I find myself standing in a void. And by void, I mean on a grey platform in literal blackness. I look down and see bright yellow fur; by bright, I mean literally glowing. Like I am creating light from my body. Normally, this would be a cause for panic, right? like usually somebody found in this situation would be scared shitless. Me? I'm more confused than anything. Like just five minutes ago I was working on the engine in my jeep when suddenly I shocked myself on one of the wires and passed out. Then I found myself here.
Struggling to keep my balance, I wobbled a little bit, but I stabilized when my tail shot out seemingly on its own. Wait, Tail? Fuck this is worse than I thought.
"Ok, man, don't panic; you're probably just having some sort of weird dream while you're being rushed to a hospital or some shit." My voice echoed around me, and it seemed more electronic than I thought it would be. Like I'm speaking through a voice modulator or some shit. Not robotic or anything, but more... reverberated? I don't entirely know how to describe it.
Suddenly I was snapped out of my confusion by some very evil-sounding laughter. Female in nature.
"w-who's there?" I'll admit I stuttered a bit from fear. I mean, who wouldn't be afraid of being in a void surrounded by evil laughter? I was about to call out again, demanding what was going on when suddenly, a flash of white light blinded me. Blinking it away, I realized there was some sort of rectangular gateway there.
"Finally, something other than blackness," I grumbled. Stepping through the gateway proved difficult, thanks to my legs being digitigrade in nature, but I managed it after a second or two. And what I found on the other side brought everything to a halt—my thinking, my movement. Only one thought went through my head.
"What the fuck?"
I had found a quadropedic bug-horse-looking thing standing over several other horses, some normal others with wings or horns, some with both. And all eyes were on me. The bug-looking one looked at me and back at them before screaming.
"THIS IS YOUR TRUMP CARD? A TWO-LEGGED CAT? DO YOU HONESTLY THINK THAT MANGY THING IS ENOUGH TO STOP ME?!"
Okay, did she just call me mangy? I may be confused, but I will not be insulted like this! In an offended voice, I yelled at her, "Hey! I don't entirely know what's going on, but I am NOT mangy!"
"OH PLEASE, YOU LOOK LIKE YOU HAVEN'T HAD A DECENT WASH IN YEARS!"
"Hey! At least I don't have holes stuck throughout my body, you bug-looking bitch!"
"WELL HOW ABOUT WE FIX THAT!"
"Wait, what?" Was about all I could manage before I noticed her horn begin to glow a sickly green, practically dripping with power. Launching myself into a leftward combat roll, I barely avoided a ball of energy being launched at me. I landed on three limbs. 2 feet and 1 hand on the floor while the other hand was splayed out, claws extended. "Ok, insults I get, but trying to kill me? fuck you!" Charging at her at full speed, I swiped my claws at her. She ducked down and attempted to stab her horn into my torso. Quickly bending myself I threw my balance to the right, this twisted my body into a sort of C shape allowing her horn to pass by harmlessly. Landing on my back, I rolled over onto my belly and did a weird buck, somewhat difficult considering my bi-pedal form, but it worked. Her head kicked back as my feet collided with it. Quickly pushing myself up onto my legs, I whirled around just in time to see her charging up another attack. Not having enough time to jump out of the way, I brought my arms up to block the attack.
Big mistake. The reason for this is that when her magic collided with my arms, it acted like acid, burning into my fur. Surprisingly I didn't feel anything, maybe this is actually a dream? If it is a dream, then it's a fuckin weird one. Whipping my arms back behind me, I flung the acid off and immediately charged her again, claws out. I swiped my right and then left paws, and she ducked behind each blow. Suddenly, her horn flared, and my vision was knocked out for a second. Long enough for her to charge up a longer blast and send me flying backward, outward through a window. Which was apparently on a VERY high floor. I felt myself smash into the window, and my momentum carried me out. I fell into a tumble, falling head over my paws as I spun through the air. Until suddenly, I stopped.
I looked around and found myself floating in the air, a whirring sound coming from my back. An odd feeling came from my back and beyond, as if I suddenly had extra limbs. "What the fuck?" I tried to look behind myself but found myself drifting when I tried. "Ok, look when I land. If I can land, that is." Suddenly a massive pink blast emitted from the room above me, the one I was just launched from. A massive pink wall suddenly expanded from it, knocking into me and carrying me away from the city. It suddenly stopped, and my momentum kept me going. My extra limbs could not stop my tumble as I fell to the ground.
As I collided with the ground, I bounced at least three different times. Losing momentum each time. Eventually, I came to a stop, laying there as I slowly took in my surroundings. Around me was a bunch of trees, and I could barely hear the sounds of a river nearby. Suddenly, pain lanced up my body, first from my arms and then from my back. "Shit, not a dream then." The pain from my back was actually way less than the pain from my arms. Makes sense considering they were blasted with acid. I slowly sat up and looked around and promptly froze. Scattered about was a whole swarm of unconscious bug horses. I tried to stand up but thanks to the pain and partly thanks to my new legs I fell over. The sound of me hitting the ground roused a few of the bugs.
They grounded and looked around before spotting me. They immediately jumped up and charged at me, demanding I surrender. Not really being in any shape to stand up and fight them, I did just that. A few of them surrounded me, staring me down as if studying me. Eventually, a few more turned up, and then the big one strolled into the area. She saw me, and immediately, her eyes filled with anger.
"YOU! HOW DARE YOU SHOW YOUR FACE AFTER YOU RUINED OUR ATTACK!."
Great, she's yelling again. And I ruined her attack? She fired off the first shot, so I was defending myself.
"You know what? fuck you! You attacked me first."
She seemed to hesitate now, gears turning in her head.
"W-Wait, so you're telling me that if I hadn't attacked you, you would have left us alone?"
"Well, I'd have no reason to step in; otherwise, I barely know how to fight. Why would I do all that to defend a bunch of horses I don't know?"
She stopped completely; you could practically hear the gears turning in her head. Suddenly, anger filled her eyes again.
"WELL, YOU STILL RUINED OUR ATTACK! AND YOU SHALL BE PUNISHED! YOU WILL SERVE IN THE MINES BENEATH THE HIVE!"
Suddenly, she whipped around and bucked me in the face, and everything went black. Slowly, I could see again, though when I opened my eyes, I was in another void. Not the same one as earlier, this one was more of a dark blue void. While I stood on a light blue platform. I looked at myself and found myself without injuries, though I still felt the extra limbs on my back. Turning to try and get a good look, I managed to get a glimpse of my extra limbs. They were kinda like wings, but instead of being covered in feathers as you'd expect, they were entirely made of metal. A full black with a blue stripe running from the beginning to the tip, and at the tip, it went around to the bottom and stopped halfway back to my back. It also had a circle in the middle edged with blue, making something that looked like a sci-fi engine. I managed to move it around to where both of them were sticking out of my sides, giving me a better look.
I tried to recreate the feeling I had when I was floating with them—or flying, I guess. Suddenly, the engine started to glow extra bright, and the wings sparked a little bit. Suddenly, a bit of the blue launched downward from the wing's engine, propelling me upward. But because of the angle I had them at, I just ended up in a front flip and landed back down on my face. Slowly, I stood back up and shook myself out a bit.
"Okay, then. Well, since I'm stuck here until another portal decides to open up, I might as well use the time to learn to fly." For the next few hours, I did just that, crashing into the ground over and over again as I tried to teach myself to fly.
Author's Note
OK! So I finally got this re-done. I hope I've got it up to a decent quality. If you do spot any problems with it do not be afraid to notify me. I hope this is better than the absolute shit-quality chapter I uploaded last time. Don't worry I haven't forgotten about my other stories, I've just had a bit of writer's block, And a time crunch. Haven't had a whole lot of time to stop and just write in a bit. Either way, thanks for reading and I hope you all have a great summer!
- FixerFox
PS: Sorry for the many different names, I've had to change from the SandboxFox because people from real life found my account and started fucking with me. So I've been trying to find a new name that will stick.
PPS: When I say made of metal I don't mean metal feathers. I mean something more along this design.
The Hive and... a friend?
Author's Note
For those of you who read the original chapter 1 of this story, I urge you to re-read it because I have fixed it. If you are coming to this chapter fresh off of chapter one then ignore this message. Thank you all so much for reading! I hope I can prove to be a decent author. I'm still relatively new to this experience, though I have a few stories under my belt. Any criticism is accepted and encouraged! just don't be mean about it. Other than that, enjoy!
-FixerFox
Oi, Fixerfox again here. I wrote that earlier bit I think last year? I'm back with this story again, that first chapter is still kinda not good but I don't wanna change it again. Please trust me, I'm gonna get this story going, you'll like it, I just gotta get it past this sort of... rocky bit. Most of chapter 2 was also written about a year back, but I've hopefully fixed it a bit? From here on it should go a lot smoother. Have a happy ThanksGiving!
-FixerFox
The Hive and... a friend?
I don't know how long I flew around in that weird void but after a long while my vision sorta... well, I blanked out. though after a few moments, my vision flashed back into focus. I found myself in a strange place, the walls were greyish black, and a green transparent material covered the entrance. I was laid down on what looked like a half-hazard carved sleeping spot into the wall. In my time in the void I had grown accustomed to my new legs, I swung them down onto the floor and stood up. Immediately I shivered from the coldness of the stone, my fur standing slightly on edge. 'Oof, guess I'm not used to not having shoes yet.' The second thing aside from the cold sensation I noticed was the pain throbbing from my forearms and from my wings. I held my arms in front of me and studied my injury.
What surprised me was that I didn't find any burns or anything, instead what I discovered was a bunch of blue cracks spiderwebbing all across the top of my forearms stretching to the tips of my fingers to my elbows. 'Yeesh, that left a mark..' Craning my neck around to the left I managed to get a good look at one of my wings, and what I found made me wince. The left one had been entirely broken in half. The only evidence of the wing was the half circle left behind of what used to be the engine. Craning my head to the right I found that wing still there but with many blue cracks stretching across it, similar to the ones on my forearms.
"Well, looks like I'm not flying out of here then..." Suddenly from the other side of the entrance, the queen appeared, startling me into jumping backward.
"You most certainly will not, My drones saw to that. The right one was damaged in the crash, the other was Pharynx. What a loyal little drone he is, In fact, he will be in charge of supervising you during your stay here at the hive."
Without even a second of hesitation I responded "Jeez lady, you make it sound like a resort. Though I presume this isn't one I can leave now is it?" It was sort of odd, though on the outside I did my best not to portray my confusion, on the inside I was a cloud of confusion... I wasn't normally this quick on my feet with words. Hell, I'm amazing I lasted as long in that little scuff as I did! I'm crap at fights too. 'Wait shit, you're talking to someone. Pay attention damnit!'
By the time I zoned back in the Queen was looking annoyed, clearly she had noticed me not even listening. I don't think she liked that much, She just scoffed and turned to leave. Then a drone with red and purple colorations stepped into the doorway, Aside from the standard green he was purple in the eyes and wings, and red along that weird little attempt at hair along his neck. He looked pissed, but the moment the queen was gone his gaze shifted to neutral. I was surprised when he bothered addressing me rather than being all aggressive and stonewalling me.
"I zone out in her speeches too. They've been getting longer... Sorry bout the wing, had to put on a show." He shuffled a bit, and double glanced behind him before shutting the door all the way. 'What the hell? he's talking like, he didn't originally want to damage the wing?!' Clearly catching on to my confusion he spoke up. "Look, I want what's best for the hive, and She's been getting more and more out of it. Detached, Random... Half the time even she forgets what she's ordered of us. And my brother, Thorax... He hasn't come back. When I asked her about it, she said he'd left. No rhyme or reason, Just.... gone. And I don't believe it. You may not be a good fighter, but you held her off for at least half a second. All I'm asking is for you to get out, and find him... And I want you to take our sister with you."
Was this guy fucking MAD? They kidnapped me, locked me in a cell, and now he wants me doing favors for him? what the hell?
I held up my hands, er, paws? Fuck it hands. And said "Woah woah woah, We JUST met. Moving a bit quick right? So you're sister? Your brother? and Crazy queen? Okay, I get that last bit, Seen it myself. And you think just by talking to me for four seconds, supposedly destroying my wing, and seemingly wanting "What's best" for your hive or whatever, I'm just gonna trust you? Fat chance! And what am I supposed to do, find a shapeshifter in a world of creatures I hardly know anything about?"
The drone sighed, his wings buzzing in an annoyed fashion... How'd I know that? I didn't know anything about these creatures, how can I pick up on their body language? Agh damnit off track again FOCUS!
When I focused in again he was looking at me, apparently having given some form of quick and concise speech. When he noticed me having not paid attention at all, he sighed again and summarized. "Point is Our queen is treating us like ass and my brother got sick of it, and my sisters catching the flack for him. Get her out, I can handle myself. I'll meet up with you later and hopefully, I can convince you to help us get help taking out our queen and replacing her with a better option. Deal?"
This guy was serious, He genuinely wanted to take out the queen. By the Stars, this must seem like amazing timing for him, a prisoner who recently went toe to toe with the queen and didn't get immediately dead. But for me, It couldn't be any worse timing! I still barely knew anything about myself, how anything worked, or what ANY of these creatures even were! I get that they are shapeshifters or whatever, and some form of hive. But beyond that, I got zip, nada...
I sighed... I could already feel the headache developing, my arms ached, my back ached... and my wings hurt... What the hell! Let's do it. "Look, you're assigned to me now, right? Fine, if It'll get me out of here? Whatever, I'll help your sister escape. Just... Give me a few hours to sort myself out, I'm not in any good condition right now."
He nodded and slammed left, slamming the door shut. And i... sat down in the sleeping crook spot or whatever... It was cold, and hard. By the stars what had I gotten myself into? What even am I? Am I some form of Cat? But whats with the metal wings? the glowy blue energy? That weird void place? I hadn't really stopped to think before, I just jumped right in cuz what the hell! But now that I'm properly thinking? How'd this even happen? I was.... I was.....
My vision blurred, and I felt a slight shift, and suddenly I was sideways... everything hurt. Everything was too bright! And then... Wham. Some form of Circle filled my vision, it looked sort of like... a loading bar? what... what did it say?
"Alert! System Corruption Detected! [Potential Cause: Incorrect Startup.] Initializing reboot!
'Wait... REBOOT?!?!' And then my vision went out again.
