The Last Stand
By Julie K. ( kossmoe_chan@hotmail.com )
Fanfiction.net name : Perished Hope
Author's Note: Do you have a water buffallo? *tilts head*
Copyrights: Monsters Inc., of course, isn't mine. Nor will it ever be, unless I suddenly win the lottery or the owner of it dies and I'm the nearest living relative, but what's the chance of that? ^_^;; Anywhoo, Jigai and Delilah are mine, of course, as are the ideas and all concepts related to this story. Wow, I sound too informational... I must be sick or something. *Twaps self*
~*~*~ Previously...
Jingai, on her way into the creaky portal noticed that Nyomi had seen his first mishap in the banishment business in his miserable life. His eyes were as wide as saucers, and the deed was worth it to see that. The last image she saw was a blood-stained floor, when she whirled into another dimension. She twisted around to land on her six feet, but gravity and the force of Sullivan's throw played their cards against her, and she landed with a sickening crack, somewhere in the human world...
~*~*~
Chapter 2: The Adaptation Process
~*~*~
The wisps of the willow tree swayed delicately in the breeze. The placid current of air disheveled itself around the wisps like a weaver would interlink strings on a cool autumn day. The sun was towering in the sky and the water beneath reflected all above it like a crystal mirror with gentle waves in it.
The tree's generously proportioned trunks dwelled innate in the water, as their roots extended down half a mile beneath the facade of the water, almost contiguous to the Cypress trees. It was one of Louisiana's last remaining swamps, the Honey Island Swamp. There weren't any houses in close proximity for the reason that of the Government policy to defend one of the last remaining natural swamplands, but the occasional motor home or two along the outer reaches every few months wasn't too innovative.
Though the water near the outside of the swamp was so translucent that you could see the bottom, the water near the innards was as smutty and dirt- ridden as a lethal waste garbage dump. Grime, foliage and mire swirled around in it, giving it a repulsive manifestation. Under a microscope, many scrounging and infinitesimal creatures could be seen in that water. The water was peaceful, until a deposit of froth escaped to the top and popped.
The disturbance in the water grew larger until a waterlogged head erupt out from the water, the algae and dirt clinging to her fur. Jigai coughed up water and muck and tore at the algae, which hung over her left eye, blocking its vision. Aggravated, she looked around to find someplace to get out of that accursed water. The closest thing she could see to land was a peninsula-like mound that connected to the bog. Her six appendages were beating as rigorously as they could, but she was no water monster.
Finally, her limbs found solid ground under them, and she dragged herself onto the neck of land, still coughing up water and dirt. She blinked her eyes numerous times until the film of her eyelids flushed out all of the invading dirt and microorganisms. She shook like dogs do when they get sopping wet, and looked up at the sky to study it. The sun was high in the sky, and the dampness was appalling. She smirked in repulsion, as her fur clinged to her skin awkwardly.
She brushed the algae and plant growths off of her with a solitary swipe of her claws, shredding them as they fell to the ground without a sound. The humidity was almost unbearable for someone with as much fur as she did. She at least needed to get it dry and not so clingy, she considered. She sat back on her haunches and looked around, hoping to find someplace to escape the mess of a marsh. Her thoughts kept running off towards the humidity, and she had to focus to keep them off of it.
She wandered over towards a sagging tree, and sheltered herself beneath it. It was fine enough, for the moment, until she could find something a little more fitting. She groomed her fur, and the heavy way that the slush stuck to her fur made her psyche recollect something fairly related...
~*~*~
The sky above was tinted crimson with the setting of the sun. There was a high wind chill factor that day in Monstropolis, and most people were packing up for the weekend's pleasures. The Friday afternoon had come and gone, and the time was beginning to advance upon seven o'clock.
The ocher grasslands outside of the industrious metropolis were silent, yet it seemed that even if they perished they'd go to the grave with their music still within them. The wind softly pushed them around, and the whole area seemed to be moving in motion as one. Darkness was beginning to exhale out on the plains as the clock slowly crept forwards, charging ahead, stopping for no one. The location was an idyllic place to hang out for the nocturnal monster children.
At least it used to be, until that night occurred.
Delilah Dispewer put a stool up alongside the refrigerator in her parent's apartment and reached. Two of her four fingers brushed against something firm on the top, behind a vase containing random coupons and letters that her parents had received from time to time. The papers had been in the vase marked 1975 for years, collecting dust. Delilah figured that to put her possessions behind it was a great idea, since no one seemed to remember that it event existed.
A paper fluttered out of the wide vase and landed beside the stool. Pausing briefly, Delilah picked up the paper and studied it. It was a news clipping, yellow in age, dated 1979 by a faded felt tipped marker. A pen had scratched out part of a clipped-off article on the side, but she could read the article that was to be preserved well.
Scientists discover cloning secrets A team of research scientists sent to the human world find out that their clones have a genome that renders them immune to the toxic response of humans and human children. The clones become more independent with each step the research team takes, and the few they desire to study have been returned to the monster world and have undergone rigorous testing. The clones don't appear to have any form of self-consciousness, but they show all the characteristics of living things. The scientists are carefully monitoring the clones' responses to various situations they are put into. The research team hopes to create powerful monsters that can gather more scream than any biological monster. The process may revolutionize the scream industry.
Delilah pondered over the idea to herself, and wondered why they were bothering with scream when laughter was ten times stronger. It then occurred to her that this article had been posted at least twenty years ago, and she cast that idea out of her mind. She placed her hand on the top of the refrigerator and smiled. Putting her hand back towards her personals behind the vase, she slipped the article back into it. Grabbing her items, she jumped down from the stool and pushed it back under the table, which was against the wall.
The stool wasn't the only thing under it. Boxes of papers and binders had been thrown under there, as well as storage cases of goodness knows what. It was dusty and dirty under there, but Delilah didn't mind. The items she had recovered were a flashlight and a lighter. She hid the lighter, knowing she wasn't old enough to hold them, and being only of the ripe age of 11. Her mind was alive with possibilities, though, of other things she could do with the lighter. It wouldn't be too difficult to get a cigarette from some of her inner people--she had many people inside the lines of the city.
She smacked herself mentally for the thought and placed the lighter safely into the purse she was carrying. She held the flashlight up and turned it on, following the little circle of light with her eyes as she moved it about the pastel purple wall. She disregarded the activity as silly, for only the eight year olds played light games upon the walls with a flashlight. She was on a mission--she and her two other friends were going to have a campfire tonight.
It was the time of her life, since she had never snuck out of her house before. She heard of teenage monsters revolting against their parents and leaving home, but she never really considered herself ever doing that. She was like the kid at school who always pretended like they were on drugs, but was too afraid to really try it. She was more of a hypocrite, she talked like she hated people who did that, but nonetheless she did.
She was a slim monster that stood on two strong legs, and she had two strong arms with four fingers on them each. She was a silvery color with void-black eyes that reflected anyone whom looked at them's image. Tiny spikes jutted from her back onto her tail, which ended with a club. The club was a pale green color, like the insides of her flabby wings. The wings weren't good for gliding or flying until she got older, she was told. She couldn't wait until she could really soar. Then she would really be free.
She walked with the steps of a mouse towards the front door of the apartment. She slowly turned the knob and opened the door, then slipped out into the pale moonlight.
--
Delilah panted a little, finally making it to the outskirts of the fields. The moon was high overhead, and she suspected it was at least seven at night. The days at Monstropolis were short during those days, and a Friday night was the best to make a campfire. Delilah began trudging through the fields, pushing the long stalks out of her way without thought about it.
She stepped on something wet, and she rose her foot to inspect it. It looked like a maimed animal, and the blood had soaked into the ground. It looked fresh, just killed. Delilah took a step back, suddenly feeling like she wasn't supposed to be there. Her fears escalated as she heard a scream pierce the pitch-black night...
She then found herself running ahead blindly, not knowing what she was running from (or to.) She didn't even consciously register she was running through a field soaked with blood. Suddenly, her foot caught on something and she fell, face into the dirt. She scrambled back up, not wanting to take a good look at what had tripped her, but she was almost sure it looked like a severed hand.
She could feel blood splattering against her face and body as her feet kicked up the blood. It caught her as funny that it almost felt like it was raining, but raining blood. She let out a desperate, choked cry, and kept surging forwards. She saw a flash of red in front of her face, and suddenly there was a large black creature standing in front of her. When she looked again, she realized it was only the dark shadows that made the creature seem black, for it was really a gray blue color with glittering yellow eyes. Delilah remembered how psychotic those eyes had looked, how the anger and senselessness had been swirling around in the pool of gold.
She noticed visible bloodstains all over the monster's fur, but what she remembered the most was what horrified her for years to come. In the monster's hands was the severed heads of the two friends of hers that she had meant to meet. The monster's claws flashed as they gripped the skulls of her friend's heads. It looked like their eyes had been torn out, and fresh blood was beginning to accumulate at the monster's feet.
Though only a few moments dead, the faces of her friends had already began to take on a waxy and gray look. They were pale, nonetheless, and their eyes held voids of black, but Delilah could have sworn she saw some faded blue light deep in their sockets. One of her friend's jaws had been almost torn out, as it hung at an uneven angle that no jaw should ever hang at.
Adrenaline pumped through Delilah's veins, alerting her every sense. She instinctively dropped the purse she was carrying. She took a step back from the horrible scene, and the yellow-eyed monster watched her. It's stare was burning through her, when she noticed her wings were beating rapidly. She was taking in quick, deep breaths, and her heartbeat had escalated greatly. Her wings beat faster and faster, when she started to feel herself being lifted from the ground.
The monster with the hawk-like eyes lunged forwards, dropping the heads and swiping at Delilah with out-stretched claws. Delilah screamed and fell back on the ground, sprung up like a rubber band released, and sprinted as fast as she could. It was then she began to appreciate being part of her school's track team. It was the first time she had ever been able to fly, and it was the last time until she was 18.
---
When Delilah reached her house and pulled herself behind her door, she was shaking with tremors and crying. What she saw tonight was something no one was ever supposed to see, not when he or she was eleven, not ever. She sunk to the floor, weeping, her arms around herself, hugging herself as she cried silently. She knew her parents weren't home, nor would they be home for a long time, since they worked a night shift somewhere she didn't know.
Through her tear-blurred eyes, she saw something floating down towards her. First she moved away, until she saw it was a piece of paper. She wiped the tears out of her eyes and picked up the paper, squinting to see what was on it.
The faded marking saying 1979.
She cried silently more, and pressed the paper against her chest, not even questioning how it floated down to her in the first place. If it weren't for those few minutes she spent reading the article, she would have been in the same situation as her friends. She couldn't shake the images of her friend's heads, how lifeless their eye sockets seemed, and all the blood...
The child fell into clinical depression for two years before she started to open back up again. Until that time, she had no friends and her life was miserable. Delilah Dispewer wanted to die.
~*~*~
Jigai awoken suddenly at the sound of thunder cracking. It was dark now, or at least semi-dark, as the sun had almost began to set in the horizon. She uncurled herself from her sleeping position and raised her head, looking around instinctively. She stretched and felt her fur--it had begun to dry. It was still damp, but it wasn't sopping wet like before. She was thankful it hadn't begun to rain, but she could sense it may in a couple of hours (or moments). She needed to find shelter, and fast. She began to walk like an animal, on her six legs.
She weighed her possibilities. She could cut a shelter out of the trunk of a tree--they were certainly wide enough. But no, that would take too much time and made her exhausted. She kept thinking. There was also the possibility of building a den underground from the side of the dirt where the water level raised enough to make a cave-like entrance, just without the cave. She sat, considering it. It seemed to work, because the ground was wet. It would be just like making those small snow caves in the mountains of snow she used to see in Monstropolis's outskirts.
She peered over the side of the cliff-like mountain of dirt, and then jumped down onto the dirt below. There was what looked like a small bay, which led to the water itself. She wasn't sure what lived in the water in the human world, but with her claws and blade she figured she could take care of anything. She sheathed her claws to keep them from getting dull, and began to work.
--
Jigai sat back and admired her work. She had dug a five-foot long and five foot deep hole into the side of the dirt cliff. It wasn't an apartment in Monstropolis, but it would do just fine for her first night in the human world. In there she could plot whatever she wished to plot, and scheme as much as she wished to do. It had to be well into the night, and she was a nocturnal monster. She placed some disguise materials over her new shelter, to discourage human world creatures from taking it.
Jigai crept around the swamp for a while, not straying too far from her shelter. She made a quick perimeter check at the end of her journey (she was satisfied for the time being, and starting to get weary), then started to head back to the shelter. She could see the sun beginning to rise, and she crept towards her shelter. She walked along the Cliffside of the dirt, hearing the echo in the dug out cave. She heard that and felt pleased.
She jumped down from the cliff and landed on the soft dirt, feeling it squish between her toes, and she hated it again. She moved the leaves and debris away from the entrance and walked inside, then lay down. She was about to close her eyes when something outside caught her attention. She lifted her head as her hawk-eyes looked around, searching for the thing she saw. Maybe it was just her imagination.
But there! She saw it again! It was like branches moving by themselves and a swirl in the air-currents. She growled a bit and closed her eyes-- engaging her personal special ability.
She slowly felt her own molecules beginning to break themselves down to mere atoms, then stabilizing themselves so they would be strangely unstable. The chemical reactions in her system caused a strange effect to happen. Her opacity began to fade, until she had reached full invisibility. Not camouflage, but true invisibility. She crept out of her shelter, making sure not to make obvious noises. Though she was truly invisible, she still had her mass and weight.
She followed the air current movements, trying to detect a scent of some kind. Finally, she found one; it smelled of a mix of dirt and peppermint. Strange. Maybe it would lead her to a place where she could forage for food. Heck, maybe this creature could be food. She didn't have much knowledge of creatures of the human world, and she didn't know if they could go invisible. She also didn't know of the tastes of human creatures. Maybe they'd taste good...
Her thoughts were on a good human-creature dinner when the creature finally materialized in front of her. It was a purple snake-like creature with eight arms, two sets used for walking. It was holding a dead creature-- rabbit, she knew, it was one of the few things she knew about in this human world-- in its first set of arms. It was almost a pastel purple, with hard scales that were so tightly packed together that Jigai wondered how she was going to sink her teeth into this one. Perhaps crack through the scales...She looked at it curiously, wondering what kind of human-creature this was. Finally, something flashed into her mind. Wait. Something about this creature rang a bell.
It wasn't a human-creature... it, too, was a monster!
Author's Note: Do you have a water buffallo? *tilts head*
Copyrights: Monsters Inc., of course, isn't mine. Nor will it ever be, unless I suddenly win the lottery or the owner of it dies and I'm the nearest living relative, but what's the chance of that? ^_^;; Anywhoo, Jigai and Delilah are mine, of course, as are the ideas and all concepts related to this story. Wow, I sound too informational... I must be sick or something. *Twaps self*
~*~*~ Previously...
Jingai, on her way into the creaky portal noticed that Nyomi had seen his first mishap in the banishment business in his miserable life. His eyes were as wide as saucers, and the deed was worth it to see that. The last image she saw was a blood-stained floor, when she whirled into another dimension. She twisted around to land on her six feet, but gravity and the force of Sullivan's throw played their cards against her, and she landed with a sickening crack, somewhere in the human world...
~*~*~
Chapter 2: The Adaptation Process
~*~*~
The wisps of the willow tree swayed delicately in the breeze. The placid current of air disheveled itself around the wisps like a weaver would interlink strings on a cool autumn day. The sun was towering in the sky and the water beneath reflected all above it like a crystal mirror with gentle waves in it.
The tree's generously proportioned trunks dwelled innate in the water, as their roots extended down half a mile beneath the facade of the water, almost contiguous to the Cypress trees. It was one of Louisiana's last remaining swamps, the Honey Island Swamp. There weren't any houses in close proximity for the reason that of the Government policy to defend one of the last remaining natural swamplands, but the occasional motor home or two along the outer reaches every few months wasn't too innovative.
Though the water near the outside of the swamp was so translucent that you could see the bottom, the water near the innards was as smutty and dirt- ridden as a lethal waste garbage dump. Grime, foliage and mire swirled around in it, giving it a repulsive manifestation. Under a microscope, many scrounging and infinitesimal creatures could be seen in that water. The water was peaceful, until a deposit of froth escaped to the top and popped.
The disturbance in the water grew larger until a waterlogged head erupt out from the water, the algae and dirt clinging to her fur. Jigai coughed up water and muck and tore at the algae, which hung over her left eye, blocking its vision. Aggravated, she looked around to find someplace to get out of that accursed water. The closest thing she could see to land was a peninsula-like mound that connected to the bog. Her six appendages were beating as rigorously as they could, but she was no water monster.
Finally, her limbs found solid ground under them, and she dragged herself onto the neck of land, still coughing up water and dirt. She blinked her eyes numerous times until the film of her eyelids flushed out all of the invading dirt and microorganisms. She shook like dogs do when they get sopping wet, and looked up at the sky to study it. The sun was high in the sky, and the dampness was appalling. She smirked in repulsion, as her fur clinged to her skin awkwardly.
She brushed the algae and plant growths off of her with a solitary swipe of her claws, shredding them as they fell to the ground without a sound. The humidity was almost unbearable for someone with as much fur as she did. She at least needed to get it dry and not so clingy, she considered. She sat back on her haunches and looked around, hoping to find someplace to escape the mess of a marsh. Her thoughts kept running off towards the humidity, and she had to focus to keep them off of it.
She wandered over towards a sagging tree, and sheltered herself beneath it. It was fine enough, for the moment, until she could find something a little more fitting. She groomed her fur, and the heavy way that the slush stuck to her fur made her psyche recollect something fairly related...
~*~*~
The sky above was tinted crimson with the setting of the sun. There was a high wind chill factor that day in Monstropolis, and most people were packing up for the weekend's pleasures. The Friday afternoon had come and gone, and the time was beginning to advance upon seven o'clock.
The ocher grasslands outside of the industrious metropolis were silent, yet it seemed that even if they perished they'd go to the grave with their music still within them. The wind softly pushed them around, and the whole area seemed to be moving in motion as one. Darkness was beginning to exhale out on the plains as the clock slowly crept forwards, charging ahead, stopping for no one. The location was an idyllic place to hang out for the nocturnal monster children.
At least it used to be, until that night occurred.
Delilah Dispewer put a stool up alongside the refrigerator in her parent's apartment and reached. Two of her four fingers brushed against something firm on the top, behind a vase containing random coupons and letters that her parents had received from time to time. The papers had been in the vase marked 1975 for years, collecting dust. Delilah figured that to put her possessions behind it was a great idea, since no one seemed to remember that it event existed.
A paper fluttered out of the wide vase and landed beside the stool. Pausing briefly, Delilah picked up the paper and studied it. It was a news clipping, yellow in age, dated 1979 by a faded felt tipped marker. A pen had scratched out part of a clipped-off article on the side, but she could read the article that was to be preserved well.
Scientists discover cloning secrets A team of research scientists sent to the human world find out that their clones have a genome that renders them immune to the toxic response of humans and human children. The clones become more independent with each step the research team takes, and the few they desire to study have been returned to the monster world and have undergone rigorous testing. The clones don't appear to have any form of self-consciousness, but they show all the characteristics of living things. The scientists are carefully monitoring the clones' responses to various situations they are put into. The research team hopes to create powerful monsters that can gather more scream than any biological monster. The process may revolutionize the scream industry.
Delilah pondered over the idea to herself, and wondered why they were bothering with scream when laughter was ten times stronger. It then occurred to her that this article had been posted at least twenty years ago, and she cast that idea out of her mind. She placed her hand on the top of the refrigerator and smiled. Putting her hand back towards her personals behind the vase, she slipped the article back into it. Grabbing her items, she jumped down from the stool and pushed it back under the table, which was against the wall.
The stool wasn't the only thing under it. Boxes of papers and binders had been thrown under there, as well as storage cases of goodness knows what. It was dusty and dirty under there, but Delilah didn't mind. The items she had recovered were a flashlight and a lighter. She hid the lighter, knowing she wasn't old enough to hold them, and being only of the ripe age of 11. Her mind was alive with possibilities, though, of other things she could do with the lighter. It wouldn't be too difficult to get a cigarette from some of her inner people--she had many people inside the lines of the city.
She smacked herself mentally for the thought and placed the lighter safely into the purse she was carrying. She held the flashlight up and turned it on, following the little circle of light with her eyes as she moved it about the pastel purple wall. She disregarded the activity as silly, for only the eight year olds played light games upon the walls with a flashlight. She was on a mission--she and her two other friends were going to have a campfire tonight.
It was the time of her life, since she had never snuck out of her house before. She heard of teenage monsters revolting against their parents and leaving home, but she never really considered herself ever doing that. She was like the kid at school who always pretended like they were on drugs, but was too afraid to really try it. She was more of a hypocrite, she talked like she hated people who did that, but nonetheless she did.
She was a slim monster that stood on two strong legs, and she had two strong arms with four fingers on them each. She was a silvery color with void-black eyes that reflected anyone whom looked at them's image. Tiny spikes jutted from her back onto her tail, which ended with a club. The club was a pale green color, like the insides of her flabby wings. The wings weren't good for gliding or flying until she got older, she was told. She couldn't wait until she could really soar. Then she would really be free.
She walked with the steps of a mouse towards the front door of the apartment. She slowly turned the knob and opened the door, then slipped out into the pale moonlight.
--
Delilah panted a little, finally making it to the outskirts of the fields. The moon was high overhead, and she suspected it was at least seven at night. The days at Monstropolis were short during those days, and a Friday night was the best to make a campfire. Delilah began trudging through the fields, pushing the long stalks out of her way without thought about it.
She stepped on something wet, and she rose her foot to inspect it. It looked like a maimed animal, and the blood had soaked into the ground. It looked fresh, just killed. Delilah took a step back, suddenly feeling like she wasn't supposed to be there. Her fears escalated as she heard a scream pierce the pitch-black night...
She then found herself running ahead blindly, not knowing what she was running from (or to.) She didn't even consciously register she was running through a field soaked with blood. Suddenly, her foot caught on something and she fell, face into the dirt. She scrambled back up, not wanting to take a good look at what had tripped her, but she was almost sure it looked like a severed hand.
She could feel blood splattering against her face and body as her feet kicked up the blood. It caught her as funny that it almost felt like it was raining, but raining blood. She let out a desperate, choked cry, and kept surging forwards. She saw a flash of red in front of her face, and suddenly there was a large black creature standing in front of her. When she looked again, she realized it was only the dark shadows that made the creature seem black, for it was really a gray blue color with glittering yellow eyes. Delilah remembered how psychotic those eyes had looked, how the anger and senselessness had been swirling around in the pool of gold.
She noticed visible bloodstains all over the monster's fur, but what she remembered the most was what horrified her for years to come. In the monster's hands was the severed heads of the two friends of hers that she had meant to meet. The monster's claws flashed as they gripped the skulls of her friend's heads. It looked like their eyes had been torn out, and fresh blood was beginning to accumulate at the monster's feet.
Though only a few moments dead, the faces of her friends had already began to take on a waxy and gray look. They were pale, nonetheless, and their eyes held voids of black, but Delilah could have sworn she saw some faded blue light deep in their sockets. One of her friend's jaws had been almost torn out, as it hung at an uneven angle that no jaw should ever hang at.
Adrenaline pumped through Delilah's veins, alerting her every sense. She instinctively dropped the purse she was carrying. She took a step back from the horrible scene, and the yellow-eyed monster watched her. It's stare was burning through her, when she noticed her wings were beating rapidly. She was taking in quick, deep breaths, and her heartbeat had escalated greatly. Her wings beat faster and faster, when she started to feel herself being lifted from the ground.
The monster with the hawk-like eyes lunged forwards, dropping the heads and swiping at Delilah with out-stretched claws. Delilah screamed and fell back on the ground, sprung up like a rubber band released, and sprinted as fast as she could. It was then she began to appreciate being part of her school's track team. It was the first time she had ever been able to fly, and it was the last time until she was 18.
---
When Delilah reached her house and pulled herself behind her door, she was shaking with tremors and crying. What she saw tonight was something no one was ever supposed to see, not when he or she was eleven, not ever. She sunk to the floor, weeping, her arms around herself, hugging herself as she cried silently. She knew her parents weren't home, nor would they be home for a long time, since they worked a night shift somewhere she didn't know.
Through her tear-blurred eyes, she saw something floating down towards her. First she moved away, until she saw it was a piece of paper. She wiped the tears out of her eyes and picked up the paper, squinting to see what was on it.
The faded marking saying 1979.
She cried silently more, and pressed the paper against her chest, not even questioning how it floated down to her in the first place. If it weren't for those few minutes she spent reading the article, she would have been in the same situation as her friends. She couldn't shake the images of her friend's heads, how lifeless their eye sockets seemed, and all the blood...
The child fell into clinical depression for two years before she started to open back up again. Until that time, she had no friends and her life was miserable. Delilah Dispewer wanted to die.
~*~*~
Jigai awoken suddenly at the sound of thunder cracking. It was dark now, or at least semi-dark, as the sun had almost began to set in the horizon. She uncurled herself from her sleeping position and raised her head, looking around instinctively. She stretched and felt her fur--it had begun to dry. It was still damp, but it wasn't sopping wet like before. She was thankful it hadn't begun to rain, but she could sense it may in a couple of hours (or moments). She needed to find shelter, and fast. She began to walk like an animal, on her six legs.
She weighed her possibilities. She could cut a shelter out of the trunk of a tree--they were certainly wide enough. But no, that would take too much time and made her exhausted. She kept thinking. There was also the possibility of building a den underground from the side of the dirt where the water level raised enough to make a cave-like entrance, just without the cave. She sat, considering it. It seemed to work, because the ground was wet. It would be just like making those small snow caves in the mountains of snow she used to see in Monstropolis's outskirts.
She peered over the side of the cliff-like mountain of dirt, and then jumped down onto the dirt below. There was what looked like a small bay, which led to the water itself. She wasn't sure what lived in the water in the human world, but with her claws and blade she figured she could take care of anything. She sheathed her claws to keep them from getting dull, and began to work.
--
Jigai sat back and admired her work. She had dug a five-foot long and five foot deep hole into the side of the dirt cliff. It wasn't an apartment in Monstropolis, but it would do just fine for her first night in the human world. In there she could plot whatever she wished to plot, and scheme as much as she wished to do. It had to be well into the night, and she was a nocturnal monster. She placed some disguise materials over her new shelter, to discourage human world creatures from taking it.
Jigai crept around the swamp for a while, not straying too far from her shelter. She made a quick perimeter check at the end of her journey (she was satisfied for the time being, and starting to get weary), then started to head back to the shelter. She could see the sun beginning to rise, and she crept towards her shelter. She walked along the Cliffside of the dirt, hearing the echo in the dug out cave. She heard that and felt pleased.
She jumped down from the cliff and landed on the soft dirt, feeling it squish between her toes, and she hated it again. She moved the leaves and debris away from the entrance and walked inside, then lay down. She was about to close her eyes when something outside caught her attention. She lifted her head as her hawk-eyes looked around, searching for the thing she saw. Maybe it was just her imagination.
But there! She saw it again! It was like branches moving by themselves and a swirl in the air-currents. She growled a bit and closed her eyes-- engaging her personal special ability.
She slowly felt her own molecules beginning to break themselves down to mere atoms, then stabilizing themselves so they would be strangely unstable. The chemical reactions in her system caused a strange effect to happen. Her opacity began to fade, until she had reached full invisibility. Not camouflage, but true invisibility. She crept out of her shelter, making sure not to make obvious noises. Though she was truly invisible, she still had her mass and weight.
She followed the air current movements, trying to detect a scent of some kind. Finally, she found one; it smelled of a mix of dirt and peppermint. Strange. Maybe it would lead her to a place where she could forage for food. Heck, maybe this creature could be food. She didn't have much knowledge of creatures of the human world, and she didn't know if they could go invisible. She also didn't know of the tastes of human creatures. Maybe they'd taste good...
Her thoughts were on a good human-creature dinner when the creature finally materialized in front of her. It was a purple snake-like creature with eight arms, two sets used for walking. It was holding a dead creature-- rabbit, she knew, it was one of the few things she knew about in this human world-- in its first set of arms. It was almost a pastel purple, with hard scales that were so tightly packed together that Jigai wondered how she was going to sink her teeth into this one. Perhaps crack through the scales...She looked at it curiously, wondering what kind of human-creature this was. Finally, something flashed into her mind. Wait. Something about this creature rang a bell.
It wasn't a human-creature... it, too, was a monster!