Impossible Creatures, Chapter Thirteen, Part One: The Gate

"The longest part of any journey is said to be the passing of the gate." - Marcus Terentius Varro

Dr Otis Ganglion

A Case Study

Dated June 30th 1937

Subject: Rex Chance

He is a prime physical specimen, with a sharp mind, as to be expected. He shows signs of extremely acute, almost inhumane perceptive abilities, his physical prowess, strength, and endurance are far beyond my expectations

I have not seen him sleep in the two days I have been with him - quite impressive.

The most amazing thing is that the subject sees to be in denial about the full extent of his abilities, but it is my experience that people tend to cling to an ideal of normalcy, even remarkable people, in order to make their place within this world. This simply won't do. Rex Chance must learn who, or more accurately, what, he really is.

His reaction to such a revelation would almost merit a separate case study in and of itself.

Isla Porta

June 30th 1937

Rex was glad of the flying lessons Lucy had given him. There wasn't any way on earth he would have let Ganglion fly Lucy's precious lab.

For a change Wolf was riding inside. He spent every minute watching Ganglion like a hawk, following him from one end of the train to another. Rex was glad of Wolf's watchful eye. He didn't trust Ganglion as far as he could've thrown the lab.

They approached a large, lush island from the west. While Rex was glad that the desert islands seemed to be behind him, he didn't like what he saw. The island was long, had a huge metal gate built in the middle, and was literally bristling with anti-air towers. To fly anywhere near it would be impossible.

The gate swung inwards, and a gyrocoper buzzed through.

"There, take the lab through that gate." Ganglion directed. Wolf growled at the order given from the scientist. Ganglion eyed him nervously.

"Hold onto your Bunsen burner!" exclaimed Rex, and he steered the lab towards the gate, full speed. They breezed over a small hillside and a sandbar. The doors of the gate were closing. Quickly.

"Aiiiiiiiiiiiiiiii!" screeched Ganglion. "NOOOOOOOOOOO!"

There was no way the lab could have fit through the dwindling gap. Rex yanked the control stick, nearly clipping the gate as he pulled up sharply. He tightened his grip on the controls while Wolf dug his claws in for a hold. Ganglion went sliding down the sharply tilting floor, still wailing. Ignoring him, Rex turned the lab and flew back over to the hillside.

Landed safely, Rex and Wolf stared across the bay to the gate. The sandbar they'd flown over earlier connected their hillside with the main part of the island. In Rex's eye that was a positive thing - beside from aerial assaults this was a good place to defend from.

"Oh, very unfortunate." Commented Ganglion, having picked himself up and emerged from the lab. "Going through that gate is the only safe passage to Julius' main island."

Rex's patience was steadily wearing thin. "Can't we just fly around?!" He demanded. Julius had Lucy - again! The same itching, impatient energy as before was coursing through him again. Her safety was all to him that mattered. That, and smashing Julius into the ground.

"Oh no, Mr Julius has made it quite sure you cannot do that. There is a way to re-open the gate, though. An outpost on the other side of the island holds the gate controls."

"Let's get started." Rex thought it would do Ganglion a world of good to do a little manual labour.

"Ah-ah. There's one catch." warned the scientist.

Rex turned around slowly. His eyes narrowed. "I don't like catches." He growled.

"Regardless of your preferences the catch remains." Ganglion said, seeming slightly puzzled by Rex's statement. "Because of this island's critical location Julius uses it as a holding pen of sorts for his most powerful creatures. You should prepare yourself."

Rex glared darkly. "You me WE should prepare OURselves. I'm sure Julius's creatures will devour you as readily as they will me.

Clearly, Ganglion hadn't thought of this. "Oh, my..." Wolf shoved him hard, sending him sprawling, and trotted over to Rex to help set up the creature chamber.

When it was complete Rex spied a very large, narrow triangular fin in the bay beside him he dived in willingly, leaving Wolf to watch Ganglion, who was attempting to put up an anti-air tower. Wolf lay down to watch, growling every time Ganglion dropped a part or pole.

Rex swam up to the fin. It was an orca, a killer whale, the largest of the dolphins. Fearlessly, it turned its great head towards Rex. A sharp, music whistle engulfed him. Equally unafraid, Rex reached out underwater, patting the whale's nose. "Hey buddy. I have a favour to ask." Rex said softly.

Curiously, the whale poked its head above the surface of the ocean and regarded Rex with a small, intelligent brown eye. Rex held out a sample. There was something strange about this. He couldn't remember asking any animal for permission before.

The whale didn't seem to mind. Peacefully it let Rex collect the sample without being tranquilized, then turned and swam majestically away.

Rex swam quickly back to the sand bar and climbed onto the floatation boom of the new water chamber that had just been finished by a henchman. If he'd been in a laughing mood he might have been tempted by the sight on the shore. Wolf was following Ganglion like a shadow. He was trying to prop up the posts for a soundbeam tower on the lowest rocky outcrop to the sandbar. Ganglion was growing increasingly nervous by Wolf's close watch and kept casting glances over his shoulder, only to find himself eye-to-eye with the Sigma hybrid, gulp, and turn back to work.

Rex threw himself into getting the base prepared, trying not to think about Lucy too much. If he did he felt sure someone, probably Ganglion, was going to wind up getting badly hurt. He always felt more secure once two or three anti-air towers were up and a small herd of Eeri guarded the entrance, anyway.

After he'd finished he couldn't bear the idea of sitting still and he brought up the combiner to see if he could create some new blueprints. He loaded in the orca sample and immediately realized that its large size would make a perfect combination for something small, to boost the melee attributes. He studied the orca's statistics. Health was very impressive and there was a sonic ranged attack, but defense was very low.

Rex's eye landed on the lobster and he smiled humorlessly. Julius had giant creatures on this island? Well, maybe Rex should make a few himself.

The resulting Lorca had the entire body of the lobster with just the whale tail to aid in a swifter assault in the water. The tough exoskeleton provided a very high defense creature, with a whopping 758 health thanks to the orca outcross - and with the lobster's regenerative capabilities. Rex was tempted to let it have the sonic attack, but he had the faithful Eeri for his ranged attacker. Besides, with such high defense and health and the ability to repair damage, Rex had designed the perfect close combat creature - slow, due to its size, but as tough as a tank.

He also wanted to experiment with the tiger he's collected on the previous island. The chambers were still steadily building creatures so he had a little time yet.

He was curious about the ranged attack of the orca so in the end he placed the whale's head on the striped feline body to test it out. The Tiger Whale had less defence than the Lorcas, but almost as much health and as well as the sonic attack it had the tiger's long front claws to protect itself.

When the first Lorca and Tiger Whale were build Wolf loped over to investigate. He sniffed at the Lorca first, which was longer than the lab was. It merely blinked its short-sighted lobster eyes and barely seemed to know Wolf was there as it crouched placidly in the shallows, looking like a very large partially submerged submarine. Rex hoped it would wake up a little when it came time for battle.

Next Wolf approached the Tiger Whale, which whistled curiously as the much smaller beast wagged his tail in greeting. The Tiger Whale whistled in a even higher note and Wolf jumped up, placing his paws on the bigger hybrid's chest so he could sniff the orca head. He dropped back down after a moment and glanced at Rex, as if approving his designs. Rex suddenly felt very, very small beside the towering creature. It was just as long as the Lorca but a whole lot taller. Rex could have stood level under its belly without hitting his head.

Wolf alerted him a minute later and went speeding off to the western part of their island. The five Eeri, the Lorca and the Tiger Whale all followed him, naturally falling in behind what was now the smallest Sigma animal in Rex's army.

Rex was surprised to realize the western edge of the coast sheltered a small outpost. He barely had to raise his arm to wave his creatures towards the two soundbeam towers and the anti-air guarding it when they fell upon it. Rex was awed by the new whale hybrids. Their size lent them sheer brute strength and it was awesome to behold. The Lorca clicked its claws as if it were out for a stroll picking flowers, and a tower was simply decimated. The Tiger Whale, whose sonic attack was of little use on buildings, ran up to the air tower and reared up, swiping with the largest tiger paws anyone should ever hope to see. The Eeri were barely even needed as backup.

Rex was going to enjoy tearing this island apart. Woe betide anyone who stood in the way of him getting to Lucy.

A half-doezen cheetah-lobsters all but turned tail and ran when they saw his army, but he Eeri were quick to attack and when the Tiger Whale blasted them with a sonic attack to slow them up, the Eeri were right on them. None escaped.

He got Ganglion to disable then rewire to relay fuses on the air chamber, generator and workshop so they became part of their own base. At length he sat Ganglion down to grill him about the layout of the island. The rocky cliff that ran right along the center and was heavily protected with towers. Trying to cross it would be madness. The gate outpost did have a smaller rocky hill bordering it but it wasn't nearly as large as the center cliffline. Rex decided his prior strategy had worked well and built more aerial units to make a surprise assault on the outpost.

Then Wolf barked for their attention, his body stiff as he stared along the sandbar. Rex drew in a sharp breath, and Ganglion beamed. "Fascinating. Julius has managed to create a beast of massive proportions. Truly impressive." He admired. There was a King-sized gorilla striding up towards the base with a sperm whale head. It made the Tiger Whale look small.

"Yeah, well I hope you feel the same way when it brings the lab down around our ears!" snapped Rex, ordering some more Eeri. He moved the Lorca to the forefront of the army. If he could keep it distracted the Eeri and the Tiger Whale could fire on it with their ranged attacks they stood a good chance of defeating it.

"Oh, don't worry, Mr Chance." Ganglion spoke over the steady thudding that filled their ears as the giant beast drew closer. "Mr Julius only has a limited number of those beasts."

Rex kept his eyes on the advancing monster. The Eeri tossed their heads in readiness. "Oh, that's comforting. Now, charge!"

The gorilla-whale stopped where it was and let its sonic attack rip. Wolf, in front of the Lorca, was bowled off his paws and rolled several times, landing in the shallows by the water chamber. The Lorca lumbered steadily forward though and snapped its pincers at the gorilla legs. Clenching one massive fist, the beast brought it down on one of the lobster's pincers, shattering the exoskeleton brutally. The Lorca renewed its attack with its remaining claw. Eeri roared, reared, and opened fire. Standing at their side the Tiger Whale used its own sonic attack. Wolf darted back in, dodged a giant fist that swung at him, and shot straight between the creature's legs. Eeri were pouring every scrap of electricity they had into the huge beast and it stumbled as it tried to see where Wolf had gone. The Lorca locked its pincer onto one ankle and started to pull backwards. Wolf clawed his way up the slightly bowed gorilla back and anchored himself on one of it's shoulders, snapping and worrying at its neck. With so many frenzied assaults, the monster lost its battle for balance and crashed onto the sand, making every structure in the base tremble. With apparent relief the Lorca crawled behind the rest of the creatures to lets its damaged claw slowly repair itself.

Wolf calmly jumped down from the body and trotted back to Rex, who patted him. "Good job, boy." He said softly. Wolf really wasn't afraid of any creature.

"After close observation of the giant creatures Julius is using here, I believe I have found a weakness." Ganglion told them. Rex snorted.

"Let me guess. They don't get along well at parties."

His sarcasm was lost on Ganglion. "Well, I wouldn't think so, but I don't see how that's a weakness. No, uh, you see, they are psychologically unstable."

Rex was unimpressed. "Hasn't seemed to stunt their growth."

"Oh no, but it does make them very hard to control. You see, Julius needs a special structure to amplify his lab's signature in order to maintain his power of the beasts."

"So... we take out that structure, and Julius looses his giant creatures." Rex looked over at his aerial units flying sedately in a circle. An idea began to form in his mind.

"Hold on Lucy." He murmured low enough that only Wolf would have been able to hear him. "I'm coming for you."