Arc VIII: Gratuitous Fanservice Island
Part 4: La Revelación de San(ta) Ortega
or
The Rena Fanservice Chapter
After they finished scouring the ship for any traces of the mystical Cerinian flowers and any incriminating documents that could be used to tie Fyvve's mercenaries to East Fortuna, Fox and his team returned to shore in the stolen mercenary dinghy. Of course, Falco sailed back out to the cargo ship with Slippy to retrieve the newly-discovered cache of alcohol, which they brought back to the beach.
The instant the dinghy struck land, Rena jumped out and washed herself off in the shallow waves. She would have to clean the salt out of her fur later, but being covered in saltwater struck her as superior to being covered in hardening blood. At the same time, the rest of the crew—minus Falco and Slippy—debarked from the boat and approached the group of Cerinians led by Neron and Hyacinth, who had not left their post for over an hour.
However, this time, Lilac stood among their ranks. The younger vixen walked towards Fox with nervous expectation in her eyes. "Is he dead?" she asked in a half-whisper.
In response, Fox nudged his head to the right, in the direction of Rena as she shook the water out of her fur and armor and walked towards the dinghy. Reaching into the bottom of the boat, she grabbed a special trinket and held it up for all to see.
It was Fyvve's helmet.
The troop of Cerinians gasped. Then, every one of them, including Neron, Hyacinth, and Lilac, dropped to their knees and chanted in unison,
"Whouk Wectod Nuhhaeh! Wcehaeij Sxact ev Cawxk!"
"Oh, great. Here we go again."
Rena rolled her eyes and placed Fyvve's helmet back in the dinghy, acting as though she did not notice the group of Cerinians worshiping her. After a full half minute of listening to the natives chant, she raised her voice and said, "Rise!"
Lilac, knowing her language, stood up first, prompting the others to do the same. Then, to Rena's surprise, she charged and threw her arms around her. Whimpering into Rena's neck fur, she exclaimed, "You're magnificent! I'm sorry I ever doubted you! What can I ever do to make you forgive me?"
"You can start by not strangling me," Rena choked out.
Thankfully, Lilac reacted quickly and released her death grip on Rena. While the yellow vixen regained her breath, Lilac walked over to her parents and began conversing with them in her native tongue. After talking for a minute, she turned to face Fox's team and said, "Father has declared that we will have a festival to celebrate our liberation and our great yellow savior. Head back to the village."
Placing a hand on her hip and tilting her head, Scarlet noted, "You know, it's one in the morning. Everybody's asleep."
"We'll wake them up, then. This occasion demands a celebration. Follow me!"
Not giving Fox and his team any time to turn down her invitation, Lilac sprinted back towards the distant village.
Falco walked towards the second dinghy, loaded down with alcoholic barrels. "Hey—everybody grab a keg, okay? They're not that heavy."
- § -
With the help of his teammates and the Cerinians, Falco managed to bring all of Fyvve's alcohol back to the village. As the group approached the assortment of small lean-to's and huts, every blue fox on the islands converged on their position, cheering and celebrating the downfall of the armored demon who had terrorized them for nearly a week. Near the center of the village, Lilac threw a piece of wood on a raging bonfire with flames that rose more than fifteen feet upwards.
In the midst of the pandemonium, Falco managed to set the kegs up on a cluster of flat rocks for easy dispensing. However, one problem occurred to him—cups and glasses were in short supply on the islands. While the natives looked on, wondering what the wooden barrels contained, Falco looked around the village for anything that could have theoretically worked as a drinking vessel. Finally though, he gave up and placed his beak underneath the small tap protruding from one of the barrels. He cranked open the small, round valve and dropped a stream of alcohol into his waiting mouth.
"Aw yeah! That's the good stuff! Hey guys—you should totally get some of this."
Fox, Miyu, Slippy, and Scarlet shuffled over to Falco's relative position and looked at him for a moment. Then, Scarlet grinned, approached the keg next to Falco's, put her mouth under the faucet, and opened the tap. After she drank her fill, Miyu and Slippy took turns sipping the alcohol. In doing so, they inspired large numbers of the natives to follow their examples.
Rena had a bad feeling that the festivities would turn chaotic at a moment's notice. Pushing her way through the crowd of blurfurs who turned to worship her as she walked past, she eyed her private veranda near the edge of the village. At this moment, she needed time to herself. The importance of the mission had dulled the internal pain that threatened to consume her after her ill-fated 'mishap' with Lucas. She needed peace and quiet, she needed a place to air out her thoughts, and she needed a bath to wash the traces of blood and ocean water out of her fur.
"If I don't hurry and get cleaned up, I'm going to have to do a deep fur cleanse later, and that'll strip the dye out of my fur."
Only Fox knew her natural fur color, and she intended to make sure no one else discovered it. Thanks to her inheriting a gene responsible for giving her a coat of red fur so dull that it looked more like a ruddy beige, fur dye was a necessity—in her eyes, at least.
Looking over her shoulder to make sure none of the adoring natives were trailing her, she approached the veranda's front door and opened it. Inside, candles flickered in the night breeze that came in through the tiny windows in the sides of the building, casting a warm glow on the otherwise darkened interior. Dragging her feet on the wood floor, she unclipped her combat armor and dumped it on the floor in a corner along with her boots. In spite of how little the armor weighed, taking it off gave her a sense of relief.
Clad only in the black and yellow bodysuit that she wore under the armor, she eyed the large, gold-plated bathtub in the back left corner of the small building and wondered how effective the indoor plumbing was. She had a feeling Dr. Reige had somehow been responsible for the more 'modern' amenities in the veranda, because no one else on the islands would have known how to install such things.
She took a step towards the tub, but hesitated for a second and looked over her shoulder at her bed.
It was occupied.
Turning around, she stared wide-eyed at the familiar black and blue jackal seated on the edge of the straw-filled mattress. In lieu of his cloak which Rena had been responsible for destroying, Lucas wore a pair of the white shorts preferred by the men of the island, but seemingly nothing else. Rena realized that she had never seen any part of his body other than his face, hands, and legs below the knee, but the same black-with-blue-accents color scheme defined his torso apart from a thick strip of beige that ran from his upper pectorals to his midsection, tapering off and narrowing the farther down it went.
"Lucas!" Rena shrieked. In a flash, she darted towards the bed and tackled him. Pinning him to the mattress, she yipped and began planting small kisses on his muzzle while licking it every so often. "I can't believe you're alive! I'm so sorry—I won't ever kill you again!"
Laughing as Rena's pink tongue tickled his face, Lucas patted her on the back and replied, "You'd better not. But I'm glad you finally came around." His nostrils twitched momentarily, causing him to flinch. "Whoa…you smell terrible. What happened to you?"
The ecstasy of the moment shattered, Rena sat on her knees and gave her chest area a quick sniff. As expected, the scent reeked of rotting blood, salt, and dirty, wet fur. "Let's just say things got graphic. I was about to take a bath before I noticed you."
"Whew…yeah, you should go ahead and do that. I guess I'll head outside and see what all the noise is about."
Rena sighed, her eyes softening as she said, "N…No—you don't have to go. It's okay. I trust you. I want you here with me. Besides, unless you want to get sucked into a giant, alcohol-fueled orgy of chaos, you don't want to go outside right now."
"I didn't know the Cerinians had alcohol."
"They don't. The blue idiot-in-chief found some kegs on Fyvve's boat and brought them all back here. Seems like the locals love the stuff just as much as he does."
Lucas shifted and sat up next to Rena. He placed a hand on her shoulder and murmured, "Be nice, Rena. He's allowed to be himself."
"Ugh…I guess you're right," she sighed.
A faint smile graced Lucas's lips. "I see you're starting to come around."
"Don't push it, asshat," Rena growled back, although her voice contained enough mirth to make it clear that she harbored no hostile feelings towards him. She smiled, but when she caught wind of her own repugnant scent for the second time, she stood up and walked towards the bathtub. Thanks to a set of solar panels on the roof—definitely the doctor's work—the tub had both dedicated hot and cold controls. She turned both handles, causing a stream of warm water to begin filling the tub.
As the water level rose, she turned around and nervously stared at Lucas. In response, the jackal stood up and motioned towards the front door.
Rena shook her head. "It's okay. I know you won't take advantage of me. You can stay. This just makes me a bit nervous, that's all."
"You don't have to be nervous. I'm your friend," Lucas affirmed.
The yellow vixen glanced at the water in the tub before she pulled down the zipper at the top of her bodysuit and stripped out of it. Turning off the water, she looked at Lucas, feeling ashamed, vulnerable, and embarrassed of her own naked body, which was illuminated by the softly glowing candles positioned around the room.
To her surprise, Lucas showed no immediate signs of arousal, although she noticed a look of mild disappointment on his face. She looked at her legs and realized that his displeasure was likely related to the metallic bracers that she had forced him to activate earlier.
Rena sighed and lowered herself into the bathtub. The warm, deep water reached to her neck and soothed her instantly, and she allowed herself to go limp. Looking over the side of the tub, she whispered, "You can come over here, Lucas."
The jackal reluctantly stood up and walked across the room, where he spotted a small, palmwood chair and placed it next to the bathtub before he took a seat next to Rena. Feeling that it would improve the mood, he rose to his feet for a moment and plucked three candles from a nearby window. After placing them on the rim of the tub, he sat back down and looked into Rena's ice-colored eyes.
The vixen exhaled, sending ripples through her bathwater. "You don't like my leg stabilizers, do you?"
"I already told you," said Lucas. "You're a beautiful woman. I don't think those ugly pieces of metal belong in your body."
Rena pondered his statement. "You know, I don't like the way they look, either; but I'm not going to remove them, even after my broken leg heals. I'm sorry, but being able to sprint up to thirty miles an hour, jump five feet straight up in the air, and fall off a three-story building without taking damage… It's a tough drug to kick."
Lucas shrugged and let out a sigh. "When you mention it that way, I can see where you're coming from."
Silence filled the room for a moment before Rena submerged herself completely in an effort to make sure that her facial fur was purged of the foul scent that pervaded the rest of her body. After lifting her muzzle and taking a breath, she leaned against the slanted back of the tub and looked at Lucas with the most vulnerable set of eyes he had ever seen from her. "Lucas, when you say that I'm beautiful, do you really mean it? Be honest. I'll try not to get angry if you've been lying."
In response, the jackal ran a gentle hand through Rena's wet hair. "I meant every word. Why would you ever doubt that?"
"Because I've never felt beautiful," she said. "When I was younger, I wanted people to look at me, but no one seemed to care. I've always been like I am now—thin, short, flat-chested. Unattractive. Guys lined up for my bitch of a sister, but the only attention I ever got was from the creeps who were just desperate for a chance at love. I hated myself. I could never make myself good enough for anyone worth having, so I just gave up. It's how I got where I am now."
Lucas took a quick glance at Rena's bust and replied, "Your chest is big enough. If you ate more and put on a bit of weight, I'm sure you'd fill out pretty quickly. But I wouldn't want you to do that. You have amazing muscle definition, and your reflexes are incredible. You'd lose those things if you tried to put on weight. Your body is perfect for what you do."
"Thank you," said Rena. "I'm ashamed to admit it, but I don't like Fox's girlfriend because she has what I've always wanted, among other things."
"Amazing T&A?" asked Lucas. "Well, look at it this way, Rena: it's not all sunshine and rainbows for her. You realize how much she stresses about her image, right? She's getting close to thirty, and that's when things will probably start going downhill very quickly for her. I sense a great deal of insecurity in her thoughts. Not only that, but I can tell by her body type that if she didn't train on a regular basis and eat an extremely selective diet, she would be overweight in weeks. You don't have those problems, and you might never have them." He stopped for a second before adding, "Finally, it's true that she does get a lot of attention, but a lot of it is the kind of attention she doesn't want. I know she tries to make herself look like she loves that attention, but trust me—it gets old after a while. The bottom line is that you're about as close to perfect as you can be, and you shouldn't try to change that."
A small tear leaked out of Rena's eye. "I don't know how to say this… I've just… I never…"
"It's okay, Rena. Just say what's on your mind. It doesn't matter how it comes out."
"I love you so farking much. I don't want to live without you anymore. What am I supposed to do, Lucas?"
Lucas cocked his head. "What do you mean?"
"You're not going to stay with Fox's team forever. You're going to go back to doing whatever it is you do, and I'll still be here and you'll be gone, and I'll be lonely and angry and sad and depressed, and…"
"…Shhh…" Lucas interrupted, placing a finger in front of his lips. While speaking, he dipped his arm into Rena's bathwater and stroked the plush fur that covered her breastbone. In doing so, he circled his fingers around the necklace that she had taken from his 'corpse' and clipped around her neck. Unclasping it and pulling it out of the water, he said, "You can come with me if you'd like. I live a quiet, solitary life in Papetoon, and we'd have plenty of time to spend together. However, I don't plan on going back until East Fortuna is no longer a threat to world peace. So, you'll have some time to think things over."
Rena let out a relieved sigh. "I'll do that."
- § -
The morning broke over the Cerinian village. Fox awoke as the sun rose over the ocean and filled his and Scarlet's hut with light. He reached over the side of his rudimentary straw mattress and picked up his sat-phone to look at the time.
0715 hours.
He sat up and yawned, opening his mouth and baring his teeth like most canines did upon awakening. After stretching, he looked to his left at his red bedmate. In contrast to him, she remained fast asleep despite being a notoriously light sleeper. Every few seconds, an undignified snore escaped from her mouth.
Fox laughed to himself and recalled the copious amounts of alcohol that she had consumed the previous night. Before that moment, he had never truly seen Scarlet in a drunken stupor; and while it struck him as hilarious, he had no plans to coax her into repeating herself. Truth be told, he had several visuals in his mind from the previous night that he would have preferred to use brain bleach on.
Shaking his head, he put his feet on the floor next to the bed and stood up. With the islands now free from mercenary invasion, he relished the opportunity to dress himself in clothes that did not feature ammunition clips or bandoliers. While Scarlet continued to sleep, he pulled on a set of olive drab military pants and a solid white T-shirt. He considered stepping outside, but he wondered how many of the natives would even be awake considering that many of them had partied with far more intensity than Scarlet had.
As he moved towards the entrance of the hut, he heard Scarlet stir behind him. He turned around in time to see her open her eyes before she suddenly clamped a hand over her mouth and leaned over the side of the bed. Unable to control her stomach, she vomited on the wood floor and looked at Fox with a pair of sickly eyes.
"Ugh...whoa. I am never doing that again." Her words came out in a slurred fashion that gave Fox an opportunity to laugh at her expense. "What happened last night?"
Fox snickered and played back some of the highlights—or, more likely, lowlights—of the previous night. "Well, you got hammered and probably scarred five Cerinian boys for life. While you were doing that, Lilac and Violet made out in front of Neron and Hyacinth, and Miyu and Falco disappeared into one of the huts together."
"Wow, I don't remember any of that," Scarlet groaned. She paused and looked around the hut for something of interest to her, then asked, "Where are my clothes?"
"The ones in your suitcase or the ones you wore last night? Because I honestly have no idea where those went."
"Ugh, I've got to track those down before we leave. I liked that catsuit."
Fox jogged his memory and suggested, "You know, Lilac might have taken it."
"She's got good taste," Scarlet replied. "I've been thinking about her, by the way."
"Really? How is that?"
"You know how she said she wanted to leave the islands? I was thinking that maybe we could take her with us when we leave. She already knows Cornerian, so it wouldn't be that hard for her to fit in outside the islands."
Fox placed his hands on his hips. "It would still be a big jump for her. She'd need a job and a place to stay. Either that, or someone would have to take care of her."
"I could help her out. I like her, after all. She reminds me of a younger me."
"Pfft," Fox laughed, "Except she doesn't have money and she still has her innocence. Also, remember when you yelled at me for doing the same thing you're suggesting with Krystal back in Katina?"
Scarlet scowled. "Shut up. I'd get up and punch you, but I'd probably throw up again if I did that. Also, remember that Krystal was an enemy spy." On cue, she burped loudly and blushed. "What I meant about Lilac is that she has the same drive for adventure that I do. It's what made me the woman I am today."
Fox opened his hands and mused on his response. "I don't think Lilac is going to leave the islands, though. Her parents already had one runaway daughter, and they might give up on life if their only remaining child leaves."
"That's not Lilac's problem. She shouldn't have to settle for a crappy life because her parents have outdated views."
"I'm not going to push her to do anything," Fox replied with a sigh. "I don't think you should, either. When the time comes, she'll have to make that decision."
- § -
An hour later…
A quiet knock on her veranda's front door awakened Rena from a state of near-catatonic sleep. She recognized the origin of the knock within seconds.
Lilac.
This time, however, she did not frown or roll her eyes. With a yawn, she lackadaisically rolled out of bed and stood up. She turned around and looked at Lucas just as his eyes opened.
"Good morning, beautiful," he mumbled.
Rena smiled. "I think Lilac needs to talk to me. You can go back to sleep if you want."
The jackal shook his head. "I don't think more sleep is going to happen now. Aren't you going to get dressed before you open the door, though?"
Rena took note of the white tank top and underwear she had worn to bed and replied, "Nah. Lilac won't care. I'm probably wearing more than she is, anyway."
While Lucas set to work getting out of bed, Rena walked to the front door and unlocked it. Cracking it open, she poked her head out and looked at her youthful visitor. This time, however, the younger vixen wore a form-fitting catsuit—the same design as the one Scarlet had worn the previous night, in fact.
"Uh, hey—where did you get that?" Rena asked, narrowing her eyes and fully opening the door.
Lilac looked around nervously and held a finger to her lips. "Shh! I've probably only got another hour before the Red One finds out that I stole it and makes me give it back. It's so comfortable!"
Rena rolled her eyes. "Fine. I won't say anything. What do you want?"
"We're almost finished putting together the preparations for the Crowning Ceremony, and we need you to get ready for it."
"Crowning Ceremony?" Rena clenched her teeth.
"Yes—it's to formally declare you as the Savior of the Cerinian Islands. Please, don't say no. I promise that you'll be glad you went along with it. Really—I mean it."
"What am I supposed to do for this ceremony?"
Lilac put a finger on her chin and thought for a moment. Then, she said, "All you need to do is change into the ceremonial clothes and stand in front of the Cerinian people. Then, the High Priestess will come out and bless you."
Leaning against the doorframe, Rena grumbled, "That sounds kind of creepy."
"I promise that it's not! Really, come on. We need to hurry up. Everyone on the islands is going to be there."
Rena's eyes widened. "That's not unnerving at all. Can you at least let me put some clothes on before I follow you?"
Lilac stared at the yellow vixen's nightwear. "Look—you're going to have to get changed in a few minutes anyway. I wouldn't waste your time. You're decent."
"A place where you can walk around in your underwear in broad daylight and be considered 'decent?' And I thought I had seen some weird stuff in my time." Rena shook her head and glanced back inside the veranda to check on Lucas. She returned her attention to Lilac a second later. "Fine. Just make this quick."
A brisk walk through the village and down the trail leading to the wide, open field from the previous night brought the yellow vixen and the young Cerinian to their destination. Near the end of the expansive field of emerald grass, a wooden platform had been set up at the base of the cliff Falco had used as a camping spot while sniping. Giving the rough-looking scaffolding a bizarre contrast, a gold-plated throne sat in the center of it. White flowers hung from the wooden platform's every surface.
"Are those the Flowers of Life?"
A small group of Cerinians worked on the wooden platform, preparing it for the upcoming procession. Lilac paid them no mind and led Rena into a small clearing in the forest nearby. A folding wooden wall leaned against a cluster of trees, preventing anyone from seeing anything behind it. Rena recognized it as something resembling an old-fashioned changing station.
Leading Rena behind the wood paneling, Lilac instructed her, "Go ahead and take your clothes off. I'll get the ceremonial clothes from one of the throne hands. I'll be back in a minute." She turned her back and walked away, leaving Rena to herself.
Grumbling to herself, Rena undressed and peeked over the top of the wooden barrier. As much as Lilac would have assured her that there was nothing to be concerned about, she felt a twinge of unease about the so-called 'ceremonial clothes.' A moment later, Lilac reentered her field of vision, carrying the ceremonial attire. Rena struggled to see it, which did nothing to put her at ease.
Lilac turned the corner and stood next to her, her forwardness causing the yellow vixen to jump backwards a foot. "Whoa—hey, give me some privacy here!"
The younger woman took a step back and held a hand up to her muzzle. "I'm sorry. Did I do something wrong?"
Rena stared into the nearby forest with a look of frustrated exasperation. Putting her hands on her hips, she replied, "Where I come from, it's not normal to barge in on someone when they're butt naked. Also, stop staring at me. You're giving me the lesbian eyes, and it's making me nervous."
"What's a lesbian?"
"It's what you are if you don't stop staring at my mammary glands!" Rena snapped, taking an aggressive step towards her. "Here—just give me the clothes."
Lilac reached behind the portable wooden wall and picked up a duo of metallic garments. She handed the clothes to Rena, who observed them. True to her fears, they seemed designed to show the maximum amount of fur. The totality of the outfit appeared to be nothing more than a gold-plated bra and thong, with trace amounts of silky white fabric attached to the edges. As with the wooden platform underneath the nearby cliff, white flowers decorated the edges.
Rena summed up the 'clothes' in one word.
"No."
"What do you mean, 'no?'"
"I mean that I'm not wearing that. What kind of sick joke is this?"
The blue vixen opened her hands and yelped, "I didn't choose the outfit! Why are you making this so difficult?"
"Because it's ridiculous!" She held up the clothes and scoffed, "This isn't clothing—this is DLC from a slutty beach volleyball video game. I'm not wearing it. Get me something else."
Lilac's shoulders and ears drooped. "Please? It's the only set of ceremonial clothes we have that will fit you. Can't you just wear it for a few minutes?"
Rena curled the corner of her mouth. "All right—I'll wear them underneath something else. But I've got a question: how did the people who made these 'clothes' know that the Great Yellow One was going to be a woman?"
"They didn't. There's a male version, too."
"Let me guess. It's a full suit of armor, isn't it?"
Lilac's ears perked up in surprise. "How did you know?"
For a moment, Rena felt like kicking over the wooden wall next to her and throwing the gold-plated underwear in Lilac's face. "Oh trust me—I've played enough video games to know what to expect when it comes to 'legendary' armor."
Seconds later, a rustling sound reached both Lilac and Rena's ears. A set of soft footsteps rustled against the leaves on the narrow trail leading into the woods before Hyacinth came into view. She walked around the edge of the wooden barrier and stood next to Lilac, just as unfazed by Rena's nudity as she was. Hyacinth glanced at Rena for a moment before she spoke into her daughter's ear.
"Xihh if! Kxo sohomed aj ureik ke jkuhk."
Pointing at Rena, Lilac replied, "Jxo nacc dek nouh kxo scekxoj!"
For a moment, Hyacinth stared at the bewildered Rena with a frown on her lips. Then, she looked at her daughter again and said, "A nacc vadt u hero veh xeh." She sprinted out of the forest a second later.
"What was that about?" asked Rena.
"She's going to get a robe for you to wear."
Rena breathed a tense sigh of relief. "That was a close one."
Momentarily, Hyacinth returned with a white robe in her hand. Taking the clothing from her, Rena put on the gold-plated ceremonial clothes before she covered them with the robe. The instant she finished dressing herself, Hyacinth and Lilac led her out of the forest and back towards the wooden platform. As she stepped out into the open, she looked to her right and saw hundreds of blue-furred foxes standing in the field in front of the throne scaffolding. Their number exceeded seven hundred, and she wondered if every Cerinian on the islands had arrived to pay tribute to her.
Lilac motioned for her to ascend a short flight of stairs to the top of the platform, and she complied. From the top of the platform, she was able to see the assembly more effectively. She noticed Fox, Falco, Slippy, Miyu, Dr. Reige, and Lucas standing at the back of the group, hundreds of feet away from the throne. Strangely though, Scarlet seemed absent.
Rena inched towards the golden throne in the center of the platform, which was covered by a wooden arbor decorated with the same white flowers that seemed to cover every other surface on the platform. Meanwhile, Lilac climbed the stairs at the side of the stage and spoke to her clanmates while Rena looked on, clueless as to what she was saying.
"Ketu, no uho xoho ke socorhuko eih juclukaed uk kxo xudtj ev kxo Whouk Wectod Nuhhaeh, nxe tojkheot kxo tuhbdojj nakx u jeidt kxuk jxeeb kxo meidkuadj. Fcoujo mubo nu oj eih Xawx Fhaojkojj—Agur-Dhalva, kxo Udsaodk Edo—uffheusxoj."
The group of Cerinians let out a collective nervous gasp and split into two groups, creating a narrow aisle in their ranks.
At the back of the group, a person-sized pocket of air shifted and morphed. For a moment, the specter looked like a whirlwind of black dust before it settled on a singular form—a black-furred vixen with blue accents and a single stripe of blue in her jet-black hair, which fell to her waist. Her overall figure appeared youthful, but the regality with which she held herself suggested someone who had lived through multiple generations and accrued enough knowledge and wisdom to humble even the most adept scholars. She wore a single garment—a loose, flowing black cloak that covered one of her shoulders—and a large, blue stone sat between her eyes. Rena squinted to see it and realized that it had been embedded in her skull.
As the black vixen walked through the throng of stunned Cerinians, they bowed before her until every single one of them fell to their knees at the point when she reached the platform where Rena waited. The shadowy fox climbed the steps at the side of the platform, her bare feet making no sound whatsoever. As she reached the top of the scaffold, Lilac covered her heart and fell to her knees in reverence.
Rena dared to look into the High Priestess's eyes as she approached her. The ancient vixen stood four inches taller than she did, but she tried everything in her power to avoid feeling intimidated. The priestess stepped to within four feet of her and stared into her soul with a pair of piercing, blue eyes that seemed to possess a haunting, glowing aura. Behind her back, Lilac looked at Rena and pleaded with her eyes for her to kneel before the ancient matriarch.
Realizing that the High Priestess may have had the same powers that Lucas did, Rena reluctantly knelt in front of the vixen. Immediately after her knees touched the wood platform, the priestess reached down and touched her shoulder. As she did, the sound of a ghostly whisper entered her ears—except that the whisper sounded like a ghostly chorus of disembodied voices swirling in a whirlwind.
"You still have much to learn, my child."
Under any other circumstance, Rena would have snapped at anyone who dared to call her 'child.' In this case, however, something about the frightening yet calm internal voice of the ancient vixen imbued her with traces of matriarchal love and adoration. The priestess reached for Rena's hand and lifted her to her feet. The throng of native Cerinians looked on, but Rena felt as if they had disappeared and that the only people around were her and the priestess.
The matriarch turned around and faced Lilac, who picked up a wreath with white flowers woven into it. She handed it to the black vixen with a subtle curtsy, then stepped back. As the islands' occupants stared at the procession, the priestess placed the wreath on Rena's head and telepathically told her, "You may sit on the throne."
Rena obeyed without a word and took a seat in the gold-plated chair. She surveyed the hundreds of natives in the field before her as the priestess walked to the center of the platform and announced,
"Kxo udsaodk fhefxos aj den semfcoko. Roxect—kxo Whouk Wectod Nuhhae." Turning to the side, she pointed at Rena.
The group of Cerinians in the field rose to their feet, then bowed repeatedly and chanted,
"Whouk Wectod Nuhhaeh! Wcehaeij Sxact ev Cawxk!"
"Kxo Fhefxojaot Julaeh! Nehkxo ke ro nehjxaffot!"
Out of the corner of her eye, Rena thought she saw the High Priestess suppress a giggle. As the Cerinians bowed in perfect synchronicity, the yellow vixen cracked a faint smile. "You know what? This is the life. I think I could get used to being a goddess after all."
A devious idea occurred to her. She had a feeling it could upset the High Priestess, but she felt unable to resist the temptation to act on it. Rising to her feet, she held up her hands and shouted, "Worship me harder, you savages!"
This time, the priestess burst out laughing. She clutched at her chest before she locked eyes with Rena and thought-spoke, "I have something else to give you."
Rena's eyes followed the priestess's robed form as she walked towards the side of the stage opposite Lilac and picked up a wooden bowl that had been placed on a pillar. She walked back towards Rena and approached the throne. Extending her hands, she gave the bowl to her and said, "Drink."
Rena grabbed the bowl and stared at its contents. It looked like a translucent, milky fluid with small, white petals that floated on its surface. In seconds, a realization dawned on her.
"No way! They're letting me have that crazy medicine!"
Trying to avoid appearing overzealous, she lapped up the strange drink. The fluid had a flavor resembling honey mixed with mint and cane sugar. It struck Rena as one of the sweetest-tasting things she had ever experienced, but it lacked the unpleasant syrupy sensation that often came from drinking overly-sweet beverages. After emptying the bowl, she set it down next to her and licked her lips.
Realizing what she had just consumed, she raised a fist in the air and half-jokingly declared, "I am immortal!"
- § -
Meanwhile, at the back of the procession, Fox stood next to Falco and watched Rena as she finished the bowl given to her by the High Priestess. His eyes grew wider, and his ears stood up.
"Did they just give her…?"
"Give her what?" asked Falco.
Fox realized that he had not mentioned the secret of the flowers to Falco, while also realizing that it would be to his advantage not to ever let him in on it. "Oh, uh, nothing. It's nothing."
The avian gave him a crooked glance. "You sure made it look like it was something, Einstein."
"Einstein? Who's Einstein?"
"A most prodigious physicist, responsible for popularizing the general theory of relativity and the study of gravitational waves," an eccentric voice called out. Fox looked to his left as the imposing Dr. Reige walked towards him. "While my own field of expertise is in bioengineering, I did manage to devote a small amount of time to studying his works."
Miyu gawked at the wolf with exasperation written on her muzzle. "Dude—wrong universe."
"I do not understand the nature of your criticism, miss," the doctor replied, a frown tugging at his face.
Fox held out his hand to the wolf and said, "You must be that doctor Rena was telling me about."
"Yes indeed, I am he," Reige replied while shaking Fox's hand. "While it is not surprising that I have not made your acquaintance until now, I am glad that our paths have crossed at this moment."
Fox broke his handshake and crossed his arms. "And, uh, why is that?"
"Because you possess a way off these blasted islands and a means by which to return to civilization." He leaned forward and clenched his hands together in a pleading gesture. "Please—take me with you! I've been trying to leave ever since the unfortunate day on which I arrived, and now I believe that my metaphorical seafaring vessel has finally come in."
"Whoa, nerd alert," Falco muttered, moving away from the group.
Narrowing his eyes, Fox turned to directly face Dr. Reige. "I'll consider it, but I don't need more baggage than I already have. Where do you plan to go if I help you leave the islands? Do you have any family that you need to take with you?"
"Well, yes—there is my daughter, Violet. I assure you that she will cause no trouble for you or your associates. As for me, I desire to return to my home nation of Corneria, where my former colleagues will hopefully accept me back into their ranks."
"Oh." Fox's eyes softened. "We're from Corneria ourselves. We have to fly to Titania to pick up our cargo plane, but once we do that, we'll be heading back to Corneria City. In that case, I guess you can tag along."
Dr. Reige lifted his hands and exulted, "Yes! Praise the heavens! I will be free again!"
Fox glanced at the lupine before he felt a tickling sensation on his right shoulder. Spinning on his heels, he came face to face with Scarlet, who had chosen to wear Lilac's borrowed clothing in lieu of her missing catsuit. Her breath still reeked of alcohol, but it appeared that her hangover had subsided to a manageable level.
She looked into his eyes and asked, "Did I miss anything?"
Fox chuckled and pointed at Rena, seated on her golden throne while her subjects worshipped her. "It looks like Rena is officially a god now, so there's that. Also, you were right—Lilac took your catsuit."
"What?!" she looked towards the wooden platform several hundred feet ahead of her. Lilac stood on the left side of the scaffold, and when she spotted her, Scarlet's eyes honed in like a pair of blue-tinted laser beams. Flattening her ears, she screamed, "Give me my clothes back, bitch!"
From the stage, Lilac heard an angry voice in the crowd and turned towards it, only to see Scarlet sprinting down the aisle between the two groups of worshippers. Screaming, she barreled off the stage and into the nearby forest. Scarlet refused to let her escape and pursued her until both of them disappeared from sight.
The chaos near the stage interrupted the natives' worship of Rena; and within a minute, the assembly began to break up. The High Priestess stood near Rena and looked out at the field below the wooden stage. Amidst all the other Cerinians, she spotted Lucas. She locked eyes with him, then subliminally beckoned for him to approach her.
While the Cerinians dispersed around him and his team, Fox felt a vibration in his pocket. He cursed the poor timing of the call, but he pulled out his phone nonetheless and looked at the caller's number. This time, he recognized the extension.
Motioning to Miyu, Falco, and Slippy, he said, "Hold on, guys. I'll be back in a minute. I've got to take this call."
He sprinted towards the nearest section of forest and swiped the 'answer' icon on his phone screen before raising it to ear level. "Hello? Fox here."
The familiar voice of a certain mercenary husky resonated through his sat-phone's speakers. "Damn—I can't believe how long it took me to connect this time. Where are you?"
"Believe it or not, I am on the main island in the Cerinian Archipelago," Fox replied. "You're lucky I activated my satellite phone, or you wouldn't have been able to reach me at all."
"Whoa, man. I am legitimately jealous. What's it like there? How are the women?"
Fox rolled his eyes. "Of course you would go there. Well, look at it this way: if you're into blue, you'd love it here."
"They're all blue?"
"Yep. Blue, purple, aquamarine—all the ocean colors, really. There are a few black ones, but they're pretty rare."
"Wow. That's…something," Hartmann trailed off. "If it's not too much to ask, what are you doing on the islands?"
"General Pepper told us to investigate an SOS coming from there. Turns out that a crew of freelancers was raiding the islands. We took care of them last night, and we've been celebrating with the locals ever since."
Hartmann's voice suddenly took on a serious tone. "Fox, tell me: these mercs—do they have any ties to Papetoon?"
"Yes. We found links to a dockyard in a beach town called Cuidad del Sangre. We raided their cargo ship and dug up all the details that they weren't clever enough to hide. Why is that important to you?"
"It's of vital importance to me, Fox. Check this out: Xav and I did some deep digging while I finished healing up from my incident in Titania. I'm mostly better, just so you know. Anyway, we discovered the existence of a massive freight train that runs from Cuidad del Sangre in Papetoon all the way into Macbeth."
"And why is a freight train a problem?"
"The problem is that it's way too big for the area it serves. It's the longest train I've ever seen or heard of. It routinely pulls loads so massive that when the cars are all connected, the train is over three miles long. Every other week or so, it makes a run from Papetoon to Macbeth. It's anyone's guess as to what's in it. Here's the thing, though—Cuidad del Sangre is a pisshole. It's a frontier town whose only source of order is a single, half-crazed lawman who used to be a movie star in Titania. There is absolutely nothing of value in that town, and yet, a three-mile-long train starts there, right at the shipyard. Tell me, Fox—did the mercs you dealt with have any ties to East Fortuna that you're aware of?"
"I'm pretty sure that's who they were working for," Fox answered.
"Then what were they trying to raid from the islands? If East Fortuna is involved in this, I bet whatever those mercs were after is what's on that train. I have a hunch that this train might be nothing more than a covert shipping operation as a way to smuggle contraband into East Fortuna using independent mercs and shell corporations. If Corneria and the other COMMERCE nations can't detect it, they can't stop it from entering the country. So, what's on the islands that East Fortuna might want?"
Fox felt a knot forming in his throat. "Hartmann, I'm not sure I can tell you that."
"Fox, this is a matter of national…no—worldwide—security. Tell me now."
A sigh escaped Fox's mouth. "There's a certain kind of plant that grows here. It's a white flower that can be used for medicinal purposes. If it's prepared the right way, it can make people live longer."
"How much longer?"
"Some of the natives here are over three hundred years old."
A gasp came from Hartmann's end of the phone. "Fox, do you realize the implications of this? Quick—open your phone and put me on speaker. Do you have a picture of the old Ortega family? If you don't, I can message it to you. Lucas sent it to me, and he might have done it for you, too."
"I've got that photo. Hold on," Fox replied. Placing Hartmann of speakerphone, he opened his photos and scrolled through them until he found the black and white image of the Ortega family. His eyes focused on the veiled, corset-wearing figure of Christina Ortega in particular.
"Okay, Fox—look at Christina. Follow me here: she's allegedly 150 years old. If East Fortuna, Andross, or hell—anyone—had discovered those immortality flowers a while ago, they wouldn't be a secret today, because someone's always around to leak out valuable info. But it's obvious that this was a recent discovery. And by recent, I mean within the last twenty years. So, where do you think I'm going here?"
"I follow you. What you're suggesting is that Christina knew about these flowers a long time before East Fortuna did. Even if the flowers were first discovered thirty years ago, that would mean that Miss Ortega would have been 120 at the time, and that's basically impossible."
"Right. Which means that our friend Christina knew about these flowers—over a century ago. And there's only one explanation for that."
Fox's breath came out in short bursts. "What?"
"Miss Ortega is a full-blooded Cerinian. Guess who else is a full-blooded Cerinian. With ties to Macbeth—an old imperial state. With ties to Rafa, and by extension, the Ortega family…"
"No," Fox gasped. He looked at his phone screen again and pinched it to zoom in on Christina. Except this time, he no longer saw Miss Ortega.
He saw Krystal.
He dropped the phone on the ground and clutched at his head. "No! This can't be happening!"
Thanks to the call being on speaker, Hartmann continued unabated. "I'm all but convinced that your blue friend is the mastermind of all your misery—the mastermind of the political and military chaos that's sweeping the globe right now. Your old team is dead because of her. Rafa turned on you because she persuaded him to do it. Titania is about to flip on its alliance with Corneria and side with Macbeth and East Fortuna because of her meddling. And to think, she was under our noses this entire time. We even had her captured, and if you and Xav had let me have it my way, she would have been dead by now!"
"I can't believe this," said Fox, picking up the phone.
"Just to confirm, let me ask you one more question. Do you know if Krystal is allergic to fur dye?"
Fox bit his lip. That very second, a brief flashback from Katina played in his mind.
"Everyone stares at me anyway. It's part of the curse of having naturally blue fur and being allergic to one of the main ingredients in fur dye."
"Hartmann, yes—she's allergic to it. Do you think that explains what people said about Christina's allergy problem?"
"I'm convinced of it," the husky replied. "My theory is that the reason she was almost never seen back in her heyday was because she didn't want to wear the red fur dye that she was probably forced to use in order to blend in with the society of Imperial Macbeth."
"It's all falling into place now," Fox groaned. "But, there's one thing that doesn't make sense about all this."
"What's that?"
"Krystal—Miss Ortega—helped me steal the blueprints for the Arwing and Landmaster. She even appeared to Scarlet as Christina Ortega and told her where the Arwing was. She was funding those projects out of her own pocket. Why would she hand those over to me, knowing that I'd probably turn around and give them to the Cornerian Army?"
"Simple. She distrusts Rafa at this point. Right now, you're her best bet at getting him out of her way. Once he's gone, I would expect her to start treating you very differently."
Fox sighed and hung his head. "I don't feel like talking anymore. Can you just tell me what you wanted when you called in the first place?"
Hartmann explained, "So, that train I was talking about? My plan is to derail it and raid the train cars. At the very least, we'll stop the cargo from ever reaching East Fortuna. However, I could really use some help. I've only got Xav and Vince with me, and I wouldn't be surprised if this train is armed."
"I see. Well, I've got to take care of some things before I can help you. How soon do you need me to be in Papetoon?"
"Three days. I'm working on setting up some kind of safe house where we can avoid the kind of rabble that lives in Papetoon. Trust me—it's a rough place. Lucas is from there, you know. The amount of violence in that area is the reason he's a pacifist. Well, mostly. Anyway, I'll call you when I get something set up." He paused before asking, "Do you have any armored vehicles?"
"I have the prototype Landmaster tank," Fox replied.
"Damn, Fox. I wasn't ready for that. Yeah, if you could bring it to Papetoon, I think it would help out a lot."
"I'll see what I can do. It was nice talking to you, by the way. I've just got to process this new information about Krystal now."
"You liked her, didn't you? I could tell back when we captured her in Katina. You saw something special in her."
"Yeah, I did. I guess you can't judge a book by its cover." He took a, long, deep breath. "I'll talk to you later."
"Sounds good, Fox."
Pressing the 'end call' button, Fox slid his phone back into its holder and held his head in his hands.
"If I hadn't ever found out what the flowers did, I wouldn't have made that connection. Krystal would still be Krystal. Now that I think of it, that's why she begged me not to ask anyone about the flowers. She didn't want me to know. Why not, though? It's not like I could just track her down and kill her. She's a telepath and would see me coming."
A realization occurred to him.
"She didn't want me to know her true identity because she likes me. She wanted to try a relationship—and I would have been happy to oblige her. Damn it all."
The rustling of leaves snapped Fox out of his miserable trance. He looked up in time to see Slippy jog through the trees and stop in front of him. "Hey—what's the problem, Fox? Are you crying?"
Fox blushed and wiped his eyes. Without his knowledge, two small tears had managed to spill out. "I'm…I'm okay, Slippy. What do you want?"
"We should probably get going now that we're all done here. Since we have to fly back to Titania to pick up the cargo plane, we probably won't make it to Corneria until around 11:00 tonight."
Fox stood. "You're right. Let's move. I'll get Dr. Reige—he says he wants to come with us."
- § -
With the Cerinians dispersed, Lucas ascended the stage and walked up to Rena and the High Priestess. Like the natives, he covered his heart and bowed before the ancient vixen until she touched him on the shoulder and allowed him to rise.
"Mother," he spoke.
The matriarch turned towards him as Rena stepped down from her throne and joined the group. "It is good to see you, my child. I have something to say to you and your love." She looked over her shoulder at Rena. "Come closer, my daughter."
Rena stood next to Lucas. The black vixen exhaled before placing a hand on both of their shoulders. "I am grateful that the two of you finally found someone for each other. In this most unlikely of friendships, a rare bond of love has been created."
Lucas and Rena linked hands and smiled at each other.
The priestess continued, looking into Rena's eyes. "My daughter, I have one request for you: listen to Lucas. He is wise, and his advice is sound. And one more thing: when the time comes, just act."
"Huh? What do you mean?"
"You will understand when the time comes." She looked at Lucas. "My son, I have one request for you: protect Rena. After all, she saved these islands and the people who live on them. Never be afraid to show how much you care about her. You will soon have to face a decision that will affect both her life and the lives of many others. You will know what to do, but it will not be easy."
Lucas looked at his feet, but he raised his head again and nodded. "I understand."
"May the Originator bless you and your friendship, and allow it to endure." After the priestess spoke these words, she disappeared in a whirlwind of black sand.
- § -
The team's helicopter powered up for the first time in two days. The blades accelerated until they created a small dust typhoon around the chopper's frame. Slippy sat at the controls, with Fox in the seat next to him. One by one, Falco, Miyu, Slippy, Scarlet, Lucas, and finally Rena climbed aboard. After they had taken their seats inside the helicopter, Dr. Reige and Violet approached the gunship. The towering lupine held his daughter's hand and helped her into the cabin before climbing in himself.
Over a hundred Cerinians stood around the chopper's landing site, including Neron, Hyacinth, and Lilac, who no longer wore Scarlet's catsuit. Most of the natives gathered to say goodbye to their rescuers, grateful that peace had been restored to their islands. Slippy reached for the controls to increase the thrust from the engines, but he looked to his right and held off.
Lilac stood in the center of the cobblestone courtyard that passed as the landing zone. Thirty feet separated her from both the chopper and her parents. She stared at the helicopter in time for Violet to turn towards her and lower her head in sadness. Lilac then looked over her shoulder at her parents. Both of them knew what was on her mind.
The internal struggle reduced her to tears. She crouched in the center of the courtyard and wiped her eyes. All the while, Slippy kept the helicopter on the ground and prepared to allow her to board if she chose to do so.
Lilac knew that Violet could not stay on the islands—she mattered too much to her father. But at the same time, the thought of leaving the islands with her and bereaving her parents of their only remaining child crushed her heart.
She knew what would happen if she chose either of the two options. If she left, she would have freedom. She would be with her best friend. She would get to have the adventure she craved outside the isolated islands. If she stayed, she would be forced into a marriage that she had no interest in. She would be trapped on the islands for the rest of her life, unable to see the rest of the world.
Some would have told her to follow her heart in order to make the right decision, but her heart offered her no guidance. Tragedy in one form or another awaited her regardless of her decision.
She took a nervous step towards the helicopter. Violet looked on hopefully.
She took a second step, but this time, her legs felt as if they were made of iron. At the same time, the memory of her lost sister's words haunted her.
"Lilac, if I can give you one piece of advice, it's this: don't do what I did. Stay where you are. The grass is not greener on the other side of the ocean."
The young vixen hung her head. Despite having never met her in person, she held her sister dear to her heart. She realized the truth of her personal experiences and the weight behind her words when she implored her to remain on the islands.
Shedding a tear, Lilac stepped back and looked at the helicopter as it lifted off the cobblestone courtyard and hovered above the trees. Then, it tilted forward and accelerated, heading north over the ocean towards the distant desert nation of Titania.
She watched the gunship shrink in her vision until it disappeared over the horizon, never to return again.
- § -
In a dimly-lit command center somewhere in East Fortuna, Rafa Ortega sat in front of a computer screen, scrolling through data detailing the ongoing effort to repel the Cornerian Army from his territory. He read through his staff's reports, hoping to find some sort of consolation, but few positives stood out to him. The Cornerian Army was larger, better equipped, and motivated by East Fortuna's earlier Northpoint attack.
He had been counting on the completion and development of his "wonder weapons" to help turn the tide of the war, but in the previous week, his intelligence sources suggested that both the plans for the Landmaster and Arwing had been stolen and delivered straight into Corneria's hands.
Rafa had a feeling that he knew the party responsible for that.
In addition to that setback, Desmond Moon was dead, and his fledgling nuclear program consisted of a mere five warheads and an advanced—but untested—missile whose design was scalped from a leaked Macbeth atomic energy dossier. The missile itself was considered almost a joke by his nuclear research team, who named it the MOAN (Mother of All Nukes) rocket. Its sheer size and lack of mobility required it to be launched from an easily-targeted silo, although on the plus side, it had the ability to carry a far larger warhead than most missiles could.
He knew he held the keys to one more method to stall the invasion effort and force negotiations with Corneria, but negotiations did not appeal to him. He wanted the land that his imperial forefathers presided over, not a pissant third world rural nation with a sputtering economy and crumbling infrastructure. Now though, with Miss Ortega gone rogue and pulling her funding from his operation, his finances looked grim. He had never been good with money, and running a war effort against a determined superpower was sucking the cash out of his national bank like a macroeconomic vacuum cleaner. Macbeth still provided limited assistance to his cause in spite of international pressure, but he knew it was not enough.
He looked at his keyboard and pounded his desk.
"General, sir."
Rafa looked up at a vulpine lieutenant who stood next to him. The officer resembled him, with a similar dull red fur color and yellow eyes. A native East Fortunan fox, in other words. "What is it?" asked Rafa, trying to conceal the frustration that consumed his being.
"We've lost contact with Fyvve. He hasn't responded in hours. The last thing we heard from him was that a team of mercenaries was waiting on the Cerinian islands for his unit to arrive. They wiped out his troops in minutes."
"Vete el Diablo, Fox, you son of a bitch," Rafa muttered.
The lieutenant took a nervous step back to escape his general's rage. "I'm sorry. I thought you should know about it."
Rafa turned his head and stared at the officer. "Lieutenant, let Dr. Brackett know that I need to see him immediately."
"Yes, sir."
The beleaguered general stared into space as the lieutenant exited the room. Two minutes later, a set of footsteps pattered across the carpeted floor. A chubby cardinal wearing a white lab coat walked into the command room. A pair of rectangular glasses rested at the top of his beak.
"Dr. Brackett," said Rafa.
The avian spoke in a dry, reedy voice that lacked depth and seemed to project an air of general malevolence. "I came as quickly as I could. What do you need my assistance with, General?"
"Do you still have Andross's test subject—the one that escaped from his lab when the Cornerians raided it fifteen years ago?"
Dr. Brackett nodded, a gleam in his eye. "Yes, indeed I do. Never would I allow something like that to slip through my feathers."
"Excellent. Now, tell me, doctor, is the test subject docile enough for use in an operation?"
"What kind of operation?"
"Military. A targeted assassination of a particular group of pinhead mercenaries working for the Cornerian Army."
The cardinal ruffled his head plumage, then replied, "The deployment of Test Subject 4 is a risky endeavor. Yet, I believe that enough progress has been made to prevent the subject from going rogue. You must understand: the ramifications of losing control of a weapon like this would be akin to misplacing a thermonuclear warhead with the detonation protocols printed on the side—possibly even greater."
"What are the odds that the subject remains under our control if deployed?"
"80%. A four out of five chance that all goes well."
Rafa nodded. "I want to see the test subject."
Dr. Brackett's eyes widened slightly, but he offered no resistance to his request. "This way."
The doctor led Rafa out of the control room, down a long, twisting staircase that descended deep underground. At the bottom, Dr. Brackett flashed his ID in front of a scanner that verified his identity before he shoved open the heavy, blastproof door at the base of the stairs.
On the other side of the door, Rafa and the doctor entered a concrete hallway, illuminated only by an array of blue-white tube lights mounted on the right wall. Farther down the hall, Rafa noticed a group of laboratory rooms, replete with chemistry equipment, microscopes, and test tubes. None of them seemed to be in use at the moment.
The left side of the hallway was made up entirely of prison cells. However, like the laboratories, they appeared to be empty—all except for one.
Dr. Bracket walked up to the metal bars that separated him from the cell's occupant. He beckoned Rafa to come closer. Together, they looked at the solitary prisoner—a black vixen, with traces of blue mixed in with her midnight coat. She wore a plain, white nightgown, likely for no other reason than decency. For the moment, the prisoner slept with her back against the cell's left wall.
For a full minute, Rafa observed her. In spite of her ravishingly beautiful figure, something seemed 'off' about her. He quickly realized the source of his unease. Her body seemed to lack fur. Instead, it appeared to be covered almost entirely in a leathery skin of sorts. It showcased in minute detail every facet of each muscle and curve in her body, acting as both clothing and a shell for her internal organs—or was 'components' the right word? Rafa struggled to know the answer to that question. The cold artificiality of her appearance struck him as disturbing.
Blue ridges ran down the length of the vixen's body in the shape of veins, pulsating every time her heart beat. Even more eerily, her black, shoulder-length hair seemed to subtly pulsate blue in conjunction with her heartbeat.
"This is the test subject," said Dr. Brackett.
Rafa had no words to respond with, so the doctor made the next move. Reaching into one of the pockets on his white lab coat, he produced a small remote and pressed a button on it.
The vixen's eyes flared open, and Rafa gasped. Her irises glowed with an iridescent neon blue hue that did not belong to anything in the natural world. As her heart rate rose, the blue outlines on her body pulsated with more intensity and vibrancy. She looked at the two men outside her cell and stood up. Her thick tail—made of the same material as her skin—whisked back and forth behind her as she sized up her visitors.
As she stared at him, Rafa noticed an electronic collar embedded in her neck. "That keeps her under control, doesn't it?"
"You are correct," said Dr. Brackett. "Without it, she will become an uncontrollable force, wild and destructive beyond your worst nightmares."
Rafa returned his attention to the vixen and gazed into her eyes. She returned the gesture. But then, something changed in her demeanor. The calm blue in her irises went dark for a fraction of a second, before her eyes and the outlines of her body blazed a hateful, searing orange color. Demonic whispers of violence, spite, terror, and hatred raced through Rafa's mind for a brief moment before Dr. Brackett pressed another button on his remote and caused her to black out.
The vixen collapsed on the ground. The orange traces on her body faded back to blue, and she curled up and slept on the concrete cell floor.
Staring wide-eyed at the test subject and gasping for breath, Rafa demanded, "What kind of monster is that person?"
Dr. Brackett cracked a sinister grin. "Her name is Agatha."
AUTHOR'S NOTE(S):
Apologies for the long chapter, but I didn't see another way to make it fit. The way I saw it, there were no good points to split it up. Anyway, that's the end of Arc VIII. Only two more to go!
