5: Dark Circumvention
Bright luminescent lights bore down onto Rouche's eyes, forcing an orangish glow to appear through his eyelids. Slowly forcing his eyes open, he suddenly felt a pounding headache leaking into his skull. Squinting at the sight of the light, he slowly surveyed the surroundings around him. He managed to bring his hand up to his temple. Ooooo…. How long have I been out?, he thought, hmmm….? Who's this coming down the hall? He noticed a shadow creeping upon the floor, sweeping down the hall towards him. He began to stare at the ceiling above him as someone entered the room.
"Oh, your awake Mr. Rouche?" a female voice asked.
"Hmmm….? Who is it?" he responded groggily.
"Oh, I'm sorry, my name is Alice Tsukagami. I'm your designated nurse. Jane Gado and Yugo Ogami carried you here a couple of days ago. Ms. Gado said you had something near a seizure." she answered.
"I remember Jane, but who's this Yugo Ogami character your talking about?" he inquired.
"Oh, Yugo? Jane said he helped bring you during your 'seizure', so I'm not surprised you don't know him. As you're a zoanthrope yourself, I know its safe to tell you this. He's a wolf zoanthrope who lives in Japan with his adoptive brother Kenji. He's a professional boxer, and quite a skilled fighter I might add." she said with a smile.
"Interesting, I'll have to see if I can spar or fight him sometime. But tell me, how long have I been out, and do you know what caused this 'seizure'?" he asked.
"Well, from what Jane told me about your past, it might be from a chemical imbalance in your brain due to the extensive tests they ran. As to how long you've been out, it's been about three days." Alice said, a slightly confused look on her face.
"Why the perplexed look?" he asked, honestly wanting to know.
"N-n-nothing…" she responded, a light hue of red steadily crossing her features.
Hmm.., he thought, she's hiding something. I'll make the point of bringing it up later, as I don't wish to embarrass her further.
"Any idea as to when I'll be able to leave, and where Miss Gado can be loca-" he was stopped mid-sentence as he saw Jane leaning against the door frame, an irritated look on her face.
"Fist of all, I don't give out my locations to anyone. Secondly, I don't like to be called miss." she said, eyes piercing his stare with deadly accuracy.
Bowing his head, he responded in a soft tone, "S-sorry."
Shifting her weight on to her free foot, she stepped into the room, removing her previous look of irritation with a look of concern.
"How do you feel Jack?" Jane asked.
"I feel fine, it's my head that's pounding." Rouche responded, crouching forward, holding his head lightly.
Alice ran up to his side, grabbing hold of his arm, asking if he was OK.
"I-I'm fine.." he grumbled, shaking Alice's grip off, then wishing he hadn't been so rash.
A hurt look developed on Alice's face, and she stepped back.
"Alice, I, um..," he started, "I didn't mean to do that, its just that.. well, I haven't had anyone actually care about me that much lately. I-I've lived off my own means, wandering the streets without a cause."
Staring blankly at the sheets, he wondered if he was right in what he had done to this girl who obviously didn't deserve such hate.
Looking away, she took his words to heart. Could he mean what he had said?, she wondered. As she began to turn back, she noticed his gaze set, intently boring into her eyes. When she realized that he was searching her eyes for something hidden, she began to blush again.
"Well.. hey Alice, when will he be able to leave?" the leopard zoanthrope asked.
"Oh, what?," she asked, after returning to reality, "oh, right. Actually, he can leave right now if he's up to it. I've prescribed some pills to ease your headaches. Take one twice daily, and in about a week you should be back to normal."
"That sounds reassuring enough for me." Jack said, a slight smile playing on his face.
Jane and Alice helped Rouche out of bed and on his feet. After a couple of minutes, he felt sturdy enough to walk. Heading to the small closet, he removed the clothes he had worn those three days ago. As the two females left the room, he proceeded to change into a more comfortable outfit, rather than the drab paper gown the lousy hospitals provided. Hmmpf, he thought to himself, just like hospitals… Always trying to conserve money to higher their paycheck. After stepping out into the hall, he said good-bye to Alice and left with Jane.
Leaving the haven that others called a hospital, they strolled down the street. After ten minutes of silence, each glanced at the other and opened their mouths as if to say something. Sound escaped both their throats and they proceeded down the street once more in silence. They finally stopped at a café. Wishing not to bring up his past once again and have the same incident happen, Jane started off the conversation about her father Gado. Jack seemed truly interested in what she had to say, and in reality had taken it all to heart. Draedgo, however, was absorbing all this knowledge for himself, storing it for later use. Rouche was learning so much about these renegade zoanthropes, and he truly wished that he could meet them all, eager to hear of their experiences.
"Well, enough about me..," Jane said, then taking glass in hand, sipping the luke-warm coffee, "do you feel up to possibly showing me your transformed state?" she asked quizzically, raising an eyebrow for emphasis.
Embarrassed at how blunt she had put it, he let down his glass from his lips, quietly placing it on the marble table before them.
Letting out a sigh, he answered, "Well, I feel up to it, its just…" he started, then looked away.
"What Jack? What's wrong?" the leopard zoanthrope asked.
Turning to face her squarely, he searched her eyes for some way of expressing his shame, his hate, and his sorrow that he had held back for three painfully long years. He feared dark results from another attempt at his transformation, and wished it not on this soul to see his horrific change.
Not able to find words for what he wanted to say, Jack crouched over and began to witness his eyes create patterns out of the marble table. Images flared into his mind, sending memories to the brain that he wished were dead. I want to show her my transformation, so someone else can view me, help me figure out what I have become. I just don't want to have her fear me, or grow disgusted at what I might fear I might actually be…, he thought, still gazing at the dancing shapes.
To Jane, it looked as though he was distraught, torn between two worlds she couldn't possibly imagine. How hurt he must be, being all alone in the world, not having anyone to help him but himself. I can sense that he has true intentions and wants to share with others, I just think that he either doesn't know how to express them, or is just in fear of what might happen. Lowering her brow and crossing her arms, the leopard zoanthrope also began to watch the moving table, constantly trying to see how she could show Jack that it would be alright, that he could trust in her.
Long minutes passed by in the restaurant, both sides not knowing how to express themselves to the other. The air had seemed to grow stagnant, barely moving in the room, and this irritated both zoanthropes. One sat resolute, the other unsure. Slowly, Rouche began to straighten his posture, the sound of his back crying in agony audible to the leopard's sensitive ears.
As she unfolded her cramped arms from her chest, she was unexpectedly offered a hand, gesturing that they should leave this forsaken wasteland. She took the invitation merrily, hoping that Jack had finally summoned up the courage he so desperately was searching for.
Jack obviously had something on his mind, and would not be shown otherwise, as he led her to a long dank alley. The smell of growing mold and sound of dripping water was all to clear in their minds, setting an appropriate stage for Jack's plan. Still wondering what he had in store for her, Rouche suddenly slowed his quickened pace and came to a halt. Facing the female zoanthrope, Rouche stepped back a few feet.
"First, I-I must apologize for wasting so much of your time," he began, "and I hope you won't judge me as quick as past people have."
"Trust me Jack," she responded, "there's absolutely nothing you can show me that would inspire hate or fear in my heart. You obviously have been through a lot, and I don't blame you for taking so long, wondering what I might think. You can trust in me, dear friend, and the others as well."
"Thank you Jane..," he said, "and now, I wont keep you waiting any longer. I want to transform to show you what my beast form is, so maybe you can help me figure out what I truly have become."
With a look of resolution set upon his face, Rouche took one more step back for precaution, and began summoning up his inner beast. A slight glow of blue surrounded him suddenly, and Jane witnessed muscles pulsing with raw power. His eyes melted away into a void of white, shunning the world that hated him. As hair began to flow in the cool wind, it quickly became apparent that this was not the hair she knew of wolf zoanthropes. Their hair flowed freely yes, but his was different. Instead of staying in free form, the hair quickly meshed together, thousands of bristled hairs changing into a more solid form. She soon recognized what this shifting was. Scales were forming. She had never seen this happen on any of the other zoanthropes she had ever met. Gado needs to know about this, she thought, he wont believe his eyes. But it didn't stop there. Again she was brought to amazement, as his back seemed to have a life of its own. As she focused on his upper back, she noticed bones starting to take shape, ripping at the flesh that bound them. As they tore through skin and muscle, she was sickened and horrified at the intricacy of his muscle structure. Tendons and muscles combined with arteries and veins, all pulsing through bodily movements with the power he was building.
And what power he was building. She could feel heat and strength emanating from him, power she had not felt since she had fought her father Gado. Without warning the bones flew near her face, coming inches from laceration, quickly becoming enveloped in skin and tissue. Spreading these new appendages outward, she realized they were wings. Totally separate from his arms, which were massive in size only comparable to her father's, she noticed his face had changed as well. Darkened red eyes viewed her, seemingly in hatred. Rearing back from utter shock and disillusionment, Jane's eyes had to refocus as the light soon began to fade. Getting a good look from head to toe, Jane couldn't place what type of zoanthrope she was looking at. It had all the features of a lizard, but with a much stronger sense of balance, far larger teeth and claws, a thickened tail, and the added effect of wings. Is he what I think he is?, she thought, slightly confused, could he really be a… a dragon zoanthrope? But that's not possible, dragons never existed in the real world, I'm positive of it. Open mouthed in awe of this awesome sight of both strength and beauty, the leopard zoanthrope had no words for what was beheld before her eyes.
Of pale green color, with ebon colored claws and horns, as well as the crimson red eyes glaring at her ferociously, Rouche's appearance was astounding. Rouche himself could not believe that he had managed to pull off what seemed so distant to him in times long past. So this is my true form?, he thought, also dazed at this new form, I cant believe I pulled it off. Draedgo, is this our full, true form?, he asked of his inner beast. Yes, dear friend, this is our full and true form. The form this leopard zoanthrope sees before her is that of a dragon, long to be thought of as only a legend spoke of in tales past down by generations. You might be thinking the same thing, but you are both wrong. Although dragons technically do not exist in this realm of time, they will exist in millennia to come, evolving from the lizards you so tentatively call basilisks. Rouche was still confused. But wasn't that the original DNA injected into my body?, he asked. Yes it was, I merely took matters into my own hands, so to speak, and made changes to it as I saw necessary, creating the beast before you. He answered. This answer seemed satisfying to Rouche, and he slowly turned toward the other presence he felt, knowing that it was only Jane.
"I… I-I don't know exactly what to say Rouche. The power I'm feeling from you is beyond me. I'm sure Gado would love to fight with you sometime to test your full potential." As would I. She thought. She stood there blankly, as minutes passed by, taking in the full effect of his presence into context.
As he stood there watching this friend study him, Rouche began thinking about himself as well. So this is it, huh? My full form has finally been revealed, and yet I have no words to say. He sighed to himself, slightly frustrated, and yet overjoyed as well. Draedgo?, he called to his friend, is there anything I should know about my form? Range of motion, fighting style, specialties, limits? He waited a few moments for his beast to answer his questions. He felt surprised when it answered just as he was about to answer again. Well, Jack, our dragon form does have some limits, as the size slows speed, but the wings add to the range of motion, which compensates for this loss. Until you fight your first battle, though, I have no knowledge as to limits. Specialties are flight and strength, as well as quick thinking, which is an essential part of any battle plan. Rouche took all this knowledge into account, racking his brain with concepts all too new to him. He looked up and noticed Jane's head bowed, watching her roll a small rock back and forth with the tip of her boot.
Eyeing her over, Jack decided that she seemed more or less bored now, as was he, and that he should revert back to human form. Relaxing his muscles and slowing his breathing to adjust his heart beat, the dragon zoanthrope slowly retained its former human shape. The wings folded and seeped into his back, claws and horns retracted, and his tail seemed to shrink and dissapear. Jane looked up suddenly, thinking that something was wrong, but was reassured when he faced her, a slight smile apparent on his face.
"Well? What did you think?" he asked, a hint of amusement in his tone.
"Well… its kind of hard to say for sure..," she started, "but from what I can tell, I think you're a rare type of zoanthrope, far different from any I've seen. Your general appearance looks like a dragon from medieval times, but I can't put how you got it if they were only legend." the leopard responded, confusion smearing her face.
"I don't understand either, but I guess it can be possible, I mean with all the technology we have nowadays."
"I guess… Yea, I can see how it would be possible, if our imagination were to be let run wild."
They both laughed at that. Nightfall had seemed to settle in unexpectedly, and both hadn't realized how much time had passed, each trying to find the right words to say as to not sound rude.
"Wow, its getting late," Jane started, "maybe we should start heading home."
"Yea, I think your right. You never know what kind of guys might pop out and get you!" He said, running after Jane, imitating her previous assailant. Both laughed at that joke until tears began to stream out of their eyes, tasting salty upon their tongues.
"Well hey, is there anyway I can reach you?" she asked.
"Not as of now, no. But I'm sure I'll be able to find you on the streets. It's kinda not hard to find a blonde with spiked back hair you know." He teased.
She jabbed him in the arm, and he responded in pain.
"Jerk!!," she said, taking slight offense to his comment, "If you want, here's a number you can reach me by." She took out a small scrap of paper and pen and jotted down the number. "Don't be shy about it either, I'm positive the others will take to you immediately." She finished with a smile.
"Thanks a lot. I'll be sure to call soon, I'd really like to meet the others soon anyway." He said. "Take care Jane, and try to keep out of trouble!" he yelled, winking in her direction, as he quickened his pace to a jog, trying to hurry home.
As his shadow faded from sight, a dark form emerged from the alley they had just left from. With a snicker, he thought to himself: Concealment is often overlooked. What fools they were, thinking that safety was theirs to control. This new one is interesting, and I can't quite place what he might be. No matter, the time will soon come when he reveals his fighting spirit to the world, and I will be the first one to test it. Growing more serious now, he scaled the fire escape to join the steel jungle, hiding himself in its embrace. As he hopped from rooftop to rooftop, his blood began to boil, and saliva began to collect in his mouth as he started to visualize how his victim might fight back. Yes, he started, and a true fight it shall be. He had better be more prepared than he looks if he wished to even defend himself, for this power he poses will not save him… With one final leap, he plummeted back onto solid ground, landing on one knee. As he began to run towards his unforeseen location, Rouche thought he heard a small rustling. Looking behind his back for comfort, and not finding any unsuspected surprises, he opened the door to his small abode, wishing only for darkness to take his mind in subtle embrace. As he slipped into sub-consciousness, his mind's eye began reeling to him images from his past, taking him on a trip through time, and revealing to him the mysteries of life.