Chapter 6 – Dustin
Savage remained at the monitor, her head turned down as she let the ship sail around as it wished. Her mind reeled with questions as she looked to the floor for her answers. 'What do I do?' she asked herself as her ship came in to land softly on the ground, 'I take him down, that's what. Then what? I go home? No, home doesn't want me anymore. Leave? No, I have something here to keep. But do I take him with me, or do I stay?' Her mind raced again, questions piled up, driving her crazy with the want for answers. 'I can't take this anymore!' she thought to herself, 'I need answers, I need Dustin!' She quickly turned to the monitor, grabbing a large joystick in front of her, guiding the ship across the sky, 'He'll have the answers. He always has answers.' The large ship turned, making its way back toward another city, its cry still echoing through the air to try and sooth it's captain.
Bolt breathed in deep as he followed Dustin towards the city, and coughed. "What is that smell?" he asked as they found the first of the large buildings. The three of them rounded the corner, and quickly found what was offending their noses. A mass of people and animals lay dead on the ground, most stabbed through the chest, and others almost like they were disintegrating in a large green puddle. "Oh!" Bolt said in shock. "What happened here?" Mittens asked as they all moved carefully past the corpses. "They're…all dissolving!" Dustin said in the same surprise. The trail wasn't just the people, walls and brick seemed to melt under the green spray, a lamppost bowed as the acid warped and ate away at the metal. "This place is a disaster area!" Bolt said, and turned just in time to have the tail of a large scorpion woosh by, striking the ground instead of his cheek. "Lucky dog!" they all heard from the shadows of an alleyway, and out came the chimera, Nightmare. "What the…" Mittens asked as Bolt turned to the ground. The area around Nightmare's tail began to bubble as he pulled the tip out, and quickly became a puddle of green bubbles. He then turned to his cheek, finding a straight line of fur burned from the coat on his cheek. "You!" he growled, and crouched down. Nightmare and Bolt began circling each other, Bolt as low to the ground as his moving legs would let him, and Nightmare up as tall as he pleased, "You did this to those innocent people!"
"I needed the practice!" Nightmare said and let his tail strike at Bolt. The dog quickly dodged to one side, and the dance began again, "But as usual, humans provide very little challenge!"
"Hey!" Dustin called out, offended by the comment. "How did you get that form?" Bolt asked as he dodged again, jumping backwards and letting Nightmare follow him. "I discovered that if I can absorb two or more animals at once, I can mix them together to create a much more powerful creature!" he said as he circled Bolt again, and lunged, striking second with his tail. Bolt took a swipe of his own, striking the side of the tail and using his strength to push it away from him. "I must admit I underestimated the human traveling with you." Nightmare said as he lunged forward, tackling Bolt to the ground and pinning him under his powerful paws, "However, it's a mistake I'm not about to repeat!" Nightmare looked up, spying Dustin as the human tried to advance. Dustin stopped in mid step as he watched Nightmare's tail lift up to strike. "Oh SHIT!" Dustin called out as he realized who the creature's target was. Dustin fell to his back, using his arms and feet to scoot back as quickly as he could. The tail reached its height, poised ready to strike, and was quickly knocked away as something slammed into Nightmare from above. "GRAAAAAAA!" he and Bolt called out as whatever it was smashed into them. Mittens stopped in her tracks, her eyes wide as she watched her husband and the undead creature attacking him explode. "BOLT!" she called out, and listened to a familiar cry come from the sky. When she turned to the source, she found the familiar alien ship swimming through the air as the sparks of its explosives rained down from above. "Savage!" Dustin called out and got to his feet, he quickly began running around, dodging as many of the spores as he could with Mittens following his example.
"They can't, I won't let them!" Savage said as she gazed to the monitor, "I won't let them become one!" she said, and turned her head slightly. She saw him, the human traveling with Bolt and Mittens, "DUSTIN!" she called out, "STOP FIRING!" The ship quickly ceased releasing the explosives, and the remaining ones exploded harmlessly in midair. The creature of a ship let out a confused wail of a cry, as if asking its captain why.
The smoke cleared, and up came Nightmare, "I'm going to kill that thing!" he said, and was quickly grabbed by Bolt's paw, pulled back into the dust as it settled. Mittens heard several resounding cracks, and a yip from her husband, "Bolt?" she asked as she watched the dust begin to clear, and he was quickly thrown out, landing on his back shortly after. He struggled to get to his paws, a small gash in his side with what looked to be an acid burn sealing it shut. "Darn, that hurt!" he said as he finally stood up. Mittens turned back to the cleared smoke, Nightmare stood there with his exoskeleton cracked and his tail completely ripped off. The tail twitched as it lay there, almost as if it were trying to curl up on its own. Nightmare breathed deeply as he looked them in the eyes. Mittens once again locked her eyes with his, and for some reason, her vision wasn't as bad.
Bolt stood there, facing Nightmare, beat up and bleeding, but somehow, she could feel something different, a power welling up inside her.
"WHAT'S GOING ON?" Nightmare called out as he broke eye contact with her, and suddenly he cringed, almost as if he suddenly felt the pain that his body was sustaining, 'I can't believe this!' he thought, 'The chimera forms take up more energy than my normal forms! I have to get out of here, and find a new source of energy!' Nightmare turned away, booking it for all he was worth as he escaped his enemies. "YAH, THAT'S RIGHT!" Bolt shouted as he watched Nightmare run off, "YOU'D BETTER RUN!"
"Don't antagonize him!" Mittens said as she moved closer to him. Suddenly they all heard the pop of the ship's Missiles launch, and Dustin quickly dashed towards them.
"Yes, my pet, kill them at any cost!" she said as she watched the spores descend towards them. Suddenly she found Dustin in between them and her, "NO!" she called out, "STOP THE ATTACK!" The spores all self-destructed in midair again, causing a great flash of light as the ship took off, flying away from the battlefield with a resounding cry, one mixed with confusion and sorrow. "Why?" she asked herself, "I need to kill those animals!" Suddenly, it seemed as if she began to talk to another, she let her face contort to a different shape, one of concern, "But not if Dustin is killed too! I have to keep him alive; he's the only one who can make me happy!" She once again let her face shift, anger taking over her emotions once again, "But they're using him as a shield, I have to destroy them before they destroy me!" Again she shifted to concern, "He's number one, I have to save him!" she said, and grabbed her hair with her hands, "I'm so confused! I don't know what to do!" She heard the cry of her ship, and she noticed, it did her no good.
Dustin looked after her, watching as the ship sailed across the sky and away from him. "Bolt, stop being such a baby!" he heard Mittens say. Bolt twitched as she tried to place her paws against his side, "It just hurts when anything touches me near it Mittens!" Mittens rolled her eyes, and placed her water claws a bit further away, he twitched again, "Just get it over with!" Bolt said as he cringed, "My whole other side is going numb!" Mittens dug her claws into his fur, letting the water from them seep out and reach his wound. He quickly found himself in pain, the clear water turning not green, but a midnight black. "Looks like poison," Mittens said, "I'll have to draw it out before I can heal your side." She concentrated even harder, letting the black liquid fall towards Bolt's belly, and then drip off of him, dissolving each time as it hit the ground.
Nightmare staggered his way back to the animal shelter he had first acquired his new form, limping his way into the broken down door, "Tch!" he scoffed, "How humiliating, having to retreat because of a weakness!" He quickly turned, scanning the room of animals as they scurried to hide themselves. "Lizard!" he said and hopped up to reach his paw in and grab the biggest one he could find. The Large lizard began to bite him in defense and wriggle, wrapping its mouth around his armored leg as his paw gripped it firmly, he quickly located an empty aquarium, and tossed it inside before placing a lid on it, "Bat!" he said, as he made his way to the bat cage. He quickly opened it up, not caring as the little ones flew out to escape him, and he grabbed the largest one in the cage. "Once I'm done recharging, we'll see what you two can make me turn into!" he said, and grabbed a large rock, placing it on the lid and sticking his head into it with the bat. His body quickly fell apart, the head and leg hitting the floor of the cage as the two creatures backed away from the skull as much as they could. The bat tried but failed to exit the cage, and the lizard just curled into a corner. The eyes of the skull faded, turning into nothing but blackness as the skull lay there dormant. The bat stopped flapping as it finally came to terms with its capture, and turned to see the eyes disappear. It quietly and cautiously crept up, and placed a single claw to the skull. Nothing happened. The bat and lizard quickly sighed and watched the rest of the body dissolve into nothing but black smoke. The two animals did the only thing they could, they huddled into a far corner, and hugged each other, waiting for the skull to come alive again.
End of Chapter 6