MultiPets: the Chimera Knight

Katrina Arden wants to become a Chimera Knight, a hero in a world where animals and humans live and work together as one. With the help of a Wearwolf, a canine that transforms into armor, her wish may very well be granted.

My Photo
Name:
Location: Los Angeles, California, United States

Sunday, April 09, 2006

ExFic 12: the Siren's Song

“Hey, you!”

Jessica and Robert Chardonnay turned to face Katrina, who was stomping up to them from down the path with Wearwolf at her heels. Katrina was livid, and understandably so. She stopped a couple yards away from them.

“Aye, what about me?” Jessica asked with a passive expression. She then sported a smirk as she added, “’Ere to bid me a warm farewell?”

“So it’s true!” Katrina exclaimed in an accusatory tone. Her fists and face clenched in anger. “You’re really leaving your children behind so you can return to a life of piracy! How could you?”

“You knew this day be coming, lass,” Jessica replied, not at all moved my Katrina’s anger. “Why be so upset about it now?”

“I never thought you’d actually go through with it,” Katrina shot back. “How dare you call yourself a mother!”

“Jaime and Rion be old enough to be taking car of themselves now,” Jessica explained. “They not be needin’ us no more. Not when they got a big gell like you lookin’ afta them.”

“That’s not the point!” Katrina argued with an emphatic sweep of her arm. “You can’t abandon your children no matter how old they are! They’ll always need you to fall back on! To support them at least emotionally with unconditional love throughout their lives! You can’t just walk away because it’s convenient!”

“This encounter only be proving that you be more than capable of handlin’ the job,” Jessica said dismissively as she turned back up the path. With a wave, she added, “Take car, now. Remember to be readin’ them a bedtime story before tucking them in.”

“You wanna crack jokes? Fine!” Katrina roared. “You wanna be a criminal? Then you leave me no choice! Let’s go, Wearwolf! Chimeric Fusion!”

“Right!” Wearwolf confirmed. He leapt up and exploded into shards of energy. These shards coalesced around Katrina’s body, transforming into living armor. “Chimeric Fusion, complete!”

“As a Chimera Knight, it’ll be my job to bring punks like you to justice,” Katrina growled. “And I think I’ll start with you. ‘Capturing the Siren of New Monterey’ should look pretty good on my application to the academy, don’cha think? Jessica Chardonnay, aka the Siren, I place you under arrest for countless acts of grand larceny, destruction of public and private property, endangerment, and performing organ transplants without a medical license!”

“Aye, that be one crazy Kwanzaa,” Jessica remarked wistfully.

“No worries, love,” Robert said with a step towards Katrina. With a fist aimed at the girl, he continued, “I’ll get her out of our hair. Penpedo! Chimeric Fus-“

“Nay, husband,” Jessica interrupted, cutting short Robert’s penguin-like MultiPet’s leap. She drew her sword. “I’ll take care o’ this.”

“But, love, without your Multipet…” Robert started.

“I said I’ll handle it,” Jessica said with a death glare.

“Then let’s bring it!” Katrina called out.

Katrina bolted towards Jessica with her claws extended. Hardly even turning around, Jessica blocked the claws with her sword and pushed Katrina back. Undaunted, Katrina unleashed a flurry of claw swipes, only to have each one meet the resistance of steel.

“Katrina, darlin, I be a pirate since I was not much older than yeself,” Jessica said. Neither her voice nor her expression showed any hit of exertion as she deflected every one of Katrina’s attacks. “I’ve fought Chimera Knights, experienced Chimera Knights, and nary a one had what it took to take me down. Do you seriously believe an untrained pup like you has the remotest chance of beating me?”

To emphasize the point, Jessica ducked down and knocked Katrina’s feet out from under her with a sweeping kick. The older woman spun back up and lunged at her, but Katrina rolled out of the way before the sword could make contact and hopped back to her feet.

“I like to think I have some idea of what you’re capable of,” Katrina replied. She leaped at Jessica, but the pirate sidestepped her and brought a boot up to the younger woman’s back. Katrina ducked the kick, grabbing Jessica’s foot as it flew overhead, and twisted her into the ground face-first. Rather than allow Katrina to lock in a punishing submission move, Jessica shoved Katrina away with her free leg.

“Don’t pretend to know me, girl,” Jessica replied as she stood back up. “Ye have no idea what I be capable of.”

Katrina charged Jessica again, once more a whirlwind of claws and fur. Jessica was practically insulted by the predictable, easy-to-block moves her opponent was executing until Katrina grabbed the sword by the blade with one hand. This was then immediately followed by the opposite hand grabbing her wrist.

“I like to think I have a few surprises of my own,” Katrina said, punctuating the comment by slamming Jessica’s wrist against her knee, forcing her to relinquish her weapon. After that, Katrina let go of Jessica and tossed her sword away.

“Clever move,” Jessica admitted, cradling her wrist. “Or maybe just stupid, but I doubt anyone else would’ve so readily injured her own hand trying to disarm me.”

Katrina looked at her hand. It was bleeding from a cut across the palm. Maybe it was the adrenaline, or perhaps she had been more focused on the move, but she was only just now starting to feel it. It was a sharp, burning pain that made it tough to even move the hand.

“I tried to keep you from feeling it too much,” Wearwolf said, his voice strained from pain. “But it is only my blood. The sword did not cut through to your skin.”

“And now ye’ve let ya guard down,” Jessica said, following the comment with a set of “tsk”-ing sounds. When Katrina looked back at her, Jessica had an energy pistol trained on the younger woman’s skull. “Katrina, Katrina, Katrina. If television has taught us anything, its that ye can never turn yer back on the enemy even for a moment. Now why don’t ye just run on home like a good girl and we’ll forget this fight even happened.”

Katrina nearly took a step towards Jessica, but stopped as the gun whined to life and the first ring on the conical barrel lit up.

“Need I remind you that the Reagan X3-0 Electron Discharge Pistol has enough energy to kill an elephant in one shot,” Jessica noted. “Of course, I’m not foolish enough to use all my Reagan’s energy in the one shot. I’m sure the lowest setting is enough to put you in your place. Then again, you only have my word that I haven’t modded my gun to only display the first setting. I could very well kill you with my next shot.”

“You’re willing to shoot me!?” Katrina exclaimed.

“I will if I have to,” Jessica threatened. “Now run along before your hand gets infected.”

“I’m not going back without you,” Katrina said.

“Then you’re more’n welcome to join my pirate crew,” Jessica offered, her tone of voice not changing.

“Not likely,” Katrina rejected.

“Aye, then we be at a stalemate, then,” Jessica replied.

“Unless one of us does something foolish,” Katrina said, wincing as she tensed her bleeding hand into a fist. She drew one leg back, ready to spring into action.

“Ach, ye don’ seriously believe ye can outrun a lightning bolt from point-blank range, do ye?” Jessica scoffed.

“I just have to outrun one old lady’s trigger finger,” Katrina taunted.

“Old lady?” Jessica exclaimed. “Where do you get the ner-”

Before Jessica could finish that sentence, Katrina feinted right, dodging the Reagan’s beam by juking left and barreling straight into Jessica. Before she could make contact, though, Jessica leapt back, hopped off a rock, and landing on a tree branch.

“Y’know, I thought it’d be enough to trounce ya,” Jessica admitted, holstering her Reagan. “But I think its time I put the fear of God in ya.”

“What do you mean?” Katrina demanded.

“You’re aware of Spirit Fusion, yes?” Jessica inquired. “With some MultiPets, it’s not possible to physically fuse like with normal Chimeric Fusion. The upshot of Spirit Fusion is that it can be initiated over a distance via telepathic link.”

“Like Elder Ronsmith and Sentinowl,” Katrina replied. “They’re the best Spirit Fusers in town, but even they only have a range of half a mile. You left your MultiPet in the sea, and there isn’t so much as a beach for twenty miles. You don’t have any better chance of Spirit Fusing with it than I do.”

“No?” Jessica challenged. She shot Katrina a wicked grin. Raising a hand to the sky, mostly for show, she called out, “Cruiser Whale! Chimeric Fusion!”

For a moment, there was nothing. Then the clouds parted as a glowing sphere thundered from the sky. It knocked needles and leaves out of the trees as it plummeted past them and into Jessica’s waiting hand. She held it out in front of her, a shimmering ball of epileptic seizures waiting to happen.

“No way,” Katrina said, her voice hushed in awe.

Pausing for effect, Jessica closed her eyes, opened her mouth and inhaled the energy. It rippled to her extremities before cascading back into her head, flashing in her eyes as the snapped back open. Somewhere in the distance, Katrina could swear she heard a whale’s song.

“Way,” Jessica replied. Her voice had changed. Gone was the gravel of an abused throat and the strains of age. It was soft, melodic, the kind of voice singers half her age could only dream of. Just the one word almost captivating, and Katrina couldn’t help but wonder if this was what Jessica sounded like sixteen years ago. And if she sounded like that normally, how would she have sounded fused?

“Cruiser Whale’s voice can be heard for thousands of miles underwater,” Jessica continued. “But even on land, I could hear his voice from the other side of the planet, maybe even across the void of space. You have no idea what it’s like to be separated from your MultiPet for sixteen some odd years for the sake of raising children. His song alone is nothing compared to being able to be with him, to touch him. There were days when I thought I would go mad from separation anxiety, but his song kept me sane. But now I shall see that those days will never come again, and I won’t allow you to stand in my way. Prepare to bow before my Siren Song!”

Katrina braced herself as Jessica drew in breath. The Spirit Fuser opened her mouth as if to sing, but no sound came. Then Wearwolf’s ears perked, and the world began to shake. It wasn’t long before Katrina became aware of a single note being held at the edge of perception. It soon filled her ears and ricocheted around the inside of her skull. Katrina covered her ears, but her very bones vibrated with the Jessica’s Siren Song.

And then it stopped. Katrina’s arms dropped to her sides. She breathed heavily, having almost drowned in a sea of sound.

“Nice… try,” Katrina said between breaths. “But I’m… still…”

There was a loud pop, and Wearwolf was lying at Katrina’s feet, unconscious.

“Admittedly, there are some diminishing returns,” Jessica said, her voice gravellier than ever as she hopped down from the tree and retrieved her sword. She cleared her throat before continuing. “Cruiser Whale was probably about five hundred miles off-shore, and it’s been a while since I tuned up my voice. I’d have to say that was about, oh, one-tenth of our power.”

Katrina’s eyes bulged as she collapsed to her knees.

Jessica walked by her and stopped to say, “Don’t think I don’t care about Rion and Jamie, too. If I find out something bad happened to them, anything at all, I’m hold you personally responsible.”

Katrina didn’t want to let Jessica and Robert just walk off like that. She wanted to scream at them, call her an old bat. She wanted to pound the ground, swear at them, and say she could take them on any day of the week. She could’ve, but she couldn’t stop shaking. “That song… its just so… beautiful…”