DeathBlade the Gemsbok
Taking a complete left turn from my previous works. Enjoy.
In a modern world were humans have the option to get transformed into talking non-anthro animals there is a research lab that works to refine the process. They call it science but it's actually slightly magical in nature. Everyone knows you don't put metal in a microwave. The same could be said about the transformation booths. Doing something stupid like swallowing a battery or a few magnets could really cause unpredictable results. The machines were safe in the fact that it wouldn't kill you but there were strange results. Sizes, strange colors, and even the wrong species could come out. The Transformation Reseach Laboratory specialized in studying the causes and effects of these variations. Every now and then a new subject came in for study.
Pulling up to the loading dock of the TRL, there is a delivery of the latest monster. The driver gets out and opens the back door to the truck. Out steps a gemsbok, a type of antelope. it's four glowing blue hooves stealthily walk out barely making a sound. The technician, Dr. Steven Hedge, looks at the strange gemsbok then looks at the clipboard. His pen scribbles notes on a clipboard about the gemsbok's several mutations. The most apparent is the all black fur that shines with irredescence. It sparkles like a rainbow as the sun shines on it. He squints his eyes at the alias listed 'Death Blade the Destroyer of Worlds'. The antelope looks around waving it's horns. Dr. Hedge looks at the odd long horns as they wave around. "You got to be fucking kidding me", he mutters, as he notices that the horns are actually katana swords. The scary looking gemsbok's glowing blue eyes notice Dr Hedge and he walks towards the doctor.
Dr Hedge quickly greets the strange creature he has been assigned to help. "Good morning Mr... err... Death Blade? I'm Doctor Hedge, I'll be working with you during your stay here." DB replies "Good morning, Doc." DB closes his eyes, concentrates, and a small pentagram forms on the gemsbok's right shoulder. A vantablack human arm snakes out the portal. DB looks into the Doctor's eyes and wiggles the fingers on the new appendage as he reaches it out to offer a handshake. The doc gives a worried look at the impossibly black hand before deciding it probably isn't dangerous to touch. He would have been given a huge warning on the paperwork. Dr Hedge studies the hand then grasps it into a handshake. The longer he holds it the more he thinks he can hear whispers. With realization that it is a psychic connection he quickly lets go of the hand. The voices stop. The arm goes limp and retracts back into the portal like the end of a dropped tape measure. Death Blade gives a bellow of amusement at the fun he was having with the technician. Dr Hedge notices a very blue tongue and gums in the laughing mouth. He makes another note on the clipboard.
"This way, please." the Doctor gestures to the open doorway leading to the room where his subject will be staying. Death Blade lumbers through the large doors. Dr Hedge follows behind and notices the glowing blue hooveprints being left on the ground. They disappear after a few seconds. Doc adds that to his growing list of notes.
After showing DB to a room with all the amenities an antelope would need, Doc gets down to business. Beginning with the most pressing danger he asks, "How sharp are those horns?" DB replies "Very sharp. Want me to show you?" Nervously the Doc takes a few steps back. DB summon's a shadowy arm and uses it to point at the fruit basket laying on a table. Docs eyes connect with it in relief. Walking across the room Doc picks up an apple and then tosses it at the monstrous gemsbok. The arm smoothly catches it. Pretty good depth perception for a herbivore he notes on the clipboard.
Holding the apple, the hand reachs up to the sword horns. DB turns his head sideways and slowly presses the apple to the blade. DB suddenly sneezes. The apple along with all of the hand's fingers are cleanly sliced off. Blue fluid swirts out of the fingers as they hit the floor. Dr Hedge hears loud screams of pain coming from the portal as the hand quickly retracts. "Oops" says DB. Doctor Hedge asks with a frown, "Did that hurt?" DB replies "No, and don't worry, they grow back."
Doc pulls out a glove and picks up the fingers to examine one. 'Feels like a normal enough severed finger except for the colors' he thinks. Doc asks "Do the severed parts disappear or change forms?" DB answers "No, I accidently made a small box of them at home while practicing." Doc presses on "Are you sure it's the same arm every time?" DB just shrugs at that.
"I'll send these down to the lab to be fingerprinted and analyzed. We'll check them with the fingerprint databases to see if anything comes up. I can also get the tech crew to make you some sheaths for those to prevent any more accidents while you are here." Doc glances at the blue stains on the floor.
Pulling off a glove Doctor Hedge uses it as a baggy to contain the fingers and presses the call button beside the door. A woman shows up and Doc hands the baggy off and says, "Take this to the lab, then bring a mop." She holds the bag up with a frown and looks from it, to DB, then back, and mimes the words 'What the Fuck?' at the doctor. "Thank you! That will be all." the doctor loudly says to her.
Later, on a computer in the lab, Doctor Hedge looks at a report. The fingerprints match a man named Samuel Price. The Doctor opens a tab and reads the file of Mr. Price. Below the name reads AKA Death Blade the Destroyer of Worlds. Doctor Hedge rubs his forehead and exhales in relief that the extra dimensional creature he is controlling is/was himself. Now he just needed to figure out in what manner was it attached to DB.
The next day DeathBlade was being fitted for covers on his bladehorns. Doctor Hedge says "That doesn't look so bad." DB looks at the covers in a mirror. They mimic the look of real gemsbok horns. DB says "Thank you Doc." Doctor Hedge was dreading this part. He announces, "I need to test that extra dimensional arm.
Dr Hedge exhales and reaches out a hand, DB reaches out his own. He touches one finger to the shadowy hand. The voices start whispering in his ears. Letting go they stop. Hedge summons his courage and grabs the hand by the wrist. He looks at DB and says "Grab my wrist and don't let go." DB complies with the bad idea in the name of science. The whispers get louder the longer the touch continues. Fear courses over Hedge like a wave crashing into rocks. He tells himself that the voices can't hurt him. Hedge starts trembling and falls to his knees. The voices are now loud enough to be heard. "LET ME OUT!" It screams at Hedge as he refuses to let go. The arm starts to retract into the portal. DB tries to let go but the hand is refusing to be controlled. Hedge is dragged across the floor as DB takes steps backwards. The arm retracts to the wrist. DB starts to panic as the Doctor's hand is pulled into the portal. Hedge is thrown around as DB starts trying to shake the doctor loose. The pain cuts through the fear and Hedge kicks DB's front hooves out from under him. A bellow echos through the room as the large antelope crashes to the floor. Hedge places his feet on both sides of the portal and starts pulling. The black arm comes back out the shoulder portal.
Hedge continues to ignore the screaming, unsure if it is real or just the voices he can hear in his head now. Hedge kicks DB in the side of the head and yells, "You need to push it out as hard as you can." DB is crying, "It hurts, It hurts!" Hedge yells back, "Do it!" DB gives a scream and pushes. The portal starts to enlarge as more of the mass is pulled out. Hedge adjusts his grip with his left hand and pulls harder. A head can be seen. It looks at him with glowing blue eyes. Hedge yells at the apparition "Give me your other hand!" Hedge grips the other hand and continues to pull. DB is screaming and bucking on the floor. The body is slowly pulled through the portal. After the shoulders the rest of the figure slides out easily. Hedge drags the shadow across the floor to the other side of the room. It's skin is lightening up to become visible. DB screams "What the fuck did you do to me?"
The gemsbok's flesh is melting off it's body. The floor is covered in blue goo as the portal pulls the skin around it into itself. Several gallons of DB's blue bodily fluids form a growing pool on the other side of the room. Dr. Hedge hears a voice beside him ask, "What is happening to it?" Hedge turns to look at the naked dark skinned human. "Mr Price, your transformation didn't take properly. Without a soul inside, it can't maintain a cohesive structure." Dr. Hedge looks over Sam Price. His skin has lightened up from the pitch black to a normal shade for an african.
The gemsbok gurgles as it thrashes about the blue puddle. Hedge is glad they put sheaths on the swords. He watches with dispassion at the creature he just murdered. Once he has finished melting, all that remains is a pile of bones covered in blue goo. The sheathed sword horns stick up from the skull. Hedge slaps the intercom button on the wall and says, "We are gonna need a biohazard clean up team in here. Also can someone bring a robe?" Doctor Hedge flicks the light switch off to enjoy the ambiance of the brightly glowing blue fluids. He looks to Sam, he is now standing at the edge of the puddle looking at the blue skeleton. Sam turns and asks, "Was that me?" Hedge shrugs his shoulders and says "Maybe?" Hedge changes the subject and says "I'll let you keep the skull as a souvenir after we're done studying it." Hedge looks down at the glowing mess and adds "When we scoop up this mess, do you want to help me make a glowstick that will last for years?"