Noah "Neo" Ashfield
AMS Deathwing Mirage Island, Hoenn
Affected RPers: @bronislav84

I decided that if I wanted to find Qinglong, making it easier for him to find me was probably a good idea. I had decided to use a reversal agent on myself, changing myself back to human. While Janine's black bunny form had its uses and she'd probably be disappointed I was scraping it, I figured if I really wanted to go back to that for whatever crazy reason, I could always just fire up a new mutagen. Plus, it was nice to be able to wear real clothing again.

"Hiya, we're back," Karai told me as she was passing by my quarters. "If you need us, we'll be in the boss's quarters."

"Sure thing," I nodded to Karai.

Yeah, that whole debriefing thing. I wasn't going to bring up that whole dream thing we had been in earlier. No point, but in the end, it didn't really paint any idea of what Diabora really was or what he was capable of.

But in the meantime, the whole meeting with Qinglong was starting to feel less and less real and I was beginning to think maybe I was just imagining things, but it still didn't make sense. That name wasn't in any public records, wasn't in any database, and there was really no where to get started on looking for him. I'd be going nowhere.

Except... maybe there was another way and I was just thinking in the wrong light. Dozing off. Qinglong came to me in a dream, maybe firing up another dream was the way to do it.

I decided to shut the metal door and lie on the bed for a while. Problem was I really wasn't all that tired, but I figured maybe reading the latest Gun Crazy magazine might get my eyes tired. Well, after a while of reading all about firearms that I already knew pretty much everything about anyway, I just shut my eyes and decided to let it come to me.

* * *

It started all hazy, and the only colors I could make out were black, dark red, and dark violet. It seemed chaotic, and at it only took a few seconds until things came into focus and I realized the dream had me standing in the middle of what looked like a totally wrecked city. Buildings were bombed out and most of them were either collapsed or ruined husks. Kind of reminded me of Goldenrod actually.

Trying not to get swept up in the dream was not easy and it was easily to believe this was realty. It seemed like every dream tried to unfold some kind of stupid story or something like that, but I tried to resist being just an actor in this.

Qinglong... makes me wonder if he knows I'm looking for him right now...

"There he is!"

Like a bat out of hell, there was gunfire. I sure didn't turn around to stop and look, I ran around the corner away from the loud gunshots and managed to get out of sight as bullets kept striking the rubble piles and debris near me. First thing I noticed was I wasn't even armed with anything. Not even a god-forsaken sidearm. Damn, what the hell, it's my own dream and I end up in a firefight with nothing to fight with? I tried to screw with the dream... give me a M60, a M249, anything like that. Nothing. It was like those guns didn't even exist anymore.

I took a peek around the corner and my pursuers were outfitted with high-tech gas masks, futuristic assault rifles, and advanced power armor that made me, dressed in rugged blue jeans and a ripped up t-shirt, just feel hilariously outgunned. Meanwhile, they had Pokémon that were even freaking armored, as if they even needed it. Seriously, a Nidoking and an Aggron in Pokémon power armor? What the hell? As soon as they saw me take a peek, someone tried to shoot my face just before I pulled back.

And then, as if it couldn't get any worse, a giant tank with heavy armor and more guns sticking out of it than a platoon was rolling behind them. The armor on that thing make it look like that thing could get nuked and be totally ok. And then, flying hovercraft gunships were soon on the scene. They weren't helicopters, somehow able to fly using some kind of glowing hoverpad or crap like that. Yeah, I was screwed I didn't get my ass out of there. These asshats were from the future and they were not playing games.

"Light that bastard up!"

I didn't realize there was a second pack of soldiers flanking me.

My luck ran out. I tried to make a run for it but I was hit twice and those rifles were strong enough to easily make both of those shots a through and through. I fell on my knees and was totally at the mercy of these pricks. I was bleeding badly, but somehow the pain wasn't there, just this numbing feeling of losing feeling in the general wounded areas. I could feel the blood trickle from my mouth, but there was no metallic taste to it.

Those soldier pricks soon surrounded me. In the distance, I began to see this high-tech army... whoever the hell it was, had packed more than just soldier boys and tanks. I saw hulking mechs and massive flying motherships soon flying overhead with more gunships and fighter planes in the sky. And here I was, some piss-faced asshole without a chance.

Meanwhile, no signs of resistance were around. Talk about overkill. I'd actually be somewhat honored if they prepared all this shit just to get rid of little, old me.

"Name, K1S, and tracking number," The squad leader demanded.

K1S and tracking... what the hell was this bastard talking about?

"Noah... Ashfield," I smiled through blood-smeared teeth. "As for my tracking number... it's P155-0FF."

"Think you're clever, you piece of shit!?" He shouted.

He then opened fire, totally unloading his assault rifle's magazine into my chest at only seven feet away. I felt every bullet just punch their way through my body like a knife through paper. Figured I'd go out with a smile. I didn't feel the pain, just numbing wounding and a whole lot of seemingly magical blood that really didn't make me weaker through losing it.

"Urhhh..." I sighed, figuring about now was a good time to die. Or wake up.

But I just laughed. My hand was smeared with red, sticky blood, but for a moment, it felt like just because I didn't want to die, that was ok. It went on.

"You're all just... puppets," I laughed, spitting blood on the squad leader's uniform.

"Drop dead, you bastard!" Another soldier readied his rifle.

And then, I felt that contact again.

<...>

You're late.

<... You should have kept running...>

Good point, guess I couldn't blame him for that...


Janine "Angel" Price
AMS Deathwing, Mirage Island, Hoenn
Affected RPers: N/A

"Janine, do you realize that... AMAXA could result in an Ultra Chimera actually evolving again... actually... indefinitely, right!?" Kaede realized.

Yeah, I knew she'd figure it out sooner or later! It was always so funny to watch her reaction!

"Well, yeah, but it still takes a while to recharge," I smiled. "But I know, I think a Chimera could just going and going. That's why this is a boss and captains only kind of thing!"

"Janine, we talked about this, remember?" Kaede asked me.

"We did?" I asked, shrugging. "Hey, you never said going beyond Ultra Chimeras was off limits. Besides, this would allow just one Chimera to be able to take on armies. Think of all the money and lives we'd save!"

Ha, ha, when I put it that way, it sounded really good! Well, it at least managed to get Kaede to blink twice and get mixed opinions about it rather than shoot it down! And that's making progress!

"I guess..." Kaede shrugged. "Looking at these notes of yours, I think you're on the right track, we probably will need two evolution-focused glands to be created in each person who goes Chimera, one for going forward, and the other for going backward. Like an accelerator and a decelerator. These same glands will have to exist in their bodies as humans, but when they're human, they obviously won't do anything."

"Yep," I nodded, seeing Kaede was getting the whole idea of this. "These two glands will create the FES stuff and reversal agent stuff the way the salivary gland makes spit. You'll be able to use these two glands the same way you can work up a wad of spit whenever you'd like! They'll also be adapted for whatever form the Chimera takes on, the same way all the other life-sustaining organs are adapted. But yeah, that's the whole idea. No more needles!"

"It could get a little complicated, but we might be able to do it," Kaede told me. "Whatever chemical process goes into making FES and the reversal agent, we just need to examine the means for which an artificially-created organ can create those chemical cocktails. Chances are good it's going to need to work a lot like erythropoiesis. Next, the glands need to be hooked up to the neural network that would allow the brain to decide when to trigger the release of either chemical. The only way to make sure this works is to set it as if those glands were always a part of the human body."

Well, this was a great example of "easier said than done!" But hey, all great ideas had to start from somewhere!