Crossing Over....a new story by KitKatBar-Fry

[on:]

Hello, all. I originally had this in my art thread, but found it was a bit of a hassle to keep toggling back and forth between Futurama pics and the story.

I warn you before hand that this is not a Futurama-related story, so don't get confused. I had no trouble with the mods or anything over in my art thread, so I'll really enjoy this if I can keep it.
Thanks for the inspiration to post it, TLF and jle1993!   
             
              Crossing Over
Chapter 1
Todd and his friend Lauren made their way through the woods rather silently, enjoying a moment of peace. They were making their way towards their town at the bottom of a hill; taking a short-cut through the forest would bring them closer to the houses below. All that stood in the companions’ path was a road that winded around the small mountain. It was a sharp turn, and one had to be careful when stepping out onto the road. Todd played quietly with his favorite yo-yo as he crunched across the dry leaves, relaying the day’s events in his mind. The brunette boy gave his shoulder-length hair a slight shake and turned towards his blonde friend.

   “Uh, do you want to quiz me again?”
She turned towards him and smiled.

   “Sure.” She replied without hesitating.

 The teen would often help her friend with his schoolwork, as he wasn’t very bright. But, no matter what foolish stunt he pulled, she never grew angry, never yelled, and always remained calm.

   “Are you sure you want to, though? The last time we did that, you gave up. Maybe it would be better if we waited ‘till tomorrow, when we have school.”

   “I dunno. Why do we have to learn this stuff, anyways?”

    “Well, we’re both 17; and history is supposed to be an important subject. It’s very simple, once you know it. It’s just memorizing a bunch of names and dates.” She answered.

He shoved his hands into the pockets of his blue jacket, obviously disgruntled. He’d always had problems remembering junk like that. Who cared, anyways?

They broke out of the trees and onto the road silently. Lauren looked sadly at the teen. They had always been best friends since grade 3, and ever since then, he had had problems with people teasing him about his intelligence.

     “Todd, I know you’re upset, but-"

HOOOOOOOOOOOOONKKK!


The blonde was cut off as twin pairs of lights seared into their visions.

    “What the heck is that!?” Todd shouted, pointing at the blinding glow.

 He needed no answer from Lauren, however, as a truck peeked out from behind them, swerving crazily. The headlights flashed on and off quickly, and in one horrifying instant, the blonde knew.+

    “Get off the road!” She yelled. “He’s drunk!”

Zig-zagging, the inebriated driver made no intentions of stopping. The blonde froze on the spot, and gaped at the truck like a moose in the middle of the road.

“NO!” Todd yelled, and tackled the young woman to the ground on the other side of the road.

“Ooof!”

She fell on her face hard. Groaning and gasping for air, she looked around. The girl breathed in the crisp September air, choking on its chill. Sharp twigs and fallen branched cut at her pale face, and she jerked back. Wheeling around to get a better look at the road, Lauren saw Todd still kneeling in the truck’s path. In a futile attempt to reach him, she stuck out her arm and hand.

“Todd, MOVE!”

Todd looked solemnly at her. His legs were cut and bloody, jeans ripped at the knees.

“Lauren, I-“   

And then everything went black.

Floating…..
That’s what it felt like. He was floating. Todd looked around with blurry eyes and saw only black.

    “Oh, God. I’m blind.” Was his first thought. But it was soon replaced by something far more drastic.

“No, wait. I’m not blind. I’m…dead.”

The words were so hard to even think about. How could he have died so soon? While still thinking, the high-school student’s vision slowly started to return. A faint green light quickly turned to a blob of goo, and from that into a-

   “CROCODILE!” Todd screamed at the top of his lungs.

Flailing helplessly, he soon realized he was strapped to a table. Beads of sweat were making their way down his forehead, and he shot a quick glance at his captor. It was about a head taller than him, with humanoid hands capped with yellow claws. It’s enormous round forehead was tipped with tiger-like stripes, and from it jutted a crocodile-like snout. It stood on two legs, peering down at him, with a blade tipped tail hovering inches above his shoulder. It was a very odd sight to see, but, what oddity that really struck the boy was the fact that it was wearing a lab coat. He would have laughed if he wasn’t ready to pee his pants.

Expecting it to try and eat him, Todd was surprised when the creature began to speak

“Captain, sir? Are you alright?”
   
     “Captain?” The high school student repeated. “Isn’t that the dude who flies a train?”

The green creature slithered back in shock. It simply stood and stared at the teen with piercing yellow eyes. Taking the silent moment as an opportunity to investigate the room he was in, he looked around. In doing so he found that he was strapped to a white table by primate-looking ropes. A cloth was laid over his body, and a pillow was fluffed up under his head. The walls around him were pure white tile. The only other living thing in the room was the green dude.

“Where am I? Why aren’t I dead?” He asked quizzically, a look of genuine confusion on his face.

     “Captain, do you not remember?
Todd desperately wanted to say ‘yes’, but couldn’t.

“No. No, I’m sorry. All I remember was getting wanged on the head with a truck. Not one of those Tonka trucks, either. It was a real big one!”

He then proceeded to explain everything about that evening to the crocodilian.

“So…There really was a chance.” It sighed, and slumped down onto a work stool.

Todd began to feel a bit sympathetic towards the creature. Whatever it was he did this time, it seemed to have really hurt the ugly thing.

    “Sorry, scaly guy. Is there anything I can do to help? I don’t know what I did, but I seem to have done it wrong.”

Without moving its head, the green beast glanced at the pink human. It sighed again, and began a grim explanation.

    “My name is Drake, Head of Biological Engineering to this crew. I am in charge of reconstructing any lost DNA. I regret to say, however, that my work is not always successful. I meant to try one of my newest projects on you. It was one that was supposed to bring you back from the dead. I failed.”

It was a very confusing explanation indeed. It didn’t help at all that Todd wasn’t the sharpest stick in the beaver dam. Sensing confusion in the young man’s eyes, Drake decided to try from the beginning.

    “You say you were hit by a truck, whatever that is?” It asked, and Todd nodded.

    “It seems as though a rip in dimensions has occurred. If my calculations are correct, you, Todd, died at exactly 7:38 PM today. Your parallel counterpart did, as well.”

An unbelieving look was shot at the crocodile. He merely continued.
     “What I am trying to explain, Captain, is that you are in a parallel dimension. I have recently been conducting some tests that have to do with dimensions and that sort of thing, and stumbled upon the knowledge of other universes quite by accident. I guessed that there was a slim chance that something odd would happen if I tried to bring you back. No one knows exactly how these things work. But I continued on with the experiment anyways…and look what I have done. When I attempted to use my biological skills to bring you back, only one of your minds could snap back to this body. That mind happened to be yours.”

Todd felt a chill run up his spine. He had really been dead. He still would be, if luck hadn’t been on his side.

    “What about my counterpart? What happened to him?”

 “He’s…He’s dead. Since you inhabit his body, there is no way to bring him back now.”
The high school student froze. Had he killed him? Had he really made sure that the guy who the lizard man was trying to bring back stayed dead? Was this even his own body? He looked at himself, studying his structure from head to toes. Yes, he still had an identical body. He poked his stomach. Good, he still had the same muscle-free abs.

    “But, mistakes are mistakes.” came a voice from across the room.

The long-haired teen strained to look at who was speaking, as the ropes still bound him. He didn’t have to for very long. Another crocodilian walked in through a doorway located across the room. The only difference between it and Drake was the fact that it was slightly larger, with a much more aggressive look on its scaly face. The tail-blade it possessed was also broader than the other’s.

    “My name is Dreyfus. You, ‘sir’, inhabit the body of my friend, Todd. He was a great spaceship captain, until he was killed protecting this Earth. I cannot say for certain whether or not you did this on purpose, but it doesn’t matter to me. You have prevented my ally from regaining his former life. And for that, I will take yours!”

The reptile rushed at the table, teeth and claws bared. Todd closed his eyes and waited for the long, ugly claws to rip him apart. A moment before impact, however, Drake stuck out his clawed hand and caught Dreyfus full in the belly, knocking him down.

“Brother, we cannot blame him for out own mistakes.” He said quietly.
The elder of the two snarled, but backed down.

    “Fine.” he replied. “But the little pink human had better watch his back.”
With that, he stormed out the door.

    Drake turned to Todd. Without saying a word, he untied him from the table. After doing so, he called out.

“Lauren! Caleb! Come here, please!”

Todd’s heart stopped. Lauren? His Lauren? Could it be possible? He soon found out as a girl and a boy burst into the room. Still running, the girl began to ask a string of questions.

“Is he here? Did it work? Is he alive?”
She spotted Todd sitting up on the lab table, and bounded towards him.

 Only then could Todd see that this Lauren looked identical to the one he knew. He was about to speak to her when she threw her arms around him.

“Todd! I’m so glad you made it through the experiment. Drake warned us you may not come through.”

“I’m, I’m not Todd.” He managed to spit out, as the blonde proceeded to take his hands and leap for joy.

For a moment, she took it as a joke. But the seriousness in Todd’s eyes calmed her. She let go of his hands and took a small step back.

“No,” she whispered.

[Reply #1 on:]

Well, I decided to repost the pictures of the characters from my art-thread. I'll try to illutstrate whenever I can.
 
(It's supposed to be Dreyfus. Slight boo-boo)

The stupid one.


Not you average dumb blonde. Hell, no.


Quiet, peaceful. Good with speeches.

Comments I would be forever grateful for. 

[Reply #2 on:]

Cool story, what made you decide to name the crocodile Dreyfus, are you a huge Richard Dreyfuss fan?

[Reply #3 on:]

uuuhhh..no. I forget exactly where I got Dreyfus from. I'll get back to you if I ever remember. Drake is from the constellation of a dragon, Lauren from actress Lauren Tom, Todd because it was short and I thought it sounded stupid, and Caleb is the real name of a fellow PEELer.
I'll see I can remember about Dreyfus, I'm pretty sure he was a character in a movie or something...

[Reply #4 on:]

Oooh, interesting!

Last 3 pictures take a while to load though. I can't see them all properly   
Heh, but when the third one was loaded to just below the eyes, it looked like Big Bird.   
Otherwise...nifty!   

[Reply #5 on:]

MORE, like on the art thread, I still think its brill

[Reply #6 on:]

Thanks.
This update will bring the atory all the way up to what I had on the art thread, and a bit farther. (There you go, jle   
Chapter 2

Drake explained the situation to Lauren and Caleb, who had not yet said a word.

“That is why I need you two to take him to the city and explain to him our way of life. Caleb?”

The boy looked up from his hands and flicked his curly brown hair away from his eyes.

“Yes?”

“Introduce yourself without mumbling this time, OK?.”

Caleb nodded ever so slightly.

“Well, c’mon, then. Let’s go.” Caleb shook his hand and gestured to follow him out the door.

Todd fell into step behind him and took a quick glance at Lauren. She had put on a hard face, concealing her true emotions. She gave Caleb a harsh look, and he began to introduce himself.

“My name is Caleb. I um, don’t really like to talk very much.”

Todd was about to intrude when he saw the world outside of the building.

 “Whoa,” was all he could sputter out.

The world before him was like one he had only read about in Dr. Seuss books he had read when he was 15. Pink clouds dotted the blue sky, and the sun was not as yellow as it was red. It did not affect the lighting of the Earth, but it was brilliant to look at nonetheless. The buildings crowding the streets of Toronto were rounder and wider than the ones he was familiar with, and the CN Tower was a giant dome. He looked at each building in turn.

“That’s funny.” He mused.  “The Sky Dome hasn’t changed at all.”

He jumped as Lauren grabbed his hand, awakening him from his daydream.

“Look up.” Lauren said, trying her best to act cheerful.

The young man followed her finger as she pointed upwards towards the heavens. He uttered a short gasp as he saw what connected the buildings. Small staircases, each lined with a railing, seemed to leap from rooftop to rooftop. Using his hand to shield his eyes from the sun, Todd could just make out the silhouettes of people on the stairs-and something else as well.

“Hey!” he exclaimed, jumping up and down wildly. “Look up there, on the stairs. It’s a Cat Man!”

Indeed, a feline-like creature was walking on one of the nearby staircases on only two legs.

Lauren and Caleb followed his gaze.
“It’s not exactly a Cat Man. Didn’t you have mutagenic engineering in your universe?”

Todd began to nod, but stopped suddenly. Did they? No, wait, they didn’t. He shook his head furiously.

“No? Well, in this universe we have many scientists working in the field of biology. In 1796, I think it was, there was a biological breakthrough. Humans could manipulate the DNA of animals. They became smarter and stronger, and eventually multiplied as well. Eventually, there were so many of them, we had to put some of them on the small Isles of land that orbit the Earth.”

“I guess that’s where the crocodile dude came from then, huh?” Todd replied.

“Yes. But they are known as Frocodilians.”
He thought about what Lauren had said, and realized something didn’t quite ring true.

“Wait, Isles? Where I come from, there’s a moon.”

“Drake warned you that there would be differences.” She said harshly.

“Anyways, that’s where the mutated animals come from. It’s also what supplied Todd’s job-he worked with us to help keep the animals in order. If a fight or argument broke out on one of the small islands, we would be called in to solve the matter. In short, we are Peace Officers.”

She gestured at Caleb.

“Caleb is the Peace Counselor. He gives speeches to each side of the argument in an attempt to solve he matter. However, that does not always work out. If not, other authorities step in. However, if the creatures turn violent, the authorities will not help us. It is then my duty as General to step in to plan an attack on them, while Dreyfus, our Weapons Master supplies the firearm. A failed attempt at settling an argument on one of the many isles was what caused our leader’s...casualty. Drake, as you know, is our Biological Engineer, who repairs any injuries after the battle.”

That last part of her speech seemed to seethe with fury. Todd cast a sideways glance at her. This wasn’t the Lauren he knew. She never got this angry, even when it was Meaty Surprise Day at their school and kids flicked it into her hair, laughing and shouting that her only friend was a complete idiot. Drake had warned him things would be different, but this seemed almost-scary.

“What about cars? Don’t you have cars?” The boy asked.

“No.” She replied. “I’ve never heard of ‘car’ before…”

“It’s a thing that let’s you get places, like Burger King or something. It has fumes that come out from behind it, and it needs gas to run.”

The blonde wrinkled her nose in disgust.

“That sounds extremely harmful to the environment. Here, we do have a mode of transportation that allows us to get places. But it requires manpower, and doesn’t create pollution. I don’t know about your universe, but in this one, we have much respect for nature. That is why our technology here is limited-we focus more on getting on with life peacefully than with becoming overlords with our mighty machinery.”

As she spoke those words, a large black ring rolled into their paths. From the front, what it looked like was indecipherable, but from the side, it resembled a tire.

‘Haha! It’s a giant doughnut!” Todd exclaimed.

“Not quite, sir. It’s called a Steller. It is a large ring that one must run in to create movement."

“Like a hamster wheel!”

“Sure.” Lauren supplied. “Whatever that is…”
 “LAUREEEEEENNNN!!!”

“Hmm. That sounds like Drake. The blonde mused. “We’d better go see what’s up.”

Excitement flooded the teen’s mind. There was going to be a battle! Possibly with laser guns, like those cheesy affects in the Star Wars movies. His sightseeing through the streets of Toronto was cut short as the blonde roughly grabbed his hand and pulled him back inside the building.  Once inside, Drake ran up to them and assembled them all in the main foyer.

“There’s been a disturbance on the Isle of Toxes and Kolves.” He said hurriedly. “You are going to have to leave first, without me. I have to shut down some power cables, as they’re currently exploding due to a malfunction in my Life Transfusion Module.”

He jabbed a clawed finger at the room that Todd had first appeared in this universe. Gasping, he managed to sputter out a few more words.

“I’ll take the extra pod to the Isle as soon as I can.”

He turned to Lauren and whispered,

“I know this is painful for you especially, but Todd’s going to have to come on this mission. We need a Captain, so he’ll have to do.”

The blonde glared angrily at him.
“But how will he know how to drive the ship? He doesn’t have the old Todd’s memories.”

The Frocodilian shrugged his broad shoulders impatiently.

“I’m no expert on these things. If he truly can’t figure out what to do, then talk to him. You’re a decent pilot yourself; I’m sure you could teach him a thing or two.”

With that, he turned and ran towards the explosion of sparks and plugs, leaving behind a very irritated young woman.

     The group quickly jogged towards the hangar where the spaceship was located. Every so often, Dreyfus would throw a cold glare at the tow-headed boy, causing him to attempt to hide inside him dark blue jacket. He simply couldn’t figure out why the Frocodilian wouldn’t leave him alone. After all, it wasn’t his fault that the old Todd was gone-

  Right?

Todd shoved all upset thoughts out of his mind as he saw the ship; it wasn’t like anything he had seen in movies or cartoons. No, it was much cooler than those cheesy looking UFOs he read about in the newspapers he bought from the joke shop. The craft stood at least 30 feet tall, and 50 feet long, larger than his school. Its navy blue body was shaped roughly like a cone, although the edges were much sharper, and much more deadly-looking. Two long triangular points poked out of the sides near the back of the ship, both of which were curved slightly upwards. On the top of these two points were small turrets. At that moment Todd assumed they were for shooting out lasers, but was soon told they were actually for receiving incoming transmissions. Looking to the top of the ship, the teen spotted a clear glass bubble sitting on top of the ship. He squinted, trying to see inside of the dome. When that failed, he shifted his eyes over to the sleek side of the ship. It was lined with one bright orange line that really stood out against the rest of the blue surface.  Still gaping at the spaceship, he turned to Lauren.

“We’re really going to go to another planet in that?”

“Hey. I thought technology here wasn’t so great.” He questioned.

“It isn’t. In every other field, that is. Our best scientists and engineers only spent time working on machinery when it has to do with keeping the Isles safe, and free from fighting. Even Drake has some technological creations of his own, such as machines that can heal simple wounds. But those are only used by Peace Officers, and no one else. We couldn’t live in harmony with nature if bad people were trying to overthrow humanity with weapons, now could we?” She replied.

“So we’re really going to fly to space in that thing?”

“Of course we are. And guess who’s going to be driving it?”

The high school student nearly fell over when she said this. Clasping a hand to his forehead, he pulled up his pants and belt and took a small step forward. The ship no longer looked beautiful; now it looked ominous and murderous.

“M-me?” He squeaked, at a loss for words.

Lauren nodded her head. There was little time to chat, so she hurried him into the hull of the amazing ship. Up they traveled, through winding corridors and steps, to the bridge. There sat a rather large leather seat in front of something quite familiar to Todd.

“Hey, a steering wheel!” He cried, and hopped into the seat.

“Yes, but don’t touch any-” Dreyfus had started to say, but the ship had already begun to rise.

“I found the keys!” He yelled over his shoulder at the group, who were all staring intently at him.

 They didn’t understand that, because of his experience at driving cars, Todd had quickly figured out how to operate the ship’s basic controls. To him, it was just like his Honda, only a bit bigger and with more funny little dials. He aimed to nose of the ship upwards towards the graying sky, and powered up all engines.

Chapter 3

“Yahoo!” Todd cried as the ship blasted off into space.

 Perhaps the people of this Earth were lacking greatly in all other technological fields, but this spaceship made up for everything. Feeling cocky, Todd turned towards his ‘friends’.

“So, who are these ‘Kolves’?” He asked.
The group merely glared at him.

“What?” He asked innocently.

“What? WHAT!?!” Dreyfus roared. “You could have gotten us all killed, you idiot! This ship is not to be handled like a plaything! If you had crashed, we all would have been killed, and-”

Caleb put a brave hand out to stop him.
“Quiet, quiet.” He said calmly. “Fighting never helps. In my opinion, he actually did quite well for someone who came from a completely different universe.”

He aimed the last part at Dreyfus, who was still glaring menacingly at him. He simply scoffed and turned his head. Not the least bit interested in the conversation, Todd absent mindedly looked around the bridge. The boy noticed a hallway at the other side of the room, and decided to look and see where it would lead to. He was about to get up when he remembered that the steering wheel. He frowned, searching for a way to leave.

    “Hmm. ‘Autopilot.’ I wonder what that does.”

He pressed the button, and the ship seemed to shake. When Todd let go of the wheel, it didn’t move at all, and the ship stayed on course.

    “Yes!”

The teen got up from the chair in which he sat, and trotted over to the hallway. Poking his head around a corner, he was astonished to find at least 50 doors lining the corridor, each with its own name tag.

    “Weapons Room, Yatzi Room, Cafeteria, Resting Dome, Laboratory…Oooh, that one sounds cool.” He read as he passed each in turn.

He opened the door marked ‘Laboratory’ carefully, checking first to make sure it was safe. The teen gasped as he realized that this room looked identical to the one he had first woken up in at the Peace Officer’s Headquarters. He stepped into a familiar looking room covered with white tile, and lined with inventions of all sizes and shapes. A particularly colorful one caught his eye, and he bent down to investigate it. The object was roughly triangular in shape, and he slid each finger down its sharp edges, looking at it intently.

   “Ow!” Todd exclaimed as he drew back a bloody finger. “Stupid machine had to reach out and bite me.”

He held his cut hand tightly, willing the twinge of pain to go away. He stepped back, hurt. The young man gasped as his shoulder knocked lightly into another, taller machine. The lamp-like object that hung above it flashed, and for a moment he could see only white. Slowly, his vision returned, and he was shocked to see his finger still covered in blood, but no longer bleeding. He turned it around, searching for the line where he had been scratched.

   “Weird.” He mumbled, staring. “Geez, this place is creepy. It’s like Count Dracula’s lair, only there’s no Count Dracula and no lair.”

Still looking in wonder at his finger, he ran out of the room and back onto the bridge.

    When arriving back at the bridge, he plopped himself back down at the controls and switched off the autopilot. Through the windshield in the front, he could see the Isle looming closer and closer. Unsure of what to do, he pushed a few random buttons and pulled switches irregularly. Thinking his job was done, he relaxed into the back of his chair and looked around.

     There really wasn’t much to look at besides his friends, and the walls. But the walls were beautiful; brightly painted leaves stretched across them, and animals of all different shapes and sized seemed to dance with the colors. The love of nature in this universe truly seeped into the artwork. Lauren caught him looking at it.

“I know, it’s pretty awful, isn’t it?” She asked.

Todd wheeled around, shocked at the voice.

“No. No, it’s great.” He replied.

The young woman smiled.

“Finally,” Todd thought, “she looks happy with me.”

WHUMPH!

The touching moment was cut short as the ship landed violently. Pressing his face to the window, Todd could see that the Isle he had landed on was grassy, and had a lot of woodland and forests of many different colors. Purples and yellows flicked across the grass, and deep mahogany lined the pine trees. A small stream ran alongside a cluster of trees in the distance, and, if one squinted hard enough, mountains could also be seen, far away. The tiny planet may not have been very big, but it was certainly a sight to see. Looking directly beneath him, he could also see that they had landed in a rather wide, open field.

“Where are the Kolves?” Caleb spoke up, after being silent the entire trip. “I can’t see out this window very well.”

As if on cue, a wolf -like creatures began to circle around the ship, sniffing at the wings, nose, and landing gear. They looked remarkably similar to the werewolves of old horror movies, except for the fact that they were only about 4 feet high and 8 feet long, and stood on all four legs. One of the larger ones began to talk.

“Hello? You are the Peace Officers, I presume?” A raspy voice filled the ship.

The intercom cackled for a moment, then picked up the rest of the Kolf’s message.

“The traitors have gathered on the far side of the planet. Meet us there.”
A sharp click signified the end of the transmission. Todd turned towards his friends.

“Traitors? What’s this all about? Did someone take the Kolves’ comics away and make them angry? I remember this one time when my friend came over with his comics, and I-”

Lauren cut him short.

“The information we received signifies that the wolfish people you saw out there, the Kolves, have been attacked several times within the last 24 hours by the species that they share this planet with; the Toxes. We have been called up to help them stop the invaders before things get too violent.”

The array of weird names puzzled Todd, and he asked Lauren what they meant.

“Because the intelligent mutated animals of the Isles are so similar to their original counterparts, once they were smart enough to have a say in that matter, asked that only one letter in their name be changed.”

She replied briskly, and the boy nodded, satisfied.

 He found the button to open the door of the ship, and stepped out onto the planet with the rest of the Peace Officers. Todd had begun to walk across the grassy woodlands when a hand roughly pulled him backwards.

“This way.” Lauren said, and pulled him towards a door in the ship he had not noticed before.

The rest of the group pulled themselves through the small opening of the door and into another room. Inside it were several tables with bags full of small spheres on them.

“Cool!” The tow-headed boy cried out, lunging at a bag. Shaking each in turn, he began giggling girlishly as he fingered the playthings. The rest of the group each picked up a bag and turned towards him.

“They aren’t toys.” Lauren said harshly. “These are highly magnetic rocks. If you wait 10 seconds after touching them with your bare hands, they’ll-”

    ZZZZZZAAAAAAAAAAAAAAP!

Todd turned to Lauren, his hair fizzling at the end. He soon found that he couldn’t move and tried to get Lauren to help him. She just rolled her eyes.

“If you’re going to be stupid, then we can leave you here with the ship. I was saying, 10 seconds after contact is made with these rocks, they release a heavy magnetic force into the air around it, paralyzing everything within 10 feet in all directions of it. The Boles were gracious enough to help us dig deep into the Earth to find a large supply of these rocks.”

“Boles?”

“They were once moles.” Lauren explained.

  Todd thought about that. Again, the people of this Earth were not using artificial things or technology to do things, but nature itself. They weren’t even going to hurt their enemies, just paralyze them. It was enough to want to make him rip his hair out. That is, if he could move his hands. Shaking her head, the blonde stood back and walked out the door. When she returned, she held a pine branch in her hand.

“To reverse the immobilization, one must smell a very strong scent. This branch should do it.”

She lifted the sweet smelling pine to his nose. Almost instantly, he felt his limbs gain strength again. When his mouth unfroze, he smiled at the blonde.
 
“Let’s get going.” She said.

And that was that.

    Todd and the others trudged through the woods to the coordinates the chief Kolf had left them. They soon reached a large clearing full of tangled weeds and dying grass. It looked quite out of place compared to the rest of the lush planet, and filled each and every one of them with a sense of dread.

“Do we have any other weapons besides the Magnetizers?” Todd asked Dreyfus meekly.

The Weapons Master frowned at him, but answered.

“No.” He said. “There is no need for weaponry. Only the people on planet Earth are allowed to carry even these paralysis gadgets.” He gestured at a Magnetizer.  “There have been no items for killing since before mutation became possible. Only every so often do the animals on these planets even attempt to hurt one another with their claws or teeth. Mostly they live in harmony and peace together.”

“Then how are you a ‘Weapons Manager?’”

The Frocodilians blood was boiling, but he decided to answer anyways. “Because, little one, I am in charge of making sure that all magnetizers are in working order, and that none are deadly. Simply because we do not invent gadgets of mass destruction does not mean we aren’t born with them.” He held up his spiked tail. “I also take care of sharpening claws, teeth, and generally every other thing we could possibly use to win without killing.”

Hmmm. That answered a few questions of Todd’s. Even killing other people was not possible in this place. Feeling a bit ashamed of his universe, Todd hung his head and waited in silence.

   It wasn’t long before the Kolves arrived. They bounded up to the Peace Officers at what seemed like 100 miles an hour. His long tongue waving in front of him, the chief Kolf spoke up.

“Toxes,” he panted, “are coming in from all angles. They are not armed, but their claws and teeth are quite dangerous, as you should all know. I hope you brought Magnetizers.”

The group nodded, and took separate positions covering the field. The Kolves stood at the ready in a line out front. Frightened, Todd grasped his bag of magnetic rocks as hard as he could until his hands turned red. Not being one to be able to wait for very long, he shuffled his feet and resided to staring at the roots of the tree he was standing behind. When he next looked up, an entire army of Toxes were marching towards them, about a hundred in all. They, unlike the Kolves, stood on two feet. Todd might have thought of them as cute little foxes if he hadn’t noticed the saber-like front teeth, and dagger claws. Their long, bushy tails seemingly flowing behind their bodies, they kept a steady pace, slowly marching towards the now feeble-looking army of Kolves. Taking an even tighter grip on his rocks, Todd gritted his teeth, shut his eyes tight, and ran to join his friends in the battle.

Too be continued....dundundun!
Shippy update tomorrow!

[Reply #7 on:]

WOWOWOWOWOWOWOWOWOWOW, that was bloody amazing! The way Todd handled the ship, and the way Lauren's acting and and and, WOW

[Reply #8 on:]

Thanks so much, jle! I edited the sentances to make them 'look' shorter and more appealing to read. (Instead of huge-looking blocks that might turn people off)
Even if no one else takes a look at it, I'll keep it running, just for you. Glad to see at least one person is enjoying it.

And here's that shippy update I promised:

Chapter 4

Running full-out, Todd ran into the line of Kolves, who had all bared their teeth and were growling menacingly. The Tox army had begun to run as well, and in a few seconds everything would be an all-out battle. When the Peace Masters were twenty feet from hitting the army, each of them began to fling the Magnetizers at the coming army.

Todd fumbled stupidly, struggling to get his bag open. A stray Tox lunged at him, but stopped in mid-air. Dropping his hands from his face, the tow-headed boy turned saw Lauren holding a magnetic rock. She nodded to him, and began throwing the Magnetizers wildly into the sea of mammals.

 Toxes began falling like dominoes, but not quickly enough. There were still about 55 left when they hit the Kolves. A wave of yelling and snarling darkened the air, and Todd fought to control himself from screaming. The Kolves were putting up a good fight, but the Toxes were using their sharp claws and teeth to drag them, one by one, away and into the forest. Only the Toxes returned afterwards.

 Todd could only guess what they did after that. He silently prayed that they were only to be held prisoners, and nothing worse. It was lucky that they had the rocks, or else it would most likely be them being dragged away as well. However, any Tox foolish enough to get close would end up paralyzed.

   There were only 5 Kolves left, and still 35 Toxes unfrozen when a loud drone filled the air. Both sides of the war perked up their heads, and for a moment the fighting ceased. A small space pod, only 20 feet long and 10 feet high, filled the sky above. Todd put his hands to his eyes as his long brown hair twirled around from the exhaust. It touched down almost daintily, and out stepped…

“Drake!” Todd began to run towards the Frocodilian, who was jumping out of the cockpit.

 For a second he looked quite pleased to see the tow-headed boy come rushing at him, but fear instantly replaced joy on his face. He pointed a clawed finger in Todd’s direction, yelling something that was cut out by the drone of the engines of the ship. The teen stopped abruptly as the reptilian began fiercely waving its arms and shouting at the top of his lungs.

“Look…..Tox! ..... behind…” Todd could just barely make out some of the sentence.

He turned to look behind him, but it was too late. A Tox had snuck up behind him and grabbed his bag of Magnetizers. The crafty beast turned and ran, with Todd in hot pursuit. If the rest of the enemies got hold of the bag, they would all be doomed. There was still a good 50 left, so there would be almost no hope of escaping. Hearing the commotion, Lauren stopped throwing her magnetic rocks and turned in time to see the Tox flee with the bag.

“Idiot!” She yelled, and ran to help Todd chase the foul beast.

 The teen was grateful to have someone help him, no matter how angry they were. Panting and clutching the stitch in his side, Todd was bout to give up, when he saw Dreyfus sprint in front of the Tox. The creature slid to a stop on his chocolate-colored hind paws, a glint of fear present in his sly eyes. Seeing no way to get past the Frocodilian, he turned and faced the high school student.

With one quick flick of what posed as a wrist, the Tox reached into the bag and threw a Magnetizer as close to Todd as he could. The teen stopped and stared. His mouth hanging open, he stood planted in fear as the gray rock hurtled towards him. Lauren, who was 15 feet away and out of danger, took one look at the flying Magnetizer and sprinted towards Todd.

With one flying leap, she slammed him off of his feet and out of harm’s way. Trying to steady his blurry eyes, Todd squinted and watched in slow-motion as Lauren fell to the ground, closely followed by the Magnetizer. Raising her head from the grass, she had a split second to wrench her face into a look of anguish before she was zapped. The fear stayed on her face, and she didn’t move.

Todd gaped; no one had every done anything like this for him before. A sense of déjà vu hit him so hard he nearly passed out. This was exactly how he had died; saving someone close to him from oncoming danger. He felt sick inside as he thought about what she was experiencing. Raising his bruised body from the ground, Todd saw Dreyfus kick the bag from the Tox’s grasp, and fling it quickly towards him. Winding up to pitch the rock at the foul beast, the Tox saw that he was in danger, and ran towards Lauren’s unmoving body. Scooping it up in his clawed paws, he shouted at what was left of his troops.

“Steal the ship! Get into the pod! THAT’S AN ORDER!!!” He roared, and sprinted towards the small ship.

The rest of what was left of the army all stopped harassing the remaining Kolves and sped towards the opened ship. Drake made an attempt to stop them, but received a kick in the gut as payment for his efforts. Todd watched in horror as the Toxes moved with ferocious speed towards the ship, knocking down Caleb as they went. The high school student and Dreyfus continued to throw the Magnetizers at the crowd of animals, but their frustration at the whole mess prevented them from hitting their targets.

Only two stopped in their tracks as they flooded into the pod. Desperate, Todd flung regular rocks at the Tox leader. One quick throw hit the enemy square in the eye, and it yelled, covering its face with its paws.

“GGGRRRRAAAAA!!! You’ll pay for that, human!” It raged, sending a hand signal downwards. A Tox still below kicked Drake again.

 As a final touch of cruelty, the Tox leader stuck his head out of the vessel as the doors slowly rose up. It still held one eye, which was now bleeding profusely.

“We’ve got your friend!” He yelled gleefully, though inured. “If you want her back, you’ll just have to come and get her! Oh, and thanks for the ride, Peace Officers! HAHA!”

With that, the doors slid shut, and the spaceship blasted into space.

    Todd stared in disbelief at the pod as it faded into the sky. He watched as Caleb rose from the ground, rubbing his head in pain. Drake got up soon afterwards. Dreyfus slinked beside him.

“C’mon.” He said gruffly. “Everyone get back into the ship.”

To be continued.....

[Reply #9 on:]

WOW, thanks KitKat, I really am enjoying the story, and Lauren saving Todd and the Toxes being mean, and I love it, thank you thank you thank you! This one of the best storys ever!

[Reply #10 on:]

Aw, thankies jle. 
Yah, there's gonna be a whole lot of saving back and forth, especially when...
*zips mouth*
I can't tell you that. Sorry! You'll just have to wait and see!
BTW, I'll still illutstrate whenever possible, but I just want to let anyone else out there know that illusrations of their own will be accepted with much gratitude. 

[Reply #11 on:]

Swapping minds across alternate universes is a very interesting concept. It's similar to something that happened to me once.
Great stuff. Seems like a wonderful begining to what could well be an epic series.

[Reply #12 on:]

Everything's happened to you once, Coldangle!

[Reply #13 on:]

I'm more than 800 years old. I got a lot of stories to tell.

[Reply #14 on:]

And an active imagenation.

To stay ontopic, I cannot wait for the next update! I'm so exicted.

[Reply #15 on:]

Wow...what an increase in reponses. Thanks, everybody!
@coldangel_1: Yah. The concept actually came to me when watching Futurama. I wanted to have someone in such a colorful, different universe as well, but going into the future would be a rip-off. So, I instead focused on an alternate/parrallel universe, and the story kinda wrote itself.
Update time!

     Lauren awoke sometime later feeling drowsy and confused. Rubbing her temples in frustration, she blinked her eyes and looked at the room around her. Only then did she remember the battle; the Toxes, the Magnetizer, her being carried off. Flexing her arms, she realized the Toxes must have unfrozen her.  How she became unconscious in the first place was a mystery to her. She gripped the bars of the wooden cage she was in and attempted to break off a piece, cursing silently. The wood was foreign, however, and rather unbreakable.

Looking to her side, she gave a small yelp of surprise as she saw the Tox leader sitting very close to her. He was clutching a leaf to his right eye.

“Human,” he spat, “you and your friends will pay for what you have done. Because of you, my eye will never again be whole.”

He glared at her and pointed to his eye. “No matter, though. You and your fiends can be the first to witness my revenge against you humans. We Toxes have never favored the fact that the ‘almighty’ Homo Sapiens are allowed to live in a world of technology, while we must live peaceful, eventless lives here on this miserable chunk of rock.”

“That was for peace!” She shot back, grimacing at the fact that some animals were unhappy with their lives.

“We don’t care what you did for ‘peace’.” The bushel-tailed creature mocked. “We want spaceships and scientists too. There may not be much technology now, but if we could harness what we have, and keep studying, the world could become more powerful! Think of it, we could even find technology to live forever! The possibilities are endless.”

“Technology has never done anything but hurt people.” The blonde muttered. “Many years ago, people used to have weapons for destruction. They may not have been very powerful at the time, but if they continued to improve, the entire world could have been blown up. That’s why we turned to biology, you stupid Tox. That, at least, made people happy, not hurt.”

The orange creature pondered on that. Shaking his head, he regained his former opinion.
 
“Why I am listening to a pathetic, caged human, I have no idea. We intend to use the technology of this spacecraft to build our own. There are already some flares of interest already.”

He then opened the paw he had not shown Lauren the entire time. In it he held a small chunk of metal, with red opaque glass in one end. It looked like a metallic kaleidoscope, only far more menacing. The leader smirked, then placed the machine to his eye. Instantly, the mechanical piece latched itself on. The result was horrible beyond imagination.

“I, Kit, leader of the Tox army, am the first of my kind to experience technology! I can see perfectly now, and all will fall under my mighty nose!” He boasted, giggling eerily.

  Lauren couldn’t believe this guy.
“I think you mean ‘under my mighty feet’.” She teased, rolling her eyes.   

 She was not about to let him torment her without some satisfaction of her own. His beady eyes bulging from his head, Kit bared his teeth menacingly at her.

“Shut up, girl. Trof!” He called out, and a fat Tox came waddling. “The clothes!”

It backed out slowly, bowing its head. A moment later, it returned, clutching a vest, belt and shorts in his paw.

“These items of covering seem to be unique to you humans.” He murmured. “And perhaps if I wear them, I too shall gain your knowledge.”

He slipped into the clothes clumsily, only just succeeding in making them fit around his furry body. Lauren couldn’t help but giggle, sending Kit into a fit of rage.

“Trof!” He snapped again at a short, plump Tox that was standing by the door, “Make sure she
 is…comfortable.”

Grinning, the servant walked up to her and put a sweet-smelling flower into her cage. The aroma was pleasant, and satisfying to her nose. All the while, however, she was getting tired, and drowsy. Lauren yawned. Maybe she’d just take a short nap while she waited for her friends to come and help her.

As the world around her faded to darkness, she heard one short massage of victory from the Tox leader.

“Sleep well, fool. When your friends come to help you, I will finally be able to harness the energy from the larger ship so that we can make our own spacecraft. And as for your friends-I’ll dispose of them accordingly.”


   Todd tapped his foot and the steering wheel of the ship impatiently. It had been several hours since they had lost Lauren, and now she was all he could think about. Dreyfus had told him not to worry, that it wasn’t his fault. The sudden act of kindness was not enough to cheer him up.

“Caleb, how far are we from the Isle?” He asked the curly haired boy anxiously.

They had predicted that the Toxes would land on the Isle of Fackals. The jackal-like creatures were just as sneaky and malevolent as them, and would almost certainly be happy to help in this atrocity.

“About ten minutes away, sir.” The young man replied, shaking his head. “I hope she’s there. If not, we have no other possibilities. It could take forever to find her.”

Todd winced at the word ‘sir.’ Nobody in his old life had ever called him anything like that. Mostly it was things like ‘Chowder Head’. He sighed as he regained his position of tapping his feet and the steering wheel. He wondered if she missed him. If she even cared that he wasn’t there any more. The blonde had certainly been rough with him….

 Drake sat in his lab, pondering the situation. It had been no trouble at all healing everyone’s wounds-the bark of the Yoola tree made sure of that. Now if only he could figure out some way to help Lauren. Slouched over crumpled rescue plans and failed designs for machines to locate her, he had resolved to holding his enormous head in his claws and thinking. He had always been the brain of the group, and he was sure that if he thought hard enough, an idea would come to him.

Eventually.

A door opened behind him and he wheeled around. Regaining his slouched position when he saw it was only his brother Dreyfus, the reptilian mumbled;

“I haven’t a clue what to do right now. Square roots, decimals, everything’s just a blur.”
The Frocodilian Weapons Master sat beside him.
“No need to wonder, brother.” He said. “I have a plan of my own.”
 
    “We have landing, Todd!” Caleb called out, opening the door of the spaceship as he did so.
The Peace Officers jumped out and studied the planet, each holding their leftover Magnetizers in case anything happened to be their enemy. This planet was similar to the Tox’s home planet in almost every way, what with the green forestry and pine trees. Even the same wildlife was present; rabbits ran every which way, and squirrels bounced in the trees. The only main difference was that, over the horizon, the forestry ended, and became a sandy desert. That was where they would find the Toxes and Lauren if they were on the planet at all.

Gesturing for everyone to come closer with his claws, Dreyfus gathered everyone into a circle around hum.

“Listen,” he said, “I think I know how to get Lauren back. If she is here, and everyone plays their part accordingly, we should have her and the pod back soon…”

To be continued.....

[Reply #16 on:]

Everything is furry,
And everyone's so scaled.
Everybody's an animal,
And everything is so messed-up.
I am lost in an alternate universe,
I cannot live at all.
My whole world's a big zoo,
Stumble and I fall...


Ahem... yep... sorry, I was just listening to 'Blurry'... Good stuff.

[Reply #17 on:]

Lol, that's funny. 

[Reply #18 on:]

 
That one's for free. Now your story has a soundtrack.

[Reply #19 on:]

Cool update, I hope they find Lauren soon, I wonder if there'll be anything between her and Todd. Loving it KitKat

[Reply #20 on:]

Uh...actually, you, jle, godess of shippy, have guessed correctly. There will be fireworks between Todd and Lauren. Not to give anything away, though.

Here's a long post (because I won't be eher over the weekend) that is Very, very shippy. The last part is obviously inspired by 'The Sting':

Chapter 5
 
Todd waited in his position behind a prickly cactus. The group had walked for about an hour across the dry sand before coming across a large city of caves and rock piles jutting up out of the ground. He had stared in awe at the sheer number of these dwellings. There had to be at least 150 of them, all gathered in one area. They were waiting to see if the pod would land within the next hour. It was a lucky thing they had gotten there first; better launchers allowed them to travel through the dark chasm of space much more quickly. Thankfully, as it was the middle of the day, no Fackals were coming in or out of their homes.

 It was far too hot at that hour, especially since it was summertime. It seemed as if the Peace Officers would not be able to handle the heat for much longer when a dark shape drew shadows across the sand. The pod made a slight bump as it landed, and out exited a whole band of Toxes, led by Kit. Fackals began poking their snouts out of their dens, nosing around to see what all the commotion was.

After a few ventured out, they began to talk with the newcomers, asking them why they were here, and how they got there. Assuming they were answering the questions, Todd crouched lower behind the cactus plant. The group was going to wait until the Fackals allowed the Toxes into their underground havens to escape from the heat, then rush and freeze the remaining creatures with Magnetizers, find Lauren, and fly out of there.

It was a simple enough plan as long as the Toxes accepted the invitation from the heat. They would have to be crazy not to. Wiping the sweat from his brow, the tow headed boy decided to sit for a moment. There was a slight nudging in the back of his mind that maybe he shouldn’t, but he was too tired and thirsty to care. Ah, it would feel good to rest for a minute, to take a break.

  “AAAAAAHHH!!!” He leaped straight back up, flying what seemed like 20 feet up straight into the air.

Rubbing his ass in pain, the boy turned to see a hundred pairs of eyes staring at him. He had messed up big time. Dreyfus cursed silently under his breath, regretting that he had even brought Todd along in the first place. How could he let this happen? Why he even trusted the weakling at all was a mystery to him. Growling in frustration, he called to his group members.

“Everybody, back to the spaceship! Don’t let the Toxes get this one too!”

They then turned tail and ran back to the spacecraft. Still clutching his backside in pain, Todd struggled to keep up with the others. His physical endurance was not great, to say the least. The Toxes tried to follow, but any that got too close to them as they ran were stopped with Magnetizers.

After failed attempts to catch up with the running Officers, Kit commanded the rest of the Toxes to get back into the pod, leaving behind very confused and very angry Fackals, who yelled indignantly as the pod lifted up into the sky.

    The pod came to a stop directly in front of the group as they continued to speed towards their ship. The turbulence from the landing spacecraft knocked them all off of their feet, and left them sucking dry air. Gasping, Todd put his hands to his face in an attempt to stop the wind from whipping at his face. The door of the pod opened, and a small ramp extended from the brightly lit doorway. A red light shone in the brightness, and could soon be recognized as Kit’s mechanical eye.

  “You cannot escape from my bath.” He gloated, paws at his hips in a regal posture.

  “Wrath, sir.” A voice piped up.

  “Whatever.” He snapped, and addressed his attention back at the reptilians and humans.

“You are not getting the girl unless we get what we desire; the big spaceship. With all there is on that ship, not only could we build crafts of our own, but weapons of mass destruction the likes of which no one has ever seen!” He smirked as he bargained with the Officers.

   “There will be no peace on Earth anymore if we allow this to happen. No matter how much we will miss Lauren, we cannot let them have the technology. She will have to be taken prisoner.” Drake whispered.

Todd felt anger bubbling up inside of him. How could they do this? It wasn’t fair to give Lauren up for lost unless they had tried everything.

     “Isn’t there some way we could help her? What if we just magnetized all of the Toxes?” He pleaded, hoping that there was something, anything they could do for her.

“No.” Dreyfus said matter-of-factly. “We can’t get close enough to them to freeze them without using the ship. And if we bring it anywhere near them, who knows what surprise attack they’ll pull on us. It’s just too risky. I’m sure Lauren understands our situation.”

Clenching his fists, Todd nodded his head. There was nothing they could do for her.

At least, the others thought so.

  “We will not allow this to happen.” Caleb called up at them, fulfilling his role as Peace Counselor. “You will not be allowed to spread your evil onto Earth. This pod will not enable you to create any weapons, as the technology is too simple. The General we have lost is a great tragedy, but it is life that has to be sacrificed.”

The last bit was said through clenched teeth. Tears welled up in his eyes, and he looked away. Todd himself found his cheeks, and the cheeks of his comrades to be wet.

He may not have been very bright, but he understood that this was the second life the group had lost in a short period of time. He knew it must have been very hard to go through with the decision. But as the pod rose up into the sky, he promised himself would not give up on her. No, he was going to get her back, even if it killed him. It was all he could do to repay her for saving his life.

    Lauren pounded the wooden cage she was in furiously. The guards outside snickered at her plight. Ever since she had woken up again in the cage, the blonde had been trying to get out of her prison; she had kicked, she had screamed, she had threatened, and now she was attempting to break the door down. Nothing she did helped at all, though. A few hours ago she had heard the guards outside of her cage talking about some kind of attack, and for a while Toxes scrambled and yelled at each other through the hallways of the pod. Even Kit himself had burst into the room for a second to yell at a few of his minions. For a moment it had seemed as though her friends were coming to rescue her.

But, quite suddenly, everything was quiet again. The sentries had come back, and resumed laughing and joking with one another.

    “Evening, ladies.” Kit cooed as he walked in through the doorway, Trof waddling at his side. “I’ve come to collect a valuable bit of merchandise,” he said, gesturing at Lauren, “that has now lost its worth. It seems as though the Peace Officers are not willing to trade their valuable technology in exchange for their friend’s life.”

The blonde shuddered. She had expected that they would chose to do so; after all, what was one life weighed against the entire world? Still, it hurt to think that something like this was really happening. But, these were the risks that she had taken into account when she had agreed to be a Peace Officer.

She put on a hard face as the door of the cage opened, boldly agreeing to sacrifice herself for the rest of the people on Earth. But she would not give up without a fight. As the door of the cage was opened by Kit, she backed up into the corner.

“No need to be afraid.” He mocked. “I won’t hurt you-yet.” He said with a smile, making the guards laugh.

“Shut up!”

The laughing stopped abruptly. Lauren remained in the corner until Kit was inches away, ready to grab her. At the last second, she sprung!

   “ARGGGHH!” He screamed in pain as she stomped down on his paws.

“Trof!” He yelled through sobs. “Get a hold of her and bring her outside.”

As she slid carefully out of the cage, Lauren locked eyes with the fat Tox. Desperate to get away, she landed a punch straight to his gut. He flinched, but didn’t stop. Grabbing hold of the thrashing girl, he whispered a soft dismissal.

“Nighty-night.”

And then everything went black.

It was midnight when the young man opened the eyes he had pretended to seal shut since 10:00pm. The group had camped out on the Isle of the Fackals, planning to leave back for Earth in the morning. He blinked a few times to accustom his eyes to the night sky, and quickly glanced around to make sure everyone else was still asleep. The campfire they had lit in the evening cackled quietly, slowly dying out. Drake, Dreyfus and Caleb were huddled around it, scrunched up for warmth. Todd carefully stepped around each of them, careful not to step on the crocodilians’ tails. He then placed a small slip of paper beside Drake’s head, praying he’d read it before it got blown away or burned by the flames. Once he had made it out safely, the high school student breathed a sigh of relief.

“Glad that’s over.” He said loudly.

Clasping a hand to his mouth, the tow-headed boy looked over his shoulder to see if anyone had woken up. Dreyfus stirred, but did not wake. The teen gave once last glance around to make sure no one was going to disturb him, and climbed into the ship. He turned on the light switches and shut the door behind him, catching his heel as he did so. Stifling a scream, he proceeded to fumble for the keys that Lauren had given him to fly the ship; and, unknowingly, the keys to her freedom.

“Let’s get this over and done with.” Todd muttered as the engines revved. “Full speed ahead!” He shouted as he put his hand on his hip and pointed towards the night sky.

Forgetting to steer as he made his ‘heroic’ stance, the spacecraft shot off wildly while Todd grabbed hold of the steering wheel. The teen regained control of the Gracie just as it broke out of the small planet’s atmosphere, and set a course for the Fackal homeland. At that moment, the enormous thunder of engines caused Dreyfus, Caleb and Drake to bolt upright, ready for a fight. They looked up just in time to see a faint outline of the ship swerve through the sky.

    “He took the ship!” Dreyfus raged, pointing towards the heavens.

    “I think Todd left us something.” Drake whispered, and unfolded the letter.  “I have taken the…chip?” He read, trying to decipher Todd’s bad handwriting.

“I’m going to save Lauren. I’ll be back later, probably tomorrow. Don’t worry 'bout nothing.”
Surprisingly, the older Frocodilain did not burst out angrily. Instead he shook his head, and smiled.

“The crazy mammal,” stated the reptilian, “is doing this for a good cause. All we can do now is wait and see what happens.”

Caleb and Drake were shocked. Never had they seen the older warrior this calm before. Ordinarily, he would have shouted and cursed if something so foolish had occurred. His eyes seemed to twinkle with a hidden secret, something that only he knew. He smiled.

Chapter 6

For the third time, Lauren awoke from unconsciousness. Shaking her aching head, she looked out the bars of her wooden prison once more. However, she was not on the stolen pod anymore. No; now she was in the middle of the desert, being stabbed at with heat and thirst and hunger all at the same time. It was then that she realized she had not eaten since yesterday when she had been captured, and the Toxes had only allowed her one drink all of the day before. Licking her chapped lips, she looked out to see dozens of Fackals and Toxes standing in a large circle, whooping and cheering.

“She’s awake!” A familiar voice called out.
Kit walked to the center of the circle, followed by his plump henchman.

“Let the execution begin!” He called out, laughing evilly. “Let’s show this human exactly what happens when anyone tries to defy the use of technology!”

The crowd threw up their arms and cheered even louder. Lauren looked around hopefully, but none of her friends were in sight. Glistening eyes stared at her the way a dog stared hungrily at a piece of meat. There was no where to go now but death, and she was willing to except that. Sighing, she looked around and saw a structure composed of pieces of the pod. Two steering rods were planted straight into the ground, creating a sort of doorway. Between these two rods was a cable used to track life forms, and a few c scraps of metal from the docking bay. Beside it was a large steel generator strung with wires and cables from various parts of the small ship. A lever was placed on top of it. The blonde could only guess at what the machine did. Looking at it with hollow eyes, fear began to creep into her mind. She wasn’t really ready for this. She was just a teenager, after all. Tears welled up as the realization flooded her mind; she wouldn’t be able to sit and talk peace with Caleb, watch Drake tinker with his precious calculations and decimals, practice throwing Magnetizers at targets with Dreyfus…and Todd. The Todd she had known was dead, and she had accepted the fact that she would never chat with him again. But this new Todd, she would never see him again. And she was just getting to know him, too.

       The Toxes grew tired of laughing at Lauren, and began to yell for the execution to begin.

     “Can I help? Please, please, let me kill it.”

A young pup, no more than 15 years of age, tapped Kit’s arm furiously.

     “Come on, uncle. I’m old enough. I can do it!”

The Tox leader’s nephew, Artimus, was a runty, yet bitterly determined thing. After both of his parents’ death, he was raised by Kit and his minions. Trained by hard-core creatures who hated humans, he too had grown up with a lust for their death. Again and again, his scrawny arms tugged on his uncle’s shoulders, begging to be in charge of his very first kill. Artimus had always been put down because of his skinny structure and short body, so he was all the more ready to prove that he had worth. That maybe someday he would amount to something.

    “No.” The Tox leader growled. “You’re only a child; a baby. Worse, you’re a runt. I can’t put you in charge of something so important.”

The pup let go, hurt. Never before had his uncle said something quite so cruel to him. His eyes quickly glazed over with anger. He’d show him, someday. But in the meanwhile, there was a human to be slain.

Two Toxes grabbed the young woman and shoved her out of the cage, sending her sprawling across the sandy floor. She indignantly spat out a mouthful of dirt as the guards roughly picked her battered body up and dragged it towards the terrible creation of technology.

“This, human, is the first weapon to be created by our engineers.” The Tox leader sang, absolutely bouncing with glee of getting rid of his enemy.

“You will be forced to stand beneath the two pillars of doom over there,” he gestured towards the steering rods, “and I will pull the lever. When that happens, hundreds of the volts that run your precious pod will be used to fry your brain and body, slowly turning you to nothing more than a pile of ashes. And oh, will it be painful.” He chuckled. “And that’s not all-when you die, your brain waves will be aimed at the Earth, using that chip in your ear.  The combined energy of your body and the machine will completely petrify the creatures of Earth, much the same way you paralyzed my best men with your infernal rocks!” He spat.  “When they wake from their sleepless slumber, the entire world will be customized to fit our needs. The Toxes will reign! Alongside their Fackal alliances,” he added, after some of the animals had given him a sideways look. “It’s what you get for preventing us from having what you have!”

With that, the guards led Lauren over to the middle of the two rods.

“Any last words, scum?” Kit teased, smiling as if expecting an answer.

He got one; the blonde used all the strength she could muster to send one foot flying through the air, connecting with the Toxes’ shin. He screamed, sending the crowd into fits of laughter. He bared his teeth and growled angrily as he hopped up and down, holding his injured shin.

“That’s the second time.” He spat, and put a clawed finger under her chin, forcing her head back. “And the last. Get this machine up and running!” He roared to his guards, sending them scrambling to charge the weapon up.

The Tox leader walked back to the electrical weapon, tripping over a stray rock in the process. A guard tried to help him back up, but he angrily shoved him away and waited for the rest of his servants to charge the electricity in the machine. Lauren watched as electricity cackled and fizzled into the loose wires, stringing them with enough energy to power a small ship. The end was near, she could feel it, but still she put on a hard face as Kit shot a pleased look at her. The guards were beginning to hold her head down so she couldn’t get away when they began to point wildly into the sky in front of them.

  Todd had heard everything. As he entered the atmosphere of the small planet, he had inadvertently switched the radio signals receiver on, enabling to hear the last few bits of Kit’s speech. Lauren could not die for an even more important reason now, and he wasn’t going to let her.  He could even hear what they were saying at that very moment.

“What is the hold up?” The Tox leader raged, and turned around to see what the commotion was about.

He had a split second to duck his furry head as a huge shape whizzed only a few feet over his ears. With her head still being held down, Lauren couldn’t see what was happening. She wanted to believe it was help, but how could she? After all, the others had already stated the fact that they were no going to risk the entire Earth’s safety in exchange for her life. The shape touched down onto the coarse sand, and the door opened up.

      “I’m here!” A childish voice rang out, and the blonde recognized it as Todd.

The tow-headed boy was so caught up in his arrival that it took him a few seconds to even realize he was surrounded by foes. Stuttering uneasily, he attempted to come up with an excuse to buy them time.

“Pizza delivery?” He gulped. (Lol, inside joke )

    The Toxes didn’t buy it for a second; in no time flat they were all charging towards the young man, baring their teeth and claws. Todd, having forgotten to extend the doorway ramp when opening the door, was forced to fling himself out of the ship. He landed flat on his face, causing him to cry out in pain. But there was no time for pain now. He had to save Lauren.

 Getting up as quickly as he could, the teenager ran straight through the crowd of Toxes and Fackals, pushing aside any that got in his way. In his clenched hand he held a bag of rocks. Not magnetizers, as Dreyfus had been guarding them when he went to sleep, but ordinary rocks. He had picked out the smoothest ones-he didn’t want to seriously hurt any Toxes- he could find around the campfire.

He hurled them wildly, hoping to clear an open path to get to Lauren. He immediately saw her when he reached the middle of the crowd. Panting heavily, he forced himself to run a few more feet towards her. By this time the mutated animals were going berserk, trying to claw their way through each other to reach the pink Human. The guard who had held Lauren’s head down lifted his clawed paw and rushed over to join in the fight, allowing her to see what was happening. She turned around, expecting to see the entire group of Peace Officers fighting the small army. But, no, there wasn’t a group of people.

   Just Todd.

The teenager was using his fists now, for a Fackal had tried to bite him, ripping the bag and spilling its contents. Punching any Tox or Fackal that got in his way, Todd slowly inched his way closer to the girl. A deep rage bubbled up inside the blonde upon seeing the boy try to single-handedly beat the crowd.

Why should he be alone? Her sense of rationality vanished, and with a loud growl of fury, pushed away the guards holding her down. At that moment, a muscular Tox grabbed hold of Todd and held him down. Another raised its paw, ready to slash out the poor teen’s throat.  Just as he was about to be ripped apart, Lauren elbowed his captivator in the chest, sending him reeling. Todd broke free as the clawed paw swung down, just inches from his face.

“Thanks,” he gasped.

Before he knew what was happening, the girl’s arms were wrapped around his neck, and she held him in a warm embrace. He awkwardly patted her reassuringly on the back, still facing the crowd of animals. He stuttered, trying to get her attention before they pounced. She let go and looked at him with a face that seemed as though she was about to cry.

“Thank you.” Was all she could manage to say.

   “Isn’t that sweet?” Kit mocked, pointing at the two. “We’ll let them die together, then, shall we? It’ll make the victory all the sweeter!”

The entire crowd turned and stared at their leader.

“You suck!” A lone voice called out.

“So cliché!” Another rang out.

Cheeks red with anger, the clumsy Tox chose to ignore the comment, and instead go straight for Lauren and Todd. He scooped up the Electron 3000 as he ran towards them. Having been charging the entire time, the machine cackled and glowed with electrical charge. The duo was beginning to help each other defend themselves again from the oncoming army when the Tox reached them.
 
“We’ll see who has the last laugh!” He said maniacally, lifting the machine high above his head.

“No! Sir, that’s a very delicate-” Trof tried to call out, but it was too late.

Kit had roughly thrown the fragile item on the ground in a puddle. The circuits running in and out of the blue box fizzled and trembled slightly. The pressure of 1000 volts of electricity made the sides fume and stretch, while glowing a slightly radiant yellow. The shaking increased, and the sides bulged out like a pimple waiting to be squeezed. Todd pushed one Tox out of his way in time to see the machine give one last monstrous rattle, then emit a high pitched squeal like he had never heard before.

The other animals’ sensitive ears caught the blast too, and soon all of them forgot about Todd and Lauren, and tried to run as far as they could from the crazed machine. The crowd passed by the two, hardly even acknowledging they were there. The two also began to run away, but in the opposite direction, towards the ship.

     They were beginning to sprint away from the shaking object when one of the guards passed by. He shot out his furry leg, sending both Todd and the blonde sprawling onto the ground. He laughed as he ran on, leaving the two for dead. They got up quickly, but not quickly enough. The machine’s insides groaned, and the sides burst like a watermelon. In an explosion of fire and electricity, the seams of the machine came completely undone, sending metal to go flying everywhere.

Smoke billowed from the explosion, and glass shattered. For a millisecond, Todd saw a sharp piece of the side fly towards his friend. She put up her hands, but he knew it wouldn’t do any good. He leaped in front of her body, throwing his arms out as far as they could stretch, in an effort to protect her body. With a soft thump, a sharp pain shot through his body from his stomach. The pain was antagonizing, but did not last long. The sights around him seemed to flicker like a light switch, then, slowly, go out completely...

To be continued...

SHIPPY! (And referencing the sting. Duh)

[Reply #21 on:]

Hahaha. Bath > wrath. I like that.

I like the theme of a technological gap. Luddites vs technophiles and technology as an object of social dominance, a kind of currency.

[Reply #22 on:]

WOOOOOOWOOWOWOWOW, that was so amaze, how Todd risked everything to save Lauren, how she embraced him, everything was so...so perfect...I love it!

I present you the Exploding Shipper Scorch Mark of Approvel

[Reply #23 on:]

Thankies. Wow, a ESSMA. 'Tis an honour. Congrads on both of you reaching the professor mark, too!

[Reply #24 on:]

Update time:
Chapter 7

The girl watched in silent horror as her friend’s limp body fell to the ground. Most of the Toxes, however, were less concerned; as soon as the dust and smoke had settled, they cautiously began inching their way back towards the girl. All but Artimus prowled closer with the intent on destroying the young human.

 What they were doing was wrong, he could feel it. But the elders had told him for so long that mankind was an evil, treacherous civilization, prone on making the beasts of the Isles unhappy. How could he ignore their wisdom? Scrambling to the front of the group, the young Tox watched intently to see what Lauren would do next.

 Choking back tears, the blonde slapped Todd’s face a few times, hoping, praying that he would move.

He didn’t.
   
Desperate, she pressed her ear to his chest, straining for a heartbeat, but none was heard. She sniffled, trying to hold the salty tears from spilling from her eyes. He had sacrificed his life to save her and the people of Earth. He had thrown himself in front of her, and took the hit. And there was nothing she could have done about it. She suddenly began to feel angry at the dead boy.

   “Why did you do that?” She screeched. “You killed yourself, all because of me! You shouldn’t have done that!”

Wiping her eyes with the sleeve of her shirt, her face suddenly softened. Nobody had ever done something so noble for her. Looking at his closed eyes, she saw that they looked almost peaceful, and wished she could enjoy that simple dissapearance from the world, too. But she knew she had to live, or the people of Earth would never be revived.

Her enemies were coming closer to her now, and she knew that there was no time worrying.  Looking down to his impaled stomach, she realized there was no blood, for the slice of metal had sealed the hole. That was good, for it enabled her to pick him up without difficulty.

Scooping him up in her arms, she looked wildly around for a place to hide, and her eyes locked onto the ship. Barely clinging to the sad body in her arms, she realized that the ship Todd had come in was still intact. A bit dusty, but flyable.

 Hopping into the driver’s seat and strapping herself in, the teenager grabbed the wheel and set her companion in the seat beside her. She strapped him in as if he were alive, shut the door and slammed on the gas pedal.

    The engines sputtered for a moment, having been knocked around by the explosion.

“Come on, come on!” The girl pleaded, willing the ship to lift off the ground. It didn’t budge, although the engines seemed to gain a bit more power.

“Get in the pod!” Kit screamed, demanding that his minions enter the small ship. “If she gets off the ground and into space, we have no chance of catching her. We killed one, but the other must die as well, or the plan will fail!”

   Only a handful of Toxes and a few Fackals managed to clamber into the flying device, as it wasn’t big enough to hold hundreds of animals. Artimus strained to be able to enter the pod, but to no avail. He watched longingly as his fellow beasts clambered inside. He thought about what Kit had called him; child. Runt. Baby. No one would call him names and get away with it.

His skinny body barely visible to the others as he snuck around the crowd of animals, Artimus managed to get to the back of the enormous spaceship. Pressing his fur against the metal sheet of covering, he waited as the human girl fought with the controls.

“We’ll see who’s the baby now.” He thought to himself. “I’ll get into the ship, even if it’s the last thing I-”

The young Tox was cut off as the blonde finally gained the upper hand, getting the spacecraft the lift off the ground. Clawing at the slick metal, he slipped and faltered for a moment before finding a slight dent in the side of the ship. Grabbing hold with his long claws, he strained against the wind whipping at his face as the ship picked up speed. Slowly, he inched his way across until he reached the door. He grabbed at it, missed, and nearly fell off.

He gulped and tried again, knowing that if he slipped even the slightest bit, he would be dead. This time one clawed paw found the door’s handle. The air was beginning to thin, and Artimus gasped for breath as he turned the knob, and gave the door a mighty push. He was nearly sucked right into the open hallway as the door flung open. The young Tox scrambled in, shutting the door behind him. He tried to make as little noise as he possibly could, and slunk to find the human scum.

To be continued...

[Reply #25 on:]

Ahhh, Lauren's reaction was very very good, and the little Tox, if his wasn't evil and confused I'd feel sorry for him. Yes this was another good update.

ESSMA re-awarded just because I like this fic! 
KitKat is ES approved

[Reply #26 on:]

Thankies again. Yup. Updates are going to be longer and quicker, just to let you know. It's been almost a week and I'm not getting as many replies as I would ave hoped. So, I'm still going to finish theproject, but quickly.

So here's an update:

    Led by Kit, the army of animals proceeded to follow the young woman into space, intent only on killing her. The Tox leader tried to think of a way to cause her death. Since there were no weapons on the ships, he couldn’t shoot her down, nor could he destroy her if she stayed in space.

Whatever he did, he would have to do quickly-if she got back to her companions, they may be able to figure out a way to take the metal clip of off her ear, dismissing the entire plan. He steered with his clumsy paws, pondering the situation.

As the wheels in his head turned slowly, his dim-witted mind struck a surprisingly good idea: he would follow the girl in secret, waiting until she returned to her friends. He would then gather them all up, eliminating the entire group of fiends and the girl, too at the same time.

The Tox’s evil eyes shone as he remembered how frazzled the girl had looked upon seeing her comrade dead. Soon, he would once again see that look when he killed the rest of her team, one by one, before her very eyes. Swinging the wheel around, he hollered to the rest of his followers.

“Turn the ship around, and get behind the Isle nearest to us! We’ll surprise the human filth by launching a surprise attack!”

  Kit heard woops and cheers erupt from the cabins in the hallway, and smiled wryly. Finally, their leader was getting the respect he deserved.
     
     Lauren watched with uncertainty as the miniature ship turned tail, disappearing behind one of the small planets orbiting Earth. She waited anxiously for a few minutes, daring the ship to come back out into the open. When it didn’t, she sighed inwardly.

Finally, things were beginning to look up.

Perhaps the Toxes were not defeated, nor had she relieved them of technology, but she was capable of returning to Earth for reinforcements. Unlike some others. Her eyes slid towards Todd’s deceased body, as if expecting him to pop his eyes open, ready to tell another corny joke, or do something stupid.
 
She forced herself to look away from the horrible shape protruding from his belly and tried to think of what to do. Instantly she thought of Drake’s Life Transfusion Module. It was supposed to have been untrustworthy, but it had worked once.

 Unable to help herself from double checking that the machine was really gone, she switched the ship’s autopilot on and rose from her seat. Picking Todd up ever so gently, she stepped into the vast hallway and let herself into Drake’s lab.

  The young Tox slipped into the bridge of the ship with the silence of a cool breeze. Upon noticing the human girl was not present, he investigated the room, sniffing chairs and overturning controls as he went. Picking up her scent, Artimus walked into the hallway of the ship, searching.

He saw a door on the left open, and peeked inside. There she was; the girl who all of his fellow Toxes hated so much. He himself could not see anything dangerous or particularly menacing about her, but if the others despised her, then maybe he should, too. Still, she was only a bundle of harmless meat and bones, and she seemed so sad about the loss of her friend.

 Artimus scratched his head, wondering what was right. He decided to kill her, just in case she really was something to fear and hate. Inching his way behind her, he raised one clawed paw, preparing to strike down on her head.

   Usually the doddering scientist refused to let anyone in, but this was an emergency. The white tiles of wall and floor stung Lauren’s eyes, but she forced herself look for another of Drake’s machines. She couldn’t remember what it was called, but she knew that it removed any objects protruding from flesh or bone.

Impatiently, she pointed it at the young man’s belly, and the metal disappeared. Now the blonde was going to see if the boy could really be revived. Lauren placed the heavy body onto the table, and strapped it in as she had seen Drake do. She flicked on some switches, and then stood back impatiently as the machine charged up.

 As she watched the LTM spring to life, the blonde relayed on what she had done with Todd since she had first met him. At first she had been afraid and saddened by the fact that the old Todd was dead, and had taken out her frustration on the young man. But no matter how cruel she had been, he still chose not to fight, and instead help her.

 He had, after all, told her he was very impressed by her work on the ship. That bit of kindness had softened her, made her begin to wonder if perhaps this new Todd was not so bad after all. And now, because of her, there was no Todd at all.

“If only I hadn’t been in the way of the explosion, none of this would have happened.” She berated herself. “And now because of me, he’s been skewered like meat.”

    The young Tox stopped right in his tracks. Not only was this a new sensation of overwhelming sympathy, but a certain thought crept up into his mind. Was what he was doing right? The elders had tried to harden him, to tell him that no human or creatures associated with humans could be trusted, but now here he was, feeling sad for her loss.

 Lowering his paw, he scrunched up his face in thought. Not only was what he was about to do going to prove he was no warrior, but would make him an outcast for the rest of his life.

 Being the nephew of the Tox leader isn’t easy, he thought to himself.

Still, it felt like the right thing to do, to try to make peace with the creature instead of attacking behind her back like a coward.

“Hello?” He mumbled awkwardly. “My name’s Ar-”
The female human had grabbed him by his neck in a split-second. Her eyes widened as she realized exactly what he was.

“Tox.” She spat, gripping his furry neck even tighter. “Who are you? Are there others? You’ll pay for what you’ve done!”

Stuttering and gasping for breath, Artimus began to reconsider his actions, when he noticed the sadness in the blonde’s eyes. Hot tears streamed down her cheeks, and she bared her teeth.

“Answer me!”

Choking, the young Tox managed to sputter out that there were no more Toxes onboard, nor was he there to hurt her. She frowned at him, then raised her eyebrows in defeat.

“I suppose you have to be telling the truth.” She mumbled. “Otherwise your fellow Toxes would have attacked already.”

Artimus nodded furiously, and Lauren let go of her hold on his neck. He fell to the metal floor with a sharp thud, wheezing and hacking. Regaining his breath, he told her of who he was, who his uncle was, and how he had gotten aboard.
 
“So,” he finished, “I’m here to talk peace, although I still can’t understand why.”

The blonde nodded slowly. What this young Tox said made sense, although she had never heard of a Tox who had turned good before.

“You can stay with me for now, if you like.” She said. “If you truly are intent on harmony, then perhaps you can help me and the rest of the Peace Officers find a way to calm your uncle down without having to take drastic measures. You can fight with us.”

Yes, Artimus would like that very much. The pup was still having diffuculty quite understanding why, but if there was one thing the elders had stressed it was this: Do what you think is right. Tough decisions could always be made that way.
He agreed to her offer, and noticed the body lying on the table behind her.

“Is that your…your fallen comrade?” He inquired.
“Yes.” Lauren replied in a strained voice. “I’m trying to bring him back through means of technology. But I’m not sure if it will work, you see, because sometimes the mind gets trapped over universes. That might happen to him if we’re not lucky, and he might be gone for good…” She trailed off, leaving the young Tox very confused.

 A sharp ding snapped her out of her thoughts, and she turned to see that the Life Transfusion Module scan Todd, checking to see if it could revive him. In all her life, she had never been so anxious to see that something went her way.

“Is that it?” exclaimed Artimus. “I have never seen technology besides the flying device before!  Please, let me have a look.” He leaped towards the LTM, getting caught in its path in the process.

“What the…AAAAAHHHHHHH!!!!” He yowled in pain as a beam of what looked like sunlight ran over his tail, then Todd’s body.

Obviously the machine caused pain, but as it was intended for non-living people, did not affect Todd at all.

PFFFFFFFTTTTTTT…

With a loud hiss, the machine died down, and the blonde leaned closer, watching to spot any signs of movement. Artimus too leaned in, still rubbing his tail in pain. Not so much as an eyelid fluttered, and the blonde slumped.

 Barely able to control herself, she turned her back to the body, and began to open her mouth to tell Artimus that it had not worked. Suddenly, a faint rustle was heard.

“Uuuughhhhhh….”

Chapter 8

   Drake and Caleb poked at the fire they had made while Dreyfus went out to find food. The trio had been stranded on the Isle of the Toxes for two days, and were beginning to get worried. Not only were they unlucky enough to have gotten stranded on a planet home to hundreds of enemies, but there was no guarantee that Todd would even make it back with Lauren.

He could have been killed, never to return, or worse, the Toxes could have stolen the ship. With every hour that passed a growing sense of anxiety filled each of them. Caleb, being himself, had not really said much about the topic, but had regularly been trying to settle fights Drake and Dreyfus had about whose fault it was to let Todd go. Dreyfus was back to his old self, usually starting the arguments and trying to make them violent.

When they weren’t fighting, Dreyfus was out gathering food, and Drake sat on the ground, clicking stones together in an attempt to make something useful. Caleb looked at the tinkering scientist and sighed.

    “It’s a shame those two don’t get along. They’d make a good team.”

Looking around in a bored conundrum, he glanced up at the sky. He saw what looked like a flock of birds grow larger, and larger, and-

   “Move!” He yelled at Drake and Dreyfus, who was jogging back with two rabbits in his claws.
 
The party ran out of the way as the giant spaceship landed, spreading dust with its mighty landing.

      Lauren gaped as she turned around and looked at Todd. She knew they were touching down on the planet, but this was too important to miss. He groggily poked his head out from the sheet covering him, and she sighed. Spreading her arms in happiness, she was about to rush at him when she stopped.

A fierce glare like she had never before seen met her eyes, and she felt a chill run up her spine. There was something, something she couldn’t quite put her finger on that wasn’t right about him.

“Move slowly to the door.” She whispered to Artimus, who was standing dumbfounded at the technology.

He nodded and slowly back up as Todd lifted his neck, straining to see them. Then, something clicked inside the girl. It couldn’t be, but there they were.

     Furry, pointed ears mounted on the top of his head.

“RUN! Get out of the ship!” She yelled at the young Tox, pushing him towards the doorway.
 
At that moment, the young ‘man’ ripped off the bed sheet, revealing his body; instead of hands, he had furry five fingered paws laced with dagger-like claws; clawed toes and paws replaced his feet; orange whiskers grew out of his cheeks and chin; and hard muscles replaced his soft body. His entire body was covered in orange fur, and a bushy tail flooded from his behind.

“NO!” The blonde cried, realizing. “Your Tox DNA must have been combined with my friend’s when you stepped in the way of the Life Transfusion Module!” She yelled at Artimus.

“No…I lost him again! Dammit!" The Tox tried to apologize, but was cut off.

HHHRRRRROOOOOOAAAR!!!!

The two burst into the hallway as the disfigured creature that was once Todd let out a shrill roar. In two leaps he bounded in front of them as they reached the door, blocking their exit. Artimus whimpered, but the blonde held her ground.

In a rush of impulse, she grabbed the young Tox by the scruff of his neck and hurled herself at the exit. Catching the beast by surprise, her hand found the handle of the door and she pushed with all her might. She and the Tox flew out the doorway and onto the planet’s surface as a steel trap of teeth clamped down inches behind them.

Dundundun...

[Reply #27 on:]

 
Does the "Dundundun..." part actually show up in the real manuscript?

[Reply #28 on:]

Lol, of course not, silly. I just added it bacause, er...I don't know why. Just decided to put it in when I edited the post (to make the paragraphs separated).
Here's a rough attempt at drawing the Tox-Todd:


Could use a little work, especially around the torso area, but all in all I thought it turned out OK. The face was my only real triumph.
Hope you enjoy it! 

[Reply #29 on:]

I...I...WOWOWOWOWOWOOW. That was fantstic, how Lauren was so concered, how Artimis turned good, the Tox-Todd,, I simply can't find the words to describe how much I liked, no, loved that!

[Reply #30 on:]

Thanks. I really wanted to make him a were-wolfish thing. Thise are always the most fun to write about.
Update:

Standing a good way back from the ship’s landing site, Caleb watched with interest as a form he could not decipher lunged out of the ship. His interest turned to horror as he made out the shape of a ponytail billowing out behind it, and a second form following close behind.

    “What is it?” Drake asked, walking up to Caleb. “I can’t quite put my claw on it. Oh, there, it’s landed.”

Indeed, Lauren and Artimus lay on the ground, gasping for breath and choking on foliage. The young woman spit out a dandelion plant, and rose up onto her elbows. Blinking in pain, she turned to see if her furry companion was alright as well.

She rolled him over, prodding at his rough body and looking at his closed eyes. She shook him violently, and in one quick jerk he sprung off the ground. He soon regretted moving so fast, and clutched his bruised ribs in pain.

   “Ooooh…,” he moaned. “Where’s that monster? Did it follow us?”

The blonde looked up to the ship and spied the creature still dangling from the door. What was once Todd was foaming at the mouth in rage, its intelligent eyes glinting at them ghoulishly.
 It flattened its pointed ears and snarled, then whirled around, back into the ship.

     “I can’t stand to wait and see who it is.” Drake said to Caleb, who was still watching the place where the forms had landed.

     “We must see if there’s a fight to be had!” Exclaimed his brother, attempting to reason with the curly haired young man.

He rubbed his chin a moment, and pressed his lips together. He wanted to know if it was Lauren and Todd flying from the ship as well, but how could he be sure it wasn’t a trap? He sighed inwardly and gave the crocodilians a swift nod.

     “We will go then.”

    “Good choice. If my math is correct, then whatever fell from the ship should be approximately 179.9 feet northwest from the spot where we stand.” The scientist reported, pleased that he could finally share his intelligence after arriving on the planet.

     “Then let’s get a move on!” Dreyfus said gruffly, and began to march towards the landing site.

Lauren stared a moment more at the ship’s door before it closed behind the half-man creature. She half expected it to jump out and rip them to shreds, but the entrance remained sealed.

Breathing out in relief, the blonde dusted herself off and spoke to Artimus.

“The technology you saw, Artimus, and the machine that brought my friend to life, scans life organisms and re-harvests the cells to bring the person back. When I was scanning him, you got in the way, and although I’m not an expert on this stuff, I would assume scanned your Tox DNA as well, combining the two.”
She explained hastily.

She looked into the animal’s curious eyes and continued. “This is actually quite similar to how your species, the Toxes, and other species of sentient animals were created.” She finished.

    A tremor rose throughout the young animal’s body; it was not easy to hear exactly how his people were created, nor was it a happy thought. It simply flooded his mind once again with the elders’ words, his father’s words, and the rest of the army’s words.

 He knew that now that he had befriended this human, he could never again return to them without being called a traitor. Never would he fulfill his dream of fighting a valiant battle with them, and come out victorious. He had always been called too little to fight, but he would still wage war.

Only this time it would be to stop the madness, not fuel it.

      The blonde shivered as a sharp breeze cut though the tree line and blew into her face. Eager to put a fair distance between her and what was once her friend, she turned to a mass of trees, then to an open field.

 Unsure of which direction to begin looking for her fellow Peace Officers, she wrinkled her brow and scrunched up her nose in anguish. She was about to turn right when she heard voices from inside the dense forest. Sniffing the air, the Toxes ears perked up, and his eyes widened.

 He pressed himself against a nearby pine tree, and seemed to disappear into the forest itself.

   “I told you not to come this way, but no, going through the forest was your idea of a ‘shortcut!’ If you weren’t my brother, I would never have listened.” The voice of the Weapons Manager said. “Not only that, but I would have given you such a-Lauren!”

   He cut his sentence short as he came into view of the blonde. He grinned broadly and gave her a quick embrace. The others also hugged her in rejoice, and began to throw an avalanche of questions at her.

    “How did you survive? Will you need my medical assistance?”

    “Whose butts do we have to kick?”

    “Where is Todd?”

The last question, asked by Caleb, caught her off guard. She had not thought of a way to break the story to them, nor had she thought about what their reaction would be. Gulping slightly, she gestured to the others to sit beside her in a pile of leaves, and prepared to tell them a very long story.

She glanced over to the pine where Artimus still stood, making sure he was still there. When he was, she began to speak.

Little did she know that there were two pairs of inhuman eyes watching her every move.

Chapter 9

He jumped out of the ship when the blonde turned her back, ready to pounce once more. A bundle of thoughts, garbled memories and words snaked through the half man, half Tox’s brain.

 Memories from the human Todd sang through his mind; he remembered how to operate the ship’s controls, what planet he was on, and what the names of certain foods were, although he couldn’t remember where he had learned them. Lastly, one strand of memory played in his head like a broken record:

 Get. Even. With. Kit. The. Tox. Leader.
   
The pounding command, mixed with new Tox senses and emotions were enough to boil him down to nothing if he were mortal. The change, however, had made him stronger both physically and mentally, and he pushed aside the child’s mind as the Tox in him took over.

 He could not shun the thought of Kit away, but seeing as he was not present, it didn’t matter. His Tox instincts told him to hate the smell, sight, and existence of humans and all who helped them.

So, as he soared through the cool air, his thoughts were glued to killing humans. He landed with a soft bump behind the human girl and her friends, watching, waiting to strike.

    It was a long while before the girl stopped talking. Finally, he would have a chance to attack when they all turned around to leave; he could take the humans dead-on, but the reptilians would be a much harder foe. He sniffed at the air, smelling the pungent odor of sweaty human, the marshy smell of the Frocodilians, and something else he had not picked up before.

 He tilted his nose to take a whiff, but stopped when he saw the female point at something in the forest, causing the others to turn around for a moment. Seeing his chance, he lunged, preparing to rip open human and Frocodilian flesh with his bare claws. Suddenly, in mid-flight, a heavy object slammed him to the ground.

 It rose on two feet, gasping for breath. The disfigured Todd rolled onto his back, staring at what had hit him. His demon-like eyes widened when he saw that it was, in fact, a fellow Tox. How dare one of his own kind betray him?

GGGRRRRRRROOOOOOOOOWW!!!!!

He let out a monstrous howl and leaped to his feet to face the challenger. Driven to kill, the beast swiped at the traitor, no longer caring if the others heard him. This Tox had come into contact with humans, and that was all the reason he needed to destroy it.

The Tox leaped nimbly out of the way, dodging his outstretched claws as they clawed the air millimeters from his stomach. It bared its own spear-like teeth, beckoning a challenge. It was a good act, but not good enough to fool the sly monster. The challenger reeked of fear.

Grinning, the beast circled the young one, whose stench of fright grew with each passing moment. He was about to tear at his throat when he heard a rustle of leaves behind him. Pricking his ears up, he turned to face the noise. Standing there were two humans and two Frocodilians.

The reptiles stuck out their long snouts and lifted their sharp claws above their heads. The human and Tox combination cast one last look of despise at the young Tox, then bounded off into the woods.

       The young blonde leaned against a slightly violet coniferous as her friends shot her looks filled with confusion and terror. She had not yet gotten to the part about Todd, or the story of Artimus when the creature had caused the commotion.

 It was lucky that they had heard the thunderous roar at that moment, or her Tox friend would have been ripped to pieces.

      “Let’s get this one!” Dreyfus
proclaimed, pointing at Artimus. “This is one of the fiends that trapped you in the first place.”

He prepared to swipe at the furry animal when Lauren put out her hand to stop him.

       “He’s a friend.” She explained, and told the rest of her story.

By the end, her friends were in awe. Caleb said nothing, but his face twisted in anguish. Even Dreyfus was moved by the tale, although he tried his very best not to show it.

 The young lad was a tad on the dim side, but his actions spoke loud and clear: he would never do anything to hurt anyone. He had even risked his life to save Lauren, and prevailed. Although now, his life was a mangled knot of deformity and a wild desire to kill.

        “I think I understand how this happened.” The scientist piped up, delicately scratching his snout in thought. “And I’m almost positive I know how to bring the real Todd back.”

All four heads, furry, scaly or pink, rose in interest.

“How?” Four voices said in unison.

The scientist plucked a twig and twirled it thoughtfully between his long claws.

“By zapping him with the very machine Lauren used to remove the shard of metal from his belly. It’s quite simple, actually; you simply have to retrace and redesign the endoplasmic circuits to connect to the terracing module, creating a strategic reaction that will combust.”

When his deductions were met by blank stares, he sighed and tried to make things easier. “What I’m trying to say is, if I make some modifications to the machine, I can use it to separate DNA instead of objects. The only problem would be getting him to stay still long enough.”

Somehow, Lauren seriously doubted the creature that was once her friend would ever willingly comply.

   “But there is far more important business to attend to right this instant.” The Weapons Manager put in. “We can deal with Todd later, after the problem with the Toxes is taken care of.”

   “Oh, no, there’s nothing to worry about.” The blonde replied. “The cowards turned tail before I reached the planet.”

   The teenaged Tox shook his head. He knew his uncle far better than that.

       “No. He would never have given up on the hunt for a human.” He retorted, frowning in anger. “He is dead set on destroying you all. We should keep and eye open for him. I have the feeling he’s still out there somewhere, waiting.”

Instinctively, the group raised their eyes to the treetops, scanning for any signs of a ship. None was found.

      “I think we should gather our alliances and rally against the Toxes.” Suggested Dreyfus. “Let us seek out friends, like the Kolves, and produce an army far greater than anything they could handle.” With that, he began to tromp through the long blades of grass towards the ship.

       “Please, let’s allow them a chance to make peace before we do anything.” Caleb pleaded. “Perhaps not all of them wish to be in this war any more than we do.”

As usual, Caleb was bent on making harmony first, rather than fighting. But he had a very valid point. If one joined their forces, would others?

       “Fine.” The Frocodilian agreed. “But if they do not want to talk harmony, we will have to wipe them out.”

It was settled. Cautiously, they walked a short way to the edge of the forest and into the open field where the ship rested. Checking first to make sure the evil Tox-man was not hiding anywhere, they lowered the steps and climbed in.

[Reply #31 on:]

Brilliant once again, but I worry about Todd...

[Reply #32 on:]

You should.
He's going to become quite a villain...
but don't worry too much. He'll be back.

Chapter 10

The group touched down on the other side of the planet in about five minutes, seeing as how it wasn’t a very big planet. However, it was still far more convenient than walking. They all rushed out of the ship as a small group of Kolves slipped out of the forest to greet them.

      “What is your business here?” An unfamiliar Kolf asked. “You rid us of the Toxes, so what do you want?” 

The Peace Officers hurriedly described to the situation, and what they wanted from them. After hearing them out, the animal went pale and his throat went dry.

      “I-I will gather the troops at your disposal.” He said, and gave them a short lop-sided salute. “The Toxes are our enemies, and we wish to get even with hem for taking the lives of many of our greatest heroes. Of course, this one is an exception.”

He gestured at Artimus, and the Tox positively glowed; he had never received so much praise and attention with his fellow creatures.

The group thanked the chief, and he called over his warriors. There were about 50 in all, each armed with the longest teeth and claws any of them had seen.

       “We’ll be on our way, then.” Lauren stated, and opened the ship.
       
        The group traveled many other Isles, including the homeland of Drake and Dreyfus, in search of comrades. Once they had collected quite a few Cerilians, they moved on to the planets of the Yeavers, Fears, Vowls, and Kaguars; beaver, bear, owl and jaguar-like creatures who stood about as tall as a human man and bore the distinct trademarks of their less intelligent ancestors.

Almost all on the animals they had asked for help from readily agreed, as they were on good terms with the humans and did not wish to be ruled by Toxes any more than they did. The ship’s dome was very crowded by the time the hundreds of creatures had gathered onto it, and provisions ran low quickly.

 As they neared the Tox planet, the Peace Officers called a meeting with the animals to talk about battle plans, and answer any questions they might have.

         “When are we going to fight? How do we know where the Toxes will land?” An older Hrizzly Fear asked. He ruffled the broad mane of fur surrounding his concerned face, and narrowed his beady eyes. “How do we even know we can beat them?” He questioned.

 It was Artimus who spoke up. “We are not certain if the Toxes will be landing here on this Isle at all, or what time. But I am almost positive that if they are still out there, they will gather on their homeland to recruit more armies, and form more alliances. However, this doesn’t mean we will attack immediately, for if peace can be made, we will sort things out with words. ”

The aged Fear looked disapprovingly at him. He was not used to being outsmarted, or to know less than someone else so young.

But the dog-like creature was determined to prove himself worthy of battle, and convince the others that he was just a puny runt. He raised his skinny arms up to silence the murmurs of questioning animals, and looked back as someone tapped his back.

        “Good job.” Lauren grinned, and patted his furry shoulder. “We’re touching down on the planet now, so you can gather the troops.”
Artimus nodded and turned again to the crowd.

“We are nearing the surface!” He hollered. “Everyone, to the exits!”

     Hundreds of bodies swarmed from the dome, pushing against each other in an attempt to reach the doors first. The Kaguars yowled in excitement as they left the spacecraft, their wild eyes and long tails twitching feverishly. The Fears growled heavily, trying to fit their wide bodies through the doorways, and the Feavers bared their long front teeth, grinning and flapping their scaly tails.

The Kolves and Frocodilians were a bit less energetic, and resigned to slinking off at the back of the pack. Once all of the creatures were safely outside, the Peace Officers also allowed themselves into the dawn outside, and joined the others as they waited for the enemy to arrive.

       Kit had had an excellent break from ruling the others as they followed the girl’s ship through the black void of space. They had watched secretly as they traveled many planets, gathering friends for what they could only guess was a fight. But that would not stop them. No, as the Peace Officers rallied animals to use at their disposal, the Toxes also had business to attend to.

The small pod visited the Isle of the Fackals, Lyenas, and Yazelles, where the inhabiting creatures all agreed to fight for them in exchange for power over the humans. These animals were all troublemakers by nature, and had been visited by Peace Officers many times before. Because of this, each harbored a deep hatred of humans as well, and practically leapt for joy when they heard about what they could do.

Now, the dangerous animals cramped the small pod, completely filling any and every nook and cranny available. The Yazzeles clicked their hooves nervously on the polished metal floor, and flicked their long antlers, skittish at having to be in such a different environment that the grasslands they were used to.

 They teetered uneasily on their two rickety legs that were almost too small to support the enormous weight of their heads, sending the Lyenas into fits of laughter. The fir on their backs bristled and they clamped their jaws shut, however, as the Tox leader approached them, wading through the sea of animals. Trof waddled by his side, commenting on the astounding look of the troops.

         “Fellow features!” He cried.

         “Creatures!”

          “Whatever.” He replied to the anonymous voice. “We shall be touching down on the planet surface in about 2 minutes, so everyone had better get serious faces on. We are going to meet the humans on our home planet, and attack them as they lie in wait!”

The crowd cheered, and Trof insisted on shaking his paw while boosting his ego. Kit wrung his claws together, trying to look evil for the crowd. If it was a fight the Peace Officers wanted, it was a fight they would get.

       They spread themselves out among the tall trees, trying not to give away their positions in case the Toxes chose not to talk things over. Caleb stayed in clear view, ready to give his speech as soon as the Toxes landed. For hours they waited, but still they held their ground. The Peace Offices made rounds every once in a while, encouraging the other animals not to give up hope.

 It was about noon when a black shape filled the sky, and the creatures chattered nervously. Lauren gave them the signal to quiet down, and the talking stopped. Caleb stood bravely as the turbulence from the pod pulled at his face, threatening to rip it off. The furrowed his brow and put a hand out in an attempt to cut down the wind, never taking his eyes off the spacecraft.

The pod landed silently on the grassy floor, and the animals held their breath. Even Caleb was frightened when the craft slowly opened, revealing a Tox in the doorway.

       “Welcome,” sang Kit, “to our home planet once again. We wish to make peace, if you are willing.”

Caleb stood dumbstruck; never had he heard of any Toxes who wished to make peace other than Artimus. In the foliage, Lauren and the Cerilians also gaped in wonder. But the relief of making harmony was quickly replaced with suspicion.

How could they be sure they could trust them?

       “If you are truly willing to end this foolishness,” The Peace Counselor boomed with confidence he did not truly feel, “then you and your fellow Toxes must all come out of the pod with your hands, er, paws up in the air.”

The leader simply shrugged his sleek shoulders and raised his arms. Trof also followed by his side, as well as a few dozen of the Toxes who had been with them since the beginning.

They formed one straight, furry line in front of the edge of the forest, seemingly content with backing down. The Peace Officers sighed in relief, seeing that there was no trap.

       “Now, tell us what you propose we do about this situation.” The curly haired teen inquired.

       “I have only one word to say.” The clawed animal replied coolly.

        “And what is that?”

The creature smirked. “NOW!!!”

To be continued....

[Reply #33 on:]

I like this story so far, I especially like how you spell the animal creatures differently from the way their actually spelled

[Reply #34 on:]

MORE, please, I'm dying from suspense!

[Reply #35 on:]

Thanks Tyraniak. I was getting worried that jle and coldangel_1 were going to be the only 2 people ever to read it.
And jle, don't worry. Here:

Chapter 11

At the sound of Kit’s voice, over a hundred animals flooded from the small pod; it was unbelievable just how many the Tox leader had managed to squash in there. They came swiftly, hooting, hollering, braying and laughing like maniacs.

 The pack paused a moment at the base of the ship, unsure of where to go next. Drool slipped from the Lyena’s fangs, and the Yazzelles tossed their huge antlers impatiently.

       “Well?” The Tox leader demanded. “They’re hiding in the trees, you idiots!”

The animals nodded feverishly at each other, and charged at the trees, ripping up saplings and bushes by the roots in search of enemies. In the confusion, Kit slunk over to the awaiting enemies, looking for something.

From the corner of her eye, the blonde saw Drake spin around a few feet away, and the Tox leader gripping something in his paws. Something would have to be done, and quickly.

  Lauren’s mind raced as battle plans swam in and out of her head. She closed her eyes in concentration, and took a few deep breaths. She was, after all, General, and wasn’t about to give up any time soon.

What to do, what to do...Where was the best place for defense? Straining to remember, a rocky image filled her vision. The blonde snapped her eyes open and cupped her hands over her mouth.

          “Caleb!” She cried to the Peace Counselor, as he backed away from the oncoming army in fear. “Caleb, tell that side of the troops to head over to the mountains in the West! And hurry!”

The teen gave her the thumbs up and yelled at the creatures in his side of the forest to race to the mountains. Their jagged peaks formed a tight ring no more than 150 yards from the edge of the woods, and could be reached if they hurried. The Frocodilians, Kaguars, and Fears raced from the trees, leaving the Feavers to waddle behind them.

They panted and slapped their tails in exhaustion as Kit’s army figured out where they were going, and began to follow. Suddenly, they were flying up, into the air; a few Fears snapped them up into their shaggy paws, determined not to leave them behind.

 Even as they rushed past, a number of Frocodilians and Kaguars picked up the rest of the Feavers and barged onwards, careful not to cut them with their claws. The group was huffing and puffing for breath when they reached the base of the alps.

        “Now what?” One feline meowed in a silky voice. It didn’t have to wait long for an answer.

The beasts chasing them skidded, almost comically, to a stop before they reached the group of Peace Officer comrades. The Fackals howled uncertainly, pointing up to the sky. Even the Lyenas stopped laughing maniacally for a moment, and the Yazzelles snorted in fear.
      “Head for those hills over there!” A frightened Fackal voice rang out. 
The evil beats stampeded back towards a cluster of hills about a kilometer away from the mountains, screaming and pointing at the mountain peaks the entire way.
 
        “Come back you cowards!” Kit cried, and ran over the purple grass to see what the mishap was.

 When he caught a glimpse of it, though, he braked with his furry paws and stared.
The Peace Officers were just as confused, and peered out from around the base to get a better look at the mountaintop. It was an unbelievable sight.
        “I-I thought you were dead.” The Tox leader whispered as a blur of orange and blue landed on him.

        His tattered remains of clothing still clung to the beast as the grabbed the Tox leader by the neck and lifted the choking being up above his head. Kit thrashed wildly, clawing at the mutant with his hind and front legs. He winced as it simply tightened its hold, hardly acknowledging the Tox’s feeble attempts at causing him pain. In fact, it smirked as it watched his face turn blue, and the fur lining his muzzle bristle in anguish.

 The mechanical eye clicked and whirred madly, as though it was in pain too, and Kit fell limp. Artimus looked on with tears in his eyes, unable to bear the sight of death. He shoved away the salty water streaming from his eyes and got up from his hiding place.

      “Artimus, no!” Lauren and Caleb cried out at the same time, but there was no stopping him.

“The dumb mutt’s going to get himself killed.” Dreyfus muttered, as Drake scratched out some calculations behind him with a stick.

       “If I am correct, as I usually am,” he reported, “then there is no physical way that our young friend can beat Todd. His muscle mass, combined with humanoid paws and upper torso make it impossible, if not very improbable.”

Still, the Tox ran onwards; he didn’t care if Kit was an enemy, he was still his uncle. And he would not let him be murdered by the brute. Sensing movement behind him, the mutated human looked out of the corner of his yellow eyes and smiled. It relaxed its grip on Kit, sending him into a fit of coughing and hacking.

Before Artimus could even touch him, he span around, lashing out his long furry arms and catching the pup in the jaw. He let out a shrill yelp and collapsed onto the ground, a small cut oozing slowly above his muzzle. Todd chuckled and regained his hold on the dimwitted leader.

The Peace Officers and the other creatures of the army looked on uncertainly, afraid to be chopped to pieces by the beast, yet longing to help Artimus back to his feet. That thought, however, was unnecessary, as the young pup rose slowly to his hind legs and gave one last leap at the creature still holding his uncle captive.

 He bit into the captor’s arm, closing down on inches of heavy fur, and a small bit of flesh. Still, it was enough to send Todd reeling, throwing Kit to the ground in the process.

“Artimus?” He choked out. “Is that you?”

Disbelief crowded his half closed eyes; he could not imagine his runt of a nephew ever saving his life.

His wild eyes glinting with fury, he snapped at his arm, sending spit everywhere, but not hurting Artimus. Instead the young Tox leaped out of the way, spitting out fur as he landed. The creature waggled its head uncertainly, unable to decide who was a more important target.

Kit, Kit is the one you must kill…

The voice in his head urged, and he growled deeply. Ignoring the young one for a brief period of time, he turned towards the fallen Tox. He had opened his eyes to slits, and was rubbing his hairy throat profusely.

Seeing the killing machine coming for him again, he shot up to his hind legs, wobbling ever so slightly.
     
     Meanwhile, at distant hills, Trof was getting ideas ready for the legion of evil animals.

   “We do not need Kit.” He stated, switching loyalties very quickly. “I, instead, shall lead you onwards, to victory, to power, and best of all, to the falling of the human empire!”

The other creatures agreed quickly, eager to be rid of their old bumbling leader.

     “That dolt Kit brought us no good!” A Fackal exclaimed, its raspy voice seething with fury.

The flurry of creatures beat their chests, and all of them, male and female, young and old, thrust their clenched paws or hooves into the air.

      “Hail the new leader, Trof!” They chanted in a steady rhythm.

Trof listened as the glorious sound of his name reverberated against his tall ears and wafted into his brain. Such a feeling of triumph flooded his mind, and he turned to his dim-witted followers, smiling.

As the noise quieted down, he thought of his plans for mutiny, to win back his honor, and not be some idiotic sidekick again. No, if Kit even survived the attack from the beast that had pinned him to the ground, he would be Trof’s minion, not the other way around.
                 
      “Let us plan an attack on the human scum!” He announced, and leapt into his plans for revenge.

      Todd smiled cruelly as he shot towards the wounded Tox like a bullet. He knew there would be no escape for it; it had done something wrong, something so unforgivable that the demand to kill him was lodged in the back of the mutant’s brain like food caught in one’s teeth.

 But as he rushed Kit, a sliver of human conscious bubbled into his mind.
No,, it said, completely against all other instincts.
 No, do not kill. Do not harm. This life can be spared.
 The real Todd, the one that had been alive just days before, would never destroy a living thing out of such spite. Meanwhile, the rest of him fought savagely against it.

Do it! Kill it! It hurt your friend, now you must repay the favor!
No.
Yes!
NO.
YES!
His mind was a swirl of thoughts and images as he neared the Tox, who had gained its ground and raised its paws defensively. A picture of Lauren smiling at him drifted past, and he shuddered.

 The sight of Kit now, leading Lauren to her death, sending red hot bursts of anger coursing through his body. Now, him and the blonde standing side by side, ready to face a one-sided battle against the Toxes.

Each vision became a punch to the stomach, and he twitched uncontrollably, forcing him to lean on paw against the side of the mountains. He grasped its rocky edge tighter with each passing moment, shaking terribly.

Todd opened his clenched eyes to small slits, looking out at the others, who were staring at him in confusion and terror. Unfamiliar beasts caught his eye, hiding behind rocks and boulders. Suddenly, his gaze landed on one familiar face, a pale face, full of fright, ful of longing.

Lauren.

Beside her crouched the two Frocodilian brothers, waiting to see what he would do. And lastly, Caleb, hiding a little ways off, closer to a group of huge mammals that resembled bears.

It was as if seeing the world through new eyes, and the struggle for control of Todd’s mind grew more complicated, almost too much for even the Tox part of him to handle.

 Aware that he was foaming at the mouth, Todd turned a pair of mournful eyes to Lauren.

Help me, he pleaded silently, and plodded shakily towards her.
 

[Reply #36 on:]

Oooooh... what happens next?

[Reply #37 on:]

You'll just have to wait a few hours and see. I'm not going to post more until jle's read it, you know. She seems to really like this.

[Reply #38 on:]

Could be all the fluffy animals. Something about young girls and fluffy animals, I dunno...

[Reply #39 on:]

is that what your a proffesor of??? if so that is sooooo i like fluffy things and how do you draw soooooooo good