively reached out to his massive head and scratching him under the chin, finding the big feline’s purring to increase. Now her curiosity got the better of her again as she examined his paws, poking at the claws, pressing down on the pads to make them extend. Then she was gently running her hands along the stiff whiskers, much like bristles of a broom, then touching the massive canines. The tiger put up with it all, cleaning his other paw, then another swipe or two through the girl’s hair, then back to cleaning his own fur. She traced the muscled along his neckline, then down the shoulder as if trying to piecemeal how the tiger was put together.
And this was the scene as Randall stumbled across it. The warrior child Emma sitting in the encircling limbs of a massive white tiger while the calico kangaroo and the winged angel kept surreptitious watch. BS glanced back at the scientist. “Welcome to the Jungle, Dude.”
Derailment
Randall once again found BS routing around in the kitchen, stuffing carrots and slices of bread not only in his trench coat pockets, but in the marsupial sack the ‘roo body had provided him. Brimstone had given up on wearing the Stetson hat since his oblong head made the cover slide off, but he still wore the trench coat, as if clinging to what he once was. Currently he looked like an oversized hamster with all the food he was hording away.
Brimstone had to be tired. They had spent most of the day sorting though the surplus machinery sent by Lahnia, or what BS almost affectionately called “Geeks-be-us”. He had picked through the parts, then most of it to storage, muttering something about big generators; but Randall knew the real problem. BS still didn’t know How he was going to go about retrieving his kin. One wrong calculation and it could be disastrous. “Can’t we set up something that would bleed off any excess power. Perhaps we could vent it into Null Space.”
“It ain’t gonna matter, Randall. If it goes wrong, ain’t much gonna stop it.” He sniffed at the pepper shaker, wondering if he should make a salad, as wrong as that sounded. His furry nose crinkled a bit, then he leaned back and sneezed.
Suddenly BS disappeared.
There wasn’t a puff of smoke or a strange sound or anything. He was there, then suddenly the trench coat floated to the floor, sans ‘roo. Randall edged cautiously forward and picked up the jacket with two fingers….
To find a calico guinea pig. One very irate calico guinea pig. The voice was much higher, but clearly Del Marian. It even still had the snuffed cigar clenched in it’s teeth, but the carrots and bread and scrap paper with incomplete mathematical equations were now littered all over the floor. He finally spat out the cigar and sent it rolling under the kitchen table. “So help me when I found out who is pulling My string, I’ll gut them!” He even stamped his foot angrily on the floorboards, but it’s hard to look mean when you’re that cute looking. In fact one could hear the “wheep wheep’ noise underneath his chirpy railing.
All of this did not go unnoticed. A Vashtalian had been coming to the kitchen to get himself a glass of water when he had spotted the kangaroo. Intrigued, he had stepped closer to see the ‘roo disappear, supplanted by the pudgy rodent. Very odd, he thought, but had only advanced into the kitchen when Randall picked the guinea pig up off the floor and placed him gently on the table. “Maybe we should get you to sneeze again,” Randall suggested.
“Are you off your rocker?!” The rodent was almost foaming at the mouth. “It took me four tries just to stumble onto the kangaroo! Don’t you get it? I’m temporally unstable!
To an untrained ear, it sounded like “temporarily unstable”, but Randall had been in the game long enough. Brimstone was suggesting that he was unanchored in time.
But now BS had spotted their audience. “And who the hell are you?!” he snarled. Well, it sounded more like a hiccup.
“Adron of Dragon Clan Chronus’Divergr. Trainee for the First Mage Order.”
BS rolled his little guinea eyes. “Great. Another one.” He turned his back to pick up a pencil and begin his work again, but in the newer and much smaller body, he was barely able to lift the pencil in both tiny paws, much less write.
Randall was much more sociable. “What brings you to the castle?”
“Oh.. trying to find my grandfather. Would you know where Lord ClawRift would be?”
“I’m not sure, but I’m quite sure he’s around here someplace….”
There was a sound behind them, and they both turned to find themselves staring into the muscular necks of Aurora’s twins. The dragonlings had free range of the castle and were used to the flux of new people visiting the castle. Adron reached up to pat the metallic silver fur of the larger drake, amazed that the fur was indeed made of a composite metal that moved much like fur.
Suddenly they spotted a furry morsel on the kitchen table and bolted for it. Randall tried to jump ahead of the duo, knowing that BS had no defense. Adron gestured quickly. “Barrier!” he shouted. He had expected the shield to hold, but when it contacted their metal fur, it sparked then shorted out. Furniture was flying. BS wasn’t even yelling. His little lungs were squealing “Wheep! Wheep! Wheep!” as he scampered under the chairs in a total panic. And just before the larger one clamped down on his well-fought meal, a broomstick whapped his hard across the left side of his face.
Emma had stepped into the kitchen and was determined to distract the duo. Randall dove down under the chair and scooped up the trembling, “wheeping" BS. “Emma!” he shouted.
“Yes, Randall-sir,” and she brought the stick to bear against the smaller drake. There was a quick exchange as Emma gave a knock, but the drake got a tooth into her skin, peeling a chunk of it back. It was not easy to fight in the room, not with 2 half-grown dragons, three people, and 1 rodent. It became more crowded when Melissa charged into the room with two more Dragoons. Several more swipes and between swords, halberds, and broomsticks, they managed to sent the two drakes packing. Emma then turned, looking Adron over, then bowed her head, recognizing him for one of Claw’s kin, therefore royalty in her eyes.
Randall had managed to coax BS out of the paralyzed ball state he had regressed to during the battle. He rolled his little whitened eyes back and forth, then stood up on his hind feet, dusting himself off vehemently. “Ungrateful Brats. Try to eat Me, will they? I’ll show them..!”
“Now take it easy…”
“Easy? EASY?! I’m a friggin appetizer!”
Melissa turned to her charge, noticing the blood dripping down Emma’s arm. She gestured at the damage and Emma brought her arm up for inspection. Melissa knew it would be a waste, but she insisted that Emma go to the infirmary, just in case. Emma did as bidden, even though the arm was well on it’s way to being healed and probably would be whole by the time she reached the doctors.
Now Randall and Melissa turned to Brimstone whom was grooming himself, much like a normal guinea pig would. “It’s a temporal shift,” he explained to them, still a bit ruffled. “I haven’t got this Time Master thing down yet so I’m sort of in flux. Think of it as a “what if” type deal. This would be ‘What if guinea pigs ruled the world?’.”
Randall picked up the pepper shaker. “Let’s see if we can get you to shift into something less tasty.”
“Yes,” Melissa agreed, scooping him up as he tried to run away from Randall. “You are a huge liability in this form.”
“Wheep! Wheep! Wheep!” Brimstone protested as he struggled, but to no avail. Randall shook the shaker over the tiny nose and once again BS sneezed. Melissa swore that she could feel time literally wrap itself around the tiny frame. The body expanded quickly and darkened as well, the sudden jolt forcing Melissa to drop BS. He landed on 4 hoofed feet then turned his bearded black Billy goat face up to his would-be helpers, flapping a set of black bat wings at them before crying out. “Baaaaaaaaa!!”
“Oh boy,” Randall groaned.
The goat then threw a hissy fit, kicking up his heels at everything; tables, chairs, walls, and people. When everyone scrambled for cover, the Billy goat bolted for the opening and went clattering down the hallway, bleating its brains out. Melissa managed to rope the goat with a shackling spell, allowing them to catch up with the beast. It continued to make a fuss, though it spoke no words. Either Brimstone was unable to speak or perhaps think in human terms with this form. Randall grabbed the goat by the horns and once again sprinkled the pepper.
At least this time BS took a more humanoid form, but it was shorter, much shorter than most, and it sported a set of delicate butterfly wings. This matched his more delicate feminine form, a tiny fae clothed in ferns. He looked at his new body, lithe and light and giggled most unbecoming of a war-hardened mutant.
Randall sighed. “Well, that’s a bit better. C’mon, Brimstone. Your stuff is gonna be arriving in the courtyard soon and we need you to go over the packing lists.”
BS looked up at them with great big soft blue eyes. “Who?” he asked in a high, chirpy, girly voice.
“Oh no,” the scientist groaned then turned to the diminutive fairy. “So, what Is your name then? What should we call you?”
“Call?” Brimstone echoed back, his head tilted slightly, then began twisting his bright golden tresses between his fingers in a feminine way.
Melissa groaned. “We’ll have to deal with him later. The first transports are arriving.” And indeed the walls were beginning to vibrate as the monstrous air vessels emerged from the portal over the southern grounds and began to descend into the courtyard to unload their payload. Aerich had been one step ahead of them and had a set of papers ready to double check the inventory. Melissa happened to glance back to the doorway and saw that BS had tried to follow them, but had been distracted by his own beautiful butterfly wings. He now was spinning around in a circle, trying to get a better look at them. When the sunlight finally broke through the morning clouds, the sunlight showed the dust swirling around BS’s feet. He now turned in the opposite direction, mesmerized by the glitter that wafted off his body.
In essence, BS had become a blond in the fullest sense of the word.
While Brimstone relished being an airhead, Prier had disembarked from the first transport, having accompanied the shipment. There she met with Randall and Emma, whom had been drawn out by the hubbub in the yard, once she was cleared by Serenity. Emma had actually come looking for that new drake Adron, but had been thwarted in her attempts to locate him. Prier, however, was good company, though no one would have known by looking at Emma. The girl never smiled or showed any sort of encouragement that she enjoyed their presence. Prier, however, did seem to understand the mindset of the little mutant and just continued to chat with Randall and the others. Once they mentioned Brimstone’s current status, she had to see. The group meandered back inside.
BS was sitting on the floor, drawing his hand through the air, watching the glitter waft off his skin and mix with the sunlight. As they all stared, he pulled back and gave a tiny little sneeze.
Suddenly there was a black plastic cube sitting in the sunlight, the fae nowhere to be found. Randall gasped. “Oh no!”
Melissa gawked as well, then gingerly reached down and picked the cube up. It was still warm. “What is causing this?” she asked.
Emma stepped forward then nodded. “He is.. un.. stuck,” she stated as if it explained everything.
Randall was near panic mode. Clearly this was a problem. How does one make an inanimate object sneeze? “BS is sort of in a temporal flux and it seems his sneezes kept triggering a shape shift.”
Prier stepped forward to look the cube over. “We’ll have to take him with us to Lahnia. We may have a way to revert him back to his own form.”
Melissa nodded. “And maybe Claw might know of someone that specializes in temporal magic…”
Emma stamped her foot. “Not magic!” she insisted. “Un-stuck.” With that she grabbed the cube from Melissa’s hands and threw it down the hall. Several gasped as the cube bounce hard against the floor, but it suddenly sifted into a tiny green feathered drake. The drake then bounced off the floor, morphing into a orange cartoony subject with rubbery legs. The next bounce turned it into a pretty gray Persian kitten that landed daintily on it’s front feet. It then turned and spat at Emma for the rough treatment, yowling a moment before human speak broke through. “Yeow! That hurt!” The cat paused at it’s own outburst. “Whoah.. I can talk?”
Randall sighed. “Well at least we can understand you now.”
“I’ll say. What the heck was that last thing?”
“The one before or after the cube?”
The persian cat shook its head. “Never mind. Just get me a copy of those notes, please. We gotta set about sorting out that load.” He began working his way down the hall, pausing a moment to rub up against Prier and purred before heading into the yard.
Janis had been enjoying her breakfast of cinnamon raisin bread when she rounded the corner and nearly stepped on a cat in the hall. It had a fresh mouse kill, but had used the mouse’s blood to etch several complicated equations on the marbled floor. “Watch it!” the cat hissed.
She just looked a second before dusting the crumbs from her lips. “Reincarnated as a cat?”
BS just snorted as he shook the paw that was nearly pinched. “No. I actually started off as a kangaroo.”
“So, you’ve de-evolved? Lovely.”
Despite the rude remarks, BS felt comforted talking with Janis about his current problems. Maybe it was because she actually understood the problem and realized it wasn’t magically based, or maybe it was due to her own family’s dealings with the Orbs themselves. Either way, he was so entrenched with his re-telling of the tale that he failed to notice Junior and Morgaine coming up the hall. Junior, however, didn’t miss the furry morsel and tore full bore after the cat. Morgaine had “failed” to pull the demonic looking dragon up when she saw him ready to pounce. It was no secret that she still had a great dislike for Brimstone due to his meddling in Megan’s life, so she hung back a moment as Junior charged.
The chase was on. Both cat and dragon tore into the kitchen, upending the heavy oak table before rounding the corner and heading up the other hallway. BS darted left, then veered right, taking refuge in Claw’s office, where Claw just happened to be sitting, behind a great oak desk. The dragon mage tried a binding spell, but the metallic black dragon’s hide seemed to slip from the grip of the magic and slammed headlong into the desk, sending wood flying. BS turned under the desk and snagged the tender lining of Junior’s nose, causing the dragon to jerk his head upwards. Before the dragon could retaliate, Morgaine had her arms wrapped around his neck. Enough was enough, and she didn’t want Claw or anyone else to do harm to her baby, even if justice would have been served. With soothing thoughts, Morgaine led her charge out of Claw’s office. Poor Junior was so confused because his mentor had pulled him away from his prize, yet in her mind she had encouraged him to the hunt. Morgaine knew it would take a lot of explaining to get the dragon to understand, but for now she emoted feeling of pride and love to her charge. He beamed back unadulterated puppy love.
Aerich was also shortly on the scene. He had heard the commotion, along with most of the castle'’ inhabitants, and came running, suspecting that BS was the root of the trouble. At Claw’s behest, he picked up BS and carried his away, taking the cat back to the hangar where BS could get some real work done. Nothing like cool technology to take BS’s mind off his aches and pains.
Janice had better ideas. She had stared into her crystal ball for several minutes, muttered a few words, though it was hard to determine if these were actually spells or just her rambling on out loud. Finally she grabbed Claw by the arm. “I’m making a quick trip to… uhm.. the beach.” Before he could object, she whisked them away with a very ornate teleport. It still didn’t get as close to the company she was seeking, but she had picked up on their trail. And what a trail. Clearly several sets of footprints paced along the beachhead, most humanoid in form and shape. Typical. But the remnants of forces left behind were not. Not only did she pick up on the twisting sensation of falling into a world that wasn’t on an even keel to begin with, but the dizzying power that left an undercurrent set her teeth on edge. Much like walking along a dangerous precipice with your eyes closed, not quite knowing if you were pitching head forward into nothingness. Reality had been recently bent, then re-straightened.
Claw had felt it too, if not as strongly. “You know, this would be much easier if we could just get a lock on one of the items that Lord Dracon had given them, provided they are still wearing them.”
Janice just shook her head. She knew better. Instead she gathered up several items, some sand from the beach, a broken twig, a piece of candy wrapper; then tugged on Claw’s arm again, bringing them back to the safety of the castle. “Now.. where’s that damn cat?”
She located BS crawling all over the mecha, taking notes as to the upgrades, most done after Emma had tangled with the machine. Janis grabbed the cat by the scruff of the neck, then dropped into a bowl filled with a foul smelling liquid which included several of the items she had retrieved from the beach. There was a loud bang and a puff of thick curling purple smoke. What she had hoped for was a location for the missing mutants and she had used BS as the divining rod. What she hadn’t counted on was his newly acquired Orb adding to the mix, because as the thick acrid smoke rolled away, there was Aurora on the floor, hacking as she tried to breathe. At least it looked mostly like Aurora, but there were some changes. She still bore that gray dragon armor, but it seemed to not quite fit her right, as if her frame was too large for the suit. She also bore not one but two locator bracelets, the second one Claw quickly recognized as Megan’s. Then they began to see as well as feel. Had Janis’s spell somehow retrieved more than one person. Had BS’s contribution merged the two women? When Janis gently reached with her mind, she found the truth. Not two, but three women were locked up in that body, and they had been in that condition for some time. She wasn’t sure of the third entity, the one that thought of itself as Clone, but she clearly was a relation. What seemed to bind the trio was the Chaos itself. Their body vibrated with it. The reality around them moved, bending to their presence as they slowly stood up and took stock in their location. Suddenly realization set in and the girl stepped towards Claw, smiling with Megan'’ smile and enveloping the mage in a welcoming hug.
After a minute of enthusiastic greetings, Claw stepped back. “We can separate you all, you know.”
But Aurora, or was it Megan, shook her head. “No no no, it’s alright.. really. We’re all okay in here. We actually did this on purpose.. more or less.”
“Very well,” Claw nodded, then turned as Janice once again had the drenched cat in her lap and her notebook open. She dunked him again in the retched stew bowl and mumbled a few words.
Brimstone staggered backwards out of the bowl, but he body was already on the change. It expanded and grew while his tail thickened out. Soon he was once again back in his kangaroo form, though this time he was sporting an eye patch over the right eye. He glowered down at Janis. “This is supposed to be better??”
“No. I reverted you, but not far enough back.” She tossed the contents of the bowl over her left shoulder, barely missing Claw and Aurora, and began compiling more ingredients. She grabbed the ‘roo’s tail and dunked it in the mix. He suddenly shrank in her grip, the body retracting inside the bowl. Finally he peered over the rim in his guinea pig form, angrily “wheeping” at her. “Bollix!” she snapped, then stood up and stormed out of the room, and away from the churning root problem. Once she felt she was far enough away from Aurora and company, she added more ingredients to the mix and muttered another spell.
The body expanded, quickly, causing her to drop the bowl from under the weight. She had thought it had gone wrong again, but as Claw entered the room, with a curious Meli in tow, the growing form of flesh molded back into a man. No fur. No strange farm animal noises. Not even the metallic cyborg body of not too long ago
Brimstone was whole once again.
He stared down at his body, noticing that not only was it lacking the metallic constructs, it no longer had the unsightly burns and missing flesh from his encounter with Junior. He gasped, gave a squeal not unlike his prior guinea pig form, then whipped around and gave Janis a bear hug, uncaring that in the transformation, his clothing had been long left behind.
“Bah!” Janis gasped, unaccustomed to such displays of affection. The mutant released her, then turned to Meli. A great smile spread across his face and he likewise grabbed her, uncaring that she would probably pulverize him. He continued to dare her rather by smothering her with kisses, clearly swept up in the moment. “I’m back! I’m back!” he giggled like a schoolgirl as he swung Meli around, her feet no where near the floor.
Claw stayed back of the joyousness, finding Aurora, and whoever was stuffed in that body with her; just clear of his shoulder. “You know, we can added to this joy by trying to locate your husband.”
“We can do that anytime. Besides, he’s currently trying to smooth over ruffled feathers. I’m not one of the Sphere bearers’ favorites right now and there’s still a few sore spots to work out after that stunt Aurora pulled on Order. Estor’ll do a better job of getting things back in order. We’ve got the link now. If we have to, we can reel him in later.”
The dragoon mage nodded. “As you wish.”
Morgaine was having a problem. She had sensed a great power suddenly appearing inside the castle. She had wanted to go investigate, but Junior had other ideas, He was blocking her way, refusing to let her back into the castle, no matter how much cajoling and reassuring she did both physically and mentally. Cleary the drake was upset about the surge of power inside and was not about to let Morgaine near it. She finally had to trick him into fetching her something from the Inn. He left, very reluctantly, but it gave her a chance to investigate.
Then she saw Megan.
But it wasn’t quite Megan. She could sense the personalities shifting inside the body, along with the constant surging that accompanied the movement, as if something greater was feeding and fueling the changes, Megan turned, grinned and gave her an affectionate hug, only to be released when she spotted Drac enter the room. The whole manner of the body changed, and the Soothsayer could see Aurora in the driver’s seat when she hugged Drac. It was disconcerting at best. When offered a drink, one hand reached for the glass, but the other lunged forward and gripped the first hand by the wrist, twisting it and making it let go of the drink. A third personality emerged.
Then the argument began. It was strange to watch Megan argue with Aurora argue with the third person Clone, yet all shared the same body. Each sentence was from a different person, and the rapid change from mindset to mindset made everyone but the participants dizzy. They, meaning the mutant trio, had no problem with the flow, thanks to the Chaotic orb they retained. Morgaine turned to see how BS was dealing with this merging to find that he and Meli were quietly talking in the corner. At least Meli was trying to be quite, but BS was fervently trying to explain something. He had Meli’s hands in his, and he was almost flooding over with love. Any fool could see it. And the way Meli blushed under his attentions, it was likely she was.
This was further proved when BS leaned down and kissed her gently on the lips, and she responded in kind.