As Hidden Darkness and Fractured Heart practiced using there weapons, they talked about observations they had made.

"And the animals?" Fractured Heart said. "What is with the skin?" A boomerang like blade popped out of her leg, and she grabbed it.

"Perhaps it's because of the water," Hidden Darkness said. "Could be anything." He twisted the receiver, flashing images of different types of forms.

"You know, we could try and see what causes all of it," Fractured Heart said. "We could find an animal and see what it's eaten recently." Hidden Darkness grinned.

"Let's do it!" he said. "And who knows? I'm supposed to be able to absorbe the DNA of anything and be able to transform into it!'

"Does that include humans?" Fractured Heart asked.

"Probably," Hidden Darkness said. "Now, lets go find some animals!"

Starswirl stared at the homing beacon. Several lights were blinking, even though the machine had been destroyed.

"You know what this means, right?" Starswirl asked. TAaPS had disconnected from the building and had returned to her green and gold body, and was standing next to Starswirl.

"Of course," she said. "That wasn't a homing beacon."

"Which you've said before," Starswirl said. "But what is it then?" TAaPS shrugged.

"I'm not sure," she said.

"That's what worries me," Starswirl muttered. "You know everything."

"Almost everything," TAaPS said. "But, this is rather worrying. What do we tell everyone else?"

"I'm thinking about that," Starswirl said. "There isn't a port or anything that you could plug into?"

"Let me see," TAaPS said. A blue beam of energy emerged from her eyes, and she walked around the machine. She almost did a full circle before she stopped. "There is a port. Would you like me to plug into it?"

"Yes, but be careful," Starswirl said. TAaPS morphed her finger into a jack and stuck it into the port. Immediately, she collapsed, and started spasming.

"TAaPS!" Starswirl yelled. He ran and pulled TAaPS's finger out of the port. TAaPS spasmed for a few more seconds, and finally stopped. Starswirl shook her body. "TAaPS? Can you here me?" He was about to slap her in hopes that that would wake her up, but then she gasped and opened her eyes, but they weren't her eyes. They had changed into a strange swirling black vortex. She stared into Starswirl's eyes.

"Dlrow ruoy dna uoy ot od lliw I tahw ot derapmoc gnihton eb lliw sedarmoc ruoy ot did I taht sgniht eht! Lla uoy nopu hsaelnu lliw I egar eht ni hsirep lliw seno devol ruoy fo lla dna uoy!" TAaPS said. Then she gasped and collapsed again.

"TAaPS!" Starswirl exclaimed. He started shaking her. "Come on, wake up normal!" Suddenly, TAaPS gasped and opened her eyes again. Starswirl was worried that she would start ranting whatever language she had spoken in, but her eyes were normal.

"That was an interesting experience," she said.

"Are you ok?" Starswirl asked nervously.

"Of course I am," TAaPS said. She frowned. "Strange. I can't quite remember what I saw in there."

"You remember nothing?" Starswirl asked. "Really?"

"Yes, I remember nothing," TAaPS said. "Why? What happened?"

"Here, let's get you a virus sweep," Starswirl said. "I tell you what happened."

Meanwhile, Fractured Heart and Hidden Darkness had found an animal. A bear, specifically. It's fur was black and it's claws were shifting colors.

"How are you going to do this?" Fractured Heart asked.

"The front part of this genetic inserter is able to absorb the DNA of anything," Hidden Darkness said, tapping the ring over his wrist.

"So, you're sure you want the bear?" Fractured Heart asked.

"Yes, bears are powerful," Hidden Darkness said. "Now, lets try this out." Hidden Darkness squeezed the sides of the genetic inserter and a small tube emerged in the front of it. He slowly walked towards the bear, hoping it wouldn't notice him. It didn't, until Hidden Darkness jabbed the tube into the bear's back. The bear stood up and roared....and then froze. Hidden Darkness stared at the tube and relised something: It was absorbing much more then just the DNA. It was absorbing the bear itself. The bear shook, its black fur shaking, and started to liquefy. It swirled up through the tube, through the genetic inserter, and into Hidden Darkness. He's clothes started turning into the black hair and his nails started turning into claws. His eyes widened and turned into a strange deep black. As the bear disappeared, Hidden Darkness's transformation was complete. Fractured Heart thought he looked triumphant, which was accurate. His pack had disappeared, but his genetic inserter was still around his claw. He stood on his back legs and stared at Fractured Heart for a few seconds before he looked at his body. He shook his head and roared softer than last time, then hit his genetic inserter. Instantly, the bear fur started retracting, turning into his clothes again. Only one thing was different when he was completely human again: His pack was gone.

"So, apparently, it's not just the DNA, it's the entire animal," Hidden Darkness said. "I got its memory's as well, for some reason."

"Interesting," Fractured Heart said. "I wonder why?"
"I'll ask TAaPS," Hidden Darkness said.

Down in TAaPS's charging and medical room, she was getting a virus sweep, which was searching for anything out of the ordinary, like why she would start ranting in whatever language she had spoken in. The computer beeped.

"What's it say?" TAaPS said. Starswirl just started at the computer.

"According to these, nothings wrong," Starswirl said. "All it was was so kind of malfunction of going into something that was meant to attract the Negative Space." TAaPS frowned.

"Attract the Negative Space?" she asked. "That was supposed to attracted the Negative Space? How?"

"Well, I had the virus scanner copy the information you picked up from that thing and tell me what it was," Starswirl said. "And yes, I can do that. That machine was supposed to summon the Negative Space into here...but it didn't. You're fine." TAaPS frowned, then shrugged.

"That is very strange, but I'm glad it didn't happen," she said. "Now, I should probably reattach myself to the building before anyone comes down and complains."

Author's Note

I hope you like this chapter!