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The first thing Sulphide did was embrace her, or at least as close as raptors could. She said nothing at his tender licks and nuzzling purrs, stroking his snout down along the back of her neck and pressing his clawed arms against her waist. She said nothing at the look in his eyes, her own sunken with a new exhaustion he had never seen as he walked her back to her den beneath the seaward forest. The ultraraptors watched her heavy steps, the ocean singing to itself with gentle laps against the beach behind them, the raft settling on the sands as raptors untied their icthyosaur slaves to put back into their tidal pen.

[i]"What's wrong with her?"[/i] asked one of the raptors.

[i]"No idea she hasn't said anything the whole trip back."[/i]

[i]"Do we even know what happened?"[/i] mused one clicking her steel tail.

[i]"Nothing I got,"[/i] shrugged another guard, [i]"just sat down on the raft and said nothing, stared at her feet the whole time."[/i]

[i]"I hope she's alright...I never seen her like this."[/i]

The Scar Island was still lush with life, the mountain-dwelling natives sitting on their stone nests sheltered in the shadow of their home where a few ultraraptors mixed with the black-scaled raptors, steel and flesh glinting amongst the shale whilst those from the Hunter's Nest in the old world had settled themselves by the coast near forests and grassy plains. Their children had grown taller, their bellies had turned fuller and the ocean looked purer to them for the bracing adventure they had taken, with some venturing to explore the land in small groups to discover the great-scarred signature of the isle by its glorious zirconian depths, shimmering blue and black crystals that fascinated the raptors and the ultraraptors harvested for their own purposes with a slow and tender grind by a mixture of their acid flame and tail-links that sharply scraped and polished the jewels into smaller studs that they would fit into their natural-armoured parts.

[i]"Whaddaya think?"[/i] said a greyish-white raptor showing off an azure necklace.

[i]"It looks amazing!"[/i] said the black-scaled female. [i]"But, what is it for?"[/i]

[i]"Nothing, it just makes you look pretty!"[/i]

[i]"Am I...not?"[/i]

[i]"Wha-no of course you are, but, yanno, you could...s-sorry, I, thought you'd like it."[/i]

[i]"I do, they are very lovely!"[/i] She purred as he slipped it onto her neck. [i]"I just do not know what it is for."[/i]

[i]"It's not for anything, I made it for you, it's a gift, yanno, something nice."[/i]

[i]"I have never received shining stones as a gift before,"[/i] she gently scritched at the stones with her claws, [i]"usually I receive meat."[/i]

[i]"I get you meat every day,"[/i] he rolled his eyes, [i]"you deserve something better, for the best raptor."[/i]

[i]"Mmmmm...thank you,"[/i] she licked at his snout, [i]"it does make me feel...special."[/i]

[i]"Cuz that's what you are,"[/i] he nuzzled curling up against her, [i]"you've given me a life better than I could have on my own, since my pack settled here you were always nice to me and well I just...I don't want a family with anyone else, Deepeye."[/i]

[i]"And I a family with you, Tesla. I am happy that your tribe and mine have become friends."[/i]

[i]"Me too. I want our packs to be together, forever."[/i]

He stroked along her swollen belly, licking across her face as the jewelled necklace glinted with a shimmering blue that caught the light of the afternoon breeze. Watching these two was a lone raptor, his older single eye glinting with a twitch with the scars of his face turning darker in the sun.

[i]"Father?"[/i]

[i]"...hmm?"[/i] He did not turn his head.

[i]"Father we hafta hunt, you promised."[/i]

[i]"I did?"[/i] He blinked and looked down to his green-backed daughter. [i]"Oh. Yes, I did, alright, where are your siblings?"[/i]

She pointed her snout over to three hatchlings who were wrestling each other in the fields, pinning with their teeth at their necks and sharpening claws that barely raked flesh, the lack of restraint heard by their shrieks and whimpers until their father marched over.

[i]"Children come. We hunt to the north today."[/i]

[i]"But ah wanna see the trees!"[/i] squeaked his son.

[i]"We live by the trees, you see them every day."[/i]

[i]"BUT AH WAN' TREEEES!"[/i]

[i]"Then you will starve and die, do you want to starve?"[/i]

[i]"N-...Noooo?!"[/i]

[i]"Then you hunt with your family. Come."[/i]

He took the four children out into the tall grass as they searched for their first prey of the week, sniffing through the veldt as the wind picked up to make the fields dance with a caressing hand invisible across the flaxen plain, sweeping in motions as herbivores lumbered through keeping close as they could within tolerable distance of other herds, the raptors shifting their position to keep downwind as Sunscreech pushed his head through the reeds, crippled arms of blackened bone that had been gnawed and deadened by the elements.

[i]"Stop. Let them pass."[/i]

[i]"Why not just kill 'em?!"[/i] whispered his daughter.

[i]"We are not here to fight, we are here to feast, you wait for one of them to be alone, one that is slower than the rest."[/i]

[i]"OOH, that one!"[/i] his other daughter sniffed towards a young protoceratops.

[i]"Good, move in close before the others notice."[/i]

They travelled as one as they kept their heads low, following the scent of the loner who had wandered too far from the company of his herd to graze without their bickering. He was a young soul, childish and churlish as the calls of his family from beyond were met by a snort of indifference, his eyes of apathy staring towards the mountain range at the centre of the isle. He did not notice the five raptors circling in the long-grassed expanse, shark fins that blended in the rush and swayed at a constant dip to mimic the reeds as they came in closer. The first bite came from underfoot, a male's jaws pulling at the belly with all his force to shred a small tear that made the loner jump with shock, turning his head with fright to not see the larger raptor from the other side who grabbed the back of his neck and threw him down with a devastating force, crushing the grass to a flattened scape as the herd began to flee with braying fright. The lone protoceratops felt a strange peace he did not expect the instant before he died, something that soothed his heart as Sunscreech stopped for a moment and pressed his clawed foot against the beast's throat.

[i]"Why do you not struggle?"[/i] he murmured. [i]"Why?"[/i]

[i]"KILL IT FATHER!"[/i]

[i]"YEAH KILL IT!"[/i] his children shrieked.

[i]"Answer me!"[/i] he barked at his prey.

[i]"Why do you care?"[/i] the loner asked. [i]"Just food for you am I not?"[/i]

[i]"You will answer me when I speak, hornhead!"[/i]

[i]"You ask why I do not struggle? Why I kept myself apart from the tribe despite their warnings that this would happen? I just stopped caring."[/i]

[i]"Stopped...what do you mean?"[/i]

[i]"I just do not care,"[/i] the larger beast laid his head fully. [i]"I do not wish to die, I do not beg for it, but I will not fight against it for there is nothing in life for me. What do I have but eating on the plains, roaming this land from sea to shining sea with the same tribe I have always known? What life is that, what life such as that is worth living when one could be so much greater, venturing to lands unknown."[/i]

[i]"KILL IT!"[/i] screamed his son.

[i]"QUIET!"[/i] Sunscreech snarled back to them then back to the loner. [i]"Do you truly care so little for yourself that you would disrespect your family this way?"[/i]

[i]"No one asks to be born,"[/i] the protoceratops rolled his eye, [i]"I have always been like this. I find no pleasure in living, but this life is my own and I choose to do nothing with it because I have nothing."[/i]

[i]"What utter SHIT!"[/i] the raptor barked an inch from his eye. [i]"You are a waste of flesh to speak so empty of your life, and a beast as selfish as you should have die sooner!"[/i]

[i]"Then why have you not killed me already?"[/i] The creature smirked. [i]"I see it in your eye, you know what I speak of yes?"[/i]

[i]"You-...YOU KNOW NOTHING, you are a pathetic wombsmear who chose to die!"[/i]

[i]"Better to have the choice than to make a mistake and suffer for it."[/i]

[i]"YOU ARE THE MISTAKE!"[/i]

[i]"I made no mistakes. A choice cannot be a mistake."[/i]

[i]"IT IS WHEN IT HURTS YOUR FAMILY METHYL!"[/i]

He pulled his head back with a shudder from the depths. The horned beast raised his head to follow him with a stranger look as the children watched on confused.

[i]"What are you DOING?!"[/i]

[i]"Why's he not DEAD?!"[/i]

[i]"Yeah kill 'im father I'm hungry!"[/i]

[i]"Who do you speak of?"[/i] asked the horn-head.

[i]"N-NO ONE, ENOUGH!"[/i] Sunscreech shook through his head.

[i]"I am sorry if my way has upset you."[/i]

[i]"SH-SHUT UP, SHUT UP!"[/i] He suddenly slashed the protoceratops' face with a crunch of his teeth. [i]"YOU KNOW NOTHING! YOU KNOW, [b]NOTHING![/b]"[/i]

[i]"I understand, swiftclaw."[/i] He gritted his teeth from the wounding bite. [i]"Do not equate me to the one you knew, we are both differen-"[/i]

[i]"NOOO!"[/i]

He crushed the throat of his prey and ripped its neck to a gaping wound, bloodied spittle pouring into fields of golden green as the shrieks of the raptor resounded over the grass when he tore and gouged deeper into the splitting throat. He did not stop, he did not cease when the meat had all but emptied from the neck and his face had become crimson with a screaming rage that frightened his children as they backed up further away from the red thickening sea that tread closer to their feet. Sunscreech exhausted himself, his legs raking hard into the body of the fallen beast whose tongue had stilled and his eyes became venerate towards the heavens as the hunter slumped against the side of the cooling body. The children only approached when they heard a soft weeping.

[i]"I-i-i...I...I-i-i needed you."[/i]

[i]"F-father?"[/i]

[i]"I needed you...why did you leave me, wh-why did you, y-you...s-s-selfish, wh-why did you not even care about me, o-our children, I have to raise them by myself I was not READY to do this!"[/i]

[i]"Father it...it's okay."[/i]

He turned to his children now staring upon his blood-covered face, shuddering gasps from his throat as he sat within the puddle of red and slumped his head against the deadened beast.

[i]"F-for...n-no. No it is nothing I...I am sick."[/i]

[i]"We miss mother too."[/i] His jade daughter stepped forwards to lick his neck. [i]"It's okay. We...we still got each other."[/i]

[i]"I...I know, child."[/i]

[i]"We won't leave you father, we're...we're a family."[/i]

[i]"You do not know that."[/i] He stared with his single eye. [i]"You are young you...you know not what life can do to you."[/i]

[i]"But we're here too!"[/i] squeaked one of his sons whilst the other tried to eat at the body. [i]"We, w-we got nowhere else to go, w-we wanna be with you father."[/i]

[i]"You are too young to...say that and mean the truth."[/i]

[i]"Well yer too old to say that too."[/i]

[i]"...hmph...hm, hhhmhmhmhm,"[/i] a reluctant laugh escaped his pained face, [i]"ahhhh...how old do you think I am, son?"[/i]

[i]"Uhhhh...I-i don' think I can count that much father."[/i]

[i]"Pffft hahahaha, oh come on you are not stupid."[/i]

[i]"Father isn't THAT old,"[/i] said his other daughter, [i]"he's just been in a lotta hunts cuz them scars!"[/i]

[i]"Hmmm..."[/i] he looked down to the red pool at his reflection, [i]"I...huh, I do look very old. But then, what would it matter when one can die too young?"[/i]

[i]"Yer not TOO old father,"[/i] his daughter nuzzled up against, [i]"it's okay, yer young enough to, to s-still play with us!"[/i]

[i]"You think so?"[/i] Sunscreech looked to her.

[i]"Yah, you couldn't do that if you were too old!"[/i]

[i]"That is true...hmm."[/i]

There was a brief silence, minus the son feasting on the fresh corpse with gluttonous abandon as they looked to him and felt their hunger growing once more. They tore at the flesh and drank rich of the blood still within as Sunscreech struggled to silence the burning seethe in his mind, chewing slower with a gnawing depth in the pit of his stomach. They finished their meal within the hour, tearing through the innards and licking the ribs clean to leave a husk well-stripped as they headed home with fatter bellies. One of his daughters kept close looking up to him, the sons and the other daughter trailing behind to nip at each other's tails and play-fight briefly before they felt sick from too much jostling.

[i]"Can we help, father?"[/i] his green daughter asked.

[i]"No, thank you child."[/i]

[i]"You wanna just sleep?"[/i]

[i]"No, it is not yet night."[/i]

[i]"It's okay if you wanna sleep a little bit,"[/i] she nuzzled his leg.

[i]"Your brothers and sister need someone to watch them."[/i]

[i]"I'll do it!"[/i]

He looked down to her with a curious squint slowing his pace.

[i]"You are a child."[/i]

[i]"Yeah but...I wanna help,"[/i] she pawed the ground looking down at herself, [i]"I-i...I know you miss mother, and I know you get...you get sad so I wanna make it, um...you don' hafta do everything, I-i wanna help."[/i]

[i]"I am your father,"[/i] he bent down upon her face, [i]"I must do everything to keep you safe, keep you well-fed and to teach you to hunt."[/i]

[i]"What if you get sick?"[/i] she looked up into his eye.

[i]"Then uncle Radium will take care of you."[/i]

[i]"But who takes care of YOU?! No one's takin' care of you!"[/i]

[i]"I do not NEED care!"[/i]

[i]"BUT-"[/i]

[i]"ENOUGH!"[/i] His snapping bark silenced them as they all looked to him. [i]"Just...let us go home and speak no more of this, we will hunt again at night."[/i]

[i]"Okay father."[/i]

The daughter of green sighed and walked behind him, joined by her siblings as they made their way back to the forest by the sea where raptors milled about the nests and rolled through the fresh grass cackling with their children. The shining stones and claws of azul from cybernetic beasts now cradled their children, freshly-scaled from head to tail amongst black and brown raptors with a negative rainbow of ultraraptors in green, black, red and yellow. Some of the natives looked at Sunscreech, the ones from Scar Island curiously sniffing towards him whilst the ones from Hunter's Nest actively snarling with harumphs and a turn of their tails at his stonefaced expression.

[i]"Why don't they like us?"[/i] asked one of his sons with green splotch.

[i]"They like you,"[/i] said his father, [i]"they just do not like me."[/i]

[i]"Why?"[/i]

[i]"I am tired son, please let us just-child, stop."[/i]

His other son of pale brown wandered over to another family, barking with a wag of his tail towards their children.

[i]"Hi! Wanna play?!"[/i]

[i]"Uhhh okay!"[/i]

[i]"Sandeyes no,"[/i] their mother stepped in between, [i]"keep away from him."[/i]

[i]"Wh-whut, why?"[/i]

[i]"I do not want you near his father, he is dangerous."[/i]

[i]"No he's not!"[/i] Sunscreech's son mewled. [i]"H-he's my father!"[/i]

[i]"And I pity you all the more for it."[/i] She bent down softening her eyes to him. [i]"You do not deserve him, you deserve someone better."[/i]

[i]"But...b-but I got no one else."[/i]

[i]"Well where is your mother?"[/i]

[i]"She, sh-she died."[/i]

[i]"...hm."[/i] She looked up towards him with a sneer of disgrace. [i]"He never changed."[/i]

[i]"Wh-whut?!"[/i]

[i]"When your father gets banished again, I hope alpha finds you a better family."[/i]

The mother said nothing more jostling her children away from Sunscreech's family, the son sniffling as he dragged his feet back towards his father with a look of fear.

[i]"Sh-she...she said you'd get ban-isht again, wh-whut does that mean?"[/i]

[i]"Nothing,"[/i] he sighed walking onwards, [i]"just let us go home."[/i]

Heading back into the forest they settled in their nest, Sunscreech curling up to rest and digest his food whilst his children slumped beside him. His daughter was last to fall asleep, staring upon his face with a deeper shudder in his breath.

Deeper within the woods Riptor sat inside an earthen cave, the roots of a stately tree crowning her head with her claws upon the stone seat of her throne.

[i]"And that was it?"[/i] Sulphide stood in front of her. [i]"Was that everything?"[/i]

[i]"Yes,"[/i] she said with head bowed, [i]"that was all that happened."[/i]

[i]"Hmmm."[/i]

He paced with a cautious look as his pale yellow skin gleamed from the sun outside.

[i]"I cannot imagine what you must have heard but I swear I never spoke to you then."[/i]

[i]"So you keep saying,"[/i] she knitted her brow shaking her head, [i]"but I heard you. I know I did, I am NOT crazy-"[/i]

[i]"I know you are not,"[/i] he turned licking her head, [i]"I would never, no, you are our leader for a reason, you are the most intelligent you would know if something was a-"[/i]

[i]"Hallucination?"[/i] She lifted her head up to him. [i]"But that's the thing isn't it? How do you know what's real when your own mind is telling you it is?"[/i]

[i]"I...I-i don't know, but I know I never spoke with you for that time you were with them and these aliens."[/i]

[i]"Nothing makes sense."[/i] Riptor closed her eyes and stroked her snout with her long fine claws. [i]"Nothing about this Oddclaw makes sense, he has friends who are human, his father came from beyond, he can fight against aliens without fear or quarrel and he even knew what that undead thing was! I cannot understand this Sulphide, I just...I just can't."[/i]

[i]"What matters is you are safe,"[/i] he said purring to nuzzle her neck, [i]"I was so afraid I...I know you would be fine but I worry, someone has to."[/i]

[i]"I know, you're good to me like that."[/i]

[i]"I just...I-i have nothing else but you, you...I can't explain how I feel to you."[/i]

[i]"Try to."[/i]

[i]"...what?"[/i]

[i]"Try to explain."[/i] She blinked her golden eyes at him. [i]"I want to hear...I need to. There were things I heard from you that...that did not make sense and I need to hear what YOU say, the one in front of me."[/i]

[i]"A-alright."[/i]

Sulphide took a deep breath and fumbled his claws with a smack of his lips.

[i]"I guess the closest thing I would call you is my mother, which I know is both true and not true in that we are related."[/i]

[i]"As I am to everyone in our pack."[/i]

[i]"But I was the first one you freed, the first one who...who grew up beside you and I...I don't want to say this."[/i]

[i]"Please."[/i] She raised her head with a tensing throat. [i]"I need this."[/i]

[i]"I don't want to sound like I'm more special than the others, all of us have the same rights as raptors do but...I feel...I-i feel like you and I are...more."[/i]

[i]"I have always seen you as my son Sulphide, that's not a secret."[/i]

[i]"Do the others think that too?"[/i] he scratched the floor with a nervous foot.

[i]"I don't care what the others think, I care about what YOU think, there's a reason I have you lead when I was away."[/i]

[i]"Yes but...uh, I-i guess that's true."[/i]

[i]"Then...do you believe what I told you?"[/i]

[i]"Yes, absolutely."[/i]

[i]"You're not just saying that because of me?"[/i]

[i]"No I believe you, you would never lie to me."[/i]

[i]"But do I lie to myself, that's the problem."[/i] She sucked on her teeth tapping her claws against her chest. [i]"That's why I need you to be honest, so I know what is true and what isn't."[/i]

[i]"I understand,"[/i] he nodded stepping to her side.

[i]"The aliens were real, we were all there, Oddclaw's family and I, that is irrefutable. It's just the times I heard you that I cannot discern but you have told me you never spoke to me then."[/i]

[i]"Correct."[/i]

[i]"Then it's agreed. I hallucinated your voice somehow."[/i]

[i]"I...Riptor you're frightening me."[/i]

[i]"There's no other way to explain it,"[/i] she shrugged, [i]"I had an audial hallucination, maybe something in the cave triggered it since I feel it only happened during then."[/i]

[i]"Some sort of...reaction with the stone there?"[/i] he cocked his head.

[i]"I need to solve this."[/i] She stood up with a stretch. [i]"I will make another journey, back to the cave, with a group of ours so we can solve the truth of this matter. I can't lead if I don't even know myself."[/i]

[i]"Are you sure?"[/i] Sulphide brushed against her cheek. [i]"You have been away for so long you need to rest, none of us are going anyplace."[/i]

[i]"I know, I'll stay for a month or two, keep up the presence, it's not good for their leader to be away for so long."[/i]

[i]"I agree, thank you, plus the natives get awful curious as to why their 'alpha' keeps leaving to her own duties, apparently that's not something their leaders do."[/i]

[i]"Really?"[/i] She pursed her lips. [i]"I had not considered that...we need to keep them on our side so I suppose it's best I stay for longer."[/i]

[i]"I think that's the best choice."[/i]

Riptor stepped out towards the light at the entrance, her metal frills on the top of her head stretching out to become golden peaks.

[i]"How have things been here?"[/i] she asked looking back.

[i]"Very good,"[/i] said Sulphide walking past, [i]"children are still being born, the hunts have been plentiful and we've managed to extract some of the hibonite as little trinkets!"[/i]

[i]"Trinkets, really?"[/i] Riptor snickered at him. [i]"I thought we were making them into armour."[/i]

[i]"Well some of us like to feel pretty once in a while."[/i]

[i]"Maybe you?"[/i]

[i]"W-well...um,"[/i] he blushed with a smirk, [i]"s-sometimes I like to think I could look...nicer."[/i]

[i]"Awww."[/i] She nibbled his cheek. [i]"No reason not to, not something I would do but I won't stop you."[/i]

[i]"Hahah, ah, w-well, yes, glad we had this talk, will you be alright?"[/i]

[i]"I will be, thank you."[/i]

[i]"I have an idea!"[/i] He hopped with a grin. [i]"What if we set up a password to each other?"[/i]

[i]"A what?"[/i]

[i]"A code, that only we know, something that no other creature can tell us. That way if...anything happens you will know when it is me and when it is...not."[/i]

[i]"Hmmm...that, yes, that's an excellent idea."[/i] She nipped his head with a smooch. [i]"Thank you for listening."[/i]

[i]"It's what I do, my goddess."[/i]

[i]"Hmhmhmhm...alright, what password should we use?"[/i]

[i]"How about...the name of the pod I was trapped in?"[/i]

[i]"Your pod? Really?"[/i]

[i]"No one else knows it,"[/i] he shrugged, [i]"and I will say it first for every communique we make."[/i]

[i]"Alright. Good, now I need some food I am STARVING."[/i]

[i]"Shall we hunt together then?"[/i] Sulphide grinned bumping against her hip. [i]"We haven't done that together in a while."[/i]

[i]"Mmmm...sure, why not?"[/i] Riptor smiled and bumped him back. [i]"I need to kill something good, freshen my claws, feel the last breath of maybe three or so creatures."[/i]

[i]"Well let's not be TOO wasteful, maybe two."[/i]

[i]"Are you going to tell your goddess three is too much?"[/i] she grinned even wider with all her fangs.

[i]"Hahaha alright, alright three then if you wish."[/i]

[i]"It's strange how crazy I get when I haven't killed something in days."[/i]

[i]"You get that too?!"[/i]

[i]"Oh definitely, storing our food is all good but just...it's so much better when you've killed an inferior beast and the SECOND taste its blood, it nourishes the soul."[/i]

[i]"Absolutely."[/i] He slinked his tail partly over hers. [i]"Maybe that's what you were missing, not looking after your soul."[/i]

[i]"Maybe."[/i] She rubbed her tail against his as they walked into the sun. [i]"Times like this, you're almost acting in place of my soul."[/i]

[i]"Really?"[/i] He looked to her framed in silhouette.

[i]"I do."[/i] She smiled to him. [i]"So long as I have you beside me, I feel hope for the future of our kind."[/i]

[i]"...thank you."[/i] He stood taller with head held high. [i]"I will not fail you Riptor. I never will."[/i]

[i]"I know. We know."[/i]

[i][u]Diplomatic Negotiations - Mohberrin Village Supply Trade[/u][/i]

[i]21-10-2045[/i]

[i]Recorded by Dr. Kevin Izquierda[/i]

[i]After a thankfully brief negotiation, our base has made an arrangement with Mohberrin Village to supply them with strengthened metals, in exchange for their harvest of polysulfide-based flora that I've been gathering. Sort of funny we give them armour and they give me the anti-armour, or the armour-strengthener depending on what we need. Since they first settled here, the folks at Mohberrin have been pretty chill about living on their own and never really asked for our help, though I admit I've made their development something of a pet project of mine.[/i]

[i]After enough pestering I helped install a biofuel farm and also gave them a quick guide on the plants in the area that have medicinal use. A lot of them are actually being offered in the trade since they grew so many of them with their farm that they actually don't have enough space to hold them all! It saves us a lot of time and effort considering our own hydroponics lab are stocked full of our own edible plants and mycoproteins to keep us going. My assistants spend a lot of time in the village, acting as semi-ambassadors but mostly just keeping everyone healthy with their medical knowledge.[/i]

"Yanno this place is real nice," said Adenine swishing his robe, "despite being sort of a swamp."

"I mean we DID clear it out a little," Bokonette shrugged walking beside, "you can just like hop across the puddles if it really bothers ya."

"Naaaah I can get my clothes cleaned it's fine," he smirked from his beak, "mostly the shoes I was worried about but I got them refitted to be waterproof."

"I never worn shoes myself," she looked down at her thick cloven feet, "don't think any of us have ever, 'cept for the Yiga but they're like human so-"

"Yeaaah," he rubbed his hood as they squelched through puddles, "but seriously hanging here is awesome, feels more open than the base which hey I don't mind, it's great but it's...there's something about this place that's so free yanno?"

"Yeah." She stared across the village square to its raised huts. "I love this place. Kinda hope we never leave."

"I hope not too."

He pressed his hand against her back as she looked up to him. Her snout quivered with a blush as he stroked down her limb and clutched her thick-knuckled hand.

"S-so uh...you wanted that lesson about tourniquets right?"

"Y-yeah," Bokonette gasped, "I-i-i uhm...need to know how to be...tight."

"Yeah?" His fingers shook brushing her pig's ear.

"H-hhhh...y-yeah..."

She took his hand as they walked into her hut. The village was in full motion with moblins, bokoblins and lizalfos crafting new walls of solid steel and refining weapons to become shining blades. Children rolled and parried each other in the swampy puddles, leaping out of the path of each other's strikes and clashing with wooden swords against pot-lid shields. Mothers sat in seats nursing their youngest, whilst fathers stirred pots of soup for lunch as the sun rose higher above. Amongst the gaggle of beasts was a small collective of humans distributing large slabs of steel from a nearby space ship, with a scientist in a white coat and a lizalfos in a long-feathered cape taking boxes from the village.

"Hope this all helps," said Kevin lugging another crate.

"Sure does!" Lizanaich loaded another into the ship. "Hooo, that should be the last one."

"Thanks again for this, really saves us a lotta time."

"Hey no problem, thanks for the steel I was kinda worried we were asking a lot."

"The weapons were a bit much," the scientist shrugged, "so this was the best we could do, that way you guys could make your own weapons to like, fit you."

"I'm still not sure about these myself," Liz shrugged looking back to his craftsmiths, "not that I'm against them, I just don't know how to use them."

"I can teach ya, all of us at the base know how to use them, we got these laser-based ones that work mostly against machines, but you shoot organics enough times and it'll work just the same."

"Huh, so I could piss off a guardian OR a lynel at the same time, great!"

They both smiled with a snicker as Kevin walked into the village centre with the chief. The Mohberrin villagers allocated themselves between defensive reinforcements and weapons manufacturing as Kevin oversaw their development, coaching them with schematics he had brought from the base as the villagers used laser tools donated from the humans to help them shape and slice the hard steel into adjustable parts. Throughout the afternoon until the sun was set, Kevin kept a watchful eye sitting beside Lizanaich who pieced together a pistol, the sounds of clashing steel and lasering saws ringing throughout the settlement.

"Okay now you attach the barrel."

"The what now?" he scratched his head looking over the parts.

"The long part, it's where your bullets come from."

"I thought you said lasers."

"Sorry the ammo, the fire comes from there."

"Alrighty," he took up the barrel and twisted it into place.

"Now the trigger guard," Kevin picked up a C-shape, "so you don't accidentally slip your finger onto the trigger and shoot yourself."

"Jeez this thing's real complicated," Lizanaich clicked it in, "not like a spear where all you gotta do is stab someone."

"Yeah but what if they're in the sky or something?"

"I have this," the lizard tapped his glowing horn with a rubber glove, "make this shoot off in any direction."

"Sounds like you don't even need the gun," Kevin smirked cracking his knuckles.

"Honestly I didn't really want one of these, I just didn't wanna look ungrateful when you offered to help me."

"Ahh is fine, we had fun! Plus it looks good if the chief is learning to do it."

"Lead by example an' all that." He picked up his finished handgun and took aim to hear it click. "Is that good?"

"When it has the magazine in it yeah, but that means it's working!"

"Cool cool!"

"Now since you have children I recommend you keep the magazines out of your guns so no sticky little hands pick one up and start firing at everyone."

"Yeaaah that's what worries me," he turned the weapon in his claws, "it's too light and easy, like...there's no training behind this, a kid can't pick up a sword but this thing."

"That's why you need to know about gun safety," Kevin took the pistol politely, "there's a set of rules you always follow with one of these, the first being to never have it sitting around loaded."

A gurgling sound rumbled from nearby as he looked down to see a bulbous jelly with two googly eyes and an electric shade of gold.

"Uh...hello?"

"Oh hey Chuson," Lizanaich waved, "jeez I almost never see you out of the mill, something up?"

The jelly made a burbling sound that vaguely resembled worry.

"Yeah I know we're standing out more with this but let's face it there's gonna be a lot more coming after us, not just the beasts but all the other stuff that comes from beyond."

"Yeah we're really fucking up our experiments," Kevin made a big oopsie-shrug, "so yanno, best we can do is help you guys prepare."

Chuson growled with a bubbling caution, oozing himself closer towards Lizanaich who nodded.

"I know you don't like the idea, we were all at the meeting and you made your voice very clear, that's why I put down a limit to how many weapons we'd get."

More gurgling shudders from the yellow blob.

"Swords and spears don't count we already got them, we're just refining them for Din's sake, I mean these gong things-"

"Guns," Kevin corrected.

"These guns are for big dangerous things, we're not using them to hunt, we're just putting these someplace special so IF we need to break 'em out we'll be ready!"

A smouldering discontent came from Chuson that eventually opened itself to reluctant agreement. Then he initiated another dialogue with a squelching question.

"I put some of that aside yeah," said Liz pointing to the steel slabs, "just for repairs an' stuff, speaking of how's the farm going?"

Shorter response from the chu with a bubbling squeak.

"Great, awesome, you've been really pulling through with that, it's thanks to you that we managed to figure out the real nitty an' gritty of that thing."

"I could have explained more if you wanted," Kevin cocked his head, "if you were having problems understanding the mechanics-"

"Nah nah Chuson's got it, he knows all about machines he's our chief mechanic."

"Weird I never saw him until now."

"Chuson doesn't stand out, he's always much more comfortable working in the guts of a machine or building something than being out in the open right buddy?"

Chuson blorbed in the positive as he stretched a piece of his electron-charged body for Liz to high-five with his rubber glove, watching the chu wobble himself away back to the farm as Kevin stood up and bent his steel-bladed legs.

"Hoooo, alrighty so what you up to the rest of the day?"

"Well I've stolen your assistants," the lizalfos thumbed towards a hut, "think I got enough here from you haha."

"I mean hey they love being here, not gonna stop them now!"

"Yeaaaah, so you guys still working on your tech-gate thing?"

"Pretty much!" Kevin rocked on his legs with a grinding creak. "Just still hoping to shoot ourselves home."

"So what is your world like anyways?" Lizanaich crossed his leg.

"Well half of it has tall buildings made of glass and steel, the other half has houses like the ones round here."

"You guys got a king or a chieftain?"

"Depends on the area, we got presidents, we got prime ministers, some of us have kings and queens."

"Oh you all got like different tribes?"

"Yeah," the human rubbed his neck looking to the sun, "my country has a president, and beneath that a government so a group of people all make decisions cuz we voted them to."

"Well that sounds cool," Liz sat up adjusting his cape, "I just got voted in cuz everyone liked me, but before that we were all following the rule of the King of Evil cuz, he made us."

"Aww man, King of Evil? He went with that title?"

"I mean he can do what he wants he's the King of Evil, what you gonna tell him it's a bit too on the nose?"

"Hahaha yeah I mean, I would but, he'd probably use my legs for toothpicks."

"Yeah he'd be big enough to do that..say," the lizard leaned over getting a closer look at said toothpicks, "you think if any of us lose a limb we might get something like yours?"

"Oh yeah totally!" Kevin grinned doing full stretches on his blade-like legs. "I got two versions of these actually, one for like chill walking and these ones for the hard walks into the great unknown."

"I was about to ask those are different from your previous ones yeah?"

"Mmhmm!"

"Can you like, kill anyone with those?"

"I mean technically, I DID kill a gargoyle once by breaking its face, I can kick any fucker in the face and they'll lose their face."

"Nice." Lizanaich nodded standing up with a stretch of his tail. "Alright I need to get back to doing the whole chief thing."

"I gotta head off too and get those plants processed, same time next year?"

"Hah, yer funny doc, I think we'll be fine for now, you got enough of them flowers?"

"Totally," the chemist started walking with the chief across the square, "and if I get enough to spare I can offer you guys like extra armour buffs."

"Seriously?" the chameleon swivelled his eye at him. "That what you been doing with these, you really are some kinda alchemist?"

"I mean yeah these flowers can actually erode armour, like it eats away at steel if you process it right, but if you process it DIFFERENTLY then you can actually make it reinforce armour."

"Damn, that's pretty awesome, think you can show us if we grow more of them?"

"I mean yeah if you keep providing us with them, open up negotiations through my buddies and we'll see how things go in a year."

The closer they came towards the hut where Adenine was in, the slower their steps became when they heard noises rustling from within. A breathless panting with a rhythm that signalled only one thing as Kevin made an exceptional face with biting lip as if bursting to tell a juicy secret.

"[i]A-a-AAH, AAAH![/i]"

"[i]H-hoh, god N-nettie a-aaah![/i]"

"[i]P-please, hold me, hold me![/i]"

Lizanaich put a hand on Kevin's shoulder and gave a quiet nod to turn him away as they walked off quietly to let the couple finish. Inside the medical hut, the robed Adenine pressed Bokonette against the bed with his hips slamming between her stubbly legs, piggish whimpers as her fingers clawed against his arms with snorting squeaks she struggled to stifle.

"H-h-hah, aaah, th-thank you!"

"Shhhh come on don't be like that."

"I-i just...mmmmph!"

"God you're cute like this."

He bent down to kiss her sweetly, slipping his beak underneath her snout in a brief meeting of tongues from the depths of his hood, slowing his pace to keep her steady as her hot breaths shuddered down his throat. His gloved fingers stroked along her dark skin as her feet quivered behind him with each thrust, slapping his robe against the bedside.

"A-ah, Adenine, A-ADDY!"

"S-so close, let me, please!"

"MMMPH, MMMMPH, A-AAAIIIIIGH!"

"GUH-AAAGH!"

With his last thrust he slammed to his hilt, pushing her head against the wall as he felt his nethers throb with aching release and a pumping flood into her sweet body, her snout shuddering with flared nostrils as she came in turn to meet against him. His tensing arms relaxed as he pulled her close against his robe, moaning quieter as he kept himself buried within.

"Thank you," she whispered, "that...that was...awesome."

"S-same to you," he murmured, "I still can't believe you wanted to do this."

"Wh-why, why not?" She pulled her head back to stare into his hood. "You're...you're the sweetest guy and I...really like you."

"Is that really all you need? Is there not anyone better?"

"I don't know, and I don't care. Because I want you."

He stroked the back of her head and rubbed down her ear.

"I want you too...I...I'm tired of sleeping alone. Tired of just, accepting things will be the way they'll be."

"I'm sick of it too."

She felt him pull out with a gasp as they sat themselves down beside each other, Bokonette closing her legs to cross them as Adenine offered a bandage that she took bashful to clean herself up.

"We're gonna be in so much trouble," the alchemist snickered wiping at his loins.

"Yeaaaah, you think they're gonna be mad we did it in here?"

"I'll clean it up don't worry, you tend to deal with a lotta fluids in my line of work so I got good ways to scrub it down all clean and sterile."

"Heheheh, I mean I sorta get that with the kitchen too," she shrugged tossing the used bandage in a bin, "sooooo um...do you want to sleep with me then, like stay in a house with me?"

"Wait, what?! Really?!"

"Yeah sure I mean if you want to."

"Is your mom gonna be okay with it?"

"She should be," Bokonette rubbed her cheek dangling her feet, "I mean I'm sure she will and if not well I'm not a kid I can make my own decisions."

"I...guess, I got noplace else to go," said Adenine shrugging, "I got nothing really holding me down at the base I mean I'm more here than there."

"That's what I was thinking, so, yanno why not get closer?"

"Well let's just see how it goes with your mom yeah?" He petted her with a smooch. "Don't wanna like surprise her with everything at once."

"Yeah fair enough," she blushed from the kiss and laid her head against him, "so...what you wanna do now?"

"Well I gotta clean this place up like, before anyone comes so-"

"I'll help, I mean I did make a mess too."

"Hahaha, ohhh we both did!"

He gave a wink and a fingergun-click as she giggled before they hopped off the bed and started to clean down the bed and flooring of the small clinic using sterilising agents extracted from the flora.

On the other side of the square stood a tall imposing moblin, black with brush-haired body and a suit of simplistic armour just newly-crafted.

"TEN [b]SHUN![/b]"

A rattling of swords, spears and axes shook as a mixed crowd of twenty stood to attention all in a row.

"PRESEEEENT, [b]ARMS![/b]"

The weapons dropped forwards as one to form a silver line of halberds and cleavers and blades.

"Good," Mobenheim nodded, "today we are to practice with our new weapons and armours as generously donated by the human tribe. Feel the weight of your blade, balance your new defences and reorient yourself. You are expected to become both soldiers and hunters of this land, of which you shall require different disciplines."

The quartermaster made a march in front of his troops, hands clasped behind his back as they stood vigorously to attention. His snout drooped to his neck whenever he bent forwards to stare at a speck of dirt left on an armoured plate, or a sword slightly too rough in its edge with little more than a tsk. Bokoblins stood with squatted feet holding swords and shield, moblins stood nearly as tall as their commander trying not to slouch whilst the lizalfos rubbed their claws vigorously along their spears.

"Still your fingers." He grabbed one reptilian hand firmly. "Battle is not a joy, but a duty."

"Yes, s-sir."

"Let us perform our basic routine, do NOT overextend yourselves, remember to control your swings even if you are certain of your footing, you must learn to find your balance."

"[i]Yes sir![/i]"

They stepped to their positions as they faced off against each other, two rows of ten as bokoblin faced bokoblin whilst moblin faced lizalfos for equal height. They clashed on Mobenheim's signal, bracing spear against sword as they struggled a bit in their new armours to bear the weight when moving forwards.to attack their opponent, scraping the new steel with intent to wound and disarm.

"Lookin' pretty alrigh' there eh?" said a voice behind him.

"As well as can be," said Mobenheim planting his spear, "so long as everyone in the village can defend themselves it will all be for good."

"Reminds me o' thuh Home Guard we had back where ah came from."

"Oh?" He turned towards Jeremy who leaned on a post. "You had such measures in your village?"

"Well more lahk all over thuh place," the soldier shrugged, "soldiers lahk me would head off into battle, whilst back home they trained people that were too old, or too young, or just not good enough fer the army to 'ave sum basic training in case the enemy invades."

"A wise decision," the moblin nodded to the sounds of steel and shouts, "I have always believed that every creature should know how to defend themselves."

"It helps lahk, even if it's our job to make sure they don't get hurt."

"A little prudence of security is not unreasonable."

"So whut wuz your army lahk?" Jeremy kicked the dirt with his heel. "Where'd you get posted?"

"The castle of Hyrule," Mobenheim tapped his snout, "when their forces suffered the loss of morale from their hero having fallen, we took over the palace and stationed ourselves as a permanent fortress. But the princess had managed to summon all of her power to contain our master's strength, entrapping him within the very castle we had sought to seek."

"Hah, damn, not a bad ploy there turnin' thuh castle into a cage. Whut'd you do before that then, had a life an' such?"

"I owned a small house, north of the Eldin mountains." His eyes cast upwards to the pale sky. "It was a quiet place. I had tamed a wolf and he hunted with me across the steppes...the only friend I had until my recruitment into Ganon's forces."

"Whut 'appened to thuh wolf?"

"I was forced to leave him behind, to guard my home. I never returned."

He fell silent as Holt's shoulders sank, thoughts clouding their minds before the moblin looked up at his students.

"Bokumen, PARRY!"

"GA-AAGH!" a bokoblin stumbled on his side.

"DAMN YOUR EYES ARE YOU BLIND?!" Mobenheim marched over to grab his sword. "Observe, Mobakkun, spar with me."

A blue-skinned moblin stepped up in front of him, sword braced in his thick-hoofed fingers as he made a cautious strike against Mobenheim's short sword. He parried twice, the first cut he let glide off his blade before the second he twisted fast with a sharp turn of his wrist, throwing the sword aside before driving his elbow within an inch of Mobakkun's head.

"Like so. Bait your enemy, test their strength, then you twist their blade away and use the momentum to drive in close for the kill."

"Y-yes sir," Bokumen nodded.

"Now, again," he handed the sword back, "watch your opponent, deflect her blade, THEN on the second cut do what I do."

The students stepped back to watch the fight between both bokoblins, Bokumen trying to copy what his quartermaster had done as the more-experienced opponent deftly blocked him twice in a row with embarrassing trips. The third time however he managed to succeed, twisting the hilt of the blade out of her grip and then smacking her snout with his elbow to knock her down on her back.

"GOOD!" Mobenehim clapped. "Now, again, make it second nature for all of you, spear-holders I have a different task for you."

The senior moblin took up his own spear, a royal staff of Hyrule's lineage with elaborate bladed tip that he crossed against the spear of a lizalfos. The two swung for each other with a hard clack, the reptile backing off before making a lunging thrust that Mobenheim dodged deftly with a short leap and thwacked his staff aside before rushing straight forwards to barge into his opponent, knocking him flat on his back to press the speartip fast against his quivering throat.

"Momentum, is everything in battle," said Mobenheim tightening his grip, "it is how an army moves, it is how your body traverses the wild, it is how you dance, it is how you FIGHT. Find your momentum, and you shall find your strength."

He pulled back to let the lizalfos stand up once more as their mentor stepped aside to let them practice on each other, strolling back to Jeremy's side who nodded with a raised lip of his stache.

"Pretty good work there boss."

"Thank you."

"Never done any stuff with melee weapons meself, 'cept fer bayonets, mostly guns 'ere."

"Perhaps we should exchange our educations, your guns for my swords and spears."

"Just whut ah wuz thinkin' me dab." He gave a little fingergun gesture. "Wouldn't mind learnin' how to swing a sword meself, you really got no guns back home?"

"No, not as such," the moblin leaned on his spear once more, "guardians operate themselves on a similar tactic."

"Mmmmm well when yer ready ahll get you up on gun tactics, there's not much to it really it's more just learning 'ow not to kill yerself with 'em."

"The first lesson of any weapon surely."

"Yeah but moreso with guns, though at least with thuh laser ones they don't lahk kill you outright unless yer a machine."

"Would we have greater threats against machines?" asked Mobenheim scratching his spear.

"Ah mean if it's flesh an' bone you got your swords," Holt gestured to the fighting twenty, "lasers would work on anyone with armour though, so you could cut through that, then bring out yer sword after!"

"Ahhhh, yes, I see now...ENOUGH!"

He saw their exhausted limbs start to droop as they stepped back.

"Excellent work, take your armours and weapons home and rest, but remember to keep them stored properly so they do not rust. SOLDIERS, TEN-SHUN!"

They stepped in line suddenly in a row.

"DIIISMISSED!"

"[i]SIR![/i]"

With singular salute they left, waddling back to their houses as the black moblin teacher cracked his knuckles and sighed taking up his spear to head back to his own place. Jeremy followed after with trudging boots splashing through the swamp, sitting within a spartan rounded hut containing only a bed, a chair and a chest that was mostly empty.

"Nice li'l place you 'ave 'ere."

"Thank you," Mobenheim nodded clasping his hands, "it is the closest I could design to my original home."

"So wuz it mandatory lahk to sign up with this Ganon?" Holt sat himself down on the chair.

"One cannot resist the call of darkness, not our kin that is. We are born from his sin and as such we are indebted to him for existence."

"So he's lahk yer...god?"

"In a sense, but none can resist his will, at least not ourselves. Without him our minds are free to pursue other interests, such as reclusive life and basic survival."

"So yer basically brainwashed."

"More or less. BUT, that does not atone for our crimes in war and peace, we were still conscious enough to have made the choice between survival and cruelty."

"Ah getcha," the soldier nodded, "measure of a man an' all that, no stranger to that 'ere."

"What did you do in your life sir Holt, before the war thence came?"

"Nuthin', ah wuz put in the army to straighten out cuz ah wuz causing a ruckus."

"Ah, you were a delinquent," Mobenheim smirked tapping his head, "and did it straighten you out?"

"Naw, just meant ah found more guys to shag behind thuh barracks."

"HAH, hmhmhaha, but you were forged to become a fine soldier yes?"

"Aw aye, definitely, ah mean ah survived to the end of it!"

"And that is more than enough. Would you care to drink with me, to our health as soldiers?"

"Why not, pop me open sir Mobenheim!"

The beastly quartermaster pulled a bottle from beneath his bed, a crude glass-blown length that carried some sort of fermented juice within that he poured into two stone cups. The taste was like vodka, sharp and grainy with a cold burn like whisky in the back of Jeremy's throat that made him suck sharply with a sourkissed face.

"HHHHHOOOOOOOOO! MMMMMPH fuck ME whut you do turn glass into liquid!?"

"We discovered a type of grain in the forest," said Mobenheim sipping with a sneer, "makes a fine beverage to relax for the evening."

"Well now ah HAVE to ask whut sorta grain is it so we can get summa that!"

"Perhaps for a future trade deal," he raised his cup, "to our health and friendship."

"Iechyd da!"

They clinked their cups and took another sip, watching the world outside turning past with clouds scuttling over the sky and the sounds of children cackling through the mud-splattered plaza of the village. Jeremy tried to keep his smile, but all he could think about was the dog he had left at home.