A/N This is our first collaborative story. It is dedicated to "Matt" the Guest Reviewer who gave us all of our ideas. Hi Matt! *waves*
Becker held his gun aloft as they approached the anomaly; they were standing in the middle of the M25. Jess had ensured all traffic had been diverted away from the area and the motorway looked unusually empty. Suddenly, there was a loud thumping noise and Becker, Matt, Connor, Abby and Emily turned to see a Colombian Mammoth stomping down the middle lane. Everyone's mouths fell open and they gaped at the sight of the creature.
What was so unusual about the creature wasn't its massive size, nor its lack of hair, not even the length of its dextrous trunk, but how ridiculous it looked.
"Hello. My name is Lester. James Lester…" It reached out with its trunk and shook Connor's hand.
Connor gaped as he stared at the blue pin-stripe suit that the creature was wearing.
Lester the Mammoth sneezed. Connor looked at his hand in dismay. Hurriedly reaching with his other hand for a hanky, he started to wipe off the offensive residue. But too late - before his eyes - his hand was changing from the germs in Lester the Mammoth's sneeze.
Connor looked at Abby, his big brown eyes wide with horror.
"Abby," he said. "Help…chirp!" He clasped his green scaled hand over his mouth in horror.
"Connor!" screamed Abby.
Connor held up both hands, not wanting to believe what was happening. He felt the back of his shirt rip and he sprouted wings. Abby continued to stare in horror as her fiance began to change. His face began to change, it became green; his thick mop of hair stayed miraculously in place, but he began to look like Rex. Abby and Becker watched in stunned silence as Connor Temple became Connor the Coelurosauravus. He flew into the air, chirruping loudly, before leaving a large deposit on the black clad shoulder of the soldier.
"Temple!" growled Becker, angrily, as the steaming mass began to affect him strangely.
At the same moment, Lester the Mammoth sneezed again, this time over Becker.
"Please excuse me, I seem to have caught a cold!" Lester the Mammoth quipped in a very posh tone.
Suddenly Becker began to change too. First he split in half - two Beckers! Stripes adorned the face of the one covered in Mammoth slime and he snarled as he dropped onto all fours, leaping gracefully onto a car, his features becoming that of a fearsome tiger.
The other Becker, covered in Coelurosauravus poop, hunched over, his limbs all becoming legs, his features contorted and his scream became a series of bat-like clicks. He turned his dark, feral face towards Abby, grinning hideously with his now wide and toothy mouth. Abby backed away, terrified.
In the background, Helen, with her cloning device, could be heard chortling maniacally.
Abby, now covered in Becker's drool, quivered, squeaked and transformed into a large beaver-like creature, before scuttling out of the Predator's reach as quickly as her stubby little legs would carry her.
Matt and Emily stood back to back with their EMDs raised, one pointing at Becker the Tiger, the other pointing at Becker the Predator.
"I don't think Connor the Coelurosauravus or Abby the Diictodon is a threat," whispered Matt.
"You might be mistaken about that," said Emily. "They're all infected…"
Lester the Mammoth gave another sneeze and Emily and Matt both jumped back.
"Emily! Don't go near them. We don't want to get infected!" Matt said urgently, keeping his EMD trained on Becker the Predator.
The two remaining humanoid members of the core team were so focused on the two Beckers that they didn't notice Abby the Diictodon come up behind Matt. She took one look at his brown-trouser-clad leg, mistook it for a tree and bit him. Matt reacted instantly, crying out in pain and dropping his EMD as his body contorted and re-shaped itself into the form of a Dingo.
Immediately, chaos broke out.
Becker the Tiger took one look at Matt the Dingo and snarled. Connor the Coelurosauravus chirruped and swooped around the head of Becker the predator. Abby the beaver-like Diictodon took one look at the other growling creatures and slapped the ground with her tail, hair standing on end. And Emily looked on in horror, her mouth open, as Matt the Dingo promptly ignored Becker the Tiger and turned to her, giving a happy yip before licking her hand.
"Emily? Matt? Abby? Connor? Becker?! Becker?! Can you hear me?" Jess said frantically into her Comms, but all she got was static. "Becker? Where are you? What's happening…?"
Jess began to worry. The team weren't responding to her Comms and Becker always answered her, unless he was in trouble. Becker in trouble. Jess frowned and wrinkled her nose. She had to do something.
Anxiously, Jess strode up to Lester's office, her hot pink heels clicking on the linoleum floor.
"Lester, there's…" absently she trailed off when she realised the boss wasn't in his office.
Frowning, she quickly took out her phone and dialled his number.
"This is Lester. I'm either engaged in a meeting that is far too important to talk to you about, or, simply, don't wish to talk to you. Leave a message if you must, but only if there is a life or death situation. If not, I don't want to speak to you."
Jess rolled her eyes as she clicked off, not waiting for the beep. This was an emergency.
She sighed. It seemed now was one of those incidences Abby was always talking to her about. If you want something done properly, you have to do it yourself.
Meanwhile, back at the anomaly site, Emily stood in shock, realising that the transformation of her body had started. Slowly, her cries turned into croaks, her flailing arms became covered in black feathers. While Matt the Dingo still tried to lick what had now become a wing, Emily the Raven took off in her first clumsy attempt at flying, getting only as far as Becker's black truck.
Becker the Tiger rolled his eyes before purring: "If there are any bird droppings on that car, I will get my EMD and aim at those black feathers of yours…"
Matt the Dingo snarled menacingly and turned to Becker the Tiger.
"Don't even think about it, kitty," he growled, before licking his chops in smug satisfaction. "Not that you'd be able to hold an EMD with that paw of yours - no opposable thumbs, mate!"
Becker the Tiger chuffed, flicking his tail in annoyance and bared his teeth at was once the other man.
Becker the Tiger leapt into the air and pounced on Matt the Dingo, snarling as he did so. Suddenly, he heard the sound of a car engine and he stopped, transfixed by the figure that got out. She ran around to the back of the car and pulled out a weird looking gun. It looked like a modified EMD and it had a hose with a canister attached.
"Philip said this might happen and this was the only way to fix things."
She held the abnormal gun aloft and pointed it at Becker the Tiger, spraying him with a foul-smelling liquid, and she turned to Matt the Dingo and sprayed him too.
Slowly, Becker the Tiger began to return to normal, as did Matt, and Jess continued to spray the infected members of the team. She looked around frantically for Becker the Future Predator, who had disappeared. She did not see him as he leapt upon her, biting into her neck.
Jess screamed as she slowly became a Future Predator herself and then she and Becker scampered off through the anomaly to reproduce.
Becker the Future Predator had prepared the perfect bower for himself and his mate Jess. The bower was decorated with a silver lining - Abby's long lost blanket! They settled down together under the scorching sun and, as they kissed, a noise interrupted them. It was Helen, who had been turned into a Future Predator too!
"Becker," she said. "I need a strong man. Leave this creature and be mine!"
Jess hissed and clicked at her adversary in jealousy - and pounced, pulling off Helen's arm and beating her with it.
"He's my man! Hands off!" she hissed, and, made aggressive by the sight and smell of blood, Jess put Helen in pieces, putting into this gesture the rage that had accumulated all these years against her. Then she turned to Becker, watching the scene from afar, and jumped on him!
They rolled together in the cosy bower, sharing all their passion. Afterwards, they lay there in the sun, holding each other close. As Becker rolled over, he suddenly cried out.
"Ow!" he said. "Something's digging into my back. What's this? It's the Anomaly Opening Device - we can get back!"
They ran back through the anomaly. Matt was there waiting. He sprayed them with the antidote and they instantly changed back to normal Jess and Becker - the two Becker's merging into one.
"We're ok!" Becker cried ecstatically.
"Er - no - not quite," Jess added. "I'm pregnant. Oh no, what will it be? A human baby or a humanoid Future Predator?"
Jess took refuge in the arms of Becker, looking at him with big blue eyes.
"Let's keep this baby - even at the risk that it is a Future Predator. But what if it is your baby, Becker?"
A/N So, should we continue? Let us know, "Matt"! :D