Viral pressed himself against the closest cave wall as best as he could as a stampede of humans wearing uniforms ran by. They all looked young, but he ignored that for now. His goal was escape, not observation. Once he was certain the path was clear of them. He jumped from shadow to shadow, avoiding the running of uniforms and presumed civilians alike. Uniformed young men and women ran one way, and non uniform-wearers ran in the opposite direction, looking scared for their lives.
However, once again, this was of no concern to him.
The shackles still about his wrists were bothersome, but he had no time to stop and find a sharp enough rock to break them apart against. It might be easier to just break his hands and wrists, then slide them out, but the thought of that, and the healing process after it, was a bit more painful than he might like to imagine. He probably wouldn't have time to break everything necessary to do that either.
At last, he looked across a clear stretch of a cave section, and saw a small, dark, empty tunnel that it seemed the humans were ignoring in their running. Once the coast was clear, he made a break for it through the shadows, and arrived just inside the tunnel with no problems. He skidded to a halt and took a moment to breathe as he leaned his back up against the cave wall. As he paused to look outside, he saw some sort of large, white-and-red, floating... things drift into view. However, more uniformed humans entered the scene and seemed to be shooting small, silvery things at the creature, driving it back the way it had come. More of the creatures came in another wave, at which the humans seemed to attempt a retreat, but Viral didn't stick around to see what next.
Viral turned away from the sight and ran down the tunnel. The echoes of yells and battle sounds followed him down the tunnel, getting further out of his hearing range. That is, until he came to the other end of the tunnel. He paused and looked about, trying to calculate his next move. Behind him was, obviously, the way he had just come from. In front of him, the tunnel seemed to open up into another section of cavern. It was quieter here, but he could still see a few humans in plain clothes running away, no white creatures or uniforms in sight. To his right was another, narrower tunnel, which seemed like it had a more upwards slant. If he were to guess, and hope, it might be a way back up to the surface.
All the humans are distracted by whatever this is that's going on with those creatures. They're attacking their soldiers and throwing them into disarray. Perfect. Now all that I have to do is get out, find Enkidudu and-
"Eeyaaaaaaah!" Viral's thoughts halted suddenly when he heard the high-pitched shrieks of terror, he looked out from the tunnel, and saw a group of small children running at the top speed that their little legs could carry them. Suddenly, one little girl screeched to a halt when the smaller boy she had been towing behind her suddenly fell onto his knees, holding his leg. The other children from the running pack kept on going, until one of them seemed to realize that two of their number were gone, and turned back to them.
"Yuko! Teiichi! What are you doing?! Come on!"
"My ankle hurts!" the little boy cried out. The girl, presumably his sister from their identical hair colors, looked worriedly in the direction they had been running from, and tried to pull on his wrist to get him moving again.
"Teiichi! Come on! We have to hurry! They're coming to get us! Come on! We have to get out of here or else-!" She suddenly cut herself off with a gasp, and let out another shriek as she tried more desperately to pull on her sibling's hand. From out of nowhere, it seemed, one of the large, white creatures Viral had seen earlier loomed up behind them.
What... these things are going as far as to attack defenseless pups? What sort of honorless creatures are these? Viral thought venomously to himself. He looked quickly down the tunnel again, then back out to the children who were now cowering and clutching each other in fear as they screamed helplessly.
"Teiichi! Yuko!" It was a woman's voice this time, sounding desperate and worried as the thing approached more quickly. "No! Someone help them! Please! Don't let them take my babies!" The mother cried out fearfully and helplessly. Viral gritted his teeth, glancing between freedom and the children. "Please! Somebody! Anybody! Help them! Please!"
"Mama!" The children cried out together, eyes shut as they screamed, waiting for the monster to descend on them.
However, it never did. There was the sound of something moving swiftly through the air, and then the children heard something smacking against cloth above them. They looked up, and gasped as they saw what was above them. An odd figure, seemingly from out of nowhere, had flown in and delivered a swift flying kick to the advancing white creature, sending it flying to the other end of the cavern. Their grip on each other loosened as they stared at the stranger in awe.
Viral stood with his back bent slightly, legs tensed, and arms hanging down in front of him. The shackles on his wrists prevented the use of his hands, but he was a soldier. He would find some way to fight if he had to. Slowly, as the thing seemed to float up from the wall he had slammed it into, he shifted his feet, using his toes to remove his shoes. As he did so, he spoke.
"Listen here, you. I hate humans as much as any other Beastman, some might say even moreso," he said in a low tone, addressing the creature he had just attacked. "But here you are, attacking defenseless women and pups." His eyes narrowed sharply, "and that is by far one of the most despicable acts possible. You are a creature completely without any honor whatsoever." Shoes finally off, he kicked them to the side. His clawed toes flexed in their newfound freedom, digging into the earth beneath his feet. "And I despise those without honor almost more than I despise humans. So, why don't you come here, and try fighting an enemy that will fight back for a change?"
The white creature had itself up again, but he was ready for it. It lunged towards him, it was faster than he had expected, but he managed to dodge it. He was nimble on his feet, and he was prepared for its attack. After his clean sidestep, he kicked his legs upwards into the air, and proceeded to soundly strike it once more, though it was only halfway across the room this time.
He smirked with his shark's teeth, but this quickly disappeared when he saw that more of the same thing were coming out of the shadows. He could hear the children whimpering behind him, and narrowed his eyes at the approaching enemies. This was no good. His hands were still shackled, and skilled though he was, he couldn't defend those two forever. With a low growl in his throat, he planted his feet firmly into the ground, and flipped himself backwards in the air. He landed briefly again, but just long enough to scoop up the children into his arms, awkwardly pressing them to his chest with his shackled hands.
"Time to get the defenseless out of the way," he said quickly, just before performing another back-flip. The white creatures approached and, seemingly opening up their fronts, they sent out long, glowing red tendrils towards them. Even with his quick flips and movements, one of them managed to hook itself around an ankle. With a growl of frustration, he threw his body weight to turn himself in midair, and slashed the claws of his other foot through the line, cleanly severing it, and freeing him from its grasp.
At last, it seemed he was clear enough of the creatures, and close enough to the childrens' mother. She looked at him with fright and relief as he landed before her, and set her children on the ground.
"Yuko! Teiichi!" The children ran towards her and threw themselves into her outstretched arms.
"Mama!" The three hugged tightly, and soon became four as a man who might presumably be their father came and joined in.
"I suggest you all get out of here now," Viral said sharply. "I won't waste my time in saving your pups twice." At last, the humans seemed to have come out of their shock at watching him in his feat of heroism, and many of them turned tail and ran into the caves they had been going for in the first place.
"Was that a Beastman?" "What's a Beastman doing down here?" "Did you see that?!" "That was so awesome!" "He saved those childrens' lives!"
They would be going so much faster if they would save their breath from talking, and use it to keep running, Viral couldn't help but think to himself. He growled as he saw the white creatures approaching him. His eyes narrowed as he observed the situation. There were five of them against just himself. He had no weapons. Few escape routes. He didn't know the area at all. Not to mention his hands were still shackled together. To think, this all could have gone so easily if I just hadn't stopped to save those human pups he thought to himself with annoyance. As the creatures loomed over him, he smirked mirthlessly, and gripped his paws into tight fists. Well, no use complaining about it now that it's already been done.
"So, are you going to come at me, or will I have to make the first move?" he addressed the large, white creatures. They floated there for a moment, almost as if uncertain. "Alright then," his toes gripped into the earth, "my move it is." With a low grunt, he launched himself forward, towards the closest white behemoth. He landed feet-first, tearing into the front of it with his toe-claws. However, to his surprise, it gave extremely easily, and he could see multiple gashes going down where his claws tore a clean line.
He wound up going straight down through until his feet touched the ground, and just barely managed to throw himself sideways as about five of the tentacle-like appendages from earlier reached for him. A brief rolling tumble got him enough distance for a moment, and he examined the enemy.
What in the hell are these things?! He wondered in his head. As he watched, the tears he had made came back together, and reformed themselves into the entity until it looked good as new. That regeneration time is incredible, it's not even fazed. Thanks to his immortality, he could regenerate wounds just as easily. However, as that particular ability was still incredibly new to him, it still gave him a start to see such things. I need to find some sort of strategy, or an escape route, as fast as I can. Why did I have stop to save those pups?...
He deftly dodged another swift barrage of those glowing red tentacle-things, managing to duck and slide away from every last one of them. However, at the very end, just when he thought he might be able to dodge away again for more distance, he saw a flash of red slashing down towards him, and a sting like a whip cut into his cheek. He grunted and jumped backwards, wincing the side of his face that had been hit. A deep cut was rended into his cheek, and the force of the attack had splashed the blood of the wound downwards, right onto the front of his shirt, forming a bright red stain atop the otherwise pristine white and yellow fabric. The wound had already nearly closed itself up, the pain evaporating, but he was mad. He growled lowly in his throat as he hunched himself in preparation to move again.
"You bastards! You'll pay for wounding me like this! You will-! Wha'?!" He felt an odd sort of sensation pressing around his body, as though something were tensing against his skin. To his shock, the fabric had begun to glow with a soft, yellow-ish light. "What in the- glah!"
Without warning, the uniform tightened against and into his body. He felt as though the fabric were whipping up against his skin where it tightened, along with a slight, pricking pain in one of his forearms. His body tensed as he felt himself be assaulted by the clothing he wore, while the white creatures stood still, seemingly in awe. At last, the whipping sensation ended and, with a last burst of energy, he was free.
"Wh-wha..." He managed a glance down at his wrists, which were now freed from their previous confinement in those shackles. However, he was feeling incredibly, incredibly different somehow. "What just happ- Yah!" He glanced down at his body, trying to figure out what felt so different, and he saw right away what was amiss.
To put it simply, he was showing a lot more skin than he had been just a few moments ago. His entire torso was bared, save for something armor-like on his shoulders, along with long sleeves and fingerless gloves covering his arms and hands. The only other fabric crossing his top was a couple of lines of tightened fabric that went from the shoulder-armor, and connected to the tops of what were now a pair of (extremely short) shorts. The only part of him that was covered to any remote resemblance to the uniform he had been wearing were his legs, by a pair of what could perhaps be called akin to stockings, as there was a fair amount of fur showing between the ends of the shorts and the tops of the leg-wear. The leg-wear itself began somewhere up towards mid-thigh, then stretched all the way downwards to his feet, where the ends slanted diagonally inwards where it was all fastened to his foot by wrapping around his big toe, leaving his claws exposed.
"Wh-wha... what the hell is this outfit?!" he shouted aloud, purely out of shock. What little fabric there was left was digging into his skin, while not painfully, very uncomfortably. Not to mention the sheer lack of fabric, which made him feel like some sort of concubine or stripper. This was most definitely not the military-esque outfit that he had been wearing a moment before. However, before he could wonder at the sheer oddness of the clothes he now wore, he was reminded by a whip-like strap of fabric rushing at him that he had bigger problems to deal with at the moment.
Viral just managed to throw himself out of the way, landing close to another wall and well out of the way of those things, for the moment, anyhow. He glared at the white masses, the likes of which he had no idea what they were.
"I don't know what the hell you are," he growled, "but you will not be defeating me!" No matter how odd and, frankly, humiliating, this odd outfit change was, he would not let a silly thing like clothing. So, though his face was flushed deeply red under his fur, he lunged out at the creatures, prepared to strike them with his claws.
However, what wound up happening instead was his foot pressing into the ground, and him suddenly being flung upwards and into the rock ceiling by the unexpected sheer force of it. The Beastman let out a startled yowl as he was propelled upwards. Surprisingly, he wasn't hurt by the sudden force of hitting the rocks hard enough to get his body slightly stuck into them. He hung there a moment in a daze before he managed to collect himself enough to try and pull out of the wall.
What in the hell is going on? He wondered to himself as he yanked his arm free of a layer of gray stone, showering a bit of dust and pebbles in the process. First this clothing, and now all of this strength? None of this makes any sense. He might have lingered on these thoughts a bit longer, but he found it necessary to break from his train of thought as another wave of cloth tendrils shot at him with the speed of bullets. He leaped with the cat's agility that was in his DNA, and managed another narrow dodge.
"I don't know what the hell is going on, but that won't keep me from taking you freaks of nature down!" Viral hissed at the white things. He lunged again, managing to keep balance despite the unintentional extra dose of strength pushed into the action, and landed against one of the first creatures.
As he didn't have his cleaver on him, he simply resorted to clawing at the thing. The thing shredded at the cutting of his claws, falling apart like pieces of limp fabric. There wasn't any blood, and even when he finally jumped back again, it just fell apart into a messy pile, no organs or other signs of injury aside from the dry pile of its remains, with a red glow that dimmed with every moment. Still, he didn't have time to stop and examine what it might possibly be.
He was just about to lunge for another, but his foot suddenly slipped out from under him, and the ground seemed to swing up to meet him. He just managed to catch himself on his forearms, and was panting heavily as a sudden shock of dizziness overtook his senses. Everything was blurry and spinning, and the world suddenly felt muffled. Despite his best efforts, he sank down until his cheek was laid to the ground, and he was panting like a dog.
Unbeknownst to him and his failing senses, the white creatures were surrounding him in a circle, including the one he had cut into pieces, which was slowly beginning to re-form itself.
Viral was unaware of the sounds of shouting and guns firing from down the tunnel, and even the point in time when humans rushed into the cavern and dispersed the creatures with guns firing sharp silver needles. He couldn't even register the white-and-blue high heel that clacked directly in front of his face, which was the last thing before his eye before he faded into the bliss of unconsciousness.