galaxytree: oh, sorry if i confused you. I mean when you get hurt in your own form. Not when you're in another. Thanks for showing me that mistake. Kudos to you! (okay, i don't really know what that means, but it sounds good)
Uhh... I might give this a rating, just to be safe. For the slightly gross factor, I guess. Criticism appreciated.
The first thing I felt when I regained consciousness was gravity pulling me down. Then cold metal on my wrists. I was hanging off something. Something almost directly vertical.
Groggily, painfully, I lifted my head and opened my eyes, looking down to see my ankles were bound by thick metal rings, attached to what looked like a metal table. I leaned back, and found that I was right, then looking up and turning my head to see the rings around my wrists as well. Another had been placed around my stomach, I noticed as well.
Suddenly, I wasn't so groggy.
I remembered everything, up until the point where I'd blacked out...
Is this death? Am I dead? I thought stupidly.
I looked up, nearly gasping with what I saw next. There was another table, a lot like mine... and on thing on it... it was Jake! He was strapped, like me, only he wasn't awake. His head was down to his chest, and his hair fell over his face.
I then looked around the room, realising this was definitely not the Aerionna. I looked more like a surgical room, all metal... only there were a lot of dark spaces here and there... and it just made me shiver...
Beside me, I saw what I hoped was Kayleese. Arms were strapped down, like mine, and her bottom half was turned sideways, to allow for the locks on all four of her hooves. Her tail had been pinned down in the same way as well.
"Jake" I whispered, then in a slightly louder voice... "Jake! Wake up!"
Beside me, Kayleese stirred instead, turning her head sideways to look at me.
"Kayleese? Are you all right?"
(Hurt... stomach... took her away... be careful... mad creature...) She seemed to fall back into a deep sleep. Her head drooped, and her stalk eyes lowered.
"Took who..." Then I saw something on a flat table beside her. It looked like a half formed Andalite baby... and then I realised what had happened...
"Oh god" I gasped, turning back to her and finally saw the surgical stiches across her lower stomach. The thing... had stolen her baby!
My eyes darted around the room. Left, then right... and I caught sight of something else on another table that I really didn't want to see. It was Mulynn. Or, what was left of him. He was splayed out in pieces, just like what someone would do with a science project or something...
I turned my head away and gagged. Then I threw up, getting some on my shoulder. What a sick creature...
"Ah, ssso you're awake" Came a voice, and I tensed up. Then whatever it was stepped into view, and I had to resist the urge to gag again.
It looked like someone had crossed a human-like creature with a plant. It had what looked like two arms and legs, but the rest... were vinelike tentacles. How many I couldn't be sure, but let's just say I lost count at about twelve. And they seemed to be able to grow and retract. The head was fairly human looking, only it was like a dried prune, and the eyes were black pools. A lot like the rest of it. Only, it seemed to be oozing some sort of tar-like material, and it dropped in buckets to the floor like dog saliva. The legs were more like tree-trunks... big, and ending in four root-like toes. The mouth itself... human, and the lower jaw slightly jutted out, like an ape, only each time it spoke, more of that black tar stuff oozed from its mouth.
"Who are you? What are you? And why are we here?"
"Why, you are my experimentsssss of coursssse"
"Experiments? For what?!"
"All your ssspeciesss are sssooo interessssting to me. I like to know how you... how you function, basssically. Thissss creature..." It pointed to the mess on the table, and I deliberately looked away "Wassss quite intriguing. I learned much from it"
Then it sauntered over to the Andalite baby in the jar "Quite an amazing sssspecimin, don't you think?"
"No, I don't. I think it's sick that you took her child, and I think it's sick that you think of other sentient creatures as experiments" I spat out, mostly terrified, but a little angry too.
"Sssssentient? You are not ssssssentient, you are..."
"I don't care what you think I am! Let me go!" I yelled at it, but it just turned and made its way over to me. I pressed myself against the steel table behind me as it came close to me, then reached out its hand and grabbed a handful of hair. It didn't hurt me, it just... held my hair, examining it. Then it let go, leaving some of the tar stuff on my hair, and it dripped down onto my shoulder. And it stank.
"You will be sssssaved for a different experiment. The other of your ssssspecies was not..."
"Oh god, what did you do with her?!!"
It smiled with the sick mouth, then pointed to a part of the room I hadn't noticed before. There was a tank, about twice as tall as an average human, and about three metres squared. It was filling up with water, and... Amanda was in there! She was banging on the glass above her, desperately trying to break it.
"Shark Amanda! Go shark!" I yelled to her, and she finally turned her head and saw me. She looked shocked, but then nodded and slipped under, closing her eyes and concentrating. I breathed again when I saw her start to shift and change. She was going to be all right.
The creature looked confused, then turned back to me curiously.
"I did not know you humansss could do thissss" it said, coming close and looking into my eyes "Can you do thissss?"
I said nothing. It looked a little annoyed, then walked off to look at Amanda. Where was Ovatt? Did he turn out like Mulynn, or was he still alive somewhere?
From the other side of the room, I saw Jake start to stir and lift his head a little. Then I think he remembered it all too, and his head shot straight up. He looked at me, then looked around, and then looked at me again.
"What... where... huh?"
"All I can tell you is that that... that thing..." I jerked my head toward the disgusting creature "...thinks we're lab rats"
"What?! Have you...?" He stopped talking when the creature came back around to look up at him, touching his cheek, then grabbing a few strands of hair like it had done with me, and let go. The tar was now on him, and he struggled to wipe it off his cheek using his shoulder. It worked... at least a little.
"What are you? Why did you bring us here?" He demanded, but the creature just walked off, then toddled over to me, seeming to consider something.
"Different genderssss.... am I correct?"
"I'm not telling you anything" I spat. It seemed to ignore me, then looked from Jake to me... and smiled. Then it went over and grabbed the glass jar with the baby in it, and stood halfway between me and Jake.
"Different genderssss... create this? Can different genderssss of the ssssame sssspeciessss create thissss? Or doessss it need to be two different sssspeciessss?"
"You..." Jake looked over at Kayleese, then at me, and I nodded grimly. Then he seemed angry.
"You took that... from Kayleese... you sick freak!"
"Ah... never mind..." it ignored us both, putting the jar back down, then disappearing into a dark corner for a moment, before returning with some sort of weird object. It looked like a scanner you see at grocery stores or something, only with two thick metal prongs on either side of it. It came over to me, pushed a button on the left side of the table I was on, and the thick metal ring around my stomach retracted. It lifted my shirt a little, revealing a slit of my stomach, then stuck the prongs unceremoniously into me. And then... the pain!
"Ahhhhh!!!!" I screamed in agony, wishing I could roll up into a ball and stop the pain, at least a little. But I couldn't do anything except writher in pain while the prongs felt like they were electrocuting me from the inside, seeming to be trying to pull something out of me.
"Stop it! Leave her alone!" I heard Jake yell from a far off, and then...
And then the pain stopped. I sagged, gasping for breath as the prongs were removed, and the metal ring that had been around my stomach slid back into place. I stared down at the thing who smiled as it looked at its instrument, then looked back up at me. I felt like something had been ripped from my stomach... it killed!
"Jade! Are you all right?!" Jakes shrill cry forced me to lift my head, at least enough to look up at him. I managed a weak nod before my head dropped back down again, and my eyes once again landed on the thing.
"Ssssince you refusssse to ansssswer my quesssstionssss... I will have to remove ssssome of your DNA" It looked a little disappointed, then sauntered over to Jake.
"No you won't. I'm not going to let you..." he was cut off as the thing stuck the prongs in him, and he felt the same thing I had been feeling. His scream cut through me, and I couldn't even cover my ears to keep the sound out.
(Jade? Jake? Are you guys all right?) I looked over at the tank, seeing Amanda was now a tiger shark. But I guess the look on my face told her enough.
(Oh jeez, this is bad! Look, I'm going to try and contact the others... see if they can hear us. If they can, it means were not that far away from the Aerionna)
That thought hadn't occurred to me. But I gave her a slight nod, and I guess she turned her attention on calling out to the others. I didn't hear it though. I was too busy watching as the thing frowned again, and behind it, Jake slumped with his head down. I heard him gasping for air.
"How dissssapointing. I guessss I will have to find out for mysssself" Then it smiled.
"Perhapssss now I will be able to perform my experimentssss on you now" It turned, and walked away, and I thought I heard a door sliding open and closed. I turned back to look at Jake, who was still recovering from the shock. He looked back up at me, and nodded.
"Go something small, then reverse the effects. We still have... we still have to get Amanda and..."
"Yeah, I know" I focused my mind on the image of a fly, beginning my rapid shrinking immediately. I saw Jake had the same idea. When I was finally small enough, I yanked my arms free, pulled my legs out, and buzzed my still forming fly wings down towards the ground. With that, I became human again, watching as Jake demorphed as fast as he could, leaving behind his regular clothes and ending up in his morphing outfit. He quickly gathered his clothes and put them hurriedly on as I went over to Kayleese, looking until I found three buttons to release her. I pushed the first, and her arms were freed. She swayed a little, but the metal strap around her upper waist stopped her from falling to the ground. I pushed the bottom button and her legs and tail were released.
"Jake, I'm gonna need your help or she's gonna fall!"
He dove over, braced himself to grab her and I did the same, pushing the final button and she fell into our arms. We took her weight, but barely.
"Kayleese! Kayleese, wake up! You're free!" We put her on the floor, and Jake stayed with her as I ran over to Amanda, warning her to be prepared as I grew just enough, and slammed the tank with tons of rhino force. It cracked, then the water pressure finally got to it and it broke, sending glass and water everywhere. Jake had to lift Kayleese's head just enough so she didn't drown, then splashing a bit of water on her face to wake her up a little. Amanda and I became ourselves, walking over to Jake and Kayleese, who was slowly starting to become aware of her surroundings.
(What... where am I? Oh the pain...)
"I know your hurt, but we really don't have time for that now. Do you have a bug morph of some kind?"
(I... yes... fly...)
"Good. We need you to become that Kayleese. Can you do that for us?"
"Why? What do you have in mind?"
"We need to get out of here, but I'm sure if we go out fighting that thing will just capture us again. So I suggest we find a way out of here and a way to get back to the others"
(I believe I may have a way out of here) Came a voice, and the three of us tensed up. Kayleese was still pretty out of it.
Then I saw blue and tan fur emerge from what looked like a cockroach body, and before we knew it, Ovatt was standing in front of us.
"What... where were you?" Amanda demanded.
(I was... I was caught, along with Mulynn. But I managed to escape. Mulynn thought it would be best to stay and talk to the creature... he was a fool)
"But where were you?" She pressed.
(I have been searching this complex for a way out. I was going to come back for Mulynn... but by then it was too late. The creature had...) He looked over to the table, and Jake followed his gaze. Ovatt then came over to Kayleese, bending his upped half down and taking her hand (Kayleese?)
(I... it took her away from me... I'm sorry, our child...)
(It is all right Kayleese. But we must leave here immediately. I am sorry... I did not know the creature had gotten you too) He turned one stalk eye to look at Jake, then the other to look us.
"Yeah, we kind of guessed"
"So how do we...?"
BAAAMMM!!!
An explosion shook the room, sending Amanda and I sprawling.
(I forgot to mention that I created something that would explode and distract the creature further. But it will not last long. We must hurry)
"Wait!" They turned to look at me.
"We can't let that thing keep our DNA Jake. I know what that thing plans to do now!"
"What? Why?"
"Because... I read in a book once... the cells from the stomach wall would probably be the best choice if you wanted to make... to make clones!"
BAAAAAMMMM!! BAAAAAMMM!! More shockwaves, and we turned to look at Ovatt.
(I only set one off. I did not...)
At that second we heard a loud clunk from above us, and then a grizzly and a gorilla dropped from above.