#im realizing its also kind of. the first rpg i played with ANY sort of romance mechanic. and i might have gone in
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Hi Bingo! I just wanted to say that I've been lurking and looking at your art for your lancer campaign for a while now and I think it's so cool! You've kinda inspired me to check out the system for myself too! I hope it's not too much trouble/making you retread anything you've talked about before, but I'd be really interested to hear your thoughts on the system and how it's worked out for your campaign! I really love mecha stuff, but I think the genre can be pretty rife with militarism that I'm not super into. I get the sense though that you've been able to find a good way to slot these really cool characters into the setting and focus on their interactions while also getting the fun of that sweet sweet mech combat. My inquiry is very low stakes haha, so nw if you don't have time to gather all your thoughts (I know that if I was tasked to talk about my own campaigns my head would burst into flames just trying to sift through what I'd want to say :P) Anyway, just a little friendly wave to you to say your art is very inspirational, and keep up the great work!
OH WOW this is . whuhh. WOW! sorry im like. wtff. i mean i ramble about my characters a lot but i didn't think anyone else actually gave a fuck which is completely ok, i just WHUHH..!!! holy shit. excitement aside, i get where you're coming from. honestly i was never into the mecha genre, but lancer rpg really made me realize how cool it is! like im not a really technical guy, and i feel like lancer is VERY strategy-heavy in combat; unless you know what you're doing and what everything does, you can easily get overwhelmed with all the features and all the things to consider in the math. for me its a lot because i struggle with spatial understanding and any sort of mathematics. that's my only real gripe on the system, but that might also just be every other system as well. it's more of a personal issue than that of the system, my friends all picked it up super quick. as for the genre, yeah, i find militaristic shit a drag and mecha has the same feel to me. its got a layer of professionalism and seriousness i don't enjoy, nor wish to play along with, so i get what you mean yeah. thankfully my friend who dms the campaign is just. Holy fuck; she just has a huuuge extra care for character stories and weaving them into the narrative she explores. so really, its her i've to thank for making mecha stuff FUN for me. lancer can certainly run hand-in-hand with militaristic-focused rp, i was in a oneshot with that sole focus and while it was interesting, without that interesting narrative stuff you kind of lose steam, but ive grown so fond of dog days cuz of how my friend lets our characters develop AND helps them do that. that and the way she sets up the story, just. FUUUUCK. the military is an afterthought in what is a fight against time and para-causality sinking its teeth into what little sanity we have. we fight against something that is a victim and a perpetrator. we're the worst people to be tasked to be saving an entire planet too, but here we are. as cheesy as it is, it's all about who you play with. thats the feel i get about most systems. honestly why im so ehhh about playing with strangers, when i'd rather play with people i like. all systems strike me as more of a tool; its the way you use em yk? the experience you get from them are more reflective of who you're telling a story with (or fighting alongside, there's no right way to play. i just really like narrative storytelling). so really, ive to thank my friends, especially @spaginithethird who introduced me to lancer in the first place as a dm!!!!!!!!!! TO A LOT OF SYSTEMS ACTUALLY shes rlly knowledgeable abt this stuff and very very very sweet too o7 so yeah really, its a really fun system BUT to me, i wouldnt be playing lancer if i didn't have a narrative to go by and follow with people i like. i am always sayin this but its my favorite thing when it comes to ttrpgs
#THANK YOU FOR THE ASK BTW#im really happy ppl like lancer.. its a surprise 2 me#i usually just talk bullshit because i like talking about ocs#so its really aieee...#i havent been drawing a lot due to unending slumps so that really means a lot.. ty dude#sorry im bad at explainin shit i REALLY hope i make sense and hopefully youll like lancer too!!!!!#lancer rpg
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honestly thinking about it more, i should have waited to do any romances. the first time i played the games i was just kind of bumbling around with absolutely NO idea how the romance mechanics worked, and there was definitely enough going on just stumbling blindly trying to keep up with the plot. for the most part, i tend to prefer my second romance choices because i knew what was going on and could focus actual brainpower on choosing a love interest
my first choices for the first two games (leliana, merrill) were really just bc. they were the only wlw options and i picked up the crumbs i was given. nothing against those two characters, theyre absolute sweethearts but i say this very platonically. im just not accustomed to having a lot of options; you get one (1) gay one and you have to settle for whoever it is. (at the time i was dealing with Plenty of internalized stuff and still felt too ashamed to be comfortable engaging with isabela and realize it's ok to be into it, she's not just horny as a joke lol)
josephine is absolutely an exception to the above; the first time i saw her i was smitten but in the same breath didn't want to admit it. it felt like the set-up for a self-deprecating joke. i told myself not to get my hopes up, that because i liked her so much, she wouldn't be romanceable. of course i would fall for the unattainable character, that was my thing with morrigan when i didnt do my research and just went in blind with a female warden. she's hot but obviously not made with people like me in mind, move along
as much as i love her, i definitely didn't come to josephine's romance at the right time; i was nearing the end of the period where i'd been struggling with "am i actually objectifying women by finding them attractive" and the beginning of realizing "hey it actually sucks that so many wlw relationships are either made for the male gaze or theyre sanitized, very 'pure uwu soft romance' with Some Chaste Kissing Only" the former of which made me feel guilty for having actual interest in pursuing her, the latter which made me uncharitably angry at the way her romance was written. it felt like another thing where it's just like, well you cant have it all
(anyway now that ive let myself be horny and romanced isabela and sera, and seen that these games are actually capable of doing it well, ive calmed down and realized i was being unreasonable. i actually love how josephine's is written like an homage to classic romance novels, 12/10)
#posting cringe by talking about how gorgeous josephine is#dragon age#learning from the fact that the last post like this got notes i wasnt anticipating:#this is a personal post#im kind of just oversharing and talking to myself#idc if you want to reblog this. i dont know why you would but if its relatable or have a similar experience thats cool#but please dont do so to talk about other characters#yes i could have saved myself a lot of trouble beforehand by finding a guide to read about all of this stuff#but honestly i prefer to go in blind and stumble around by myself rather than having someone else's opinions color it for me#when i dont know what the game is about i want to fall back on my gut and be self indulgent#but i tripped at the starting line bc morrigan was unavailable :/ and that set the tone for the series i think#'get used to disappointment bitch'#im realizing its also kind of. the first rpg i played with ANY sort of romance mechanic. and i might have gone in#with unrealistic expectations#i tried it bc i heard you could be gay. i didnt realize there would still be limitations to that#anyway im normal about it now#but also having done subsequent playthroughs where i have tried my damnedest not to romance anyone i realize its actually like. impossible#in origins at least#im having fun bantering with my pals and suddenly they get the idea we're in a relationship :/#that game is rly not built for celibacy#a few wardens ago i tried to not romance anyone and i somehow still started awakening with a letter from zevran#my last playthrough i somehow ended up with alistair and leliana in love with my warden#i was trying to romance zevran#i didnt choose the line to invite him to my tent ONE TIME and when i went back later it was gone :(#idk if you only get one chance or if his approval got too high by the next time i came back bc i was rly spamming him w gifts#so it just. fell back on the other options i guess#josephine#personal.txt
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im kinda want to get into this sort of thing so is it okay to ask u a few questions? if not just delete this, but here goes? would u reccomend game maker studio 2, and how hard is it to use in ur opinion? and is there anything u wish u knew at the beginning of making ur fangame?
aw anon you’re so sweet! don’t worry about asking about this, its really exciting to make games and trying new things! i would not say i’m an expert, and i wouldn’t even say i know gml like. at all. i just understand a how the code is used, but now what the code itself is or what to type exactly. like, i understand the theory more so than actually doing it. which is, eh, fine? i’m getting by, and i’m still learning. i’ve only been using gms 2 for 2 months now.
also, i’m using a fangame engine! i feel its kinda like cheating lmao, but its just meant to be a framework to build your own thing off of. and i still need to learn gms2 to use it, and i plan on doing more advanced and complicated things (ie: changing how battles even work structurally.) so. i’m not good at gsm2 yet, but uh, really once you understand coding its not any harder than i’d imagine w/ other professional game engines. compared to unity, i like this better because it seems built on the idea of making 2d sprite games. its SO much more simpler and the userface (while. i’m not a fan of how it has its workspace but whatever) is simple and easy to grasp.
i can’t say for certain if i recommend game maker. its very pricey and doesn’t go on sale often. (big sales i mean, it goes on 15% somewhat frequently) i really, really recommend doing your research first.
so here i talk about what game engines i’ve used over the last year. (also i hear Godot is good!)
at the end of that post i said this: “TLDR; figure out what kind of game and story you want to tell/make. i could of saved a year’s worth of work if i just sat myself down and realized i wanted to make a completely new fangame separate from my old blog stuff. and that i wanted to make an rpg specifically.“
and so! past me has good advice. figure out the scope and what story do you want to tell. with AL, I know it has 2 chapters, and rn i’m only concentrating on chapter 1. chp 1 has 7 nights and one area where you fight enemies. its very story/character driven and is more so like. a deconstruction of the rpg genre than an actual rpg game. (i know that the word deconstruction is over used as hell, but it is what this is.)
it builds off the themes of the original, while focusing on things that i want to focus on and develop. ut, at it’s heart, is about stories and grief, i’m just taking it to a different extreme and angle.
uh, anyway, i really wish i knew what i wanted to make and understood the source material more and what i wanted to make. i’ve. thought really really hard over what UT means, what message toby was trying to convey, how he did it and what I thought about it. understanding what YOU want from and for your project is the most important thing. WHY do you want to make this? WHAT do you want people to feel and think about when playing? or even, after playing? it doesn’t have to be super deep either.
so, figure out what you what to make, and then you can work on the how. really plan your story, but honestly i wouldn’t recommend planning it in super big details right off. also, super helpful to have a friend help you brainstorm and plot check things for you. (shout out to my friend the sniffer <3 ilu) its a fun bonding activity, having someone else there will put things into perspective and help things become coherent, and its just. legit so fun and rewarding.
anyway, don’t plan things TOO detailed because things are GOING to change no matter how well you plan! just try to get get an outline done, then rewrite it 5 more times and then MAYBE you’ll be ready to tackle a more detailed version. then write it 5 more times. i can’t stress enough how important planning is, and how you shouldn’t expect everything to work out even on draft 10! things will work, and when they do, draft 10 is going to look like bad awful nonsense cause you’re at draft 20 now and everything is much more coherent and better. games aren’t written or consumed all at once on the fly. its not a piece of fanart, a fanfic, a comic. its not updated more than once. its out, and then its just out. plan for it.
and real quick, don’t worry about art assets! depending on how you do the art, that’s most likely going to change and its going to be polished LAST. i could go more into how you should think of art when game developing, but thats another topic. just. honestly use shitty art assets and worry about it later.
kris’ place holder sprite for deltarune ^ it don’t need to be pretty, it needs to be practical.
second advice: start SMALL!!! i feel i should of done this, and frankly i probably will have to sit down and do this lmao, basically, you should make boring small games to learn the basics. I know, i know, nobody really wants to recreate asteroid when you got big ideas of making stories and animations u wanna make. but like. you really need to figure out how the program works and how the code works in theory and practice.
ok so like, think of coding like this. i got this from a skillshare video series, so uh. i’m going to retell this but in a shittier and likely less nuanced way. sorry
ok so imagine. you’re telling this guy who is trying to get to Gary’s house. now, Gary’s house is just down the road, few houses down, now, you can tell this guy that and he’ll likely find the house just fine. but if you’re telling a robot it’s not going to understand what “down the road” means. what road? how long? it needs instructions that are simple and work in a language it understands.
so you tell the robot “go down two houses, stop at sign until x seconds pass, turn right, go forward 1 house, turn ect. stop at house, ring doorbell. IF Gary answers, go inside; ELSE: do not go inside, wait;
so this what i mean by understanding the theory behind the code rather than the code itself. yes there’s complexities and differences in each language, but they’re ALL based on the same concepts. different program languages are less like different speech languages, but rather different dialects of the same. (uh, like us english vs uk english) its just different rules and “spellings” of the same core concepts.
next advice: don’t be afraid to ask for help! but also! do so within reason! if people are OPEN for helping, be sure do so in the right environment and within what time works for them. compensate people for the time and effort if you can. ALWAYS try to figure out the solution yourself first. often with coding, it can be a simple solution that you could of thought of yourself if you took the initiative to. google is your friend, youtube is your friend! (ok, youtube isn’t, but in this case! yes!) the answer might not always be easy to find, and its perfectly fine to look for help but its good to at least try on your own first!
speaking of which! LEARN LEARN LEARN! be ready to devote A LOT of time to watching and reading about game development. this goes to every game making program, not just gms2. i watch. so many videos on gms. i rec having the video play at 1.5x or 2x speed to cut down time. obvs you still need to retain the information, so speed might be not a good idea then. and its REALLY GOOD to pause and type out the code and follow along. but its also good to just understand the concepts, and theres no harm in rewatching once you’ve understood it better at a different speed.
things WILL click and work out for you, and its going to be a very time consuming and long journey to get there. i LOVE making this game and telling this story but I also had no idea what i was getting into! and i probably will have more advice once i’m further in, (i’ve only used gms 2 for 2 months!) but thats the best i can say for now! i hope you pursue your dreams and start making things!!! you can do it!!!
the best time to start is yesterday, the second best time is right now! even if you put a little effort into it everyday, you’ll build up progress and you can learn SO MUCH over time and theres this whole world of possibilities out there! the world NEEDS your story and your perspective, and i think creating it in anyway you can is necessary for humanity! your work will mean something to someone someday, and i am so excited for you to start your journey!
#i know u probs meant gms2 specifically but this got a little out of hand lmao#long post#personal stuff#sams replies#Anonymous
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The Furry Guardians Part 1: Bloodlust’s Story
Introduction
Hey everyone. My name is Bloodlust, but my friends call me Blood. I’m a veteran of the USMC. I live with 4 other people named Hans, My boyfriend Geo, Eko, and Droxy. We live to fight against anyone that tries to bring us down. If you get in our way, you’re in for a big surprise. We like to call ourselves The Furry Guardians. I know it sounds silly but we have some abnormal powers that nobody has ever heard of. This is my story. So if you’re here to read a good story, you’re in for a treat. So sit back, relax, and enjoy the story.
Chapter 1
Part 1
Iraq
“I need more bandages!” A soldier yells while he tries to stop the bleeding on what used to be my right arm. I stare deep into the eyes of the Russian furry known as Nikolai Kutsnensove. Nikolai and I have been in the same squad ever since we joined the USMC. Nikolai was a rogue Russian who had joined the USMC after the Russians killed his wife and kids. I joined the USMC because I wanted to serve my country. I live in a military family and thought that I might as well keep the family blood going. As I think of all this my vision starts to fade. Nikolai slaps me to keep me awake “Do not die on me colonel! I won’t be able to hang out with anyone anymore” Nikolai says with a heavy Russian accent. I jerk awake as he slaps me. “Don’t worry…I’m not…” I say with labored breathes. As Nikolai is bandaging up my arm he stands up and orders for a medic. But as he does a grenade goes off. Another soldier throws himself on top of me to keep me safe. I push him off and struggle to get up to find Nikolai. Nowhere. I run around to try to find him and I come face to face with a hostile Russian, a .44 Magnum pointed right between my eyes. I stand completely still, making sure not to make any sudden movements. The Russian speaks in a heavy Russian accent “Drop your weapon American. Before I decide to end your career in the USMC.” I go to remove my weapon but someone behind me calls my name and the Russian aims at the source and fires, killing the soldier who called my name. I didn’t get a chance to see who it was. But I knew who it was. That accent, that tone, it was Nikolai. That damn Russian shot my brother in arms. I yell in anger as I charge the fucker that killed my best friend. I realized too late that he had already clicked the hammer of the gun. I hear the click, the discharge, and then next thing I know, I have a bullet in my head. I fall to the ground with a loud thump, my heart still beating but starting to slow. I hear muffled gunshots and the Russian falls to the ground as he gets filled with bullets. I look over and my breath was almost taken away. The Navy Seals were here. What were they doing here in Iraq? One of them rushes over to me and checks my pulse. He shouts orders that sound muffled to me because of the blood rushing through my ears. A medic runs over and tries to stop the bleeding. While he does an Apache helicopter hovers over me and the medic lifts me into it. The last thing I saw before I passed out was the flash of Nikolai’s necklace. The last thing that I ever saw of Nikolai. I couldn’t believe he was gone. I try to yell to the people on the ground to get me his dog-tags but I don’t have enough energy and I finally pass out. I immediately want to be brought back to life. My mind gets flooded with bad memories and visions of Nikolai. The worst one I saw was when Nikolai was patching me up and he went missing after the grenade. Another one is when we’re hanging out at Military Base Delta playing poker with a couple people from our squadron. I had won the game and got about $60 and a bottle of liquor from it. “This is bullshit. Are you sure you weren’t cheating Blood?” Nikolai asks me as I count the money. “No cheating here Nik. If I was, that would be poor sport. Maybe you should step up your game and try to increase your luck” Everyone laughs as I pop open the bottle of Vodka. “Anyone care for a drink?” I say as I show the bottle. Everyone asks for a shot. “Thought so. Nobody can turn down Nik’s vodka” I say as I pour them each a shot. “Well, here’s to another day in the USMC. And maybe Nikolai will get better luck next time we play poker. Even though I win every time” I say as we all tap our shot glasses together. All that is taken away from my grasp as im brought back to the land of the living by a jolt of electricity sent through my body. I breathe heavily and sit up quickly. Im in some sort of medical room. I look around and don’t see anyone. Then who brought me back to life? I look at my stump and notice that I have a new arm. I flex it and it feels just like a normal arm. But how? I lost my arm to a fucker with a .338 Lapua. I hear a noise and quickly pull out my mini pistol that I always keep in my combat boots just in case of emergencies and aim at the source. The reason for the noise is standing in the doorway with her arms up, she’s dressed in her combat uniform. Normal camo with a touch of white for added camouflage. She has bright blue eyes, a muscular but sexy body, she was cute in a Female-Marine sort of way. She had tan and white fur and a scar under her left eye. I immediately remember who it is. “Major Gummy. Marine, Sniper unit 201” I address her. She speaks in a strong but also kind of sweet voice “Wow, you really know your soldiers. Now can you please lower your gun colonel?” She says as I realize im still holding the gun. “Oh. Yeah. Sorry about that.” I put the gun back in its place as she walks over and gestures to my arm. “You like it? It’s made out of lightweight aluminum and steel. Strong, but fast.” She says with a light smile. I look at her surprised “How long was I out for?” I ask her. “You were out for 2 weeks” She tells me. That got me. I was out for 2 weeks. How had I survived being shot in the head by a Russian .44? That gun should have blown my head clean off. I look at my arm and sigh heavily. “It looks so real” I say to her. She laughs and taps it, making a loud metal clang. “Yup. I made it myself. Im pretty good with robotics. Anyway, you’re gonna be happy to hear this. You’re being honorably discharged for your service. Im also being discharged because I….kind of….got shot….by an RPG…” She says nervously. I stare in amazement “Wow. Sounds like you had it rough” She looks at me with a look that makes me regret what I said. She obviously doesn’t like a smart ass. “Ok. Enough chit chat. C’mon lets go meet General Reyzar.” She says as she gets up “Can you walk?” She asks me. I get up and surprisingly have enough strength to stand. This is definitely not normal. “Yeah I can walk” I say as I flip my hair off my muzzle. “Good. I don’t want to have to carry you all the way to command” She says as she starts walking out the door. I reluctantly follow her and we begin walking to command. Im watching her the whole way there and she doesn’t notice until were right outside the door of the command center. She looks at me and snaps her fingers to get my attention “See something you like?” I shake my head as I realize how rude im being. I could tell I was getting on her bad side with the look she gave me (I wouldn’t want to see that look again. Creeps me out) “No...It’s just, how do you have all your limbs? Wouldn’t you be eviscerated since you got shot by an RPG?” She looks at me with a confused look. “You really don’t know much about me do ya colonel? I can regrow limbs on command. Why do you think my name is Gummy?” She tells me in an annoyed tone. I stare in amazement. “Wha…? H…how? Do you have lizard DNA?” I ask her as I realize my jaw is hanging open. I close it and continue to stare in amazement. She laughs and looks back at me “No I don’t have lizard DNA. I developed this ability when I was taken hostage by the Russians and experimented on. I was on a reconnaissance mission to spy on the Soviet Union to find out their plans. It turns out, they’re taking other furries and experimenting on them to find out what chemical has the worst effect” She says as a tear rolls down her face “They’re using chemical warfare Bloodlust, they’re gonna wipe out the entire united states. Citizens, soldiers, the president, everybody. Even Russian spies in the US. They will stop at nothing until they see us all dead Blood, NOTHING! THE ONLY PERSON THAT CAN STOP THEM IS THE RUSSIAN PRESIDENT! AND THERE IS NO WAY HES GONNA LET UP!” She says as she pushes me “THEY KILLED JONES! THEY KILLED MY ENTIRE SQUAD! THEY KILLED MY DAUGHTER AMBER! YOU DON’T KNOW HOW RELENTLESS THEY ARE BECAUSE YOU NEVER EXPERIENCED IT FIRST HAND! YOU DON’T KNOW WHAT THEY WILL DO IN ORDER TO WIPE OUT THE ENTIRE USMC!” I try to calm her down “Gummy, I know it hurts. I lost my friend Nikolai and my entire family to the Russians. I witnessed all of their deaths. Trust me. I lost my son and I got my boyfriend away in time.” Tears start to roll down my face as I slide to a sitting position by the wall “They killed Jace…They killed my parents…” I look up at her “THEY’RE ALL DEAD! ALL OF THEM! I DON’T HAVE ANYONE ELSE! I HAVENT SEEN GEO IN 3 YEARS! I’VE BEEN WORRIED SICK ABOUT HIM AND YOU’RE YELLING AT ME BECAUSE YOU LOST 2 OF YOUR FRIENDS?! I LOST ALL OF THEM! YOU HEAR ME?! ALL OF THEM!” Im standing up now, tears rolling down my face as I rat her out “YOU DON’T HAVE IT AS ROUGH AS I DO GUMMY! YOU MAY HAVE SPECIAL POWERS BUT I DON’T! IT MAKES ME FEEL WEAK!” I address Gummy as I slide down again. “I don’t know what to do anymore” Gummy kneels down in front of me with a worried look on her face. “Im sorry that happened to you Blood. You didn’t deserve to go through that.” She says as she shakes her head “At least you know how relentless they are. They can kill with no expression. I also saw something when I was captured. Someone that looked exactly like you. But his name was-” She gets interrupted when General Reyzar came walking out of command. He’s a sergal. In the military as far back as he can remember. His fur is white, black, and orange. A scar underneath his left eye, muscular body, his greatcoat down to his legs. He’s about 7 or 8 feet tall. With a high caliber AR-15 slung across his back. He looks down at us and speaks in a low but commanding voice “Colonel Bloodlust, Major Gummy. What took you two so long to get to command? And what are you doing on the floor?” He addresses us. We both get up and dust ourselves off. I look up at Reyzar, him being 2 feet taller than me even though im 6 foot. I salute and clear my throat, not realizing how dry it was until now. “Sorry sir. It won’t happen again sir.” I say as Gummy does the same. “It better not. But it will never happen again because of your discharge. Colonel Bloodlust, Major Gummy, meet me in hanger bay 7. We will have your pardon ceremony there.” Reyzar says as he salutes to us “Stay American soldiers” Gummy and I both salute in return and we say at the same time “Stay American sir” Reyzar starts walking back into command before I stop him. He looks back at me “What is it soldier?” I look up at him and hold my arms behind my back, my legs shoulder width apart, just like Nikolai showed me. “Captain Nikolai was killed in battle today while he was saving my life. Well, at least trying to. And I was hoping that we could have a funeral today in his honor. He was a great soldier sir. And I hope for his death not to be in vain” I say to him as he nods his head. He puts his hand on my shoulder reassuringly, his hand way bigger than my head. (Sergals are pretty threatening so don’t make one mad. I learned that the hard way.) “I will see what I can do. I agree with you. Nikolai was a great soldier and he didn’t deserve that death.” He says as he salutes “Stay American Bloodlust” I salute as well and smile “Stay American Rey” Reyzar smiles and walks back into command and closes the door behind him. Gummy hearing our entire conversation. I look at her and walk to her, clapping my hand on her back. “Looks like this day has went from ok to great. Come on” I say and nod my head towards the dorms “Let’s go pack up” She nods and starts walking to her dorm room.
Chapter 1
Part 2
The Shooting
It’s been 2 days since it happened, the shooting, so many people, my comrades, my brothers in arms, all of them, gone. As I know of I’m the only survivor. You guys are probably wondering what im talking about. There was a shooting. The Russians invaded the base. They brought tanks, helicopters, submarines, all the heavy artillery known to man. And killed everyone in Military Base Delta. At least that’s what I thought. I’ll show you guys in this part.
As I was getting ready for the discharge Gummy comes in with a forest green duffle bag on her shoulder and a M1911 strapped to her belt. She told me that she takes that pistol everywhere. She said it belonged to her father. And her father was the best captain of the United States Marine Corps. Served alongside general Reyzar before he became general. Her father was the most well-known captain. Captain Hans Gustonia. He’s German. He was supposedly part of the lost battalion of the US Army. He was a werewolf, and he’s dead. (Or so I thought) As all this is going through my head G walks up, smiling like she had just won a cruise in the Caribbean. “What are you so happy about?” I ask her. “Oh just happy that im finally getting out of here.” I smiled and grabbed my Model .459 Caliber Pistol and strapped it to my thigh. “So am I. I can finally go home and see my boyfriend Geo.” She looks at me with an interested look “You haven’t really told me much about your boyfriend Blood” She says as she sits on the bed “Why don’t you tell me a bit about him?” I shrug and sit on the bed across from her after setting my bag on the bed “Well, he’s the greatest guy that you could ever have. He too had a bad accident like me. He has a metal arm and shoulder instead of me just having a normal metal arm. And he always has this soft green glow around him. And whenever he feels emotions he glows a bright green. His personality is the sweetest part about him. When you’re sad, he knows just the right things to say in order to cheer you up. He’s just…” I wipe a few tears from my face and sniffle “He’s just the sweetest guy ever...” I look up at Gummy, a few tears in my eyes “You should have seen him when I was told I had to leave. He didn’t want me to go because he was afraid I would get hurt. And now look at me” I hold up the new robotic arm and tap it a few times, I sigh as I do so. “He’s going to be so pissed when he finds out I lost my arm” Gummy gets up and walks over, sitting next to me and then hugs me tightly, Softly petting my back “You’ll be fine Blood. I promise. He’s not gonna be pissed, you two are going to be just fine” I blush softly and then hug her back. Loving the feeling of someone hugging me again. The feeling of warmth rushing through my body. I don’t want her to let go but I am forced to when an alarm goes off. She lets go and looks around “What the hell?” I look around as well, confused as hell until I realize why it’s going off “We’re under attack” The look on our faces shows the same thing. Fear. We both get up and run down the hall as soldiers trip over themselves trying to get their weapons. Me and G already have ours out as we run as fast as we can down the hallway. As we’re running an explosion knocks us into the other wall as a tank rolls through the wall that was to our right. We both get as low as we can as the tank rolls over us, just enough space for us not to be crushed under the treads. We both get up and run down the rest of the hallway and bust through the doors at the end and the sight that we see is horrifying. There’s an entire Russian army inside of the base. Helicopters, Tanks, Soldiers, and something that we’ve never seen before. A giant mech suit. It grabs hold of a soldier and then rips off his arms and then throws him to the side. We’re frozen in fear as we see this happen. The mech operator sees us and we both know it’s too late to fight “RUN!” We both run to the right trying to escape the mech but it’s faster than we expected. I say fuck it and unfold my wings, grabbing G and kicking off the ground and into the air. But as we’re flying some of the soldiers on the ground start firing at us. Thank god I have feathered wings or else I’d already be on the ground. But once we’re about 700 yards off the ground a sniper bullet hits the bone of my wing and I start spinning out of control, I lose my grip on G and she goes spiraling towards the ground and I’m unable to grab her in time. The blood curdling scream that originates from her mouth makes me cry “GUMMYYYYY!!!” I yell as I plummet towards the roof of the base. I hit the ground hard and I get up as quick as I can and run over to the side of the roof, frantically looking around for G but she’s nowhere to be seen. This makes me worried. Where the hell is she? My question gets answered when I see a plume of smoke and a scream of pain is heard in the distance. Gummy. I jump off the roof and slide down the side, once I get to the ground I pull out my pistol and knife and run towards the sound of the scream, killing any Russians that get in my way. I try my best to get to her but there’s too many. I run in the other direction, towards all of my fellow soldiers. As I’m running to them I see him. General Reyzar. I run up to him and try my best to talk to him, talking to him in between heavy breathes but it all sounds like this “G…Plummet…Out there…Search…” Rey understands what I’m saying and orders me to go inside and I have no choice but to listen to him. As I’m trying my best to run inside I look back and immediately regret it. The mech is standing right over Rey. He’s frozen in fear as the mech picks up the general that I called my friend. I stop dead in my tracks. The only word that I can get out is “No…” and then the mech rips the general in half and throws him aside. I start to cry as I witness this scene. The sergal that had been in the USMC since he was 18. Killed by a fucking mech. I run inside and look around for a hiding place. I find a closet and I run inside and close the door behind me. I slide down the wall and hug my legs and bury my face in my knees. I just witnessed the death of the most skilled member of the United States Marine Corps. Ripped in half. By a god damn mechanical suit. “This can’t be happening” I say as I start to cry again. I punch a shelf and knock over a box of ammo. I realize where I am. The Armory. I stand up and pull out my flashlight and shine it around the giant room. I see a bunch of shelves but no guns. “Oh well that’s just great” I say as I look around some more. My flashlight drops to my side and I look up, frustrated. I walk over to the door and peek outside. Nobody’s there. I take this chance and open the door and start running down the hallway. I pick up a gun off the ground and cock it. Thank god it’s loaded. Once I get to a crossroads I stand against the wall, my gun ready. I hear footsteps and I hold my breath, slowly backing into the shadows. My dark fur helping me blend in. Once the soldiers pass I slowly emerge from the shadows and make my way down the hallway I was going down. After what seemed like an hour I finally get to my destination. The Command Center. I enter my code into the keypad and when I hear the click of the doors unlocking I run inside and close them behind me. I walk over to the big monitors lining the opposite wall. I type in the password and when the security feed pops up, I force myself not the cry. It’s G. She’s alive but barely. She has a missing arm and a broken leg. She’s not moving and she’s been surrounded by a Russian squadron. Two Russians pick her up and take her away. I punch the keyboard and it breaks in half. I curse and use the one next to it. Checking the other security feeds looking for other survivors. I can’t find anybody. They’re all dead. I’m the only survivor left at Military Base Delta. This breaks my heart as I look around to find the mutilated corpses of my fellow brothers and sisters in arms. No life left in them. I find one that looks just like me. I rest my fingertips against the screen “That could have been me…” I sit staring at the screen for what seems like an hour, wondering what the families will think when they hear what had happened to all of their family members out here at Military Base Delta. Some of them might want to retaliate, some of them might want to join them. I know that Geo would want to join me if something had happened to me. After pondering this I hear voices coming from down the hallway. I hide in a closet in the room and hold my breath, making sure that no one is able to hear me. Soon after hiding in the closet I hear the doors get blown open by some sort of explosive. Then I hear Russian voices on the other side of my closet door. But there’s one that I recognize. A heavy Russian accent, a deep voice, the sound of a limp. It’s Nikolai. I slowly open the door, slow enough that nobody can hear or see it open, and sure enough there he is. I have to strain myself not to bust open the door and tackle him. He’s got the same lime green and black fur. The same limp in his left leg. I can’t take it anymore. I bust open the door and aim my gun at Nikolai. His entire squadron aims all their guns at me. Nikolai turns around and looks me dead in the eye and speaks in his heavy Russian accent that I have heard for 3 years “Bloodlust..?” I stand there looking at him, my gun aimed right between his eyes. Since I had ran here from the battlefield outside, I’m forced to speak in labored breathes “Nikolai…How…How are you alive..?” He looks down and orders his men to lower their guns. I can tell that something is wrong. He walks over and rests his hand on my shoulder “Blood…I hate to tell you this but…” As he says this I feel the cold metal of a pistol barrel to my stomach “I work with the Russians now” I feel him about the pull the trigger but I swat it aside and put Nikolai in a choke hold and kill all his men by firing my MP5K that I picked up off the ground in the hallway (I’m honestly surprised it still had ammo in it) After I kill all of them I spin Nikolai around and aim his pistol right at his head “I demand you to tell me what happened Nik. I had seen the Russian pull the trigger and I heard the impact of the bullet. How are you alive?” Nikolai is standing with his hands up in the air “Bloodlust just drop the gun and I’ll tell you everything” I don’t do anything but move closer, the barrel of the pistol right at his forehead, Nikolai knowing that if he did anything funny I would kill him without hesitation “Ok fine. I was working with the Russians the entire time I was with you. I’m a spy Blood. I’m surprised you never noticed.” I lower my gun and stare Nik in the eye “Why. Why would you do this? I thought you were my friend. You killed your friends. You killed my friends. You…” Something clicks in my head and I immediately want it to go away. The mech operator. I look to my left and see the mech just outside the door with nobody in it. And then I see it. The death of Reyzar. Him getting ripped in half. The death of the soldiers in front me because of that mech operator. The mech operator was Nikolai. I look at Nikolai with a look of sorrow. “You were the mech operator. You killed Reyzar. You killed…” The spade on my chest begins to glow a very dark red “You killed my best friend!!!” I lunge at him and tackle him to the ground, my claws out now as I slash at his face and chest. A look of complete fear on Nikolai’s face as I completely tear him apart. I pick him up and then slam him multiple times against the wall. Taking out all of my fear and rage out on the one I used to call my friend. I throw him out of the room and he tries his best to crawl to the mech but I pick up my MP5K and fire the rest of the clip into his back. I walk over, tossing the rifle aside. I kick him over and realize it’s too late. “I thought you could trust me Blood” and then he fires the pistol that was in the hand of one of his dead squad members right at my gut. I fall over and land hard on my head, nearly knocking me out. My vision is blurry but I hear more footsteps down the hallway. Only one pair, female. And then I hear a gunshot and blood sprays onto my face. I instantly know whose it is. Nikolai is dead now. Shortly after that Gummy kneels over me. Trying to stop the bleeding in my stomach. She picks me up and runs down the hallway at a speed that she shouldn’t be able to run while carrying a big guy like me. Once she gets to the end of the hallway she calls out and a Humvee pulls up and she puts me in the back with a medic. She gets in the front and yells at the driver to drive. I pass out almost instantly.
Chapter 2
The Base
I wake up in an infirmary. But it doesn’t look like an infirmary in a military base or hospital. I look over and see a blood bag hooked up to my left arm. I look to my right and my breath is immediately taken away when I see him. The green and black fur. And a soft green glow around him. It’s Geo. But that can’t be him. He’s back in Nevada. “Wait, where are we?” I accidentally say out loud as I look around the room. “We’re home” Geo says as he gets up and walks over to me “Well, not our home. But this’ll work for now” I sit up and sit against the headboard “What happened? What do you mean home? What is this place?” Geo softly pets my head and smiles. “We’re in Gummy’s house.” And then it hits me like a sledgehammer. That’s why I recognized this place. I look over and see a picture of Gummy with her father, Hans. I don’t know why I missed it before. I look at Geo, awestruck. “What the fuck are we doing here?” Just as I say that Gummy walks in “Oh hey, you’re awake” She says with a light smile as she walks over with a tray of some weird red substance inside a water bottle. I look at it, confused and then she grabs it and hands it to me “Drink up” I look at her with a face that anyone can easily read “I’m not drinking that” She sets it on the bedside table and scoffs softly “You really are a dumbass. That’s what’s in your blood bag. It’s called Insomniosia. It works better than painkillers. And with your condition, you need it badly. So come on, drink it” I reluctantly grab the water bottle and drink a little bit of it, surprised at how good it tastes “This tastes amazing” I say with an awestruck face “See? It’s not that bad” She takes out a clear flask and drinks the same substance as I drink the rest of the bottle and feel warmth rush through my body. “This stuff works just like ambrosia, like in Greek history.” She nods and smiles “You’re exactly right. But, it works way better. Take a look at your hand.” I look at my hand and nothing seems different from before “Nothings happ-” I get cut off when my entire hand starts on fire. This gets me going. I jump out of my bed and try to put out the fire, screaming as my hand sits as a ball of fire. Geo starts freaking out as well, trying to put out the flame with water but it’s no use. After about 10 minutes of trying to put it out it finally goes out. I look at Gummy, wondering what the fuck had just happened. “What the fuck just happened?!” She laughs and takes another swig of her Insomniosia. “You developed powers when Nikolai shot you in the gut. When I ran over to you after killing him, your entire body was resting on a small pit of embers. And all around you was burned. All of the bodies that used to be the Russians that you had killed, were all burnt to a crisp” I wonder if I should believe her or not. How did I develop powers just by getting shot in the gut by a pistol? But now that I think about it, I didn’t feel any heat when my hand lit on fire. I look at my hand and notice that there’s no scorch marks or burnt flesh. “I…I’m a wizard…?” I say with a confused tone. Gummy bursts out laughing and has to use the bed to support herself. After her little outburst she looks up at me, wiping a few tears away from her eyes from laughing so hard. “No you dingus. You developed powers. You’re an elemental. You were born with this power. It just took up until now in order for it to surface. There’s so many people like you. And guess where they are?” She says as she places her hands on my shoulders “Right in this house” I have to use the wall to support myself. An elemental? I can control fire? I can summon fire at will? “I’m a fire elemental…What does that make me part of the fire nation?” Gummy laughs and punches my arm. “Well if you want to call yourself that, I’m gonna have to get Droxy in here to extinguish your flames” She says as she walks over to the door. “Come on. I’ll go introduce you guys to them” I walk over to Geo and grab his hand, bringing him over to the doorway. “Droxy…That name sounds so familiar…She wouldn’t happen to be a dragon would she? An orange and red dragon?” Gummy smiles and opens the door “Why don’t you go look for yourself?” I let go of Geo’s hand and run out into the hallway and into the living room, looking for her. “Droxy?” As I say this I hear a thump outside, like someone landing. I run outside and then I see her. The red and orange wings, the eyepatch covering her left eye, the brown hair. “Droxy!” A smile forms on both of our faces and we both run at each other and hug each other as tight as possible. “Oh my god I missed you so much” I tell her as we both wrap our wings around each other, a gesture known only to us. A gesture of acceptance, peace. “I missed you to Bloodlust. I can’t believe we found each other again” A few tears well up in my eyes and I hug Droxy tighter. After a few minutes of hugging we let go and look at each other. And then I notice something cold on my left arm. I look down and see that Droxy has a metal hand. I hold it up and look at it “Droxy what happened?” She gets a little shy and pulls her hand back, hiding it in her gray greatcoat. “You don’t wanna know…” I grab hold of her shoulders and look her in the eye. “Droxy…” I hug her again and this time more loving and caring. I don’t know what happened to her but I know it was traumatizing for her. She tears up and buries her face in my chest. I wrap my wings around both of us but she doesn’t. I know what she’s experiencing, sadness, trauma, she doesn’t know what to do. I just hold her close and tell her it’s going to be ok. “Everything is going to be ok Droxy. I promise. I won’t let anyone hurt you.” Just then Geo walks up behind me “We, won’t let anything happen to you.” This made Droxy’s face light up and she hugs both of us. We both smiled and hugged her tightly, I wrapped my wings around us, separating us from the world. Gummy comes out and leans against the doorframe of the entrance of the house and when we finish hugging, I look over the trees of the woods and see something, it’s very distant but I can just make out a shape, I can’t tell what it is, but as it gets closer I hear it, it sounds like loud footsteps, and not just loud like stomping while running, but loud like something big is coming. I can’t tell what it is but then I see somethings wrong with Droxy. I look at her and get really worried. I stand in front of her and hold her shoulders “Droxy? What’s wrong?” She then pushes me out of the way and starts running to the woods. The footsteps are getting closer. I look at Gummy and she’s just as worried as I am. I look at Geo and tell him to go inside. He cooperates and runs inside and locks the door. I tell Gummy to stay and look after him. “I want t-” she doesn’t get to finish her sentence because I’m already in the air, flying after Droxy. I look behind me and finally see it. A giant orange, yellow, and red dragon with four eyes comes running out of the woods. I start flying even faster. Calling Droxy’s name, trying to see if she can answer me. I start to get really worried and want to find her as fast as possible. Just then the giant dragon comes up behind me and grabs me with its giant hand and holds me in front of its mouth. I try my best to get free but it’s no use. I look into one of the dragons eyes, terrified. But it doesn’t kill me. It just holds me there, staring at me. It then puts me on its back and starts running to where Droxy was running. I get up on its head and then realize who it is. It’s Stark. One of Droxy’s old friends. “Stark?” I say, awestruck. She looks back at me and smiles. “You miss me?” she says in a deep and booming voice. I smile and pat her head. “I missed you a lot. Come on we’ll catch up later. We gotta find Droxy” I tell her and she starts running again. I grab onto her horns to keep myself on her head. I look around frantically, trying my best to find her. I hear a scream come from the other end of the woods and Stark runs towards the source of the scream. I jump off Stark’s head and start flying towards the source. I cup my hands around my muzzle “Droxy?!Where are you?!” Suddenly the woods go quiet. I land on a branch and look around, my hand on a branch to keep me stable. Stark walks over to me. “Do you have any idea where she could be?” She asks me. I shake my head. I see something over the tree line and fly higher to get a better look. And what I see makes me want to leave as soon as possible. A high wall with barbed wire at the top, multiple buildings inside the walls, men and women walking around with weapons, its military base Delta. I thought it was destroyed. How does it look so new? I fly down to Stark and land on the branch next to her head. “Droxy is in there” I address her and point to the base. She nods and puts me on her head and starts running towards the base. The soldiers walking around outside hear us coming and aim their guns at us. I fly up and wave my hands around in the air. “DON’T SHOOT!!!” I yell at them, they all lower their weapons when they realize who I am. There’s 10 of them, all of them different ranks. The one on the far right puts her gun behind her and salutes “Sergeant Major Bloodlust! Sir!” The others do what she did. I’m so confused. I thought I was a colonel. I fly down and land in front of them and look at all of them. “At ease soldiers” They all put their hands behind their backs and look at me “I thought this place was destroyed. How did it get rebuilt so fast?” The soldiers look just as confused as me. The soldier on the far left finally speaks up “Sir? That Russian invasion happened 17 years ago.” Suddenly my heart drops and I nearly collapse. Stark runs up and puts her head on the ground to catch me. One of the soldiers runs inside and comes back with a medic. They both bring me inside. Before they bring me inside I order them to let Stark come inside. “Sir? Are you sure you w-” I grab the medic’s shirt and pull him in close. “Let.Her.In” He hesitates slightly and looks up at the watch towers and nods. The gates open and Stark walks inside with us. The medic and soldier bring me to the infirmary where I rest for a little while and fall asleep. I immediately get thrown into a nightmare and want to leave it as soon as possible. I’m in the Russian invasion again. Flying through the sky with Gummy in my arms, she’s shooting down at the soldiers below until I get shot in the wing again. I let go of her and we both plummet towards to the ground. The scream. That terrible scream that originated from her mouth. And I couldn’t do anything. My wing was shot and my vision was filled with black dots. I hit the ground hard and cracked my skull open. When I woke up I was in the closet with my MP5 that I picked up before I confronted Nikolai in the control room. I peek through a crack in the door and slowly slide the barrel of the gun through it, aimed right at Nikolai. I quietly cock the gun and after a few moments I fire, killing Nikolai. But now it wasn’t Nikolai. It was Gummy. I burst through the door of the closet and run to her and try to grab her but she disappears. I look around and I’m surrounded by darkness. And then all around me I hear them. The voices. All of the soldiers that had died in my unit. I start running, trying to escape. “You let us die” “You gave bad orders” “You watched us burn and bleed out.” They were trying to bring me down. I started running faster. Faster. Faster and finally ran out of breathe and collapsed. Holding my chest. Gasping for air. And then I see him. It’s Nikolai. He’s walking towards me with a flamethrower. “You should have listened to me” He says and the flamethrower comes alive and I start burning alive. I go to scream but nothing comes out of my mouth as I feel the flames consume me. I shoot up out of my bed, finally out of the nightmare. I’m breathing heavily and I feel my fur to see if it’s still there. No burn marks. At least not on me. I look around my room and see a huge scorch mark all around me on the floor. I get out of bed and finally remember where I am. I’m in my old room from before the attack. I walk over to my dresser and pick up a picture of me and everyone in my squad. Omega Squad. There’s Cal, Vat, Davit, JD, Kate, Allan, and me. I stare at the picture for a while and a knock at the door snaps me back to reality. I look behind me and see a sergal with orange and black fur. My heart sinks. It’s Reyzar’s son. “Blade?” I walk over to him and place my hand on his shoulder. “What are you doing here? Don’t tell me you enlisted.” I know him so well because Reyzar introduced me to him when we were able to go back home. He was so young then. Probably around 9 or 10. Now he looks like he’s in his 20s. “I did. I wanted to keep the family blood going for my family. When I found out my dad died in the Russian invasion 17 years ago I decided to enlist in the military so I could avenge him and make sure he didn’t die in vain.” I nod and he hugs me. I’m caught off guard but I hug him back. “I didn’t know it would be this bad. They have mechs, advanced fighters, advanced tanks, we don’t have the type of firepower to take out their machines.” He tells me and I wipe a tear away, trying to push away the memory of his father’s death. I wrap my wings around us. Trying to comfort him. I can tell he’s trying not to cry. I pet his back and gently push him away. “I might know someone who can help you” I tell him and I look around. “Do you have a phone I could use?” I ask him. He pulls his cellphone out of his pocket and hands it to me. I take it and dial a number and hold it up to my ear. I wait for someone to pick up. One ring. Two rings. Three rings. Four. It rings a final time before someone picks up. “Who is this?” I hear on the other side. “It’s Bloodlust. I need some help. Head to military base delta. Coordinates: 11 15 22 63.” The person on the other side of the line stays silent for a couple minutes. “I thought that place was destroyed…” I sigh “It was.” And hang up and give the phone back to Blade. He puts it in his pocket and looks at me. “Who was that?” I put on my green canvas hoodie and look at him. “Backup” I tell him and grab my old Model .459 Pistol from my nightstand drawer and strap it to my thigh. I walk past him into the hallway and start walking outside. He’s close behind me, an AR-15 strapped to his back. I look back at it. “AR-15. Just like your father.” I tell him and open the door outside and see a fighter jet hovering over the base. I wave at the jet and it lands at a landing pad. The back door opens and he walks out. Tan and white fur, green eyes, a black and red leather jacket with black jeans, and a small glow around him. Kylo “Shredder” Washington. My older brother. I walk up to him and we stare at each other for a few moments. “Kylo” “Bloodlust” After we say each other’s names, we both hug each other as tight as possible. I don’t want to let go. We haven’t seen each other in years. The last time we saw each other was when he was told to go to the S.S.A Syergo Space Frigate for 10 years. I haven’t had any contact with him ever since. He’s not allowed to have outside contact unless he gets promoted to a higher rank. Which he has. He slowly pushes me away and looks me dead in the eye. “How’s the USMC been little brother?” He asks me “Coulda been better” I say sarcastically. He rolls his eyes and punches my metal arm and then quickly grabs his hand in pain. He looks at my arm. “Have you been working out Blood?” I laugh and pull up my sleeve, revealing my metal arm. He looks at it and then at me, wondering what happened to my arm. “What happened to your arm?” I roll down my sleeve and when I’m about to speak Blade comes up behind me. “He got it shot off by a hostile Russian with a .338 Lapua heavy sniper rifle, hollow point rounds.” Kylo looks at me in shock. His eyes wide. I’ve seen this look before. I saw it when I told him I was enlisting in the USMC. It’s his ‘What were you doing?’ look. I sigh and take off my hoodie and put it on a table, resting my hands on it, I brush the hair out of my face, looking forward. “I was trying to save my squadron. We were going through the desert of Iraq, me in the front, Vat in the back, everyone else in the middle. Allan got shot in the arm, we all got down.” I wipe a couple tears from my eyes. “Vat was trying her best to patch him up. When I stood up to take out any of the hostiles that had opened fire at us it happened. The bullet hit my arm and suddenly it was gone. I fell to the ground, my arm next to me. JD and Kate picked me up and everyone ran as fast as they were able to checkpoint Alpha. Nikolai was there. He ran over and brought me to the infirmary. A grenade went off and suddenly he was gone. I searched and searched for him, that’s when he got ‘Killed’. I got a bullet to the head, lost my arm,” I turn around and hold my arms out, trying not to cry. “And now I’m here. Suffering from PTSD, a robotic arm, and I lost my entire squadron, and Nikolai. Turns out he was a Russian Spy.” I’m forced to lean against the table, my heart beating fast, Kylo walks over and places his hand on my shoulder. I look up at him, (He’s like 2 feet taller than me. Seriously! I’m 6 feet tall and feel short!) “I’m sorry all of that happened to you little bro. You don’t deserve to go through stuff like that. Is Geo ok?” He asks me. I nod and then something hits me like a bullet. Droxy. She’s still here. I grab Blade and pull him over to me. “Where is Droxy?” He looks really confused, like I’m talking in gibberish or something. “An orange and red dragon. Where is she?” He rips his arm from my grasp. “She’s in containment. She’s a danger to the base.” I give him a look that makes him regret what he said. I walk up to him and grab him by his uniform collar and pull him in close, my spade on my chest glowing black, I lean in as close as possible, my cybernetic arm ripping his uniform. “Where.Is.She.” He tries to escape but I turn around and pin him to the table, my wings out now, I know he’s afraid of heights, he always has been. I look him dead in the eyes, he can tell I’m irritated. “U-Underground. Lab 7B. C-Clearance code is 720381.” I let go of him and fold my wings, still looking him dead in the eye. “Where is this underground lab?” I ask him. He gets up and brushes himself off, he sighs as he sees his ripped uniform. “I’ll show you where it is” He starts walking towards what looks like the barracks, I look at Kylo and nod, he nods back and we both start following Blade. Kylo pats my back and I smile lightly, I’ve missed my older brother. I’ve missed his personality. He’s always been protective over me. If anyone were to hurt me, he’d hurt them way worse than they hurt me. When we were younger and lived with our parents, someone had broken into our home. I was the first one to wake up. I had walked downstairs and seen the burglar, he was trying to steal our family photos. I hid behind a wall and when I peeked out, he was staring right at me. Those bright red eyes, his green trench coat, the white fur, I didn’t know who it was but I feel like I’ve seen him before. I was frozen in fear and I couldn’t move. I heard footsteps come from upstairs and Kylo came running down the stairs, once he saw the burglar trying to keep me in place so he could hurt me, Kylo ran at him and tackled him out the window, we lived on a hill so they fell about 20 feet. I ran to the window and looked out of it to see Kylo and the intruder lying on the ground. I ran out the door and down the stairs to where Kylo was, I was scared out of my wits. I didn’t see him moving. I had ran up to him and saw cuts and bruises from the fall. I screamed for our parents and they came running downstairs to see what had happened. My mom nearly burst into tears when she saw Kylo laying on the ground. My dad pulled out his phone and called 911, I was hugging my older brother, crying into his chest, I was afraid that he wasn’t alive, until I felt his arm wrap around me and his chest start raising and lowering with his breathe. I looked up at him as tears streamed down my face. “I’m…Fine baby bro…Are you…Are you ok..?” He asks me. I nod and hug him tighter, my face buried in his chest as I hold him close to me. The ambulance can be heard in the distance. I don’t want to let him go. I want to go with him to the hospital. I want to make sure he’s ok. That he gets out ok. That whatever goes on the in hospital goes ok. “I want to go with you.” Kylo looks at our parents and nods, they nod back. “You…You can come with B…” He smiles as the paramedics come rushing over. They both lift him up and put him on a stretcher and bring him to the ambulance. I follow them and they let me get in the back of the ambulance with my brother. I sit on a bench next to his stretcher, holding his hand with both of mine, still concerned for his safety. I feel the ambulance buck as the driver starts it up. Kylo winces in pain as it bucks, I hold his hand tighter, trying my best to calm him. Keep in mind I’m only 6 when all of this is happening. I’m scared out of my mind. I just want him to be safe. He protected me. He saved my life. If he hadn’t of came down when he did, I would be the one in the stretcher. Kylo looks over at me, this is the calmest I’ve ever seen him. We lock our eyes and stare at each other for what seems like hours. Neither of us have ever been in the hospital. So we don’t know what to expect. I can tell he’s scared. But he’s trying to pull off that tough guy look. Like he knows what’s coming but he isn’t scared. He’s doing this for me. He doesn’t want me to worry. I smile and pet his head, he slowly reaches up and holds my hand, and right then and there, I knew what to do. I owed Kylo my life. We’re brothers. And we would never let someone hurt either of us. We had developed a bond that could not be broken. A bond that kept us together. All of a sudden I feel something hit my back and I’m brought back to reality. It was Kylo. We were at the lab. I wasn’t even paying attention to where we were. I rub my eyes to try to get used to the dim light of the underground. Blade puts in the code and the door slides open and the sight is horrifying. Droxy is passed out on a surgery table with tons of wires attached to her. Tons of weird substances that ive never seen before are being pumped into her blood. I run over to her and stand at her side. I’m worried as to what happened that made her this way. There isn’t anything that could do this to her. She’s too strong. I look around and don’t see any scientists. I go to pull one of the wires from Droxy’s body when I feel something cold against the back of my head. A gun barrel. A pistol. I slowly turn around to see a scientist with a white lab coat on, a .1911 put against my head. I look back and see Blade and Kylo both have M16s pushed against their backs. And then I realize something. These guys aren’t American. I look at the scientist behind me and when I go to speak he hits me with the handle of the pistol and knocks me out.
Part 2
The Syergo
When I wake up I’m in a cell. I look to my right and see Kylo in a separate cell, Blade to my left in another cell. I stand up and look around. We’re in a bulletproof glass cell. Reyzar had issued them to be made when we took POWs. I walk to Kylo’s side and knock on the wall. He’s out cold. I look over at Blade and he’s awake. He’s trying to find a way out. He looks up and sees a vent in the ceiling. He looks over at me and nods. I shake my head. Signifying that it’s too dangerous. He sighs and sits on the bench provided for us. I sit down on mine and cover my face with my hands. How could this happen? I thought this base was secure. How did Russians get in? I thought there were soldiers guarding the front gate. I don’t know what to do. We’re trapped. The only way out is if we were to be let out. But that isn’t happening anytime soon. I look over at Blade and we lock our eyes. We both don’t know what to do. Suddenly I hear something muffled come from Blade’s room and the door opens. A scientist walks in and Blade stands up. The scientist grabs him and Blade tries to get free. He’s squirming and trying his best to escape. Suddenly the fur on the end of his tail becomes as sharp as a sword and he swings it at the scientist and decapitates him. So that’s why his name is Blade. Another scientist comes up behind me and grabs me by my arms. I try to struggle to get free but I’m unable to. Blade runs out of his room and out the door of the cell block. I rip my metal arm free and punch the scientist right in the snout. He goes down and I run out of my cell to Kylo’s, I punch the keypad and the door opens, I run over to Kylo to try to wake him up. He’s not moving. He’s breathing but barely. The atmosphere. It’s too much for him. He’s used to being in space. I pick him up and grab a pistol from a counter and check the clip, fully loaded. I walk out of the cell block just as Blade comes running back with an M16. “I cleared the area ahead. Let’s go.” I nod and Blade gets under Kylo’s other arm and we begin carrying him out of the underground compound. I’m aiming my pistol ahead of us, making sure that there isn’t anybody ahead. Blade is doing the same. We finally make it out of the compound and we slowly make our way to the ship, stopping occasionally to hide from hostiles. I hold Kylo’s hand to the hand scanner in the back of the ship once we get there and the ship opens. We quickly go inside and rest Kylo on a bench in the back. I look at Blade and pat his arm. “I’m going back for Droxy.” I tell him and grab an M16 off the wall “I want to come with you” he says. I shake my head and point to Kylo. “You’re gonna have to stay here with him. It’s too dangerous. If anything seems out of place with him give him a dose of A-250.” He nods and sits next to Kylo. I run out of the ship and grab a knife from a table. I run back inside and see what I think is a hostile. I slowly run up to him, not making any noise and I grab him by his shoulder and spin him around, but when I go to stab him I see it’s a friendly. He puts his arms up until he realizes who I am and speaks in a hushed tone “Bloodlust?” I nod and give him my knife. “Can you be quiet?” He takes the knife and puts it in his knife holster. “Yes sir.” I wave my hand forward and we start walking forward towards where Droxy is being kept. We finally make it to where she is and I punch in the access code and the door slides open. A few scientists see the door open and aim their guns at the door, me and the soldier I encountered are on either side of the door, making sure they can’t see us. After a few moments I jump out and quickly kill the scientists with an M16 I picked up on the way, snapping between targets in rapid succession. After using about half the clip, we walk in and I run over to Droxy, who is still laying on the table with all of the wires and tubes still attached to her. I detach them and pick Droxy up. I give the soldier I encountered the M16 and tell him to clear the way ahead. He nods and does so. I slowly walk behind him, Droxy laid across my shoulders. Once we get out we’re forced to run to the ship. The Russians see us immediately and start firing at us. I take a bullet to my robotic arm and I yelp in pain but I keep running, Droxy still in my arms. I take another bullet to my wing, and another to my shoulder, but I keep running. I have to make sure Droxy and Kylo are safe. They can’t die. Not while I’m still alive. I make it to the ship and take one final bullet to my thigh and fall over, dropping Droxy onto the floor. Blade pulls a lever and the back of the ship closes. I’m on the floor, blood seeping out of my wing, leg, and shoulder. My arm isn’t functional and I’m forced to lay on the floor as I bleed out. My vision is hazy and I can’t move. I look up and Droxy is slowly waking up. Blade runs over to me and picks me up, resting me on the bench next to Kylo. Blade grabs a syringe with A-250 and injects it into Kylo. He immediately wakes up and sees my condition. “Bloodlust?!” He gets up and kneels down in front of me. I start to slowly pass out and he shakes me to keep me awake. “Stay with me baby bro. Stay with me dammit!! I can’t lose you the same way we lost Mom and Dad!!!” I try my best to stay awake. He can tell I’m losing blood fast and quickly gets up and runs to the cockpit of the ship. It slowly takes off and Droxy runs to the cockpit and tells something to Kylo. He nods and he starts flying to where the house is. Blade and the soldier are sitting next to me, Blade is working on my arm and the soldier is patching up my wounds with a med-kit he found. After about a half an hour we reach the house and the back hatch opens and Gummy and Geo run in. The hatch closes and Kylo takes off again. This time I know where were headed. The S.S.A Syergo. The frigate that Kylo has been on for the past 10 years. I pass out from the sudden change in speed. Surprisingly there is no nightmare. Just me sitting in darkness. I look around, confused as hell. I sit in this darkness for what seems like days, weeks, months, years. And then I finally wake up just in time to see the giant frigate. The S.S.A Syergo. It’s huge. With 46 hangers, 23 docking stations, 2,780 plasma turrets, and 20 engines in the back, each one the size of an NFL football stadium. Kylo docks at one of the hangers and a plasma barrier forms at the entrance, trapping the air inside. An airlock. I slowly look at Droxy, who is sitting across from me. She looks back at me and nods. She knows where we are. As Kylo lands the back hatch opens and he gets up and walks to me. He slowly picks me up and starts walking out of the ship into the hanger bay. Everyone else follows. Kylo tells everyone else to go to the mess hall and that we’ll meet them there. Geo walks up to me and kisses me before walking with everyone else. Someone walks up to all of them and looks at Kylo. “I’ve already told them the rules Donny.” The fur named Donny nods and starts leading them to the mess hall. Kylo brings me to the infirmary where a red and white wolf is standing at one of the lockers that has some medical supplies in it. Kylo calls his name but I’m unable to make it out. My ears are starting to become non-functional. The wolf walks up to me and brings me to one of the beds and lays me down. He grabs some sort of canister and attaches it to an injection gun and aims it right at my arm, he pulls the trigger and shoots some kind of soothing medicine into my arm. I immediately start feeling better. My wounds start healing 5x faster, my body feeling warm and my wings immediately becoming functional as well as my ears. I slowly look up at the wolf that injected the medicine into my arm. He sets the injection gun on the table next to the bed and checks my temperature. “Vital signs normal, temperature normal, breathing and heart rate stable, he’s healthy again” Kylo smiles and pets my head. “Thank you Fenri” The wolf nods and goes back to what he was doing beforehand. I look up at Kylo and hold up my hand to him, he grabs it and I hold him tight, I don’t want to let go. I can see that he’s missed me. I can see it in his eyes. He’s been gone for 10 years. If I lose him, I’ll be the only one left in my family. I start to tear up and Kylo hugs me. I wrap my wings around him and hold him close. “Brothers stick together” I tell him as we hold each other in the other’s arms. He smiles and looks up at me. “I’ll never leave you little bro. I promise.” I smile as well as Fenri taps on Kylo’s shoulder. He looks back at him “What is it Fenri?” He looks at his clipboard and looks back at Kylo “He’s good to go. You should bring him to the room that you ‘reserved’ for him. The one in sector 2.” Kylo nods and gets up and I swing my legs over the side and get up, amazed by how fast my wounds healed up. Kylo walks to the doorway and I follow him. “I’ll show you to your room.” I nod and fold my wings, not realizing that they were still open. I look behind me to see if I knocked over any expensive equipment. Thank god I didn’t. I wouldn’t want to get on Fenri’s bad side right after he healed me. Don’t think it’d be a good thing to have the medic mad at you while on a spaceship. Kylo nudges me and we start walking. The Syergo is huge. It spans more than 20 football fields. Took 43 years to finish, 22 years to come up with the plans so it could survive in space and survive teleportation between galaxies. It’s a magnificent spaceship. It would take a lot of power to bring this ship down. And if something were to happen, it has tons of different safety precautions. If there’s a major hull breach, the sector it’s in becomes an airlock. Trapping all the air in that sector. I learned all of this by looking at all of the plans of the Syergo that Kylo kept in his room back on earth. The ship really fascinated me and I wanted to learn more about it. So I studied it until Kylo was told to leave. We finally reach my room and Kylo punches a code into a keypad and the door slides open. I walk inside and see that it looks exactly like my room back in our parent’s home. Down to every inch. How did he remember what it looked like? I look at him in amazement. “How…?” Is the only word that I can get out of my mouth. Kylo smiles and pulls out a picture and hands it to me. It’s a picture of me and Kylo standing in my old room. It was right before he left. Our arms are over each other’s shoulders. I’m holding up my fingers like a finger gun and Kylo is smiling with one thumbs up. He’s dressed in his white and red Syergo uniform and I’m dressed in a football T-Shirt that says ‘Duluth East Greyhounds’ on it. I’m only 13 in the picture, Kylo is 18. He barely looks any different. He’s still got the same look in his eyes, the same happy, smiling face. I grab a staple gun and stable it to a corkboard that he hung up in my room. I look at Kylo and smile brightly. He’s leaning against the door with his arms crossed, smiling. “Come on” He stands straight “You should probably meet the captain of this ship.” I nod and walk to him and once I’m out of the room he punches the code back into the keypad. “Code is 639052. Talk to Don if you want it changed.” I nod and punch in the code and the door opens. I punch it in again and the door closes. Seems simple enough. I go to look at Kylo but he’s already half way down the hallway. I have to jog to keep up with him. I finally catch up to him and walk beside him. He looks at me and smiles. I smile back as we walk to the bridge, where the captain is. I look forward the rest of the way, walking past a few crew members that give me weird looks. They obviously know that I don’t belong here. I close my eyes and take a deep breathe, trying to calm myself down. I open my eyes again and we’re at the bridge. Kylo punches in another code and the door slides open just like mine. Inside there’s a leopard woman with a uniform on like Kylo’s. She’s looking at a bunch of screens that have a lot of stuff on them that I don’t understand. Kylo walks up behind her and taps her shoulder. “Katy? I believe you wanted to meet my little brother Bloodlust?” She turns around and smiles at me. She has long blonde hair that’s put into a pony tail, she has blue eyes and surprisingly white teeth. She walks over to me and shakes my hand. “Hello Bloodlust. I’m Katy. Captain of this ship. How are you feeling?” She asks me as I pull my hand back after shaking her hand. “I’m fine. Thanks for asking.” She nods and looks at Kylo. “I already showed him to his room ma’am.” She acknowledges what he said and starts writing something down on a piece of paper and hands it to Kylo. He reads it and looks at Katy, a look on his face that sends chills down my back. Somethings wrong. “I thought we had a truce with them!” She shakes her head and lowers it, frowning. “They broke the truce after killing the prime minister of the planet Zava. We’re at war again. We have to expect the worse. Prepare the weapons systems for battle. Execute order 97. I’m gonna announce it to everyone. You and Bloodlust make sure that the crew is safe. Get Don, Fenri, Ethan, Jared, and everyone else to safety. And don’t forget about my sister.” Kylo nods and walks out of the room. I walk out with him and the door closes behind us. Kylo is already walking down the hallway once I’m out of the bridge. I run up to him and look at him. “Kylo? What does she mean by ‘Execute Order 9-’” I get interrupted when he looks at me and closes my snout with his paw. “Get everyone to safety. I’ll get the crew ready to defend the ship. Be prepared to do anything that you hear over the speakers at a moment’s notice. Got it?” I nod and he lets go of my snout. He points down one hall and tells me to go that way. I do and once I’m halfway down the hallway we hear a muffled explosion come from somewhere in the ship. It shakes the entire thing and I have to grab onto the wall to keep myself stable. I look back at Kylo and he’s already gone. I stand back up and run down the hallway to my friends. I have to get to them as fast as possible. As I’m running down the hallway I hear crew members getting ready, shouting at each other to hurry up. They all watch me run past. I grab a pistol from a rack on the wall as I run. I’m running as fast as I can. Shoving through soldiers as another explosion rocks the ship. I finally reach the mess hall where all of my friends are. Droxy is holding onto the wall, Blade is holding onto a pipe hanging from the ceiling, Gummy and Geo are holding onto a table to steady themselves, the soldier that came with us next to them. “Follow me! NOW!” I yell at them and they stand up and follow me. I run down the hallway and they follow. I memorized the layout of the ship from the plans I studied. As I’m running Gummy catches up to me. “What’s happening?!” She yells over the sound of screaming crew members. “We’re under attack!” I yell to her. She stares at me as we run. I finally get to a certain room and press a button, the door slides open and everyone runs inside. I stay outside and look down the hallway. Gummy runs over to me and tries to pull me inside. I pull my arm free and push her in. “I’m going to find Kylo” She shakes her head “It’s too dangerous. We don’t know what or who is attacking us. Kylo can handle himself!” I shake my head and push her into the room and close the door. I run down the hallway, trying to find Kylo. Another explosion rocks the ship and I wonder if the weapons systems are even online. I turn down a hallway and see him. It’s Kylo, he’s in Close Quarters Combat with a hostile. I run at him and push him off of Kylo and knock him out by smashing his head against the wall. I look at Kylo and give him a pistol I picked up off the ground. He nods to me and we both run down the hallway towards the hangers. Suddenly an explosion knocks us to the side and I immediately grab onto a part of the wall and Kylo does the same. The wall that exploded isn’t there anymore. And we’re losing air fast. Kylo smashes a glass compartment and pulls out two air masks. He gives me one and I put it on. He puts on the other one and I immediately start breathing again. Kylo does the same. We use the wall to move towards the hanger. That’s where they got in. The hostiles got in through the hanger. We finally get there and when the door opens we get sucked into what used to be the hanger and into space. I start freaking out and try to move back towards the Syergo. But it’s impossible. I look at Kylo and he’s freaking out just as much as I am. I scream his name but he can’t hear me. But I don’t care. I can’t lose him. Not this way. I scream again at the top of my lungs and he looks at me and for a split second our eyes meet, and then it happens. He was there one second and gone the next. All I saw was red and a blur of black. I scream out his name but nothing comes out. A ship comes up behind me and someone grabs me and pulls me inside and closes the airlock. I shove off the person that grabbed me and run to the door of the airlock and look out the window just in time to see Kylo’s necklace float past the window. I quickly open the airlock and grab the necklace and quickly close it again. I stand in the airlock, holding the necklace in my hands. I turn it over and see the letters K and B on the back in a pair of wings. Kylo and Bloodlust. Brothers forever. I pull mine out of my shirt and hold it next to his. Mine has our names inside of a heart. I feel the tears come. They come quickly and I close my fist around the necklace. I start to cry and I yell as loud as I can before punching the wall of the airlock multiple times until my knuckles start bleeding. I eventually fall down to my knees, my hand resting against the wall as I cry uncontrollably. I can’t believe he’s gone. He can’t be gone. He can’t. I can’t do anything else but cry. And then I see the flashbacks of what happened and I want them to go away. They come in flashes. Me and him getting sucked into the hanger, him getting hit by the ship, the necklace floating past the window of the airlock. I lean back and yell again. I yell until I pass out. When I wake up I’m in a bed by myself. I look around. I’m back on the Syergo. I’m in my room. I get up and walk to the corkboard that has the picture of me and Kylo on it. I take it off the board and stare at it. His necklace is resting on the desk next to my bed. I pick it up and put it on, I grab a uniform and put it on and look in the mirror and see Kylo. I look taller, better built, I pull the necklaces out from under the uniform and stare at myself in the mirror. I’ve changed so much. I’m becoming my brother. I always thought I looked like him. I look at the picture of me and him and put it in my pocket. I breathe in heavily and walk to the door of my room and punch in the code. The door opens and I walk out. Crew members are working on the hull as I pass by. I don’t listen to anybody when they talk to me. I ignore everybody. I don’t care who it is. I get to the bridge and punch in the code and the door opens. I walk in and right up to Katy. I grab her shoulder and turn her around. She looks mad at first but then realizes who it is. “Bloodlust….I’m….I’m sorry about Kylo…” I shake my head and push her against the wall of the bridge by her neck with my elbow. The ace on my chest can be seen glowing dark black through my uniform. I’m staring deep into the captain’s eyes as I choke her with my elbow. “You ordered Kylo’s death. I know you did. Order 97 orders all important crew members to clear out all of the most dangerous areas of the ship. You told Kylo to go to Hanger Bay 19. You knew what happened in that hanger. YOU SENT HIM TO HIS DEATH!!!” I yell as I throw her across the room with my robotic arm. She hits a screen and it shatters. She gets up and holds up her hands, trying to keep me at bay. “B-Bloodlust, please. I didn’t know. I’m truly sorry for what happened to your brother. I really am!” She pleads to me as I walk towards her, my body is hotter than it was on earth and I pick Katy up by her neck. She squirms as I choke her with my robotic arm. I stare at her and then throw her at the wall before walking towards her again. “I will never forgive you for what you did to my brother.” I push her against the wall and pin her against it by pulling her knife from its holster and stabbing it through her uniform into the wall. She looks up at me, frightened by my strength. “I’m leaving the ship with my friends. If you try to follow us, I won’t hesitate to kill you.” I tell her as I get up and walk out of the bridge. I walk to where my friends are and gather them up. We all meet in Hanger Bay 16, where Kylo’s ship is. I walk inside his ship and start it up. Everybody walks inside and sits down in the back. As im starting up the ship Gummy walks over to me and places her hand on my shoulder. “Bloodlust…” I don’t pay attention to her and fly the ship out of the hanger and flip a couple switches, a portal opens and I fly the ship through. On the other side we’re back at the house. I land the ship and the portal closes. I shut down the ship and open the back. Everybody gets out and I walk to the house. I open the front door and go right for my room. I slam my door behind me and lock myself in my room for the rest of the day. Secluded from everyone else. I don’t want to talk to them. Losing him was too much. I haven’t seen him for 10 years and I finally see him again and he gets hit by a ship. I lay down on my bed and slowly fall asleep.
Chapter 3
“Home” (WIP)
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