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.

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Location: Los Angeles, California, United States

Sunday, November 26, 2006

Chapter 2, Part 5: We Will Be Greeted as Liberators! Destroy the Parasite Pendulum!

Looking back at Katrina was her own face, reflected back at her in a huge, glistening eye set into a churning, violet mass. It was one of many, arranged like a ball atop a giant, upside-down horn like a ice cream cone, the closest of which were trained directly at her. The rest darted about with paranoid twitching motions. The bizarre creature hung from the sanctuary ceiling from a twisting, sinewy, violet cord as thick as a tree that pulsed with viscous juices that Katrina cared not to think about.

“Guys,” Katrina said, backing away slowly, “I think we found mama.”

“I don’t suppose we can reason with it?” Jaime inquired.

The bizarre creature swung back on its cord until it creaked with tension. Then, pivoting its horn towards the trio, swung at them at full force. The three of them scattered as it blew past.

“I think it’s safe to assume we can’t,” Rion replied.

The creature swung upwards until its cord went slack. It then turned its horn downward and cut through the air as it descended. Its trajectory sent it straight towards Katrina, who turned and ran from it. It swung around again, yet again angling towards Katrina. She fled again, only to find it swinging after her.

“Amazing,” Jaime said, adjusting her glasses. “This parasite attacks like some sort of pendulum, but with perfect control over its swing trajectory. Furthermore, not only can it use its horn to impale Katrina, but its also using it cut down on wind resistance in order to…”

“Just shut up and shoot it already!” Katrina cried out as she ran past her. She had dropped to all fours to take advantage of Wearwolf’s leg muscles and run faster.

“Whoops, right,” Jaime replied, shielding her skirt from the gust as the pendulum parasite swung by her. She brought up her Reagan and twisted the dial. “I think this is a good time for the ‘Kill’ setting.”

“No, you might hit something else, like Katrina,” Rion said, trying aim at Katrina’s pursuer. “Keep it on Stun until you actually hit it, then kill it while its stunned.”

Jaime dialed her Regan back and took aim at the pendulum. However, Katrina’s running back and forth made it difficult to land a hit without shooting something else.

“Can’t you run in a more predictable pattern?” Jaime demanded. “Like a big circle or something? It’s hard to line up a shot with it moving at random like this!”

“Maybe you’d like me to get it to hold still?” Katrina snapped. “Maybe it’ll even pose for you!”

Katrina swerved to the side, with the pendulum quickly following, and ran around in as wide a circle as she could. Rion and Jaime stood alongside her path and aimed where they expected the pendulum to go. Snaps of thunder sounded as the creature swung past them, the echoes of the Reagans discharging energy. The pendulum parasite broke off its pursuit of Katrina and swung for Rion and Jaime instead.

“I think we only made it mad!” Rion exclaimed as they leapt out of the way.

Katrina, if we sever the cord that binds it to the ceiling, we may render it immobile,” Wearwolf suggested.

“That means we have to touch it, right?” Katrina asked apprehensively.

I am afraid so,” Wearwolf replied.

“Ew,” Katrina said with a shudder. “But it’s so… eyebally…”

Nonetheless, Katrina dashed towards the pendulum parasite as it swung towards Jaime. She leapt onto it, grabbing the cord with one hand and groaning in disgust as her feet touched its eyeballs. She tore into the cord with the claws of her free hand, eliciting painful squeals from the creature. The pendulum parasite quickly retracted up to the ceiling, forcing Katrina to jump off before it reached the top.

“That’s definitely a weak spot,” Rion noted.

“Okay, I’ve got an idea,” Jaime said, fiddling with her Reagan again. “If we set our weapons to maximum, we can incinerate the monster in one shot. Of course, we’ll only get one shot, since this’ll use up all the Reagan’s energy.”

That is madness!” Wearwolf exclaimed.

“I know,” Katrina replied. “Jaime, we can’t do that. That thing’s web is stretched all across the sanctuary. A shot that strong will not only burn up the webbing, but everything attached to it will catch fire and the resulting inferno will probably kill everyone in here, including us! And there’s no telling how far the forest fire will spread!”

“Well, we gotta do something, right?” Jaime argued. “We’re pretty much trapped in here now, and those zombie brain parasites aren’t going to be restricted to the sanctuary for very long. That pendulum monstrosity could be regenerating up there or just simply biding its time until we have our guard down…”

“Like right now!” Rion cried out. “Duck!”

Rion and Jaime managed to leap out of the way, but Katrina was blindsided. The pendulum parasite knocked her off her feet and sent her rolling across the sanctuary floor. She was dazed for a moment, but when she opened her eyes again the pendulum parasite was poised to run her through like a giant scorpion. She found herself frozen, transfixed by the giant spear before her.

Then she heard something under her moan. She had landed on her back, right on top of the mandrake she was carrying. The dryad child was rapidly approaching reality, and it wasn’t going to be very happy when it woke up. Katrina didn’t know which would be a worse fate: Being speared by a giant parasite or having her head exploded by a screaming mandrake. It was quite likely she would experience both.

“Oh, Hell,” Katrina exclaimed. She could feel the mandrake shifting uncomfortably under her. The parasite may have come to the same conclusion she had, as it was now beginning to pull back. “Guys… You might want to cover your ears.”

She could hear the mandrake gasp as it finally opened it’s eyes and saw what was all around them. At the same time, the parasite lashed out, barreling towards them. Katrina covered her ears, closed her eyes, and braced for the inevitable conclusion.

Katrina could feel the scream more than she heard it. It started as a high-pitched squeal and quickly left audible range. Sound waves pulsed through everything unhindered. When Katrina didn’t feel her brains oozing out of her ears, she opened her eyes.

The parasite was seemingly frozen in place, vibrating rapidly. Its eyes rolled about in their sockets and began to bulge like over-inflated balloons. The cord that held it and living walls all around them were twitching and convulsing like mad. Similarly, the dryads were wailing, doubled over in pain, clutching their ears as the pitch increased.

The creature is immobilized,” Wearwolf noted urgently. We must slay it before it can recover.”

“Right!” Katrina confirmed, climbing to her feet. Using her claws, she quickly climbed up the wall and, when she decided she was at a suitable height, dove claws-first into the parasite. “I’m calling this one… MANDRAKE’S SCREAMING CLAW!”

Katrina landed on the parasite, her arm plunging elbow-deep into the creature’s eye. The mandrake gave one last burst of air, and the rest of the pendulum parasite’s eyes exploded like watermelons, spraying violet gook everywhere in vicious geysers. The rest of the head exploded immediately there after, showering even more gooey bits over everyone and causing the horn to land heavily on the ground with a dull thud. Soon, the cord was like an out of control fire hose, violently expelling a steady stream of violet viscera that knocked Rion and Jaime off their feet and painting them with gelatinous entrails.

This went on for about half a minute until the spray died down to a trickle. Then, just when everyone thought it was finally through, the ceiling exploded into its own viscous deluge. This was followed by the walls, cascading into violet waterfalls, and even the floor erupted into the air. Katrina put her arms up, vainly defending herself from wave after wave of pasty slime. The explosions spread out to the rest of the sanctuary, detonating each and every strand and undulating mass within it. Similarly, all the horns stuck to the dryads’ heads flew off in a violet spray.

As the gelatinous downpour died down, Katrina found herself lying on her back, coated in the parasite’s former innards, and staring up at a sparkling, blue sky. Everything else was indecipherably buried beneath dripping layers grotesque gristle. As the sunlight glistened off every inch of the greasy, grimy parasite guts, Katrina was heard to say, “I think I’m going to hurl.”

“I think I already did,” Rion said, spitting repeatedly in disgust as he got up. “Either that, or I got some of it in my mouth.”

“That was fascinating,” Jaime remarked, getting up and flicking the goop off of her hands. “Can we go home now?”

Rion and Jaime helped Katrina up. Wearwolf popped off her, returning to his normal canine form and leaving clean spots on her clothes. She wiped some of the violet gunk out of her eyes and commented, “This stuff feels so gross.”

Try cleaning it off with your tongue,” Wearwolf replied. That is not an experience I am looking forward to.”

“What happened to the dryad?” Jaime asked.

Katrina looked around. All the dryad that were surrounding them earlier had disappeared. Even the mandrake that Katrina was carrying on her back had vanished. All that was left of them were dryad-shaped impressions in the gunk where they had fallen down. There were no foot prints, hand prints, or even disturbances in the impressions to indicate any sort of path or movement.

“That’s weird,” Rion said as he attempted to brush some of the gunk off him. Jaime, meanwhile, had knelt down and was scooping some of the gunk into a small plastic bag.

“So much for being greeted as liberators,” Katrina said. “What are you doing?”

“Taking a sample,” Jaime explained. “Maybe I can analyze this stuff when I get home, maybe figure out who made that thing.”

It would appear that we have company,” Wearwolf said.

“Uh, Jaime,” Katrina said. “Don’t look now, but…”

Jaime looked up. Not inches in front of her was the mandrake they had brought, similarly covered in slime as they were. Startled by the site, Jaime fell back onto her butt.

“wE wanT tO thanK yoU,” the mandrake said. Her voice was oddly stressed, as if it were being played back backwards. “weaRwolF, yoU aRe weLcoMe bacK heRe anYtiMe.”

I am honored,” Wearwolf said.

“That’s cool,” Rion remarked.

“youR hUmaN friendS wilL bE aLloweD tO leaVe witH theiR liveS,” the mandrake continued. “buT iF theY rEturN, theY wilL bE killeD oN sighT.”

“What?” Katrina exclaimed. “We nearly kill ourselves trying to save your people, and we don’t get so much as a thank you?”

“dO noT miSuNdeRstanD,” the mandrake explained. “iF wE weRe noT graTefuL, yoU woulD bE deaD bY noW. buT wE stilL wilL noT aLloW hUmaN treSpasSerS. wE wilL noT maKe eXcePtionS jusT bEcauSe wE liKe yoU.”

The mandrake looked around, then leaned forward, gesturing (albeit somehow backward) for them to lean in closer.

“coNfiDeNtiaLlY,” she said, “I woulD noT minD seEinG yoU alL aGaiN. I aM suRe yoU caN coMe bacK; yoU jusT caNnoT coMe iN.”

“That’s a little inexplicable,” Jaime said. “But thank you, creepy, backwards-talking dryad girl.”

The mandrake smiled and said, “yoU aRe weLcoMe creEpY, bacKwardS-talKinG hUmanS.” With that, she turned and ran off, disappearing into the trees.

We talk backwards?” Katrina noted.

“Eye of the beholder, I guess,” Rion shrugged. “Or, in this case, ear.”