Kipo whooped as she soared through the air, leaving the ground behind. The powerful sparrow's engines roared, propelling her forward and upward, until suddenly she was going down. She stood up on the seat and braced for impact, grinning wide. The surface rapidly approached again and the sparrow's bouncy tech whined as she came dangerously close to impact, then she gunned the throttle and used the lurching momentum to go careening through the air again.
She laughed aloud, savoring the wind in her hair, loving the sheer speed. When she was in mega form she could definitely go faster, but it didn't feel the same when she was so big. Then she'd been crushing pavement and trying not to step on trees, but now she was zipping around things and turning crushed buildings and sloped boulders into jumps and racetracks.
The guardian buzzed past her, the smaller sparrow running at near full power. It hadn't been damaged enough to not work, and soon after they'd gotten away from the village he'd made some quick repairs to make sure it didn't explode on him. He made a hand signal, and Kipo dizzily tried to remember what it meant. Oh yeah, slow down. She reluctantly let up on the throttle bar and moved beside him. The guardian shouted over the roar of engines, "We'll be stopping soon! Follow me!"
"Ok!"
They left the ruins and followed a small stream, keeping speed relatively high. The guardian didn't seem to mind her antics, as Kipo buzzed around to either side of the camouflage-shaded Athena, enjoying the obvious difference in speed between the sparrows. The guardian had told her that hers was called the G-335 Anseris Overdrive, and she already loved it. It had two shiny turbines on the front, so powerful that she felt the machine pulling her forward instead of pushing her along, and it's purple-and-gold paint job was positively majestic.
First thing the guardian had taught her the controls, they'd had to book it out of there when one of the other guardians had started shouting an unfamiliar word in her direction. Ahamkara, she thought she'd heard. The guardian had told Kipo that he'd tell what that meant later, after they got out of town.
The sun was beginning to dip behind the horizon, and soon the guardian pulled alongside a track leading into the forest. They followed the trail, engines running quieter until they came to a single overgrown ruin of a once-fine house. He stopped a small distance away, and Kipo followed his lead, powering the sparrow down and dismounting. He unslung the auto rifle from his back and gestured for her to remain there. Kipo nodded, drawing her Dynasty, confused but excited.
The guardian moved carefully into the rotted doorway of the house, then after a few moments emerged and waved back at her. "All clear! Bring the sparrows closer, I'll start a fire."
She gave him a thumbs-up and a grin, holstering the pistol with relief, trying not to think about the smallest bit of disappointment that also made itself known. No shooting today. That was nice.
It didn't take her long to drive both sparrows closer to the two-story building, taking care not to hit anything. The vehicles were remarkably easy to control, even the cheaper Athena, and soon she had them parked and sitting on the ground peacefully. "Should I cover them with branches or something?"
He paused his stick-piling. "Not a problem. Pork?"
The ghost popped out of thin air. "Of course, guardian! Filling your first sparrow slot, I'm so proud!"
"Yeah yeah, just do it." The guardian was smiling, though.
The ghost approached the sparrows, then shined his blue eye-light on them. And then, to Kipo's astonishment, the vehicles began to dissolve into strands of light.
"Wha, wha, how are you doing that?" she asked incredulously, pointing at the disappearing sparrows.
"Transmatrication! The process of turning physical matter into data."
"Wait, if you can do that…" she looked at the guardian, putting her hands on her hips. "Then why did you make me move them?"
"To make it easier for Pork." Then he met her gaze, his eyes sparkling mischievously. "And practice."
She narrowed her eyes playfully. "What, you don't think I can park a sparrow?"
He raised his hands defensively, a smile forming. "Oh, I would never insinuate that, o great sparrow racer."
She laughed, then put on her dramatic voice. "Kipo, conqueror of Titans and racer of sparrows!"
"And shooter of cans, don't forget that." The guardian conjured a burning knife and tossed it into the pile of sticks. It caught fire immediately.
"Oh, I would never!" Kipo clenched her fist and looked to the sky. "All cans will learn to fear my name! And my guns. And my bullets, which never miss, of course."
The guardian laughed, and Kipo joined him. Then she watched him, joy filling her. He looked so much more happy, now, then when she'd first met him. Had that seriously only been a day ago?
A rumble interrupted Kipo, and she looked down at her stomach. The guardian noticed, and sighed. "Ghost, get the noodles. Time for dinner."
"Right away, guardian." Pork finished making the sparrows disappear, then zipped back over to them.
"Thanks," Kipo said.
"No problem, we didn't get around to getting lunch like I said we would. Sorry about that."
She waved it off, sitting on the mossy ground. "Not your fault you got harassed by super-powered jerks. Can I help?"
"Yeah, peel these." The guardian tossed her some oranges.
She caught them one at a time, almost dropping one to catch the third. "Oranges? With noodles?"
"You put the peels in the water before the noodles, makes a great flavor."
"But then there's peels in the soup."
He shrugged. "A small price to pay."
Kipo set to work, peeling the fruit. "Well, I'll try anything once! Got to be better than fried spider legs."
The guardian got out a small wire stand and put it over the fire, Pork hovering over and making a pot spontaneously appear on top of it. They set to work, and Kipo looked around while she peeled. The sun was setting, sending long shadows reaching across the clearing around the house. There were the rusted frames of two cars still in the driveway, and Kipo could see a partially collapsed swingset to the side of the house.
Her happy mood sobered slightly, and the strange conversation with Undira resurfaced. About the Collapse, and the Darkness doing this to humanity. What had happened to these people? And why was she here? Yes, a robot, a Vex, had tossed her through a portal, but why?
"I owe you an explanation." She looked up, torn from her thoughts by the guardian's words. His eyes had darkened, and his smile had disappeared. "I'm sure you have even more questions, about who I am and what I've done. After what you did today, you deserve to know."
"Oh, no," she began, leaning forward, accidentally stabbing the orange with her thumbnail. "You don't owe me anything, guardian, I promise, you don't have to tell me if you don't want to. And besides," she exclaimed, trying to set the nasty things she'd overheard the other guardians saying earlier aside. "I'm the one that owes you an explanation, after trusting me so much for no reason."
They looked at each other through the firelight, and Kipo laughed nervously. "Here, I'll go first." She stood slowly, and raised her hands dramatically, trying to decide how to show him her power first. Then she realized she had fruit still in her hands. "What do I do with the peels?"
"Just plop 'em in the pot."
"Just plop 'em in the pot?"
"Yep."
She plopped them in the simmering pot, then set the fruity parts on the ground. Kipo looked at him questioningly. He gave her a thumbs up.
"All right! Um, well, I guess I'll start with this." Kipo ran her power through her arms and hands, her fur growing and claws emerging instantly. "I'm part jaguar."
The guardian blinked. "What's that? Some kind of animal?" His voice was carefully controlled.
"Wait, you don't have jaguars around here?" she asked, taken aback.
He laughed humorlessly. "You think I'm someone that knows a lot about old earth animals?"
"Oh, well, they're big cats that live in jungles." Kipo held up a finger. "But I'm not just part regular jaguar."
He nodded. "I was wondering about the pinkness."
"I'll ignore that, because I'm a nice kitty. I'm part mute jaguar, which is shorthand for mutation, something that's a part of my world." She paused, trying to figure out what was important for him to know. "A part of my world's history was a great disaster which ruined human civilization, a lot like yours, honestly, but we also had the cool side effect of giving the animals of our planet a lot of mutations, or changes to the way they are naturally. These mutations come out as human-level intelligence, odd color palettes, sometimes ridiculous size, and sometimes cool powers!" She put a hand to her chin in thought. "Honestly, there's so many types of mutations, it's kinda hard to categorize them all. Anyway!" She put her paws back to normal, but then focused her power in her eyes. The dimness around them suddenly became crystal clear. "When I was still inside my mother, my parents decided to experiment on me by giving me what they thought was the correct mutagen."
The guardian held up a finger. "That sounds really dangerous."
"I know right, I love them so much! Anyway, I was injected with the DNA of a mutated mega jaguar, specifically intended to be the top of the food chain." Kipo paused. "Honestly, not entirely sure why they went with that, but whatever. So basically, I get all the abilities and advantages of the mega jaguar, and over the past few weeks, I've gotten some training on how to control it, so now," Kipo pushed out as much power as she dared, and muscles grew underneath the rapidly growing pink fur, her ears changing shape, and her nose and mouth becoming more snout-like. She remembered to kick off her shoes just in time, and claws popped on her toes as the feet expanded. She went to all fours and grinned her sharp teeth up at the guardian, her tail waving behind her.
He'd stopped stirring the noodles some moments ago, and he nodded slowly, expression determinedly fixed. "Wow. Um. That's... that's really something."
"It is!" She stood back up, trying not to freak him out any further than she had to. Now that she was saying it out loud, there really was a lot to unpack here. "I have super strength, speed, I'm a little tougher than most people, and if I'm really in a pinch I can turn into a massive powerful jaguar!" She flexed her arms, and the muscles bulged. "I've gotten really good at punching things, but I guess I should use my claws more." She laughed nervously, shrugging. "I just really don't like seeing blood, I guess." She looked to the guardian, letting the power leech from her face, looking more normal human-y, but keeping her purple eyes and floppy ears. "I was wondering if you'd noticed before, well, before I let the cat out of the bag. Now everyone knows."
He nodded. "Well, I'd suspected there was something off about you, what with you recovering so quickly from getting shot by wire rifle." The last words had traces of incredulity. He held out a bowl brimming with soup.
"Ooh! Oh yeah, the regen, I guess I have that too. I'd never noticed it before." She let out even more power out until she was completely normal-sized. "There!" Kipo said, taking the bowl. "That's what's up with me." She sat next to him, taking a bite and giving the guardian a small smile. "Thanks for not freaking out."
"It wasn't the easiest thing, I'll say that," he replied ruefully. "But I'm truly grateful that you tried to help back there." he was quiet for a moment. "Nobody besides Pork had ever stood up for me before." The guardian met her eyes. "Thank you."
"Of course, guardian. You're my best friend in this world, after all." She meant every word, and met his eyes to make sure he understood that. "And you make great soup," she added, taking another bite, realizing he'd already finished his.
The guardian met her gaze for a moment, then looked into the fire, golden eyes flickering in time with the dancing flames. "I… I'm very grateful, Kipo. For standing up for me, for trusting me, even if you don't know me."
"I think I know you enough to trust you, guardian."
"You did."
She stopped eating at his words, confused.
The guardian looked back to her, expression determined. "But now, it's different. It's time for me to tell you who I was. Do you want to hear it?"
Kipo looked at him, expression sobering. "I don't see why it's important, but if it helps you, I'll listen."