Author's Note: So Christmas kinda kicked my ass this year, a combination of creative sterility and new video games to play have left me with less time for Writing and more time for gameplay. The good news for all of you is that it won't be affecting updates for some time into the new year. With that in mind, Read, Review, Favorite and Enjoy!
Chapter 55: Preparations
One of the Swan family airships had dropped by taking with it the hundreds of dragons that would not be staying at Ever After and would instead be serving on the other teams in the to be established league. It seems that the Swan family, with extensive experience in areal combat, was taking over much of the operation. Not that many mind, singed dwarfs still shaking from the time one group of dragons decided to use them in a impromptu game of Volley ball was proof enough of that. At the moment they were running through what kinds of breath attacks the various dragons had.
"Do your thing: Silver Blaze!" On Daring's command, the Diamond Back spread it's wings. It's entire body was see through, like it was made out of glass, you could even make out the faint outline of it's organs in it's body. The Convex scales were accumulating energy, concentrating them into a single point, filtering out different kinds of light, before after several moments the energy was fired out of the dragon's mouth and vaporized the target.
"Hmm. A long charge time, but a destructive blast." Professor Hood stated making a note in his notebook.
"Yin, Yang if you would." The two headed Ouroboros got two targets to work with, the black head spat a black miasma which made the wooden target rot, then turn into a white mold and grow into a red mushroom with white dots. The White head on the other hand spat a white light that apparently did nothing to it's target, causing Professor Hood to shake his head as he completed 'Yin-Yang's' entry.
"Dexter!"
"Verdent if you would." The two Wyverns were two legged raptor like Dragons with a long wing span. The Green wyvern had a boring but practical fire breath, but he delivered enough of a controlled burn to bore a hole through the center ring of the target.
"Noir." The Black Wyvern on the other hand took a sadistic glee in reducing the target to ash.
"Aqua." Ashlyn's Knucker resembled a huge crocodile and it blasted the target with chunks of ice shattering both them and the target.
"Cruncher." The Wyrm bore beneath the earth, popped back out, and fired stones at the target in a shot gun blast which smashed it to splinters.
"Joules." Finally the Kirin made it's presence known, it charged it's horn with lightning and slashed down in a destructive blast that not only split the target but the ground in front of it and the tree behind it.
"Ah I'm so Jealous!" Daring said that but the smile on his face was beaming with pride. "You and that Kirin get along so well!" Course Daring noted that if he he mixed his light amplifying knack in with Silver Blaze's light beams the destructive power would go up and the charge time down.
"Alrighty then, lets do some team formations then." The arena was still being built, so everyone was doing basic exercises.
The three Chasers were sent after a ball, one that seemed intent on running away from them, the Knights were playing a game of back and forth, the Goalie was blocking shots fired at him and the Racer was running circles around the forest. But that was enough talk about dragons for the time being.
Morgan had returned to her tower in the monster realm to continue her experiments. The Good news was that the Tad Poles which had been produced by Cthulu before it was made sterile was of a purer strain, more Lithilid and less Dragon. That also meant that Morgan could begin her experiments.
"Lithilid Research log Five. I've implanted one 'Pure Strain' Tad Pole parasite into a Boarbatusk of suitable size and weight before putting it into quarantine." By quarantine Morgan meant a large metal box reinforced by Barrier magic and only a vent sealed off by a barrier on the ceiling for air. Even the 'glass' that served as an observation window was little more than a variant of aluminum that had been treated to be see through. "Having secured a steady supply of pure strain parasites I've begun my experiments." Several jars with liquid inside suitable to the Tad Pole's living condition had been set up, with one exception, one tad pole each had been placed inside. "I've exposed each parasite to a benign strain of bacteria, harmless to specific Species of Monster on the viable spectrum to be transformed, but each potentially lethal." After all Lithilids have never been to the Monster realm before now, the likelihood that... something harmless there might not be where they came from was quite high. "The original Draconic Tad Poles collected from the Watcher have been quarantined until further notice." Morgan stated looking down at the jar of parasites Kitty had collected, from outside of another metal box with barriers lining the inside.
"Hmm." Morgan noticed something strange about the parasites, she didn't quite remember them looking so fat before. "Note that the Tad Poles contained in quarantine two appear to have grown by one point five times. Deploying the Watcher to bring one closer for examination." The Watcher was released into the sealed box via the vent and used it's tentacle to pull one of the Tad Poles out of the jar. As Morgan quickly realized though one was all she had to work with. "Note disregard earlier size estimate, the Tadpole appears to have grown even larger. Best guess they ate each other." And it wasn't done yet either. Letting out a ear piercing screech the parasite bore into the Watcher and Morgan watched as the mass of rotting alien meat was devoured whole. "Well that was grotesque. Deploying five percent solution of Draft of the Living Death." The room was filled with gas from the air vent, the Tadpole fell flat on what passed for a face for it having been knocked out in a instant.
"Well, that would explain why the Lithilids like to take on host bodies." Morgan muttered as she deployed a golem drone. The Tad pole had all but swallowed the Watcher whole, and it was still growing utilizing the mass from the hybrid to continue it's growth: Morgan didn't even want to know the creature that thing could make into a host. "Great another one." Morgan could only let out a sigh. "Note: theory that the humanoid variant of Lithilid seen in the Watcher's memories was another hybrid has proven correct." Not that this thing could be called 'pure' either, what with the fact that it was still composed entirely out of Brogan's unique cocktail of Draconic and Demonic flesh. "Engaging cryogenic protocol." Saying that Morgan pressed a few buttons and the entire room was filled with fluid before being frozen. Even if it was a unique specimen the now frozen oversize louse was still more Brogan than Lithilid, experimenting on it wouldn't do her much good compared to the boarbatusk that was undergoing it's own transformation in the next chamber over. "Transformation of Subject Sigma has yet to be completed, still focusing on Tadpole Specimens." Saying that Morgan looked down at the Tadpoles that were obediently floating in their jars. "No visible reaction yet. Remnants of Brogan's influence still holding strong." Morgan noted as she tapped on the Jars. "Nothing else to report here. Would appreciate an update on the other projects."
"You want my grandfather to shoot lightning at you?" The 'God Faction' was pretty confident in their ability to deal with the incoming enemy. With the number of them that could loose lightning from their finger tips, fire beams of energy from their eyes, or simply unleash WMD class curses at whim. But if the threat could be dealt with without them actually having to do anything then that was preferable to them, the explanation they gave being that if they let their powers run amok it could cause mass damage. That said their representative, a sub-type of angel serving under the goddess Aphrodite known as a cupid, had a look of clear disbelief on her face.
"Our guns require a type of super magnet formed by wrapping copper wire around a block of iron and letting it get struck by lightning." Now the dwarf directed the group's attention towards the girl with the angelic wings. "If you could be so kind as to set us up with some..."
"Huu." The Cupid clapped her hands together in prayer for a moment, suddenly a bolt of lightning came down from the sky and hit the mass of metal that the Dwarfs had piled together blowing it apart. "Anything else?"
"Some clear skies for when we attempt our next launch would be nice."
Half baked construction wasn't used for this launching platform, it was built solid as the walls of any castle. Over all it looked like a grain silo, when you ignore the fact that it was buried over ten stories into the ground with only the hatch sticking out of the top. The Dwarfs were lining this hole with blocks of super magnets intent on giving their contraption a boost when it left the silo. What is the contraption in question though? A radar unit for lack of better term. Except that radar uses sound waves to map a unseen target, whereas this would be using light, a very specific brand of light designed to travel very far and fast and highlight a distant target before bouncing off of it and sending data into the satellite, which would then be turned into a readable image and set back to the ground through a very long cable.
"Bloody dwarfs!" We could listen in on Morgan's thoughts to read her opinion on this matter, but again T-rated story. Aside from that though given the fact that engineering was not one of her strong suits there was no legitimate criticism that she could offer them. "Tch. The Fairies then."
The people of Neverland were not that big on technological innovation, the fact that they lived in a jungle with only the on ship to their name, a ship they didn't even build for that matter, was testimony to this. Now magical innovation on the other hand...
"On my mark." Titania lowered her arm as a signal to one of her officers to begin their spell.
"Ich befehle der Kraftquelle: Öffne ein Loch und verschlucke mein Ziel!" The fairy stretched out a hand fingers wide open. "Schwarzes Loch!" The air pressure lowered by quite a bit, a hole appeared above the target, a large block of wood that had been nailed together, and watched as it was sucked up so fast it didn't even have time to break, just spontaneously turned into spaghetti. The hole disappeared though not it's contents, a mass of densely packed material that couldn't even be called wood anymore about the size of a pea had appeared in the air, before that it is it crashed into the earth so hard that it created a bottomless hole, joining several others on the way out. "Approved. Next!"
"Hmm. Black hole." Aside from being a spell of ludicrously destructive power it also required an immeasurable amount of control to pull off. Anyone who could do it single handily could give those squid faces a run for their money. "And the Wonderlanders?"
If the fact that the land would be attacked by a unknown enemy was common knowledge they weren't acting like it. Bandersnatch were being rounded up in masse, and the Jabberwockies were being prodded from their caves who were in turn stirring up all the other wild life. If anything was so foolish as to try to attack this place they would be eaten, bludgeoned, slashed, stabbed, blown up and likely made into Croquet equipment of some form or another.
"I should've known." Well Wonderlanders were people who had to deal with death every day, so this was nothing surprising. "Are they within range of your ability to detect them yet?" Morgan asked after she face palmed herself. As she asked that Morgan suddenly heard squealing from one of her chambers, looking inside the Boarbatusk had completed its transformation into a Lithilid mutant, it's tentacles flailing around as one time tusks turned sharpened tentacle mounted scythes were slashing at the walls looking for a way to get out. "...And me without the watcher either. Administering Draft of the living death." The mist knocked the Lithilid hybrid clean out. Morgan called for a dream demon and had it enter the mind of the mutant pig, with any luck they would be able to...
"SQUEEE!" The Pig woke up and forcibly expelled the demon from it's body.
"What happened?" Morgan asked looking down suspiciously at the demon as she offered a hand to pull him up.
"The pig connected to the squid faced buggers." Of course the Lithilids weren't going to connect to a corpse. For one thing they didn't even know it was possible, the closest thing they've ever come to seeing it happen was probably a Skull Beholder playing around with corpses. But the pig on the other hand was quite alive and now giving off it's own signal that they can connect to.
"Damn. We were lucky. How long until they're here?" Morgan asked looking down at the Demon who was still on the floor.
"They're already here." The demon was made to act fast. Morgan cast a spell on him that allowed her to see what he sees and he re-entered the Lithilid hive mind.
"So... much... wasted potential." The Lithilid minds were like barbs, latching on and not letting go. "So... many... delicacies." The Demon could already feel the corners of his mind being eaten away by the parasitic aliens. "We... shall... come." It burned like lava, screeching pain like a flood. "We... Shall... FEAST!"
Morgan forcibly pulled the demon out of the former Boarbatusk, she could tell just by looking at him that if he was in there any longer then he'd be a goner by now.
"Corvo! I want a dozen men and as many Railguns ready now!" Morgan barked into her mirror phone.
The Lithilid star ship ironically enough resembled the Lithilids themselves, a huge massive space squid. Near as Morgan could tell it wasn't a coincidence, bits of organic matter could be seen between the metal implants of technology and holes that had been carved into them. Perhaps some kind of large type parasite had been implanted into the body of some giant space fairing creature. It also meant that they now had a way around the size issue.
"Take aim." Corvo however did not frighten easily, the Lithilid's had wisely chose to park their space squid far away from any man made structures less they run head long into this very situation: being shot at by hostile forces intent on ending them as quick and as a efficiently as possible. Tracking it wasn't hard once Morgan had realized someone had sneaked up on them she simply gathered together as much data on the sky collected in the past couple of hours as she could and came up with this location. "And Fire." The Draugr's Railgun rounds flew through the air and bounced off of the hide of the Lithilid cruiser accomplishing two things: bupkus and letting them know they were there.
"RAAARRRGGG!" Enraged Morgan smashed her arms into her table and in the process smashed one of the tadpole jars off where it was and into another jar she had on the shelf both of which then landed on the floor with a smash. "Great, now my specimens are dying on me!" Morgan snapped before she clued in. Bending over she looked down at the Tadpole as it shriveled up and popped open a dried out husk of it's former self. Intrigued Morgan picked up a piece of glass from the bottle she smashed to figure out what it was she just exposed the thing to, her intrigued turned into a flat unamused look. "You're kidding me."
ChimaTigon: I encourage it.