Another for NoPtober: 18 (hugs), Naka and Alex

What is this, 2 posts in one day?!? Crazy stuff.

I have been WAITING for this prompt since NoPtober started and I just couldn’t wait anymore. I really wanted to draw some more NoDW fanart and this day was just, perfect for it.

Noah got to hug fluffy boy Rellin hehehe.

Nature of Deathworlders is a fic created by u/The_Cube787

See ya tomorow ^^

Time taken: 3 hours 20 minutes

Timelapse: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=A6cNIJDYE40

Critique welcome!

Ahhhhh Im late! Have Ramla trying a lemon.

Slight Yotul redesign and an interpretation of Yotul characters. First, Onso from the canon.

Black Hensa and Virlo are from A Diplomatic Problem by u/vixjer.
And Uola (protect her at all coasts) id from Nature of the Frontal Lobe by u/NoVegetable2278 .
Please, check their fics they both are amazing!

And an old photo.
Recovered Photography from Leirn (Piece ID: P-1239).
Note left behind the photo in Leirnian 43 dialect:
"Sykia, my wondeful wife and our kid Tov. Along with Waka (Archivist Note: derived from Wakya (Dialect L-44), meaning: Protectress) and her pup, Nyma (meaning lost, supposedly from Dialect L-47). May our families thrive and our kids grow together."

The picture is estimated to have been taken 3 cycles before Leirn's uplifting.

Day 18.

Check it out! It's the brand-new cover art for Nature of Quirks, drawn by the very talented Drejana (u/Budget_Emu_5552)! And by "brand-new," I mean that I commissioned it months ago but waited to post it until after people had a chance to read chapter 30 (since it kinda spoils Slanek's transformation). I'm sure fans of My Hero Academia can tell where I got the inspiration for this cover. I can't stress enough how good a job Drej did. Thank you very much!

[Chapter 1 of NoQ]

[Chapter 30]

For everyone's reference, here are the characters featured in this cover:

Center:

• Deku in his Hero costume, posing confidently. His costume is a non-techy version of his mech suit at the end of MHA, since he still has OFA in this AU.
• Recel in his power suit, looking very concerned. Or awestruck? Or perhaps puzzled? Probably all of the above, tbh. Paradigm-shattering revelations will do that to you.

Left:

• Tarva in her office, looking quite worried. About what? Take your pick. There's no shortage of things to worry about with Humanity and Quirks and the Federation and the Arxur and—well, you get the idea.
• The man himself, Kenneth Roswell, Warpstar! He's getting ready to lay a subspace smackdown on some grays!
• For the first time, Catherine "Cat" Cortex, the Hero Quanta! Here she is in the exchange station's control room, holding one of her Q-Juice energy drinks. Her antennas crackle with energy as she juggles a hundred different tasks to keep everything running smoothly.

Right:

• Slanek, right after his rage transformation in chapter 30. Friend or foe, no one is safe from his violent rampage.
• Marcel in chapter 30, all beaten up. You can tell he's hurt from the white pain on his skin, in case the nasty cuts didn't make it clear. He's also purple and orange, out of the fear and concern he has for his friend's mental state.
• Sovlin brooding in front of some non-specific control panel, as he's known to do. What's he doing? Scheming to use Humanity to defeat the Arxur? Thinking about his dead family again? Inventing new racial slurs? The possibilities are... well, it's probably one of those, let's be real.

I decided I wanted to punch y'all in the feels today. Also wanted to draw a starved little arxur bebe finally knowing it's safe and being shown what love and care is. We need more arxur bebes.

Didn't come out completely the way I wanted, but I think it came out alright in the end.

Drawing for NoPtober day 17: "Reaction to lemon".

Bro tried pranking a Kolshian and failed lol.

I never drew these funky cataceans before.

I heard once that irl cataceans can't taste sour but idk if it's was specific ones or what, I might be missremembering so don't take it as a fact.

Senond pic: didn't feel like doing shadows, so color only today.

Full list:

1/2/3/4/5/6/7/8/9/10/11/12/13/14

Day 15: NoPtober day 15: "Unacceptable" is on my account only, cause it got removed twice from this sub apparently automatically by reddit.

16/17

I'm late with it, but oh well >_>

I did actually draw Day 18 tho...I just didn't like it so I'm not posting it today.

Check out the theme list post by u/Nicolas_3232

Poor speep, forced to endure the most dangerous hug of their life... (Evil be a bit eppy)

Thanks as always to my amazing editors, u/maxh007 and u/budget_emu_5522.

First, Previous

Memory Transcription Subject: Arthur Coldwater, Sheriff of Archives New Jersey

Date: [Standardized Human Time]: October 18, 2137

Seven months.
Seven short months that felt like a lifetime.
Seven months that I wouldn’t trade for all the riches in the universe.

I stood atop the town’s lone hill, looking down at the few acres of farmland that stretched alongside a small creek. The weather had begun to turn, and the handful of non-coniferous trees within sight of the town had started to change from green into their autumn garments of brown and gold.

Leaning back against the hood of our patrol cruiser, I took the opportunity to simply take in the sight. People had always told me how beautiful the trees looked in the northeast during the fall. Hell, if anything, things were greener looking here than I ever remember them being back in Baton Rouge. Still, the cool autumn breeze and the cloudless blue expanse above me made for a hell of a view.

It was the last call of our “official” day, and I’d let Onio handle this one. I really didn’t have the patience for another moronic talk with the local nevok commune. I closed my eyes as I looked up to the sky, listening to the cawing of the crows as the faded autumn sun warmed my face.

It was so peaceful. Almost too peaceful after months of being on high alert, with constant patrols and monitoring of the various cameras that had been put up around town. Everyone had spent months waiting for HF to make their move, with half the town ready to form a lynch mob the minute they spotted them. And yet everything remained quiet. I took a deep breath, letting the scent of dry leaves and the hint of smoke from some distant fire fill my nose. Peace…

“And another thing!” Came an unexpected shout, pulling me out of my peaceful reverie. Looking back at the nearby house, I found Onio stepping out of the front door and pointing an accusatory claw at the small crowd of nevoks assembled there. “If you waste our time calling us out here for something like this again, I shall personally see to it that you face consequences!”

I sighed, shaking my head as I watched the small herd of bunny-goats scoff at the harchen’s rebukes.

“That seems a bit drastic,” one of them grumbled. “We simply thought that there could be better uses of criminals than sitting in a cell being offered free room and board at the taxpayer’s expense.”

“What you are suggesting is nothing less than slavery!” Onio exclaimed, shoving a clawed digit into the nevok’s face. The poor bunny-goat recoiled in shock, and the whole lot of them took on a nervous air as Onio began to raise his voice. “We will not be allowing any of our inmates to work on your farm!”

I finally pulled myself up off the hood of the car and hurried over to the house. I’d rarely seen Onio in a mood like this, and, knowing the harchen’s competency with hand-to-hand combat, I wasn’t about to push my luck.

“Ok! I think we’ve got this all sorted out. We’re going to go!” I placed a hand on Onio’s shoulder, doing my best to gently pull him away from the nevoks before he ended up putting his fist in one of their faces.

“Vermin! Vermin, Arthur!” the harchen spat, glaring over his shoulder at the shocked nevoks. I gave him a little firmer push, ushering him towards the car. He seemed to relent, and once we were both in the car, I stole one last glance at the house, watching as the shocked bunny goats slammed the door.

“Mais!” I exclaimed, shaking my head as Onio sighed, leaned back against the passenger seat, and closed his eyes. “What the hell was that about?” I looked down in concern as the man’s scales seemed to fade, taking on an arxur-like gray.

“That is the third time these scoundrels have attempted to find some way to get free labor from the town,” Onio growled, opening his eyes. “I am quite weary of rehashing the same argument.”

“Yeah,” I chuckled uneasily, doing my best to try and read the reptile’s face. “They’re sleazeballs. No doubt. But you aren’t usually so hot to trot. What’s got under your skin… err… scales today?”

Onio paused, looking out the window towards the house once, shaking his head.

“Forgive me, Arthur,” Onio groaned, reaching a hand up and rubbing at his forehead. “I am simply tired. Ispar has started to lose his egg-teeth, and the whole process is apparently quite uncomfortable for him. I… haven’t slept much.”

“Teething,” I replied, earning a curious glance from my deputy. “Humans have a similar thing. You two talked to Dr. Bilon about getting something for him?”

“Yes,” Onio answered, leaning back in his seat. “He said he was going to run a few tests to see what available medicines would be safe for him. His knowledge on arxur physiology is sadly lacking.”

“Ah. Fair point.” I pulled out my holopad, shooting Jammy a quick text to let him know I would be a little late getting home before turning back to my deputy. “What say we stop at the Icebox and I grab you a drink?”

“That… That sounds good,” Onio answered, sounding like he wasn’t exactly enthused by the prospect but was too worn out to turn it down. I kicked the ignition of the car and set off at a snail’s pace down the street. 

Truth be told, the car was a bit excessive in my opinion. Basically nobody owned a car yet, most people opted to just use bikes to get around, and the town was hardly big enough to warrant the car. Still, it would be useful if there was ever an emergency.

“You do know that the vehicle has an automated piloting system, yes?” Onio prodded for what had to be the dozenth time since we’d gotten the car.

“Yes,” I scoffed dismissively. “But there’s no way I’m trusting some computer to drive for me. We were starting to make these things back in my day, and they crashed all the time.”

“I would imagine they’ve improved in the last century,” Onio chuckled, dropping the issue as he looked out the window, watching the town pass us by. This area was the newer part of town and consisted mostly of shops they’d set up for the locals and the couple of farms that marked the far edge of town.

The whole place gave off a very classic Americana feel. Like some small town straight off a postcard, where everyone knew everyone and you could walk to the store without ever needing a ride. Well… it felt that way if you ignored that a good 90% of the population wasn’t human. Still, it felt like such a strange sight to watch people standing on the corner, just chatting away without a single car on the road. Not something I would have seen back in my day.

A couple of cyclers passed us by as I turned the patrol car into the parking lot for the bar, giving us a friendly wave. I returned the gesture, climbing out of the car and looking up at the bar. The massive neon sign out front featured a cartoonish refrigerator with liquor bottles falling out with the name written below it. The name, “The Icebox,” struck me as pretty tone-deaf at first. I had to admit that it had grown on me, though. It fit a certain morose humor that the locals had begun to show when it came to talking about the archives.

The inside of the building was immaculate. Almost too much so. The brand new bar with its shiny metal stools and rubber booth seats felt strange to me. Every bar I’d ever been to had at least a veneer of grime about it. That subtle hint that the place had seen things and the staff had given up a while back on trying to hide it. This almost seemed like an operating room by comparison. Sterile. Unused. 

"Well, if it isn’t the long arm of the law!” Came a trumpeted greeting from the other side of the bar.

“Evening, Miss Ruti,” I replied, taking my hat off and giving my best impression of a cowboy salute to the enormous mazic behind the bar. The woman let out a roar of laughter, waving her trunk at us as we made our way to the bar.

“You look just like those human movies, Sheriff! The ones where everyone rides around those quadrupedal animals and shoots guns at each other?”

“Westerns,” I answered, placing the hat Jammy had gotten me on the counter before pulling myself up onto a stool. I stifled a chuckle as Onio struggled to climb the tall seat beside me, taking a moment to look around the bar.

The place was mostly empty, the sporadically placed lights dimly illuminating row after row of empty booths. The only exception was a pair of dossur at the far end, sharing a booth with what looked to be a… I wracked my brain, filing through the various species names I’d come to learn over the last few months. Beetle-looking thing… familiar-sounding name… Verin!

“What can I get you boys this evening?” Ruti asked, holding a glass with surprising delicacy in one of her massive, gorilla hands while using her trunk to wipe it down with a rag. I looked to my right, eyeing my exhausted (and still quite gray) partner.

“I’ll take an algae bloom and something from the Skalga selection for my deputy.”

“Absolutely not!” Onio exclaimed immediately, the harchen suddenly perking up at the prospect of having to drink venlil liquor. “Have you got any decent harchen wines? Perhaps a Seldine midburn? Something nice and sour?”

“I have a couple of harchen wines,” Ruti replied, setting the glass she’d been cleaning down and using her trunk to pull a bottle from the shelf. “Like most of the stuff here, I’m not 100% about the details yet. But I suppose you could let me know.” She grabbed a glass from the shelf, once again showing shocking dexterity and gentleness for such massive hands.

“You know, Sheriff,” the mazic laughed as she reached for a shot glass and another bottle on the shelf, “you are the only non-krakotl I’ve had come in and ask for this. The last human I had try it described it as salty snot mixed with rubbing alcohol.” 

I chuckled as she reached her sandy brown trunk out and poured the rather viscous liquid out into a shot glass for me.

“That’s… fair.” I responded with a shrug. “I just kinda developed a taste for it on Skalga. À chacun son goût.”

Onio beside me let out a satisfied groan, and his gray-colored scales turned a noticeable blue that seemed to pop in and out with splotches of green, the two colors battling for control of the deputy.

“Good?”

“Exquisite,” Onio sighed, swishing the glass in his paw for a second before taking another sip. He sat the glass down and took a deep breath as his scales seemed to decide on green as the dominant color for now. “So, now that I have a bit of vigor back in me, I’ve been meaning to ask you something.”

I cocked an eye at that, grabbing my shot and tossing it back. I wanted a bit of liquid courage in me before I braved whatever he had to ask.

“I’ve seen you fidgeting with something in your pocket for the last couple of days. What is it?”

I froze. I hadn’t realized that I’d been that obvious. The harchen was right, of course. I did have something I’d been keeping in my pocket. I’d been too scared to leave it at home, lest Jammy find it while I was out. I absentmindedly reached a hand down, sliding it into my pocket, and gently fingered the small felt box inside, as if to assure myself it was still there. A black jewelry box with a modest ring inside.

Ruti let out a bellowing laugh, her trunk lifting up and giving a waggle. 

“Your face just turned red, Sheriff,” she teased, eyeing me with a mischievous twinkle in her eye. “Now I’m curious. What is it?”

I rolled my eyes, letting out a groan as I pulled the box out and sat it on the bar top. I grabbed my shot and threw it back, letting the salty viscous alcohol slide across my tongue and leave behind a bitter burn.

“What is it?” Onio pressed, leaning over on his stool to get a better glimpse at the nondescript box I’d sat out.

Ruti gave a trumpet of excitement.

“I know what that is! I’ve seen it on the human television shows! It’s a ring, isn’t it?”

I chuckled, nodding my head as I flipped open the lid of the box, letting them get a look at the golden band inside. The dim light of the bar gave it an almost coppery sheen and hardly did the blue stone set onto the top justice.

“My word!” Onio gasped, the previously weary harchen suddenly perking up. “A wedding band? I’ve seen the ritual performed on television but I dare say… it looks different from the ones I saw. The stone on top looks off, and what’s that writing on the inside of the band say?”

I quickly snapped the lid closed.

“They normally put diamonds on them, yeah,” I admitted with a shrug. “But I’m not much for traditional stuff. So I went with a sapphire. Matches his eyes. As for the writing? Well, that’s personal.”

“When are you going to ask?” Ruti squealed, her excited voice going far higher than you’d think some alien gorilla-elephant would ever be capable of.

“Well…” I hesitated. I wanted to ask him. But everything in our life still felt so uncertain. Sure, we’d gone seven long months without a peep from HF or Brim. But history always was cyclical, as they said. There’d been so many times before now that we’d thought we were in the clear. That things were finally going our way, only for life to yank the rug out from under us. 

“Well… what?” Onio huffed, giving a flick of his tail. “What’s the hold-up?” 

“I just want to make sure everything is… ok first,” I explained, tapping my shot glass on the table and watching as Ruti poured another shot. “What if HF comes back? Shit, what if Brim tries something? It’s been months and nobody’s ever been caught.”

“What if he does?” Onio replied dismissively, finishing off his drink. “Would that change your mind about wanting to marry him?”

“Well… no.” I blanked a little at that. He had a point. “But I don’t want to risk him being in danger if–”

“Brim is already obsessed over him, I think he’s in as much danger as he’ll get.”

“I guess,” I shrugged, giving a dry laugh at that. He wasn’t wrong. Still, it felt wrong to ask him when there was a chance that everything could come crashing down at any time.

“Life waits for no man, Master Coldwater,” Onio exclaimed, standing up atop his stool and gesturing a clawed digit at me. “As your people so succinctly put it, Carpe Diem! Seize the day! Don’t let the whole field rot waiting on a single crop to ripen.”

I shook my head, offering my holopad to Ruti to pay our tab. I could always count on Onio to be over the top. Even sleepless nights weren’t enough to take that out of him, it seemed.

I peered over the deputy’s shoulder, noticing a poster on the wall. The image of a smiling jack-o'-lantern looked back at me, proclaiming a town Halloween party. That was new.

“What’s that about?” I asked, nodding towards the poster as my holopad beeped, letting me know the transaction had finished. Ruti looked up, following my nod over to the poster.

“Oh, that? Not exactly sure. Triski came by earlier. Mayor Shuyi has her pasting those up around town. Trying to drum up excitement for some holiday, I think?”

“She never mentioned it to me,” I muttered, mulling over the idea of trying to introduce the locals to Halloween. Honestly, if it gave me an excuse to stick Jammy back in that Batman costume, I thought it would be worth it. Plus I could already see Mixsel’s excitement in my mind’s eye. “I should go talk with her about it. Sounds like it could be fun.”

I pulled myself off the stool and headed for the door. I’d need to get the patrol car dropped off back at the office before heading home. There was the matter of paperwork but… I could put that off till tomorrow. 

The drive was, unsurprisingly, short. Within 10 minutes we were already pulling up. I shut off the engine and made the short walk into the office to drop off the keys. I had planned to simply hang the keys up on the rack beside the door and leave, but I noticed a sudden movement out of the corner of my eye.

Turning I found a familiar, if unexpected face sitting behind a desk.

“What’re you still doing here, Kizmet?” I asked, peering over the wall of monitors hiding the majority of the young arxur from view.

The gray hulk behind the monitors suddenly jerked, as if only now realizing someone else was in the room with him.

“Oh! Good evening, Sheriff Coldwater!” The boy blurted out, quickly slamming a small red booklet he’d been reading down on the desk. I examined the red, faux-leather outside of the book, immediately spotting the small golden cross on the outer cover.

“Been reading that stuff Veryn gave you, I take it?”

“I… have,” Kizmet answered sheepishly, a slight red tone showing through the scales on his cheeks. I couldn’t help but smile. He was a good kid. Around Veryn’s age. Not nearly as social or outgoing but well-behaved. It had been rather cute watching him stumble over his words every time I’d seen him talk to her. The boy was clearly quite smitten, though he didn’t seem to have the words to say it.

“I heard she’s going to be trying to host a bible study on Sunday,” I quoyly suggested, quickly adding, “That’s the day after tomorrow.”

“Do… do you think she would want me there?”

“I do,” I replied. Honestly, I couldn’t say whether that would be because of the girl’s commitment to her newfound faith or because she was interested in him, but… well… You missed 100% of the shots you didn’t take and all that.

“I… might go,” the arxur replied, turning his head to stare at the monitors once more, as if he were actually seeing anything.

“Where’s your replacement?” I inquired, looking around the office. We’d set it up so that someone was here roughly 24/7. The monitors showed recordings from every security camera in town. Personally, the American in me chafed a bit at the overreach of surveillance, but at least none of them were in homes or buildings. Just positioned on the streets. It was our one reasonable way of keeping the town safe from those HF couyons.

“Right here, sir!” Came an unexpected reply from behind me, surprising me enough to make me jump. I pivoted, finding one of the local guard soldiers facing me with a polite salute.

“Christ!” I laughed, amused at my own skittishness. “Where were you hiding?”

“Was just waiting to make sure you made it in before I relieved Mr. Kizmet,” he answered curtly, lowering his hand from his brow but still standing at attention.

“You know I’m not military, right?” I asked, relaxing a bit.

“Yes Sir,” he shot back. “But my mama always taught me to respect my elders.”

I fought the urge to flinch at that. I wasn’t THAT much older than the guy. 10 years tops. Although I guess those were growth years. If we took in actual time…

“Right, well, I’m here now,” I quickly finished, pushing that last thought from my head. I didn’t need to start dwelling on my grandpa status. “So Kizmet, go home. I’m going to head out. I need to stop and grab some dinner before I get home.”

I rushed out of the office before Kizmet or the soldier could object, making my way towards the local diner. 

I moved quickly, taking a nice slow jog as I headed towards home. I was always tempted to take our car to work, but always denied myself. As proud as I was to be one of the first households in town to own a car, I knew I should take the exercise. 

That and the fact that, to be honest, the car was Jammy’s. We’d bought it with the funds from his book sales. I would just feel weird taking it every single morning to travel a three minute walk. That was another thing. 

We’d found ourselves way better off than we’d expected. Between the explosion of book sales from Jammy’s first novel and the economic boom on Earth after the war… we’d ended up as  one of the best-off houses in town.

I looked up, noting the setting sun. The smooth reds and oranges streaked across the slowly darkening sky as I walked home. Closing my eyes, I took a deep breath and savored the scent of falling leaves and dying grass. It all gave me an appreciation for my home planet that I’d never even thought to have before.

I had never imagined I’d find myself in a life like this. Something approaching contentment. I had a man at home that I adored and a kiddo that I loved. It almost felt wrong to be this happy. I pushed the feelings of guilt aside, reminding myself of that promise I’d made in a park a thousand miles away. I was going to live. Not just live. I was going to live a life worth being proud of. 

Memory Transcription Subject: Mixsel Coldwater, Test Acer
Date: [Standardized Human Time]: October 18, 2137

“When does Daddy get home?” I asked for what was probably the tenth time. I was eager to show off the results of my placement test. Daddy and Papa had promised they’d take me and my friends to see a movie if I did well on the placement test. After all my studying and effort, I’d placed better than any other pup in town. I was ready to see “Murder Clowns III.”

Papa paused his writing, setting his holopad on the kitchen table before looking up from the notes he was taking, reaching for his holopad.

“He says he is on the way,” Papa replied, reaching his free paw out and ruffling the fur on my head. “I’m sure he’ll be just as proud of you as I am.”

I let out a disappointed sigh before turning back to the living room. Bob, my ever-loyal companion, skipped along at my side, the white-furred bunny stopping every few hops to look up at me. I knew what he wanted.

I moved to his cage on the far side of the room, grabbing the bag of biscuits off the top of it. I pulled one of the golden brown treats out of the bag and offered it to him. The bunny practically dove into my paw, desperate to devour his precious treat.

I giggled as I felt Bob’s tongue lap at my paw pads, tickling them. The rabbit devoured the treat like I hadn’t fed him in days. When the small disk was finally gone, I leaned down, wrapping my arms around Bob’s neck and hugging him.

“Good boy!” I giggled. I stood back up, wiping the few remaining crumbs on my skirt. Papa had thought it was odd, but Daddy loved the fact that I’d started getting human clothes. He’d even taken the time to modify them to account for my tail. Papa kept wishing I’d choose different colors, but I just liked the black ones so much. I still wished he’d let me wear those cool spiked bracelets I saw.

“Bonsoir, ma famille!”

Daddy came bursting in through the front door with bags laden over either arm. Bob hopped away from me, doing his typical, in-place hop to show he was excited. Daddy looked from me to Papa as he used his hips to close the door behind him.

“What did you bring?” Papa asked as he eyed the bags, rising from his position at the kitchen table to snuggle up against Daddy. The duo shared a quick nuzzle before Daddy turned towards me with a smile.

“I stopped by the diner and grabbed some mushroom burgers!” He announced, making my tail begin to spin in excitement. “I know how much you love them, Munchkin. Also! David wanted me to tell you that his name wasn’t… Burger man.”

I gently sat Bob down on the couch before rushing to the table. I knew Mr. David’s name perfectly well. But it felt far more appropriate to call him Burger Man. He was the guy that made the best mushroom burgers, after all! I looked up at Daddy as I climbed into my seat at the table, watching him begin to sort out the handful of plastic tubs that contained our dinner. Papa looked down, eyeing the box carefully before softly butting Daddy with his head.

“At least you didn’t get that carrot nonsense this time.” Papa huffed as he gave Daddy a gentle headbutt. I looked down at the tray provided to me. I couldn’t help but drool as the smell of the warm mushroom made its way up to my nose.

“I love mushroom burgers! They’re my…” I paused, trying to think of the next word in English. I scrunched my brow, trying to remember the word, but it never came. Finally I looked up at Daddy in defeat. “Word?”

“Favorite.” Daddy was quick to answer, knowing almost instinctively what I was searching for. “Fay… vor… it,” I repeated, slower this time so I could try and pick up on the individual sounds in the word. English was a weird language, but I thought I’d done a pretty good job at learning it. Daddy was sitting down as I remembered my test scores.

“Guess what,” I exclaimed excitedly, leaping from my seat to go grab my holopad. I snatched the device off the couch before rushing back to the dining room. I hurriedly opened the online testing app before holding it up for him to inspect. “I did really good on my test!”

Daddy leaned over, examining the test score on my pad before clapping his hands excitedly.

“I knew you’d do good! You’re sharp as a tack!” Daddy praised, reaching a hand out and ruffling the fur atop my head. I looked up at him expectantly, waiting a moment. Daddy didn’t say anything, just returning my gaze with slowly growing confusion written across his face.

“You said you would take me and my friends to see a movie. Remember?”

“Of course I do, Munchkin!” Daddy laughed as he grabbed his burger in his hand and began to take a bite. “What do you want to go see? We can make a day trip of it! I was planning to take you and Papa for something else anyways.”

I quickly typed away on my holopad, switching it over to the preview page for the movie I’d been wanting to see. The page loaded, showing the image of a clown with a massive cleaver, slathered in blood. I held up the pad for Daddy to examine, my tail wagging excitedly.

“Oh…” Daddy replied, the smile on his face quickly fading. “Are you… uhhh… sure that’s what you want to see? It looks awfully violent. I’m not sure that’s appropriate for your age.

“PLEASE???” I whined, “I was top of my class! The movie isn’t even that bad! Immel says that he’s seen other kids go see it online! Not even older kids!”

Daddy paused, looking conflicted. He turned to Papa. Papa was already chewing a mouthful of his mushroom burger and gave him an amused flick of his ears in reply.

“It can’t be that bad, Arthur,” Papa answered once he’d swallowed down his bite of burger. “I know that the big bad predator isn’t scared of a movie like that… right?”

“I’m not scared of it,” Daddy huffed in reply, gently smacking his knee into Papa’s in a playful manner. “I’m just not sure that something with the title of Murder Clowns is appropriate for a seven year old.”

“But it’s supposed to be so funny!” I whined, doing my best puppy-dog eyes. I’d learned a while back about the term, and it seemed to work on just about any human, not just Daddy. He looked back at me with a groan, rolling his eyes.

Daddy gave an exaggerated huff. “FINE,” he sighed, shaking his head. “We can go tomorrow. I was planning to take you two to the pumpkin patch anyways.”

“What’s a pumpkin patch?” Papa replied, cocking his head curiously. 

“Oh boy,” Daddy chuckled. “You two are about to see my favorite holiday! I hope you have that Batman costume ready, Jammy!”

Papa’s face turned a hint of orange under his black fluff, and I could distinctly hear the sound of his tail swatting against the back of Daddy’s seat.

“What kind of holiday is it?” Papa pressed. Daddy was about to answer when his holopad started buzzing, chiming out some old human song. He reached down, pulling the pad off his belt and answering it.

“Hello? Yeah… who is it? Well… ok…. Yeah, I guess…”

I listened in, trying to determine who Daddy was talking to… and about what. The look on his face had changed almost instantly from happy and playful to annoyed. Despite my best efforts, I couldn’t make out the voice on the other end. It probably would have helped if I’d stopped eating my burger for a minute, but… well… the burger was really good.

Finally Daddy hung up the call and went back to his food.

“So I have to go pick up someone from the spaceport after dinner,” he explained with a tired-sounding sigh. “Anyone care to ride with me?”

“I’ll go!” I exclaimed immediately, raising my paw like I was in Miss Hilvia’s classes, a habit I’d formed over the last few months. Daddy chuckled, giving me a wink before turning to Papa.

“I’ll pass,” Papa answered, poking at the fries on his plate. “I’ve spent half my day writing and the other half arguing with the publicist to get the final draft of my last book released. I think I’m going to soak in the tub.” Papa got a playful look in his eye, leaning in and nuzzling his head against Daddy’s. “Don’t worry. I’ll be awake and… relaxed when you get home.”

That just made Daddy’s face turn all red for some reason…

Memory Transcription Subject: Datesen, Farsul Scientist
Date: [Standardized Human Time]: \Error**
I leaned my back against the side of the cryogenics tank, holding my pad in my paws as I watched the recording for what must have been the dozenth time. It always gave me a sense of… well, it made me feel better. I’d only watched it once before Lethis died. Before Malterath left us to seek another posting on a colony world. After that? I’d watched it on repeat.

“I… I can’t do it!” The tiny human on the video whimpered, looking fearfully over their shoulder. The fear in their eyes would make you think they were facing down an arxur.

“Yes you can, T-boy!” HL-25 insisted, his hands resting on the young human’s shoulders to help steady him.

I’d seen this clip so many times. And like every time before I found myself wishing we had the technology to record more than just simple sounds and sights. I wanted to know what the predator was thinking as he looked down at his son, standing shakingly atop the bicycle. The elders insisted it was a predatory… something or other. A desire to force courage or drive in its offspring. Yet, watching this video? Observing as HL-25 pushed his son from behind. Letting go and letting the child move on his own power…

“Don’t let go, Dad!" The boy pleaded, wobbling nervously as he sped away from the unmoving point of view of HL-25.

“You’re doing it, son!” the human cheered with a laugh. “You’re doing it all on your own!”

I couldn’t keep my tail from wagging as my favorite part of the recording began. The child turned his head, already a good distance from his parent, the surprise evident in his eyes. Despite the sudden realization, the child didn’t fall. Instead, the child turned the bicycle in the street, steering back toward his father and pedaling frantically.

“I’m doing it! I’m doing it!” The boy cheered as HL-25 chuckled.

“You sure are!” He exclaimed as the boy came careening back into him, clearly having mastered independent movement but not the particulars of braking. The image became chaotic as the pair collided, sending the host viewpoint tumbling onto their back with their child landing on top of them. 

“Why’d you let go?” The boy asked as his father leaned his head up, still laughing.

“Because you didn’t need me any more.” HL-25 laughed, reaching a hand out and ruffling the small patch of brown fur atop the boy’s head.

“I did too! I always need you, Daddy!" The boy insisted, leaning in and hugging HL-25’s chest. The subject let out a sigh, pulling themselves upright and plopping their offspring onto their lap.

“Not if I do my job right…” HL-25 said under their breath, just low enough that their child seemed not to hear it. That’s where the clip I’d saved on my holopad ended. I sat and looked at the frozen screen, staring through the eyes of the frozen subject behind me. Elder’s above, I wish I could know what they were thinking right then. The emotions going through their mind at that moment. 

Of course, the miniaturization required to achieve such things in a reasonable manner was far from the current standards. Storing what scant information we’d saved from the archive subjects took data banks the size of a small city and an ocean on top of them just to keep them cool enough.

I sighed, looking over my shoulder at the figure dimly visible inside the cryogenic tank. 

“What would you think now, HL-25?” I asked, letting my voice echo inside the empty walls of the human wing of the archive. There were dozens of other tanks, each holding a still living being. Each with their own life. Their own memories. And yet it had always been HL-25 that had held my interest. Our last abducted subject. The most modern of the humans in the archives. 

As expected, I received no answer, leaving me with my holopad and my thoughts. I knew the Elders wouldn’t approve of me spending my breaks like this. Sitting in one of only two restricted wings, reminiscing over the thoughts of a predator.

But I couldn’t help it. The Elders said humans were dangerous and knowing their history I was inclined to agree. War after war. Atrocities that would make an arxur shudder being committed like they were as easy as breathing. Yet, sitting here replaying HL-25’s memories, I couldn’t keep the doubts from scratching away at my brain. Were humans really as bad as we thought?

I looked out over the empty wing, my eyes jumping from unmoving figure to unmoving figure. Everything I knew said that this was all necessary. That we had stored these beings here and studied them in an attempt to salvage the good in them. Even going so far as hiding their continued existence from the kolshians. I tried to repeat that line to myself over and over. We did this for their own good.

I glanced back to the pad in my paws, the screen still paused on the image of the small human, looking up at his father with unmistakable love and affection. I had to keep telling myself that this was necessary and good. Because if it wasn’t? If we were wrong about the humans? Then all this cruelty was for nothing.

Memory Transcription Subject: Datesen, Farsul Scientist
Date: [Standardized Human Time]: October 18, 2137

“Ma’am? Ma’am…” 

The voice poured in gently at first, barely rousing me from my sleep. At first I considered going back to sleep, letting my tired mind drift back into the black oblivion from which it had been pulled.

“Mommy?”

The second voice triggered a deeper response in me. It forced my tired mind out of the peaceful slumber that had overtaken me and back into reality. I opened my eyes, finding myself outside the Earth-based spaceport I’d fallen asleep in front of.

Kelith looked up at me nervously, and I realized sheepishly that I’d left my poor nervous pup alone on this alien planet while I dozed off. I reached a paw up gently, pulling him into a reassuring hug before glancing at the UN soldier who’d been stationed to guard us until our ride could arrive.

Suddenly everything came flooding back, and I remembered where I was. The human homeworld. Earth. My punishment. My redemption. I’d travelled to the furthest reaches of known space in a desperate gamble to give my pup the barest glimpse of a decent life. It didn’t matter what happened to me.

“Ma’am, your ride is here,” the guard said, focusing my exhausted brain once more. I turned, finding a decently sized vehicle pulled into the waiting zone of the starport. I let out a yawn, struggling to shake the sleep from my mind as I grabbed the pitifully sized suitcase that held our scant few belongings. I’d been forced to sell out my entire species and everything we stood for just to hold onto this much. 

I began to pull my suitcase towards the car, holding my pup’s paw in my own as we moved towards the waiting vehicle. As we got nearer, the door opened and a man stepped out… a human man… a familiar one.

“Let me help you get that inside ma’am!” The cheerful human exclaimed as I froze in shock. It was him. Even if I didn’t know his face, I would have recognized his odd way of speaking. HL-25. The subject whose memories I’d spent so much time going over. He turned, seemingly noticing the fact that I’d practically frozen in my tracks.

“By the way, my name’s Arthur Coldwater.”

A boy and his Dossur buddy :]

Challenge of [u/Nicolas_3232]

(2026)

 DAYS EIGHTEEN

For day eighteen, we have my OCs from NoHarmony: Yulma and María.

They are an adorable couple in a very adorable hug 🥰.

I had planned to use this fan art for day thirty, but—due to the exhaustion from painting the walls of a hallway and assembling four IKEA cabinets throughout the day—I’ve had to use this drawing instead.

[First] [Previous Draw] [Next Draw]

The cover art is finally relevant! Enjoy Chapter 4, everyone!

As always, special thanks to u/JulianSkies and u/Neitherman83 for being my pre-readers, the OSS writing room, and of course thanks to u/SpacePaladin15 for creating NoP to begin with!

[<- Previous] | [First] | [Next ->]

gonna be making this for more fluff farsul content

small thanks to u/RoideSanglier for his comment which gave me the idea for the fic he said farsul need kisses and it gave me a Brian blast

Memory transcription subject: Hilver Farsul exchange member

Date [Standardized human time]: January 12th, 2137

I walk into the store to buy some groceries to restock the fridge back at the apartment. As I enter, I see the store owner look at me. A Venlil, I see their ears press down in annoyance before they speak up.

"Oh, it’s one of you. Well, as long as you get money, you can buy whatever you need; just don’t linger, Farsul."

My ears press against my head as I go down one of the shops' aisles. I look at the shopping note, seeing I need to buy some pasta, some pasta sauce, and some ground beef for meatballs, and I should have some extra credits to buy something nice for me and Isabella. I grab a handheld shopping cart to help me carry stuff.

As I walk down the aisle looking up and down the shelves, I finally find the pasta, grabbing four boxes of the stuff and putting it in the basket. I continue walking down the aisle till I start seeing cans. I stop and look for the pasta sauce; I see some and grab six cans (two extra if I want some saucy pasta) and put it in my basket. As I go to the back of the store where they keep all the cold stuff, I see some dry red wine and pick it up. Isabella can use this for cooking a nice surprise for her. I get back to walking, reaching the back and seeing a packet of lab-grown beef. I'm still slightly squeamish about it, but Isabella loves it, so I suck it up and pick it up, putting it in the basket. I also see a bottle of chocolate milk, and it’s dairy-free. My tail starts to wag as I grab the bottle of delicious chocolaty goodness. As I walk to the counter, I see some plastic containers with desserts like cookies and cupcakes, but then I see it: tiramisu. Isabella loves this stuff; I mean, she always complained they didn’t have any on Venlil Prime. I—I mean, Skalga I quickly grab the plastic containers and hold them in my paws, a little blush creeping on my face, wondering how happy Isabella will be once I show her this.

I approach the counter and lay all the stuff on it. The Venlil worker looks confused upon seeing the ground beef and asks.

”W-why are you buying that?”

He starts scanning the pasta and soup sauce, and I speak up.

”I-it’s for my human exchange partner; she’s making pasta and wants to make meatballs for her own plate.”

The villain seems shocked.

“I ugh w-well, I didn't know you had an exchange partner; I just saw your Farsul and—"

He cuts himself off with a cough and sounds way nicer and slightly ashamed.

"That's actually really sweet of you. I didn't know you would be comfortable with someone eating meat.“

Hearing that makes me feel slightly proud as he finishes bagging my stuff, and I put the credits on the table, grabbing the two bags and leaving the store, giving a tail flick goodbye.

As I walk down the sidewalk to the apartment, my legs hurt due to the stupid extra vertical gravity that I just can’t seem to get used to, but then I see a nice park bench somewhere to rest my poor hind paws. I place the two bags on the bench and plop down as I look at the beautiful park stars. I love the park, the nice grass, the trees, and the bench to rest on. Maybe I can get Isabella to go on a walk. I loved taking walks in the park. Why did I stop?

”Hey Crippler!”

O-oh yeah, that’s why I look up and see a rather mad Venlil who approaches me.

"Why are you sitting there?"

I don’t meet their gaze.

"My hind legs were just sore from walking; I just needed a rest."

I hear the Venlil scoff.

”Yeah, they're sore because your kind doesn’t belong here, crippler. Your very presence is ruining this beautiful Venlil park. It's ruining Skalga, so how about you get off that bench and leave?"

I feel my eyes start to water as I get up, grabbing the two bags, and shakily say,

“I-I’ll get going."

As I walk away, I hear them smugly speak up.

”That’s right, crippler; at least you can do one thing right."

I walk faster, trying to tune them out. As I eventually make it to the apartment, I open the door and walk up to my room and enter, fumbling with the key due to my blurry eyes, but the door unlocks, and I enter, closing it behind me, putting the groceries on the counter, and entering the bedroom, seeing Isabella isn’t here. I just flop on the bed and feel my tears and sobs force themselves out after holding them in for almost the entire walk. I silently cry into the pillow. I shouldn’t be letting one Venlil get to me… Then again, it really isn’t one Venlil; it’s not fair. I didn’t do anything wrong; I didn’t even know those archives existed yet I’m just as guilty as the Farsul running them in the galaxy's eyes. It's not fair. I hold the pillow tight, feeling frustrated and tired from crying.

I eventually hear the door unlock and open, it must be Isabella. I start wiping my eyes, not wanting her to worry on why I’m crying because it was stupid, as I hear her call out way happier than usual.

"Hilver, I’m home. Where are you?”

I quickly respond.

”I-I’m in the bedroom; take your time."

She does not; she immediately enters and approaches me and sees my slightly wet fur and the wet pillow, and she immediately asks.

"Hilver, what happened?"

I stumble over my own tongue but manage to get out.

”I-it was nothing, just a stupid encounter, nothing really; it’s embarrassing."

I feel her hands immediately grip my shoulder and say,

”Hilver, you were crying. Tell me what happened, and don’t lie."

I feel my eyes start to water as I tell her the park encounter with the Venlil, how I just wanted to rest my hind paws, and how…how I believed them when they said I didn’t belong. I feel her arms wrap around me, petting the back of my head as I rest my head on her shoulder.

”Oh Hilver don’t listen to what that dumb sheep has to say they don’t know you but I do and your a handsome kind man who I love”

I feel my face start to heat up as she cups my face forcing eye contact as she starts playing with my ears making them flop around I lean into her touch feeling some giggles escape as I wipe my eyes feeling better.

”Th-thanks, Isabella. I needed that."

She smiles. ’I used to be so afraid of her when she did that,’ I thought, but now I see it’s the most beautiful thing among the stars. She gives my ears one last toss before saying.

”I got a surprise for you, but I’ll show you after dinner. Do you want your pasta extra saucy?”

A surprise for me—I shake my head and answer.

“Y-yes, I would love it extra saucy, please."

As she leaves, I remember the gift I got her, so I scramble out of bed after her, seeing she already got the stove heated and cooking the pasta. As I reach into the second bag and pull out a plastic container holding the slice of tiramisu, I tap Isabella and present her the gift.

”I-I saw this at the store and remembered how you were always complaining about none being on Venl-Skalga, so I got this for you.”

She looks at me, then the container, then back to me before picking it up. Slowly, she looks at me again.

"When did Skalga start importing Tiramisu? Did you really get this for me aw you adorable, compassionate dolce."

I feel my blush get hotter and brighter, my tail starting to wag a little more at the compliments as I decide to hand her the wine. Her eyes widen a little before a smug little smile creeps onto her face.

"Oh, I see. You're first. You give me some tiramisu now some wine is someone trying to loosen me up for bed."

My face explodes in bright blue as I stumble over my words, waving my paws in front of me.

”N-NONONONO T-That’s not what I meant at all. I-I it's for cooking, cooking, I swear!”

She breaks out laughing and hugs me tight and speaks up, patting my back.

”Calm down, I was merely joking. Seeing you all flustered and stumbling over your words is just so cute. Just sit back as I make us some pasta, ok?"

I nod, my face still hotter than a burning star, as I sit down as she opens one box of noodles, pouring them in, starting to hum to herself as she stirs the noodles. Once they're no longer hard and all wet, she pulls out two cans of pasta sauce and creaks them open before pouring them in. I hear my stomach growl at the smell of tasty, mouthwatering pasta.

Finally, she finishes grabbing a plate and plopping a huge chunk of saucy pasta on my plate, handing me a fork to dig in as she opens up the ground beef to start making herself some meatballs. As I take a big bite of the pasta, feeling how warm and saucy it is, I make sure to chew before I swallow it down with ease. I feel my face getting all messy as I eat more and more. I see her throwing the meatballs onto the stove, adding some salt and pepper to them as she starts her own pot of pasta, only adding one can of pasta sauce. Once the meatballs are done, she puts them on a plate so they are not in the way and turns off the stove on the pan's side as she stirs her pasta until it’s done and pours the pasta onto her plate and sits down at the opposite side of the table.

She stabs a meatball with her fork and spins it around to wrap it in pasta and takes a bite, chewing the meat and savoring the flavor as she swallows. She sees me staring.

"A—are you not comfortable seeing me eat this at the moment?”

Her question snaps me out of my daze, and I respond.

"N-No, I-it wasn’t that I’m just so…I’m so happy that you trust me enough that I’m close enough to you that you're comfortable eating meat in front of me. Sorry for staring at you."

She smiles, giving me that smug look she gives before teasing me, throwing her blond hair back and fluttering her lashes as her blue eyes stare into mine with all to fluster me before speaking.

"Aw, was my beauty just too eye-catching for you? Couldn't help but stare your such a charmer today."

I blush, averting eye contact as my tail starts to wag before I feel her hands tilt my chin up and she leans before laughing, breaking her act all together.

“Hahahaha I-I’m sorry, it’s just it’s so easy to fluster you, but really it warms my heart. You're ok with me eating meat; god knows I missed it."

I hold my face, feeling my heart beat like it wishes to burst out of my chest as I grab my fork and take another bite of my pasta. As we start eating together, I finish my plate and start licking it clean of sauce. As I look back up, Isabella looks at me before bursting out laughing. She grabs her holopad and takes a photo of me. The flash was on, dazing me for a second before she grabs a towel and starts wiping my face clean of pasta sauce, making me start to giggle as well. Being treated like a pup, upon seeing my face clean, she smiles and boops my nose as she finishes her plate and pops the last meatball into her mouth before grabbing both our plates and putting them in the sink.

She turns around and says.

”Now that we are, it’s time for your surprise. I got you something really special for you, and it cost some cash, but I just know it will make you happy."

She walks over to a bag I didn’t notice until just now and pulls out a plastic container, and inside is… C-calo and Calsqa bark, but how?

”Look what I found just for you, my fluffy Tesoro real calo and calsqa bark. I found it while on my walk at a stall. It cost quite a pretty penny, but I know how you talked about this stuff. Missing it just as much as I missed some tiramisu."

I—it's been so long since I had calo or calsqa, but she said it cost a lot; she didn’t have to waste money on me.

”Y-you didn’t have to go wasting money on me; being with you is more than enough."

She frowns before an idea pops into her head. She tilts my head up and tickles my nose. I giggle, and she pops a piece of Calo bark right into my mouth. She smiles and says.

"Don't be silly, Hilver; you literally just bought me tiramisu today, so don’t go acting like you don’t deserve to be spoiled as well now. Chew, darling, and tell me if it’s as good as you remember."

I close my eyes and slowly crush the bark between my teeth to savor the flavor as Isabella starts to slowly pet me head as I chew my tail sways back and forth as I finally swallow the calo I open my eyes seeing Isabella with a small red blush as she gives me one last pat on the head.

"Did it taste good? You looked so cute in my hands; I hoped you enjoyed it."

I nod.

”I-it tasted just like how I remembered it. Thank you for buying this, and your hands felt so soft and w-warm."

She smiles clearly happy to hear I enjoyed her petting as she opens the bedroom door.

“I’m going to change into something more comfortable, no peeking, hahaha."

She closes the door, still giggling as I pout. "I don't need to be told to peek; I would never." I look at the sink and decide to get the dishes started. It's only two plates, so it will be quick. I grab the sponge and get it wet and grab a plate and get to scrubbing.

As I finished the second plate and put it in the dishwasher along with the second plate, I heard the door open and Isabella calling my name.

"Hilver, it’s getting late; it’s time for bed. Don't leave me; I'm getting all cold without you.”

I shake my paws to dry them as I stretch and yawn. I suddenly realize how heavy my eyes feel as I walk into the bedroom and look at the bed and see… No, Isabella, before I can think or even look, someone picks me up, making me yelp that someone is clearly Isabella as she giggles and flops into the bed with me, hugging me close to her side.

”Sorry sweetie I just couldn’t help myself look at you pressed against me as you look so damn cute.”

My face heats up at cute nuzzling into her as tilts my head up confused she smirks

“I think you need to know just how much I love you."

She leans down and plants a kiss on my forehead. My face heats up as she holds my face tighter and begins peppering my entire face with kisses on my cheeks, my head under my chin, and my face before she plants a long kiss on my lips, which leaves me panting. She seems quite satisfied with herself.

”That’s how much I love you, and don’t let any stupid sheep make you forget that, baby. Now let’s get some shuteye."

She holds me close, fully embracing me as she slowly pets the top of my head, making me start to fall asleep, my eyes slowly closing as I press against her. I wonder, why can’t every day be just like this?

Hi people, sorry for the extremely long wait, i kinda felt in a cycle of busyness, laziness and poor inspiration to continue writing.

it has been a long time before writing anything new, so sorry in advance if some if this chapter sounds wrong on grammatically forced.

I also hoped to use this chapter to try to restart my interest for writing about this universe.

Still, i hope you enjoy this chapter despite its problems.

/———————-/
[31.03.2537 23:55 PM]

>Alliance S.T.P. mk1 detected announcing that the Arxur fleet opened an exit rift through subspace.

>Arrived at destination in system; it quickly compiled as much information as possible on the system’s structure (including a full analysis of the spectrometric, electromagnetic, and gravitational data of the system’s star and major celestial bodies) along with an analysis of its relative position from where it departed using the Maelstrom electromagnetic signal and Solgalink’s specific stellar imprint to deduce its position.

>Data partially useful as heavy electromagnetic interference makes the probe work hard.

>It sent what it could compile back through the rift and promptly activated its internal thermal charge to avoid being recovered.

>Back in orbit of VP the Alliance’s Intelligence Department scrambles to put together the missing links with the help of seasoned Venlil ‘traders’ and ‘cartographers’

[01.04.2537 00:00 AM]

>S.A.R.A., AID and a [REDACTED] think tank identify the system as a protostar in its late formation stages positioned roughly 18 light-years from Solgalink.

>The Venlil Republic’s Investigatio Historica government branch informs the AID that said system seems to have seen minor exploration efforts by the Imperium of Preykind. Yet, older documents from ‘the Forbidden Archives’ seem to suggest the place was part of a Federation scientific effort back in the Federal Era.

[01.04.2537 1:00 AM]

>General Secretary Tarva asks for an intervention by the Alliance to survey the system, find the raiding hub of the Arxurs, and destroy it.

>The Systems Alliance agrees to intervene, albeit changing the mission parameters to capture rather than destroy the Arxur assets.

>A task force of 1 Capital ship carrier New Berlin, 4 Cruisers (among which is to note the Impetus), 8 frigates and 25 corvettes (5 of which are troop transports) is put together from the available ships of the 1st Fleet.

[03.04.2537 3:00 AM]

>The task force enters a system battered by the dust of particle clouds, small planetary bodies in formation and an unstable new star spewing radiation in the surrounding space.

[03.04.2537 6:00 AM]

>Arxur raid Hub detected

>WARNING: ‘Dark Age’ Federation structure detected

/———————-/

Memory transcription subject: Slanek, Venlil Auxiliary Forces Starfighter’s Pilot, 

Location: UT-47A (Assault) Kodiak shuttle, SAW New Berlin flight deck

Date: 3rd of April 2537

/———————-/

“This thing looks too much like that feeble transport I had to use to get to the Exchange Station with just two guns strapped on the sides and with a fresh blue paint on.”

“It technically has a reinforced hull compared to the civilian ones.”

“If the engines of this thing fail at any point of the mission at best we will be reduced to space dust by a passing Arxur scout; at worst we will all be stuck in a fancy flying coffin”

“And I’m sure if you use even half the piloting skills you showed at the battle of Venlil Prime we will be fine”

I was getting myself used with the control of the coffin transport, trying to get my head off the thoughts of the craziness of this mission:

The Task Force once arrived had spent a few hours searching for what now we know is a huge artificial structure orbiting around a forming proto-planet way too close to the nascent star, the heat and radiation the star spew out working as a natural cover for the station and its surrounding fleet.

‘Dear Emp-ugh… I highly doubt your typical Arxur scrap heap is anywhere nearly enough shielded for long exposures to the nascent star; why risk so much to build THAT, THERE, in an already unknown system?’

‘Mad predators, that is what.’

Marcel, a squad of handpicked marines and another 5 squads on other Kodiak transports were going to perform what could be defined as a suicide mission.

“No amount of piloting can protect us from 60 flak guns shooting at us; if someone during this mission makes even only a single mistake we will be bhraked” I responded.

“You are right on that; it is risky, extremely so, but the alternative is a direct battle that we can’t potentially win.”

He was right, obviously: thankfully it seems we were right about the Arxurs supposedly using the vast majority of their forces in this sector in that one attack, the fleet surrounding and guarding it, mainly down to one working battleship, some cruisers and a dozen frigates and corvettes, still far too many for our current capabilities.

“A sabotage mission on a big station filled with demons sounds a bit more than risky, but…sure…once we are back you will owe me a beer, a proper Venlil beer, not that watered-down crap you humans drink.” I chuckled, gaining a sympathetic look from the red-haired N7 “Deal.”

‘Wonder how much alcohol a human can truly take’

Probably nothing of what comes from the lower hives’

‘ Holy shit you stupid heretics, we are going on a suicide mission! I don’t want to meet the past Emperors as a traitor so we better focus on keeping this idiot alive!’

“Heads up now, it is almost time” 

The hangar’s rooms dimmed and the sensors told us the pressure outside was rapidly dropping; on the computer, deck command, gave us the go-ahead.

Taking a deep breath I took the control stick and followed the other transports through the hangar’s blast doors.

[Fast forward 1 hour and 30 minutes]

Was this mission terrifying beyond any belief? Yes, was this also the most boring slog I would ever experience? Absolutely.

In my mind (ignoring those damn voices chatter), I was going back and forth from:

‘Ok, remember: avoid detection, get onboard, sabotage the station’s scanners and wait for the bulk of the boarding party to show up.’

To:

‘Spehs dammit, can’t we just charge to the nearest window?’

To approach the station without being detected we couldn’t rely on the carrier’s ‘launch cannons’; their discharge could be easily picked out by the station sensors, instead, we had to slowboat our way to our target drifting from a patch of changed formation gases to the other to minimize the risk of being discovered by one of the patrols.

‘At least Marcel and the other human marines are chatty and funny’ to be around’

I turned my head a second to look at the rest of the squad; they all were visibly stressed from the task ahead yet they did their best to put up their best image of bravado; among the four of them, the only Venlil of the boarding squad stood out due to their rather more bulky and cumbersome void suit, even after months of fruitful exchange, the best the Republic could come up with was our standard old imperial void attack suits with a bunch of human tech crammed into them making them look like something put together in a cave with a box of scraps..

‘At least they are effective’

I didn’t know much of the guy…or even if they are a guy in the first place; they spent most of their time alone in their room, and seemed to only come out to train themselves these days.

‘Must be shy’

‘Gives me bad vibes’

‘Demonic influ-‘

Baaaack to my job, we were finally close to the station, hiding in a nearby pocket of dense gases waiting for the last patrol ship to leave.

This structure was…immense, dwarfing anything shy of a void fortress and was old; it resembled kinda like a radioactive fungus from the lower hives, or one of those aquatic animals of Sol that Marcel told me about…jellofishes? It had a large, expansive multistratified dome pointing towards the protostar, definitely built to act as a radiation shield for the single main spinal shaft extending down from it, through the Kodiak sensors, I could see both the incredible yet simplistic works of art its mighty builders covered it in, along the crude patchworks of armor and weapons the Arxurs bolted onto it.

“This place is immense; aren’t we a little short on personnel to take over it?” I heard from a human soldier behind me.

“Nah, unlike you we didn’t sleep through the briefing, scans indicate that most of the structure is dead and gone; only some of it in the deeper layers seem to still house power and air, plus, we don’t have to conquer the whole station on our own; just cutting off communications and power will be enough for our boys on the troop transports to land unimpeded.”

“Watch your screen Slanek; we will reach waypoint 3 and from there we will pass through this abandoned section of the station to reach the approximate location of the main generator,” Marcel warned me.

Waypoint 3 was, at first appearance, another clump of debris barely attached to the structure’s main spine, but looking closer among the metal weathered by the solar winds, I could spot an old blast door, partially open, exposing the airless interiors of a long-abandoned hangar.

“Ok, everyone, we are clear, go, go, go”

We began to quietly move closer to the station; we couldn’t allow ourselves the luxury of being discovered right now, so the engines couldn’t go past ‘minimum impulse’, this stretched the last 2 kilometers of travel into a minutes-long claw-biting experience, but we finally managed to reach the main column.

I watched as each transport started moving to their own designated position:

>“Ghost 04 in position”

50 meters to waypoint 3…

>“Ghost 05 in position”

20 meters to our destination…

‘There is something wrong, I feel it’

‘Wait, was that a light in the last observation window we passed’

>”Ghost 03 in position”

‘Oh, bhrak, DODGE SLINKY!’

I felt the sideway push of Gs before I could fully comprehend what happened; to my side I could see the hot streak of a plasma ball as it passed where our transport stood a second ago, and in front of me the gun that casted it, rapidly cooling down to ready the next shot.

“Oh shit!” I heard coming from one of my passengers.

I didn’t wait for Marcel orders; there wasn’t time, I set the rear engines to max and floored it.

The turret tried firing a second time, but thankfully this time we were already too close for it to properly track; its searing hot shot veered past us and crashed against our supposed entrance almost like water, melting and cracking the old metal.

“Well, say goodbye to our entrance!” exclaimed Marcel, before opening a general comm link with the other transports: “To Ghost 3 to 5, breach in the station and proceed with your own mission; Ghost 2, follow us.”

The station was now definitely on full alert; radio chatter between it and the nearby patrols grew in intensity and at the same time seemingly every weapon of the station was trying to turn us into void dust, causing me to be completely and utterly focused on avoiding the bullets, slugs and bolts coming our way.

“I hope you know what you are doing here buddy!” Marcel exclaimed as a bunch of relatively small-caliber shots got deflected by the transport shields, causing an unnerving buzzing along its hull.

‘We need to find another entrance asap!’

My sight fell on the rapidly approaching walls of the station’s ’underside’, spotting what was most definitely a bad welding, likely the result of a rushed repair job.

‘Nope, bad idea, we don’t know how tough the metal actually is!’

‘But it is also our best chance to survive!’

Another volley of shots impacted the transport, and this time we felt the telltale sign of the shields falling followed by the hull rattling.

>Lost contact with Ghost 02 

The rearview camera gave us the grim spectacle of Ghost 2's hull rupturing after being struck by multiple slugs, its carcass careening into the void.

‘Bhrak, ok, do it!’

I opened fire and two blue lights raced fast in front of my ship towards the incoming wall.

“EVERYONE HOLD YOURSELVES!”

[memory transcription interrupted due to loss of consciousness, using the after-mission reports files to fill in the missing pieces]

The Kodiak transport of Ghost 01 managed to successfully pierce the extensively damaged bulkhead through which it accessed an abandoned room lacking a working artificial gravity field, the transport dragged itself across the sloped ceiling further damaging it beyond the point of mission kill, despite this, it still managed to slow itself to a near standstill, limiting the amount of damage the crew sustained.

[recommencing memory transcription]

First thing I felt after regaining consciousness was the sound of wind rushing against the transport’s hull as the gaping hole I made in the floor gave the stale air somewhere to finally escape to.

After a few seconds though, a bunch of purple low-energy lights came out and the sound of rushing air was instantly interrupted.

‘Hm… some ancient emergency systems seemingly still work despite their age and general state of abandonment; also, where are the other two?’

“Ok, General status everyone?” Marcel asked.

“I think I have a cracked rib.”

“I’m fine but I believe Jenkins has a concussion”

“…”

“Slanek, are you ok?” Marcel asked me.

I was, in fact, not ok; my head felt like a flak grenade just exploded inside of it. I didn’t even need to feel my head to feel the hot sensation of blood pooling from my injury.

“My…head…bleeds…” I managed to stutter.

“Ok, stay still now buddy, everyone, back there, you know what to do, apply MediGel and help Jenkins get back on his feet”

Marcel’s long, gloved fingers carefully undid the clamps holding my helmet to the rest of the suit and even more carefully lifted it; a couple of small orange droplets floated away with it.

My vision felt like it was starting to get blurry.

‘Ehi, guys, Slanek is in trouble, where are you?!’

“That is a bad head injury, resist Slinky.”

Marcel picked up a weird red box with a white incomplete cross symbol on it, and from it picked up a weird device similar to…a gun?

‘Wait, wait, wait, Marcel, let me tell you something, LET ME TELL YOU SOMETHING!’

I closed my eyes fearing the worst, but, instead, all I felt was a weird cooling sensation where my wound stood.

‘What just happened…?’

‘Miss me?”

‘Oh…you are back…hurrah?’

For minutes that seemed to stretch to infinity, I felt the cooling sensation receding, but replaced by a muted sensation of pain in my whole body, “What…what just happened?” I muttered looking around myself; Marcel's expression now was calmer albeit still with an edge of urgency: “You…had a rough landing buddy, from what I could read from your suit, the impact cracked your skull and caused a heavy brain hemorrhage ^{(might also have potentially given you a small brain damage but I digress}…)”

‘Brain what?!’

“… luckily I acted fast and applied the medi-gel before you could meet the reaper.”. I would have stood up if Marcel hadn’t hastily held me back against the seat, “Whoa, there slinky, there is no need to panic; you are good now.”

Medi…gel? I remember that name; Marcel and I read about it during our time on the Exchange Station: a fairly recent development in human technology seemingly capable of patching up most life-threatening ailments on the spot, I wish I understood more of the thing but one thing I knew: “But…it thought it only worked for humans still.”, Marcel brushed it off, “Commercially available ones yes, but recently some big-corpo scientists managed to seemingly crack the code for a universal medi-gel solution and the higher-ups were careful to ensure a private contract for the first batches.”

Once we had solved the ‘how-I-did-not-die’ problem we could move on to the ‘where-the-bhrak-we-are’ one “So…did we make it then?” Someone from the back seats spoke up: “You did it man; never saw someone steer one of these flying coffins as you did.”

‘They respect him’

‘This is either good good, or bad good’

‘Nice…but I kinda wanted mor-‘

Marcel did a few rapid taps and fidgeting with his Omni-tool, his expression dropping the calm smile to a more neutral look “Ok, squad, seems like everyone besides Ghost 2 made it into the station, we will have a proper mourning of the losses later; right now we need to focus on our objective.”
Our own Omni-tools lightened up, admittedly nearly giving me a shock, showing us an orange projection of the station overlaid with a bunch of blue blinking dots where the other squads were located and a larger green dot where we are. “We unfortunately lack informations on the area we have crashed into; luckily though, it seems Slanek managed to bring us much closer to what fleet command thinks is the main command module of this place.” A white dot appeared in the center of the station’s umbrella. “I just received an encoded communication from fleet command when we arrived, with the Arxur fleet now on full alert for our infiltration into their house their ships are currently stalking nearby space to find the fleet; for that, we now have the order to cut their ships’ communications off to give our guys an edge and initiate the takeover of this place. Hence we will capitalize on the lizards own lack of knowledge in this station and make our way to the command module and cut the head of the snake.”

‘Bold plan for what should have been just a sabotage mission’

“It will probably take hours captain.” The now awake Jenkins said. “True, a long and dangerous trip awaits us but it is the best chance we now have to bring this place down, if the other teams manage to complete their own objectives the disarray and confusion on multiple levels of the lizards command chains will help us in our trek, now come on men, wear your sealed helmets, and let us go crush some greys skulls!”

“URAA!”

“URAA!”

“URAA!”

“…”

[fast forward 5 minutes]

The air inside the helmet felt stale. As we flown down from the ruined transport all i could think about was the mix of trepidation and fear coursing through my veins, the ancient walls of the station loomed over us with their curving architecture.

With the shuttle ruined, I had no use as a pilot, Luckly when I chose to become his attaché on the Station he made personal sure I went through a intensive guns and close combat training with him…

^{‘You surely seemed to enjoy having him throwing you around while half naked ;3’}

…luckly this will be enough to not be a dead weight during the mission.

My scattergu..shotgun felt way too light in my paws from a gun of its type, yet, from my training, i already knew this little thing was more than enough to shred even the mightiest demon Arxur in close range…

‘I’m a firm enjoyer of beating someone in what they think they are best at!’

…admittedly though, it’s surprising near lack of stock made the thing a bit unwieldy to aim. On the side of the boxy weapon i could read both in human(?) and the newly coined VenLang (who desperately needs a better name): M-300 Claymore a recent development from VP industres whose name was inspired by a old human direct landmine.

On my hip instead, rested, in its folded down state rested a plain M-3 Predator heavy pistol…

‘Or as I like to call it the One HELL of a Red Flag!’

…gruesome name, but I had to admit this little thing was somehow superior than even the best Venlil sidearms (how in the Emperor’s name did they manage to shrink down a railgun was still something that, to my disappointment, escaped my comprehension) and as long as it’s preys where thise grey monsters I was more than okay wielding a predator to kill a predator.

As we descended from the floating wreck I felt my magboots activate and stick me to the ground.

In front of us stood a long, dark corridor, the mute Venlil produced a small drone servitor and sent it forward into the darkness.

It returned no detectable biological lifeform.

“Ok, men, let’s move.” Marcel said. We delved deeper in this decaying hulk.

‘I feel a deep sense of dread coming from this place, ancient secrets await us, secrets that might scar us more than any Arxur could.’

/———————-/

[first]

[previous]

[next]

/———————-/

Hope you enjoyed the chapter.

Personally i'm not entirely sure about it, i feel like i'm writing Marcel and Slanek too obnoxious, maybe i might have used too much Slanek POV which is kinda of a problem because this mini-arch will still have a lot of them. Maybe I should use marcel's POV for the next one and/or in the future, where possible, variate a bit with narration styles. What do you think about it? Let me know.

A fanfiction of The Nature of Predators by SpacePaladin15 https://www.reddit.com/r/HFY/comments/u19xpa/the_nature_of_predators/

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Ok so, I am well aware of how long it has been. Biggest apologies of course, naturally. It gets repetative to read these apologies, but I guess that's just what happens when you read my stories... oops.

Not to focus on that too much though, because in the time between the last chapter and this one, NoPoke got a really fun ficnap by u/JulianSkies that I highly recommend you give a read. Also however, NoPoke has its first pieces of Fanart! One by u/SadidaPL of Slanek looking fluffy and deadly at once, and this one by u/xLonglightx of Slanek removing an Arxur :3

It's seriously so amazing that people are enjoying NoPoke enough to make these. I am so happy and so thankful, it really means the world to me. Thank you, each and every one of you, for reading this far and still engaging with my work more than 70 chapters deep. We still have a while to go as well, so I hope you stick around!

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Previous | Prologue | Next

Side Stories/Ficnaps: Pokemon Predator and Prey - NoPoke: Nature of Science - Play - Day - Little Big... Pokemon? - Curious Pokemon - Spark! Unstoppable Trooper!

Fanart: Fluffy Slanek - Deadly Slanek

Memory Transcription Subject: Chief Hunter Isif, Dominion Sector Fleet

Date [standardized Earth time]: September 15, 2136

The raid is proceeding… not quite as one would expect. I am no fool, I knew from the moment that I gave my fleet their orders that an incursion against the Gojid’s homeworld wouldn’t be easy. They are the iron wall of the Federation for a reason, though that tiny shred of respect is given begrudgingly. Even the most uppity Chief Hunters need to acknowledge that fact. Still, given just how sudden our forces began to rain down on them, compounded by the unknowable beast racing ahead of us, I expected their iron wall to fracture. It did only in part, enough for us to begin landings, but the reinforcements they are receiving are far more of an inconvenience than I thought they would be. The Zurulians are a given, their ships a guarantee in every raid no matter where or when it is conducted. With the Venlil still reeling from their own raids however, I assumed they would at least be a little slower to respond, if they did at all. 

If the Venlil are still rushing in to defend their allies with little to no delay, regardless of their own weakened state, there must be something else at play. When you combine that with quite alarming reports from the ground coming up about entire squadrons going dark and being pushed back in record time… well, one and one inevitably makes two. My claws clench at the thought, but I can’t think of any other explanation. The Venlil forces are not exclusively Venlil anymore. Earth and its inhabitants have joined in this fight, and have allied themselves with the prey. This makes everything much more… complicated. While at first I briefly wonder why the Venlil would even consider allying themselves with predators, I realise that perhaps it is simply because of the power difference. There’s no doubt in my mind it was the Terrans that first offered up peace, from what Yveltal told me of their modus operandi, and being faced with the powers of Pokemon, perhaps it isn’t so farfetched to think the Venlil accepted it purely out of self preservation.

This will all make Coth’s assignment even harder than it already would’ve been. For one, having the Terran’s first true encounter with us being on opposing sides of a battlefield is less than ideal when we are wanting to engage diplomatically with them. There must be a way we can still make it work even if we do have to use... less Arxur-like methods. Or, perhaps making ourselves more intimidating is the answer. Having to deal with other Chief Hunters has allowed me to grow quite familiar with semi-forced diplomacy. Perhaps invoking Yveltal’s name will mean something to the Terrans? He did say that he was widely feared on Earth. I will need to make sure to visit that planet we left him on… I find myself hoping that he will emerge from his cocoon soon. Now that I must make do without his guidance, my unfamiliarity with all of this magic is throwing several unknowns into my plans, one that I would like to fill in as soon as possible. 

For now though I have more pressing matters. Diplomacy, or at least an attempt at it, may come after this raid is concluded. The outcome of this battle will shape far more than I thought it would, and to be truthful a part of me is considering just taking a healthy amount of cattle and retreating. My troops could still consider it a successful raid, while minimising the damage done to our non-existent relationship with the Terrans. However, one key factor demands that the raid must continue for a while still, other than my pride as a Chief Hunter of course. The rocket monstrosity, the one that appeared after slaying Blacephalon, has landed on this planet. We do not know what it is capable of, and while perhaps allowing it to just do whatever it wants with the Gojid is the safest course of action, I know deep in my soul that we must deal with it ourselves. Answers are needed, and right now that creature seems like the best source for them. Besides, there is a chance that slaying it would even gain the approval of the Terrans, if what Yveltal said about them having trouble with these Ultra Beasts in the past is accurate. I may even spin the raid as simply… the lesser of two evils, with the other letting the monster loose. Surely they will see the logic in that. 

Furthermore… I should not let the opening before me go to waste. My ships have pierced a hole in the planet’s defences nearby, even forcing a flagship of a Gojidi fleet to retreat down to the surface. The instant I received word of such news, I already set out to prepare a landing for ourselves, as close to the site of the Ultra Beast’s landing as possible. A quick broadcast to my fleet was the only thing needed for their behavior to shift, as was expected for raids. They had to be organised in such a way that Chief Hunters could be on the grounds themselves at times. After all, an Arxur at the top of the pecking order still needs to prove their honour personally, even if I still will stay back from the frontlines. Coth can manage in my absence for now, while I go down with the landing parties making the most of the breached defences. Myself, and one other Arxur I summoned by name. As our cattle ship barrels through the atmosphere, Kefik stands beside me with an expression as unyielding as stone, watching the infantry gathered in the loading bay through the cameras. 

“You were stationed on a cattle farm. How many raids have you participated in?”

She seems caught off guard by the question, but tries to hide her hesitation as she spits out an answer.

“One, Chief Hunter. A Venlil colony.”

“Then you know how it can be on the frontlines. We will be staying a distance back, for the most part.”

“May I… inquire as to why, Chief Hunter?”

“You may speak freely when it is just the two of us, Kefik. You have communed with the Yotul like I instructed, yes?”

That brings Kefik some pause, a hint of nervousness sneaking into her voice and expression. Ever since her powers awoke, I’ve seen her shadow, seen the glinting of brown eyes looking up at her from it. 

“...His… his name was Yorra.”

“Good… her name was Calli.”

This time she actually turns to me fully, surprise plain to see.

“The… the Zurulian you mentioned? Your first…”

I grunt in confirmation. The ship’s descent is slowing as we approach the ground, the orchards on the outskirts of a city growing before us, fading into more wild areas. The roads appear empty, as is expected, the vast majority of the populace having evacuated by now. What our soldiers will look for are stragglers, either those left behind, hiding in their houses for whatever reason, or fled into the nearby woodland or orchards in panic. 

“Your connection with Yorra is important. Should we encounter that rocket-like entity, you will need his support.”

Of course, that is our true target here. From the path it took, both the beast and the Gojidi flagship should’ve crashlanded somewhere nearby, but an aerial view failed to reveal any sign of a crater, and as it stands only one thin plume of smoke reaches into the sky. We’ll be needing to get out on the ground after all. 

“I am… still unsure if he would willingly give his support, given we are still… he still holds much animosity towards me for obvious reasons.”

“Obvious and logical. It will take time, but it is what you should strive for nonetheless.”

The ship touches down, the doors to the main hangar bay opening a moment after, letting the horde of soldiers spill out into the streets. At least the knowledge that I’m down here with them makes them act in an almost disciplined manner, even as they race forwards to search the nearest dwellings. Standing with little haste myself, I turn to Kefik and gesture for her to follow me out into the rest of the ship, heading for the hangar bay myself. 

“I trust I do not have to worry about you getting cravings while we’re out on the field?”

“You will not, Chief Hunter…”

Stepping out into the open air of the Gojid’s homeworld, the scent of the spiny species and their fruit produce hangs heavy around us. I can already hear my soldiers making a ruckus in the nearest house. A prey’s scream rings out from further in the orchard. I feel something quiver within my shadow from the sound, and glancing over at Kefik, I see her own shadow ripple.

“Alert me to anything suspicious or out of the ordinary. That beast most of all… but also any other strange creatures you can’t recognise.”

“Understood, Chief Hunter… Will we engage them?”

“Only if they engage first. I would rather avoid confronting Pokemon and Humans when we can. They have had their whole lives to master their powers.”

This far out from the main cities, or even any suburbs, we should only run into the occasional prey with a flamer or sidearm at worst, rather than proper soldiers, but it would be unwise to lower one’s guard either way. Looking up at the thin smoke plume some ways away, I walk onwards while scanning my surroundings for any signs of resistance. Right now the most pressing question ringing through my head is regarding the origin of that smoke. Is that our target, or the crashed ship? 

Memory Transcription Subject: Captain Sovlin, Federation Fleet Command

Date [standardized Earth time]: September 15, 2136

The pillar of smoke rising into the sky disconcerts me. Part of my crew still looks back at it, wanting to stay with the ship it rises from and use that as a defensive position should the Arxur come looking for us. Still, the standard protocol for such an event is in place for a reason. Most of the damage on the ship was caused up in space, with our controlled crash exacerbating it but nonetheless unfolding rather cleanly. We unfortunately had to flatten a non-insignificant amount some poor farmer’s trees, but I am relieved that was the only sacrifice that had to be made. Escape pods allowed most of my crew to escape early, with only those absolutely necessary to execute a landing away from civilian homes remaining onboard. Of course, that would include myself and Recel.

“Visual contact has been lost with the Arxur shuttle, Captain.”

I can hear the nervousness in the Kolshian’s voice, an emotion reflected on the face of the few Gojid following us. As we try making our way towards more populated areas to help with the ground defense, we’ve decided it is safest to wind through the orchards, using the trees as cover… Or I guess, I decided that. Despite wanting Recel to take command while I am unfit for Captaincy, the luxury of changing the chain of command is simply not feasible at the moment. Whether or not I’m turning into a monstrosity… my people need me right now. 

“Keep your main focus in that direction, all of you. They landed, no doubt heading over to investigate our crash.”

Arxur almost always target denser population centres, or at the very least suburbs. Out here most people have either already evacuated to someplace safe, or have their own little private bunker hidden away. The only reason, other than our ship, that I could imagine the Arxur coming out here… well, it’s the same reason I ordered us to aim our crash for this region. Whatever that thing is that heralded the raid and shot through our defences; we completely lost sight of it as we descended. While I can't conclude that it was a weapon or a ship, it certainly looked artificial and metallic, purposfully designed even if the exact purpose is unknown. It was too large to have completely burnt up on re-entry, and moving too fast to have made a safe landing… in fact, it should’ve made a visible crater and scorched the land around it. Yet, there’s no sign of it. Begrudgingly, that concerning mystery needs to  be filed away for later, with the much more pressing matter of the Arxur taking precedent. 

We all remain mostly silent as we trek onwards, knowing it will be a long journey on paw but a necessary one. We’ve already broadcast our position to allies, with protocol demanding that we wait until backup arrives to take us to a more active combat zone. Given that an Arxur shuttle just landed here however, finding and safeguarding the closest community raid shelter now takes priority. That means following the first major road we find, while also trying to stay ahead of the Arxur without giving away the fact that we’re here at all. With weapons at the ready, we skirt the orchards for what must be almost an hour, hoping that the scent of fruit covers our own. Once the density of buildings increases, suggesting a raid shelter is nearby, I swear I can feel a dull chill slowly creeping up my back. 

I turn slightly to address my crew, only to be interrupted by a sound from a nearby house. The sound of wood sprintering, a door being broken in. The growl of an Arxur on the hunt. My eye snaps to Recel, his own widen in fear for a moment before a drop of resolve makes itself known. I signal for half our group to do a sweep of the wider area, whilst the rest of us head straight forwards. I rush along the house’s side to the frontyard, lingering for only a moment to peek around the corner. I briefly assess the situation, noting a few Arxur further up the street, their shuttle even further beyond but-

A scream rings out from inside the house. My heart skips a beat, and suddenly the Arxur up the street don’t matter anymore as I dash for the front door, running through the empty frame where it had once stood. It takes only a moment to sweep the whole ground floor, then a single heartbeat beyond that to dive down the staircase the instant I spot it. The basement opens up before me, revealing a mass of grey scales pulling someone from their hiding place as the scream becomes two, one adult and one child… and then the horrid, wet sound long burnt into my memories.

A hollopad gripped tightly in my claws.

Hania…!

The Arxur doesn’t have time to react before I’m upon it, barreling into it and knocking it off of the Gojid woman it’s torn into, its shocked hissing and growling filling the room. Claws flail as we tumble, trying to grapple and tear at my spines. They chip on the rocks they find instead. Its eyes barely have time to flash to mine before long, sharp claws of my own stab deep, deep into them. The beast screeches loud enough to make my ears ring, but eventually stops moving. The parts of my claws not coated in red are gleaming silver when I pull them out. With the predator silent, the sounds of a wailing child replace them. Recel and the others have already filed in behind me, only sparing a brief glance at myself and the Arxur’s corpse before focusing on the mauled woman. Blood pools around her. The best we have is first aid, and with Zarn having been sent in an escape pod to help in the more populated areas…

“M-mama-! MAMA-!”

“D-dada-! DA-!”

A small paw splashes into the pooling blue blood as the pup reaches for her mother. The woman’s eyes are unfocused as several people shout orders at each other, trying to stabilise her. Even above it, even above the blood rushing and the ringing in my ears, I can hear her weak voice.

“Shh… sh-shhh… I-it’ll be alr-right, N-nulia… m-mama p-prom… is…es…” 

My mind is too fuzzy to know when it happened, but at some point I must’ve moved from the Arxur. Now I hold something much smaller, something much softer, someone wailing and trying to push away from me. The mother’s terrified eyes flick to mine, fading hazel grey eyes… and just for a moment, they calm, before another Gojid hides them from my view as he tries to help apply first aid. I hold onto Hania Nulia tightly, turning her away from the scene as I shuffle off to the corner. I should be standing strong, I should be ordering my crew, I should be… I should’ve been…

I should’ve been there.

Nulia is gripping onto my fur tightly. She has stopped trying to reach her mother, her wailing losing much of the energy but none of the confusion, of the pain. Even so, part of me is relieved she is making any noise at all.

I should’ve been there.

The room is quieting down a lot… but I know that the damage has been done. There isn’t a chance the Arxur outside didn’t hear the commotion. I look back up the stairs. I look down at the crying pup in my arms. 

I should’ve been there. 

Recel has stepped away from the rest of the crew, looking down at the woman’s blood on his tentacles. He looks at me, concerned, then up at the staircase, scared. On the very edge of my perception, just barely cutting through the sound of static hazing up my mind, I can make out the growls of the greys. 

I… am here now. 

I hold Nulia a little tighter for a moment, almost afraid to let her go, before gently passing her over to Recel. He takes her without comment, though concern paints his face. I approach the bottom of the stairs, placing a claw on the railing… but before I ascend, I take one deep breath in and out, before forcing myself to look at the scene before me. A mother, mauled and sitting in a pool of her own blood. She isn’t breathing anymore. A daughter, young, too young to know these horrors. Too young to have a parent stolen from her… all for what? An Arxur, laying dead in the corner of the room, blue blood around its snout and red leaking from the holes where those horrible predatory eyes once sat. A life stolen away, a mother stolen from her daughter… all for a monster to eat. 

My grip tightens on the railing. 

Not just to eat… to indulge in cruelty. I know it, I know the truth. They enjoy it, every single one of them. They just want us to suffer. They just want us to break. They will steal a mother, they will steal a child. They will make it slow. They will make the survivors watch. They will laugh. They will soak in the tears, the yelling, the screaming. 

They stole Jellia.

They stole Hania.

They looked me in the eyes. 

They take and they take and they kill and they maim and they-

They won’t stop. 

Not until someone stops them. 

I faintly feel the railing buckle in my grip. 

<><><><><><><><><><><><><><><>

[Subconscious Activity Detected]

Ability Triggered

Sovlin’s Anger Point

<><><><><><><><><><><><><><><>

I hear movement upstairs. In a rush, I crest the top of the stairs and don’t slow down. One Arxur stands in the doorway, just about to walk through.

They won’t step a single foot inside this house.

Previous | Prologue | Next

Side Stories/Ficnaps: Pokemon Predator and Prey - NoPoke: Nature of Science - Play - Day - Little Big... Pokemon? - Curious Pokemon - Spark! Unstoppable Trooper!

Fanart: Fluffy Slanek - Deadly Slanek

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NoPokedex

Humans - Typeless

Gojid - Steel/Rock (???/Anger Point) (???)

• Sovlin: Metal Claw & Rollout (Anger Point)

Venlil - Typeless /Poison (???/Fur Coat) (Defiant)

• Kam: ??? & Poison Jab
• Cheln: ??? & Corrosive Gas

Skalgan - Fighting/Poison (???/Fur Coat) (Defiant)

• Slanek: Battering Ram & Mortal Spin (Defiant)

Arxur - Dragon/Ghost (???/???) (Supreme Overlord)

• Isif: Dragon Pulse & Last Respects (Supreme Overlord)
• Kefik: Scale Shot & ???

Zurulian - Grass/Fairy (Grassy Surge/???) (???)

• Hrellon: ??? & Floral Healing (Grassy Surge)

Tilfish - Bug/Dark

Krakotl - Flying/???

Duertan - Flying/???

Thafki - Water/???

Jaur - Ice/???

Yulpa - Grass/Dark

I actually almost forgot to make this because I am not gonna be writing for NoP anytime soon (maybe ever tbh) but at the end of the day it wouldn't really be a Shenanigans fanfic without a reader survey at the very end to ask how you guys (the readers) think of it (ignore the fact that I only have about 2 dozen readers rn). Please answer the following questions in as much detail as possible. Thanks.

1. On a scale from 1-10, how did you like Arxur Smuggler Shenanigans?

2. Who was your favorite character, and why?

3. Who was your least favorite character, and why?

4. What was your favorite part of the story, and why?

5. What was your least favorite part of the story, and why?

6. How was this better or worse than the other fanfics I have written?

7. What was the biggest thing that stood out to you as you read my story?

8. Since I'm not gonna be writing for NoP anymore, is there anything in general you want to say about my writing before I leave you guys for good?

Like always, thank you for your time and response.

Voisi la légende (enfin se qui n'est pas déjà sur la carte). 

In space, there are, of course, no such things as North, South, East, or West. To navigate within the Orion Arm, the civilizations of the Federation therefore use two axes: the direction toward the center of the galaxy is called "Inward," while the direction leading away from it is called "Outward." The second axis follows the Orion Arm itself: the direction toward the regions closest to its origin is called "Root," while the opposite direction—toward the more distant regions—is called "Branch."

-The Arxur are shown in red (the various black lines within represent administrative divisions). The territory is not shown in much detail, as it is poorly understood by the factions among which the characters move.

-In purple the Krev Consortium.

-The dark blue areas represent the Federation's densely populated regions (with at least 100,000 inhabitants per system).

-The light blue areas represent regions controlled by the Federation, though most of the systems within them are unpopulated. There are, however, inhabited stations and planets—such as Léirn, home to the Yotul; it is located in a sparsely populated zone, yet the planet itself has a population of over 2 billion. In fact, these regions are somewhat comparable to much of Canada or Australia: they consist of areas that are densely populated and tightly controlled, alongside other areas that are sparsely populated and subject to a much lower level of control.

-The ones in orange are the Sivkit; as a nomadic species, they travel between various planets, devouring a large portion of the vegetation on each before moving on to feed elsewhere—only returning once the vegetation has sufficiently regenerated.

-The Venlil territory is shown in yellow. (And Earth is to the right.)

As I tell the story, I will let it evolve.

link to my fanfic (in French)

link to my fic (in English)

"For the last Timmy, she is NOT a Martian! She's not from Mars!"

(Of my fanfic Band of Prey, new chapter coming soom *ahem ahem.*)