Bonnie
“Damn it, AC-1! Get back here!”
“Grahhhh Dr. Archon is gonna kill us if she gets away!”
I was not given a normal name. I was not given a normal life either. Although, that’s to be expected with dogs since we were domesticated by humanity. Regardless of that though, my life was not like any other canine’s.
I was born into a blank, boring room and was raised there all my life. The researchers at the facility ran tests upon tests on me and attached different collars that all had that luminous blue gem on it. One day, I barked with one of these collars on and not only was a sound produced, but an electrical shockwave carried my bark to the other end of the room. From that day forward, I was given the name Awakened Canine One—AC-1 for short. I was given plenty of other collars, but the one that they had me wear the most was one that allowed me to transform into different animals. One of which was a gorilla…
Which I used to break out of the facility the very next day.
“AC-1, please! We’ll get fired if we lose you!”
The researchers lost me within three hours of their pursuit. To be fair, I managed to master transforming into several different animals, so they never stood a chance. Although I had this newfound freedom, I came up on some hard times as I realized I was now a stray. Because I ran away from my last home, I had no place to call my own. With my head resting on the back of my paws, I watched as countless people on the street went about their day. The worst part about zone three is that everyone is so busy getting to their destination, that they don’t stop for a single moment to think about the journey.
But you were different. You didn’t have a destination. Hell, you didn’t even know where you’d be tomorrow.
“Ohhhh a dog! What are you doing here all alone, little guy?”
A let out a low growl in response. Could this man not tell that I was a girl? He immediately corrected himself when he realized his mistake. “You want a snack, little lady? I got this burger from the store down the street—”
I ate away and filled my stomach for the first time in days. The man was amazed and said “I’ll try to look for more burgers thrown in the garbage like this one.”
I immediately became repulsed and moved down the alleyway to throw up. If I knew he was going to feed me garbage I would’ve refused outright. I started barking and growling in protest.
“Alright, alright. Next time I swing around, I’ll give you some food right out of the store. Geez, you’re a Bonafide Bonnie, you know that?”
I tilted my head in confusion and the man was shocked himself when he realized what he said. “Sorry. It was a story I read to my little girl. Don’t pay any mind to it.”
The man reached out to me and I immediately wanted to pull away, but instead of pinning me down for another shot or aggravating me for a reaction to notate, he simply rubbed his hand across my head. I didn’t know what it was at the time, but it was a type of physical affection I have never felt in my life. A warmth for a brief moment that I wanted to last forever. And the tears I shed in that moment displayed my feelings to the man.
“Awwww don’t worry, little lady. I’ll be back.” The man turned to leave and as he did, he noticed that I was following in his footsteps. He gave a sort of melancholic smile as he looked onwards at me. “Look, little lady. I’m too self-destructive to be in the company of such a dignified Miss as yourself—”
I gave him a loud and adamant bark. I wasn’t going to give up this feeling. It was greater than any other I’ve experienced in all of my life. I was going to stick with this man whether he liked it or not.
“I see. Well, you drive a hard bargain. I’ll do my best to not let you down…”
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From that moment on I made sure that he didn’t even have the chance to let me down. Even when it was hard for him to get up and moving at times, even when he wanted to take that weird powder, I got him right back on track on a steady road of recovery. On a road to be a better person overall.
===
That’s why…I’ll find this bomb and secure our spot!
There it is!
With the abandoned city being ravaged by multiple fighters clashing with their stematas, destroying and changing locations with each exchange, I found the bomb with my sense of smell. One of the first things I was trained to do as the first ever canine CT was detect explosives.
Hidden under a pile of rubble, I clamped my teeth down onto the device and wanted to make a full sprint toward where I heard the fighting, but for some reason I was hearing two fights going on. Does that mean that the Haustorian left Leo to fight all by himself? They were supposed to fight in one big group while I found the bomb. How am I supposed to tell who’s who if they’re split like this? I only have one more transformation under my belt. Leo said to only use the last of my stem energy if one of us is at risk of losing our lives. Leo pretty much is, so should I use it?
No, I'll hold on and wait just a little longer.
I heard intense battles coming from the east and west. At this point it was just a gamble on where Leo could be. For a brief moment, I thought about what Leo would do. He’d probably say something dumb like “West is best!” and go headfirst towards the West. I figured I might as well try it.
I guessed wrong.
“Blazing Soul!”
A beaten and bloodied Arno Haustoria was navigating a fortress made of ice. He dodged every gale of wind, every gust of fire to attempt to close the distance between himself and Ori Haustoria and when he finally did, she used another gust of wind to widen the gap between them once more. I skidded to a complete stop because a rush of dust and debris barreled right across from me and I became too cautious in that brief moment to move. All around me, buildings were bombarded and immediately collapsed. Streets were torn apart, and as the dust plumed directly in front of me, the two were revealed again.
And they were smiling…
As if they were indulging in each other. As if one asked to have this dance and the other wholeheartedly accepted. It could be seen through each of their movements that the other understood their next move and countered flawlessly.
Ori’s eye darted in my direction for a brief moment. In that brief second I felt a chill as cold as the deepest tundra’s run through my spine. That single look alone was enough to get me to turn tail and run.
Even though I went into a full sprint, I still felt so cold! How is this even possible—
I looked behind myself to see the alleyway I was running in covered in a thin sheet of ice that was rushing right behind me. Even though Ori was still suspended in the air, aiming at Arno, she was also trying to flash-freeze me. Since when was she even able to do that?!
Arno propelled toward me, bit into my collar, and carried me before I could get frozen by Ori’s attack. We rose into the sky together with his stemata and he spun around, let go and let the centrifugal force he built do the rest of the work. Once he did, he began to let out a jovial laugh. “In this fight alone, Ori’s gotten so much better with her stemata! Mr. Terrance did mention when someone’s life is on the line they’ll either improve or get crushed. I guess not becoming a CT fills that condition for her, right?”
I was going to ask him to put in the code and defuse the bomb himself, but I could see by the climbing altitude we were at and the look in his eyes: this was the last action he could take. With vacant eyes and an absent mind, he pushed his body way past its limit.
“It’s all up to you, Bonnie. I was never really a dog person, but you changed my mind! If you can, give that jerk Julien…a solid punch for me…” Arno finally closed his eyes and plummeted with a crash to the ground. Ori wanted to give chase, but just like Arno, she expended all of her resources as well. She used the last of her stem energy to safely crash.
He really was putting his complete faith in me. The fate of this entire match was dependent on what I did from this point on. I had no choice but to deliver. I took one look around the battleground and noticed that Arno threw me in a perfect arc to interfere with the exchange between Leo and Julien. As I descended and the situation I left became more clear, an anger swept over me. Julien was on top of Leo practically torturing him. I’ll tear him limb from limb for messing with him like that!
I changed into the form of a raging monster capable of the worst actions. A beast that hunts not only for sustenance, but at times for pleasure as well. A beast that is shackled by instinct and intuition, but through their acquired reason has gained arrogance. A vengeful and hateful beast capable of erasure of other entire species.
I transformed into a human and gave Julien Ferritin a solid punch.