Ouk'om's and Xylites Part 2: Trouble in Fun Town
"Um…a friend that is a girl?" Carzon answered unsurely.
Everyone stared at Carzon while Sydney smacked her hand to her forehead.
"What?" Carzon asked in response to the reaction to what he thought girlfriend meant.
"It doesn't matter right now!" Jaune spoke out, glaring at Militia who stared back with a neutral expression. Jaune really wished that he had his weapons on him right now. "Right now we have to deal with her before she kills our friend."
"Look here you blonde screw up; I might not like any of you with the exception for Carzon, but I'm not here to kill you or your friends." Militia stated matter-of-factly.
"Then why are you holding your weapon to Ren's throat?!" Pyrrha demanded. "If you're not here to hurt us, then why don't you lower your weapon and step away from him!"
Militia laughed at her demand. "First off, don't you think for a moment that I would listen to you. Secondly…if you were really your friend, then surely any of you would have realized by now that something was off with this nimrod."
Ren looked like he wanted to argue about being a nimrod, but changed his mind as he eyed the blade to his throat. The others, however, were more than willing to argue with Junior's associate.
"That's ridicules! There's nothing wrong with Ren!' Jaune jumped to Ren's defense.
"He's right, I bet just saying that to psyche us out!" Pyrrha joined in.
Nora was oddly silent as she gave Ren a hard stare.
"...She's right." Nora said without a hint of uncertainty.
Everyone snapped their heads towards the orange haired hammer wielder, looking at her as if she just grew two extra heads that were capable of shooting laser beams from their eyes.
"What do you mean?!" Sydney inquired, not believing that the teenage girl she just met was agreeing with someone that was threatening their friend.
"Yeah, what the hell are you on about?!" Akeiro rudely demanded.
"That's just it, Ren has always been a bit quiet for as long as I could remember. But ever since we came here he's been quieter than usual." Nora said before frowning. "And...I've been noticing the small looks he's been giving Carzon after we got him out of the fish tanks, like he was obsessed with him or something."
Militia nodded. "Good, at least one of you has been paying attention." Militia said, flashing a smile of approval towards Nora.
Nora smiles back at the red Malachite twin for the praise before glaring daggers at the imposter.
"Now tell us who you are and what you did to Ren before I break your legs with the table!" Nora threatened as the faker stared to sweat.
"NORA!" Jaune exclaimed. "You can't be seriously listening to someone that's siding with the enemy!"
"But she's right." A familiar voice rang out from behind them. Everyone turned and were shocked speechless to see Ren walking towards them with Melanie besides him.
"RENNY!" Nora cheered happily as she rushed over to him and wrapped her arms around him, swinging around as Ren tried his hardest to maintain his balance. Every continued to stare at the sight in front of them.
"What in the world is going on?!" Sydney exclaimed, completely bamboozled at the turn of events.
"If that's really Ren...then who is he?" Pyrrha asked, pointing from Ren to the one that Militia was watching over. The fake Ren, who knew that his cover was blown, stared to mentally panic as he face started to ooze.
Akeiro and Carzon saw the ooze and instantly realized who they were dealing with.
They shared a knowing look before facing the imposter.
"You might as well show us who you really, there's no point in hiding behind a fake face anymore." Carzon told the fake.
"Or you can ignore him and I can beat your ugly face in." Akeiro added, pounding his fist into his hand for emphasis. Knowing that he has nothing else to lose, the imposter obliged as his face and clothes started to change. The group watched in disgust and fascination, Militia and Melanie quickly turned away, as his exposed skin turned yellow and the clothes turned silvery before they rippled, stopping until the being turned back into Mimicker.
"So we meet again my precious game." Mimicker greeted politely. Akeiro was in a less then polite mood.
"You have some nerve showing yourself around here, especially what you tried last time you stalked us!" Akeiro growled angrily.
"Um...who and what is this guy?" Jaune asked, staring unsurely at alien.
"His name is Mimicker, a high rank Ouk'um poacher that's been chasing us for months now." Carzon explained for the blonde knight.
"Everything about him creeps me out, especially how he transform." Sydney stated, swallowing some bile that threatened to come up just from the memory of his transformation.
"Tell me about it." Melanie and Militia said at the same time, gagging slightly at the memory the disgusting display of his power from last night.
Pyrrha ignored them and leveled a glare at Mimicker. "Why are you here and why did you impersonate Ren?" Pyrrha demanded.
"Nothing much really, just decided that a stroll around the city would be fun and what the hell do you think I'm here for?!" Mimicker said calmly at first before snapping at her. "I'm here to acquire my targets; why else would I even be in this backwater planet for? For shits and giggles? And the only reason why I changed into that boy was simply because he was at the back of the group and I saw my chance to strike and take his place." Mimicker explained before his face contorted into a smirk.
"And you peons didn't even suspect a thing until the two interlopers decided to screw everything up." Mimicker said getting glares from the group before the poacher threw a glare towards the twin sisters. "And why are you here anyway?!"
"I'm here to protect my boyfriend from your slimy tentacles." Militia said with a sneer.
Melanie gave him a bored look and shrugged. "I'm only here because Militia literally dragged me out of bed." Melanie told them.
Mimicker chuckled darkly. "Your pitiful reasons don't really matter in the end, all of you are going to be dead within the hour and the Xylite's will be in my possession." Mimicker said ominously.
Militia scoffed at that. "We out number you and have you surrounded, how are you going to 'kill' us?" Militia challenged him.
Mimicker continued to smirk. "Outnumbered yes...out match, I think not." Before they could interpret what he said, two of Mimickers tentacles stretched to insane lengths and wrapped themselves around Militia and Melanie before shaking them like rattles. Once they were disorientated, the intergalactic poacher tossed them towards a wall, which crumbled upon contact.
"MILITIA!" Carzon yelled in distress, rushing towards them in hopes that they were alright.
The rest of the group excluding Sydney got into their battle stances, with Pyrrha making the first move by using her semblance to levitate three chairs in a black aura and sent them towards Mimicker at high speed. In response, Mimicker melded his other two tentacles together and effortlessly swatted them away.
Once he split his bigger tentacle back into two Mimicker held up his arm and aimed it at Pyrrha, which extended in a similar manner as his tentacles, distracting Pyrrha long enough for the outstretched hand to grip her throat. The arm detracted and dragged Pyrrha towards the poacher, causing the rest of the team to yell her name. Once the red haired warrior was near his face, Mimicker chuckled.
"Not that it really needs to be explained at this point, but not only can I shape shift, I can also stretch my appendages to whatever length I desire." Mimicker gloated. "And another thing-"
Mimicker lifted one of his tentacles towards Pyrrha's face and slapped it hard enough to leave a scratch that left a blue stain on her cheek.
"-I'm also poisonous."
At the mention of poison, Pyrrha's eyes widened and she started to struggle for a few moments before she punched Mimicker in the eye, making him drop her as he howled in pain. She then leapt backwards until she was back with her friends.
"We need to take him down...fast." Pyrrha said before she started to feel woozy and started to sway back and forth.
"Pyrrha? Are you alright?" Jaune asked.
"I...I." Pyrrha stuttered, her vision starting to feel blurry and she started to feel fatigued.
'What...What's happing to me? Why can't I feel my face?' Pyrrha mentally asked herself before she realized something. 'Is this his poison doing this to me? Oh Oum I think I'm going to be-' Pyrrha's thoughts were interrupted as she hunched over and threw up everything in her stomach. She then dropped to her knees before she fell over sideways and lost consciousness.
"PYRRHA!" Jaune yelled as he and Akeiro rushed to her side, examining teenage huntress-in-training closely. "Wake up Pyrrha, please wake up!" Jaune cried as he shook her. It was at that point that Akeiro noticed the scratch mark on her cheek and cursed.
"Damn it! She's been poisoned!" Akiero told Jaune. "Get her out of here and get her treated before she dies! I'll distract sushi brain!"
Jaune eyes widens in horror. "Crud!" Jaune exclaims as he wrapped her arm around his shoulder and drags her away as Nora did the same to Sydney. Akeiro took out his Taser Staff as Ren approached his side, ready to fight the alien poacher alongside him. They silently shared a looked for a brief moment before they faced their enemy and charged at him with a battle cry.
While this was happening Carzon was examining the twins with worry evident in his eye.
"Are you two alright? Is anything broken?" Carzon inquired with a scared tone, hoping that they weren't fatally injured.
Militia smiled at his concerned before wincing and groaning in pain. "I'm fine darling, but I think my legs might be broken." Militia told him.
"I feel...light headed." Melanie said from a few feet away.
Carzon hummed in thought. "I think I might be able to help you too, just give me-" Whatever he was about to say was drowned out by the screams of Ren as he flew past them and smashed into a trashcan with a loud and painful sounding impact. The red eyed Xylite quickly looks at the now unconscious Ren before turning to see what was happening in the fight. His eye went wide as he saw Akeiro helplessly suspended in the air by Mimicker's four tentacles, each one wrapping around his wrists and ankles, stopping the Xylite from being able to escape.
The octopus based alien then started to pull at Akeiro's limbs in an attempt to tear them clean off. Militia and Melanie looked away while Carzon looked on with dread filling him.
"NO! STOP PLEASE!" Carzon begged of Mimicker.
Mimicker's response was to slowly turn his towards Carzon and gave him a long stare as he started to pull harder, causing Akeiro to scream while the sound of his arms giving way to the pressure was heard.
Carzon dread slowly started to dissipate as rage started to boil in his very being.
"LET HIM GO!" Carzon yelled angrily, his voice sounding a bit deeper than normal. His yelling fell on deaf ears as Mimicker continued to pull at Akeiro's limbs, chuckling all the while.
"I SAID STOP IT!" Carzon repeated with his voice becoming steadily more deeper as his body started to change. Militia and Melanie watched in stunned silence as his form started to become more muscular to the point that his already damaged jacket was torn apart.
Militia blushed as she looked at his form until she noticed that a silver bushy tail with blue highlights was growing at the base of his spine until it stopped growing when it reached four feet in length. His legs became longer and stilt-like while his feet became padded and grew claws. Just like his legs and feet, his arms grew slightly longer and clawed. His eye shrank a few inches, making room for a muzzle to grow from the bottom of his face. Finally, two pointed silver ears with blue tips grew on top of his head, completing the transformation.
The Malachite twins looked on in terror as, for a brief moment; they imagined a Beowolf in place of the wolf like creature Carzon had become.
The feral looking Carzon tilted his head upwards and let out a ear-piercing howl, causing everyone still in the room to hold their ears in pain. Everyone stared at Carzon with uncertainty, not sure what's going on. Akeiro weakly turned to look at his brother, only for his pupil to shrink when he saw the form his brother took while Mimicker looked at Carzon with mild confusion, momentarily halting his torture of Akerio.
"What in Splurmth's name is that?" Mimicker wondered with intrigue.
The moment those words were uttered by the galactic poacher; Carzon lowered himself onto all fours and charged at the cephalopod mollusc like alien at full speed like a rapid wolf. Mimicker had no time to react before Carzon was upon him, using his right claw to gouge out the tentacles that was holding the red jacket wearing alien up. Mimicker yelled in pain as he dropped Akeiro, who ended up skidding across the floor and stopping a few feet from the twins, and attempted to swat the savage creature away from him with his arm.
But his attempts were for naught as Carzon bit down on his wrist and started to shake it like a mad dog, tearing into the poacher's arm effortlessly as Mimicker renewed his screams of pain and terror.
After several moments of continuous shaking, Carzon gave the appendage a final, hard yank and ripped Mimicker's arm off. Before the alien poacher could screech in pain, Carzon grabbed his octopus shaped head with his talon like fingers and started to bash it repeatedly into the ground, creating a small crater that grew larger each time his head met the floor.
The twins could only stare at the brutal beat down with horrified expressions as Akeiro managed to pick himself up and turn to stare at the battle and hissed.
"This isn't good, not even slightly." Akeiro said, getting the attention of the twins.
"What's going on? Why did Carzon turn into a Beowolf of all things?" Militia asked the red jacket wearing Xylite with concern.
"Yeah, and why is he attacking Squid Boy like that? He doesn't seem the type to do something like this." Melanie asked.
"You're right; Carzon normally isn't capable of doing something like this." Akeiro told her. "But that all changed three months ago when he tried to protect a wolf cub from a poacher and failed. Despite everything he tried, the poacher managed to get a shot at the cub and killed it." Militia and Melanie gasped in shock and sadness. "Some of its blood splashed on him, turning him into that thing over there and lost control of his actions. By the time we found them...the poacher was already dead." Akeiro told them.
The twins looked down sadly, finding the reason for Carzon's initial transformation very tragic.
"So...what did Carzon do to the poacher?" Melanie couldn't help but inquire. Akeiro went very still, internally debating whether or not to tell them.
"It...wasn't a pretty sight." Akeiro explained. "Carzon, he...tore off his limbs, gouged out his eyes, and ripped out his intestines. The look that was frozen on his face before he died showed nothing but pain and agony."
The twins were shocked to hear all this, especially Militia who didn't want to believe that the person she fell in love with was capable of such heinous actions.
After a few more face slams, Carzon lifted Mimicker high off the ground and slammed him one more time with all his might, forming a crater the size of the poacher's body upon impact. Knowing that he won, the feral Carzon lifts his head up and howl in victory, making the trio wince at the sheer volume of the howl. As fast as the howling started, it suddenly stopped as Carzon went rigid as he slowly returned to his senses.
His arms limply hung on his sides as he looked around the room and gazed at the damage until he saw Mimickers detached arm laying a few feet away. His eye widened as he looked downwards, seeing the mangled body of Mimicker as he twitched and bled in a crater. Shakily, he raised his arms and he saw the goo that made up the alien poacher's blood.
Piecing together what he had done, he craned his neck towards his friends and saw the horrified looks that the twins were shooting at him and the sad look his brother was giving him. Carzon zeroed on to Militia's face. He felt his heart dropped at the fact that she looked so afraid of him and he knew that it was his fault.
Carzon took a step forward but stops when Militia flinched and scooted away. The Xylite allowed his body to droop and he lowered his eyes until he was looking at the floor, feeling empty inside as his body slowly turned back to normal.
"Carzon..." Militia managed to whisper, though Carzon was able to hear it from so far away as clear as rain.
"I'm sorry...I'm so, so sorry." Carzon dropped to his knees, not taking his eyes off the floor.
"You...shouldn't feel bad for trying to protect your brother Carzon." Ren said, grunting as he carefully raised himself up and shambles towards the group, his aura managing to repair some of the damage.
"He's right you know." Akeiro stated. "If it was you that was getting your limbs stretched instead of me, I would have come and saved you even if it meant losing control."
Despite the encouragement, Carzon still felt down. "I know you would Akeiro, but I don't want to be violent. Even now, what I did to him is tearing me apart inside." Carzon told them.
Militia's eyes soften as she saw how broken up Carzon was about all this. 'I can't believe that I even doubted him for a moment, the Carzon I know wouldn't hurt me on purpose.' Militia thought in shame as she attempted to move, only to hiss when pain to shot up her legs. '...If only my legs weren't so busted up, I would give him a big hug.'
Carzon, who heard her distress, rushed to her side. "Is it your legs? Are they still hurt?" Carzon asked in concern.
"Yeah...I think they might be broken." Militia said, smiling reassuringly. "But don't worry; my aura should help me recover from it.
Carzon wasn't sure what aura was, but that didn't stop him from thinking over his options.
"I don't know what that is, but I might be able to fix your legs faster." Carzon told her. "Do you trust me?"
Militia gave him a small smile and opened her mouth to answer, only for Melanie to narrow her eyes. "Don't trust him Militia." Melanie interjected. ""He'll just end up mutilating you like he did that the yellow blob of an alien over there."
Carzon looked uncomfortable at her distrust. "I know that I wasn't in the right mind when I did that, but you have to believe me, I would never hurt-"
"I trust you Carzon." Militia told them, deciding to interrupt before they got into an argument.
"What?! Sis, you saw what he can do, why would you-"
"Because I love him." Militia interrupted Melanie.
Melanie stared in befuddlement, too shocked that her sister would trust him to say anything.
Carzon eye smiled in gratitude. "Thank you." Carzon places his hands on Militia's legs, his hands giving off a blue glow that slowly began to spread over damaged limbs. After several seconds, the blue glow died down and Carzon stands up.
"Alright, that should be it." Carzon told her. "Now try to stand up."
Militia nodded and slowly pushed herself up, stunned that she didn't feel any pain in her legs. "My legs! They feel amazing!" Militia said in surprise, testing her legs by bending her knees a few times. "It's like they were never broken."
Ren and Melanie were equally shocked as her. "How is possible?" Ren asked.
"It's cool isn't it?" Akeiro questioned them. "It's an ability that Carzon here picked up sometime after we crashed here. He's able to heal organic materials with no negative effects except for Carzon getting tired, basically negating any injuries like they never existed."
"That's amazing!" Melanie admitted, starting to see that she was somewhat wrong about the red eyed alien.
Militia smiled brightly, glad that she had Carzon with them when she needed him. "Thank you Carzon, you really came through for me." Militia said gratefully.
"I'm just glad that I was able to help you." Carzon told her. Carzon and Militia stared into each other's eye until Ren had an idea.
"Hold on, do you think that you'll be able to cure Pyrrha with your powers?" Ren asked hopefully.
"Heh...heh...heh, I doubt it." Mimicker wheezed weakly, coughing up yellow goop and groaning in pain a he slowly propped himself up with his remaining arm. The group were beyond shocked that he was still alive.
"How? How in hell are you still alive after that going through the ringer like that?!" Akeiro demanded.
Mimicker laughed again, causing him to go into another coughing fit. "That doesn't matter now, while I'm alive at this very moment, my time in this universe is rapidly nearing its end." Mimicker told them, knowing that he will be dead soon. "But I can take solace in the fact that I'm taking someone precious to you all with me."
"You're wrong." Ren said sternly. "We're going to save her before anything bad happens to her!"
If anything, Ren's determination that Pyrrha was going to be okay amused Mimicker greatly. "Such foolish idealistic hope, even if you manage to save her from death's icy grip, there's no guaranty that she'll come out of this unscathed."
Mimicker's strength left him and he fell back to the ground. "Before I go, there is something that I want to say to the Xylites." Mimicker said, shakily craning his neck to look directly at Carzon and Akeiro. "While you managed to defeat me, your kind had a lot of enemies. All of whom would eagerly take my place. You two will never know peace until the end of your days."
Satisfied that he said his peace, Mimicker eyes dimmed as his life finally ended.
The group watched as Mimicker's body started to melt into yellow goo.
"...We should find Pyrrha before it's too late." Militia suggested. After getting no arguments, the group of five promptly left the room and headed towards the exit as the goo started to evaporate.
It didn't take them long to find the others because the second they stepped through the front entrance, Nora, Jaune, and Sydney could be seen crouching down around Pyrrha, whose head was on Jaune's lap while Sydney did all she could do for her. One more look around told the five that the others attracted the morning crowd, all of them showing interest and concern.
"SOMEONE CALL AN AMBULANCE! I'M LOSING HER!" Sydney yelled towards the crowd, more than a few quickly fumbled around with their phones and quickly called the emergency services.
Once she declared that, the group of five quickly ran over with urgency. They were shocked and horrified to see that Pyrrha skin was pasty white and covered in cold sweat. The skin around the scratch Mimicker left on her cheek was blue and the scratch itself was oozing a blue liquid.
"What's happening to her?!" Ren asked them.
"It's the scratch, it's getting worse and...and." Jaune began, unable to finish what he was about to say.
"And she's going into shock, if we don't do anything soon, she will die." Sydney told them before staring at Carzon. "Carzon, do you think that you can help her?"
Carzon nodded and crouched down to where the cut was on her cheek was and placed his hand on it, shutting his eye in concentration as his hand glowed blue. To the others amazement and slight disgust, the blue liquid that was slowly dripping from the wound started to pour out faster, making a puddle under them. Once the well ran dry, the skin started to mend themselves back together and leaving a thin scar before Carzon collapsed.
"CARZON!" The group of cried out, Militia being the most vocal of the bunch.
"It's...alright, I'm just exhausted after everything that's happened today." Carzon assured them before looking at the scar on Pyrrha's cheek. "It looks like I wasn't able to completely heal that scratch though.
"It's...alright." Pyrrha suddenly said with a weak voice, surprising everyone.
"Pyrrha! Are you okay?" Jaune asked her, immediately doting on her like a mother hen.
Pyrrha "Yeah, I'm fine...but what happened to Mimicker?" Pyrrha asked them.
"That yellow bastard is no more, we took care of him." Akeiro told her.
The red haired warrior smiled as she felt her eye lids getting heavier and heavier. "That's...good to...hear." After that, Pyrrha's eyes dilated and her breathing became irregular.
"Pyrrha? What's wrong?" Jaune asked, not getting an answer. "Pyrrha? PYRRHA!"
"This isn't good, it looks like she's going into shock!" Sydney stated, checking her pulse and felt that her pulse was getting weaker and speeding up. Luckily for them, the ambulance arrived on the scene and two paramedics came over with a stretcher and lifted her up on it before taking her to the ambulance.
Jaune was the one that went with them while the others decided to rendezvous with them at the hospital. They were all so caught up in what happening with Pyrrha, they didn't notice a man watching them from the crowd with a stony expression. The man turned and walked away, not bothering to look back as he disappeared into the crowd without a trace.