.
-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-
The Saga of Kings:
-.-.-.-
"Through Other Eyes"
-v-
.
Written by:
Vile M.F. Slanders
.
-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-
.
-.-.-
.
Chapter II: Rebirth and Confusion
"I don't know what we're gonna do-"
"-It's jammed in there tight, bleeding all over the place-"
"-Really bad shape. It didn't even spit at me when I rounded the blind spot. When does a Zangoose-?"
"-Now I'm regretting not carrying around a Pokeball…"
"...I don't even know why we're trying to save it!"
The strange animal with a light on its head had retreated from the cave. But it still stood at the entrance, making an absolute cacophony with its incessant noise.
"Don't you huff at me, Hammer. I haven't thrown a Pokeball since high school, and we've never had a reason worth carrying one before-"
"-Are you sure it's provenance that you're smelling in that hole?"
Rumble.
"Well shit. Our options are limited. We could get the Zangoose out of there pretty easily if we just killed it first, but I don't know, man…"
"-It looks really fucked up. I mean, just flat out miserable. I don't want to kill it unless we absolutely have to..."
Rumble?
"-But I really don't want to get hacked into bits underneath a rock…"
"...Shit…"
There was something else outside of the cave with strange animal. She could hear the sound of its movements rising in time with minor vibrations in the rock.
-Whatever was outside of the cave with the strange animal, it was very big.
"Right. Just toss me the rope. I got an idea."
"Well, I may not have a record setting pitcher's arm…"
"-But I ain't no slouch when it comes down to a rodeo."
"Okay, Hammer. I'm going back in. You keep a firm hold on that rope. Start tugging my ass out the instant I scream bloody murder."
Rumble?
"Yeah, I know it's crazy… But we're gonna do this the old fashioned way. Right, the lasso is all ready to go. Let me tighten the loop. I don't have much space to toss it, but I'm pretty confident that I can still wrangle the sumbitch out of its cranny."
Rumble.
"Back up, big guy. Fuck... This has to be the single stupidest thing that I have ever done…"
-Rumble?
"...Okay… Second stupidest thing I've ever done. Thanks for bringing that up, Hammer. You lugnut of a mon…"
The strange animal was entering the cave again. She tensed as the light rounded the corner of her hideaway.
Was it trying to kill her?
"Hey! You! Zangoose!"
The noisy animal threw a rock at her.
Was that feeble throw supposed to be a warning?
"Get the fuck out my cave! You're bleeding on my paydirt!"
Another rock was thrown.
This strange animal was going from unnerving to annoying.
She hissed at the animal, and spread her claws wide.
She may have been sick…
...But she could still kill.
"Okay, okay… Just chill out. Just relax. I'm not trying to hurt you…"
The strange animal lifted its arms in a display of submission, and squeezed itself further back towards the entrance.
RUMBLE?
"I'm okay, Hammer. I'm okay. I'm just getting cold feet, that's all…"
"-Shit."
"...I'm having one of those, 'What the hell am I doing,' moments…"
The strange animal sounded nervous, but something else was rising in its arms.
Narrow. Long. Braided.
Was that a juvenile Enemy?
Or a very thick vine?
"Come on, fleabag… Stick that neck out a little further…"
Another rock was thrown.
She yowled at the persistent animal, eying the whirling vine warily.
"...Oh boy. Come on now, don't kill me. I'm trying to save your ass, you stupid mon…"
The vine was making a odd moan as its revolutions pick up speed.
"Come on, Zangoose... just give me a little more neck…"
The animal muttered, throwing yet another rock.
That was it.
Her patience was completely expired.
"HAMMER-!"
She lunged at the strange animal, just as it cried out in terror.
But before her teeth and claws could even rend flesh, the animal was pulled away from her in a sudden retreat.
Instinct triggered.
The prey was escaping.
She chased after the fleeing quarry, vacating the cave in her enraged pursuit.
The prey fell upon its back when the cave entrance gave way to a drop-
-And no sooner had she landed upon the strange animal; her fangs diving for its throat…
...Then it was that the Silver Mountain fell upon her.
It was huge.
It was strong.
Shining even in the faint sunlight filtering through the overcast skies.
Encased in a heavily armored metal carapace. Armed with a pair of long shearing horns jutting forward from the rear of its teardrop shaped helm.
Equipped with claws the size of her canines, and a thick tail plated in black bindings.
She attacked it when the Silver Mountain's arms wrapped around her, but her claws glanced of its hardened shell without even leaving a scratch.
"-Don't kill it, Hammer!"
A massive bare jaw of a mouth screeched open on its hinges, and a beak like vice clamped around her neck. Those exposed jaws were razor sharp and sickly cold to the touch.
She was dead.
This predator was well beyond her.
"Hold it steady! I'm gonna hog tie the bitch!"
The strange animal was on its feet, rushing to the Silver Mountain's side with the braided vine held aloft.
"Goddamn, this Zangoose has been through the mill! What the hell? This gash looks necrotic!"
The strange animal stopped wrapping the vine around her extremities to sniff at the King's fetid wound.
"That can't be… That's a fucking hemotoxin infection… A Zangoose can't get poisoned…"
The strange animal tightened the binding vine.
What were these two monster doing to her?
The Silver Mountain was loosening its grip, but the vines prevented any use of her paws.
With a snarl, she attacked the vine with her teeth, but the strange animal jammed another vine across her mouth, and wrapped it tightly around her skull.
"Okay, that should muzzle her. At least I think it's a she. It ain't pissing itself out of a prick, so I'm pretty sure that it's a she." The strange animal backpedaled as she relieved herself of her fluid excrement, a natural reaction to the stress.
"Holy shit, that smells foul. Hammer, you're taking a bath after we get her patched up."
Her urine was trickling down both her tail and the Silver Mountain's chest, but the armored giant wasn't even affected by the musky solvent.
"Put her down, let me get the kit out…" The strange animal made a loud, long, sound in a single exhaled breath; before pilfering through a collection of swollen leaves strewn about the cave entrance.
"I've got to take a blood test first. If she really is fighting off a case of envenomation… We're dealing with something crazy weird here…"
A strange clear square was drawn from the swollen leaves, after a bizarre zipping sound had open one of the leaves like a pouch.
A pair of clicks preceded the separation of the clear square's top, and a series of objects were scattered about the inside of the lower section as the noisy animal perused the collection.
"Alright, keep calm fleabag. This is gonna sting like a bitch."
A clear fang with a spiderthread's width of a shining tip sank into her neck. She yowled past the vine in her mouth and lunged to bite the arm that held the clear fang.
And though she could get her teeth around the strange animal's fang wielding arm…
-The vine prevented her from closing her mouth on the strange animal's limb.
"Relax, spitfire. I know that it hurts, but it's for your own good."
The animal was gazing intently at the clear fang when it spoke, drawing a narrow root out of the telescopic end of the clear fang.
The strangest sensation overcame her, as her veins tightened around the fang, and her blood filled the clear portion in a suspended rise.
"Relax. Just keep it cool."
The strange animal's musical noise was soft and gentle, like the whisper of slow winds upon the tall grass.
That voice was almost soothing.
The sound of it was almost enthralling.
"Okay, I'm gonna start a diagnostics on the sample. Help me clean these wounds while we wait for the analysis." The musical animal grunted, waving the Silver Mountain down to his side.
"Alright, spitfire. You thought that the syringe felt terrible? Wait until you try the disinfectants out."
More strangely colored stones were being removed from the clear square's base.
A brown cylindrical stone made a snapping sound as its tapered white top loosened from the larger whole.
"Hold her tight, Hammer. She's gonna start freaking out the instant the disinfectant does its thing." The Silver Mountain positioned itself around her, yet despite its restrictive presence…
...The Silver Mountain did not squeeze her painfully within its arms.
"Cheers, fleabag."
A clear fluid poured from the brown stone, and filled the wounds that marred her body.
For very first second, the fluid felt refreshingly cold.
But the second after that…
The fluid burned her wounds in an excruciating tempest, hissing from the blood-crusted gashes with in an angry froth.
She was drooling in staggered breaths when she could finally stop screaming.
What were these monsters doing to her?
"That made me want to puke. Goddamn, I'm sorry fleabag. But this is the only thing that's gonna save you."
That soothing voice terrified her.
That calloused hand upon her brow horrified her.
"Let's finish dressing these wounds. They're bleeding again now that the disinfectant dissolved the clots-"
A series of beeps interrupted the musical voice, and the strange animal dashed off to a small blue box with white label and a red flashing light.
"Holy fuck. She is poisoned. How the hell did a Zangoose get poisoned?" The strange animal breathed out in a frail wind.
"Crap. Drapion venom. That's some potent stuff. Shit…" The strange animal chewed its lower lip and furrowed its brow.
"-Fuck it. We've gone through all this trouble. We might as well finish the job." The strange animal set aside the blue box, and rooted through the clear square again.
"Okay, spitfire… it's your lucky day. Do you have any idea how expensive antivenom is? I must be the stupidest Prospector alive for burning up all my medicine on a fucking feral mon…" The strange animal returned with a armful of narrow clear vines, flimsy white square leaves, another set of the clear fangs, and a collection of tiny brown stones topped with orange caps.
She began to panic as soon as those hollow fangs entered her bloodstream again.
"Calm down… Come on now. This is minor. You'll be thanking me when the fire cools in your veins."
The voice was soft again, meaning that there was more pain incoming; and the hand was digging into her fur, invasive yet strangely comforting against her skin.
"Okay. Let's gauze her up, and then get the hell out of the rain. For fuck's sake, spitfire… I should train you after all the shit you've put me through." The strange animal began to unravel what looked like spider webs from a roll, while placing cotton mats into her wounds. Tightening the webs around the cotton mats, the strange animal covered every bleeding wound in an uncomfortable shroud.
"Hammer, you're carrying her. Let's get back to camp. Oh wait! Let me mark this hole on the map. We'll come back later to dig out whatever is in there." The Silver Mountain's thick arms changed position around her, and suddenly she was in the air again. Futile though the effort may have been, she still struggled for her freedom from those black arms.
The strange animal looked so tiny from up high in these metal arms. The strange animal swatted at the Silver Mountain when the mighty beast lowered itself to the swollen leaves around the cave.
"No, leave them alone, Hammer. I'll take care of the bags. Just get going. I'll catch up with your slow ass before you know it."
"Keep a firm hold on her, Hammer. And don't mess her up. We just went through hell to patch those wounds, and I don't want to waste any more supplies on the fleabag until we know what we're going to do with her." The strange animal was lifting the the swollen leaves from the mud, and throwing the leaves' long stems around his shoulders.
"...Where's my hat? Oh God help me, Hammer… If you stepped on another ten-gallon hat of mine… Nevermind. I found it." The strange animal lifted a bizarre mushroom from the mud, and beat the clinging filth from the brim.
-And then the strange animal placed that bizarre mushroom on the top of his head.
-What was this thing?
"...My duster is getting all soaked… fucking mud everywhere… I'm starting to think that we should just eat the stupid Zangoose for dinner. Fuck the spent meds. I'm hating the fleabag already. What about you, Hammer?"
RUMBLE. The Silver Mountain reverberated all around her with that guttural noise.
"What? You like getting pissed on, big guy?"
Mmph. The Silver Mountain raised its shoulders, before slumping them.
"Kinky." The strange animal was making a high pitched choking sound, teeth exposed and eyes clenched as his entire frame shook with this new noise.
"Alright. Maybe we won't eat her. At least not tonight." The strange animal slapped the Silver Mountain's elbow, and then took the lead as the pair set off with their terrified captive in arm.
Where were they taking her?
What did they want?
Why had they attacked her?
Why didn't they just kill her?
"I guess it's a good thing that the rain is washing her smell off of you. That musky shit would have probably dragged every horny Zangoose into camp. Speaking of which, you did remember to put the rain tarp up, right?"
...Rumble-?
"...Goddamnit, Hammer…"
…
"Okay, fleabag. Home sweet home." The strange animal began to strip the swollen leaves from its shoulders, and rushed to assist the Silver Mountain with the relocation of the wounded Omega.
They had stopped moving. They had been climbing uphill for half a day.
She was ill, but it wasn't the sickness that filled her with cold.
The sickness had mysteriously faded hours ago.
It was worry that plagued her constitution. She didn't understand anything that had happened, or anything that was transpiring. What were these predators? What madness had allowed such contradictions? These Predators functioned unlike any Pack that she had ever come across.
The strange little animal with the mushroom on its head was obviously the Alpha.
And the massive and powerful Silver Mountain did not challenge his feeble Alpha for leadership.
How did this weak creature maintain dominance over such a powerful Packmate?
"Alright, Hammer. I don't want her in the tent, but we've gotta get her out of the rain. She'll catch a cold if we leave her out here, and I didn't purchase any feline cough drops in Fallarbor. Tell me now. Am I not the dumbest son of a bitch to ever call the Frontier home?" The Alpha made an incessant noise with its melodious voice. She couldn't fathom how so many different keys and pitches could be emanated from same mouth.
Mmph. Though the Silver Mountain failed to match the Alpha's acoustic diversity, it still seemed that the two dissimilar organisms could communicate.
"And that vote of confidence almost makes up for the lack of a rain tarp. I didn't want to be swimming into my sleeping bag, Hammer. I really didn't want to be swimming into my sleeping bag."
Another bizarre and massive leaf was being opened with zipping sound, and a cave within the leaf was revealed.
"Thank God. I rolled my bag up and put it on top of the mess kit. You lucked out, Hammer. I was gonna let you sleep in the rain." The Alpha turned to the silver Mountain, flaring his yellowed teeth.
Rumble?
"Naw, I'm just fucking with you, lugnut. I wouldn't do that to you. Now put the fucking tarp up. I'm gonna get a fire going under the Desk. You keep an eye on the fleabag while I go warm up some dinner for us." The Alpha headed off towards a massive overhanging white leaf, leaving the Silver Mountain and the Omega alone next to the strange cave. Whatever material the cave, overhanging leaf, and swollen leaves were made of; its smell didn't register as something natural in the Omega's olfactories.
Everything about this Pack just seemed unnatural.
The Silver Mountain ignored her as it dragged a big blue crispy leaf over the top of the strange cave, before it grabbed the Omega and carried her bound figure beneath the white overhanging leaf.
She could smell fire beneath this leaf. Fire, smoke, and something-
-What smelled so good?
"More kippers and beans? We should probably have some rice tonight, instead of the biscuits. I don't feel like whipping up some pucks after all the crap we went through today."
The Alpha was kneeling next to the fire, scrapping an odd collection of metal objects and sticks together. These concave metal objects were sizzling with the most peculiar materials, and rising from these strange materials…
...That smell was making her salivate.
"Bring the fleabag over here. I'll bet you she's completely burned out after struggling for the better half of the trip." The Alpha waved the Silver Mountain over, and his Alpha's will was meted to a timely completion.
She now lay on her back next to the Alpha.
"You look scared shitless, fleabag." The Alpha showed his teeth to her, but she was not impressed by his meager hardware. Those teeth were small and delicate.
Those were the teeth of a lesser predator.
The Alpha's hand fell upon her, and she began to yowl when his digits buried into her fur.
"Get over it, bitch. I'll find a soft spot sooner or later." The Alpha's fingers probed up to neck, massaging sore muscles and soothing itching skin in their search. When the Alpha's digits found the soft folds of skin surrounding the base of her ears, the yowling came to an abrupt stop.
"Bingo."
The Alpha was revealing his teeth again, and her head was rocking beneath the strokes of his fingers.
She couldn't help it.
It just felt so good…
"Look at that, Hammer. She's halfway domesticated already."
Mmph.
The Alpha's hands grew more aggressive, and clinging peels of skin broke away from her ears, even as loose hairs fell from their swelling follicles.
The Alpha was grooming her?
Did this mean-?
"What's that look for, fleabag? Do I remind you of something?"
Was she a part of their Pack?
Was that what they had done to her?
Had they made her into a member of their Pack?
"Well if you like the hand action, then you're gonna love my cooking." The Alpha placed another vine around her neck, and then undid the vines binding her paws.
No sooner had the pressure eased on her wrists and ankles, then the Omega found her feet.
-And she ran away in terror, trying to flee this crazy Pack.
The vine around her neck tightened, and her escape was cut short by the unyielding noose. She landed hard on her back when the sudden stop cranked her neck. The vine. She had to break free of the vine.
Claws rose to the vine on her neck, and she tried to find a purchase with which to tear the choking vine loose.
"No Hammer! Let me!"
The Alpha was upon her. Those hands took a hold of her wrists, and pried her claws away from the vine. Knees pressed into her hips, spreading her kicking legs apart.
The Alpha knew how to disarm her, and despite the width of its hairless arms, the Alpha was much stronger than her.
"Cool it, fleabag." The Alpha grunted, repositioning its knees in time with one of her kicks. If she could get a foot beneath his stomach, then she could disembowel him with the claws on her toes.
"Nuh-uh. I've wrangled Zangoose before, spitfire. You ain't nothing new to me." The Alpha fixed his eyes on hers, and she hissed in his face.
The Alpha's forehead slammed into her nose.
"Whimper, bitch." The Alpha growled over her hacking breath. She spat blood into his face with the next hiss.
"Wrong."
The Alpha's forehead connected with her nose, striking far harder than the first blow. Her head slammed into the rock beneath her, and the Omega yowled for release.
"Submit or hurt!" The Alpha roared, bringing his forehead down upon her nose again. The vine in her mouth prevented her from biting him, otherwise this battle would have decided already. But the rising daze and agony were breaking her. She didn't know how much more of this she could take.
"It ends when you whimper."
A hand twisted her wrist, and a jarring pain caused her to choke, even as the Alpha brought his head down upon her nose again.
She was going to die in agony.
She could do nothing to save herself.
She was helpless.
She began to whimper.
Mercy.
The Alpha loosened the hand twisting her wrist, and the Omega looked up at her Alpha with fear.
He was Alpha.
She would not struggle if he stopped hurting her.
She would submit to her Alpha.
"Just so we're clear on something…"
Her wrist was twisted again, and the Omega nearly vomited from the pain.
"-I'M THE BOSS!" The Alpha bellowed in her face. The twisting stopped, and the Alpha released her. She didn't dare try to kick him. She didn't dare try to move.
She was still on her back when he stood above her, the Omega's belly was exposed and her limbs feebly splayed. She was the Omega. She belonged to her Alpha.
"Get up." The Alpha's hands took her shoulders, and he rolled the Omega to her feet. She lowered her head away from his eyes, not wishing to anger him any more than she had.
"Good. Don't even think for a second that you can take me. Cause if I don't beat shit out of you, then Hammer will."
The Silver Mountain rumbled, and charged for the Omega. She fell onto her back with a whimper, waiting for the Silver Mountain to punish her as the Alpha had.
-But the Silver Mountain paused over her.
"You've gotta leave a mark, Hammer. A little memory of helplessness to reinforce her position. That's how the Pack mentality works. She's the lowest rank in our little posse, and it's both your and my job to remind her of that until she's completely domesticated."
Mmph…
"You're getting soft in your old age, Hammer. Just draw some blood. Trust me, it's what she's expecting. You're only going to confuse her if you don't prove that you're superior."
There was a pause.
Then the Silver Mountain fell onto the Omega with the loudest roar that she had ever heard; that massive steel beak screaming mere inches from her bloodied face.
The Omega's bowels had already loosened well before the Silver Mountain had even cut her with his beak.
"Come on, Hammer… I'm supposed to be the Alpha! Not you! You just traumatized the shit out of her! Literally!" The Alpha pulled off his mushroom, and began to beat the Silver Mountain with it. The Silver Mountain fell away from the paralyzed Omega, withering from the Alpha's mighty blows.
"Okay, let me take over. Get up, fleabag. That's enough abuse for now."
The Alpha pulled her back up onto her feet, before grabbing the vine that tied her to the Alpha's den.
"Hurry up, otherwise the kippers are gonna burn." The Alpha tugged upon his vine, and the Omega hurried to follow in his shadow.
"Good girl. Alright, Hammer. I'm gonna break this down for you now, so that you understand how this is going to work. I eat first. Then you. Then fleabag. It's nothing personal, old boy. It's just how the Pack hierarchy works. And it's all temporary anyways. We have to communicate on her level, until she's broken in. It'll make the domestication process that much easier on her, and we won't have to work as hard on making her tame." The Alpha pulled the shell shocked Omega against his leg, and began to groom her again.
She knew what to do.
She began to groom the Alpha's feet, desperate to prove that she understood.
"Good girl. Make those boots shine." The Alpha grunted, putting his mushroom back on his head.
The Silver Mountain settled down behind the Alpha, a curious look playing in his blue eyes.
"Fuck… To think that I'm actually training mon again..." The Alpha grumbled, neglecting to groom the Omega in favor of eating his meal.
-Rumble.
"Fuck you, Hammer. I was a shit Trainer and you know it. I mean look at you. You're a shining example of how terrible a Trainer I was."
Mmph.
"Like I said. A shitty Trainer."
"...I remember when you were a cute little Aron, just shucking off your eggshell. You were so tiny back then, that I could actually pick you up... If I wanted to throw out my back…"
Rumble…
The Alpha finished his meal, before allowing the Silver Mountain to start his.
"...Where did I go wrong, Hammer?"
The Silver Mountain paused on his meal, and met the Alpha's eyes.
Hurr…
"Eh, whatever. It's all in the past now. Our lives ain't the prettiest, but it sure as hell beats city living. I wouldn't trade in what we've got for the world. We have some good times, don't we Hammer?"
RUMBLE.
"Yeah, we do. And now the fleabag is gonna be a part of them." The Alpha once again began to groom the Omega, while the Silver Mountain finished his meal.
"Alright, spitfire. Your turn."
Food was offered to the Omega, and though the day's trials had weakened her stomach…
...She couldn't resist gorging herself on this delicious feast.
"I think I know what we're gonna call her. Spitfire. What do you think, Hammer?"
Rumble.
"You sure? I was also thinking Pisstail. It suits her just as well as-"
-RUMBLE.
"Okay, big guy. I get it. We'll call your girlfriend Spitfire. But I might just shorten it to Spit. Just because."
Mmph…
"Okay… Now the hard part. Teaching them their fucking names. And I've already gone and fucked it up. I should have called her name before I gave her the food…"
The Omega finished with her meal. Omegas rarely knew a full stomach, but with a Pack this strong…
...Even an Omega could eat like an Alpha.
Curling up next to her Alpha, the Omega finally felt a sense of calm.
A Pack had taken her in.
A Pack even more powerful than her old family.
A new Pack.
Her Pack.
"You know something, Hammer? I think that I'm already beginning to like Spitfire." The Alpha's musical voice softened when his hands loosened the stiff muscles across the Omega's back.
Mmph.
"Well, duh. I already knew that you liked her, fatso. You've been giving her the puppy dog eyes all damn day. Bringing back fond memories, you galoot?"
...Rumble-?
"Yeah… Me too." The Alpha whispered, as his hands moved to rub the ears of the Omega.
The Omega decided that she rather enjoyed having her ears rubbed.