The Guardians (semi-backstoryish fic)

[Divinegon2130]

(OOC: Before I start this fic, some quick information. This fic is set in the northern continent of Dienzora, a planet that some of you may be familiar with, during the Gaeran year of 1267. Thusly it's completely separated from Gaera, though an event or two that's been brought up in Gaera may find its way here. Important information about Dienzora will be put in preliminary OOC for the episode that it becomes necessary to understanding the story.

For this first episode, important stuff is as follows: Dienzora has a thirty-eight hour day, and its technology level [at least for the North Dominion, as the northern continent is called] is best described as futuristic. As for magic, this is before the time that many of the rules on magic use were put into place by the North Dominion's government.

SO, with that out of the way, comments and criticism are appreciated.)

---

Exhaustion. The inability to concentrate for long stretches. Reduced hunger and increased weight loss.

Normally, with these kinds of symptoms, Adam Gormand would take an extended vacation. He had felt these symptoms before. The last time he felt this way, he had seen a doctor and learned he was overworking himself. But he had no chance of a vacation this time. His team at the Dalvarin Research Base had been working on what was intended to be a military breakthrough: a drug that could turn a normal human into a superhuman creature. If Adam backed down from this now, he'd risk removal from the project and lose his chance at being part of history in the making. Yet Adam knew that what he was doing was not healthy.

In an effort to reduce the stress he was taking upon himself, he spent a couple of hours a day meditating in the garden that was behind his house. Oddly enough, a window in the back of the house was where Adam had placed the cage that contained Breaker, a black mouse that Adam had taken in as a pet partially because it seemed to relieve his stress in a way he couldn't understand.

After meditation, Adam usually wound up going right to sleep. On some nights he would suffer from insomnia, tossing and turning for several hours and awaking exhausted. The problem only got worse, and Adam considered a vacation more and more. However, the drug research project, nicknamed Project Veraconin, kept getting more and more intense. The original form of the drug, used directly, had no effect, and the research team had made the decision to add to the drug rather than modify it.

Many of their methods were bizarre - adding human blood and brain cells, for instance, was one of the first chemical setups they tried. Out of ten sets of chemicals tested, this one seemed to be the closest to being the superchemical that was hoped for, and within days of testing the tenth method - which was adding steroidlike chemicals, and which turned out to be the second closest chemical set to success - the research team made up their minds. They were going to combine the drug, human blood and brain cells, and a rare form of magic that two of the researchers had.

It was a risky gamble, but Adam could not wait for this moment. The research team might just have been able to successfully create the superchemical, and history would be made.

Edited by: [url=http://p068.ezboard.com/brpgww60462.showUserPublicProfile?gid=divinegon2130>Divinegon2130</A] at: 9/23/04 10:52 pm

[Divinegon2130]

The day that the combining process occurred went fairly well when compared to other days at the Dalvarin Research Base. The rare magic that was infused into the drug, a form of growth-enhancing magic that took unimaginable effort to sustain, had been far easier to control than predicted. For reasons none of the researchers understood, the drug seemed to be able to, as they put it, 'hold' magic cast into it more easily than anything else that had been tested at the base. Despite the confusion, this finding turned out to have promise.

When the end of the workday came, Adam got an idea. But before he could go through with it, the head researcher, Matthias Kammon, came up to him. His moderate voice let out a question. "Adam? Could you do a favor for me tonight?"

Adam groaned a little, answering in his own deep tone, "What is it, Matt?"

Matthias pointed at Adam's nose. "Could you watch over Cherie for me tonight?"

Adam had been afraid of Matthias doing this. Cherie was Matthias's pet dog, and she'd always been trouble for him to deal with. And for some reason, Matthias had always selected Adam to watch her whenever he had to go somewhere. Knowing the consequences of backing down without good reason, Adam reluctantly answered, "Fine, I will."

Without a further word, Matthias left. Adam waited for the other researchers to leave. He was adamant in going through with his plan, which had been testing the drug on Breaker. Normally the Dalvarin Research Base's researchers did not test any drugs they made on animals, because they were convinced that the results of such tests would be pointless to know. They instead tested their drugs on prison convicts, particularly those with sentences longer than twenty years, for they believed those results would be far more useful. Adam wanted to change that. Not only was testing on the current subjects inhumane in Adam's eyes - on occasion Adam would wake up in the middle of the night to their scream - but also the results were too limited to him to be of practical use.

But in order to do that, he'd have to sneak out a sample of the drug. To do this he had to get by security, and he was well aware that once most of the researchers were out the door, security would start to prepare for the night shift. This meant switching personnel, and ultimately no one would be watching him at that very moment. Once he sensed the moment that the personnel were switching, he quickly grabbed an empty vial and headed over to the vat where the infused drug had been put. Making sure to have his gloves on, he dipped the vial into the vat and filled it with the drug. Hiding the vial in his clothing, he proceeded to hurry out of the research base.

When he got home, he'd hoped to get to work right away. That was before he saw Breaker's cage left open. Worse still, Breaker was nowhere to be seen. Adam set the vial against the cage and hurried to call Matthias through the phone he'd kept near his bed. "Hello. Is Matthias there? This is something very important."

Matthias's voice, minimally distorted because of the phone, greeted him on the other end. "Adam? What's the matter?"

Adam's voice became very serious. "I can't watch Cherie tonight. I think a thief broke into my house."

A groan, something Matthias rarely did, came out on the other end. ".....great. I'm going to need to find someone new to watch Cherie."

Without another word, the line cut off. Adam hung up, remembering how rude Matthias was during phone conversations. Adam didn't dwell on that. He had work to do, but first he moved the vial to his room, resting it upright against other things on his dresser. He wasn't taking any chances.

Edited by: [url=http://pub30.ezboard.com/brpgww60462.showUserPublicProfile?gid=divinegon2130>Divinegon2130</A]&nbsp; at: 1/30/04 7:52 pm

[Divinegon2130]

Adam had planned on eating dinner before he got to work on the vial. His usual meal in the few cases where he'd want to do something work-related at home was spaghetti, and this was no exception. He was a pretty sloppy eater, and he loaded his spaghetti with more meat sauce than most people would even think of putting on.

Unfortunately for Adam, cleaning up after the meal proved to be more than annoying. But when he finally finished, he felt ready to get to work. He returned to where he'd placed the vial on his dresser... and found that the cork on the vial was missing, and the vial itself was now almost empty. Adam would've thought he'd just improperly placed it and that the vial slipped off where he'd placed it, but that was before he realized that only a couple of drops of the liquid had splashed onto the dresser.

It was then that his worst fear had been realized. Someone had either drunk the contents of the vial or, even worse, disposed of them unsafely. He'd call the police, but they didn't know much about Project Veraconin and he feared they'd get him into worse trouble. And he certainly couldn't tell the researchers what happened because if he had, he would not only be removed from the research team altogether, he'd in fact probably wind up a subject for their testing.

Having failed to do what he had intended, Adam fell into despair. That night he was plagued with hellish visions of what he could have brought about. A supermutant killing the populations of entire cities without effort was the worst of them. There was perhaps an hour where he got truly restful sleep.

The next morning, when he woke up, he looked down to the floor before getting out of bed. What he saw caused him to scream - it seemed like a rat tail, but it had to be far too large for one. However, it disappeared under the bed before Adam could do anything about it. He'd thought of just ignoring it, but then he realized that if there were rats that big in his house, things would become bad very rapidly.

He got out of bed and decided to look under to see what was up. All he noticed was that there was a hole in the wall under the bed - a hole that hadn't been there before, but was certainly too big to be a mouse hole.

Adam looked up at the clock in his room and suddenly realized he was late for work. Reminding himself to check the hole when he got home, he quickly headed over to the study across from his bedroom, grabbed a book from there, and placed it in front of the hole. After adjusting the bed so that the book was securely in place over the hole, he got ready for and headed to work as usual. When he got to work, he'd been told that he had to meet with Matthias. Adam thought the worst, but reluctantly he went to Matthias's office. Matthias immediately greeted him. "Have a seat, Adam."

After Adam did so, Matthias continued, "Now, I've been made aware of how hard you've been working with us on Project Veraconin. I realize you're stressed."

Adam reactively stated, "No no, I'm fine, I'm-"

Matthias didn't even let him finish his lie. "Look, I know you insist on working with us here. You're probably our most dedicated researcher - I know you work overtime at least four times a week usually. Because of that, I've been authorized to give you four days off to recover from all the stress."

Adam opened his mouth, but before he could say anything Matthias continued. "If this is about missing out on a rare opportunity like you usually give me, realize how hard this kind of thing is. It won't be completed while you're gone."

Matthias paused for a moment and added, "Your days off are effective beginning now, Adam. So go home and get some rest."

Slowly, Adam stood up and left.

Edited by: [url=http://pub30.ezboard.com/brpgww60462.showUserPublicProfile?gid=divinegon2130>Divinegon2130</A]&nbsp; at: 1/30/04 8:01 pm

[Divinegon2130]

Adam headed straight home and felt rather depressed. The research team, in his mind, had ditched him on purpose by giving him "days off". Now he was completely alone... no one to be around, and not even Breaker to comfort him. He spent about five hours just laying down, contemplating his horrible luck. He was so absorbed in his despair he had forgotten about the hole in his wall.

Eventually, he decided to call someone just for the comforting voice of another person. He'd thought about talking more with Aaron Wesson for a while now, having occasionally met him on the way out from work. Aaron worked in security, specifically during the night shift as a surveillance, but unlike most of the night guards he tended to be awake early in the day. Still a problem for Adam either way, as Aaron was never home while he was.

Adam went toward the phone in his bedroom when he discovered that the bed had moved since he was gone. The book he had used to cover the hole was now on the bed, and the hole had grown larger than before - just large enough for Adam to put his head through safely. Adam thought for a moment he'd gone insane and was just envisioning this. Then he got the nerve to look in the hole... and in addition to seeing the inside of his wall, Adam observed a large stash of food - lumps of cheese, various fruits and vegetables - but no sign of the critter that brought them there. Realizing he'd be grabbing blindly if he tried to reach just his arms into the hole, and noting that the food seemed to have been brought within the last couple of hours, Adam decided it would be better if he waited to deal with the issue.

Adam picked up the phone and dialed the number - a number he'd memorized in case he really did want to talk. A cheery male voice greeted him on the other end. "Hello?"

"Hello, is Aaron around?"

The other voice acted surprised. "Adam? I thought you worked at this hour of the day."

Adam started to acquire a rather stiff tone to his voice. "I do. The team claims to be giving me four days off to relax. Found out this morning when I got there."

The voice on the other end lost a lot of its cheeriness. "I just dunno what to say, Adam. Though you sound awful stressed just talking over the phone."

"It has been stressful, Aaron. I wanted to do something, and now-"

The voice interrupted him. "Wait.... that was YOU going out of the building that time?"

Adam stopped for a while, fearing he had been caught smuggling the drug out of the research base. Only his breathing told Aaron he was still on the line. So Aaron continued. "Look, man, I don't mean anything bad with this, but what were you thinking?"

Finally Adam spoke. "Having to work on humans all the time has been drilling into my mind. Don't tell anyone this, but I sneaked a vial of the chemical out and was intending to use it on my pet mouse Breaker. But he was gone when I got home. And then the vial's contents disappeared."

Aaron waited a moment and then answered, without any indication of honest fear in his voice, "Scary. Anything else?"

Adam sighed, continuing. "Well, there's this big hole in my wall behind the bed. I'd covered it up before I went to work, but the bed's already been moved and the book I used to cover the hole got moved out of the way too."

Aaron didn't take long to answer. "Dude, this is sounding more and more like a horror film. And with you speaking this way, Clash has started looking at me like I'm crazy."

"Who's Clash?"

Aaron calmly answered, "Oh, just my pet rabbit. He's been looking at me funny a lot today."

"Why so?"

"It seems to happen whenever I'm working on the research computers. He apparently thinks I'm a weirdo when I do this kind of thing."

Adam then remembered that most of the security team had to be trained in fixing computers, as the software they ran kept the cameras working properly and helped in monitoring many areas efficiently at once. "What one broke THIS time?"

Aaron regained a little of his cheeriness. "Oh, the one that usually has problems. Another fried power supply and burned-out monitor. Instead of replacing those as usual I wanna find out why this one's shorting out so much."

"Guess I'd better let you off to fix it then."

"Yeah. Hey, mind if I stop by your house tomorrow? You've got to be awful lonely with no one around."

Adam sighed. "I don't mind, really. Well, talk to you later."

After Aaron gave his goodbye, Adam hung up. That conversation had indeed made him feel a bit better. Now at least he wasn't so alone.

Edited by: [url=http://pub30.ezboard.com/brpgww60462.showUserPublicProfile?gid=divinegon2130>Divinegon2130</A]&nbsp; at: 1/30/04 8:12 pm

[Uncle Pervy]

These shall be numbered after the post they are in :O


1. -"Usually Breaker didn't notice the meditation, but there was the rare occasion that he'd be eating while Adam was meditating."

Given that the narrative seems to be from Adam's point of view, I would say that Breaker usually didn't seem to take much note of the Meditation, given that Adam can't really know if Breaker notices or not.

You could add notes about how the higher ups on the research team and in the military were acting a bit odd as well, given the choice to add to the drug. Hint that they may be up to something.

2. -"Matthias pointed at Adam's nose. "Could you watch over Cherie for me tonight?"

Adam had feared this"

Feared seems a bit strong of a word. I'd try "Adam was afraid he'd say that"

-"Normally the Dalvarin Research Base's researchers did not test any drugs they made on animals, because they were convinced that the results of such tests would be pointless to know. They instead tested their drugs on prison convicts, particularly those with sentences longer than twenty years, for they believed those results would be far more useful."

Iiiiiinteresting. Could you add in a bit on his motves? Is he doing this because he believes that human testing is wrong, or because he believes that they are missing something? You could feather either of these into the first part; hinting at what is to come. Perhaps have him mull over how inhumane their methods are, or how limited the results they have been getting are (whichever fits)

-In reality, one guard did indeed spot Adam on the security cameras. However, the guard had not caught him taking the drug sample. He'd only spotted him leaving, and he would have sounded the research base's alarm had he not remembered that Adam was a researcher and thus could have just forgotten something. It was a fairly common occurrence, and security usually escorted these people unless it was very early in the night shift.

I'd remove this paragraph, it doesn't add much, and it gives you a good way to play off Adam being paranoid about being caught.

-It was in this manner that Adam successfully got his hands on the drug

Something of a pointless sentence; we know he got the drug that way already. Just clip it out.

Overall, I would suggest focusing on Adam's motivations a bit more in the first part of this, and maybe on his thoughts and feelings while stealing the serum and escaping with it in the second part.

3. -He was a pretty sloppy eater, and he loaded his spaghetti with more meat sauce than most people would even think of putting on.

This amuses me way more than it should. Personal notes like this = Lovely.

-What this led to was that cleaning up after the meal proved to be more than annoying for Adam.

A bit awkward. Try something like "The downside was that this made cleaning up very annoying"

-and found that the vial had become uncorked and was now almost empty

Becme uncorked seems an odd choice of words. Try "lost its cork" or something similiar

-And he certainly couldn't tell the researchers what happened because if he odd, he would be removed from the research team altogether.

odd = did, I think. Also, he would likely be imprisoned; and thus the next test subject.

-Adam thus fell into extreme despair, having failed to do what he had intended

This could benefit from a rewording. "Having failed to do what he intended, Adam fell into despair."

-The next morning, when he woke up, he looked down to the floor before getting out of bed. What he saw freaked him out - it seemed like a rat tail, but it had to be far too large for one. It rapidly disappeared under the bed though. Adam got out of bed and decided to look under to see what was up. All he noticed was that there was a hole in the wall under the bed - a hole that hadn't been there before, but was certainly too big to be a mouse hole.

I'd expand this out a bit. Tell us how he freaked out. Did he yell out? Did he freeze up? Did he run out of the room screaming like a little girl? Then, how did he gather up enough courage to actually look? Did he guess the serum was involved? Did he convince himself he had imagined it?

-Adam looked up at the clock in his room and suddenly realized he was late for work. He got ready for work as usual, knowing that the hole in the wall would be his priority as soon as he got home.

It might be suggestable that he make a half-assed effort to cover it; such as putting a heavy book over it and pinning it in place with the bed.

Overall, some rewording and expansion will help you out a bit in this section.

4. -Adam headed straight home and felt rather depressed. The research team, in his mind, had ditched him on purpose by giving him "days off". Now he was completely alone... no one to be around, and not even Breaker to comfort him. He spent about five hours just laying down, contemplating his horrible luck.

He forgot about the hole. Perhaps the best way to deal with it is to not let him find the hole or see the tail until later?

-Adam stopped for a while. Only his breathing told Aaron he was still on the line. So Aaron continued. "Look, man, I don't mean anything bad with this, but what were you thinking?"

It'd be really nice to know what's racing through Adam's head at that moment :D


I like this chapter; it adds a lot to Adam's character. Given that he forgot about the hole, though, maybe what you should do is move the scene where he sees the tail and the hole ahead a bit, so it happens after the conversation?

Also, Clash should be a mean bunny, the kind that beats on cats :D

[Divinegon2130]

(OOC: Okay, after having retooled the first four sections a bit, now comes the time to reveal an important plot event.

Before I do, though, I shall note that before now, the northern continent of Dienzora had no true anthropomorphic animals in normal society - in fact, the only other intelligent creatures besides humans on that continent at all were secluded groups of dragons, a separated society of angel-like creatures, and a few chimeras [snake-lion-hawk hybrid chimeras, like the one in Gauntlet: Dark Legacy].)

---

Adam slept in his study that night, not wanting to be freaked out in case the critter that had chewed through his wall decided to come through there. At one point during the night, Adam could have sworn he heard a crunching sound, like the munching of celery. However, by now Adam believed he was losing it anyway, and that the munching was a figment of his imagination.

As soon as he got up the next morning, Adam set to investigating the hole, believing he could catch the critter off guard and find out what was going on. Now the hole in the wall was even larger - Adam realized if he were a bit nimbler and thinner, he could probably fit through the wall. It was at this point also that Adam was thankful for the supportiveness of the walls in his room, which didn't show any signs they were going to collapse despite the damage to part of them. When Adam looked through the hole, however, he still saw no indication of the critter. He did see, however, that quite a bit of the food was gone and there was a big mess in the wall now.

Knowing he'd never be able to reach into the wall, Adam decided he'd take it easy today and begin with the meditation he had usually used right after work. He'd had two specific outfits that he would wear during his meditation, one gray and the other blue, but both resembling karate gis with overly loose tops. He'd intended to wear the gray outfit, the one he favored, but when he looked for it in the dresser, it was missing, and the blue outfit looked like it had been tried on a little too recently. Disgruntled, Adam put on the blue outfit... when he realized there were black hairs on it.

Adam recognized the hairs quickly, and finally the pieces of the puzzle he had been desperately trying to solve in the past few days had come together. The one who drank the vial's contents had to be Breaker. It was Breaker's tail Adam had seen, and Breaker had chewed the hole in his wall. Needless to say, Adam was furious.

Right then there was a knock on the door. Adam strode over to it, and opened it to see Aaron outside. As soon as Adam had opened the door halfway, Aaron greeted him with a simple "Hello". Adam let him inside, saying, "Come right in."

After Aaron hung his coat up on the rack near the door, the two of them sat down on the armchairs in the living room, but not before moving them much closer than usual. Normally, when he had guests over, Adam would have been sitting on the couch that was placed behind where the armchairs wound up, so that he could always see the screen in the wall that the furniture faced, but he wanted to look more normal for his first meeting with Aaron than he was feeling. Once the two of them had moved the armchairs over, Adam began to speak up. "I'm really glad you've come at such a time, Aaron."

Aaron raised an eyebrow. "Why so? Figure out what the heck was going on?"

Adam answered with a very frustrated tone of voice. "Yeah, but you wouldn't believe me if I told you."

"Tell me anyway."

Adam continued without much hesitation. "This whole thing - the missing vial and the hole in the wall - was Breaker's fault."

Adam had predicted Aaron to laugh this one off. To his surprise, however, Aaron's eyes widened and he pointed behind Adam. Caught off guard, Adam asked, "....uh... what is it, Aaron?"

A higher voice, barely recognizable as male and with a bit of hoarseness in it, answered him. "I've decided the paranoia game is up, Adam."

Adam looked over his shoulder - and right at the possessor of the voice. He was now staring at a person about five feet tall, about half a foot taller than the armchair itself, and who was wearing the gray 'meditation outfit' Adam had noticed was gone from his dresser. By no means was that all of it, though. The person also had distinctly rat-like features - the elongated snout, large ears, black fur, a rat tail that poked out from the now-somewhat-torn seat of his pants, and even tiny claws on his fingers and toes.

The rat-person continued. "See, I'd heard you talking to yourself about animal experimentation and, while I must say I agree that using your own kind as subjects may be intolerable, you cannot forget about the feelings of other species."

Adam looked quite irritated at this view. "So if you're so offended by experimenting on rats, Breaker, then why did you do what I had intended to have you do?"

Breaker was a bit shocked, but for very little time. "Oh, the vial? I figured I needed to scare you out of your wits to change your mind about animal experimentation. Of course, the way you humans are, you're probably unconvinced."

Aaron finally regained his composure and interrupted. "So Adam, you have a walking horror story in your house. What do you plan to do about it?"

Adam looked up for a moment and added, "He hasn't actually scared or physically hurt anyone yet. To be honest, I'm disappointed - Breaker doesn't seem that enhanced to me besides his size."

From the look on his face, it was clear Breaker had been offended by this statement. "Well, I'll be showing YOU soon enough, Adam!"

Without warning, Breaker stormed over to the coat rack, grabbed the hooded jacket Adam typically wore when he was outside, and left the house. Adam tried to get up and stop him, but Aaron simply stood and held Adam back, saying, "He's apparently got some idea in mind. We're better off staying out of his way."

Furiously Adam sat back down. "His attitude is going to get him in trouble, whether they see his face or not."

Aaron tried to remain calm. "If you want to see what else the drug does for him, it may be better off doing it his way."

Adam simply sighed and turned away. He was not about to agree, and Aaron could tell.

Edited by: [url=http://pub30.ezboard.com/brpgww60462.showUserPublicProfile?gid=divinegon2130>Divinegon2130</A]&nbsp; at: 1/30/04 10:36 pm

[Divinegon2130]

(OOC: Information time!

The North Dominion's government legalized pit fighting one year before the incidents described in this story to give the "problem" people in cities something to do besides get involved in crime. So far, though, no professional pit fighting "leagues" have been formed, and only gangs run the pit fighting arenas [the same gangs that contracted people to build the arenas]. In most cities, spectator admission is low-cost, but the fighters that enter usually have to pay a hefty entry fee. Unlike "standard" pit fighting, actually killing the opponent in any of the North Dominion's arenas results in instant disqualification.

Also, if it's unclear, the particular arena that Breaker is in during this part is partially underground. And yes, I'm aware it's fairly early in the day.)

---

Meanwhile, Breaker, keeping his face hidden as much as he could, had decided to take a walk and search for something to show Adam what he could do. Of the few times Adam had guests over, Breaker had been awake and alert when one particular guest, who had since moved away from the area, mentioned a pit fighting arena in the back alleys of Kinanor. Kinanor was quite a big city near the research base, and Adam lived in its suburbs.

Unfortunately for Breaker, he had to take quite the hike to get to the messier areas of the city, where he believed the pit fighting arena was. To make things worse, he didn't know which back alley the arena was in, so he had to look down every alleyway to find the arena. Breaker saw that people were actually in most of the alleyways, and he stayed away from them. Eventually, he came to an empty alley that had a door on one side and a sign next to the door reading "Red Fortune". Breaker knew this was the place.

He walked up to the door and knocked. A small slit in the door opened and a pair of dark blue eyes peeked out. The deep voice of the door watcher spoke. "What's your business, fuzzface?"

Breaker lifted his face from the jacket, betraying his nature, and hesitantly began, "Well, I've heard this was an arena of sorts..."

The door watcher hesitated. "You're in luck. There's special events going on for all of today. And since you look like the perfect person to attract spectators for this kind of thing, how'd you like to be part of one?"

The door whipped open, and before Breaker could say anything else he was dragged in by a very muscular, tall man, who appeared to be in his mid-twenties, dressed in torn jeans and a sleeveless leather jacket. Hastily, Breaker was forced to walk a downward-sloping hallway that was supported on both sides by thick metal bars. Eventually, they reached the so-called arena - thousands of rows of seats, some already occupied with spectators, with only three narrow pathways through. And in the center of it all was a cylindrical steel cage at least thirty feet in diameter. Breaker thought he was going right into the cage, but he was instead led down the pathway to the right of where they entered. The spectators already sitting down - the truly devoted fans of pit fighting - started jeering Breaker as he was led by.

Out the side of the arena where they were headed was another narrow hallway, but this one had a room immediately to the left. Breaker was almost literally thrown in that room, a dressing room by the looks of it. The man who'd led him here spoke up again. "You've got twenty minutes to get ready before the event starts, so get ready. If you last four hours in that arena we'll let you go."

After the burly man left, Breaker took off the jacket and contemplated his situation. Just moments ago he was aiming for fame, and now he was going to be fighting for his life. In order to keep his mind on the task ahead of him, he did what he'd seen Adam do on some occasions.... and that was meditate for that very twenty minutes. At the end of said time, he was rudely disturbed by the wrenching open of the door, with the same burly man from before waiting. "It's go time, furball!"

Breaker hesitated a bit, but when the man grabbed his arm he realized he had no choice. He walked on out with his muscular escort through the massive crowd of spectators that had come into the building, when the loud voice of what seemed to be the announcer rang out, "And here comes today's willing challenge taker!"

Breaker winced. Not only was the loudness of the place getting to his ears, but he did not like the idea of being called willing for something like this. There was no time for thinking, however, as Breaker was led into the cage, the door into it shutting behind him.

His first opponent was a slim yet well-toned female in her late teens. Very soon after Breaker got into the cage, she started going after him with a style of combat that relied mostly on punching. Breaker was able to hold off a few of the punches, but he got smacked twice in the face before she tried to whallop him with her foot. At this point Breaker grabbed her leg and wrenched it to the side, making the girl spin a bit... and allowing him time to plant a painful kick to her backside that sent her sprawling to the ground. As Breaker approached to continue the fight, the girl rolled around and Breaker reactively held off her rising foot with his hands. Realizing where she'd been aiming, Breaker started twisting the leg.

The girl soon gave up fighting, and after she was let out the next opponent came in. That was how it was for four excrutiating hours. Breaker kept taking a blow or two from each opponent but no more. Using a style he'd adapted from watching the moves of each and every opponent, Breaker was able to drop many of his adversaries swiftly. After two hours the sweat nearly blinded Breaker's eyes, but he continued to defeat opponent after opponent. Finally, when he'd beaten one extremely muscular but slow man about seven and a half feet tall, the announcer cried out, "It appears we have ourselves a legend! This man has been taking out opponents for four hours straight!"

Breaker didn't pay attention to the rest of what the announcer said, although the crowd was cheering for him this time. He was just let out of the cage and quickly led outside. He was exhausted, battered, worn out - but there were people waiting outside for him. Reporters, as it turned out, had been alerted to the "legend" that Breaker had become and now wanted their words with him.

Edited by: [url=http://p068.ezboard.com/brpgww60462.showUserPublicProfile?gid=divinegon2130>Divinegon2130</A] at: 9/23/04 2:01 pm

[Divinegon2130]

Breaker had been shocked at the publicity he'd gotten. But before he could say anything, the reporters swamped him with questions.... many of them along the lines of how he'd gotten to be so good and where he'd come from. Breaker simply raised a hand in silence and said, "Let me head home first. I'll answer your questions later."

The reporters didn't stop to listen, except for a young female in a teal coat and dark jeans who managed to squeeze her way through the crowd after Breaker spoke. She turned to the others and spoke, in a tone and volume more resembling a high-pitched yell, "Quiet!"

Breaker covered his ears immediately, but the reporters actually listened to her, watching rather than speaking. The girl turned back to Breaker, his ears still covered, and asked him in the high-pitched voice, "What were you telling us?"

Breaker removed his hands from his ears. "Huh?"

"I said, what were you telling us when you raised your hand?"

"Oh. I said I'd rather be at home than answer questions right now."

The girl looked up. "All right, we'll bring you there." She then turned to the other reporters. "Don't you people realize he's not in the best of conditions to talk? You need to make the person you plan to interview comfortable before you ask questions."

The girl started to lead Breaker through the crowd, which parted in a sort of shock to let them through, when the muscular man from the arena rushed out the door, carrying the jacket Breaker had. "Hey wait!"

Breaker turned around, and the muscular man handed him the jacket, continuing, "You forgot it in the dressing room."

Breaker just sighed, nodded, and turned back around to be led through by the young girl. The girl continued to lead him to a small, yet expensive-looking car left at the edge of the road. Then she said, "Go ahead and get in that side," pointing to the right side of the car.

Breaker got in as asked. As he closed the door, a pair of leather straps came across him automatically, one going diagonally from his right shoulder to his left hip, and the other going across his waist. The girl got in the left side, and another pair of straps came across in the same manner. Breaker turned to her and asked, "What are these?"

"Never been in a car before?" the girl asked. "Those are the restraint belts. Meant to keep you safe if the car goes crazy."

Breaker sighed as the girl pulled out a key from her coat, inserted it into a slot on the side of the wheel, and gave it a turn, the engine of the car roaring to life. She then pulled a lever that was between her and Breaker, leaving it in a position a little more than halfway down, and started driving. She asked Breaker, "So how do you feel after fighting?"

Breaker simply answered, "Exhausted. I've even got sweat in my eyes and-"

The girl lifted an eyebrow. "I thought a giant rat like you wouldn't sweat."

Breaker shook his head. "I don't understand it either.... before I became like this I didn't sweat at all and now I do. I just don't get it."

The girl shrugged a little and ask, "So where do you live?"

"It's in the suburbs somewhere. Know where Adam Gormand lives?"

"You actually LIVE with that guy? Why haven't I seen you before?"

It suddenly dawned on Breaker who this was - Adam had once had a reporter named Judy Bromna in his house when she interviewed him about Dalvarin Research Base. Adam had been very tight-lipped about it, but he still spilled a little information and other reporters and journalists always wanted even more from him.

Judy started to look at Breaker before he finally answered, "I've lived there as long as I can remember. It's too much of a story to say here."

"Okay then, I'll just wait."

Breaker could tell from the look on her face that Judy was a little too excited to be meeting with Adam again.

[Divinegon2130]

After a good five minutes, the car pulled into the driveway of Adam's house. Judy turned the car off, and opened the door, the restraint belts moving away to let her out. Breaker hesitated, and then tried the same. It worked for him, allowing him to step out of the car as well.

The few minutes off of his feet helped Breaker recover; though he was still a bit weak and bruised from the pit fighting, Breaker could at least walk without excessive trouble. The two of them went to the door, and Breaker knocked, letting Judy stay behind him. The door opened and Adam, rather irritated now, looked out.

"Who i- Breaker!"

Without warning, Breaker was dragged into the house. Judy followed, quickly closing and bolting the door behind her. Aaron was still there, sitting in the armchair Adam had been in when Breaker left. Adam continued, "Where have you been? And why the damn hell do you look like you've been in a fist fight?"

"More than A fist fight," Breaker began, but Judy interrupted. "You should have seen this guy. I saw him coming out of a pit fighting arena, having fought for four hours straight and staying conscious the whole time, and he claims to live here."

Adam blinked. "Judy? You still after stuff on the research base?"

"This is more important than that," Judy responded. At this point there was a lot of noise outside, which Aaron started to get up to respond to, but Judy motioned for him to sit back down. "That's probably just the press trying to follow me and get an interview from.... Breaker, as this guy here seems to be called."

She turned back to Adam. "Now, Breaker here claims to have lived here as long as he can remember. What I want to know is why haven't I seen him before."

Adam just stared. The phone in Adam's bedroom began to rang, and Adam turned to Aaron, motioning for him to take care of it. Then Adam turned back to Judy. "Well, you probably have. Just never like this."

"Pardon?" Judy simply asked.

At this point, Breaker cut in, as Aaron went to deal with the phone call. "Should I tell her, Adam?"

Adam sighed. "Fine. But Judy, I need you to keep what he says as secret as possible, until I get permission from the research base to let it out."

Judy nodded, pulling a notebook of sorts and a pen from her coat, just as Aaron came out from the bedroom. "It's Matthias, and he wants to talk to you, Adam."

Adam groaned, going to deal with the phone as Breaker started to tell his story to Judy. "Okay, some time a few nights ago, Adam came home with a vial containing some strange red liquid. I heard him muttering about having me drink it when he went to get his dinner that night, and I heard a couple words about experimenting. So I thought I'd give him a scare."

Breaker hesitated for a moment before continuing. "He's called me Breaker because I have an annoying habit of breaking out of the cages he buys to keep me in. I had already broken out of the cage that night and was skittering around the floor, staying out of his view. When I saw where he put the vial, I went and climbed up the dresser. I uncorked the thing and began drinking it. I'd almost finished the vial when I heard Adam's footsteps, so I had to hide. What happened the rest of that night and the majority of the past few days is inconsequential, except that in order to stay away from him I had to chew a hole in the wall of his bedroom and hide in there."

Here, Breaker gave a sigh. "This morning I found walking on all fours awkward. I don't understand why I've been more comfortable walking on two legs since then, but that really doesn't matter. Anyway, I thought I'd try and meditate, like I'd seen him do a lot of the time. Knowing where he'd stored his outfits, and wanting to do things exactly the way he had, I tried both of them on and found this gray one to look quite a bit better on me. So then I went in the backyard and.... let me just say Adam makes meditation look so easy. And then I thought for a minute why I'd been hiding from him for so long. You'll have to get the rest of the story from him or this other guy."

As Breaker pointed to Aaron, who'd sunk back into the armchair, Judy just nodded, scribbling notes into the notebook. "I will have to admit, I find it rather hard to believe without his end of the story. Though I'll believe you for now. I'll ask Adam when it's less stressful."

She put the notebook and pen away, turned, unbolted the door and left. As she left, a yelling of "Stop trying to get an interview with him! He doesn't want visitors!" could be heard outside, clearly in Judy's tone of voice.

Meanwhile, Adam picked up the phone, which had been left on the bed, and said, "Hello?"

It had indeed been Matthias on the other end of the line. "Adam, I've been informed of a cluster of reporters outside your house... I wanna know what the hell's going on in there. I know you didn't get stolen from on that night when you claimed you did, and I know something real big's going on. Apparently about some rat person hanging around your house."

Adam gulped. How could Matthias have known of Breaker? "I.... I don't think you'd belie-"

"Dammit, I want to KNOW what's going on!"

Adam knew this lack of patience was typical for Matthias, but now it seemed even worse. If he didn't tell the whole story he'd be fired, and if he did even worse things would happen. Adam finally decided to take a gamble with the truth.... starting in a bit of a roundabout way. "Are you aware how much the prison convicts we use as test subjects scream and yell?"

Matthias seemed unprepared for this question. "Yes, but what does that have to do with this?"

Adam's voice got very serious. "Those screams have haunted my mind. I couldn't bear to see humans be used as subjects, and thought it'd be more reasonable to use animals, such as mice. But I knew you wouldn't follow my idea."

"Go on," was all Matthias said.

Adam continued. "I thought the best chance was to sneak a vial of the substance out and test it on Breaker, my pet mouse. That was on the day I called about the thief. I'd called because Breaker'd gotten loose from his cage again. So I left the vial on the dresser, and after dinner I found it had been consumed. After some days of what I swore to be madness, I realized Breaker had drunk the liquid, and it had apparently turned him into this rat person you see."

Matthias's tone of voice became one of puzzlement. "And this rat lasted four hours in a pit fighting arena. Dammit, I don't know what to do. You broke one of our most important rules, yet the result wound up being a potential breakthrough for our research."

Matthias paused for about fourty seconds to think. Adam only knew he was still on the line because of his breathing. Finally Matthias concluded, "Here's the deal. If anyone you know has any pets, ask them to bring the pets in tomorrow. I'll bring Cherie, and I need you to bring Breaker along. I've got an idea."

Adam couldn't believe this. He'd actually been pretty much let off the hook for this one! "Well, okay, then."

Right about here he heard the shout that Judy had given to the reporters outside. "I'll see you tomorrow."

"You too, Adam." Matthias hung up, and Adam returned to the living room.

[Divinegon2130]

When Adam returned and realized Judy had left, he took the chance to look back at Breaker and then at Aaron. It was here Aaron spoke up. "So what's the verdict, Adam? They fire you?"

"Thankfully, no," Adam answered as he sat back down in his armchair. Breaker, who had been leaning on said armchair for a while now, walked over to the couch and almost literally collapsed onto it. He was just about to fall asleep from exhaustion when Adam continued, "I'm supposed to bring Breaker into work with me tomorrow."

Breaker suddenly leaned up and asked, in a fairly loud tone, "WHAT?" His voice went back to its normal volume as he continued, "I can't go in there with you; I'll be seen as a freak of-"

Adam looked over to him and interrupted, "Breaker, just relax. We have our means of getting you in there without a hitch. Which we'll get to later." Adam looked back to Aaron and continued, "Now, Aaron, I need you to do a favor for me. When you go to work tonight-"

"I'm not going to work tonight or tomorrow," Aaron cut in. "I managed to get a couple days off, claiming I was going to help you deal with things."

"Even better." Now that Aaron had more availability, Adam had more options. "How about sleeping tonight and coming to work with me tomorrow?"

Aaron tried to think of a reason for this, but it stayed out of his mind, so he asked, "What purpose would I have coming in at your time?"

"Matthias wanted me to ask anyone I knew that had pets to bring them to the research center. You're the only one that I know for certain has a pet, so you've been stuck with the question."

Aaron thought about this for a while. By now, Breaker had fallen asleep on the couch. Adam knew he had to be exhausted - after all, four hours in an arena would make most people unable to do anything, yet Breaker was able to get home. Finally, Aaron spoke up. "It's a deal, but you owe me on this."

Adam nodded. The deal was done now. He didn't care what Matthias had planned for Breaker or for Clash. All he cared was that research was going forward.

[Divinegon2130]

Before the night was over, Aaron had left the house. Breaker didn't move at all from his spot on the couch, so Adam once again slept in his study. More than once that night, Adam thought he felt something coming from his own bedroom, and that left him unable to get a proper night's sleep. Breaker, for his part, thought he had kept hearing the vehicles of reporters screeching to a halt in front of the house. He was in a nervous sweat all night - something that left him completely puzzled.

The next morning, Breaker was the first one awake. He went right to getting himself breakfast - and it was while he was doing this that Adam fell out of bed. When the latter picked himself up, it didn't take him long to realize he was going to be late for work. He went to his bedroom to use the phone when he noticed Breaker was up, and he stopped for a moment to tell him, "You're up awful early for someone who was pounded upon for four hours."

Breaker, not once stopping to look at Adam, answered, "I always awaken this early. Heck, I'm surprised to see you wake up so LATE."

Rather than respond, Adam simply continued to the phone. He called Matthias to tell him he was going to be late, but there was no answer. Luckily he was able to leave him a message - the message that he was going to be half an hour late. He then went to Breaker, who was munching, oddly enough, on cheese and celery - certainly not the kind of breakfast Adam would have eaten. Adam was very uncertain how he was going to approach getting Breaker prepared for this meeting, so his first statement was tentative, "Breaker, I'm not sure just how much they care about your appeara-"

Breaker did not give Adam a chance to finish. "If they want a rat, they won't care."

Rather than dispute Breaker's logic at this hour, Adam simply let it slide, and preparations went without a further hitch. When Adam and Breaker eventually arrived at work, Adam's co-workers were questioning his sanity from a distance. Fortunately, Matthias - who had with him a great dane held on a tight leash - and Aaron - who'd brought a rabbit with an agouti fur pattern in a cage - weren't questioning anything about Adam when he and Breaker arrived.

[Divinegon2130]

Matthias, Aaron, Adam, and Breaker headed right through the research base, with the rabbit and dog in tow. As they went through, the other researchers started following them. Breaker was the first to speak up about this. "Uh.... why are they followi-"

Matthias interrupted, "I asked all of the researchers to help me on what we are doing next." Breaker started to speak again, but Matthias continued, "We need to find out what's different and we need to test this on the other two as well."

Aaron seemed puzzled. "Other.... two?"

Matthias answered, "Well, yeah, Cherie and whatever that bunny of yours is called."

Aaron immediately answered, "Its name is Clash."

At about this time, everyone had arrived in specimen containment - not really much more than several sets of cages in the walls, some small enough for rats, a couple large enough to fit a human, and many more of sizes in between those two. Matthias turned to the nearest of the researchers that had followed and, in a commanding tone, said, "Bring some of the chemical here. And quick."

While the researcher ran off, Adam finally spoke up. "So just what does 'finding out what's different' actually mean? I hope you're not going to try and dissect him..."

Matthias looked at Adam like he was crazy. "Oh don't be silly, Adam. Small samples."

Moments later, the researcher returned, with a cauldron-like container full of the red liquid that he had been sent to get. "Might want to get this quick," he said.

"Just set it down," Matthias instructed. As soon as the researcher did, however, Cherie tugged hard on the leash as she tried to sniff the liquid. This provoked Matthias to start commanding her. "Down, Cherie! Not now!"

It was at this point that Breaker headed over to Cherie and kneeled down in front of her. She went right to sniffing him instead. Matthias took the few moments Breaker had given him to address everyone nearby.

"Okay, here's what we got. I'm gonna need half of you to take Breaker into the examination room. The rest of you, make sure Cherie doesn't get all of the chemical. Clash is going to need some as well."

About three dozen people headed up to Breaker. "Come on," one of them said.

Breaker had become a bit scared. "But... but..."

Adam turned to Breaker. "If it makes you feel better, I'll come in with you."

Breaker uneasily agreed, but as soon as he, Adam, and the researchers started going, Cherie acted up again. Breaker could hear her barking for quite some time after they left specimen containment.