LoL, well, now that I am over my initial shock from my partners review, time for me to continue. Let's see, in last chapter, Vipress snuck up on Chaud and whisked him away. Protoman waited all night for him to return, but left for SciLab to get help when he didn't. Is Chaud alive? What did Vipress do to him? Why does she want him anyway?

Pacing around the room, Protoman made his impatience clear. Famous could only sit and watch the worried cat as they waited for the netsaviors. One by one, everyone entered the room for this emergency meeting. When everyone was in, Protoman growled low in his throat and looked at them.

"Chaud is gone. He never came home last night. Something's happened to him and I don't like it. Anybody got any ideas as to where he is?" He asked in a somewhat annoyed tone. Everyone thought hard and Lan was the first to speak.

"Maybe Vipress kidnapped him so that we HAVE to do what the Professor wants." He said. Everyone stared at him with wide eyes, making him squirm slightly under their intense gaze.

"What?" He asked when he felt he couldn't take it anymore.

"That was the single most intelligent thing you've ever suggested." Raika pointed out. Lan made an undignified noise and turned back to the group. Everyone started contemplating Lan's idea and wondered how it might have happened that a large and dangerous weresnake was able to be captured without a sound.

Meanwhile

It was dark. And cold. Shaking violently in an attempt to get warm, Chaud finally opened his eyes to nothingness. He looked around, or at least, he thought he did, to try and determine his location. When he came to the conclusion he would not learn anything with his human eye, Chaud quickly closed them and turned to the snake within him for guidance. Immediately, the darkness cleared and he saw various reds and blues and yellows, and all the colors in between, with the vision of a pit-viper.

It's not to say Chaud could see objects, no, far from it. He could see the heat and cold signatures of everything around him. Certain snakes called Pit Vipers have these heat-seeking pits by their nostrils, or, for weresnakes, below their eyes. While his cousins in the wild can only see heat, weresnakes like Chaud are able to see cold objects as well. Using this ability, weresnakes are able to find their way around in dark places.

Looking around him with his pit-viper vision, Chaud was virtually motionless, with the exception of his turning head. His snake tongue darted in and out as he tried to find the scent of anyone nearby, his acute ears attuned to pick up any sounds (another gift that weresnakes were given that their natural, wild cousins do not have) of anyone who might be approaching. Suddenly, he picked up a sound, the sound of scales on tiles, and with his snake-vision he saw a large body approach him. He seized up and opened his mouth, his tongue barely covering his open throat, and released a hollow exhale that can only come from and angry or scared gaboon viper. His fangs suddenly grew and his eyes slitted slightly. His body grew and lengthened, and he turned white all over, his body becoming covered in black stripes.

Soon he had reached full form, and he coiled up and prepared to strike, still hissing. Suddenly, the lights came on, and Chaud hissed louder and longer when he saw his opponent.

'I underestimated her, badly. I could be in trouble, even a Gaboon Viper is no match for the Black Mamba.' Chaud thought as he looked at Vipress, who was easily twice his size. He looked around cautiously, looking for a potential escape. The female snake in front of him calmly stayed where she was, allowing him to look around. The room was white, with a few counters and boxes that strangely enough looked like storage units. In the back corner of the room was a thin cot with a raggedy blanket and a very flat pillow on it, and a very large comforter curled next to it. The only way out was through a circular opening in the wall behind Vipress and Chaud cursed under his breath, seeing he was not going to get away easily. Vipress smirked and laid down, stretching her body against the wall, curling around the room.

"You will be free to go dear, just after you answer a few questions." She said. Chaud hissed loudly one last time and glared at her.

"Where have you taken me? Why am I here? What does the Professor want with me?" He asked her coldly. Amused, Vipress yawned at him.

"Well, I guess fair is fair. Very well, I will answer your questions, but in turn, you must answer mine, agreed?" She said. Chaud turned his nose up at her slightly.

"It depends on what YOUR questions are." He retorted. Vipress grinned at him.

"What a smart one you are. Very well, in order, you are in my enclosure where I fulfill my basic needs to eat and sleep. You are here because I am curious about you. There is something, something about you that makes me act strange, and my master has no idea you are even here, so if I were you, I would regain human form so that if he stops in unexpectedly, I can hide you." She explained. Chaud gave her a shocked look and thought about her request and, deciding she already knew his secret anyway, he slowly regained human form, keeping his eyes slitted and his tongue forked. With her tail, Vipress gestured to the cot and Chaud obediently sat down on it, never taking his eyes off the giant snake. She shifted her body over so she could be closer to him and see him better, and took a deep breath.

"Alright, what do you want to know?" Chaud asked her when he felt she was comfortable. Vipress smirked and poked her tongue out slightly, as if tasting the air.

"Who are you? What are you? You are not human, but you are not a snake?" She said. Chaud gulped quietly and kept his eyes focused on her.

"My name is Chaud Blaze, and I am a weresnake, which is a type of Lycanthrope." He said. Vipress tilted her head.

"Lycanthrope? What is Lycanthrope?" She asked.

"A Lycanthrope is a person who has the disease Lycanthropy, which turns anyone who has it into an animal. The most common form of Lycanthropy is the wolf form, but there are other forms as well, like snakes." He explained. She shifted her coils and blocked any view of the exit.

"I see. You are a Lycanthrope. I am a Lycanthrope as well?" She asked. Chaud shook his head.

"No, you are a net-navi who was brought to life using a special program my cousin developed. The program is based on Lycanthropy, but it isn't the real thing." He told her. Vipress nodded.

"I see. Where did you come from? Where is your creator?" She asked him. Chaud raised a brow and shifted uncomfortably.

"Well, I was born in Japan and I wasn't really created by any one person. My father is somewhere on the other side of the world and my mother… my mother is d-dead." He said, turning away from her in an attempt to escape the memory. Vipress tilted her head again.

"What are "father" and "mother" and what is "dead"?" She asked. Chaud gulped and answered quietly.

"A mother is a woman who gives birth to a child, and a father is the man who helped the mother conceive her child. When someone is dead, it means… they aren't alive. It's like a sleep they never wake up from. Anything can make death happen. Disease, old age, accidents, to name a few." He said.

"What caused your mother's death?" She asked.

"My mother was murdered. Someone else killed her by poisoning her." She said, shaking slightly.

"Why?" She asked worriedly.

"Because she was a weresnake. Humans are afraid of Lycanthropes, and some humans have made it their life's work to kill them, and they become hunters. My mother never did anything to anyone, but she still deserved to die just because she was different." He said, turning away from her. He never meant to give Vipress this much information about himself, information so painful, forgotten long ago. The tears came slowly at first, and it was everything Chaud could do not to sob. The memories flooded his mind and it made him hurt inside. Suddenly, he felt something wrap around him and Chaud gasped and opened his eyes, looking upward into the sympathetic eyes of the serpent.

"Death is not something that is earned lightly. A difference in one's makeup is no reason to end a life. The person who killed your mother was the one who was wrong, not she. I am sorry to have troubled you with my inquiries; I truly did not mean to disturb you. Perhaps you will want sleep before you leave. I will help you escape when you are rested." She said, gently laying him on the cot. She gingerly grabbed the blanket with her lips and draped it over Chaud before settling into the comforter next to the cot, curling up tightly and resting her head in front of him. Chaud had nothing to say and he laid his head back, drifting off into an uneasy sleep.

Back at SciLab

"So then it's settled, we'll tell him we'll do as he says, and then while everyone is distracting him, Lan, Protoman and Megaman will sneak in and find Chaud, and then we'll counter-attack." Raika told them. Everyone nodded just as Chaud's father entered the room.

"Fine. We'll play it your way, but mark my words, this lunatic will pay!" He growled. Raika glared at him for the horrible misuse of the word describing Lycans controlled by the moon, but said nothing as he watched Dr. Hikari get ready to call the Professor.

TBC

I like this chapter. I really do. Vipress' character development is coming along nicely, and I think this story is starting to lead into it's sequel rather smoothly. What do you think of this chapter?

R&R

Catilena1890