VN chapter: www.youtube.com/watch?v=E0bHtHJtvwE

Story:

Alexa walked into the panel room. The walls were covered in striped wallpaper with little palm tree crests—very executive. There were a fair amount of people there, mostly non-chimeras. Chimeras didn’t make up a large portion of the population after all. She saw Crystal and Matt setting up their stuff on a portable table the convention had provided. She wanted to meet them so she walked up to them.

“Hello, you’re Matt and Crystal right?”

“Yes, I’m Crystal and this is my fiancé Matt,” the chimera woman put her arm through Matt’s arm and leaned into him while smiling, “What’s your name?”

“I’m Alexa.”

“It’s nice to meet you.” Matt extended his hand.

Alexa shook his hand.

“Thanks for coming by our panel,” said Crystal. “This is our first time running it, so it’s nice to see that it’s getting some attention. We’re really hoping we can make an impact on society by putting a positive light on chimeras, showing that we’re not monsters.”

“That would be very nice,” Alexa looked wistfully at the crowd finding chair in the panel room.

Matt pushed his glasses up and broke the awkward silence.

“We’re going to get started pretty soon so you want to grab a chair?”

“Alright, maybe we can talk after the panel,” suggested Alexa.

“I’d love to Alexa,” said Crystal.

Alexa turned around and started looking for a seat near the front. As she did, she noticed a man studying her. He had blonde hair and was dressed in a black, open jacket with a gray shirt underneath and blue pants. Alexa didn’t recognize whoever he was trying to cosplay. His gaze didn’t seem unfriendly; even so Alexa thought she should keep an eye on him.

“Hello everyone, thank you for coming to ‘Ask a Chimera a Question.’ I’m Matt and this is my fiancé, Crystal. As you all know 15 years ago, the Transmutation occurred and many people were transformed into chimeras. Lots of bad things happened in the hours and days that followed, but we won’t discuss that subject. In this panel we’d like to help dispel some of the myths about chimeras through discussion and questions. Hopefully, we can come to a better understanding of each other.

Crystal continued where Matt had left off.

“How this will work is that any non-chimeras in the audience can ask a question of me, or any other chimeras who volunteer to answer questions. Please keep your questions appropriate and be kind and polite when asking.”

Crystal took a seat in a chair in front of the table facing the audience.

“Let’s begin, who would like to ask a question?” Matt looked out over the audience and hands started popping up. “You, the guy dressed as Kirito, go ahead.”

The teen dressed as Kirito from Sword Art Online stood up.

“I noticed that you seem to be a cat-type chimera. I was wondering if you liked fish more than before you transformed and if you dislike water or bathing now?”

“No,” Crystal giggled, “I’ve never really liked fish before, and I still don’t like it now. As for bathing, I like it more now, but I think most people enjoy it more than when they were children.”

“Thank you,” the teen sat down.

Several more questions were posed to Crystal and a few other chimeras who volunteered to answer questions. The panel seemed to be going well until a group of men dressed in dark brown leather wielding baseball bats burst through the panel room door.

The leader of the group, a man with dark brown hair, stepped forward.

“You stinking bastards! How dare you try to fool these people with your lies! All you chimera are monsters.”

“Who the hell are you?!” Matt ran in front of Crystal and spread out his arms.

“I’m Roderick and I’m the leader of the Brown Fists, we’re a group dedicated to preventing chimera monsters from conquering our human world.” He slammed his bat against the wall causing a dent. I want all of you chimeras,” his mouth twisted in a grimace, “to get the hell out of here! We’re shutting down this panel.”

From the moment the group entered the room, Alexa knew that the hiccup in this day had finally come, nothing ever stayed peaceful for long in the life of a chimera. She heard everything that Roderick had said. Why did people like that exist? Why did they hate so much? She glanced to her left and noted that the man with blonde hair was also standing. He had a scowl on his face and he was glaring at the Brown Fists group.

A case of literary theft: this tale is not rightfully on Amazon; if you see it, report the violation.

Alexa looked back at Roderick sharply when she heard his bat slam into the wall.

“No!” Matt shouted, “This panel is about fostering an understanding between chimeras and non-chimeras.”

“We won’t let you stop us!” Crystal followed up.

“Oh really?” Roderick swung his bat onto his right shoulder leisurely. “In that case, you brought this on yourself, chimera scum. Get her!”

The other four Brown Fists members ran forward down the aisle of chairs, bats at the ready.

Alexa ran into the aisle to intercept them. She ducked under the bat of the first person and hit him with an uppercut to the solar plexus. The man dropped to the ground doubled up. Alexa looked to her left and saw the man in black fighting another of the group. He side-stepped the first swing and punched the man in the arm. He then ducked under the backswing and punched the man in the hip and slammed his elbow into the man’s stomach. The Brown Fists man went down coughing. She saw that fight for a second before she started fighting the third man. The fourth tried to run past her, but she stuck out her leg and tripped him. That momentary distraction cost her though as she felt the third man’s bat hit her right shoulder hard. She grabbed the fat end of the bat trying to ignore the screaming pain from her shoulder and rammed the butt of the bat into the man’s chest. He went down. Alexa whirled around and saw the man she had tripped fighting Matt who was trying his best to protect Crystal. He had his arms up in front of his face trying to hold back his attacker who had landed several blows already judging from the red marks on his face and arms that would develop into nasty bruises. She ran toward Matt and kicked the man with the bat in the back of the head. He crumpled to the ground. She turned and saw that the man in black was facing Roderick. She stepped next to him and took up a fighting stance.

“Tch, you’ve won this round chimera scum but I’ll be back. The Brown Fists will never rest until you and your kind are put back where you belong.” Roderick turned and retreated from the room. The other members of Brown Fists had recovered enough to get up and follow their leader hastily.

Alexa quickly scanned the room. Most people had fled the room, a few, particularly the chimeras in attendance, had curled up in some corner or along the wall, hoping that they wouldn’t be noticed during the attack.

The man in black turned to Alexa.

“Are you ok miss?”

Alexa hesitated for a second. No one had ever called her a “miss” before.

“Yeah… I’m alright. Just a little sore, but I’ll get over it.”

“That’s good, but I don’t think Matt is as good,” he said turning to the couple.

Matt was on the floor laying on his back, obviously in pain with Crystal bent over him, crying and trying to comfort him and ease his pain. Alexa didn’t see his glasses. They must have been knocked off during the battle.

The man looked back to Alexa.

“Can you go find the convention medic or a con staff member? I’ll stay with Matt and Crystal.”

“I can do that.”

Alexa jogged out of the room. Luckily, the commotion had attracted the attention of the convention staff. Within five seconds of rapid jogging, Alexa saw a few staff members walking quickly toward the room and intercepted them. She asked one of them to contact the medic, which he did via a radio. The others went on ahead. The one with the radio waited with Alexa. He didn’t talk to her and it seemed he tried not to look at her.

Alexa noticed. She determined that he must be someone who didn’t particularly like Chimeras. Soon the medic arrived and Alexa led him and other staff member to the room.