-Several days later…-
I was looking at my wristwatch with an annoyed, sleepy expression.
"Four am…." I groan as I close the door to Isshin's house.
(It takes me almost three hours to get to school from here. Three, hours...)
I sigh as I close the door.
(At least I'm, uhh I would not call it 'friends'. More like acquaintances with Mako, then again, that girl could consider me to be her bestie with the way she is. I also managed to thankfully evade joining a club for now, as Isshin is locked in his lab to bother me about it. And since 'recruiting' season is over, most club leaders are too busy torturing their new recruits or fighting each other.)
"God I'm still hating every minute of this…" I groan as I start walking.
Yet, the moment I took a couple of steps away from the door, it swung open...
"You're not going to school today! We have an important test to run!" Isshin yells as he essentially grabs me by the collar and drags me back in…
"Doesn't this crazy-ass school kill you or something for skipping class?!" I shout as Isshin drags me back into the house.
" I've phoned Aikuro, he'll inform that you're sick or something." Isshin responds as he lets go of me, then turns to search his coat.
"Or something?" I ask back as I fold my arms.
"Wear this on your dominant hand." Isshin ignores my question as he throws me what seemed to be a gauntlet.
"Uhh, this is?" I ask as I look at the gauntlet from both sides.
It looked quite simple, for a gauntlet. Smooth gray plates that interlocked with each other. The only thing that made it stand out, was that it had a lot of hair-like strands carved on it...
"It's a gauntlet, made the same way I made the giant scissors you saw in my lab, hardened life fibers." Isshin responds.
"Well it's cool and all, but…" I wear the gauntlet as I speak.
"It's too big." I lift my hand, the gauntlet almost twice the size of my hand, wiggling like a bell when I shake my hand, and essentially falling off the moment I lower my hand...
"It's not finished yet. So come on. Time's wasting." Isshin exclaims as he starts to walk towards his lab.
"Still, how did you manage to turn the blue fibers into this? They didn't seem very cooperative last time I checked." I ask.
"I didn't. This is made from normal life fibers." Isshin responds as we start going down the stairs.
"I see…" Was all I said as I looked at the gauntlet again.
"We're going to add the blue ones now." He adds flatly as we start going down the stairs towards his lab.
"...Excuse me? You know that thing sort of wants my blood right?" I 'ask'.
"You can control them. Tell them to behave." Isshin casually answers as we enter the lab.
"...I thought you were a scientist." I whisper.
And speaking of the devil, the blue fibers, still in the capsule, jumped towards the direction of me and Isshin with a loud 'Splat' the moment we entered the lab.
"Huh? Can it see now? It reacted the moment we entered..." I ask as I tilt my head.
"No, it just seems to be able to spot you from further away now, probably because it locked on your biological signature yesterday..." Isshin shrugs.
"Well, ain't that just, peachy..." I groan.
"I thought you agreed to be my test subject. Even if it kills you." Isshin glanced at me before walking towards the main computer next to the scissor blades and the chamber, which now had two monitors instead of one on it.
"Touche…" I sigh.
"No backing out now kid. This is important. Now take the seat next to the chamber. Besides, I made the gauntlet to make sure nothing happens." Isshin turns to me with a serious expression.
"Oh and by the way, I suppose my name is Naier since a week ago.." I chuckle as I do as he said, the blue fiber being stuck like blue on the chamber wall that was in front of me…
" So, let me explain to you what we are going to do." Isshin turns to me as he takes a deep breath.
"This gauntlet can act as housing for the blue fibers, it will allow me to test how they actually react with you. We know they want to feed off you, but so do all life fibers on other living beings. The question is, what will they give in return and how much will they drain." Isshin glances at the blue fibers before turning towards his computer.
"Under the chamber should open a hole in a few, put the gauntlet, with your hand, in there. And put these on your head" As Isshin speaks, a circular hole opens under the transparent chamber. He then hands me a couple of suction cups that connected to his computer via wires...
(Well buddy. Let's see if you intend to kill me now. Do not kill me now.)
With that thought, I put my hand, along with the gauntlet inside the hole.
"...Just so you know.…" Isshin glances at me before turning back to his computer.
"This research can. Will, help immensely…" As he finishes speaking, he presses a final button. And the flood of the chamber opens...
The fibers now, being a straight shot from the gauntlet. A shot that they quickly took...
The moment the fibers landed on the gauntlet they quickly engulfed it, taking its form, and then, they started to contract, the gauntlet that was twice my size, was slowly starting to fit. Or more like, the fibers were starting to compress the gauntlet.
Weirdly enough, I didn't feel any sort of pressure in my hand. Actually…
"Well, something 'is' happening. I can't feel my arm." I speak up.
"Relax, everything is going as planned." Isshin answers with a calm voice as he keeps typing away. Throwing an occasional glance towards the blue fibers.
A few minutes passed in silence. Until Isshin spoke up again.
"The gauntlet will work like a funnel. It will keep the fiber from leaking to your hand, unless we let them too." Isshin glances at his second screen as he keeps speaking.
"That way, if they decide to not play nice we will…" As he speaks, he glances at his second screen again, this time he stops, narrows his eyes, and throws it a quick slap.
"We will be able to detain them…" He whispers as he starts typing again.
The thing is, just as Isshin slapped the monitor, my arm, started to tingle. I narrow my eyes as I lift my sleeve, and...
"Yea, uhhh. Isshin I think we have a problem...' " I say as keep staring at the point that the gauntlet ended and my arm started. Several blue veins under my skin, extending from the gauntlet...
"What are you…" Isshin turns to look at me with a slight sigh, his annoyed look froze the moment he did see me though...
His eyes went wide as he quickly turned to his computer. And after haphazardly pressing a couple of buttons he turned to the containment chamber and pulled something from the side I could not see. An electrical sound of 'something' shutting down.
"Uhh, I didn't think they could break out this f…"
He then turned to look at the chamber.
"Oh God…" Was all Isshin mumbled as he took a step back. The blue fibers not reacting to whatever he just did, in other words, they just kept, leaking in my hand, for the lack of a better term…
(Welp, guess I'm screwed. Weird though, I expected to be more freaked out by now, yet I just feel, indifferent…)
Isshin turns towards the machine with the scissor blades, and with a quick tap on it, the top opens, and he pulls them both out.
"...Oi hol…"
Yet before I could finish my sentence...
-CLANK!-
Isshin bring both blades down on my arm, yet, they both bounced back…
"How?!" He shouted as he took a step back.
"Up a second…" I whisper as I keep looking at him…
Isshin just stared like an owl at the monitor now.
"Are you, still alive?" He asks as he turns to look at me.
" Uhh, yes?" I respond as I frown slightly.
Isshin narrows his eyes, Leaves one blade against a machine's wall, and turns to type something on the computer that was connected to the chamber…
"...And are you sure you are not dead…" He asks right after.
(What sort of friggin question is that?)
"Uhh, no?" I reply as I tilt my head.
"Because by all means, you should be." He retorts as he moves back, turning to show me his second screen.
On it, was me. Or well, an ex-ray of me. And, well...
"...Tell me all these blue veins in me are…"
"Blue fibers." Isshin cuts me off.
"Ok, I got to ask. Why am I not freaking out? I'm pretty sure I 'should' be freaking out. I am covered head to friggin toe here…." I respond as I keep staring at the screen. Blue veins extending all over my body…
"Uhh…" I Isshin turns to type something on his computer.
"I, am not sure, but the life fibers are entangled along your brain right now. There, is a good chance they are suppressing certain chemicals in your brain so you don't fight back…" Isshin scratches his forehead as he keeps speaking.
(Oi! Don't fix it if it ain't broke! Quit tweaking my brain!)
And just as I thought that. A sharp, immense pain ran from my left arm, quickly extending to the rest of my body.
"Argh! What the, FUCK!" I shout as I fold over on the chair, clutching my head as my vision blurs out.
"Kid?! Speak to me! What's going on?!" Isshin shouts as he gets up from his chair to take a step towards me.
(Scratch that! Do whatever you were doing before! FUCK MY HEAD'S GONNA SPLIT!)
And as quickly as it came, the pain vanished….
"Kid!" Isshin grabs me by the shoulders and shakes me.
"AAAaa, I'm fine, I'm fine! Quit shaking me please…" I groan as I lift my free hand to wave at Isshin.
"What, just happened." He asks as he backs off.
"Uhh, plainly put, I think the fibers sort of still listen to me, to some extent. I told them to stop tweaking my brain, and my whole body spazzed out..." I sigh as I take a deep breath...
"So. based on what the books you gave me said, life fibers killed their hosts too fast when they were inside their bodies. So, uhh, why am I not dead yet?" I ask right after as I shake my head. The lift it to look at Isshin
"I, don't know." Isshin replies, for the first time since I met him. Looking lost as he stared at the screen.
"Can you command them again? Tell them to retreat?" He asks as he turns to me.
"Uhh..." I turned to look at my left arm, the fibers had essentially swallowed up to half of my upper arm by now, visibly at least…
(Return to the gauntlet.)
...Nothing…
(Stop spreading out?)
...Nothing...
(Do a barrel roll?)
And with a violent yank, my hand pulls back, ripping the gauntlet out of the chamber with ease.
"Wha!..."
I then jump.
"The!"
Fall flat to the ground.
"Ugh!"
And started barrel rolling.
"Fuuuuck?!"
(STOP!)
And I instantly stop…
"...This, is fine…" I groan as I keep looking at the ceiling, and, turning my sight to my right. I found Isshin standing 'on' the machine that had the scissor blades in, one leg raised, holding both blades over his head, his eyes wide open. Honestly, he looked like one of them karate masters you see in movies…
"W, what happened?!" He shouts.
"I asked it to do a barrel roll…" I chuckle.
"The hell is wrong with you?!" Isshin exclaims as he lowers both blades with a huge sigh.
"Oh nothing. Just, you know, I have a parasite…" I groan as I get to a sitting position...
"...Am I, supposed to feel this tired though…" I yawn as I get up…
"Oh and by the way." I turn to look at Isshin with an almost drunk smile as I lift my left hand. Which was now nothing more than a blue, glowing form of a sharp nailed, armor-platted hand.
"Next time you do crazy stuff like that, I reckon you build a room to do them in, in case they go horribly wrong...I'm going to pass out now..." I whisper as I start to fall backward…
And, the world turned black.