Gift or Curse?
Andy walked down the long red hallway in the flag ship of the Galactic Alliance, holding a square parchment with pictures of guitars for wrapping paper, and a card under the blue bow. His purple claws on his bare feet clicked against the grey metal floor while walking down the odds and ends of the seemingly endless hallway with cross walks and doors every turn he made. To reach the destination desired, a holographic map was definitely needed; unless the same route and location was used repeatedly for memorization.
The pink Angel-male replica B-X (Born Experiment) took a right turn, ending the red streak of paint and green doors on both sides of the walls with numbers on each door, into a hallway with a green stripe going down and around the yellow metallic doors.
He walked down the narrow hallway that seemed like a claustrophobic's worst nightmare as he passed alien species much larger than him. Some of them snickered as they looked at his uniform with its black flying 'V' guitar with red for the primary color of the uniform and pink for the secondary highlights. Since being in Commander of the Galactic Alliance there were perks that came with the job and a few minor draw backs that wouldn't bother anyone but Andy had a slight disadvantage. The design was a given, but the two color schemes showed the rank. Red was high in rank but the second color, for second in command, had to reflect the wearers skin or fur. Unfortunately for Andy, he was pink, and it didn't help at all that he looked exactly like a girl without the 'features' of one.
Andy didn't pay any attention to the silent chuckles of his colleagues as he walked down the hallway. He made a sigh of relief when the elevator leading to the higher ranking personnel and staff.
His antennae pressed the red button with 'Captain's Quarters' written above the button. The door closed and laser grid slowly materialized at the tip of the ceiling, scanned Andy, and finished with a feminine voice greeting, "Captain Andy."
The metal elevator door opened up, revealing a small room with a desk with a stack of papers and small reminders of home such as pictures. Bright red and blue striped carpet filled every bit of flooring in the room with book shelves full of large books and collectables from other planets.
The captain of the Galactic Alliance sat at his desk with the aid of his height adjusted chair, working strenuously on his reports with a tired look on his eyes. His attire consisted of red and with black rounded triangles with yellow fillings in each triangle with Metallica's insignia on the front and back of his suit. His three arms were sprout out with the upper arms doing the report he was working on as the lower left arm played with a yoyo.
"Yo, Andy. Can you understand this symbol? This Numbrek either made a misspelling or it has a double meaning because I do not understand how it fits with the sentence in this statement," the Stitch-lookalike sighed, holding a piece of tan paper.
Andy walked up to the desk and exchanged the parcel for the paper, looking over the paper with the strange symbols.
"Which one are you having trouble with, Stitchie?" Andy asked, reading the written document in Nubrekon.
"It's the asterisk-looking symbol with two dots above it. It's normally written with two dots on left and right with a line going from the top left to the bottle right for murder. However, this statement makes no sense. The person filed a claim against another Numbrek named, Raul Veducka, a twenty seven year old male, for vandalism and assault. That statement can't be true because we executed the same guy three years ago for three counts of murder and arson. Due to the religion he belonged to, Raul was infertile by castration and that was age three. You would think it's a different Numbrek but because of their genetic makeup it doesn't stack up against the facts. Their colorful skin is like the finger of a human during the identification process. The chances of a Numbrek with the same skin color and design are point two –six- three- two- five percent. This is frustrating and I can't go any further into this document until that symbol is translated. From what I understand is the person who made this claim, chased this replica after breaking the windows of his vehicle, goes around a corner of the house only to be punched in the face, and bam, mystery symbol," Stitchie explained, unwrapping his gift, "I just want to get done with this and go home. Sparkle's making me a birthday dinner and I promised the kids to play a few board games at mom and dad's house.
"Well, you're in luck, but I have some bad news for the guy who sent the complaint though. The symbol is 'stabbed' or 'being stabbed.' This Numbrek talks about turning a corner and being injected by some sort of needles at the ends of antennae jutting out from the imposter's body. The anatomy doesn't fit any criteria of a sentient being unless it was a disguise by another race using some sort of genetic cloak the Y'Sua use for assassinations. Replicate their body and use their features at the same time for a short time but it still doesn't fit this case at all. Even if they did use a gene sample or DNA from, Raul, it still wouldn't match him identically. But we don't have to look far…Lucky us. The rest of this claim goes into great detail about, Raul's eyes and how they had no pupils. The Numbreks have four pupils for different visions depending on which part of the planet they live on and they are heat, night, echo, and binocular. Either this particular lookalike of Raul had cataracts on all his pupils or it was Shadow. And if it's Shadow, which it looks very probable, we have to get this guy fast before he mutates and spreads the virus and mutations Shadow has. Hmm, looking at the date of this, this claim was sent here three days ago. That guy needs to be apprehended quickly," Andy handed Stitchie the document.
Stitchie growled, "Shadow really knows how to piss me off. Really he does. What did this guy do to get this fate?" He grumbled.
The blue B-X pressed a button and a TV lowered from the ceiling, facing Stitchie. It started fuzzy but cleared up a few seconds later as it focused on an alien with a large rounded head with small beady eyes, little giraffe-like ears, grey stripes on its head with no nose on its smiling face.
"Ehem, Captain Petals, what can I do for you?" the creature asked, having a high pitched feminine voice.
"Send a small squad to the Nerbu Residence on Planet Quet Six. The Butcher may have infected him with that Traunt and Surbrex Virus, and contracted his cursed mutation. We need him contained before there is another outbreak," Stitchie ordered.
"I will send a squad Immediately, Captain Petals. Anything else I should do?" the female alien asked, looking ready take more orders.
"That will be all, Laura. Thank you," Stitch smiled before the monitor turned off and went back into the ceiling.
Stitchie's smile faded away and was replaced with an upset look, "Just what we need; another outbreak in a planet wide scale. I can't take it anymore. I need a smoke," he opened the top drawer of his desk where he kept his cigars and matches.
He lit a match and smoked his cigar, unraveling his nerves with each puff of smoke, "Thank goodness for the Master Archives. Those Numbreks have twenty seven numbers and six names compared to one street address at home. To tell memorize and say it would be a complete pain in the arse. By the way, thank you for the gift, Andy. I know how much our childhood means to you and how much you cherish the spirit of family but you must change at one point in time," Stitchie frowned, looking at the picture of Stitchie, Andy, and Shadow play fighting on the couch as they were pups.
"I got duplicates from mom and since I thought it was another whole year of being alive, I thought we could rethink and forgive one another. Cherish this gift of life, we only get it once," Andy smiled.
Stitchie put the stack of pictures on his desk next to the Judas Priest's, 'Turbo' album that came with the pictures.
"I understand that you mean well and that you wish this 'happy' family would be happier with our lost brother, but face it, Andy. Shadow is a criminal, a very violent and unstoppable one no less. I'm still angry for what he did, ripping my lower right arm off and making my family infertile with his powers or magic or whatever the Hell to call it. But the fact is, until he apologizes and respects the law, I will not welcome him back with open arms. You can all you want, but I won't," the blue B-X said sternly, knocking the ashes from his cigar in a black ashtray.
"You were the one who pushed Shadow around and beat him up. What you did was cruel and ridiculing. Even worse, that you did this in front of his girlfriend, the one you impregnated and was forced to marry. Frankly, you deserve what you got to an extent but what you and Shadow did was wrong. Your blame game doesn't affect the way I look at you both. You two are like children fighting on who did what. Granted, Shadow may had a few screws loose and was lost, but growing up he was targeted by all kinds of bullshit and being different from us would affect my way of thinking as well. After all, I look like a bloody woman anyways, but Shadow was a threat to himself and to everyone, and that really hurt him inside. Even though we loved him and he understood it at heart, the truth of the matter still made itself distinguished. Why do you think he ran away, or tried killing himself several times? Didn't you even notice that he stuck close to mom before he went deep into woe? To this day, he is still lost and the only person to blame is you. Look, sorry for being blunt, Stitchie, but you're the one who pushed him over the edge and he won't change unless you change first. Can you please help me out? It's our birthday," Andy pleaded, giving his older a sad face.
Stitchie sighed, "You have to accept that Shadow is the enemy here. Did you just not read that document? How much more must I push to get you to understand that Shadow is extremely dangerous and must be cleansed by the meaning hammer justice? Do you want me to bring out the report on him? I can do that. Look, until I find out first hand that he wants to change and do some real good instead of take the law into his own accord, I will not accept him in my life. He's mass genocide over fifty species of people. Shadow also caused pandemics that have turned ordinary people into rotting corpses with lost minds and revenging hunger for flesh of the living. Do you want this to happen any longer? Do you realize how much of a danger he is? Look, Andy, I love our family and I love you, but we must move on and bring to justice to those who run it without the badge. You can continue to convince him but I really doubt I could see the changes until he shows it to me personally. Until then, here's my present to him," Stitchie took out hand cuffs from his desk and put them on the edge of the desk next to Andy.
Andy shook his head with displeasure as he grabbed the hand cuffs, putting them in his blue belt, "Shadow's probably laughing right now as I took those. Hopefully he'll listen to me better than you did. I would love that for a gift," he sighed.
"When I see he changes, I'll change with him but not until I'm convinced. I'll give you that, Andy, if it makes you happy. Heck, he would make a very valuable asset to the Galactic Alliance. Shadow would rise through the ranks like we did. If there was a higher position than I, Shadow would get it hands down, but not unless he is redeemed in the eyes of the Grand Council," Stitchie said, blowing out a puff of smoke from his cigar, "I don't know why you won't change but that's up to you and I won't judge on what you believe. Just don't get yourself killed over it. Now, I'm going home and spending time with mom and dad with my family. I'll see you when you come back to Earth. I'm sure mom and dad will want to see us in a group with our families," the blue Stitch-replica hopped off the chair after finishing his cigar and putting it in the ashtray.
Stitchie hugged his brother and walked towards the elevator. He climbed on the wall, pressed the button, and walked in the elevator after the doors open.
"You have a new prototype private ship in the hanger. You'll like the new technology put into it, and it is by far, a lot better than your destroyed ship on Planet Orthodus. It's a gift from me and the hard working scientists from the Technological Advancement wing on this massive ship. The name should be easy to recognize from your last prototype ship. Your key can still be used to open the locked door and on the seat will be another gift. See you back on Earth," Stitchie winked, having the elevator close in front of him.
"If it wasn't for, Shadow, I wouldn't be standing here," Andy silently said, "Well, I gave it a shot at making one of the two change their view on this stupid argument. Further than I usually go. Maybe Shadow will finally change for me. Why am I getting the feeling the 'Bullshit Fairy' is going to visit on this little quest of mine?" Andy sighed, hopping onto Stitchie's chair and looking at the stack of reports his older brother didn't finish.
"Life is a gift to me but Shadow feels like its one big curse to him. Stitchie only wants justice for his life. I just don't understand why both won't listen to me and cherish the life they were given in a more positive aspect. They think I'm wasting my time helping them but only time is wasted on living bitterly on the past. Granted, we're going to live hundreds, if not, thousands of years depending on the situation but I want to at least make sure they have a happy life when they both forgive one another. Mom would be happy and Gloria would be ecstatic to have Shadow back into the family. I just want things to work out. In the mean time, let's look at these reports…" Andy grabbed a red piece of paper from next to the ashtray, "Stitchie and his stupid smoking habit. Such a terrible smell," he complained, dumping the ashes and smoked cigar into the trash bin next to his chair.
Andy began working on the reports sent to Captain Petals who decided the actions the police and military had to take. Normally nothing larger than a small squad of three or four depending on the severity of the subject in question.
The pink B-X chuckled as he read a claim from a Hunso-Creptian, asking for help in search of a culprit who stole the brain he was going to eat.
"What a joke. Why is this crap sent to us? I swear, that guy who delivers this to us must be new or something because this should be sent in the small claims office. I'll have to discuss this to the people working in the offices below tomorrow," he tossed the paper off to the side and started on another claim.
Andy had spent several hours on the large stack of papers. Laughed at some of the 'misplaced' papers and studied hard on the claims that really caught his attention.
He took a deep breath in relief as he finished the last paper, sending a small squad to question a Skernsh about a recent murder on his neighborhood.
Andy opened the middle drawer on the left side of the desk, reached in a green cup with the word 'O'hana' embedded into it with in gold cursive, and pulled out a key chain with a blue key with 'AJP' carved into the grip.
Closing the drawer, he hopped off the chair and began to walk towards the elevator, only to have the monitor on the ceiling catch his attention.
The same alien popped up on the screen, ready to update Captain Petals on the situation on the Numbrek that maybe infected with a dangerous virus.
"Captain Petals has retired for the rest of the day. This is Commander Petals reporting in," Andy smiled, walking back to the desk.
"Commander Petals, I just received news about the infected Numbrek. He fully mutated and attacked the squad Captain Petals sent. He is terminated. The Grand Council has voted on global quarantine on Planet Quet Six. What are your orders?' Laura asked, awaiting orders.
"Send three squads of six biohazard containment forces and scout out the area. Shoot to kill if needed. Anything further is needed, General Riak will take charge of this operation as I am retiring for the day," Andy ordered, giving her a frown.
"I'll give them the orders," she said before having the monitor turn off and put itself back into the ceiling.
"Why do you do this, Shadow? What kind of justice is this?" Andy shook his head in disgust, opening the elevator door and heading down to the hanger, "I just can't understand you, and when I try, you push me away. Why do you do this?" Andy sighed again, "I need to stop talking to myself or I'm going to end up in a padded room."
After a moment of silence, the doors opened as they revealed a massive room full of different types of space ships from simple police cruisers to fighter ships for war that seemed to be lined up endlessly in organization.
The entrance was only a short platform with what looked like a box with a lot of buttons and lights on it attached to the platform.
Walked up to the platform, put his key in a hole, and turned, having a feminine voice greet him.
"Hello, Commander Petals, please type in the password in order to proceed to your ship," it asked, turning lights on the numeric and alphabetic buttons on the metal box.
Andy typed in 'AJP-004-624 onto the highlighted buttons for his initials, experiment numbers, and his mother's experiment numbers.
A small metal wall with bars in the floor rose up, enclosing him in the small space.
"I will now take you to your ship, Commander Petals," the voice said, as Andy took his key back.
The platform detached from the floor and began going down quickly, traveling on a rail as it went through the hanger.
People would salute as he went through the hanger as others tried not the laugh as they saluted.
Platform traveled for a solid ten minutes as it went through curves and stopped for other platforms traveling with passengers.
It finally stopped in front of a small ship sitting alone on a red carpet at the far end of the hanger, near the ext to endless space.
Andy's eyes lit up as his new ship with green letters on both sides of his gift said, 'Metal Command' in bold lettering with a shiny gold outline on each letter.
It had a sleek look to it. The ship looked more like a recon fighter jet for war instead of a private conventional cruiser. The back had hundreds of small holes indicating that it had a bubble propulsion system like his previous ship that crashed on a frozen baron wasteland of a planet. The base of the ship had a slender fish shape to it with four small wing attached on the sides. Wings were symmetrical to one another with the upper wings curving up as the lower wings curved downward. The bottom wings had two barrels of plasma guided missiles where as the upper wings consisted of long row of lasers from start of the wings to the end. The ship was kept up by an anti-gravitational beam coming from the small holes on the belly of the cruiser. On the front of the ship had a painting of a skull and bones on the mouth of the ship with holes in the mouths of the skulls. Next to the window, in which had the same shape as a computer mouse, stood a door handle below the skeletal hand of a carefully painted Vic Rattlehead in a brown business suit resting his arms on a 'For Sale' sign.
"Fists up in the air, banging everywhere; thrashing to the sound, faces melting down. It's time to fight for metal tonight. Bangers take your stand and obey…Our Metal Command," Andy sang as he was lowered to his ship, "This surely does look promising. The ship I had before the one I was shot down with was like hugging Death on the spot. Piece of shit. I think those Borgan Pirates did something right when they blew that death trap up. Now this is a gift to remember," Andy smiled, getting off the platform.
"Thank you for choosing Galactic Elevation Point Five Zero for you traveling needs," the feminine voice thanked and proceeded to travel back.
"I didn't have a choice you hunk of junk. I could've walked here faster than use you," Andy grumbled to himself, "Hmm, I wonder…" he said silently, tearing a small piece of the carpet.
He tossed it at his ship and was immediately vaporized when a red electric shield surrounded the ship for a few seconds.
"Awesome. I'm liking this ship already. Shielding is far superior to my last prototype ship. Looks good enough to take a few shots from a missile or plasma cannon. Niiiice. Depending on the capacity of the interior, I think Carma and I have a vehicle to travel our family in for my vacations. I hope its electric proof as well if I decide to get Berrie's kids off her shoulders. She and Volty could use a break from time to time. Enough chit chat. Let's get inside and have a look see," he rubbed his paws together in anticipation.
Andy put his key in the keyhole and opened the door, having it slide up through a narrow slot. Sitting on a white tiger striped seat sat a wrapped parcel with guitar wrapping paper.
"You shouldn't of," Andy smiled, unwrapping the gift that resembled a medium sized blaster.
The pink B-X quickly unwrapped his gift, having a piece of paper and a card slip out during the process. Once fully unwrapped, a gun sat in his paws with a key pad on the back of the gun including a button with 'safety' written on it.
It was a yellow gun with a red barrel and handle. It resembled a slick-looking battle rifle with slight shotgun resemblance to it.
"This is the prototype gun those scientists have been working on lately. I've only seen a few glimpses of this gun but never got to see it in action. Hope it doesn't blow up in my hand. How did Stitchie get a hold of one? This note should explain it to me clearly I hope. This is tier one classified and it's in my hands…Let's see this note…" he picked up the folded note, unfolding it and began reading the piece of paper.
'What you have in your hands is the new type of blaster that will soon be part of the Elite Diznot soldiers in a matter of six to eight months. I pulled some strings and got you the first and only prototype gun. I want to say more about the other prototype weapons but I'm not allowed but I will say this bro, that gun in your hands is only a prototype and a start to a new era of blasters, rifles, ect, but keep this gun safe place and out of your children's hands. The last thing we need is someone to get hurt by this gun. Happy twenty fifth birthday, Andy. Oh and thank you for the 'Turbo' album from Judas Priest. Curiosity got the best of me is all I'm going to say. Now, what I need you to do is test this gun out in the field and give me a full report. The scientists asked me to give you that message and a report on the ship would be nice as well. Those Carpothic scientists create the weapons but are too afraid to use them. Can you smell the irony in the air? I sure can. This gun is very simple to use and wasn't cheap to make. Ten years of research, funding, and gathering of resources just for one gun. Anyways, this gun was made possible out of special crystal called, 'Yebascus' a gem that has the power to manipulate elements of almost any kind. Those scientists managed to get a large supply on frozen moon orbiting a planet that you crashed on. Lucky you. A one of kind gem, literally, one of a kind because on there are thousands of different gems that only harness one element type. The Yebascus however are like the master emerald of our world. I'm sure you know what game I'm referencing. Your blaster contains three of those gems and by far will be the only gun to do so. Thanks to extensive research, those egg heads managed to harness the crystal's full potential and create a sophisticated system only they could understand. Somehow, they combined plasma cartridge and the Yebascus, then put a chip, blah, blah, blah. We want the blowing stuff up part,' Andy read, flipping the paper to the backside.
"Such a formal letter. This about the only gift he's ever went into detail," Andy chuckled.
He began reading the other half of the letter, finding a new found interest in his gift, 'That keypad all you have to do is type in the element number and bingo, that gun will shoot the element in a form of a beam or plasma ball depending what those scientists did with it; which is why you are the lab rat (no offense) and has to test this gun out. I know, the Grand Council Man has a birthday and he gets a few days off. Whadda we get? You lucked out big time, bro. Anyways, it's simple to use and all that schooling at the Military Academy paid off. We can thank dad for the big brain and memory. Since you really had a wide interest in Orbital Science, Languages, and other things I was never good at, it finally came in handy for change (even though you're a walking dictionary like mom). So here's your gift and the user's guide is in the glove compartment. Don't let that book out of the ship at all costs. Anyways, since you like to read and it lists all seven thousand five hundred and three elements up to date that particular gun possesses it should keep you busy. You don't know how much I envy your position, man. That story mom would read to us before bed really was true. How the mouse wished to be a cat and later found out that it was worse to be a cat than a mouse. Take good care of that gun and those scientists expect a full report by this in one week along with the ship, which is an optional task but would be helpful in the long run. Oh by the way, that gun overheats a lot quicker on a very hot planet or freezes up on a frigid planet. Doesn't need to be recharged nor does it need ammo but keep in mind that the properties of that gun differ from planet to planet. Don't burn your hands thinking it's a good idea to turn it into a flamethrower or something on a hot planet. I know we're fire proof but it's only an example. Peace bro.'
"Very nifty," Andy folded the paper and slid it in his left pocket.
He looked in the back of his seat, seeing a six leather seats facing one another against the wall in a spacey interior with buckles and all. There were a few trunks to put things and the walls were black with 80s band names and album art but nothing else stuck out.
The dashboard had a tan color with a Vic Rattlehead bobble head between the driver and passenger side sides of the vehicle. Both seats up front were small and each possessed cup holders with a little compartment to put money and small possessions. Going further up on front of the dash board was a built in radio and buttons for adjusting the temperature along with radar and buttons that operated certain part of the ship, such as a cloaking device or hyper-drive. There were only three pedals that could easily be reached even for Andy's size. The first pedal on the right was the accelerator while the pedal next to it was the brakes, while the small pedal in the left was the emergency brake. The wheel had a shape of a rounded 'H' with a red button on both of the top inner sides of the wheel for the lasers and the missiles equipped to the cruiser.
"Excellent, there's plenty of room for two families. Kids just need to share a seat is all that is needed and that's fine. Sad fact that it's only meant for us short people. Pity, I actually thought about giving K'Lina a ride or two. Alright, off to Shadow," he put his keys in the ignition and turned it.
The ship turned on and began to slowly exit the hanger. It moved into position, slowly exited the hanger, and blasted off, leaving bubbles behind.
He made a few loops and turns, testing out his new ship. The Metal Command went straight and disappeared into hyper drive
"This is what I'm talking about. Carma will enjoy this ship. We could get go on a romantic getaway while mom and dad watches the kids. Maybe spend some private time alone in the back," Andy chuckled, thinking dirty thoughts about his wife.
He exited hyper drive, nearly hitting debris upon entering Shadow's debris field. The Metal Command dodged broken ships and rock as he traveled to the Ship of Despair. As he nearly left the giant ring of rocks and junk, a massive centipede-replica ship came out the mouth of the Ship of Despair. It crawled up the skull and jumped off the top of the head of the ship. It broke in five blocks and began spinning in a circle. Electricity formed within the circle, pulling everything within the center. The head of the ship went into the electric barrier and was followed by the other pieces. When the last piece went inside the circle, the barrier collapsed with nothing left behind.
"Warson and his Ship of Sorrow. He must've gotten new orders from Shadow. Damn, if I could only stop him. This sucks because I don't have the fire power to fight that monstrosity of a ship. Why must Shadow cause so much destruction and death in order to justify a problem? He could just send us a message and we can solve the problem. I don't understand him at all," Andy frowned, approaching the massive skull with tentacles on the back of the Ship of Despair.
He flew into the mouth of Ship of Despair and travelled slowly in the 'hanger' of the ship. He docked on the wall, turned off his ship, climbed out his vehicle, and hopped onto the narrow walk way next to a little yellow reptile wearing a red cloak.
"Greetings, Master Andy. Master Shadow has been expecting you," the yellow raptor greeted.
"Hello, Dom. Oh and happy birthday by the way," Andy greeted, fallowing Nostradamus.
"I don't get birthdays but thank you for the thoughtfulness, Master Andy," he didn't look back.
"You don't have to call me master. I'm no more important than the toaster at home," Andy chuckled, entering a dark doorway.
Andy passed through several dark hallways filled with cells with prisoners inside. Screams of pain was all that Andy could hear. Some of the prisoners would reach out and grab Andy if he got too close. They were begging to be free. The atmosphere made the pink B-X queasy inside.
He and Nostradamus passed through the seemingly endless walls of cells of screaming prisoners.
Andy took a right turn with his reptilian friend, leading to a dozen different stairs. Shadow stood on the highest set of stairs, looking down at Andy with a displeasing face. He turned his back and went through the large doorway in the middle.
"Master Shadow doesn't look pleased to see you, Master Andy," Nostradamus kept his frown, continuing to lead Andy through the narrow walk way of cells.
"When is he pleased in anything? I'm the only person trying to get him to change his ways but he's too damn stubborn to listen to me. Has he attempted to improve at all? Even a little leniency on these prisoners?"
"Master Shadow doesn't believe your words, Master Andy. You come to this ship with hope in a hopeless place but your desire for change will always be diminished. I don't want to discredit you because I find you as a person, inspirational. This ship, The Ship of Despair is place for woe and torment. Master Shadow didn't make this place just to live in. He made it for punishing those who have done bad things. He has many prisoners in this ship, and many more to come, but he will always be the first prisoner in his so-called home. I have the choice to leave the Ship of Despair, all us Personalities have that right but there is no real place for us. I strongly urge Master Shadow to reunite all of us and become one person again. He doesn't listen to me either. Just be careful what you say around, Master Shadow. He has no tolerance for change," Nostradamus warned, opening the red closed door.
Shadow stood at the foot of the bed in a hulking form. His six large arms were crossed against his chest as he looked down at Andy and Nostradamus.
"What brings my innocent and peace giving brother to the Ship of Despair today?" Shadow tapped his large right foot, having the talons click against the metal floor under the red carpet.
"I've come to wish you a happy twenty fifth. I think we should come together as brothers and talk this over again. Don't you want a better life than this?" Andy replied, walking up the large black reptilian creature with eyes all over its body.
Shadow's face had a short alligator snout with nostrils at the end of his nose. His body was tattered with wounds partially opened, some places his insides were revealed. Shadow's body looked like it couldn't fit an ordinary door with how large he was. His height would come to Gantu's chin but the horns on his head surpassed the gargantuan alien's total height by a few inches. Black snake-like scales covered Shadow's entire body, including the fat long tail with spikes surrounding the tip of the tail, which curved inward to the large spike on the tip of the tail. His tail looked sleek with spikes surrounding all around it with glowing and fading red bands near the tips of the spikes, like all the spikes on Shadow's body. Shadow's white horns on top his head stood tall with little spikes surrounding it. Near the tips sprouted out four longer spikes that curved upwards. Above the first set of arms, sprouted a long white spike that acted like an arm before curving inward. There were three sets of these spikes between all three arms. When they all closed against Shadow's chest, they resembled a mouth. Over all, he resembled a ferocious Feraligator with talons and massive demon wings.
"Happy twenty fifth to you, not to me. I don't find living for twenty five years is an enjoyable celebration. To me, it's another year of failure to not put an end to my miserable life. Another year of watching everyone have their golden life while I rot here," Shadow snarled.
"I keep trying to change you Shadow but you never listen to me. Look, I know you're hurt and hopeless but you can change your life at this very second. All you have to do is listen to me for one damn second. Just once I want you to take my advice. For six years I've tried to change you and the only thing you do is blow me off and blame Stitchie for everything," Andy crossed his arms.
"Because that sorry excuse did this to me!" Shadow bellowed, walking up to Andy, "Do you think I could just let him take more of my dignity? I fought back and when I did, people looked at me as a monster, a god damn freak that needed to be chained up. Everyone became an enemy and I had no choice but to leave. You think those 'family' members wanted to love me. Bullshit. It's all bullshit and you know it. I don't believe you, Andy. I can't trust them as far as I can see," Shadow turned his back, his voice was very deep.
"They were never against you, Shadow. They saw Stitchie's faults and corrected him for it but never once did they think of harming you. Mom was very hurt when you left. Don't you want to come back and see her smile once again? I don't want anything more for our birthday than her to be excited to see you. Anything will do for me."
"If you could only vision what I can see. Mom is the only thing in this world I care about. I have nothing to show to redeem myself to her eyes. You don't know how it feels to suffer everyday of your life. Life isn't a gift it's a tormenting curse. I want to break this wretched curse but every suicidal attempt is flawed by the 'gift' bestowed on me. Life is a curse to me and I will break it one day. Isa violuu its bushi! (boo-she)" Shadow bellowed, slamming all six of his arms against the metal floor covered in red carpet.
Shadow walked closer to Andy, having his six long bone spikes screech against the metal.
"It will break if you listen to my words. Life is a gift, a beautiful gift. You just haven't seen the true glory of it. I can't fix much by myself I sourly admit, but we, brothers with our powerful voices can calm the turbulence that haunts you. You have to believe in me, Shadow. I will show you the true potency of life, a priceless gift that has been offered to you. Listen to my plea," Andy begged, face to face with Shadow.
Black smoke blew out of Shadow's nostrils and quickly disappeared before hitting Andy's face, "You are priceless entertainment, Andy. You believe this curse has a bright side in the end. How amusing," he circled Andy and Nostradamus, "Life has other plans for me, volatile plans indeed, but you choose to go into the fractured reality that is really a light of an angler fish. I see the light, but I do not desire the blindness of it. Do you honestly think that things will change for the better for me when I accept your words of 'wisdom?' I don't believe in change….Even if change has mutated me severely to the point I've lost the ability to talk normally. I reside in this form because your so-called gift changed me into this monstrosity. Why should I be thankful when I've been mutated into a blob of meat, eyes, spikes, and tentacles? I'm a rotting corpse and you believe life will come back to me. You, my brother, are wrong, wrong, wrong," he growled, standing back up behind Andy, facing his back to his brother from the empty doorway.
Andy sighed, shaking his head in disbelief, "I can't give life to any lifeless corpse because I don't possess the power to do so. However, I believe I can achieve the ability to make life come to one particular body, even though it wants to deny it. You are full of pain, Shadow. Pain that I can't even imagine or described and I can't fully understand what it truly feels, but I can give life to it if you listen to me. I can persuade the council into dropping the charges if you show them that you're not bad. I'll help you and Gloria get together. Jumba can find a cure for your mutation problem and I'll arrange some sort of counseling with Stitchie and you-"
Shadow snarled, wrapping Andy with his spiked tail, crushing the pink B-X to death but making sure his spikes wouldn't penetrate his flesh. He brought him to his angry face , "Counseling? You think I'm a whack job needing professional help? There will be no agreement with Stitchie and I. He is the one that brought me to this life you say is a gift. He won't change. No one changes for the good. Stitchie wants me to change for him but he won't change. You see life as a gift. I see it as a curse. Stitchie just sees vengeance behind a dirty badge and believes life is all about slamming the hammer on me. Stitchie is tainted, a bad cop willing to ignore the beliefs the law has provided to get to me. That is the brother I know. Don't you defend him, Andy. I believe you're a good cop trying to persuade a savage like me. You are wasting your life trying to change me. I'm not a good person at all. This ship is for bad people, a place you don't belong. Why are you destined to risk your life for mine? There is nothing to gain by playing a hero with misplaced beliefs."
Shadow dropped Andy, who fell on his back. He brushed himself off and looked into Shadow's eyes, "I come because you're my brother. I come because I dream of a better life for you. I come because I want to silence the tears shed by mother. Those are my 'misplaced' thoughts when I set foot into your ship. Your beliefs are not much better than the dirty badge you described. Kidnapping, killing, imprisoning, tormenting, torturing, infecting, and genocide isn't justice at all. It's your way of saying, 'Fuck You' to everyone that loves you. You are no better than Stitchie but I understand your commitment to cleanse all the bad things in life. I understand what you believe in, but I don't understand why you choose this life over the one I dream for you. Stitchie is right for saying you would make a good officer of the law. I don't care about ranks or high up in position you can achieve, I care about how you live your life. Look, we are not so different. Sure, there are extreme differences between us but we are a little alike. We come from the same mother. We were born different from the rest of the litter. You were black and I was stuck with pink. We were mistaken for different things and do our best to live with it. We are brothers. Sure, our fathers are different but that doesn't amount to anything. Your life is with Gloria and mine is with Carma. We are destined to be happy, which I have found myself and willing to share with you."
Shadow kept his back facing Andy, standing quietly at the doorway.
"I want to believe you, Andy. I honestly truly believe in you but my life isn't easy to walk away from. Even if I wanted to join your cause and settle this once and for all, you're forgetting one tiny speck in this existence. Shade. You're forgetting about Shade. You people think I'm sooo powerful and godly that I can do absolutely anything. If I'm so damn godly, why can't I find, Shade? Huh? He is killing thousands of people and I'm getting the bullshit. Sure, the fall of the Priasas showed the council that I'm not doing everything they think I'm doing. Even though they were met with that realization, I'm still hunted. I'm hunting Shade, a powerful force that eludes me. He is searching and absorbing my other Personalities. Each one has a piece of my power. You want change. Find Shade so I can absorb him. I'll then fallow your beliefs then, Andy," the black b-x turned to face Andy.
"You don't like to make things easy. That is something I cannot do, as much as I like to do it for change. Look, I'm not asking the world from you but a little flame to brighten mom's world or Gloria's dim light. Please, give them a little happiness for once," Andy pleaded, "I have that one request and that's all I really need to ask. It would be a birthday present to me. Don't think about Stitchie. Think about mom."
Shadow walked passed Andy and sat on his bed, looking at Mom.
"I'll think of something, Andy. Give me some thought and the results will unfold by itself. That is all I will allow."
"Thank you-" before Andy could finish he was teleported to the Metal Command, nearly losing his balance standing on the chair, "Brief as usual but farther than average," Andy sighed, starting up his ship.
The Metal Command detached off the wall of the Ship of Despair and flew out the mouth. He once more, dodged the debris of rock and destroyed ships before entering hyperspace.
Andy's ship spent five to seven minutes in hyperspace before he cloaked his ship, "Damn, I forgot to ask him why he made us kill that Nubrekon. I don't think I would've gotten a straight answer anyways. We would probably have fought and I would end up back in my ship rather quickly. Even though it was a short convo as usual, I'm glad it came out positive. I really hope he does at least something to make mom smile. I couldn't ask for anything more than that," Andy smiled, exiting hyperspace.
His ship quickly made it back to Earth, giving a deep sigh of relief to come back home after dealing with the stacks of reports and giving orders. Andy took out his alien phone, a circular device with a few buttons and arrows below a black screen. Pressing the arrow facing right twice while showing an alien that strongly resembled Carmon with green stripes on each side of her thin body, his phone rang a few times before having the picture the alien's face on the monitor zoomed in and moving.
"Hello my big strong, Andy," the alien blew a kiss.
Andy smiled, "I'm going to set my ship at my parent's house. Tell the kids to get ready to go to their grandparent's house."
"I'll let them know, dear," she smiled.
"Thanks, Carma. I love you," Andy blew a kiss.
The screen went black for a second before showing Carma again in a still picture.
Andy made a deep sigh as he entered the Earth's atmosphere, "I love being a father. Never thought I would become one or even get a girlfriend with my looks. I wish I didn't look like mother. That's what hair dye is used for by the humans," Andy chuckled.
The pink B-X took a few minutes to reach his parent's house, parking in the dirt drive way behind a red shoe shaped police cruiser owned by Stitchie. Andy uncloaked his ship and hid his new gun in the glove compartment. After turning off his ship, he opened the door and got out, complimenting on the nice weather while getting out.
He locked the door and walked up the flight of stairs leading to the entrance of the house. Andy knocked on the door and walked in.
"There's my little boy, Andy," Angel hugged him, kissing his cheek.
"I love you too, mom," Andy patted her back
"How was work? Catch any bad guys?" She asked, walking into the kitchen with Andy fallowing.
"Naw, just did paper work and went shooting in the shooting range. I guess I did pick up a drunk driver while getting to work this morning. So I lied. I did catch at least one person. Where's everyone by the way?" he asked.
"Charlie and Summer are playing up stairs in your old room. I picked up your family while coming home from the grocery store. The van had a flat tire everyone's fine. They're in the back yard right now. The van is fine by the way. Jumba is replacing the tire outside his ship. As far as I know everyone is in the back yard celebrating. I'm going to get a big picture of the family. It's a shame Shadow won't be able to make it but I'll be okay. I know he would rather spend his time alone than with his family. I just wish he would at least visit me once in awhile. I just want to know if he's doing alright. Have you talked to him?"
"First off. I'm glad that my family is safe. Thank you for bringing them here. As for Shadow…I did talk to him. He's still very torn up. It's getting harder for me to get him to understand how much this family misses him. Shadow just doesn't want to budge. I asked him if he wanted to come and see you for his birthday. He's thinking about it but I wouldn't hold your breath, mom. Shadow doesn't know what he wants. But at least he's thinking about it. I don't know if he'll actually listen to me for once," Andy told her, getting onto the couch with his mother.
"I just hope he's doing fine. I really don't want to know what he does on his spare time. I'm not mad at him or anything. I just want to know that he's doing okay. That's all I ask from him is to have good health," Angel tried to smile, holding back tears.
"It'll be okay, mom. He's fine right now and he still loves you to death. You're the only thing he cares about anymore. At least that's something. I know for a fact that if you were in some form of danger he'd come out of his shell and protect you. I know Shadow. He may be stuck in his woes but he deeply cares about you still," he wrapped his antennae around his mothers antennae.
"Thank you, Andy. I love you all as if you were still pups," Angel hugged him.
"I love you too. Now, are we going to have some cake?" Andy smiled, rubbing his paws together while having his antennae unwrap from his mother's antennae.
"Not until we get the family picture together. The kids are messy eaters and I'd like to get a good picture in before everyone gets their fur frosted up. Your father is grilling some burgers and hot dogs right now," Angel hopped off the couch.
"I'll be eagerly waiting," Andy fallowed her suit and left the living room with his mother.
Andy walked through the hallways, departing from his mother before walking into the laundry room and then outside.
It looked like a large family gathering. He saw Stitchie, Spring, and Berrie's family at the picnic table while his father finished putting the burgers and hotdogs on buns. Everyone looked at the food hungrily but respected Angel's wishes to eat after the picture. While the adults waited at the picnic table the little experiment children were all playing in the grass near the sand box. The new B-Xs were age's three to five and were same sizes as golden retriever puppies.
Andy hugged his children and walked over to his wife, who strongly looked like Carmon but with green stripes on her legs up to her chest.
"The van had a flat. Angel brought us here," Carma told Andy as he sat down next to her.
"Mom told me that. I'm glad everyone is safe," he hugged her, "May I have an apple?" Andy asked gazing at a big red apple on top of the pile of fruit on top of her head.
"I'm sure you can survive a few more minutes," Carma chuckled.
Andy just smiled, kissing his wife's cheek.
Angel came out of the house shortly with a camera and two experiment children.
"Okay everyone! Time for a picture," Angel smiled.
Everyone assembled into a big group for the picture. Angel looked through the glass and nearly cried when she saw Shadow standing next to Carma and Andy. She hastily took the picture and removed the camera from her sight but saw that Shadow was gone. She held back her tears and tried taking another picture, once more seeing Shadow in the group. Angel took a deep breath before taking a picture of the family.
"That will be all everyone. Thank you for waiting," Angel smiled, wiping away a tear.
Stitchie and Andy were the only B-Xs to notice their mother's tear. Andy felt good deep down. He knew that tear was one of joy.
'Thank you, Shadow,' Andy thought before breaking away from the group.