Okay, I KNOW I haven't updated this in FOREVER, even though me and TallestPurple101 have already collab-ed a plot line for this but I've been so busy with art requests and work and trying to figure out a plan for my big move out of my mom's house and all...
now that I'm done with the excuses, time for the update!
L-Aora just finished her spaceship, FINALLY and she's taking it for a ride beyond the stars... but someone saw her.
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Mona saw it. Maize saw it. Tallests Red and Purple saw it, as well as most of the Elites out training in the sunshine.
A very heavily modified irken spittle runner with custom gun turrets, painted to mirror the night skies, leaving Earth's atmosphere.
"Who was that?" Mona demanded quizzicaly.
Dual shuffled his feet nervously. It was now or never. Time to fess up, as the humans said.
"Um... that was my friend I said wanted to go see their home planet..." he began.
Mona, who knew him by now, raised an eyebrow.
"And-?" she finished.
Dual rolled his eyes and looked up at her.
"He is really a she and she's a hybrid like me, only Vortian and Irken. She wanted to go see her home. I helped her," he admitted.
Maize, as was expected, took the time to laugh and point at him.
"Hhahaha, I KNEW you had a girlfriend somewhere out there, you're always going into the woods!" she teased.
"Please, would you cut it out? She's not my girlfriend, she's just a smeet, only six in Earth years," he scolded her. He didn't see the humor in this.
"Really? Vortian, huh? Interesting. I'll just hail her then," said Red.
"Dad, no! Don't! She doesn't know anything about the Vortians!" Dual insisted. He had a feeling it was more because of his calling him "dad" for the first time in his life that made him pause and nothing else.
However, Purple hailed her up on a wrist communicator, since he only had one now.
There was a beeping noise that all could hear because it was so quiet outside. Earth was a peaceful place without all the bustling human cities.
A face appeared then, L Aora's. She looked ecstatic. Behind her there was nothing but empty space and stars, like shards of ice stuck on black velvet. She was there, she was finally doing it... realizing her dream and finding out who she was. Dual envied her. Her task for meaning was a lot simpler than his.
"State your name, rank and mission, or we revoke all your snack privileges!" demanded Purple in a jaunting, whiny voice.
She laughed and again, Dual thought he caught sight of the orange-eyed shadow. It saw him and Dual saw dozens of razor sharp teeth in a crooked, evil grin.
He suddenly feared for his friend.
"Aora, watch out, it's behind you!" he warned her.
She twisted around to look behind her and she giggled again.
"No, silly, that's just Galager. He's kinda strange like that. Anyway, does someone know the way to Vort? I'm trying to find out where I cam from," she asked.
"HEY!.... That's a Dark Vortian! What are you doing hanging out with THEM? They're evil, you know," said Purple.
L-Aora narrowed her sunburst eyes and made a face.
"You see evil. I see mischief. There's a difference. And anyway, he won't hurt me," she replied.
"How do you know? He looks pretty evil to me," said Dual.
The shadowy figure materialized and formed an almost-black skinned dark vortian with bright orange horns with flame-shaped spikes on them and he nudged Aora aside, so all they could see was him. His eyes blazed a hateful, halloween orange.
"She knows because I told her. Those are my orders. Look after her and make sure she's not hurt. Your little friend is safe enough with me, boy," he sneered.
Dual didn't like the emphasis he'd put on the word, but he believed him. If the leader of the Dark Vortians had ordered Aora protected, then almost nothing could hurt her now.
It made him sad and a little jealous. He would give anything right then to be anywhere but Earth, the home he'd known all his life.
She looked happy.
"What do you know about the Resisty?" Tallest Red demanded suspiciously.
L-Aora's expression went from happy to very confused.
"The what?" she echoed, looking very much like a smeet.
"You know, I don't think she DOES know anything about the Vortians, Red... she seems kinda... stupid," said Purple.
Dual rounded on his superior furiously.
"She is not stupid! She built that ship on her own!" he growled.
Even his sister looked at him in astonishment. Not one of them had ever yelled at either of the Tallests. Dual had always held his father in high esteem, both as a parent and as a leader, but L-Aora was his friend and she was innocent. She didn't have anything to do with this!
No one said anything about his outburst but one of the slavedrivers who usually hung around one or both tallests glared at him. He glared right back.
They both looked back to the Dark Vortian in the communications hologram and L-Aora nudged him aside once more. She saw Dual and waved happily.
"Hi, Dual! It's really cool up here. You should see it!" she said in a giddy tone of voice. She was truly happy.
"If you're going to Vort, do us a favor. Keep an eye on Lard Nar," said Red grimly.
L-Aora grinned so wide her eyes virtually disappeared in an expression of joy.
"Okay, bye!" she said cheerfully as if she hadn't even heard. She cut the transmission.
As her brand new ship zoomed through space, she hugged herself and giggled joyfully. The Dark Vortian Galager watched with casual disinterest.
"You've never been off of Earth before?" he asked, his deep voice echoing slightly in the space of the cockpit. There were three rooms on the ship, including the cockpit; she had turned one into a sort of bedroom, complete with her bed from "home" and a few books for reading. She had turned the other one into a storage chamber.
"Well, I wasn't born on Earth, but all I remember sometimes is a laboratory and this loud alarm. The faces are all blurred," she admitted.
Galager didn't have anything to say to that. He typed in coordinates on the ship's navigational system.
"Redirecting," said the on-board computer.
"Heading for Vort. I'm going to leave you for Dark Vort once we get within the planet's perimeters. Dark Vortians aren't welcome on Vort," he said flatly.
L-Aora looked confused.
"Why not?" she asked.
Galager sighed. Had no one ever really told this girl about Vort and Dark Vort?
As the ship flew automatically towards the destination planet of Vort, Galager decided to tell her so she didn't say anything stupid.
"Years ago, an Irken scientists tried to clone a Vortian using irken technology. It didn't work, really... just created one of us. A dark vortian. We're evil and have evil powers, hence the name Dark in front of all our names," he began. L-Aora looked fascinated.
"But there are hundreds of you. The irken scientists tried that many times?" she asked.
Galager nodded.
"I won't tell you how we live or how Dark Slush became our leader; that story is too long. But ever since Vort found out about the illegal experiments, they've shunned us. We're "inferior" to them or something. We live on Dark Vort, one of Vort's moons. Once we get within range, I'll teleport out of this ship and back to Dark Vort. I can't protect you on Vort, and neither can Dark Slush. You'll have to fend for yourself. Do you understand?" he explained.
L-Aora nodded uncertainly. She didn't know how to fight! What if she got in trouble? She wasn't exactly Vortian...
"I could use my human diusguise? My bracelet doubles as a hologram projector," she asked, standing one one giant foot and offering the other to show off the ankle bracelet that bore her name.
Galager shook his head.
"I'm going to show you a trick. You can harness shadows with this trick, but they can also hide you. Close your eyes and concentrate," he instructed her. If Dark Slush knew he was telling this girl how to harness shadows, he would get into trouble... he wasn't even sure she could do it, not being a dark vortian.
She closed her eyes.
Galager put a hand on her forehead. Her skin was very warm.
"Focus on hiding in the shadows. Become them, let them become you. Want to hide. You have to want it. Now concentrate!" he said loud enough for only her to hear.
The air around her was shimmering, as if in a heat wave. Galager was immediately uneasy. This wasn't supposed to happen. The hand on her forehead became unbearably warm and he removed it as if burned; There was a bright light surrounding her, like sunlight, but so close... too close.
Her body was bathing in bright sunlight and the heat was too much! He had no idea what she was doing, or how, or what it was, but he had to get out of there before he was burned by a sun that wasn't there!
He teleported for Dark Vort, leaving her alone.
L-Aora smiled, feeling happy. She was deliciously warm and very content.
"PROXIMITY WARNING: HEAT SHIELDS ACTIVATED," said a mechanical voice.
It snapped her out of her concentration and she was so startled to see the bright light surrounding her that she stumbled and fell. The light dissipated.
"Wh... what was that? Galager? Where'd you go? Hello?" she called out, getting to her feet.
He was gone.
Uneasy and a little confused, she hugged herself and looked out through the front screen of her ship, alone now, and strangely cold. She shivered.
Her ship flew on, closer and closer to Vort.
She grinned and decided to activate the hyper speed drive.
She pushed a button and dragged the slider bars to maximum and jammed the lever into seventh gear.
Straps came out of her seat and strapped her in tight and the ship flew forwards as if flung by a ginat.
"Yaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaahhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhh!!!!!!!" she screamed. She could feel her cheeks flying back from her face!! This was insane!!!
"Proximity warning: Planet ahead," said the ship.
Up ahead of her was what could only be Vort.
It was HUGE... bigger than Earth, even, surrounded by a beautiful, filmy, silver-gray mist, like fog, only not as she steered the ship closer, through the mist, she saw that the oplanet's surface was mostly light purple.
The light on the dash beeped and flashed red. She was being hailed.
She pushed the button and an Irken face appeared there.
"State your name, rank and reason for visiting Vort," he said roughly.
"Uh.... um. My name is L-Aora. Um. I don't have a rank, really. I'm from planet Earth," she said.
"Reason for visit?" he demanded. His dark purple eyes narrowed at her, studying her. Hopefully, with the lights in her cockpit dimmed, her dark charcoal-colored horns resembled irken antennae.
It seemed to work.
"Personal reasons, but I promise I won't interfere with anything. Consider me a tourist with permission from the Almighty Tallest," she said sternly. If she was going to talk to irken military personal, it was better she didn't sound so perky. No one trusted happy people, for some reason...
"I'm calling them for confirmation now."
There was much clicking and the irken's partially-covered face was reflected with blue and multi-colored light. There was muttering voices and the irken's demeanor changed.
"You're cleared. Have a nice time!" he said. He cut the call and L-Aora flew closer to the planet's surface.
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"Sir, I thought you might want to know... I've been monitoring planet Vort's transmission activity and the girl is there. She's there," said the Resisty flagship's communications officer.
Lard Nar's horns perked up, shocked, and his eyes went wide.
He dashed to the control panels and accessed the video feed for all incoming traffic to Vort. He saw a heavily modified, darkly painted irken spittle runner, but he couldn't see who was at the controls. All he saw was a glimmer of orange and yellow... those eyes.
She hadn't just contacted him when she was ready.
She had built her own ship, and she was there.
"Turn this thing around! We head to Vort!" he demanded.
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Galager appeared in a shimmer of the shadows at the foot of his throne, on his knees and doubled over. There were patches of discolored flesh on his arms and lower legs and he was sweating profusely.
Dark Slush, alarmed, got to his feet and approached him.
"What happened to you??!" he demanded, slightly annoyed at having been disrupted.
"L... Aora... I tried to show her how to hide herself... with shadows and she harnessed ...sunlight instead... So hot... it burns," he panted.
"Where is she?" Dark Slush demanded cruelly.
"Probably on Vort by now. She's looking... for answers about her birth...," Galager panted.
Dark Slush growled somewhere deep in the back of his throat. On Vort she might not last long. She wasn't a dark vortian but she wasn't vortian, either.
But he couldn't leave his throne room... he was still wary... But the girl...
Feeling conflicted, he stood where he was and thought.
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PLEASE REVIEW!! Sorry it took so damn long, but I've been busy and stressed and stuffs... myeaaah