Back to main page

December 2000

My name is Jeremy, I am human, and this is my story.

The wind howled loudly outside my window, a severe winter storm warning flashing across my TV screen as I watched my favorite show.

Just as the show was getting to the good part, a tree heavily laden with ice cracks from the added weight and falls, taking out the power lines. Swearing something fierce as the power goes out I stumble through the dark feeling around and eventually finding my flashlight I step over the clutter on the floor to the window and peer into the Darkness of night.

Nothing much could be seen, the snow was coming down hard.. it even engulfed the beam from my flashlight, all I could really see was the occasional sparks and small explosions from the power box and downed lines.

Dammit.

I stepped back from the window, time to go start up a fire, it's only 8:00.. gonna be a long night.

Just as I turned, the flashlight went out, like something had sucked the light right out of it, now in total darkness I became disoriented.. I thought I knew where everything was on the floor.. but I was mistaken. I took 3 steps and tangled my feet in a pair of sweats and tripped.. hitting my head hard on the corner post of my bed.

Of course I swore again.. louder this time.. rubbing my head, my hair felt sticky.. I was bleeding.

My flashlight came to life again so I headed to the bathroom to see how badly I was bleeding.. the mirror reflected back an image of a face half covered in blood, the cut went right down to the skull.

I suddenly felt very sick to my stomach.. almost to the point of vomiting.. but I gathered my nerves and cleaned the wound as best I could.. wrapping some gauze around my head as I had no Band-Aids at all.

I headed towards the back of the house after the bleeding slowed, stepping out the back door into the bitter cold.. it instantly penetrated into my wound.. almost causing me to collapse from the seering pain.. but I managed to stay up. Gathering some wood from a pile leaning against the house I heard a strange sound, almost like a deep growl.

I spun around and cast the beam from my light into the darkness.. the heavy snowfall still swallowing the light before it got too far. Nothing.. just the wail of the wind.. and snow collecting on my shoulders and on top of my throbbing head.

Passing the sound as my imagination I went back to wood gathering.. until I heard it again.

I don't know if it was the cut on my head.. the magic of the snowstorm.. or just the fact that I'm crazy, but I followed the sound, coming across some tracks in the snow a few yards out.

Most tracks I recognize, raccoons and skunks.. an occasional deer.. the usual animals from the area, but these tracks.. I thought they were human at first.. until I noticed the toes.. the imprint of catlike toes.. 5 of them.. with tiny claws at the tips.

Now, there are 2 emotions that run through the mind at that point.. fear.. and curiosity. Curiosity won against the fear, so I followed the tracks. Only a few more yards out the trail went behind an old beat up Toyota that has sat in my field since I blew its transmission.

Crouching down I slowly crawled around the truck.. the winds howling covering up the sound of my movement.

My curiosity running wild.. what the hell is this thing?.. I heard a heavy, labored breathing as I inched closer, I was inches from it.. but could not see what it was.. it was BIG.. and seemed to be laying in the snow.

I was suddenly filled with terror.. what the hell was I doing.. this could be an escaped circus tiger or something.. it could kill me instantly. I had gotten this far.. and couldn't back out now.. I took a deep breath.. said a prayer.. and shined my light at the dark lump in the snow.

What met my eyes was a humanlike body.. yet covered with brownish fur. It was curled up in a ball and barely breathing. It had a long tail which was curled up around the rest of the body. Slowly, cautiously I shined the light up it's furred form, apparently.. it was female.. there were 2 well proportioned breasts at chest level. So far the body seemed to be clad in nothing more than cut off jeans and a t-shirt.

Even with all it's fur it was no match for the Michigan cold.

I hesitated as my light shined on it's neck.. it wore a spiked collar, I was afraid to shine the light on it's face, it might jump me.. but I'm sure it knew I was there.. if it had the strength.. it would have attacked by now.

My light gently lighted on the beasts face.. it was amazingly beautiful.. a cougar face.. with long blond hair on the top of it's head, matted down by the collecting snow.

This poor creature was freezing.. it's eyes were clenched shut tight.. no real expression on it's face.. or HER face.. since she was obviously female. I studied her for a moment, she breathed softly.. trembling in her breaths.. clumps of ice beginning to form on her delicate whiskers and in her fur.

Suddenly she opened an eye and glared right into my eyes.. her eye was emerald green, but the pupil was a 4 pointed star. It startled me so bad I could no longer hold my composure.. I screamed and ran back to the house.

I slammed the door behind me and locked it.. slumping to the floor and leaning against the door.. I sat in the darkness.. listening. Many long moments went by.. the only sound was the relentless wind. As I calmed I thought.. in her eye.. I could see a cry for help in her emerald eye... I can't let her die out there...

I had forgotten about how much my head hurt by now.. I ran with flashlight in hand.. finding any and all blankets that were available, and running back out into the cold night.

She was still there.. all most covered with snow.. I cautiously wiped off most of the snow where I could.. she didn't move or make a sound. Laying the blankets out beside her.. I took my chances and rolled her over onto them, still no sounds or movement, dear god please don't let her be dead.

Wrapping her in the blankets I lifted her into my arms.... I trudged back along my path to the warmth of my cabin.. which turned out to be not the easiest of tasks.. this feline creature was at least 8 feet tall.

I lay her still body close to the fireplace and used the wood I gathered, lighting a blazing fire that radiated a soft light across the dark room.

After about a half hour she moved slightly and moaned very faintly.. she was alive, the heat from the fire bringing her back slowly. I collapsed on a nearby couch that faced the fire.. she was between me and the flames, the blood from my cut had frozen over while I was outside.. and was now thawing.. causing more pain than I could handle.. I passed out from the pain and stayed out for the remainder of the night.

I awoke sometime late the next afternoon.

I was groggy.. dizzy, but strangely my head did not hurt at all anymore. As I reached a hand up to feel for the wound I felt a weight on it, as my eyes focused I saw it was blankets, about half of the ones I wrapped the cougar girl in last night.

My mind suddenly snapped.. all thoughts were on her and I sat up with a start.

She was sitting close to the fire.. her back to me, on her back were 2 bat-like wings.. I didn't notice them before, they must have shriveled from the cold and folded back out as she warmed up.

I sat speechless on the couch.... watching her. The fire still blazed on, she must have fed it with more wood?

A smell wafted through the cabin.. steak, she had found my stash of steak and helped herself.. cooking it up in the fire. This creature was amazing.

I didn't know what to say.. I just sat.. watching her cook. I noticed a scabbard on the floor next to her.. she held the weapon in her hand.. a Katana.. the steak was skewered on the end of it and cooking in the fire.. I hadn't noticed THAT thing last night either.. now she was armed.. all I had was a flashlight with dead batteries, having been left on all night.

"I hope you don't mind" she suddenly said.. her voice was angelic and crystal clear, " I helped myself to your food, I was starving"

She didn't turn to face me as she said this.. kept her attention on the cooking meat. I didn't move a muscle, I could hear my heart pounding in my head I was so frightened.

Again she spoke in a soft voice.. "your heart tells me you are afraid.. please.. do not be... you saved my life, I don't intend to harm you".

I felt slightly relieved and finally gained the courage to say something.

"you.. your.. a cougar.. r..right??"

She turned and gazed at me with a soft smile.. I could see both her eyes now.. beautiful emerald green eyes, strangely only her left eye had the 4 point star pupil.. her right was normal.

"yes I'm a cougar, my name is Darkstar.. pleased to meet you" with that she stood and spread her leathery wings.. and took a deep bow.

For the first time I saw her in good enough light to make out the details, she was a beautiful creature.. a perfectly shaped, human like body.. covered in light brown fur. A line of pure white fur started just under her chin and worked its way down around her breasts, down the front of her belly.. and ending far down just above her knees. Her long blond hair flowed behind her and her fluffy tail swayed softly just inches above the ground, the tip black.. like it had been dipped in an ink well. Her ears also black.. save for the white spot on the back of them.

I smiled slightly, scratching the top of my head.. searching for something else intelligent to say ... my head... " what.. happened to the cut on my head?" I asked her.. as I KNEW it was there the night before.

She sat on the floor.. crossing her legs Indian style and smiled.. pulling the well cooked meat off her katana and placing it on a plate.. handing it to me.

"I healed your wound.. I do know some powerful magic, it is the least I can do to thank you for saving my life.. now.. you must eat to replenish the blood you lost."

She smiled warmly at me as she held out the plate.. I looked at it for a moment.. then reached out and took the plate.. she even supplied a fork an knife for cutting it.

She smiled again and pulled a small bottle from a satchel she was carrying, pouring the contents onto her steak.. it was a deep red fluid... it looked like blood..

"that's.. not.. MY..blood... is it??" I asked nervously.. I wasn't even sure if it was blood.. the question just sort of popped out of my mouth.

She giggled and cut her steak with the katana.

"No, this isn't your blood.. it's dragons blood, it's my favorite"

I cringed and shuddered.. yuck..

She laughed and tossed me a bottle of A1 sauce..

"you might find that more to your liking" she grinned, I got a faint glimpse of her razor sharp teeth.

This creature was certainly very intelligent.. she seemed to know about everyday human objects.. and could possibly read English, our conversation died off as we both ate heartily, she kept the steak coming, and stuffed herself as well as I did.

I felt strangely calm now with her here, and drifted off into a deep sleep.

I woke again to find her watching my TV, she certainly wasn't shy about helping herself to my things, but I didn't really mind.. she was alive.. that's all I cared about.

She said that I had slept for 2 days straight.. and that she kept watch over me. She even went as far as to tidy up my cabin.. great.. now I'll never find anything.

I got up from the couch and stretched, cracking my back, and sat back down.

"So" I said.. "what.. what are you doing here?.. you not from this planet.. are you..."

My words trailed off into silence, she didn't respond.. I thought for a moment that her mind was on the TV and she didn't hear me, but she replied after a few moments.

"I am here... to take you back home"

I raised an eyebrow after she said this.. confused..

"take me home? what are you talking about?"

She answered softly.. almost as if she was crying.

"you don't remember anything... do you.."

I felt something strange down deep inside me.. it hurt me very badly to think she might be crying.. and I didn't know why..

"I'm sorry" I said "I'm not sure what your talking about"...

She sighed softly and began speaking again.

" as a child you had a dream.. a repeating dream.. even today you dream it.. you find yourself strapped to a table in a strange room.. a room with no apparent walls.. just seems to be a purple nothing ness. Above you are 5 large lights arranged in a circle.. as you look to your left you see a window, in that window you see a smaller white room.. walls covered with electronics, then you see a female looking at you through the window, crying.. as she throws a switch, then at that point you wake up."

I sat with my jaw wide open.. she had just described my dream exactly.. HOW did she know about that dream.. it has haunted me my entire life..

I began to speak weakly.. "how did you know about that dream.. I've never told anyone...."

She fell silent, then swung her chair around to face me.

"it's not just a dream.. it actually happened to you, you were mortally wounded.. the only way to save your life was to ship your soul to a new body, so we could repair the old one. The transfer didn't work as we wanted it to.. it shot your soul to this dimension. Even before you got sent here.. we knew that the machine would randomly send your soul to any unborn child.. so the final few moments of your life back home were recorded in your mind and in the machine. we used that recording as a beacon.. your mind sends out that beacon every time you dreamed that dream, and finally.. we homed in on your location."

She looked at me with sad eyes.. like she was hoping.. begging me to remember something.. anything of my supposed past life... but all I remember was the dream.

I thought for a moment... trying to sift out the details of the dream.. concentrating on the face of the crying female.. it was her... I looked into her eyes... "it was you... wasn't it... in the.. dream.. you pushed that button".

She nodded her head slowly.

"why.. why were you crying?" I asked.. still not really convinced of all of this...

"because" she answered.. "I loved you... you were.. my mate."

Again I sat quietly.. her mate.. she.. loved me... is that why.. why I find her so beautiful.. why I was so compelled to save her life, why I feel no fear while with her..

This was getting too weird.. everything was falling together so completely.. I had trouble denying any of it.. it explained so much.. answered so many question I've had.

It still seemed a bit outrageous... but.. in her eyes I saw truth.. sincerity.

I looked down and my hands... studied them for a few moments.. the looked around at my cabin, then back at her.

"if all of this is true.... then what was I.. and what happened to my body?"

"you were my tiger... your body had been digitized and saved in the computer.. only your soul can unlock the life within the body."

I got a grip on the moment.. I would normally have thought she was absolutely insane and never believe her.. if she was human, but she wasn't.. here sat this... anthro female cougar.. right in front of me.. alive and real.. describing a dream I never told anyone.. I do have feelings for her... my god... is this the truth??

I stood and again looked around the room.. walking to a window and gazing outside.. still snowing.

Her voice came softly to me across the room.

"you.. will come home with me... won't you?"

I sighed deeply and looked down at my feet.. I had nothing here for me.. no family.. no friends..my job sucks.. what the hell.

"I'll go with you" I said.

Her face lit up as a smile streaked across it from ear to ear.. she nearly knocked me over as she pounced and hugged me tight... she was so warm.

Later that evening we set off after we gathered meat from the freezer and a few essentials for the trip to her ship that will take us home. We employed the use of my old jeep CJ-7.. before we left she conjured up some miracle chemical and dumped it in the gas tank, some strange fluid that actually regenerated the fuel so we'd not run out.. and so we could avoid stopping at any gas stations.. the last thing we need is for any nosey person to peek inside and find her. She also amazingly adjusted her height so she could fit in my jeep.. she glowed a soft blue and went from 8 feet tall to about 5 and a half.

The night was just as cold as the night when I found her.. this time the jeeps heater kept us comfortable. A foot and a half of the white powder covered the dark landscape.. and it was still coming down. She used some weird sense she had to home in on her ship, it would take about a day to get to the ship according to her calculations.

She played with the radio a bit.. flipping through the stations and shutting it off after giving up.

"nothing but crap music" she grunted... "can I drive?"

I looked over at her and laughed softly.. then turned my eyes back to the road.

"what?.. you don't think I can drive this thing?"

She stared at me.. as if demanding an answer.. I didn't want to piss her off.. after all.. she still had that katana, and her teeth.. AND her claws...

"If I stop now we'd get stuck and never get going again... we have to keep going".. that was my excuse.. I didn't exactly trust her behind the wheel.. and we WOULD get stuck if we stopped.. but I wanted to kinda avoid letting her drive.. how was I to know if she even knew how to...

She looked at me with those eyes.. seductively.. with a coy smile... "we won't get stuck.. she cooed... trust me"... I don't know what happened.. it's like she had a power over me... I pulled the jeep off the road and stopped almost without thinking about it..

"I don't know how you did that.. but your damn good" I said jokingly.

She smiled and we got out of the jeep to switch places.

Just as we passed each other in front of the jeep I saw lights.. another car.. coming our way.

I noticed the vehicle.. a rusty old red ford truck.. old man Riley.

He would shoot anything that moves as long as he could make money selling the pelt... and always had his rifle with him.

I told Darkstar to hide as Riley pulled up to a stop next to the jeep, she argued and wanted to kill Riley if he meant to harm us...

I convinced her that it is highly illegal and the local authorities would be all over the place when they found out.. so she dived into the ditch just as Riley opened his truck door and stepped out.

"who da hell was you talkin' to boy?.. I swear I saw somethin' standin' there next to ya!"

"uhhmm.. it was nothing Riley..."

"nuthin' huh?.. what you standin' out here for then??.. yer hiding somethin', ain't ya!"

The old fool didn't give up easily on anything.. convinced I was hiding an animal from him he grabbed his rifle and pushed past me.. looking in the ditch right where Darkstar went....

Suddenly his truck started and dropped itself into gear.. and tore off down the snowy road..

"uhhm Riley?.. your truck is leaving without you..."

Riley popped up out of the ditch and yelled "what the HELL??"

He promptly began running after his truck.. which was a good half mile down the road by now... screaming something about them damn gremlins..

When Riley was far enough down the road I jumped in the ditch looking for Darkstar... there was nothing.. not even a trace of her.

"Darkstar?.. where are you?" I whispered into the night.

I heard nothing but Riley yelling far down the road.. still chasing his truck... then suddenly she pounced from out of nowhere, knocking me back into the ditch.

"GOTCHA!" she said playfully as she hugged me tight.

"how??.. where??" I sounded like a confused cartoon character..

Darkstar laughed softly.. "I started his truck and put it into gear.. then ducked into the shadows"

"into the shadows?" I asked.. still confused.

"yes.. I'm a shadowcat.. I can do that" she grinned and helped me back up to my feet.

" any other little tricks you can do that I should know about?? I thought he was gonna get you for sure!"

She just stuck her tongue out at me and literally picked me up over her shoulder and sat me in the passenger seat.. wrapping me in blankets rather tightly and putting the seatbelt on me.

She then hopped over the jeep and jumped into the drivers seat with a wide grin.

I struggled against the blankets and seat belt.. any guy would if some crazy fem straps you in a vehicle and grins like that when she gets behind the wheel.

"Oh no you don't.. your not going anywhere.. just sit back and enjoy the ride!" with another grin she started up the jeep and put it into first.. easing her foot into the gas while inching out the clutch.. as I had feared.. the tires were spinning.. we were stuck.

She refused to untie me so I could get out and push.. so I gave up arguing with her, she smiled when she won the argument and jumped out of the jeep again.

I lost sight of her through the relentless snowstorm.. suddenly the jeep moved.. not forward... but up. It seemed to float back over the road.. then started moving forward slowly, made contact with the ground once again.. and pushed on through the snow with nobody at the wheel. I closed my eyes.. not wanting to see when I was going to hit something.. then I heard a giggle.. looked over.. and there she was at the wheel.. driving through the snow like a seasoned Michigan pro.

"you enjoy scaring the crap outta me don't you??"

"yup!!" she smiled.

I groaned and shook my head. I was amazed at how well she handled the jeep and asked "how are you so good at driving in the snow?.. or even driving for that matter??"

"back home there is no sun.. it snows all year round... and we have vehicles like this.. I know what I'm doing.. so hush and let me drive!"

She drove most of the trip.. only letting me loose once in awhile to stretch and go potty. She claimed the reason she kept tying me up in the blankets was to keep me from getting away from her again. As I had only been on this earth for 24 years.. time goes differently in her dimension.. she had searched for me for 300 years, I can understand why she's so protective.

The last hour of the trip we stopped high in the mountains about mid afternoon on a very un-traveled back trail.

" we walk from here" she said and got out.. coming around to my side.

walk?.. I looked around.. 2 ways to go.. down... and up.. WAAAY up.. a steep 45 degree climb.

By now I knew to just trust her and not ask questions.. so after she untied me I readied myself for the climb. She didn't want to leave the jeep behind though.. she liked it too much, so again she used some weird magic and shrunk it down to the size and shape of a small black marble and stuck it in her pocket. She then grabbed me by the arm and began dragging me up the mountainside. It wasn't easy going.. the mountainside was as snow covered as everything else.. but eventually after about an hour we reached a small, level area.. and the ship. I helped her shovel the snow off it and I finally got a good look at it. It wasn't much to look at, she said it wasn't much more than a simple scout ship.. now that I have seen this.. I believe everything else.

It was a 2 person ship.. she went through a checklist.. making sure all the systems were up and operational.

"ready to go hun"? she asked.

I stood at the edge of the cliff.. looking down over the world that I had called home for 24 years. I could see for miles.. it was a stunning view.. something you only see once in a lifetime. My mind was afraid to leave.. after all.. this world was all I knew.. and suddenly I must leave.. but my soul yearned for home. So I said goodbye to my home and took one last long look.. before I joined her in the ship and blasted off.

Inside the ship was rather roomy.. it looked so small from the outside. I noticed that Darkstar had changed her size again.. back to her normal 8 feet.. so she could reach the ships controls. Of course she was piloting the thing.. I had no clue how to fly it. She directed my attention to a compartment under my seat.. I opened it.. it slid open like a dresser drawer. Inside was a long, black trench coat and a t-shirt with a smiley face on it, and a golden earring with tiger stripes made of platinum. She told me they were what I always wore.. so.. I took off my heavy winter coat and sweater and donned the t-shirt and trench coat.. she smiled and said I looked really good in em, but wondered why I hadn't tried on the earring. It was mostly because I wasn't pierced.

She said she would pierce my ear when I got into my old body so I put the earring in my pocket and stuffed my old coat and sweater into the compartment.

I watched the earth shrink down.. on our way out of the atmosphere we crossed flight paths with a high flying military jet, I never been a big fan of the military.. so I stuck my tongue out at the pilot and gave em the finger as we blasted out of sight into space.

The view up there was awesome.. the earth looked so calm from up there... we got a good distance away from earth before she spoke again.

" ok hun.. I'm activating the temporal displacement crossover.. when I activate this we will slip between the fabric of time and space for a few minutes.. the ride will be very rough.. keep your eyes closed or your retinas will fry".

I nodded and closed my eyes as she heated up the temporal thingee, then activated it. Immediately I felt as if my entire physical being was being crushed and torn apart simultaneously.. my brain was screaming.. my heart.. straining.. I felt like I was going to implode. Suddenly it stopped.. I couldn't move.. my whole body tingled.. I could hear her calling me.. "hun?.. you ok?".. it sounded like we were in a huge concrete tunnel a mile long. and I was at one end while she was at the other.

I slowly came around.. she said I had suffered from warp effect sickness.. and that weaker species always suffer from it.. sometimes die from it.

My eyesight slowly returned.. she wouldn't move the ship another inch until I was doing better.. I looked out the window, I could barely make out the outline of a planet with the faint starlight.

"Welcome home tiger" Darkstar looked at me with a warm smile.. I was still looking at the dark planet.. home..

"Acadia" she said.. still smiling warmly.

I didn't take my eyes off the planet as she opened a frequency to the only spaceport on the planet and announced our arrival. I heard cheers over the intercom from the comm center down on the planet... were they cheering for me?

Darkstar took over manual controls and we began the descent into the planets atmosphere.. the nose of the ship beginning to glow red as the air molecules hit it so fast they heated it up. this only lasted a few seconds as we broke through the thin upper layers.. below I could see a circle of lights.. I guessed it was the landing pad.. as back on earth.. it was snowing like hell.. and very, very, dark. I barely felt the landing as we set down in the middle of the landing pad. I was waiting for her to open the hatch so we could get out.. but she just sat there.. reading the ships instruments... I looked outside again and saw a small fleet of 5 tiny tracked robots emerge from an elevator to the south end of the pad.. they had little shovels and began shoveling the snow off the pad.. then with tiny brushes they cleaned off the landing lights.. as fast as they appeared.. they vanished back down the elevator.

"aren't we going to get out?" I asked her.. she was still deep into studying her instruments.

"no" she replied.. "it's too cold here, we would both freeze within a few minutes if we got out."

I didn't reply.. I just watched the snow. The platform began sinking down into the planet suddenly, as I looked up I saw 2 huge doors close above us.. we continued our descent down into the planet to whatever waited. We grinded to a halt after what seemed like forever.. then I groaned and shielded my eyes with my arm as I was suddenly blinded by floodlights.

The hatch opened and I was suddenly face to face with a big male siamese cat.

"this.. is him??" the siamese said in disbelief.. "we waited 300 years.. for THIS??"

The big male was obviously pissed.. he grabbed me by my coat collar and lifted me right out of the ship.

"this ugly, pink hairless fleshy is the captain??.. I could kill this thing so easily"...

Darkstar jumped from the ship and wrenched me free of the males grip.

" don't you DARE hurt him!!.. he is the captain.. the beacon was coming from him!"

She stood in front of me and protected me from the male... keeping him from breaking me in two... some warm welcome... blech.

JENNER!!

that must have been the big males name.. cause he spun around when it was called.

Another big male appeared, a large grey anthro wolf.

" what are you doing!?" the wolf demanded an answer from Jenner.

" this pathetic creature CAN'T be the captain!!.. it's a mistake!" Jenner blurted out.

" he IS the one my friend.. the beacon comes from his mind.. calm yourself and go ready the machine.

I hid behind Darkstar for the most part.. it wasn't bad when it was just her.. now there's more anthro animals.. all at least 10 to 12 feet tall.. and me being a measly 5 foot 9 I was just a bit intimidated.. if not completely terrified... and one of these creatures already wants to kill me off.

Jenner grumbled angrily and disappeared through an open doorway.

Darkstar pulled me out from behind her to meet the wolf, she wrapped her arms around me and hugged tight.. so I couldn't run away.

" I am Timberwolf.. welcome home my friend"

with that he extended his hand/ paw out for a hand shake. I reached out and shook his large paw.. it was a VERY large paw.. it completely engulfed my tiny hand and most of my forearm. Timber smiled warmly, he seemed to be slightly older than the other's I've seen so far.. a tall, proud wolf.. looking as strong as the others... and wise with life experience.

Timberwolf had well defined muscles and a sturdy frame.. a long, silvery tail trailing behind him, his eyes were a color I'd never seen before and is impossible to describe. He wore a light green vest and blue jeans, around his neck was a necklace.. hanging from that was a deep blue crystal. I felt something about him.. a very strong spirit within him.

According to Timberwolf and Darkstar.. the machine needed a day or so to come back up into acceptable working order before I got my old body back.. it had been siting for 300 years.. they wanted to be sure it worked. So I was shown around the place by Darkstar. for being the only space port on the planet it was very small and all underground. Most all dwellings on this world were underground.. a few villages were on the surface in areas with geothermal activity.

I leaned much about my home during the first couple days at the base. It gets so cold in some places oxygen freezes.. we were very close to one of those areas.. hence why we couldn't just jump out of the ship when we landed. Darkstar was always with me.. she never let me out of her sight.. I could see the excitement in her eyes as the machine was closer and closer to being ready. I tried to hide from her once.. never again will I do that.. when she found me she tickled me within an inch of consciousness.

I saw a lot of Timberwolf too, he was cool to talk to.. enjoyed a few meals with him and Darkstar. He had his own powers.. natural magic stemming from nature and the planet.

Jenner however.. I rarely saw him.. and when I did.. he had nothing to say to me.

I had some difficulty doing the simplest of things around the base.. even just sitting at the table and eating was a challenge.. everything here was built for giant furs.. not tiny humans.

As the planets history goes.. there was an invasion 300 years ago, a race of lizard men called the Khastians under the command of someone named Primus Maxx.. attacked the planet.. brutally killing off 99% of the male population.. he was afraid of what they could become.. and was also looking for something.. but never found it.. his troops froze to death before anything was found. Primus soon went mad after that and left.. vowing to kill every last life on the planet.

I slept like a rock the third night.. I had been awake for 2 days straight.. exploring the base and talking to the other furs.. <it's what they like to be called>.. tomorrow I go through the stress of getting my body back, Timberwolf recommended that I get sleep.

Still wearing the heavy trench coat I flopped onto the bed in my small room, before I even got to close my eyes Darkstar padded into the room. I watched her with heavy eyes as she closed the door behind her and smiled at me.. she sat on the edge of the bed and leaned down.. kissing me softly. Without a word she slipped her paw under my shirt and rubbed my belly softly.. I melted instantly.. the feel of her silky soft fur on my skin was unbelievable.. "sleep for me" is the last thing I heard as I fell into the deepest sleep I'd ever experienced.

I awoke to Darkstar's persistent tickling of my feet with her tail.. "get up sleepyhead!!" she said cheerfully.. I just groaned and rolled over..."anna wanna.. lemme lone".. pulling the pillow over my head. Of course the silly fem didn't give up.. trying to yank me off the bed by my foot.. when that failed she pulled all 4 corners of the bed sheet over me and tied me up in a bundle... then hauled the whole package over her shoulder just like santa and took me to the science lab.

I slept through the entire experience and didn't know it.. they figured it'd be less stressful if I slept. All I remember is Darkstar waking me up with the tickling.. then I fell back to sleep again after she bundled me up.

When I woke again I was back in my room.. with no knowledge of having been put back in my old tiger body. Nothing seemed different at first, I felt pretty much normal. Getting up I stretched and popped my back, rubbed my blurred eyes and yawned... that's when I noticed my hands.

No longer the flesh colored 5 fingered hands.. now.. they were orange.. the palm and underside of the fingers were white.. only 3 fingers..plus the thumb.. and they were thick, powerful fingers with small slits at the tip of each finger.. where the claws lived. I stared at the alien hands, taking my right thumb I rubbed it into the palm of my left hand.. the fur was thin and soft. My eyes slowly looked up my right arm.. black stripes began just above the wrist and went up the length of my arm.. and what an arm.. HUGE bulging muscles replaced the ones I previously owned.. they were well defined through the black leather trench coat and T-shirt I was still wearing.. as I sat I noticed I had grown to double my original height.. I guessed at least 10 feet tall now.. the coat and shirt must have stretched to accommodate my new huge size.. because they still fit rather comfortably...I had to see more..I went to run to the mirror in the bathroom.. but fell flat on my face.

My feet and legs took an a new shape as well.. no longer were the heel and toes on the ground as a human foot. I sat on the floor like a kid unwrapping a present and examined my feet.. 4 thick feline toes.. and black pads underneath the foot, the ankle and heel were located further up my leg.. so I could only walk on my toes, this would take getting used to.. and it made wearing these old human jeans next to impossible... since I realized that the coat and shirt may have stretched.. but the pants didn't...making it very difficult and painful to walk. I dragged myself to the bathroom and hauled my self onto the toilet. The sink was to my left.. the mirror just above it.. to my right was the bath tub. I noticed a pair of pants on the sink counter.. unfolding them I found they were shorter and had wider legs to allow freedom of movement...plus twice as big as the old pair which were now cutting off the circulation in my legs.

First things first.. I gotta get these old things off and fast.. my legs are going numb from lack of blood.. removing them the old fashioned way would be impossible.. they were so tight against my body.. so I simply flexed my leg muscles.. causing the old pair of pants to explode at the seams.. setting my legs free... I dropped the now completely destroyed pair of pants and examined my new legs. They were also thick and muscular.. with white fur running down the inner thighs to just above the knees, and a whole lot more black stripes. I.. checked to see if the rest of me was still down there.. and sighed with relief.. still there. Quickly I put the new pants on.. a perfect fit.

After siting for a few minutes I finally worked up the guts to look in the mirror, I closed my eyes and stood.. feeling my way around in front of the sink.. facing the mirror.. and opened my eyes.

shit..

it's all I could say..I saw the refection of a tigers head..

My eyes were the purest color of midnight blue.. they cast a penetrating gaze back at me. No features of my own existed any longer.. my face was covered with orange and white fur.. stripes decorating it across the top of my head and down the sides. My nose was stretched out in true tiger form.. with a wet, pinkish feline nose at the end, long whiskers fanned out from each side of my nose. Opening my mouth I found razor sharp teeth filled my muzzle.. with long fangs jutting out the top jaw at the front. I examined them closely as a dentist would.. rubbing the sharp teeth with my finger.. poking the tips.. they were damn sharp. I had no real upper lip.. but had a thick, glossy black lower lip. I grinned.. bearing all my teeth.. wiggling my ears.. god it looked goofy.. but overall I made a pretty impressive looking tiger. I tapped my finger on the counter as I gazed at my refection.. something felt weird in the tip of my finger.. I flexed and stretched my finger to stop the strange sensation.. and was surprised when a 2 inch black claw snapped out. Now this was cool.. I actually DID have nice tiger claws.. so I tested it.

I dragged the claw lightly across the counter top, and grinned as the claw left behind a deep gouge.. cutting completely through the Formica and into the wood underneath. OHHH boy I thought.. this is cool.. I clicked the rest of my fingers.. now a had 2 paws full of claws. I picked up my old pants off the floor and tossed them into the air.. taking a swipe at them with my claws.. the pants.. that had lasted me for 5 years with hardly no wear and tear.. fell to the floor completely shredded and reduced to ribbons. Damn.. I sure as hell could of used this body on earth.. Would of been tons of fun! An hour went by before I finally figured out that I had to relax my finger tendons to release the locking mechanism and let the claws retract.

I cant describe the power I felt.. I'm 100 times better than I was before.. stronger.. with heightened senses.. and some cool claws.. I clenched my fist and said YES!!.. as I did so my fist burst into a green flame. SHIT!! I exclaimed.. thrusting my hand under the sink and turning on the water to douse the flame.. and panicked even more when the water had no effect. I swung my hand around wildly trying to put it out.. knocking the towel rack over and ultimately falling on my ass as I tripped over the rack. My fist kept right on burning.. I grabbed the wrist of my burning hand with the other hand and winced from the pain... wait.. there is no pain.. it didn't hurt at all. I sat up and watched my fist burn.. totally stupefied as to what this was.. I relaxed and opened my palm.. as I did the flame died out and a small blue spark of electricity jumped from my palm and zapped my nose... I was expecting a shock as I closed my eyes and pulled my face back as it hit.. but I felt nothing.

I cleaned up the mess I had made and stood in front of the mirror again.. practicing.

I found I could light both fists up, and the more I concentrated the brighter and more intense the flame became.. like it was charging up.

Experiment time.

My right fist clenched I began concentrating.. it burst into flame.. I psyched myself up.. the more I did.. the brighter it got.. changing to a ball of green light around my hand, I grinned an evil grin.. looking in the mirror to see how cool I looked.. my eyes were also glowing a green color.

I remembered my favorite show.. Dragonball Z.. I wonder.. if I now had powers like Goku and the gang.. so I charged up like a true DBZ character.. growling louder and louder as the power encircling my fist charged.. granted I did not expect to actually HAVE powers like that.. in the back of my mind I just thought it was a cool light show.. expecting a bright flash of light when I let this thing loose.. I laughed a little as I charged.. look it me!! I'm just like Vegita!

I let the power go with a loud karate like yell... and WOW was that ever a bad idea.

A concentrated beam of green light shot from my opened palm.. it hit the mirror and bounced back at me.. the recoil of the blast went up my arm and knocked me over just as the mirror reflected it back out of the bathroom and through the far wall of the bedroom.

Seconds later I heard an explosion.. it seemed to rock the entire space port. Scrambling to my feet I ran back into the bedroom to find the far wall was non-existent.. pieces of wall from near the ceiling dropping to the floor. The mirror was smoldering and scorched black.. the counter top was pretty much gone.. and the wall around the mirror was also scorched black.

"Dammit" I thought.. hoping nobody got hurt as I rushed out the hole in the bedroom wall. Furs were running everywhere.. yelling and grabbing fire extinguishers.. I followed the holes I had made through the walls of the station.. they led me to a massive underground ship dock.. my blast had blown the ass end off a huge ship. Darkstar was the first to get to me.

"FUZZY!" she called out as she saw me standing there.. Fuzzy? was that her nickname for me?.. it sounded goofy for a big tiger.. I'll ask her later.. right now though.. I think I'm in trouble.

"what did you do!?!?!" she demanded.. she looked scared and startled.. and worried..

"I.. I don't know!" I said.."my fist lit up and then.. BAM!!"

By now the area was swarming with fur operatives.. dousing the flames and assessing the damage to the ship.. I guess the whole station heard it.. Jenner and Timberwolf arrived.. along with a male cheetah in a dark blue jumpsuit with a strange symbol on the shoulder.

"MY SHIP!!" howled the cheetah as he ran towards the burning vessel.

Jenner just looked at me and scowled.. "I TOLD you guys this goon wasn't the captain"

"His memories are all but gone" said Timberwolf.. "he remembers nothing of his past or his powers.. at least not yet"

Darkstar hugged me.. " please hun.. don't use those powers again till either you remember how.. or you learn how from me."

I nodded and began to apologize.. I felt terrible.. she put her finger over my mouth and smiled.

"don't worry about it hun.. his ship will be repaired.. as well as the rest of the damage to the station."

She led me away from all the mess I had created.. Jenner and Timberwolf stayed behind to help clean up.

A small young fox male operative bumped into me as he rushed to the scene.. I looked down at him.. he backed away as if terrified.. "I.. I'm s..sorry captain... it was a.. mistake.. it.. it'll never happen again!"

I looked at him as if to say.. the hell are you talking about..

Darkstar pushed the little fox on his way and assured him I wasn't going to kill him.

"what was that all about?.. why was he so scared of me?"

Darkstar pulled my arm and we started walking again.. she talked as we went.

"you are.. were the leader around here..a king of sorts.. elected by the inhabitants of the planet for your immense powers and good heart. You were a good tiger.. but those outside the Acadian race feared you.. and still do.. they fear your powers.

"hell" I said.. "even I fear my powers.. what if I hurt somebody.. or even kill them.. what if.. I hurt.. you.."

She smiled and kissed me deeply.. scratching my back as she held me tight.. GOD that felt good...

"before you were hurt.. you gave me the immunity to your powers.. even if you did hit me.. it wouldn't hurt me" I was glad to hear this and we resumed our walk down the well lit hallways.

We eventually came upon a garage after taking an elevator up a few floors. Inside was a large truck.. kinda looked like a unamog on steroids.

"care to go for a little ride tiger?"

I shrugged and said ok.

She let me drive this time. You almost needed a ladder to get into this monstrosity. The truck had 2 sets of duallies in the rear.. and it was painted in a dark red color. The thing had no exhaust.. I learned the engine was 100% efficient and didn't produce exhaust. It looked brand new inside and out.. She told me it was Acadian technology.. the truck was only... 623 years old.. they sure built em to last on this planet.

The cab was rustic and very basic.. but had it's comforts. As I got into the drivers seat I found one the first real problem of being a tiger... I slammed the door on my tail..I hadn't even noticed I HAD a tail till this point.. now it was painfully letting me know it was there.

The passenger seat was on a sort of track.. and could be slid over next to the drivers seat to allow the loading of large thing into the cab through the passenger door.. all of the instrumentation was pretty basic.. nothing digital.. very few electronics besides the C.B.-radio. A gas pedal.. a clutch and beak pedal.. just like the jeep.. only a bit bigger, no wonder she knew how to drive it.

Darkstar slid her seat over next to me and gingerly lay my tail across her lap.. softly petting the sore spot to work out the pain... will take awhile to get used to having this dumb tail.

The truck started up easily.. sounded like a diesel.

Darkstar pushed a button on the dash.. sending a signal to the garage door to open. The truck rolled out of it's home in the garage.. out into the eternal night. There was a visible trail in the snow and she just told me to follow it.. so I did.

Her tail petting was relaxing me.. it was soothing. The truck handled well in the deep snow.. even better than my jeep.. the 4 massive lights on the front illuminating the trail easily.

She didn't look up from my tail as she pet it.

"I'm glad to have you back my love" she said out of nowhere.

I didn't know how to reply.. it was apparent to me long ago that she loved me.. I had feelings for her.. strong feelings.. more now than before.. I just didn't know what to say.. as I remembered nothing of my life with her.

"It's ok hun... I know you remember nothing.. that's why your so quiet" she said softly.

"I'm sorry" I said.. I didn't want to hurt this beautiful creatures feelings..

She leaned over and kissed me.. "it's ok.... your memories will come back to you."

Not long into the trip the trail ended.. at a cabin.

For a moment.. I thought I was back on earth.. this cabin looked EXACTLY like the one I had on earth.

She disappeared for a moment into the rear of the truck.. coming back with a very heavy snow suit on.

"What's that for?" I asked.

"were getting out silly!"

" won't we freeze to death??"

"no.. this area is surrounded by geothermal vents.. I'll be fine as long as I wear this suit" she smiled at me.

"what about MY suit??" I asked.

"you don't need one hun.. you are Acadian.. your body is well adapted to live even in these extremes.. the Acadian tribes around her don't even wear clothes" She raised a brow and smiled as she said this.

I looked at her.. thinking about the naked part of what she said.. then I shook my head and cleared my mind.. opening the truck door and stepping outside.

I didn't even feel the cold.. it didn't bother me in the least bit.. even as I stepped into the snow with my bare feet. I took a deep breath of the near freezing air.. it was invigorating.. I felt at peace with myself.. this was home.

Darkstar walked with me to the front door of the cabin and led me inside.. again I was amazed.. it was exactly the same inside as well.. just like my cabin on earth.. the kitchen.. the fireplace.. my bedroom.. everything was exactly the same... the design stuck in my head on earth as I drew up the plans.. they just flowed out without much thought.. now I know why.. it was the memory of my home on this planet.

All the furniture was in the same place as well.. the couch.. the tv.. this was like deja vu.

Darkstar removed her snowsuit and shook the snow out of her hair.. then light a fire with a spark from her fingertip. She cooked up more of the steak and we had a big dinner.. we both stuffed ourselves.

we talked a good portion of the night.. or day.. whatever it was.. it was always dark outside. Her efforts payed off after awhile as finally a memory surfaced, I remember my parents.. their faces.. their names.. and that they died trying to fight off the Khastain invasion forces. She didn't push me to remember anything else after that memory popped out.. told me it was enough for one night.. and told me to go get ready for bed.

The bedroom was pretty much the same as back home.. except no junk all over the floor, she must keep it clean. Being the slob that I am I just took off the coat and shirt and dropped them on the floor and hopped into bed and started to take off the pants.

Just as I started removing them.. she walked in.. smiling at me seductively.. and wearing absolutely nothing.

As for what happened after that.. I'll leave it to the imagination.. and I KNOW you all out the can imagine a lot.

I awoke with her purring softly in my arms.. I remember how much I loved her.... she knew what she was doing last night... she knew it would help.

I lay there awake.. holding her.. she was so warm.. looked so peaceful while she slept.

Finally she cooed softly as she awoke.. stretching out on me then snuggling back into my fur. She kissed my neck deeply and nuzzled me.. purring happily.. if this was heaven.. I didn't want to leave. Her soft purring was eventually broken by a phone ringing.. damn.. they got those things here too.

She reluctantly left my warm embrace and left the room.. I watched her as she left.. then lay my head back down, waiting for her to return. To my dismay she returned with her clothes on.

"I'm sorry tiger.. we gotta go back to the station.. something is up"

I groaned and began getting dressed quickly.. she kept tickling all exposed areas till I covered them up.

We hopped back into the truck and drove back to the space port.

I led her down the winding hallways towards the comm center where we were to meet everyone.. my memory was coming back a little faster.. I suddenly knew my way around this place. In the comm room was Timberwolf and Jenner and the cheetah who's ship I fried.. I guessed his name as Prowler..another memory returned.

"that was one helluva shot my friend.. I think everyone will be glad when you get those powers of yours under control" Prowler smiled and shook my hand as he said this.. patting me on the back.. glad he wasn't pissed at me.

"What's the situation Timber?" asked Darkstar.

"we.. picked up a rather large fleet of ships entering the outer rim of our sector last night.. it is no real cause for alarm as it's probably either Prowler's fleet.. or the Emperor of Tiglan's fleet making their rounds.

At that moment a red fox sitting at a nearby computer console piped up.

"fleet identified.. it's not of any that we know of.. the signal it's sending is... wait a second.. the signal has changed... it's the emperor Tiglan's fleet... the fleet admiral says they are having trouble with their encrypted coding."

A soft sigh of relief fell across the room.

"for a moment there I thought it may have been Primus" Darkstar said.

Timberwolf nodded "as did the rest of us.. the last thing we need is for him to return".

"strange.. it seems to be a bit early for the emperor's fleet to be swinging by this way already" Prowler said while studying the 3D image.

Ok.. so far I understand half of what Primus was afraid of.. why he attacked Acadia.. his fear of what we... or I would become.. he somehow knew that one Acadian would become a dangerous threat to him. But I don't really know what he was looking for while he was butchering my people.. so I asked Darkstar.

"what was he after in the first place?"

"if he came back... he'd go after the core again..." Darkstar said softly.

I didn't understand what she meant.. then she explained. The center of my powers is a core of energy deep inside me of which only 2 exist. He came to Acadia the first time to get the first one.. but didn't know I had become one with it. Primus knew the core was a source of awesome power.. it's how all Acadians gained their powers.. being exposed to the core over the centuries.. they worshiped it as a spiritual relic.

Although you could gain powers from being near it for extended amounts of time.. touching it directly was deadly, thought to kill any who touched it no matter how strong they were. As a cub my parents took me to the shrine where the core rested.. so I could begin soaking in it's radiation to gain my own powers. I was a feisty cub.. couldn't stay still.. I wrenched free from my mothers arms and ran towards the core thinking it was a play thing... laughing with childish innocense as I pounced the glowing source of power.

My parents thought me dead as they approached my smoldering body.. they knew something was strange because the core was gone. My father rolled me over gently as my mother cried.. and to his astonishment I opened my eyes.. they were glowing green.

Somehow.. someway.. the core had fused with me... I had more power than all other Acadians combined.

I grew up with the core inside me.. getting even stronger as I aged.. when Primus attacked.. he was furious to learn I had the core inside me.. and that he couldn't get it back out. In retaliation he killed my parents.. this in turn damaged me so emotionally that I couldn't fight back.. he put his gun in my ear and pulled the trigger. Darkstar said she wasn't quick enough to stop Primus.

There was still enough of a spark of life in me to give my friends enough time to send my soul to another body before it escaped.

I asked her how she knew all of this, she said she had watched me since I was a cub.. she knew there was something special about me.

Jenner spoke again in his usual annoyed voice.. claiming that the other core was located on a planet called West.. if Primus did return he'd head there as he probably figures the one on Acadia died off with me. Jenner went on to really rag on me.. stating his claims that he still didn't believe I was his old friend.. that I was just some pink, fleshy, ugly alien in his friends body.. AND still ripped on me for blowing the ass end off Prowlers ship.. saying the real captain wouldn't have been such a damn mindless klutz. I couldn't take his babbling anymore.. Timberwolf and Prowler AND Darkstar did their best to shut him up.. but he wouldn't back down.. so I finally roared a threat at him.. saying I'd blow his head off if he didn't shut up and leave me alone. By now Jenner and I were in each other's faces.. exchanging death treats and yelling pretty loud.. loud enough to attract the attention of other fur operatives who kept poking their heads in the doorway to see what was going on. Prowler kept trying to explain that it was no real problem and the ship will be fixed within a month or so.. but Jenner refused to listen and kept insulting and threatening me.

Finally as my anger peaked I began charging up my powers for an attack.. at that point Darkstar stepped between us and stared right into my eyes.... "please... stop.." she said softly.. calmly.. her gaze locked onto something deep inside me and had an instant effect.. I calmed down.. lowering my ears a bit.

Seeing that I was calm Darkstar then turned to Jenner and chewed him out good.. saying that he's not being fair and giving me a chance. Jenner huffed and sat down.. crossing his arms and giving me a dirty look. Timber and Prowler shook their heads and went back to their duties.

I was still mad from the confrontation.. I had to leave.. to hide, so I turned and left.

Darkstar followed me.. .. "I need to get some air" I said softly without looking at her.. she lightly hooked my tail around her wrist and followed me back to the garage.

Back into the huge red truck we went.. I slumped into the drivers seat and banged my head on the steering wheel repeatedly until Darkstar stopped me.

"don't do that... please" she begged.. I looked over at her and saw how worried she was.

"I'm sorry.. .. I'm so stupid.. such and idiot.. damn these powers.. I fragged Prowlers ship.... Darkstar cut me short.. placing her index finger softly over my tiger lips... she looked me in the eyes, smiling softly.

"let me drive hun.. I'll take us to a nice remote place and do what I can to ease your mind."

I sighed lightly and nodded.. giving up the drivers seat for the passenger seat. The trip was a little longer this time as we drove on through the eternal darkness.. the snow had stopped falling for the moment.. so I could see more details of the landscape.. not much to see actually.. endless fields of snow.. some bushes and trees here and there.. all with enormous leaves to catch the faint starlight for photosynthesis. There was a spotlight on the top of the truck cab, linked to a small joystick on the right armrest of my seat.. so I was able to see out the side of the truck.. the geothermal springs that I had heard about appeared.. the search light lit up the area like it was daytime.. and the springs were beautiful. Darkstar stopped the truck next to the hot springs and coaxed me outside for a look.. the springs kept it relatively warm here.. so she would not freeze. Hand in hand we approached the springs.. no snow for at least 5 feet around the springs... the pool itself was only the size of a small house.. the water bubbled and boiled.. a small geyser in the center percolating. the water was awash with colors..shades of greens and browns.. and yellows, bacteria and minerals I guessed. I knelt by the water and put my palm about 6 inches over it.. to feel the warmth from the boiling water.. I felt more than warmth... it felt like my hand was on fire.. the pain was excruciating and I reflexively pulled it away with a curse.

Darkstar was startled and asked what had happened.. I was holding my hand close to my body and cursing in pain.

"I burned my hand... I didn't even touch the damn water!"

"let me see" she said in a soothing voice.

I extended my hurt hand to her.. it was smoking.. the fur was slightly singed.

"I'm so, so sorry" she said "I'm such a fool for bringing you here.. I completely forgot..."

She then began crying.. and went on to tell me that my one true weakness was extreme heat.. anything over 60 degrees is lethal to me.. the boiling water is far above 60. The weakness stems from a mix of being a native Acadian.. and the core deep inside me.

I wiped the tears from her eyes and kissed her.. trying to make her feel better.

"place your hand in the snow" she said softly after my efforts finally calmed her. My hand went deep into the powdery snow.. as it went in.. the pain died instantly.. I pulled my hand back out.. wiping the snow from it.. the singes.. the burns.. all vanished.. I looked to her with question in my eyes.. she just smiled..

"Acadia takes care of her children" is all she said.

Before we left the springs she showed me something.. something she said she should have showed me before bringing me to the hot springs. An ability All Acadians possess.. a personal cold field. Took me well over an hour of concentration and coaching from Darkstar before I finally was able to do activate it. It is like an inborn magic she told me.. to prevent Acadians from dying when in warmer climates. The only way to tell if it's on to an outsider.. is they will se my eyes glow a soft blue.. to me.. I just can feel if it's on, just like you can feel your arm moving.. or head turning. With the field on.. I can withstand temperatures very extreme heat.. or so she says.. so I experimented... I thrust my hand into the boiling waters.

The water boiled even more and began smoking around my hand.. like someone had dumped dry ice in the water.. I felt nothing this time and smiled.. then the pond began to freeze over rapidly from the point of where my hand was in it.. I withdrew my hand just as the pond froze completely solid.. even the small geyser froze in mid percolation. I grinned wide.. "so much for my weakness" I said with that grin on my furry face. Darkstar smiled.. but warned me.. "the field will protect you.. but don't go overboard.. it's not a defense without flaws.. the higher the temp.. the harder it is for the field to protect me.. it will completely break down if the heat is too intense. I mentally noted her warning and followed her back to the truck. We drove on for another good hour before stopping again at the base of a monstrous mountain range.. named K-Hill according to Darkstar.. I thought the name was kinda stupid.. this wasn't no measly hill. Darkstar killed the lights and the engine and we sat staring out at this massive mountain.. wait a sec... how can I see this thing without the lights of the truck? I thought to myself.. I looked out all sides of the truck.. I could see everything in great detail.. not as plain as day.. it was almost like just before sundown.

"AAhhhh" exclaimed Darkstar.."your night vision has kicked in has it?" night vision??.. I got night vision???.. I suppose the next thing your going to tell me is that I can fly? I laughed jokingly.. she stuck her tongue out at me and giggled. "no you can't fly.. you don't have wings silly.. at least not yet!"

I raised an eyebrow at this strange thing she said.. no idea what she was talking about.. before I could ask she hopped out of the truck.. I shrugged it off and followed her.

"I have a gift for you" she said with a grin.. "BUT.. you can only have it.. if you can reach me!" With that she spread her leathery wings and took flight with a few flaps. Up the mountainside she flew.. up and out of my sight. Was she nuts??.. it's almost a complete vertical climb! and the mountainside is completely covered with snow and ice!

I heard her voice echo down the mountain.. "use your claws silly!! you used to climb this thing all the time!... you can make it!"

your nuts!!! I "shouted back up at her.

I got no reply.. so.. I got no choice.. I can't leave without her.. so I must find her.. play her game.

Extending my toe and finger claws I started.. the claws penetrated the icy surface like it was a watermelon husk.. I tried to haul my weight up but I must of done so too suddenly.. the claws raked down the side of the mountain.. leaving huge grooves. I tried again.. failed again.. tried.. failed.. finally.. carefully.. I learned how to grip...smoothly.. rhythmically... no sudden moves. I climbed as a spider would climb a wall.. it was so much easier now that I was using all 4 sets of claws. I stuck to the ice surfaces.. avoiding any snowy areas, snow makes for unsure grip.. this suddenly popped into my head.. and so did the memory of scaling this mountain.. every inch.. every nook and cranny.. I remembered..

I now raced confidently up the mountain, reaching Darkstar sooner than I thought I would.

I found her about halfway up the mountain.. sitting in the mouth of a small cave. She hugged me and congratulated me.. kissing me softly on my nose.. she took me by my paw and led me into the cave.

the small claws at the tips of her wings lit up like lanterns so she could see her way.. my night vision acted as it's own flash light. The cave opened up into an open space.. a HUGE open space..with no ceiling.. I could see the stars above twinkling. the area had an oval shape to it.. completely flat in the middle then at the walls shooting straight up for what seemed like a mile.. it was like standing in a frying pan big enough for the gods.

"we need to get to the center" Darkstar pointed towards the middle of the area.. it was far.. FAR away.

I groaned as I saw the distance I had to walk.. suddenly Darkstar moved behind me and hooked her arms under mine and hugged tight.. aaaahh I thought.. a nice hug.. but.. I was mistaken.. she began flapping her wings.. and she took off.. with me in tow.

"I HATE FLYING!!" I blurted out.. absolutely terrified as the ground got further and further away.

The crazy female cougar just laughed and went higher and higher.. doing all sorts of barrel rolls and dives high above the caldera.. then she went into a power dive.. straight down... I screamed all the way down.. and the last moment she leveled out and set me down.. landing before me and laughing.

"well.. at least you remember THAT" she giggled and hugged me tight.. "you always were a chicken when it came to flying" she giggled again and nuzzled my neck.

"I WILL get you for that" I said softly into her ear playfully.

We broke our embrace and she stuck her tongue out again at me.. "you'd hafta catch me first!"

"but.. I did have a different reason to bring you here my tiger.. actually 2 reasons.. to give that gift.. and to teach you more about the powers you possess".

"I think I'll give you the gift first... do you trust me?"

"of course I trust you" I said.

She nodded with a smile and took a small pouch from her hip and poured the contents into her paw... it looked like a metal.. it had the strangest metallic hue to it..

Then another pouch from her hip was used.. a black marble thing was pulled from the pouch and thrown to the ground.. exploding in smoke. As the smoke cleared.. I saw a forge before me.. at this point she told me to stand back. The metal went into the forge.. then it literally erupted with fire.. the flame consumed the forge.. and her.. the entire area around her was engulfed in flames. I was scared to death.. I jumped towards her... I had to save her!! She stepped out of the flames and stopped me... "I'm alright love" she said.... "the heat doesn't effect me.. now be a good boy and stay back.. I don't want you to get burned.. you could withstand the flames with your cold field.. but when the bellows begin to blow.. these flames will rival the heat of the sun." I put my trust in her and stepped far back.. making sure my cold field was up full blast. She started the bellows blowing.. the flames roared.. turning white hot.. I could still see her in there.. molding and shaping the curious metal.. it must take a lot of heat to melt that stuff..

She then wielded a hammer.. pounding and shaping the metal.. separating it into 2 white hot pieces.. sparks flew with each of her strikes. She then seemed to open a rift in the ground below here.. a black spirit like figure rose from the rift.. Darkstar faced it.. pointing to the 2 pieces of metal in the forge.. the black spirit being flowed towards the metal as she commanded.. dividing itself into 2 and merging with the metal pieces. I watched as the flames died down and the metal chunks changed form into two perfectly round golf ball sized orbs. Darkstar collected these in her paws and walked towards me... presenting the 2 balls of metal to me.

"what are they?.. are these the gift?" I asked.. closely inspecting the orbs in her paws. She smiled.. "yes.. they are your gift.. now.. take your coat and shirt off and turn around for me."

I did as I was told.. strange as the request was. She held the orbs against my back.. just under my left and right shoulders.. right on the shoulder blades.

"you might feel a little sting." she said.

again.. before I could say anything she did her thing.. and it was one HELL of a sting.. centered in the spots where the metal touched me.. YEEEOOOWWCH!!!! I screamed.

"oh hush you big baby..it didn't hurt that bad!"

I growled as she softly rubbed the 2 sore spots on my back.. the pain slowly faded away.

"there now.. that wasn't so bad.. now was it?" her voice had a bit of playfulness in it.. it kinda aggravated me.. "it hurt like hell... what did you do??" I demanded.. turning to face her..she immediately took my furred cheeks in her paws and pulled me in for a deep kiss... the orbs were nowhere to be seen.. as she broke the kiss I asked.. "where's the metal balls?"

"there a part of you now" she replied with a sly grin.

a part of me??.. what did she mean by that?

she read the questions in my mind and simply told me to think of wings.

I began to protest.. wanting answers.. she blew it off and told me to think of wings again.

I gave up.. no sense in arguing with her.. so.. I thought of wings.. wings like hers.

immediately after that 2 perfect replica's of her wings sprouted from my back from where the metal had been implanted. with her wing claws glowing again she led me to a wall of ice.. perfectly smooth so I could see.. my jaw nearly hit the ground as I saw what has sticking out of my back.. wings..

"I implanted living metal into you.. it's now a part of you.. your blood vessels, tissue and nerves all merged with it.. and that thing you saw was a shadowling from the shadow realm.. it will help you.. teach you how to use your gift.. it will go back to the shadows when you gain your mastery over the metal. The implants can take on any form you imagine.. from wings to tools.. even guns that will actually fire ammo.. but be warned.. firing any ammo uses up the metal.. making you weaker the more you shoot.. the metal will regenerate itself.. but you won't be strong again until you eat something.

As she spoke I moved the wings a bit... extending them.. folding them up.. flapping them a little.

She smiled.. "use them as an extension of yourself... you'll get the hang of it."

I played with the implants a bit.. changing them into feathery bird-like wings.... huge speakers.. animal cracker shapes... a huge peace symbol.. the chevy and ford symbol, I noticed no matter what I changed them into.. they always remained attached to my back by long strands of metal.

"I'll hafta get used to these things sticking out of my back" I joked.

Darkstar pulled a small dagger as I changed my metal implants back into replica's of her wings.. she proceeded to stab the dagger through one of the wings.. then quickly withdrew it.. I flinched.. expecting pain.. I felt some... but nothing near what I thought it would feel.. the wound immediately filled up and healed.

"sorry tiger.. I had to make sure I did it right" she kinda looked sadly at me.. but I wasn't angry.

"next time love.. warn me before you do something like that." I grinned and turned to kiss her. I noticed at that point that the wings on my back had vanished.. "where did they go?" I asked her.

"when your not using the implants they will retract back into your body.. leaving no trace behind"

"damn.. I really like this new toy yo gave me!.. although I'll probably never use the wing part.. everything else the implants can do will come in handy!"

She grinned evilly at me.. this made me kinda nervous..

"OOOHHhhh no ya don't tiger.. the main reason I gave you this gift is so you could fly with me.. so out with those wings.. time for your first lesson!"

"no way... forget it!!.. I hate flying!!" I put my foot down.. and sat on the ground Indian style.. arms crossed.. "you can't make me you can't make me!"

I should of thought first before I acted.. then she probably Would of gone easy on me.. but I keep forgetting how persistent she is.. never say no to her.. DAMN I wish I Would of remembered that..

She grabbed me by the belt around my waist and hauled my ass up into the atmosphere.. flying higher than she had taken me before.. the caldera we were in shrinking down to a small point..... then...... she let go.

Now.. usually.. I can hold in my emotions.. smother my fears.. but as I dropped.. the ground coming up at me at over 180 mph.. I lost it.. and screamed like a terrified little pre school girl. She flew down next to me in a power dive and just looked at me with a smile that said.. well??.. what you gonna do now tiger??

I reached out for her.. I wanted to STRANGLE this crazy female!! she's trying to kill me!!

She was sure to stay out of my reach.. "better do something quick tiger.. your running out of air space!"

the thing that drove me nuts is that she just kept smiling..like she was teasing me.

I was getting closer and closer.. I'd rather hit the damn ground than fly...... what the HELL am I talking about!?!?!?!... I spread my wings about 30 yards from the ground and swooped back up into the air... then began to fall again..

"FLAP!! FLAP YOUR WINGS!" Darkstar shouted... sooooo I did.... hovering above the ground... wobbly.. very unstable.

She swooped down and fluttered before me. clapping.

"good boy!! I knew you could do it!! yaaaay!! whoopie!!"

"I will KILL you!!!" I growled.. "well.. maybe not kill.. but.. I WILL get you for dropping me like that!!!"

She just laughed and bopped me on the nose with her tail tip.. "tiger gotta catch me first!!" with that she flew backwards away from me.. taunting with a nya nya you can't get me type thing. I gave chase, completely to her surprise.. I followed her close and never lost her once.. eventually catching her when she swooped low to the ground and tackling her into a snowbank.. then proceeded to tickle her into submission. When she stopped laughing she told me I was a natural at flying.

After we brushed the snow off each other we rested for a bit.. I held her in my arms.. and we gazed upon the starry sky.. it seemed like hours before she spoke again.

"rest and fun time is over tiger.. I must show you how to control your powers.. that's the reason why I brought you way out here.. so you won't destroy anything important.

I nodded.. for the safety of the others.. it would be best if I learned how to use my power.

I looked toward her for instruction.. she pointed behind me.. I slowly turned to see what she was directing my attention towards.

Behind me stood a beautiful tigress.. long flowing blond hair.. with a very unique stripe pattern on her body.. and a lot of her body was exposed.. she hardly wore a thing.

I turned towards my mate and asked.."who.. is that?"

"she is your teacher.. a native Acadian.."

"I thought YOU were going to teach me?"

She shook her head and replied "I'm here to help a little.. but she knows the power inside you better than I.. she is the eldest of the Acadian race. the eldest? I thought.. she looks so young.. the race must not be very old at all..

"don't be put off by my looks.. I look young.. but I am well over 30,000 years old.. I've been around since the beginning of our race.. we Acadians age to a physical appearance of around 25 years old.. then the body stops aging." the tigress said this calmly and softly.. I didn't know how to respond.. so I just kept my mouth shut.. for all I know she could be my great, great, great, great, great, great, great, great,.... aww hell with it... a very great grandmother.

Darkstar sat on the sidelines giving me encouraging words and cheering me on as my training got under way.. target practice was first.. I had the basic charging up thing down already.. but focusing the blast was the hard part.. the tigress would throw small, round wooden targets in the air.. and I was supposed to hit them.. my first shot missed completely.. totally annihilating the far wall of the caldera. with practice and the tigress's coaching.. and Darky's support.. I was able to focus the blast and target things.. I was taught how to make energy grenades that explode when thrown.. or explode when I mentally command them to.. a flash of green in my eyes setting them off.. I learned how to increase the power of an energy grenade.. packing so much bang into it that when set off it would annihilate everything in a 50 mile radius.. or more. I don't know how long we were up on that mountain.. or.. What's left of it anyway.. my first shots pretty much cut the mountain range in half.. but by the time we were done most of my memories had returned on how to keep a cap on my powers... although I still had trouble stabilizing the energy grenades.. the hard part is the protective covering that surrounds the energy.. my power core changes dark matter into the energy I use.. the shell is made from the dark matter.. I find it hard to conjure up both forms of this dark matter... and I'm not even sure what dark matter is.. but the tigress assures me that it is not anything evil.

The training session ended soon after my ability to control my powers had improved greatly.. I thanked the tigress for her help and she vanished as quick as she had appeared. I joined Darky where she sat with new respect for my power core.

"if.. if all Acadians have this power.. then.. how.. how did Primus and the Khastians slaughter so many.. didn't.. didn't my people fight back?"

Darkstar lowered her head a bit.. "they did fight back.. but none possessed the power that you have.. yours is stronger than all their power put together.. because the core is inside you.. you control ALL dark matter.

The most power your people could muster was the equivalent of a blast from a stick of dynamite... it just wasn't enough to push back the Khastians. At this point one thing burned inside me.. revenge. I grabbed my shirt and coat and walked with Darkstar to the cliff outside.

Darky and I flew back to the truck, she made a game of it.. I had to try and catch her tail. Once inside she removed the thin coat she was wearing.. amazingly warm for it's thickness.. she said she wished the coat had been with her when she went to earth to find me.. she wouldn't have almost frozen to death then. The beautiful cougar disappeared into the back of the truck for a few moments so I fished the keys out of my pocket and cranked the huge machine over. Suddenly Darkstar appeared from behind me and swiped the keys out of the ignition.. then ran with a giggle back into the rear of the truck. I sat for a moment.. shaking my head and laughing softly. "how do you expect us to get home?" I joked.. I heard nothing from her but another soft giggle.. after a minute she replied.

"were not going home tiger.. were staying out here tonight.. you need to be away from the base for a little while.. cougar gonna help relieve tiger's stress".

I raised a furred eyebrow at this.. rotating my upper body around and resting my arm on the back of the seat I looked back into the doorway leading to the truck rear... suddenly an article of clothing flew out the door and landed on the floor just next to my seat.. then another.. than another and another.. my eyes widened as I saw her under garments join the collecting pile.. then nothing.. the flurry of clothing stopped.. it was replaced by a soft, seductive purr.. then an irresistible scent. I rose from my seat and followed the soothing purr and the scent.. my clothes soon joined hers on the floor of the truck... the activities that took place that night rivaled the last experience with her.. we both awoke weak and exhausted many hours later.. cradled in each others arms in the warm sleeping bag we shared. We lay awake in a warm embrace for what seemed like an eternity.. she purred like a kitten the whole time.. nuzzling my neck and occasionally hugging me tight as she held me.. god I love this beautiful feline.

Soon after we got dressed and she began cooking up some steak on a grill built into the truck. As it cooked I decided to go for a flight. I planted a kiss on my mates cheek and exited the truck.. taking a deep breath of the freezing air... it was very invigorating. I had to leave my coat and shirt behind because the wings wouldn't be able to emerge and unfold with the coat and shirt in the way.. and I didn't want to cut holes in either one.

The mountain range of K-hill ran north to south.. so I flew northward along the range.

It was an awesome sight.. these mountains rivaled that of all on earth.. topping off at heights that were greater than the mighty Olympus mons on mars. My night vision illuminating the sights below me.. the feeling I experienced.. the freedom.. to see the planet far below me.. words cannot describe it.

After about 20 minutes I decided to land on one of the high peaks to get a different view.

My touchdown wasn't as smooth as I had liked it to be.. hitting the peak I rolled a bit and skidded to a stop.

I stood and scowled.. brushing the snow off of me.. then the ground below me gave way.

I dropped like a rock deep into the cavernous mountain peak.. crashing down onto a floor of solid rock.. needless to say.. it hurt.

I stood and scowled AGAIN.. then took a quick look at my surroundings.

The cavern was immense.. I judged it about the size of a football field.. and about 100 feet from floor to ceiling. The walls and floor were strangely smooth. I walked a few feet towards the center of the cavern.. my foot caught something and I tripped.. if I fall down one more damn time... I looked to see what had tripped me up... a wad of brightly colored electrical wires were wrapped around my toes... wires?..

I unwrapped my toes and followed the wires back towards the wall.. then ended at a computer console. How the hell did a computer console get into the bowels of a mountain?? There were strange symbols under each button and switch on the console.. I couldn't make them out.. but a big red button looked good.. so I pushed it. The console lit up brilliantly.. a view screen embedded in the wall came to life and began showing more of the strange symbols while pointing out specific points on what looked like a schematic for a ship.

The longer I stared at the symbols the more they made sense.. this scared me a bit.... I began flipping switches and pushing buttons.. immense lights overhead flickered to life... more electronics switched on along the walls... the big robot in the corner came to life...... robot?.... damn...

The thing was at least 20 feet tall.. I missed it before because it sat in a mess of discarded machinery.. it's eyes were nothing more than 2 slits.. angled to give it a permanent *pissed off* look. It's right arm had a formidable cannon attached to it.. which the bot promptly pointed at my head. In a voice that sounded like rocks in a semi trucks beaks it said something in an alien tongue. I backed off a bit... clenching my right fist and gathering power to defend myself. The arm cannon on the bot glowed as it charged up.. the monster repeated what it had said before.. it was like it was waiting for an answer.. and would kill if the wrong answer was given. I didn't know what to do.. if it attacks I'm fighting back.... but... I heard the sound of an energy cannon and found myself lying on my back.. the thing had shot me.

that's it dammit..I've fallen down one too many times today. I jumped to my feet.. the fur on the upper part of my chest.. and my whole head.. was smoking.. but not even singed. The bot pointed it's cannon at my head again and repeated it's alien words again. damn thing is stubborn I'll give it that.

Normally after being shot in the head I'd be furious.. if not dead.. and I was furious... it repeated the words again and out of nowhere I replied an answer in the same alien tongue... I had actually wanted to tell it to go screw itself. The bot lowered it's cannon arm and stood before me.. I must of said what it wanted to hear.. although I'm not sure what I said. It stared at me for a moment.. then made it's way to the console.. pushing a series of buttons.. this in turn flipped open a small panel revealing another button.. which the robot also pushed... I dissipate the energy I had charged up and watched the bot work. It turned from the console and looked at me again.. gesturing for me to look behind me. I didn't really want to turn my back on this thing.. so I took a quick look.. and did a double take.

The ship in the computer schematic had appeared behind me out of nowhere, it practically filled the entire cavern and was colored a strange shade of blue.

I turned towards the bot and kinda waved at it.."uuhhmm.. I'll.. I'll be right back.." I said.. it kinda tilted it's head like it didn't understand.. I shrugged and took flight.. exiting out the hole I made in the roof. The roar of rockets reached my ears.. I looked behind me.. that dumb robot was following me. My wings formed into duel rockets and I blasted ahead.. losing the robot... at least I thought I did.

As I reached the truck I landed and looked back over my shoulder... I saw nothing following.. so I went into the truck to see my mates smiling face and a huge plate of freshly cooked meat smothered with A-1 sauce waiting for me. We sat down and ate.. and I told her of the ship I had found.. and the robot. She looked a bit surprised when I told her what I had found. she said only one space ship was ever built by the Acadians.. they used it in only one war. It is covered with Acadian armor plating.. it is indestructible.. nothing can even scratch the armor. After the Acadians had seen what war was like.. and what technology could really do.. they dropped all production of all machinery and technology.. and went back to a simplistic life, burying the ship in one of the mountains on the planet.. leaving behind the guardian robot to protect the ship and keep anyone from stealing it.

I finished off my dinner and licked my plate clean.. standing I placed it in a rack to be cleaned when we get back to base.. I just happened to glance out the window.. and saw it staring back in the window at me.

Darkstar looked at me funny.. wondering what I was staring at out the window.. she followed my gaze and gave out a shriek as she saw the pair of glowing red eyes staring in through the window.

"what the hell is that??" she whispered out of fear.

I shook my head and headed for the door.. "it's the robot I told you about.. it followed me."

I stepped outside cautiously.. not sure if the robot was intent on shooting me again.. but upon encountering it... I was a bit surprised when the dumb thing hugged me.. mumbling something in the ancient tongue again. Darkstar joined me outside.. crossed her arms and raised an eyebrow with a smile on her face.

"looks like you got a new pet!" she giggled.

"bah" I exclaimed.. trying to pry free of the robots bear hug. It finally dropped me after a few moments and spoke in it's grinding voice.

"what did it say?" Darkstar asked.

"like I know??.. I don't understand much of what it says.. only thing I can translate is the word *master*"

Darkstar mentioned that maybe we should take it to one of the Acadian tribes.. there it could learn a bit of English from the natives.. and we could probably leave it there.. so it won't be following ME around.

I let Darky drive this time since I didn't know where the nearest tribe lived. It was less than an hour drive along a barely visible trail.. the robot stomped through the snow behind us.. following like a puppy.

I almost didn't notice the village when we reached it.. it was comprised of small rock huts.. the huts were half in the ground.. the upper portion covered by snow.. so to me the whole area looked like a bunch of snowy lumps.. the only thing that was unusual was the chimney stacks poking out the tops of the snow lumps with smoke pouring from them. We exited the truck and made out way to the central snow lump/ hut.. which was larger than the others, of course the robot tagged right along behind me.

We had to brush the snow free of the door before we could open it.. finally it swung open and we stepped in.. all but the giant robot.. it just got down on all fours and looked in through the door.

immediately my eyes were greeted by 12 dozen Acadian females.. all either completely nude or close to it... and each looking at me with the same seductive look Darkstar would give me.

I'm a one Female type man.. I dedicate my love to only one.. and that one is Darkstar.. and Darky knows this.... but to be on the safe side.. she pushed me out of the hut.. saying she would take care of talking to them.. I'm glad she did.. standing in there with all those neglected females was a bit uncomfortable.

But now I'm stuck outside with... it.

I didn't really look at the robot... I sat on the ground and waited for my mate to come out of the hut.

The robot sat on the ground across from me and looked at me. Many long moments went by and I could FEEL it's piercing gaze. Finally annoyed I looked up and said "WHAT!?!?!"

Startled the robot jumped a little.. and spoke once again in it's alien tongue... it spoke softly this time.

I still couldn't make out much of what it was saying only a couple words here and there. I tried talking to it.. but it just didn't understand English. I gave up after getting frustrated and just sat quietly.

Darkstar soon came out of the hut followed by one of the females. Darky came over and sat with me.. hugging me tight.. while the female went and talked with the robot in the ancient Acadian language.

"sorry about kicking you out like that love.. I was just nervous of how they were all looking at you.. I.. I don't want to loose you.. " Darky cuddled into my side after she said this.. I wrapped my arms around her reassuringly.

"It's ok hun.. I felt very uncomfortable in there.. I'm glad you let me out... what did they tell you?"

She pointed over at the female who was talkin' with the robot.. "they said that she is going to find out what the robot wants and tell us from there".

After about 10 minutes the female came over to where I was sitting with Darkstar.

"the guardian apologizes for trying to kill you..when you didn't answer in Acadian it thought you were an outsider.. it also gives all its services to you.. claiming you as it's master.. the least it can do for almost destroying you.

Darkstar and I looked at each other.. then back at the half naked female.

"uuhhmm,.... we don't.. exactly need it's services.. I mean.. no hard feelings against it.. it was just doing it's job.. but my mate and I are quite capable of handling things on our own..." I told the female.

The female shook her head..

"it insists.. we don't need it around here.. it would do you good to take the guardian with you.. it can help you.

"how can that thing help me when it can't even understand me.. and I hardly understand IT for that matter." I protested.

"It will teach you" the female replied.. then turned and said one last thing to the robot before disappearing back into the large hut... I sighed... looks like I DO have a new pet.

Darkstar got another call from base as we were on our way again.. followed closely by the guardian bot. so we headed back to the spaceport.. to see what else had come up. I parked the truck in the garage.. and stayed in the truck.. intent on avoiding any further unpleasant confrontations with Jenner. Darkstar completely understood and thought my idea was good.. so she went on into the base alone.. while I sat in the garage.. alone once again with the guardian.

I climbed out of the truck and onto the top of the cab.. at this height I was about at eye level with the robot as it sat on the garage floor.

"ok ya big lout.. she said you would teach me... so... teach me." I said.. looking it right in the glowing red eyes.

It opened a small vent like compartment in it's chest.. and out slid a book.. it then handed the book to me.

I looked at the book.. never before had I seen a material like this.. the cover.. the pages.. made of some sort of paper-like metal.. all a soft metallic blue color. opening the book.. the first page was covered the same strange symbols as I saw on the view screens in the mountain with the ship. then under each symbol was a type of translation for that symbol.. kinda like a decoder.. pronunciations followed that.. like in a dictionary. The book looks like it will help.. but it's not gonna be easy.

I looked up at the robot and said.. "thank you" it then sort of nodded to me and sat in the far rear corner and shut itself down for a rest.

Darky returned an hour later and apologized for taking so long.. I told her it was no problem as I was studying the book the whole time. She told me that another beacon was being received from earth.. another fur sent there for the same reasons as me.. but this one has retained all his memories.. we need to go get him.

The only problem is the shuttle craft Darkstar used to bring me home was only a 2 seater.. enough room for her and I.. and I'm not letting her go alone on this mission. The only alternative we have is the ship resting in the mountain, if the damn thing even works.

Darky went back into the station and retrieved a spare temporal displacement device.. to be rigged into the large Acadian war ship.. then we were on our way back out to K-hill.. of course the guardian bot followed.. I find I can't make much of any moves without it following me around. Upon reaching the site Darky and I prepared to take flight to the top of the mountain to the entrance I had made when I fell through the top.. as we made ready the guardian walked towards the foot of the mountain.. a very small hatch opened on the top of it's head and a tiny satellite dish popped out.. it swept side to side like it was scanning or transmitting some sort of code.. just then Darky and I were both knocked over as the entire area began to shake and vibrate violently.

"earthquake!!!" I shouted over the loud rumble.. trying to get a foot hold to stand but finding it nearly impossible... the vibrations literally reducing all my muscles to putty.

After what seemed like an eternity.. the shaking suddenly stopped. Shaking my head and trying to clear my vision I first checked to see if my mate was ok... she was shaken up a bit.. but doing ok. I looked back towards the mountain.. to see what had happened to the robot. It was still standing.. obviously not effected by the tremors at all. Again it was staring at me.. head cocked slightly to one side.. then slowly it turned it's head.. looking around behind itself towards the mountain. My jaw dropped as I saw what had happened.

The entire side of the mountain had opened up.. like 2 colossal doors.. revealing the ship inside.

I slowly looked over at my mate.. she looked back and shrugged.. and joined me as I stood up and wiped the snow from my clothes.

Darky and I followed the robot walking hand in hand into the massive mountain hanger. As we walked up along the side of the ship Darkstar lightly ran her fingers across the hull.. examining the metal closely.

"amazing.. Acadian armor plating.. no other race has been able to duplicate it" Darkstar beamed a smile at me.. "shall we see if we can get this thing up and running?"

I knew she was going to want to fly it.. just by the look in her eye.. that made me slightly nervous.. but I tried to hide it as I nodded my head yes.. and was dragged by her to the entrance ramp. It was actually an elevator that lowered down from the belly of the ship.. and it was a rather large elevator.. easily fitting at least 20 furs. There was no way for the robot to get aboard.. as much as I could tell that it wanted too.. all it could do was stand by and watch. I looked at the elevator controls.. more of those damn Acadian symbols.. no simple button with an up arrow.. or with a down arrow. I kinda looked at Darky for some coaching or advise.

"don't look at me.. I don't know how to read Acadian" she giggled and stuck her tongue out at me.. then scratched softly behind my ears.. "c'mon Fuzzy,.. you can do it.. you've been studying that book right?"

the BOOK... I had completely forgotten about it.. I whipped it out as Darkstar warmly hugged me.. sneaking her warm paws under my shirt and softly skritching my belly and sides. This calmed me a bit so I could concentrate on the symbols. I misread the first button I pushed..it set off a very loud and annoying klaxon.. this frustrated and more or less pissed me off.. since I couldn't figure out how to shut it off. Darkstar wouldn't let me get too angry.. she knew my weakness.. and kept skritching my sensitive areas to soothe me.. after a few moments of more reading in the book I finally found the translation in needed and shut off the klaxon.. then without even thinking of it I pushed the button I was looking for.. the doors closed and the elevator began to rise up into the bowels of the ship. I kinda stood there looking at the button I had pressed.. my finger still outstretched towards it.. I saw a symbol.. but it read "up" I didn't need the book for that one.. my memories are coming back faster now.

The elevator stopped with a soft ding sound.. the doors slid open.. and the bridge of the ship met our eyes.

The first thing I noticed is that everything was bathed in a deep red light.. the ship was in some sort of stand by mode. Darkstar stepped out of the elevator ahead of me.. heading straight for the main control console. I stepped out slowly after her.. looking around carefully. The bridge more resembled the cockpit of a jumbo jet.. except for A LOT bigger. 2 seats were at the very front.. pilot and co-pilot seats.. situated in front of hundreds of control surfaces... all of which were manual controls.

Avery complicated looking flight yolk was in front of the left chair.. adorned with dozens of buttons and switches.. beyond that was a vast array of more dials and switches.. a couple of small view screens and various levers. In front of the right chair was what appeared to be a huge navigational computer. And of course everything is labeled with the strange Acadian symbols.. to Darky's dismay.. if she can't read the controls.. she can't fly it. She now regrets never learning the language from me before I was wounded and shipped to earth.

She sat in the pilots chair and pouted.. then her eyes lit up.. "can I see your book Fuzzy?"

I laughed softly and handed her the book. "good luck hun!"

She took the book with a devious grin.. it made me wonder what she was up to. She then held the book in her upturned palm.. then placing her other paw on top of the book.. sort of sandwiching it between her paws.. the book glowed yellow for a slight second.. then Darky handed it back to me.

What she did next completely blew me away... her fingers danced across the buttons and switches.. the red lights faded and were replaced by soft white lights.. illuminating the bridge.. the computer screens lit up and a dull, soft humming noise emitted from the rear of the ship.

She took one look at my face and laughed.. I was wide eyed... how... h...how did... is all I could mutter.

"I read the book using osmosis.. I now know how to read ancient Acadian" She giggled as I blurted out.. "not fair!!.. you cheated!!"

Now I double my efforts in studying that book... determined not to let her outdo me.. the dirty cheater!

She then hopped out of her seat and grabbed the temporal displacement device she had brought along.. running off to install it while jokingly telling me to keep up my studying.. blah.

She finished surprisingly quickly and padded back to her chair.. bringing with her a small black box which she plugged into the nav computer.

Sitting in my lap she punched in the proper coordinates.. then kissed me as she went back to the pilots chair.

Darky slowly brought the ship out of it's hanger.. as I looked out the side window I saw the robot carrying the truck back towards the space port. I went back to my book.. Darky looked over at me with a smart ass grin.. I growled playfully at her and resumed reading.. the symbols making more sense the more I looked at them. By the time we broke the gravitational pull of the planet I had a basic understanding of the language.. at about a 6th grade level anyway. Slightly more confident in my abilities to understand the symbols I punched a few buttons on the nav computer and brought up the maintenance history of the ship.. starting from it's first day of use to it's storage in the mountain.. I learned the ship itself was over 10,000 years old.. and the maintenance record was 100% clean.. nothing had ever broken down.. ever. I also found a layout of the ship.. a certain point of interest to me was the cargo hold.. which apparently still held some items, I'll have to check it out later.

When our distance from Acadia was enough my mate flipped a chrome switch on the flight yolk. immediately some blast shielding slid down over the windows to protect our eyes. Then she instructed me to pull 3 levers to my left down simultaneously. I did this and the temporal displacement unit came to life.. we were on our way back to earth.

Fayde was the name of the fur/ human we were looking for. Since this guy still had all his past memories it shouldn't be too hard to convince him to come along with us.. he'll be happy to go home.

The trip went rather fast.. and I didn't get sick this time around.

The blast shields rose from the windows revealing a site I thought I'd never see again... Earth. It was beautiful. Darkstar's calculations on Fayde's location were much more accurate than they were when she was searching me out... his beacon being so much stronger than mine was. It shouldn't take us as long to find him as it did for her to find me.. considerably less than a week.

First problem that was obvious to us.. where the hell to we park this monster ship?? it's not as easy to hide as the shuttle was... we solved it without my trouble.. just park the ship on the dark side of the moon.. and teleport to the planet surface.

Problem number 2... we can't exactly walk around as we are.. a 10 foot tiger and a 9 foot cougar.. the local humans would kinda take notice and well... panic.. and a panicky human is not what we want. this problem was soon solved also.. a new devise created by Timberwolf... it gives us the holographic appearance of humans.

We teleported down to the planet.. I suddenly found myself standing on the side of the road.. almost exactly where Darky and I had run into old man Riley. The season had changed.. the snow was gone.. and it was damn hot.. I turned my cold field on full blast before the heat had a chance to affect me. At this point we turned on our hologram projectors.. changing our appearance to human. I looked over at my mate.. although I liked her much better in cougar form.. she still looked pretty good as a human... and her clothes were the same as she wore on Acadia.. the cut off jeans and T-shirt that leaves her belly exposed. I was still wearing my trench coat and jeans with the smiley face T-shirt. For a few minutes we walked.. heading in the direction that Fayde's beacon was last sent from. It wasn't 5 minutes before we came on a hidden driveway.. Darkstar stopped and pointed down the dirt drive.. "that way" she said.

We followed the driveway back into the woods.. it went back for about 100 feet then did a 90 degree turn to the right.. it went on for about another 100 feet and ended at a huge house set up on a small hill.

"that's the place" said Darkstar.. after checking and double checking her calculations.

Amazing I thought to myself.. he didn't live more than 10 minutes from where I used to live.. we were so close for all those years. We approached the house.. climbing the front stairs to the door. I rang the doorbell and seconds later a woman answered the door.

"is.. uhhm... Fayde home?" I said.. knowing that wasn't the name he was going by.. I should have asked Darky first..

"who?" asked the woman.. she was obviously confused... and looked worried.. here was a half naked woman and a guy in a trench coat looking for her son.

"Rob" said Darkstar quickly.. kinda pushing me aside and taking over the conversation.

"you'll have to excuse my friend here" she said.."he's a bit on the crazy side"

she looked over at me with a silly grin.. I just stuck my tongue out at her.

"oh.. Rob.. he's not here right now.. I think he's at a club right now.." his mom replied with a little relief in her voice... although it took a few minutes to find out what club he was at..his mom was reluctant to give out information to complete strangers.. but I convinced her we were old friends and got the name of the club.. we thanked her and were on our way once again.. but I wasn't sure if what we were doing was right.. this Fayde person still has family.. would it be right to take him away from loved ones? Darkstar said it would be totally up to Fayde himself.

I knew exactly where this place was.. but it was quite a distance away... walking there would take all day.

Darkstar took care of that problem quickly.. tossing the small black marble into the street when we reached it... it instantly formed back into my old Jeep. Before we could even get in.. that dumb ass Riley drove by again... locking up all his tires and screeching to a halt when he saw it was me.. dammit.

The front of his truck was bashed up badly.. it must of hit a tree before he caught up to it after Darky sent it driving off by itself. Riley jumped out of the truck.. taking the keys with him this time.. in his hand.. a double barrel rifle.

"YOU!!" he yelled.. "you dirty sonofabitch!!" Riley walked right up to me and pointed his rifle right at my head... "you wrecked my damn truck!!.. I'm gonna blow yer damn head off!!.. that's what I'm gonna do!!" I could smell beer on his breath.. the fool was drunk this time.

"get real Riley" I said.. "I was standing right there in plain view.. you just didn't put your parking break on."

"you saying I'm stupid or something boy!?!" he growled.

"more or less" I replied.. I'm getting really tired of this moron.

Riley was outraged.. he placed his finger on both triggers and started squeezing them back.. "that was the wrong thing to say boy..." he said.. closing one eye and pointing the gun right between my own eyes.

Just then he heard a deep threatening growl... "you touch him you filthy old man and I'll tear you apart."

Darkstar had just about enough of Riley.. and stared coldly at him as she issued her threat. I told her I'd handle the situation and she backed down.

"well well well now!!.. ain't you the purty little thing!" Riley smiled revealing his disgusting, black stained teeth.. what there was left of them.

"what you doing with this useless shit?" Riley said.. "why don't ya ditch this looser and hang with a REAL man??" he was obviously talking about himself.

Darkstar uttered a growl that of which I never heard before.. she was getting REALLY pissed.. and I could tell it wasn't long before she would snap.

"I'll make you a deal boy... you leave.. and don't look back... and I'll keep yer woman... you do this, and I'll forget you trashed my truck."

Now the jerk was pissing ME off... "over my dead body you worthless sack of excrement." I said coldly.

Riley said nothing at first.. just frowned... then he spoke "yer ass is dead then boy.. and I'll get yer girl anyway!"

I had enough of this.. I clenched my fist and it burst into the green flame.. I tensed the muscles.. gathering more energy.

"what the hell??" Riley exclaimed as he saw my glowing fist.. I let the power bolt go.. hitting Riley square in the chest.. knocking him backwards 15 feet.

He lay dazed for a moment as I walked slowly towards him.. I grabbed the front of his shirt and lifted him off the ground. I didn't hit em hard enough to kill him.. just singed his clothes a bit.

"now I'll make YOU a deal... you get the hell in your truck and drive... drive as fast as you can.. I'll be watching.. if you stop I'll kill you."

Riley was shaking all over.. he nodded slowly his agreement.. so I dropped him and turned to walk back to the jeep. Darkstar was waiting there for me.. leaning against the front of the jeep with her arms crossed.

I was just about to say something to her when Riley shot me in the back. I dropped to my knees slowly.. then fell over forward flat on my face.. then everything went black.

When I came to I was still lying in the street.. I slowly got up on my feet.. checking myself over.. a bullet hole.. through the front of my shirt and trench coat.. but no blood.. I reached around and felt my back... no wound there either.. but there was another hole from the bullet.

I nearly jumped out of my skin when Darkstar laid a hand on my shoulder.

I turned to see her.. and was horrified at what lay in the street behind her.

Riley's body lay in the street.. his head cut clean off.. and his rifle lay chopped in half near his lifeless carcass.

She said nothing.. just checked me over.. running her hands under my shirt across my chest and back... when she was satisfied that there were no holes in me she spoke.

"I thought you were dead... so I lost myself in rage and killed the human..". She said softly as a tear ran down her cheek.. I wiped the tear away and hugged her.. "we better get the hell out of here before somebody sees us.." I said.. pulling her into the jeep and taking off down the road.

Neither of us spoke till we got into the next town.. about halfway to the club.

"I know what your thinking" she finally said.. "why didn't the bullet kill you.. and why didn't it even leave a mark".

I nodded.. keeping my eyes on the road.

she was silent for a few moments again.

"your mad cause I killed that human aren't you..."

she said softly.. keeping her head lowered.

"not really.... he tried to kill me.. and wanted to take you from me.. if anyone deserved to die it was him." I replied... AND.. he ruined my shirt and coat. I pointed to where the bullet had exited my body.. it had made a clean hole through the forehead of the smiley face on my shirt.

She smiled slightly and went on to explain why I wasn't dead.

The bullet had passed through my body harmlessly.. but the shock of it made me black out. She assured me if it happened again I wouldn't loose consciousness. My only weakness is extreme heat.. everything else has no effect on me... except maybe poison.

Darky then fished my tail out from behind me and lay it in her lap.. petting it again till we got to the club.

The place was pretty big when we got inside.. I honestly didn't see how we could find the guy we were looking for amongst all the people. We took a table far in the corner and tried to figure what to do next.

"if things get rough... don't kill anybody ok?" I asked my mate.. we already got one dead human.. we don't need to leave a trail.

She nodded... looking around the place.. checking out all the faces.

"any idea how were gonna find him?" she asked..still scanning the room.

"not a clue love" was my reply.. I was looking around the room as well.. lots of half naked girls.. wearing really tight clothing... and the guys were mostly all huge jocks.. hitting on the girls.... I only hope one of those guys don't gain any interest in Darky.. or all hell might break loose.

I never really noticed how foul humans smelled.. the whole place reeked of sweaty humans.. the scent was almost overwhelming. Above the bar was a TV.. playing NASCAR racing.

I was very surprised nobody had noticed the bullet hole in my shirt and trench coat.

Darkstar pulled a small devise from her back pocket and switched it on.. it was a tracking devise.. designed to search out and locate Fayde's distinctive brain wave patterns.. the devise looked like a cellular phone.. so as to not attract too much attention. After a few minutes she locked on to our target.

Darky pointed him out to me, it took a couple minutes for me to see him.. he sat 4 tables over with 3 other guys.. he was wearing his baseball hat backwards and had a black vest on.. he also looked slightly younger than me.. 18 or 19 years old. We nodded to each other and rose from the table.. and began to shuffle through the crowd over to Fayde. We approached Fayde.. standing behind him as he chatted with friends at his table... we didn't look directly at him.. but casually gained the attention of all at the table.

"would any of you guys go by the name of Fayde?" Darky asked. All at the table just gave us blank expressions.. looking at each other and shrugging.. all except Fayde, who turned around very slowly in his chair with a look of shock and surprise on his face... he turned back to his friends. "uhhmm.. you guys'll have to excuse me.. I need to talk to these 2." he said calmly.. rising from his chair he followed us back to our table in the back. He sat across from Darky and I.. switching his stare between me and Darky.. then finally shaking his head and laughing.

"what?" I asked.

"sure as hell took you 2 long enough!! you know how long I've been rotting here??.. 18 years!!"

He was still laughing.. he seemed a bit nuts to me.

Darky gave a slight grin and responded to him.

"quit your complaining.. Fuzzy was stuck here for 24 years before I found him... and he didn't have his memories.. I scared the hell out of him when he first saw me." she grinned and bumped me with her elbow.. she knew she was embarrassing me.

Fayde looked like he was gonna say something to be a smart ass.. but held back.

"before we even think about taking you back.. I wanna ask.. do you want to leave?.. you have family.. friends.. where as I had none... I had no reason to stay here." I asked him seriously.

Fayde thought on it for about 5 minutes.. Darky and I were quiet.. letting him really think about it.

"Lemme go make a call." he said softly and rose from his chair.. heading for the payphone.

Darky and I waited quietly.. we both watched the other people talk and dance.

Fayde came back and sat down again. "I called my folks and told em the truth.. they laughed and thought it was a joke."

"you still wanna go?" asked Darkstar.

"yup.. when they realize I'm gone they'll have to believe my story."

Just then I noticed the TV.. a news flash suddenly replaced the NASCAR racing.

A decapitated body had been found on a back road.... it was Riley... and a witness had seen a jeep driving from the scene... MY jeep.. then they posted 2 police drawings.. the drawings were of Darkstar and I and there was a 10,000 dollar reward for any information leading to our capture.. dead or alive..oh shit.. we're in

a crowded place.. and lots of these people are watching the TV.. if one of em notices us.. we're in trouble.

"we gotta go... NOW" I suddenly said.. Darkstar opened her mouth to ask why but I cut her off.. "no questions... they found Riley and they know it was us who killed him.. we gotta get the hell out of here before we are recognized.."

Darkstar suddenly understood and grabbed Fayde out of his chair and followed me towards the exit... unfortunately we weren't fast enough.

"HEY!!.. it's them!!"

A chill went down my back as one of the guys sighted us... the whole club went quiet as all eyes turned towards us.. aww dammit.

Thinking quickly I issued a warning.

" just look away" I said slowly..."if you all value your lives you'll just look away and forget you saw us."

laughter filled the club.. I expected as much.. they thought it was a bluff.

Fayde just now put 2 and 2 together.. "you guys KILLED somebody??" he blurted out... and then yelped as Darkstar jabbed him in the gut with her elbow and told him to keep quiet.

About 15 of the humans had all moved in front of the exit.. blocking our only escape.

"teleport us back to the ship hun.. quick... before things get ugly..." I told Darkstar.

She suddenly panicked.. "I.. I left the teleporter devise back in the jeep..."

oh poopie.

the crowd started moving in on us.. I had no choice at this point. My eyes began burning with green fire.. this alone was enough to cause the mob to step back a bit... but I took it one step further.. I switched off the hologram devise. My 5 foot 9" human form suddenly became distorted and fizzled like a bad TV channel.. giving way to my 10 foot tall true anthro tiger form.

I now towered above the humans.....the ceiling was only 9 feet tall so I had to hunch over a bit.. I growled deeply... bearing my teeth... my eyes glowing green.. I took a deep breath and looked around.. the humans were all backing off.. I motioned for Darky and Fayde to stand in front of me.. then I turned my attention to the door.. and the humans blocking it... I gave them a soul piercing stare and roared at them.. they screamed and covered their ears.. the decibals from my roar shattering their ear drums.. and the glass in the door behind them. The humans were now scattering everywhere..screaming.. widespread panic..it's what I had initially wanted to avoid.. but now it was keeping them far from us so we could escape. I scooped Darky and Fayde into my arms and bolted for the door.

Upon reaching the jeep I put my passengers down and switched the hologram projector back on so I could fit in the jeep. Darky dragged Fayde into the jeep as I jumped into the drivers seat and cranked the engine over.. dropping it into gear and popping the clutch just as the crowd from the club started coming outside.

not half a mile down the road I heard the unmistakable sound of a police siren.. 5 of them to be exact, somebody in the club had called the cops. Fayde was still babbling on about what the hell we had done.. and my mate was still trying to keep him quiet while she rooted around the seats and on the floor for her teleporter devise. The cops were gaining and the speed of the chase had now gone past 90mph.. this was getting out of hand.. there are innocent people driving on these roads.. somebody is gonna get hurt at this rate. I held my left hand out in front of me.. palm up.. and with slight difficulty created a dark matter grenade.. a very unstable one.. it started losing it's stability the second I created it.. which was hard as hell in the first place.. since I was trying to concentrate on the road at the same time. I tossed the grenade out my window.. counted 3 seconds.. and set it off.

The grenade exploded in front of the cops.. blowing a massive crater in the road in front of them.. I heard them all screech to a halt just before the hole. I thought at that moment that we were safe.. but it was not the case.. ahead of us.. a police blockade.

I slammed on the brakes to avoid hitting the blockade.. we came to a halt 20 feet from the police cars blocking the road... the police were all out of their cars.. hiding behind them.. and aiming guns at us.

"whoever you are in there.. don't harm your hostage.. lets talk about this.. we'll get you whatever you want... just DO NOT harm your hostage!!" called out one of the officers on a bull horn.

Hostage?.. what the hell are they talking about?.. what hostage??

Darkstar and I looked puzzled at each other... then simultaneously looked in the back seat at Fayde.

He looked back.. confused.. and simply said... what?

"Gimme your katana hun" I said.. she complied and handed the sharp weapon to me..I hopped in the back seat.... then put the blade to Fayde's throat.

"wha.. what the hell are you doing!?!" Fayde studdered.

"shut up and act scared" I demanded.

"who's acting!?!?!" he blurted out.

With my so called hostage at the end of my blade I shouted to the police.

"if any of you come any closer this guy'll be the next to loose his head!!!"

Darkstar finally found the teleporter devise.. in the glove compartment of all places...

She began punching in her calculations to beam us and the jeep aboard the ship.

Outside the police were still attempting negotiations.. bargaining for Fayde's life, and I kept my intentions clear to them.. if they approach.. I kill my hostage.. or at least that's what I had them believing.

I began to get uneasy.. usually if negotiations don't go anywhere they bring in a sniper to take out the one holding the hostage.. that would be Darkstar and me. I knew if I were shot the bullet would pass through me harmlessly.. but I wasn't sure about my mate.. and I KNEW Fayde was vulnerable in this situation... especially as he's stuck in that fragile human body.

I kept "negotiating" with the police.. finally Darkstar announced that everything was set.

I withdrew the katana from Fayde's neck and jumped back into the drivers seat.. handing the weapon back to my love.

Darky sheathed the sword and immediately activated her devise.. the jeep and it's contents vanished off the planet just as a snipers bullet flew through the air and ricochet off the ground where the jeep once sat.

Darkstar's calculations landed us in the cargo hold on the old Acadian warship. I leaned back in my chair and sighed with relief as did Darky. I was then punched in the shoulder by Fayde.

"you ass hole!!! you scared the hell outta me!" he said.. part laughing.. part yelling.

I immediately turned around in my chair and grabbed him by the throat.. cutting off his air supply.

"hit me again and I WILL chop your head off!!"

Darkstar had to pry me off Fayde and told me to calm myself.. so I got out of the jeep and wandered around the cargo hold.. exploring and checking out what was in the huge crates.

Fayde coughed and rubbed his neck.. "the hell is wrong with him?.. he could of killed me!"

"you better cool it.. he doesn't remember you... he doesn't remember that you were friends.. just give him time.. and don't give him any crap.. he's already having a lot of trouble with Jenner." Darkstar said.. Fayde then realized the situation and promised to be a lot more careful.

"wait a sec.. isn't Jenner glad to see him?.. I thought they were old friends too?.." asked Fayde.

"Jenner doesn't believe it's him.. he can't come to grips that Fuzzy lost most of his memories.. Jenner just thinks we got the wrong guy."

"damn" said Fayde softly.. "poor guy.. he must be so confused.."

"his memory is slowly returning.. he's doing very well.. but the process is slow... so far I've been able to gently coax a few memories out of his stressed mind.... so go easy on him." Darkstar explained.

Fayde nodded and the both exited the jeep.

I was busy rummaging through the crates and boxes in the cargo hold.. I mostly found armor plating.. looks like the ancients stored every last bit of the armor in this ship before they hid it. I also found various electronic devises.. all of which I had no idea what they were. I was able to read the label that was spray painted on the armor crates.. so I avoided those select crates and was left with 2 others.

I was approached by Darkstar and Fayde before I was able to open the 2 crates I had my sights set on.

My mate hugged me tight from behind me.. kissing me softly on my neck.

"are you ok hun?" she cooed softly.. knowing full well it would calm me further.

I nodded and apologized for snapping like I did.. then Fayde apologized for hitting me in the first place.. I smiled and sighed softly.. shaking Fayde's hand. At least THIS old friendship won't re-start on the wrong foot. I got another warm hug from my mate before she took Fayde on a tour of the ship. I shut off the blasted hologram devise and tossed it on top of one of the crates.. felt good to be a tiger again.

I stayed in the cargo hold.. and set my attention on those 2 crates. The first that interested me was a rather small crate.. guitar shaped.. leaning against the largest of the other crates. Curiosity driving me on.. I opened the small one. Inside was not a guitar.. but a double bladed axe. The double blades were huge.. the entire axe itself had a bat-like shape to it.. with 2 deep green crystals embedded in each blade. The color of the axe was mostly black.. with a beautiful star field painted on it's sides. The handle was almost as long as my tiger leg.. made of a very dark wood. I picked up this weapon.. not really sure if it was actually a weapon or a decoration. It was amazingly light.. I had expected an axe this size to weight at least 50 to 60 pounds.. it's almost like it had no weight at all... time to test this thing. I turned and took a swing at the nearest crate.. which just happened to be one of the crates filled with the bluish Acadian armor plating. The axe crashed through the crate.. and sliced through the stack of armor inside like a hot knife through butter. I stood there with my eyes open wide... this armor is supposed to be indestructible... passing through stars won't scorch it.. the deadly gravity of a black hole can't even warp it... yet this axe chops it with ease... I pulled the axe free of the armor and splintered wood.. inspecting it closely.. running my thumb down along the blade.. testing it's sharpness. I was surprised to find that it didn't slice my thumb right off.. I ran my thumb down the blade a little firmer... still no cut... I took a chance and raked the blade up and down the length of my arm roughly.. not even a single scratch. The axe laid waste to anything it touched except for it's user.. cool.. mine now.

Carrying the axe with me I opened the largest of the 2 crates next.. inside I found something else that was quite a surprise.. a motorcycle... Acadian built.

It kinda looked like a Harley.. but more beefy. The entire bike was a very dark blue color.. the engine resembled a V-twin Harley.. but was also bigger and more beefy looking. My eyes lit up.. I never could afford a bike.. cool.. another new toy.

"ooohhhhh!!!.. nice bike!!"

I turned to see my mate eyeing the toy I had just found.. I stood between the bike and her.. "MINE!!" I said playfully.

She had also changed back to her cougar form.. she looked much better that way.. she smiled and slipped her warm paws under my shirt and skritched my belly softly. She then caught site of the half destroyed crate of armor I had tested the axe on...

I explained before she got a chance to say anything. She was amazed.. she told me the axe was made out of the rarest material in our home universe.. Nutronium.. so rare in fact that the axe is all that there is of it... someone had stolen the lump of Nutronium from an Acadian lab.. it had been lost for centuries.. and now it re-surfaces.. in the form of an axe. I was feeling a lot better.. I now had a weapon to rival Darky's twin Katana's.. and a kick ass motorcycle... not to mention the ship.

"where's Fayde?" I asked when I finally realized he had not returned with her.

"he's in the room I gave him.. preparing himself for when he gets his body and abilities back." she replied.

"were currently heading into deep space on impulse power.. just taking a lazy trip across your home galaxy.. I figured we'd rest a bit before going back home" Darky looked deep into my eyes.. her gaze one of love and passion.. I lost myself in those emerald eyes for a moment.. she hugged me tight.. her warm eyes still locked on mine. She took me by my paw and lead me to the elevator.. we rose slowly upward to wherever she was taking me. She smiled seductively.. purring very softly as I held her.. slowly she kissed me and broke our embrace.. she then took 2 steps back and stood before me. She held her arms at her sides.. still smiling.. I smiled right back.. having no clue what she was planning. The clothes she wore.. the cutoff jeans and t-shirt.. began to change color.. from the denim blue to a deep shade of red.. then her clothes changed.. into rose petals.. which all softly fell to the elevator floor around her feet.

I gazed upon her beauty as she stood nude before me.. her tail swishing lightly back and forth behind her.

She padded softly over to me and pressed her body against mine.. hugging me tightly.. I kissed her once again.. more passionately this time.. exploring down her back with my paws.. rubbing softly as I went. This elicited a soft moan from her as she squirmed in my arms.. her purring became more audible.. "I love you" she purred into my ear. I whispered my love for her as I softly skritched behind her ears.

I felt my clothes fall from my body as her magic changed them to rose petals. Now locked in a passionate embrace.. our tails intertwined with each other. The elevator came to a stop as we caressed and held each other.. the doors slid open revealing lush living quarters.. obviously the captains room.. my room. I lifted my love into my arms.. cradling her as I carried her into the massive room. Immediately in front of me was a large depression in the floor.. filled with soft pillows. A fountain bubbled happily behind it.. and behind the fountain was a large view port. to the left was a stereo system, couch and TV. To the right.. a bar and kitchen. The walls all painted a deep blue color.. the lighting was soft and romantic. I strolled over to the pillows and lay my love down in them on her back.. she beckoned me to come to her with her eyes. Not needing any other encouragement I joined her in the pillows. Her sweet, seductive scent was overpowering.. I was intoxicated by it..she mewed softly and said but one word as she noticed my excitement.. "gimme". And so I gave.. again and again and again.. until we both collapsed in each others arms.. exhausted.. and swimming in a sea of extacy.

When next I awoke I was still feeling extacy.. this wonderful female.. I remember.. I remember all of our past relationship... I remember the sweet love we shared.. and as I lay with her in my arms.. more and more memories flooded my mind.. how I had met her.. how her shadow clan had originally sent her to kill me.. but then she fell in love with me.. and left the shadow realms to be with me... then her entire race.. all but her.. died in a war in the underworld. My love began to stir as she woke.. I rubbed her back deeply for her.. I felt all her muscles turn to putty as she went limp in my arms.. purring happily. We lay in sweet bliss for hours before she stirred to wake again. She kissed me softly on my neck and sighed.

"I think it's about time we got back home love" she said.. still half asleep."

I agreed... Fayde was probably in a hurry to get his old body back... the moment I spoke his name a knock came on the door .. "get off your butts and lets get moving!.. I wanna get outta this body!... hey.. what the hell are all these rose petals doing on the elevator floor??"

I growled.. "how did he get up here?.. all the controls are in Acadian on this ship.. how was he able to read them?"

Darkstar giggled.. "remember.. he still has all his memories.. and YOU taught him how to read Acadian before you were sent to earth."

I groaned.. bloody hell.. not fair.. they both can read it and I'm still having trouble.

My mate and I got dressed in new clothes and headed for the bridge of the ship. We were near the outer rim of the milky way by now.. and were just about to jump to our home dimension when Fayde started babbling that he wanted to get a few things from his house.. he waits till NOW to tell us this.. arrggghhh... I don't want to go back. Darkstar assured me that we weren't going back for anything.. this in turn got Fayde all pissed off.

Darkstar calmed him after about 5 minutes.. telling him we could just teleport the entire contents of his room into the cargo hold.. plus the motorcycle he wanted to bring with him. This made Fayde very happy.. and with that he and my mate went to the cargo hold. I remained in the captains chair.. the flight yolk before me.. and the hundreds of illuminated control surfaces seemed to stretch out for miles. I looked across at all the buttons, dials and switches.. and pressed a sequence of 3 flip switches. The blast shields slide up over the windows.. I raised a brow.. not bad.. I then flipped a chrome switch next to the nav computer.. the ship was now off auto pilot.. I was impressed.. I could read the labels with relative ease now.. without the book. I switched on the temporal displacement device.. letting it warm up.. then I took hold of the flight yolk... I played with the triggers and switches on it. all the switches had flip caps on them.. I figured I'd better not play with them after all.. at least not until I read the ships manuals in the main computer. My attention turned to the throttle levers to my right... there was a lock switch on the lever closest to me.. with some experimentation I learned that it allowed me to lock all the levers together to work as one.. or freed them to work individually. I locked them and slowly pushed the levers forward.. I felt no inertia.. but noticed the stars were going by a little faster. I tested the controls.. pulling the yolk towards myself.. the nose lifted up.. pushing in made the nose drop down.. steering left and right caused it to turn.. almost exactly like airplane controls. I pushed the throttle forwards more.. up to halfway.. the stars were zooming by now... I spun the flight yolk to the left.. the controls were more sensitive than I had thought.. the ship started barrel rolling.. I quickly righted the ship again and did a roll to the left.. I pushed the throttle forward all the way.. at that point a red light blinked to life on the control panel directly in front of the throttle.. a label next to it read.. "full impulse". Hmm only impulse power.. the controls for the warp drive must be in the nav computer.

"going for a little joyride are we?"

I switched the auto pilot back on.. all the control surfaces went back to their preset settings.. then turned to see my mate leaning in the doorway smiling.

I grinned sheepishly.. "heh.. it sure is different than a jeep".

She giggled and checked the settings.. impressed that I had set everything right so far. She told me that Fayde was now in his quarters preparing for when he gets his old body back. She set the coordinates for the jump to our home dimension and then sat on my lap.. hugging me warmly.. "time to go home tiger."

The temporal displacement device did it's job flawlessly once again and we were orbiting my cold home world within a matter of minutes. Timberwolf immediately hailed us the moment we appeared on his radar.

"welcome back friends.. but I'm afraid we have a grave situation.. you best get down here quick."

Darkstar and I looked quizzically at each other.. both of us had a bad feeling of the situation.

After a hasty landing Darky and I with Fayde in tow headed for the comm room.

Timberwolf and Prowler were both sitting at the table in the center of the room.. the table was covered with multiple monitors and other such scanning apparatus.

Prowler was the first to notice us... then Timberwolf.

They both started babbling at the same time.. I couldn't make out anything they were saying.

"WHOA!!.. slow down!.. one atta time!" I exclaimed.. trying to stop the chaos.

Prowler started first.

"remember that signal we got about a week ago?.. the one that was unidentified at first.. then identified itself as the emperor Tiglan's fleet?"

I didn't really remember.. but Darkstar mentioned she did.. and Fayde at this point was absolutely clueless and a bit miffed because he got no warm welcome.. in fact the other 2 furs haven't even noticed him yet.

"well" said Prowler slowly.. "the ID was a fake.. a copy of the Tiglan fleet... it was.. Primus Maxx.. and the entire Khastian armada.. they blew right past us all.. and are now on West.. looking for the other power core... he destroyed the entire Tiglan fleet on his way through to get the ID.

Timberwolf then stepped into the conversation.

"Jenner refused to wait for your return.. he left for West in the shuttle craft.. and we haven't heard anything from him since he arrived there."

I saw the look in Darkstar's eyes.. the first time I'd actually seen fear in them.. this is a very serious situation. Without saying a word she grabbed Fayde and dragged him to the machine to get his old body back. I cringed as I heard Fayde let out a horrifying scream of agony and pain as the machine did it's job... I actually SLEPT through that??

"I cannot BELIEVE he pulled that off!!" growled Prowler.. slamming his clenched fist down on the table.

"he got past all our defenses without a scratch. without even raising any suspicion.. dammit."

"he fooled all of us friend.. we need to get a plan together.. to stop him before something terrible happens". said Timberwolf in his usual calm tone.

"the repairs to my ship are complete.. I've had my fleet head for West and I'll join them there.. we'll keep the Khastian armada busy while you guys get down to the planet surface." Prowler said.

Timberwolf nodded his approval of the plan and added to it.

"and I'll go with you 2.. my magic might be of some use."

Fayde then stumbled into the room.. his fur smoking slightly.. I now see what his old body was.. a leopard.

Darkstar pushed past him.. almost knocking him over.. she joined me at my side and I informed her of the plans so far.. we just had to decide what to do with Fayde.. he was still groggy from the body transfer.. and very wobbly... basically no good to us in the condition he's in. Darkstar suggested he needed time to recover.. so she sent a quick message through the computer.. minutes later 2 very attractive female bunnies entered the room.

Darkstar smiled and pointed them over to the still very unstable leopard.

"there he is girls.. fresh into his old body.. he just needs some TLC.. think you can handle that?"

The 2 bunnies grinned and nodded.. taking Fayde by either arm and leading him out of the room.

All males in the room couldn't help but gaze at the bunnies butts as they walked out.. my gaze didn't last long as I was poked in the side and heard a growl from my annoyed mate.. she KNEW what I was looking at.

With that taken care of we began to go through with our plan.. Prowler boarded his ship and headed off to join his fleet.. Darkstar, Timberwolf and I all piled into my ship.. joined by the big robot and headed out right after Prowler.

Timberwolf of course asked why the rose petals were all over the elevator floor.. Darky and I kinda blushed.. I forgot to pick up those dumb things.

For the most part the trip to West was pretty uneventful, we did learn a bit from the history files in the ships main computer.. even found the formula to make the Acadian armor plating... plus hundreds of Acadian technological secrets.. blueprints for this ship itself and for the motorcycle I found.. which I found out was a war bike owned by the previous captain of the ship... even the bike had the armor plating on it. I was even surprised to find documentation of my own death.. and the reason why a shot to my head which would usually just pass through.. was almost fatal, Primus had used a gun that fired bolts of heat greater than that of the sun.

Upon reaching West we were all taken by surprise.. there was no Khastian armada... no nothing.. the planet was as if nothing had happened.

I hailed Prowler's command ship and learned that there was nothing when they arrived either... were we too late?

The only way to find out was to go down to the planet surface.

We landed the ship in an open field of flowers.. this wasn't earth.. so there was no need to hide it this time. I retrieved my axe.. holding it against my back.. the living metal reached out and held it in place. Darkstar armed herself with her katana's.. putting them in a cross sheath on her back.. and she had an impressive rail gun holstered at her hip. Timberwolf had nothing but his crystal hanging round his neck..and a small bag hooked to his belt. Prowler landed a few yards away from us in a drop ship.. 6 well armed and highly trained soldiers accompanied him as they disembarked from the ship. We met halfway between the ships in the field of flowers.. a soft wind blew over the scene.. the flowers swayed lightly in the breeze.. thick forest surrounded the field.. majestic mountains towered over us to the north.. the air smelled clean.. I mean CLEAN.. no stink from car exhaust.. no smog.. no trash littering the area.. this was what earth must have been like.. before mankind profaned it with pollution and technology.

This was way the hell too quiet.. too pretty looking.. too peaceful.. if Primus Maxx had been here then it would all be burning and or destroyed. Both groups decided that our highest priority was to find the location of the second power core.. and get it to a safer place.

Before we went looking Prowler whipped out a devise that would lock onto the unique energy beacon the core puts out.. so we had some slight idea of where we were going.

"You sure you wanna come with us? if Primus is here it could get really ugly.." I asked Prowler.

"You kidding??" he replied.." I'd rather be doing this than sitting behind a desk and filling out paperwork!"

I noticed the robot coming out of the ship.. I told it to stay and keep watch over the 2 ships... as we followed the radar device towards the west. We began to notice the lack of life.. any life.. we walked for 2 hours and didn't see another living soul.. not even any animals or birds. Even a town we came upon was empty.. completely devoid of life.. and everything left as if the townspeople were coming right back to continue whatever they had been doing. I didn't like it.. neither did the rest of the group... especially one of Prowlers soldiers.. a young Lynx male.. shorter than the rest of the soldiers.. he looked terrible.. even before we started out I noticed the guy looked like he was on the verge of a nervous breakdown.. he was terrified. I asked Prowler how a guy like that ended up being a soldier.. Prowler did a double take as he looked the lynx over..."hey.. your not a soldier.. you're the janitor at my office back home!.. what are you doing in that uniform!?" Prowler growled. The little lynx nearly collapsed from his shattered nerves... he broke out half crying and half babbling.. "h.. he made me switch places w..with him!.. said he'd.. k..kill me if I didn't!!" Prowler looked annoyed and checked the name patch on the trembling lynx's uniform.. it read Stutton. Prowler immediately recognized the name.. Stutton was a lazy, stuck up bully.. he was always trying to find ways out of doing things. and then the lynx confessed that Stutton had beat him up and threatened him for years.

Darkstar walked over and tried her best to calm the little guy as Prowler explained he wasn't mad.. and that Stutton WILL pay for this. Darkstar came back to me and whispered in my ear.. "keep an eye on him hun.. he's so scared he can't think straight."

I nodded and Darky took the gun from the lynx..he was trembling way too badly to be able to handle a gun. His name by the way was T'lree.. which according to Prowler translated into.. timid.

We went on our way again.. all the while Darkstar and Timberwolf both claimed they sensed an evil presence in the air. The signal from the radar became very strong as we neared a river.. so strong in fact that we began looking around thinking we might be standing on it.. but saw absolutely nothing. As we searched T'lree went down by the river for a drink... kneeling close to the cool water he cupped his hands and scooped out a few swallows worth of water.. then sat on a rock higher up the river bank.. as he sat on it, it sank into the ground. Being as stressed out and nervous as he is.. he yelped and jumped up.. lost his balance.. and rolled down the river bank into the river. He splashed around for a moment then sat up in the shallows.. panting heavily from fear. His yelp had naturally gained all our attention and as we looked over towards him we noticed something strange about the river.. the water had stopped flowing.. and was parting across it's width.. the part spread out exposing the river bed.. and a door. T'lree scrambled up the hill and hid behind Darkstar and I.. we all stood in amazement for a few moments.. Prowler then stepped forward slowly with the radar.. and walked down into the riverbed towards the door.

"well.. the signal is strongest by the door.. the core must be.. down there.." he said.

Prowler ordered his soldiers to stay and keep watch on the riverbank as the rest of us headed down through the door in the riverbed.. we took T'lree with us just in case one of the other soldiers was friends with Stutton. Beyond the door was a staircase that led down.. it was dark down there.. till Timberwolf lit a ball of light to light the way. It was dark for awhile anyway.. it was cold down there too.. I liked it. After what seemed like about 20 minutes a strange red glow filled the staircase.. and it started getting hotter.. I didn't like it, we soon found out why it was getting hotter.. at the bottom of the staircase.. was a river of molten lava. I groaned and boosted my cold field up to full power... I hope it holds up... and so does Darky. As for the rest of the group.. Timberwolf threw up a protective magic field around them. We followed the walkway at least a mile.. then I remembered nothing.

I awoke in a chamber away from the lava flow.

Darkstar was brooding all over me and crying.. thanking the gods that I was alive.

"what happened?.." I asked.

"Your field couldn't hold up against the constant, intense heat.. it broke down.. and you collapsed.. were lucky we found this side room away from the heat.. or you'd be dead." cried Darky softly.. hugging me tight.

"I'll have to reinforce your field with my magic on our trip back." said Timberwolf.

"trip back?.. we can't go back.. we have to find that core.. I'll be ok as long as Timber helps my cold field..."

Darky shook her head.. "the core is gone love.. beyond this room is a lava lake.. there is a pedestal in the middle where the core should be.. but it's nowhere to be found."

"if it's not here then what was the radar picking up??" I demanded.

Prowler stepped in at this point. "the radar was picking up the lingering radiation that the core left behind."

"DAMMIT" I grumbled.. "he DID beat us here."

As I sat up I immediately noticed T'lree was gone.. everybody began calling for him.. a soft trembling voice answered our calls from another room.. we all followed his voice to find him staring at a very unusual structure in the center of the room. It was a massive growth of Demnitrite crystal according to Darkstar..the stuff was almost as tough as Acadian armor. T'lree was just staring at it wide eyed... his nose almost pressed against the deep blue crystal.

"What's wrong with you?.. are you ok?" I asked him.. he said nothing.. just kept staring into the crystal.. I followed his gaze and gasped in surprise.. "uhhmm.. guys.. I think I found what he's looking at.." Timber Prowler and Darky all came over to look... imprisoned within the deep blue crystal.. was a beautiful female lynx.

"she's... pretty" said T'lree suddenly.

Timberwolf examined the crystal.."Demnitrite is immune to the effects of magic.. I can do nothing to get her out." Darkstar's rail gun had no effect on the crystal.. even a powerful blast of my powers didn't even discolor it. T'lree whimpered softly.. still gazing at the female inside the crystal.. she wasn't wearing much.. a sort of black thing bikini battle suit.. she was extremely attractive.. I can see why little T'lree was so enchanted by her.

Darkstar tapped my shoulder and whispered in my ear.. "we gotta get her out of there hun.. T'lree would never forgive us if we just left her here.. and besides.. she might be able to calm his nerves." she said with a slight grin.

I agreed and drew my axe from my back. "stand back.. I'm getting her out of there.

T'lree was a little panicked when he saw me pull the axe out.. Darkstar had to hold him back while promising I wouldn't chop up the female lynx. I took careful aim and swung the axe.. it sank effortlessly into the Demnitrite.. stopping centimeters from the nose of the female. The entire crystal then shattered and fell to pieces and the freed female lynx dropped down into the pile of crystal pieces.. limp and unmoving. Darky and Timber immediately rushed over to examine her.

"she appears to be in some kind of hibernation.. but other than that she looks healthy" said Timber after he and Darky finished checking the female over. I could see her more clearly now.. pure white fur.. save for her hands and feet and tip of her tail.. which were a chocolate color that faded to the pure white above her wrists and ankles. She had long flowing blonde hair and the black thong armor thingee... and a body that blew away any centerfold that was ever in playboy.. just like Darky. T'lree smiled.. the first time Prowler had ever seen him smile. suddenly.. unconsciously.. the female uttered something softly.. then fell silent again..."t h e... b r o o d"....

The brood??.. the hell is the brood?

I carried the female back down the walkway.. with Timberwolf's magic helping my cold field.. T'lree followed close behind me. We were at a loss at this point.. with the core gone and no clue as to where it is.. and we weren't even sure it was Primus who took it. We needed to get back to the ships.. and back to Acadia.. from there we can start planning and start the recovery of the female lynx.

Reaching the top of the stair case and climbing the riverbank we immediately noticed something wrong.. the 5 soldiers we left behind were gone.. only a single gun lay in the grass.. with the barrel bitten off.. I immediately got a chill up my back.. what could possibly have done this??.. my question was soon answered.

They came from all around.. seemingly out of nowhere.. the ugliest looking things.. even worse looking than H.R. Geiger's aliens. THIS.. must be the brood.. the reason why there's no other life anywhere.. the reason why Darky and Timber sensed evil. T'lree immediately fainted.

"Darky.. take the female and T'lree.. and fly back to the ship.. we'll cover you." I said calmly.

She protested a bit but I insisted.. she spread her wings and took hold of the 2 lynx and lifted off.. leaving us to fight our way through these.... things... I began to wonder if THEY had taken the core.. but Prowler said that there was no other signal on the planet that matched the core's.

The beasts crawled ever closer towards us..they had an unbelievable stench.. they were fur-less with blood red skin.. six eyes atop their head and row after row of razor sharp teeth. at least now I know what happened to the inhabitants of this planet..these.. things.. must have killed them all. Prowler and I drew our weapons ready to battle... Timberwolf had other plans. He chanted some strange spell.. immediately the roots from all the surrounding trees burst up through the ground and wrapped around the creatures.. holding them immobile. We all took the opportunity and ran like hell. The trip back to the ship was horrible.. the brood were everywhere... Prowler and I just blasted and chopped em as they came.. while Timber kept his spells going.. never actually killing any of them.. just slowing them down. Finally we reached the ships.. at least mine was there anyway.. the brood had completely torn apart Prowlers drop ship.. but the armor on mine... and the robot.. was plenty to ward off attack. The beautiful field of flowers was now bloody and strewn with the charred corpses of thousands of brood.. the robot had been busy..

Darky stood by the elevator on my ship waving us to hurry in.

we all piled in and headed for the bridge.. the robot meanwhile blasted a few more brood before boarding.

Darky hopped in the navigators seat while I jumped in the pilots chair.. lifting off soon after that.

The air in the ship was silent.. Darkstar set the coordinates for the week long trip back to Acadia. T'lree was still unconscious and under the watchful eye of Timberwolf along with the female lynx in the med bay. Prowler Darkstar and I decided to get some rest after our experience. We'll go back to Acadia and tend to the female.. maybe she has some clues as to where the core went... until she comes out of her hibernation fully.. IF she does.. we can do nothing further. Darky and I settled into bed.. it's going to be a long ride home.

End Part 1

Back to main page