We stopped running after a short while. Balor was making a strange panting or hooting noise. He was... laughing? He gripped his spear, then looked at the orb. He tossed it to me casually, scoffing. I nearly didn’t catch it. The object was smooth and reflective. A perfect silver sphere. It was also heavy. Like it was made of gold or lead. While I inspected it, the familiar tug I felt when looking at a monster pulled at me. I activated it.
NEXOCITE EGG
DEVELOPING SOUL:
BEAST: 13%
COLOSSUS: 10%
FAE: 5%
FLAME: 8%
GAIA: 15%
MAGI: 17%
MYRMIDON: 11%
SEA: 6%
SPIRIT: 4%
STONE: 12%
WARRIOR: 39%
THIS EGG IS NOT READY TO HATCH. IT WILL HATCH WHEN A SOUL IS DEVELOPED. PLEASE INSERT SOUL OR WAIT FOR NATURAL DEVELOPMENT.
An egg?! From a plant? That raised so many questions. As I looked at it, the developing souls, whatever that meant, each fluctuated up and down by a percent or two. Fascinating. I placed it in my pack, unsure why exactly Balor took it and gave it to me. If this hatched into another monster while I had it, I bet my bond would be even stronger with it.
It was early morning. The sun had only just started to rise. Dew dripped off the plants in heavy drips. King was chasing a hoping insect and Balor was leaning on a tree. Looks like I was back in charge. I cleared my throat. “King. Balor. Come here.” King bounded over excitedly. Balor rolled his eyes like a rebellious teen. “Balor, first off, it was you or me. Don’t be mad because you lost the fight. Anyone else and you’d probably be dead. Got it?” He just huffed at me. “King and I have been together for a while now. But I need you two to get to know each-other. We are a team from here on.” Both of them just stared at me. I felt like an idiot. What was I doing? Trying to give monsters a team building chat. I was reasonably certain they couldn’t actually understand what I said. Rather, they seemed to react more to my intent.
“Well… anyway. We have a lot of time ahead of us today. I’ve explored most of this jungle, except for the north and what lies beyond the skelky nests. So, we are going to go north. That’s the heart of the prinsaurs territory. So be on guard.” Feeling like a general or captain, we moved on. King obediently stayed by my side. He really did act like a dog. I needed to figure out how to get him to grow. Balor walked behind me. Keeping some distance, but enough to keep me in view. That was alright. We needed to give him time. And, to be honest, I didn’t trust him much either. I thought back to our fight. He was pretty tough, but not solo-a-dinosaur tough. So we would still need to run if we ran into the monster. I remembered something about that fight. Something I wanted to try.
“King, come here.” I stopped us after a few hours of walking. I was in familiar territory now and was reasonably sure nothing would attack us. The only monsters I have come across were the prinsaur and the skelkies. If we went much further, I was sure that would change. King moved to my side from a hole he was digging. I placed a hand on his dome. “Use pulse.”
I felt it. Like a loud strumming of a wire taught to near snapping. Suddenly my vision, hearing, sense of smell, taste, even balance all… shifted. I could see… everything. Feel everything. Faint outlines of plants that should be out of view. The movement of small insects. The heat difference of the ground and the leaves. Balor glowed brightly, and I realized I was looking at him while he stood directly behind me. It was too much. Then, it ended just as quickly it started. Holy shit. That was intense. I didn’t really know what to expect. My racing mind calmed down after a moment. Again. “Pulse!”. The same sensation flooded through me. But this time I was prepared. I was aware of a aura of sensation. It was about 10 yards centering from King. After it faded away, I could remember the location of objects and their heat levels. But it was like trying to recall a dream. I somehow just… knew, rather than remembered exactly. Kings tails was splashing mud. So that was how king saw the world. I was impressed.
Did it work for all of his skills? “King, use savagery.” His head turned to the side curiously. He then tackled me. I sprawled onto the ground as king landed on my chest, licking my face. Alright. So that didn’t work. Seems like it was just his… special skills. I looked at balor. He just shook his head slowly. I’ll try with him… some other time.
A while later, we were moving through unfamiliar jungle neyond where I had found King. This was where the prinsaur spent most of its time. We saw evidence of it everywhere. Footprints, fallen trees, the lot. Something also was confirmed for me that I suspected. The thing was trapped. It was huge, yes, but not nearly large enough to push aside the large, almost titanic trees. It seems its bulk stopped it from leaving its territory. Unfortunate for it, but very convenient for the rest of us.
King suddenly barked and raised his hackles. Balor stiffened and rushed in front of me. Something moved among the trees. The way it suddenly moved when King barked gave me the sense of a predator moving in for the kill. I was out of my territory and was prey once again. I have felt this sensation time and time again. But, now I had a team. I put my hand of Kings head and pulsed. I could sense the creature. It was the size of a pony, twenty feet away and closing. Weaving in and out of the trees like a serpent. A dinosaur like creature. Raptor like body and long sharp claws. Its long, flexible body had two sets of dexterous legs that were running along the trees, claws digging in. It was a smaller prinsaur, but with more serpent like body. It broke into view with a squawk. Bright red scales, not stone like the prinsaurs, flashed into view. Maybe this was the normal version of this monster, the prinsaur was like the skelkies shamky. I wasn’t sure. I looked at its stats.
HUNSAUR
DESIGNATION: N/A
SOUL: BEAST
LEVEL: 1
HEALTH: Stable
ENERGY: 5
STATUS: Wild
SKILLS:
Savagery: 55%
Kinetic Shield: 5%
Intimidate: 60%
ATTRIBUTES:
Strength: 3
Agility: 4
Density: 3
Energy: 2
Utility: 2
ATTRIBUTES, DERIVED:
Speed: 4
Intelligence: 4
Toughness: 6
Reaction: 6
King began to power up. “King, do not tackle! It’s too agile.” King made a disappointed whine. The hunsaur corkscrewed through the air like a spear. King was closest, with Balor standing in front of me. At the last moment, king disappeared. The hunsaur slammed into the ground and seemed to coil down and smoothly continued its assault, this time spearing at Balor. I noticed King was several feet away, sliding to a stop. Suddenly text appeared over its head.
SKILL DISCOVERED: FLASH DODGE 5%
King had powered up and then moved quickly out of the way. Apparently this was something called a flash dodge. There was no time to get into that right now. Balor stabbed straight on with his spear. The hunsaur dodged it, spiraling around the point. The skelky was anticipating this, it seemed. He suddenly slammed his shoulder into it, knocking it off course. One of its flailing claws scraped across Balors armor with.
I couldn’t do anything to help in this moment. I gave my spear to Balor. I should have kept something to defend myself. The monster rolled on the ground and then flowed back towards Balor. The way it moved reminded me more of a streamer or a kite being pulled through the wind by a performer than any beast or monster I’ve seen. Balor had his spear ready to block, but suddenly the hunsaur stopped with a surprised squeak. King had the tip of its tale solidly in its mouth. He pulled it like a tug-a-war rope.
I didn’t know if enough time had passed or not. “King, power up now!”. King growled. Apparently not. The hunsaur suddenly dove at the juvenile pulse hound. I reacted on instinct, tackling it, landing on part of its back. The creature was longer than it was tall. Actually, it wasn’t as big as I originally thought. My weight knocked it off balance, preventing it from snapping at King with his inch long fangs. Balor screamed with rage. Instead of attacking the monster, however, he grabbed me with all four arms and hurled me off the creature. Just in time, as its neck had swiveled and it was about to bite me. Balor screeched at me accusingly. But, I had given king enough time.
The pulse hound puppy glowed yellow for a moment. I expected it to rip off a section of the tail. Instead, the pup spun. The speed and strength of the twirl was enough to lift the hunsaur. King spun once, treating the monster like a discuss, before his power up ended. King, still holding onto the tail with all his might, was suddenly dragged by his own throw. Both the hunsaur and King slammed heavily into a nearby tree. Balor was on it in an instant, leaping high in the air. All four arms gripped the spear and it stabbed down, spearing the monster through the chest.
King was winded, but the hunsaur was near death. I quickly scanned the monster. There! A metallic patch under its jaw. But, before I could even think about bonding it, King bit into its throat. The hunsaur made an eerie honking, chirping sound. “Wait, king! Stop.” The pup was in the moment. Balor angrily stepped up to me, and poked a hard bony finger in my chest. He screeched directly in my face. He was right, I admitted. That was pretty stupid. Balor clearly hated me, but also wanted me to stay alive. I acted without thinking, worried that King would be hurt. Suddenly king flashed yellow and blood began spraying as he quickly chewed into its neck with super strength.
I felt cheated. That monster was fast, agile, and deadly. If it wasn’t for Balor, king and I would have been killed instantly. I wanted it. But, it was probably for the best. I should wait until I bond with Balor a bit more before adding more to the team. Besides, I didn’t know how many monsters I could have. King ate hungrily. With greater gusto than I have ever seen. As he ate, his dome flashed with more and more intense green. Watching him eat this thing made me lose my appetite. I turned to watch the jungle.
Minutes later, king gave a satisfying sigh. He had eaten most of it. Physically, where did it go? King was smaller than it. The math didn’t work. Suddenly, Kings dome started to glow white. It flashed, white, green, white, green. With more and more intensity. A bright light encompassed his whole body. I could only see a vague outline, but King GREW in front of my eyes. Limbs elongating. Body growing taller. His chest swelled. The light dimmed, and before me was a new King. He was no longer a puppy. King had grown from one stage of his life to fully grown in an instant. He was sleek, but powerful. Large jaws, claws on each foot. He had the build of a large wolf. On all fours, his head would come to my chest. The dome atop his head seemed more integrated into the form. Running down his neck and branching off through his body in a computer circuit-like design. He stood with a proud confidence. His hair was short and sleek, except over his chest where it was fluffy. The silver patch on his chest was still present, like a scar that refused to fade.
My jaw hung open. Even Balor seemed impressed. “King?” I said. I was afraid I would have to rebond him. His head snapped in my direction. Then, he leaped. Both paws landing on my shoulders, shoving me to the ground. His tongue was larger and somehow smelled worse. “Ugh, ok, stop. King, I get it. I love you too, STOP!” Eventually he calmed down and let me breath. Good. King was still in there. I took a look at his stats.
PULSE HOUND
DESIGNATION: KING
HEALTH: STABLE
STATUS: Bonded
BOND: 66%
SOUL: Beast
LEVEL: 1
SKILLS:
Power up: 52%
Pulse: 16%
Flash Dodge: 5%
Kinetic Shield: 5%
Savagery: 66%
ATTRIBUTES:
Strength: 4
Agility: 3
Density: 3
Energy: 2
Utility: 2
ATTRIBUTES, DERIVED:
Speed: 4
Intelligence: 4
Toughness: 7
Reaction: 5
Balors stats changed as well. Weapons to 88%, and spear to 39%. King howled. The sound echoed through the jungle. It was met by a roar off in the distance.
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