Hourly challenge: Indigen

a/n: Excitement in the Industrial sector when a pet gets loose.

Featuring 2 playable characters, 5 NPCs, and only one OC. Plus Spot.

All the good things (almost) belong to Monolith Soft.

The young grex tore along the broad roadway. The man hanging onto the leash around its neck was only the barest of hindrances. Grex were born to withstand sandstorms that blotted out the sun and electrical hurricanes that could strip the skin from a skell. The shouting and tugging of a puny human was nothing. The grex yipped happily and swung its lupine head. The man yelped and was flicked into the air. To the grex's disappointment, he didn't release the chain, but at least he wasn't dragging his boots anymore. The grex ran faster.

It knew this game, had played it on the dunes of Oblivia. Its owner, its friend, would hide behind the carved sandstone pillars or in the curves of cave tunnels and it was up to Spot to find him. A mixture of scent and electromagnetic waves made the tracking easy. Then they would switch places, with Spot hiding and its owner tracking it. Spot had by turns followed and led its owner all over the continent, across rivers and lakes, across ocean bays to dimpled islands. Every time there were scratches and praise and chewy snacks at the end. Spot's master loved Spot, and Spot loved him right back, and it loved this game.

When the two had come to this new desert, Spot had been anxious, even though its master had been there by its side. The tall flat canyons and metallic dunes had confused it, and there were so very many new scents to catalogue that the young Grex's nose grew tired. A few smells were from familiar creatures. It already knew Prone and Nopon, and its parents had taught it to beware the sharp scent of Wrothians while it was still the runt of the litter. But there were other scents, and to its excitement, many of them were connected to treats every bit as delicious as the ones its owner provided back home. When its owner told it to stay before entering a small shining cave, Spot was content to lean against their skell and interpret the wind with its nose.

It wasn't as happy when another skell moved towards it, blasting that noise that the owner only blasted at stupid ovis blocking the way to their home camp. It honked and honked, like a saltat but without grace, and Spot yapped back in annoyance for having been distracted. All the noise had not brought out its owner. Instead, the owner's friend had exited the cave and pulled on Spot's leash. Free from the anchor of the skell, Spot was glad to stretch his legs, but the skinny friend kept yanking it back. Finally, Spot understood. They were moving away so the owner could find it.

Why hadn't the friend just said that? Spot understood far more than some humans expected. It could find an excellent place to hide, one so mixed with scents that it would be a challenge for anyone to find it. Spot knew just the place: they'd passed it on their way into the city, and the riot of smells there had almost made the little grex howl with confusion. Even if it wasn't a great place to hide, Spot was itching to return there and explore what was causing that mess of possibilities.

xcxcxcxcx

H.B. gripped the chain with both gloved hands and tried to keep from letting his head smack into every shipping container they passed. The creature was doing its best to snap his arms from their sockets, plunging and whirling so that the experienced Pathfinder was alternately flapping like a kite or bumping like a wagon behind the runaway grex. He would have let go as soon as the creature had dragged him out of the Repenta parking lot if he hadn't been afraid of being whipped who knows how far off into the city, possibly all the way to the gel moat. Also, H.B. did not want to explain to Frye how he had lost Frye's dog.

"Aw man, listen to the pupper howl. Look, H.B., I gotta pay for the pup's food," Frye had said, waving at the potato sack sized order of hamburgers. "Do me a favor. Go out and comfort the little dude. I think he's still a little nervous about NLA, poor guy."

Damn me for being a good friend, thought H.B. as the leash whirled and bounced him off a construction skell. I should have told that driver to park in a different parking space and leave the original one to this beast, he thought as he was dribbled across the highway. I should have told Frye in no uncertain terms that he should have left his grex back in Oblivia, he mused as the beast doubled back and the leash wrapped around H.B. before spinning him like a top. Or I could have volunteered for a nice long mission in the phosphate lakes, counting filavents, he sighed to himself as the grex made a sharp turn into the West Gate. H.B. flew in a wide arc before being snapped over the animal as it came to a screeching halt.

That last surprise had been too much. H.B.'s grip slipped and he spun over the wriggling indigen, launching over the awning of what he now recognized as a skell refueling station. H.B. had been pulling hard on the chain and had managed to reduce the momentum of that final flick, enough that instead of crashing into the city walls he merely slammed into the local Nopon mini mart. The security shutters protected the glass window but didn't do much for H.B's pride or his spine. As he slid down the placards for tread cleaning services and Happy Happy Lotto Lotto tickets, he honestly could not imagine the night getting worse.

xcxcxcxc

Adola was not pleased by the commotion. Commotion was bad for business, especially when commotion was happening right outside shop doors. Commotion elsewhere might mean eventual thirst, or immediate need for medi-kits, or destruction of less protected competitors. Commotion at doorstep meant customers had trouble accessing excellent products, and also sometimes personal threat. Adola reached under the counter and pulled out a Candid & Credible strobe gun. She had recently invested in miranium shutters by the same manufacturer, and felt protected from most threats, but every advantage helped sometimes.

xcxcxcxcxcx

Spot was so pleased. The friend had finally understood and had let go. It had been fun yanking him, but Spot had been worried that he was never going to join the real game and hide. Spot sat on its haunches and gave a small wriggle. There were all the smells it had remembered, in a confusing ball, and while it waited for its owner to arrive, it would have a little time to untangle them all. But not much time, Spot noted. It hadn't run all that far, and there was hardly any cover in this half-cave. It settled down to sniff as much and as hard as it could.

Human, Nopon, Prone, yes, yes, yes. All the oily sharp smells of skells, the parts that shot, the parts that burned, especially those parts. Dirt from many places, including home, as well as a moldy place and a bony one. The tiny covered grotto in the center of the cavern was full of snacky smells, as well as the strange water that Spot was never allowed to share with its owner. Bad for grexes, its owner had told Spot over and over. Spot felt happy, knowing how much its owner wanted to keep it safe.

Time would run out soon, but first there were two more smells, very clear, that Spot really wanted to examine. A wet and cheesy smell, and one that smelled suspiciously like common stick insect except with a certain electric buzzing to it. It closed its eyes and tried to get a better feel for these two opposites, entwined with Nopon, human, and Prone.

Something poked its snout. Spot yipped gladly and opened its eyes. To its great disappointment, it was not facing its beloved owner. This was balanced by the realization that the stick insect scent was positively pouring off the figure in front of it. The new indigen was slightly larger than a human, but frail and antennaed. It buzzed at Spot. Spot barked, feinted a pounce, barked again, and swallowed it whole.

xcxcxcxcxc

The night staff of the C&C West Gate Skell Refueling Station was in crisis. They weren't great during normal days, being fairly underwhelming when it came to muscle. Prone males might be beefy, but Selia was almost as dainty as a human female, if more generously curved, and she was the strongest of the crew. It didn't surprise her in the slightest when her coworker Min'barac was swallowed whole by the grex that had inexplicably appeared at the station. This was not the first time he'd been eaten by an indigen, and judging from this evening, it wouldn't be the last.

"Noborata! Tikotiko! Help me rescue Min!"

"Honestly? Selia? We're not fighters, we're researchers, okay?" replied a casual Ma-non voice from behind a parked skell.

"Tikotiko only here for easy paycheck, not as intrepid defender," their safely hidden Nopon squadmate chimed in.

"Oh may the Tree give me strength," Selia muttered, and looked around for something, anything, to open the grex's jaws and allow her to pull her Orphean friend out. "Would the hydraulic jack used for changing car tires work to open those teeth?" she shouted to her hidden coworkers.

"Worth a shot, don't you think?" Noborata called back. "Good luck!"

"Come here!" she shouted at the grex, waving the jack at him. The indigen barked and snatched it from her hands. She hoped it didn't give Min'barac a concussion when it reached the creature's stomach. She shook her blue fists at the grex and growled. It growled back and wagged its tail.

"Ya gotta be firm with them," said a figure over her shoulder. The newest visitor to the station was built like a Prone warrior except for the pink skin and regrettable lack of tentacles. "You. Pup. AUS!"

xcxcxcx

The grex had eaten one xeno and was ready to eat a second. This was a disaster on so many levels. Commander Vandham looked over at the feisty Prone standing next to him. "Missy, go check on my soldier over there," Commander Vandham ordered the civilian. He wasn't worried too much about H.B., who was lying inert in a tangle of canvas and thin miranium rods. The boy had bounced off of worse things, including the Commander's fists. What worried Vandham was whether the monster would decide to finish its meal with a side of Prone. He knew that Prone tended to stand their ground even when they were clearly outmatched, but they also were usually willing to take direct orders. To his relief, the young woman moved quickly out of the way, to tend to the unconscious Pathfinder.

Vandham relaxed slightly, keeping his eyes on the grex. He could only hope that Frye had been somewhat consistent with training this monstrosity. Same commands, same words, same tone. If this didn't work, Vandham was going to have to go in after that Orphean with his bare hands. Not the worst thing he'd done in the past month, he considered. Miles better than briefings with Chausson, that was for sure. He rolled a massive shoulder. A little exercise might even be enjoyable.

xcxcxcxcxc

Spot whined. It didn't like this stranger. He smelled angry, and scary, and not likely to be quick with treats. Spot lowered its head slightly and whined.

"Hund! Aus!" shouted the stranger again.

Spot wanted to pretend it didn't know what he meant, but something about the fire smoldering in the human's narrow-set eyes hinted that was a bad idea. Spot's owner was its ideal alpha, but Spot began to wonder if its owner wasn't a runt just like Spot. It crouched lower and whined again.

"You heard me. Cough it up. AUS!"

If a grex could stick out its lower lip and pout, Spot did just that. But it also obediently heaved out its wriggling snack (and the metallic tidbit). It lowered its head onto its crossed paws and tried to look like the goodest of good boys.

"You okay there?"

"I am 12.94% injured, but 66.84% disgusted," burbled the Orphean sitting cross-legged in a pool of grex digestive slime.

The oversized human grabbed Spot's leash and this time the pup didn't dare play. But Spot wasn't worried. It had caught the indistinguishable scent of its owner, moving fast and directly toward them. Spot gave a tiny woof and wagged its tail. The evening had been confusing, but it would be getting head pats any minute now.

a/n: I have adopted the team from "The Bug Whisperer" and they now work for Lila at her new station. Praise me for only including one OC, Adola.

Yes, I spent more than one hour on this. Thank you to coto and the Xenomeme team for remembering the quest.