Chapter 1

The streets are busy and crowded in the bustling city, flowing with the constant movement of every day life. The noise that is a blur of thousands of conversations mixes with that of the busy traffic. The distinct sound of a crying baby, the honk of a horn, a barking dog, a speeding car, police sirens. All the mark of the busy, built-up city.

I pull the hood of my jumper tighter around my face as the crowd around me thickens. I make sure to turn my face away from a young child who was peering at me with interest.

As long as nobody sees my eyes I can keep my cool. My luminous green slit eyes flicker nervously along the pavement, careful not to look at anyone. If I can see their eyes, that means they can see mine.

If I had any money, I would buy some shades, but I guess that's what living on the street gives ya. Nothing.

I did have some sunglasses a while back, but they were broken by a gang of teenage boys who saw me as vulnerable. The moment they saw my eyes they legged it. And I was left with nothing to cover the only evidence of the EVO side to me. Sort of.

I'm trying to get to the alley way a few meters away. I've been moving through the back streets for the past few weeks, but I've been forced out of my hiding thanks to a very high, spikey fence, and a dead end. I hate dead ends. And high spikey fences. Or just spikey fences in general. Or just spikey things in general. Unless of course their something I can use.

I'm a few feet away now, and I can feel myself relax. Bad move Kiya, bad move. Suddenly my shoulder is shoved by a hurried business man as he runs to get to his job. I'm sent spinning into the wall, my back hitting it hard and knocking the breath out of me.

I hear a sharp gasp and all the sound around me vanishes. Have I been knocked out? No, I'm still fully conscious, my back just hurts. I look around me to the many faces staring at me, some with shock, others with fear. Why are they staring.

Ah. I can see their eyes. They can see mine.

There's a single piercing scream from a young mother at the front of the crowd, clutching her child protectively, and then suddenly there's chaos and panic everywhere.

And I'm panicking too. I struggle to keep my breathing even, but I can feel my body morphing anyway. I try to fight it, to keep the creature inside of me, but I have to yell out in pain as my panic rises and the creature wants out. The more I resist, the more it hurts.

And I'm just going to change into it anyway, so before I know it there's a strained yowl exiting my fanged mouth. The fur covering my feline-monstrous body is bristling.

Dammit.

There's even more panic and screaming, so I turn and flee down that alley way I was heading towards before. Hopefully I can manage to disappear. Before Providence comes.

I prowl to the very back of the alley and lean against the dead end with a frustrated snarl. I begin to calm my breathing, taking myself through the calming exercises. Before long I can curl my fingers in front of my face and stand up again. I turn around and look back towards the street where most of the panic has disappeared. Infact, most of the people have disappeared. And that's because Providence has moved in.

"Damn" I mutter to myself "they're fast."

The soldiers seemed to have set up a perimeter around the street, and it becomes eerily quite. Then I hear a voice. "Okay, it's clear."

Three figures emerge at the entrance of the ally. One is tall and slim, with the kind of suite that says 'I mean business' and some shades which look like they could have prevented my whole situation. The one in the middle is a rebellious looking teenage boy with goggles above his eyes. The last one is a chimp wearing a fez and clothes.

The sight was so odd that it took me a moment to realise that I needed to hide. I'm lucky it's dark back here, otherwise they would already have seen me. I duck behind an old tin trash can, and a pile of bin bags. It stank, but maybe that would deter them. Besides, I'm used to it.

"So what are we up against?" The kid asks "Big ugly looking EVO? Or maybe a slimy one?"

"I hate the slimy ones" the monkey says in a scratchy voice. The monkey says. The monkey can talk. Wow.

"We're not sure." The one in the very green suite says in the most serious voice ever. "Some witnesses say it was mostly human, others say it was mostly a large cat, others insist it was a monster. Holiday thinks it could be a shape shifting EVO."

All the while they're talking they're walking closer and closer to my hiding spot.

"What, like that freaky little girl that tried to eat me in breache's little doll house?"

I suddenly have to find the willpower to stop myself from laughing at the odd statement. Well then.

"Yes, like that." The guy replies. How can he stay so serious?

Well, I don't exactly try to eat people.

"You sure it went down here?" The monkey asks.

"Certain." The mans voice confirms.

"What'd it shape shift into? A fly?" The boy asks jokingly.

They're close. Very close. I swear they're gonna hear my heart beating against my chest. I struggle to keep calm, attempting to zone out in order to restore my heart to a slower pace. It sort of works and I no longer have to fight the urge to morph.

The dangerously near footsteps suddenly stop. I'm not sure wether this should make me relieved or terrified.

I hear a frustrated groan. "It got away." The kid moans.

I let out a soft relieved sigh. Another bad move Kiya, another bad move.

Suddenly the trash cans are gone. Swept aside with a crash by a pair of huge orange robot hands. I look into the eyes of the boy they belong to. He looks as shocked as I feel. Why does he look shocked?

That question brings me back down to reality and in an instant my skin stretches and rips away to reveal spiked, rough fur. My mouth becomes filled with fangs alike that of a viper's. Lots of viper's fangs.

These fangs shoot forward threateningly as I let out a loud hiss. I shrink back against the wall, lashing my tattered tail in fear and aggression.

In the shock, I didn't have time to even think about my calming techniques. I go on total defence.

The man whips out two blades and the monkey grabs a pair of red guns from his back, exclaiming 'Woah!"

I let out another hiss, laced with warning, extending my two largest fangs at the front of my mouth out like a snake would.

"Careful." The man warns. "We don't know if it's venomous."

I give a low snarl. Indeed my fangs are venomous, but only my smaller ones are deadly, and can retract back into my mouth if I don't want to use 'em. The large ones at the front would only knock someone unconscious.

"Can't exactly poison big metal hands, Six" the boy says.

Six? What sort of a name is that? Isn't that a number?

But before I can process this, those 'big metal hands' come crashing down on me, smashing me to the ground. Pain laces through my back and I let out a strained yowl. As I feel the weight lift off me again I carefully get back onto my feet, wincing at the soreness of my body.

Well that's done it. My glaring green eyes lock onto the boy and I let out an angry roar, charging forward with my fangs extended. He brings a hand up to smash me again, but I leap into the air at the last minute, just missing his weaponised limbs and landing with my full weight on his shoulders. My momentum, doubled with my powerful body, sends him crashing to the ground, back first.

I have him pinned to the ground with my fangs centimetres from his face. I let out a deadly snarl as I stare him straight in his shocked eyes. But I don't bite.

I'm not a monster. I refuse to be a monster.

But before I can use this to my advantage and run out of the alley, there's a sharp pain in my side as I'm thrown off my hostage, and the wind's knocked out of me. A few stinging bullets are fired into me and I know it's the monkey. I take in a gasping breath and look up.

It's the man, Six. He stands over me with a blade poised to strike. I take one look at the deadly looking sword and then lunge forward before he can stop me.

I sink my front fangs into his side, the smaller ones safely tucked away.

At the exact same time I feel something piercing my side.

Both of us stumble back. I look around at my flank to find the sword sticking into my side. I shudder and it tumbles out, meaning that thankfully it wasn't too deep. In this form I will happily live.

"Six!" The yell takes me by surprise and I whip around to find the boy kneeling besides Six's unconscious body. Of course, he doesn't know that he's just unconscious.

He looks up at me with fury in his eyes. Well damn. He equips himself with giant orange hands yet again and then smashes me against the wall, holding me by the neck. I yowl in pain and hiss, but I soon find that my airways become blocked. He's squeezing tighter and tighter around my neck with huge metal fingers.

I begin to wheeze, attempting, and failing, to get air into my lungs. I can faintly hear the guy yelling stuff at me but I can hardly hear. I begin trying to take deep breathes, attempting to calm myself down, when everything in me screams against it.

In the end I give up on the calming methods and just start fighting against the panic and the creature form. I know that it is probably hurts, but I can hardly feel it as I fight for my survival. Eventually I struggle into my more human form, and as I have small gap where my neck has shrank I take in a shuddering breath and then try to communicate.

"He's... Not dead. Would never... Just... Knocked out..." I wheeze. Slowly the grasp around my neck loosens. Then suddenly all pressure from my neck is gone and I slump against the wall, with no energy left to even attempt to stand up.

"I would never... I would never." I mutter quietly to myself as I take in shuddering breaths. The world around me begins to darken, and I still struggle to get air into me.

There's shuffling and yelling, but it's all become muffled and quite. I feel like I'm being lifted, and I glimpse allot of white figures around me before I black out completely. Of course not without snagging one last thought.

Yet another bad move.