David took the time to explain a few things as the small group made their way through the facility back toward the surface. His words echoed off the concrete walls, mixing with the soft padding of paws and claws on the floor as they ascended the steps out of the more secure area he’d snuck into only an hour or two ago. Without the faint trickle of power to move air around, it was rapidly becoming stuffy and unpleasant in the deeper reaches of the bunker, and Spooky began to get more insistent they leave the deep reaches of the 'cave' they found themselves in.

"So, Quests are like... objectives the System gives you," David said, excitedly gesturing with a wing. "Complete them, and you get rewards. XP, Tokens, sometimes new System unlocks."

Kozlov grunted, his massive form lumbering alongside David as the other two followed a short distance behind. "And... leveling? It makes you stronger directly?"

"Exactly," David nodded before almost tripping on a bundle of cabling, which he hissed at sternly before continuing. "Each level gives you Health and Stamina. It makes you harder to kill and gives you more options. I know you guys have probably leveled up a couple of times at least, you probably have the basic idea already."

"Fascinating! And this Combo System you mentioned?" Gideon scurried ahead, his tiny form darting between the others' feet and making Kozlov swear softly as he nearly stepped on him.

David's eyes glinted wickedly. "That's where it gets kinda fun. Abilities have categories, Offense being the most common one. Anyway, hit a target with three abilities in rapid succession and you’ll get a Combo and a lot of bonus xp. Really speeds up leveling to a certain point."

As they walked, Kozlov admitted reluctantly, "We... we've had an Evolution ready. But we haven't used it. Didn't trust the System or know exactly what it would do."

David stopped short, his mane ruffling in exasperation. "Yeah, I figured with how wea– Distrustful! How distrustful of the System you were acting. Guys, the Integration isn't just going to disappear if you ignore it. If you want to stay safe, help people, maintain any kind of order, you need to grow stronger."

He fixed each of them with a blunt gaze, his voice taking on a serious tone. "The world out there? It's changing fast, more than it already has. Evolve, level up, and learn to use the System. It's just about survival now, I won't lie to you."

As they emerged from the underground facility after some time, with David earning a few sideways looks that made his mane puff out indignantly over how he was forced to walk on the linoleum on the ground floor, the group blinked in the sudden sunlight. His eyes howled in protest at the blinding light, and he extended a wing out to shade his eyes as he squinted. He could sense that Claire was nearby, and his gaze skipped around the ruins and abandoned equipment to try and find her in the wretched illumination he found himself in before he finally saw her.

Don’t laugh. Don’t laugh. Don’t laugh. Shoes on the other foot now, huh!? I knew I wasn’t the only scary one! Not so easy is it?

"Bahahaha!" David laughed hysterically the moment he opened his mouth, unable to contain it for even a second. Talons gripped the side of the building with an unpleasant scratching sound as he was forced to clutch the brickwork to avoid falling over as he was wracked by chattering laughter.

There, perched precariously on a rusty fire escape, was Adam, his rotund porcine body wedged as close to the building, as far away from the edge as he could get, and covered with layers of dirt. His stubby legs were wrapped tightly around the metal railing, eyes wide with terror, easily visible even from a distance of several dozen yards as he howled threat after threat indiscriminately. Below him stood Claire, her massive reptilian bulk dwarfing everything around her as she repeatedly clacked her jaws together in what David immediately recognized as frustration, but probably looked like hunger to poor Adam. Her legs were dirty to match Adam's layer of dust, and it was clear from her heavy breathing that she'd been running around frantically only a few moments ago.

David couldn't help but chuckle at the sight of her as she shuffled uncomfortably from foot to foot and churned up the dirt below her. A quick glance around at the enormous clawed tracks covering the area confirmed that she’d been chasing him around for a minute before he’d somehow managed to climb to his current position, and David could just imagine what had happened. She looked like the unholy offspring of a crocodile and several dinosaurs by this point, and with her massive size he could guess how it had gone.

She said, “Hi!” and Adam had shit himself and started running. Then she chased him around trying to get him to calm down without losing him, and made it a hundred times worse. Hah! Usually, when we introduce ourselves people have already seen us being chill, looks like Adam just turned around and saw the Murdersaurus without any context, hahaha!

Kozlov's instincts kicked in immediately. "Prepare to–"

"Whoa, whoa!" David interrupted, throwing out his wings to block them all. "Chill out, big guy. That's Claire. She's with me, remember?"

The bear's jaw dropped. "That's... your friend?"

David grinned. "Yep. Claire! Over here!"

Claire's massive head swiveled towards them, her eyes lighting up with recognition and a healthy dose of surprise to see him standing with the small group. With surprising grace for something her size, she lumbered over, each footstep sending small tremors through the ground. Adam didn't even wait to see why she’d left, just started climbing higher on the rickety construction without looking back. She reached them in only a few seconds, and David could practically feel the fight or flight response building in the men behind him as he smiled up at her and bounced around excitedly as his eyes finally began to adjust to the brightness.

"David!" She rumbled, her voice a mix of relief and excitement. "What took you so long? And who are these guys?" She paused, tilting her head curiously. "Did you figure out how to use that telescope thingy?"

David laughed, darting over to flap up onto his comfy spot behind her frill as he replied. "Had to sneak in, I wasn’t sure I could trust them at first, and there was a…situation. Meet Kozlov, Gideon, and Wally." He gestured to each in turn. "Guys, meet Claire."

The others stood frozen, a mix of awe and terror on their faces. Gideon was the first to recover, his jealousy overriding his fear.

"Why are you so big?!"

Claire blinked, then let out a rumbling laugh. "I dunno, why is David so ugly?"

“Hey!”

Wally, still wide-eyed, managed to stammer out from his position behind Kozlov as the man appeared to be frozen in place, "H-how did you two even meet?"

David and Claire exchanged a glance. "It's a long story," David said. "Involving a Quest, a misunderstanding, and a very unfortunate vending machine. Let's just say it ended with us realizing we're better as friends than dinner."

“Oh shut up, David. He found me in the forest the first night after everyone Hatched.” Claire hissed in exasperation, “He’s a good friend and a decent person, but I’d guess you know that by now.”

Kozlov, who had been silently processing the situation, finally spoke up. "And... Adam? Is he alright up there?"

They all turned to look at the still-trembling pig-man on the fire escape, and Claire had the decency to look sheepish. "Oh, right. Sorry about that, Adam! I didn't mean to startle you. You can come down now, I promise not to eat you. See, I was telling the truth!”

“Not today at least!” David added brightly before Claire shook him loose for his trouble. He squawked loudly but managed to catch himself with a few powerful wingbeats before he landed hard and kicked up a cloud of dust around him.

Support creative writers by reading their stories on Royal Road, not stolen versions.

Adam let out a high-pitched squeal that might have been a nervous laugh. "M-Major Kozlov, sir! Are they…peaceful? I uh…I was just enjoying the view, sir."

“Adam, get down here. There’s been a few changes to the situation.” Kozlov yelled in a tired voice, eyes never once leaving Claire as she roughly booped David with her snout a few times while he hissed with faux-savagery back at her for dropping him.

David dusted himself off, shooting Claire a mock glare before turning back to the group. "Alright, now that we've got the introductions out of the way, how about I show you guys how Mutagens and Tokens work? Might help, y’know, like exposure therapy or something."

He pulled up his Status screen, gesturing to the glowing panel only he could see. "You can get them from Quests mostly, but they're bound to each user, so you can't just hand them out. You use them by focusing on them and mentally stating that you want to use them."

Claire snorted, a sound like a boulder rolling down a hill as the wind blew a flurry of sandy orange dust across her armored back. "Oh please, don't act like you're some expert. You've only been at this as long as everyone else has."

"Hey, I'll have you know I've made some significant progress!" David puffed up his mane indignantly as he whirled to face her pompously. "In fact, I got an extra Mutagen and Ability slot. No big deal, really. Just ate a powerful artifact, you know how it goes."

Claire's eyes narrowed suspiciously as she froze at the offhanded remark. "You did what now?"

David waved a wing dismissively. "Oh, you know, just a little Shard of Supremacy. Barely even noticed it, really."

Kozlov, who had been silent up to this point, suddenly spoke up. "Barely noticed? David, you were shining light from every orifice and speaking in tongues. The energy threw me across the room when I touched you!"

Claire's tail swished dangerously. "David..."

"Okay, so maybe I downplayed it a teensy bit," David admitted, shuffling his talons with a nervous glance at the hammer of bone at the end of her tail. "But hey, it all worked out! And now I've got extra slots! That's good, right?"

Gideon scurried up David's back, perching on his shoulder. "I feel obligated to mention the shard was highly unstable and likely about to explode at any moment."

"Yeah, yeah, it's all very exciting," Claire grumbled. "Can we focus on the fact that this featherbrain nearly got himself killed? Again? What is it with you and not just taking a look around like you said you would? Always gotta…"

Adam, who had finally climbed down from his perch to approach, spoke up timidly. "Um, is that... normal? Sir, you said he ate the artifact?"

David shrugged, nearly dislodging Gideon before freezing apologetically. "Normal? Probably not. Effective? Oh, for sure."

Kozlov shook his head, a mix of exasperation and grudging respect in his eyes. "I'm beginning to understand why you two get along so well. You're both as bad as the other."

"Hey!" David and Claire protested in unison.

David grinned as Claire continued to look offended at her behavior being compared to David's, his eyes gleaming with mischief. "How about a little demonstration then? I've got a Mutagen I've been saving. Might as well put it to good use before anything else weird happens."

Hopefully, I don’t make myself look like an idiot. Just gotta maintain my composure, repair my first impression a little bit maybe...Okay, here goes. I want to use my Corrosive Mutagen.

–Confirm transfer from Storage–

–Transfer to available slot will cost: 0 Pts–

Yep yep.

The group watched intently as David closed his eyes, focusing on the Mutagen with a mental nudge. There was a moment of silence before he snarled, talons digging into the ground beneath him as the unpleasant bubbling sensation erupted in his guts. Gideon instantly threw himself free of his back, scampering along the ground and hiding behind Kozlov’s legs as the man watched impassively. David desperately tried not to gag but failed spectacularly the moment the numbing fizz hit the back of his throat and began to work its way into his snout.

“WHARGBL!” David retched hugely, the motion seemingly starting from the bottoms of his feet and working its way all the way through his body. To his relief, he didn’t actually vomit, but he caught a faint sparkle of rainbow light reflected off the sand below him as his jaws cranked open anyway.

“What genius man here failed to mention in his excitement to show off,” Claire rumbled from a few yards away with extreme amusement, “Is that a lot of the time, using a Mutagen is pretty uncomfortable. Doesn’t hurt, but it’s like the absolute worst case of pins-and-needles you’ve ever had. That one looks internal, hah!”

David waved a wing helplessly in her direction as if to say, ‘Yes, precisely’, as he was wracked by another huge wave of dry-heaving before his mouth suddenly filled with drool that forced him to slam his jaws shut. The sensation abruptly faded after that, and he took several deep breaths through his nose before he pulled himself back to a more dignified position.

“See?” He gasped, “Piece of cake. So easy.”

Gideon peered out from behind Kozlov’s leg, fascinated and apprehensive in equal measure. "Do you feel any different?"

"Give me a sec," David replied, then turned to a nearby piece of scrap metal laying nearby. He took a deep breath and spat at it, the wad of sticky drool impacted with a ringing bang before the metal began to sizzle and corrode where his saliva landed.

"Oh, gross, I remember that," Claire muttered, but there was a hint of impressed amusement in her voice. “Definitely the one you got from the Boss, right? Don’t you ever lick anyone ever again.”

Kozlov raised an eyebrow. "Impressive. And potentially very dangerous."

David grinned, licking his chops with his freakishly long tongue before sucking it back in loudly. "See? That's how it works. Pretty easy, honestly. When you’re Evolving or picking Abilities or Mutagens, you’re gonna want to focus on-"

“I’m happy you guys are happy…but what about using the telescope? You know, the entire reason we came here?” Claire rumbled grumpily as she sniffed at the smoking metal with distaste, “Or did you forget about all the weird stars that pissed you off so bad a few days ago?”

“Weird stars?” Kozlov asked, suddenly uncaring about David’s antics as his focus shifted to Claire like a whipcrack.

Claire nodded, her massive head bobbing up and down amicably. "Yeah, weird stars. A few nights ago, David noticed these lights in the sky. They look like stars, but they're... off."

David continued to spit at a few smaller pieces of metal before chiming in, "They're different colors. Red, blue, green, gold, and purple. And they give you this creepy feeling when you look at ‘em like you're being watched or something. I hate them, they give me a really bad feeling, and I want to bite them…"

Kozlov raised an eyebrow at that before Claire spoke again.

"We're not sure exactly when they showed up," Claire continued, her voice rumbling with concern. "Just that they weren't there a few days before we noticed them. David is out at night a lot, obviously, I mean, he’s a bat. He swears up and down they weren’t there for the first week or so."

Kozlov's brow furrowed, his earlier irritation replaced by a look of deep concern. "And you were planning on using the telescope here?"

David nodded enthusiastically. "That's why we came! I thought an observatory might give us some answers…because, stars? Or at least a better look at whatever the hell they are, finding anyone here was just a bonus we hoped for but didn’t expect to pan out."

Gideon, who had been uncharacteristically quiet, suddenly piped up. "Do you even know how many people it takes to work a radio telescope of this si– Wait. Did you mean that antique hunk of shit we packed up when we got here?”

David's eyes widened comically, his jaws dropping open in shock as his ears didn’t quite know what to do. "Wait, what? You mean the telescope is actually here?"

Claire's massive head swung around, nearly knocking David off his feet before she straightened up. "Are you serious? I was looking all over for what was left of it out here, and it's just sitting in storage?"

Gideon waved his tiny paws frantically. "Now hold on a minute! It's not that simple. That telescope is massive. You'd need a crane and a team of experts to reassemble it. There's no way we could-"

"Did someone say crane?" Claire interrupted, puffing out her chest. "How hard could it be, you got anything better to do right now?"

David cackled, bouncing excitedly. "Oh man, this is perfect! Claire, you're a genius! I can help!"

As Gideon continued to protest, a strange gurgling sound caught everyone's attention. They turned to see Wally, who had been quietly standing off to the side, suddenly double over. The wolf-like man’s eyes were vacant and blank as he heaved again before a torrent of rainbow-colored goo erupted from his mouth. It pooled on the ground in front of him before small tendrils began to extend, sucking him into the pool violently, even as he puked up another wave of technicolor energy.

David's eyes lit up with recognition as he cracked a toothy smile. "Hah, he's Evolving! Wally, you sneaky bastard! You started the process while I was showing off, didn't you?"

As Wally continued to vomit a seemingly endless stream of technicolor liquid, David began to cheer enthusiastically.