Adaptation - a story of Rukah's

ok here you go
Chapter 8
Kanar stooped over his lab table, his concentration focused on the solution he was making. He added a few more drops of erastum, then a drop of triathinium, and smiled as the potion took on a metallic blue sheen. He called to his assistant.
“Verac!” Soon enough, the four-armed creature shuffled into the room. “Come with me.” Kanar continued. He grabbed the mixture, straightened up and began walking, Verac following close behind him. The two exited the lab area and walked down a long hallway, stopping at the end. Kanar looked at the barred door that was his destination, and then said,
“Entering.” As if by magic, a keypad appeared out of a slot in the wall, and Kanar pressed a sequence of buttons. The barred door opened, and the scientist and his assistant went into the room. Once inside, the door closed automatically.
“I see you’ve been successful.” The large guard known as Preztis said, his deep voice echoing off the walls.
“Indeed.” Kanar replied, then continued, “I need to see our prisoner.”
Preztis nodded, then pressed a hidden button on the wall. A rumbling sound was heard as the wall began to turn, revealing a platform with metal strips. There was someone on the platform, the strips binding him into place. He struggled to escape, even more so at the sight of Kanar and Verac.
“I’ve told him it’s pointless to struggle, but he doesn’t seem to get the idea.” Preztis said, leaning on the stone wall of the room. “I assume you’re here to change that?” he asked Kanar. The scientist nodded.
“Indeed.” he repeated, then turned to study the prisoner. He was short, about 4 feet high, and he was clad in dark blue and gray armor. Like most inhabitants of this world, he was more mechanical than organic, and his eyes glowed. Probably a Srian, Kanar thought, noting his stature.
“What’s his name?” he asked the guard. The heavily built Srrastani replied,
“Took me some time to figure that out, but I eventually broke through. As I always have. His name is Vekra.” Kanar nodded.
“As you’ve suspected, I’ve finally perfected my mixture.” he said to Preztis. “I am now ready to administer it.” He said the last few words with a devious smile on his face. Preztis nodded, and then backed away so that Kanar could do his work. Using his telekinetic powers, Kanar lifted the liquid from its container. Vekra’s eyes grew wide and he struggled even more, trying to escape before Kanar fed him his foul mixture, however he was unsuccessful and the potion was forced down his throat. Vekra coughed and spluttered, and his body began to spasm, but the liquid was already in him. Kanar smiled.
“It should take effect instantly.” he said. As he said this, Vekra’s spasms became less frequent, and his eyes were changing color from their characteristic bright green to the same metallic blue as the mixture had been. Kanar cackled with glee as he saw his success, while Verac and Preztis stood in the background, the guard watching with keen interest.
“Yes, it worked!” Kanar exclaimed. “Now it is time for a test. Vekra, can you hear me?” The Srian replied with,
“Yes,” in a flat monotone voice. Kanar’s grin grew wider as he realized that his mind control mixture had worked exactly the way he wanted it.
“Ahahahahha! Now he will do whatever I tell him to.” he bragged to Preztis. The Srrastani rolled his eyes, as he knew the scientist had a tendency to boast when his experiments turned out right.
“Good for you.” he replied sarcastically. Kanar glared at him, then said,
“You may not realize the implications of this, you thick-brained pile of Trinan droppings, but now I know that this mixture is the correct one. And I know just how to use it…”

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very nice

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a long-awaited return…
Chapter 9
Wardi shot another Vacan down with his heat blaster, only for it to get back up a few seconds later and launch itself at him, going directly for his throat. He and his cousin Kekris had been busy defending the eastern entrance from the creatures, but so far they had been ineffective as the attackers were a new, much more intelligent breed. Speaking of Kekris, she had resorted to hand-to-hand fighting, having dropped her heavy cannon in favor of her fists.
“You know, now would be a good time for help—” Wardi began, but his breath was forced from him as the Vacan on top of him kicked him in the stomach.
“I’m kinda busy over here!” Kekris replied hurriedly. She had her hands full, dueling three Vacans at once. Kekris clearly had the upper hand, but she knew she couldn’t last much longer at the claws of the creatures. Wardi threw his attacker off, managing to regain his feet as he threw a roundhouse punch at the thing. To his surprise, the creature expertly parried it and headbutted him, sending him to the ground once again. Wardi’s head was ringing from the blow and he barely managed to roll to the side as another Vacan slashed at the ground where he had just been a moment before.
Suddenly, a loud beeping sound was heard. Kekris and Wardi both sighed with relief, as they knew that that meant that their large friend Trinos had activated their base’s security. Kekris then brought down the three attackers with a sweeping kick, then grabbed her cousin’s hand and dragged him behind a line.
Just then, the large virasteel door that made up most of their defenses slammed down, blocking the Vacans from further entry. One of the creatures managed to jump through the gap at the last second, but it let out a scream of pain as the metal door cut it in half, killing it instantly.
“Finally.” Kekris said as she sank to the ground, exhausted. “I thought we’d die before he made it.”
“Me too.” Wardi said. “That was probably the second worst battle I’ve ever been in.” Then he sat up, noticing the upper half of the Vacan corpse. He looked it over, then said,
“Hmm. Maybe Suged could look this thing over.” Just then, the Azurin medic walked in, immediately taking in the two Yroi’s condition.
“Well, there he is.” Kekris commented snarkily. Suged then noticed the fallen Vacan.
“Here I am.” he said, his tone neutral. “Hmm. I’ve got Nardus fixed up and now it seems I’ve got to do the same for you to.” He smiled. “Don’t worry. I’ll have you feeling better in no time.” Wardi grinned.
“How could I ever doubt you, oh great Suged?” he said jokingly. The medic chuckled, then turned to the Vacan half that was still in the room.
“Hmmm.” he said, “I should study this. Maybe I could find out something.” He looked at the two Yroi. “Come on, let’s get you two to the medical bay.”
Reluctantly, Kekris and Wardi got up and stumbled towards Suged’s medical bay, the Azurin supporting them. Trinos then came into the room, took one look at the two battered warriors and immediately took over for Suged, bringing the two into the medical bay, where Nardus was waiting.
“Good job.” he said with a nod of his head. “You managed to keep the Vacans at bay long enough for Trinos to block them off.”
“Yep.” was Kekris’ reply. “Took a lot out of us though.” She grunted with pain as she was eased onto a bed. Nardus smiled.
“Suged’ll have you mended in no time.” he said. Then his expression turned serious. “We may have to consider finding another base.”

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another long-awaited return…
Chapter 10
“What?!” exclaimed Trinos and Kekris.
“That can’t be.” said Wardi weakly. Just then, a sound of metal slamming onto metal came from the direction of the eastern entrance. Nardus gestured toward the noise and said,
“Well, there’s your reason. Those Vacans’ll just keep pounding until they get in.”
“But we can’t just retreat!” Kekris said defiantly as she attempted to rise from her medical bed.
“Easy.” Suged said. “I’m about as irritated as you are, but you need to stay still so that the medicine can take effect.” The medic held up a long needle, and Kekris flinched at the sight of it.
“You’re not gonna shoot me with that, are you?” she said even though she already knew the answer.
“I’m afraid I am.” Suged replied, his voice weary. “So just stay as still as you can and it’ll be over in a moment.” Kekris shut her eyes tight and replied,
“Just do it.” The Azurin medic nodded and, as carefully as he could, he slowly angled the needle to a point between the Yroi’s armor plates, aiming for the organic tissue underneath. Kekris felt a searing pain, but it lasted just a moment, as Suged had already withdrawn his empty syringe. He was busy cleaning it out, and he was as thorough as possible.
“Now that wasn’t so hard, was it?” Suged said in his best reassuring voice. It didn’t help that the pounding noise from before had started again, this time with greater intensity.
“I guess not.” Kekris said.
“It should work pretty quickly, so you’ll be up and about in no time.” Suged replied, with satisfaction in his voice. Nardus picked up on the tone in his voice and said,
“You’re the one who originally came up with this chemical mixture, right?” The medic nodded.
“Yes I was. Came up with it in the wonderful medical university of Triasial.” Suged had a faraway look on his face as he looked back at the memory. Then he shook his head. “Anyway, it should be all finished with by now.” he told Kekris.
The Yroi nodded. Already, she felt much better than she had since the fight. She tested her limbs experimentally, flexing her muscles to make sure they had no cramps. Kekris nodded, satisfied. Then she said to Suged,
“Thanks Suged. You’re the best.” She blushed a little as she said this, then jumped out of the bed and onto her feet. Just then, a loud crashing sound was heard as the Vacans had finally broken in.
“That’s not good.” Nardus said. He gestured to his large Tainian companion. “Trinos, with me.” He nodded as Trinos activated his gauntlets, forming what looked like large metal gloves on his hands.
“I’ve had just about enough of these Vacans,” he growled, “it’s time to get physical.” The two rushed off, leaving Suged alone with the two Yroi cousins. Suged looked at Wardi, then gestured to the bed.
“You’re next.” he said with a warm smile.

Trinos and his leader had made it to the eastern entrance, or what was left of it. Somehow, the Vacans had managed to puncture the formidable virasteel door. Speaking of Vacans, Nardus and Trinos were locked in combat with them. Trinos grinned as two of the creatures fell to a sweep of his mighty fists. Nardus was busy hacking and stabbing at them with his blade. Despite their best efforts, they were very clearly outnumbered and outmatched, as for every Vacan they felled, two more came to take their place. One of the creatures said,
“This is taking too long.” and sprang at Trinos’ face. Caught unaware, the Tainian warrior was knocked down. Nardus’ eyes widened as he heard the creature speak.
“You-you speak?!” he exclaimed. The creature turned to him and said,
“Yes.” in a deadpan voice before lunging at Nardus. He dodged the jump and the Vacan slammed into the wall, but quickly recovered. Meanwhile, Trinos was having his own problems as he was being swarmed by the rest of the Vacans.
“Nardus, HELP!” He shouted as he felt them tearing at his armor, unable to do anything as he was pinned by the creatures. Nardus started forward to assist, but his way was blocked by the remaining Vacans, who dodged his sword strokes and lashed out at him with their claws. He grunted, but held onto his weapon. Trinos was still screaming for help, but Nardus could do nothing but watch forlornly as his friend was carried off, unable to get past the Vacans.

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this chapter’s kinda short
Chapter 11
Kekris grunted as she gunned down another of the attacking Vacans with her sonic cannon. Beside her, her cousin Wardi did the same with his heat blaster, scorching the creatures’ armor. Despite the pair’s vailiant efforts, they weren’t having much of an effect on stopping the invaders, as the Vacans got back up almost as quickly as they went down.

“Suged, we need an out.” Wardi said, just missing a swipe from one of the creatures.

“Working on that!” the irritated Azurin replied, frantically searching through his documents for a map of their base.

“Well, hurry up!” Kekris said, knocking over another creature with a swift kick.

“Found it!” Suged proclaimed triumphantly, holding up his map. He immediately looked it over, searching for a potential exit. Of course, the eastern entrance was out, as getting through there would require fighting through a dozen Vacans, and the heightened intelligence of these particular creatures made the task nigh-impossible. Wardi and Kekris were busy holding off said creatures so that the medic could find an escape route, so Suged knew he needed to work fast. “Here we go.” he murmured to himself as he located what he was looking for.

He called to Wardi and Kekris, “I’ve located the emergency exit! Follow me!” and rushed off to the western side of their base.

“Finally.” Kekris said in satisfaction as she blasted another two Vacans down with her cannon. Wardi smiled, and the two quickly followed behind the medic, working their way deeper into their base.

“What about Nardus and Trinos?” he inquired as they ran behind Suged, busy shooting down approaching Vacans. “We can’t just leave them!”

“We’re gonna have to!” Suged said. “We just can’t get past the Vacans!”

“But–” Wardi started, but was interrupted by Kekris.

“There’s no time! Face facts, Wardi, we can’t get to them and even if we tried we wouldn’t stand a chance! I like it about as much as you do, but we’ve gotta get out of here!” She looked at the ground in shame and anger. Wardi nodded grimly, and the three continued their journey through their base’s tunnels…

Nardus slashed another Vacan into submission, fighting a desperate one-man battle against half a dozen of the things.

“Trinos! TRINOS!” he shouted, but it was in vain as his friend was no longer listening. Just then, he heard the sound of their elevator door opening, and who stepped out was someone Nardus had never expected to see again.

“You!” he shouted in surprise and hatred.

“Me,” Kanar said as he stepped out of the elevator, “and I’ve brought a surprise for you, old friend.” He gestured to someone else still inside the entrance, and Nardus’ jaw dropped as Vekra stepped out, his eyes a strange metallic blue in place of their usual green. Noticing this, Kanar’s maniacal grin grew even wider, and he grabbed Nardus with his mental powers, telekinetically slamming him against the ceiling. Dazed, Nardus felt himself falling into unconsciousness, his vision slowly fading to black…

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really rukah?

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did you even read all of it

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I don’t know, did i?

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Well, you should’ve.

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ok here’s another
Chapter 12
Kekris blasted another Vacan into oblivion with her sonic cannon, though a few seconds later it got up and came right back at her again. She shook her head in defeat. Wardi and Suged weren’t having much of an effect on the black-clad invaders either, and the three were desperately rushing towards their breached base’s emergency exit.
“Over here!” Suged shouted as he located the tough door in front of the stairway that led to the surface. Wardi grunted.
“Finally.” he said, exhausted. Suged looked the door over, then produced a card from inside his tan work coat. The medic then plugged it into a slot on the door, and it rose up and out of sight. Suged waved the other two up the stairs.
“After you.” he said, though his voice betrayed the fear that he felt. The three rushed upwards, with Wardi having to heat-blast another Vacan near the base of the steps.
“Uh, what’s to stop them from just following us?” Kekris asked as they rushed up the stairs and toward the surface.
“You’ll see.” was Suged’s cryptic reply. After a few more minutes of scrambling up the many steps, the trio finally made it to the top, the ground a rocky, barren plain with little vegetation that stretched for miles until it rose into mountains and dipped into crevasses. Suged quickly turned right back around and jammed his card into a slot next to the stairway exit. A rumbling sound was heard as the stone ceiling of the tunnel caved in, blocking off entry or exit.
The Azurin grinned, pleased that his work had succeeded.
“There you go, Kekris.” he said. Wardi grinned and clapped him on his metal shoulder.
“Always knew you could do it.” he said as Kekris shared her cousin’s grin and let out a giant sigh of relief. Suged smiled.
“It was nothing.” he replied, “But we have other problems right now. For one, where do we go? And two, where do we get supplies?”
Wardi rubbed his chin with his hand as he considered these questions.
“Hmmm. Maybe we should head for the Taina Mountains.” He gestured to the far-off mountain range to the group’s left. “Maybe some of Trinos’ species survived the disruption.”
Suged glanced at the rocky ground all around them.
“Not like I’ve got anything better, either.” he said. “Kekris, what do you think?”
Kekris considered this, rubbing her chin similarly to Wardi.
“I do know some locations that are still active, but they’re too far away for us to reach before we die of lack of energy.” She shrugged. “Sure. Let’s just head for the mountains.”
Just then, Suged muttered, “Aha!” and started looking around some of the rocky mounds that were all over the area.
“What are you doing now?” Wardi sighed as the medic poked around the boulders. While he searched, Suged replied,
“I’ve just remembered that my Stonecrawler is hidden around here somewhere. We can travel, but let’s travel in style.”
Kekris laughed.
“Haven’t seen one of those since the disruption!” she said, “You really still have one?”
“Well, if I find the right rock, maybe you’ll find out. Aha!” Suged said again as he located a small button on one of the rocky crags. He pushed the button, and a rumbling sound was heard as the ground opened up. A shining, black and purple powerful-looking vehicle rose up out of the rocks, and Suged smiled as he laid his eyes once again upon his old, reliable Stonecrawler.
Kekris’ and Wardi’s eyes grew wide and their mouths dropped open as Suged’s grin grew.
“Well, there you go, Kekris.” the medic replied with satisfaction.

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desperately searches for OOC material

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How do you think the story’s coming along so far?

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Ah whatever here’s another one.
Chapter 13
Nardus groaned as he sat up. Well, attempted to sit up at least. He quickly found that his body was bound to where he lay by thick metal bands. He looked around. His friend Trinos was similarly bound to a table next to him. Nardus wondered why they were both held captive in this mysterious place. However, a sinister and familiar voice snapped him out of his stupor.
“Ah, so he awakens.” said Kanar.
“You!” Nardus spluttered as his memories returned to him. He struggled in vain against his bonds. Kanar chuckled.
“You won’t be able to break out of those, Nardus,” The scientist put particular venom into the name, “they are made out of focused erastum.” He grinned. Nardus grunted and swore, but stopped struggling.
“What do you want?” Nardus asked calmly. Kanar’s crazed grin grew wider.
“Stop stalling. You know what I want.” Nardus shook his head vehemently.
“Well, too bad for you because you’re never getting it.” he said resolutely. With that, he shut his mouth and refused to say anything more. Kanar’s grin turned into a frown.
“I guess I’ll just have to tear it out of you, then!” With that, he delved deep into Nardus’ mind with his mental powers. Well, attempted to at least. Nardus smiled as he felt Kanar poking around unsuccessfully in his mind, his memories blocked from the scientist’s probe.
“I thought you would remember that, old friend.” he commented sarcastically, “We’re the same species, of course I have the same powers as you.”
Kanar grunted as he withdrew his telepathy. Then, he turned his gaze to Nardus’ teammate, Trinos. The Tainian still did not stir.
An attack by Vacans can do that to you, Kanar thought as he began telepathically searching Trinos’ mind. Sensing the intrusion, Trinos abruptly awoke and began to grapple against the tough metal straps binding him to the metal table.
“AAAAAAAARRRGGHH!” he screamed, for Kanar’s mental searching was very painful as well as effective. As soon as it had started, Kanar’s quest for knowledge was over. Now that he had what he was seeking, the insane scientist’s grin returned, and he cackled maniacally to himself. Nardus looked, horrified at the treatment of his friend, unable to tell if Kanar had fractured his mind completely. He attempted his own scan of Trinos’ mind, but found that he was unable to do so.
Noticing this, Kanar chuckled.
“Focused erastum. A tricky substance. Have you already forgotten it blocks your powers, have you forgotten over the decades gone by?” He laughed crazily once again.
“Of course, I have no use for either of you now that I know the location of the disruption. In fact, I rather wish that I would never see your disgusting faces again.” Kanar called to his assistant, Verac. The multi-armed, twisted creature stepped out of the shadows, head bowed.
“Take care of these two.” the scientist said. “Make sure they don’t come back.” he continued ominously, severing the focused erastum straps with a small knife.
As soon as the bindings fell away, Verac nodded and seized the pair with all four of his arms. Nardus and Trinos attempted to struggle and break the servant’s fingers, but quickly found that his grip was solid as virasteel. Kanar grinned and cackled as he watched them being carried off, with Verac heading towards the high, rocky cliff that his facility rested on.

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I’ve found tons of out of context quotes in this one but they’re so suggestive that I fear they might not even be allowed on the site

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Can’t you just enjoy the story? :stuck_out_tongue:

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Look on the bright side, now I have to read it closely to find quotes.

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That’s true. Thank you for reading

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i agree
still good story tho

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ok here’s the next chapter
Chapter 14
“Alright, let’s look it over.” Suged said, moving next to his vehicle. The medic circled around it, his critical gaze assessing the Stonecrawler and making sure that all the components were still operational. He sighed in satisfaction.
“What is it?” Kekris asked him.
“Nothing.” he replied. “Everything appears to be in good condition, but then I guess I should have known that given it’s stayed sealed here for quite some time.”
“Alright then, let’s get going!” Kekris exclaimed, walking towards the vehicle. Her cousin, Wardi, held up a hand and said,
“Wait. Suged, does it have provisions? What’s the fuel level at?” Suged turned to the Yroi and replied,
“Oh, it has plenty of provisions. I’ve prepared the Stonecrawler for quite a long journey. Now as for fuel, it runs on icium batteries, and those won’t run out of energy for at least a century, if not more.” The medic sounded very self-assured about all this. “Since that’s out of the way, I say we should get moving as soon as possible. Who knows, the Vacans may show up again.” Wardi nodded, satisfied.
“Alright then.” was his response. Suged grinned and jumped into the driver’s seat, the cockpit opening to accommodate him. Then, he took out his activator card and inserted it into a port next to the steering controls, and the Stonecrawler hummed to life.
“Hop in.” Suged said, gesturing to the other two. “Let’s see if I still know how to operate this.” He unlocked the passenger doors, and the two Yroi complied, seating themselves in the passenger seats in the back. With that, Suged grasped the controls, the old way of driving coming back to him as he started it forward. The Stonecrawler had a purple and black paint job, with the black being the main color while the purple was an accent. The vehicle was formed in two segments, with one being the driver’s seat with all the controls to operate it, and the second being the passenger and cargo space, where Wardi and Kekris were at the time. Since both parts were connected, it was possible to go from one to the other. To move around, the Stonecrawler had a dozen mechanical legs on each segment, insectoid in appearance. Because of this, the vehicle resembled a giant mechanical centipede as it whirred and rumbled across the rocky ground.
“I’d almost forgotten how it felt to operate one of these!” Suged cried with glee from the driver’s section. Both Wardi and Kekris smiled, in spite of the situation.
“I almost forgot how it felt to be riding in one of these!” Kekris called to him, enjoying the rather jaunty movement of their transport. Meanwhile, Wardi was not so happy, as the bouncing made him feel sick.
“Suged?” he asked the driver, “do you have any, like, motion sickness bags on this thing?” Indignantly, Suged called back,
“Open the window, and don’t get it on the paint job!” With that, Wardi activated the moving window and it slid down and out of sight, unbuckling his seat belt as he did so. He leaned his head out of the gap and splattered a nearby boulder with bright orange goo, taking painstaking precision to make sure the stuff didn’t get on the Stonecrawler. He ducked his head back inside and then strapped himself back in, groaning and moving the window back up. Kekris chuckled.
“I’d also forgotten what a Yroi’s puke looked like.” She laughed again. “Well that should have you feeling better at least.” Kekris patted her cousin on the shoulder, his face still downcast.
“Yeah.” he agreed sullenly.

The rest of the journey progressed smoothly enough, with Suged only having to steer around some particularly large formations of stone jutting up out of the ground. Other than that, the Stonecrawler made good time across the barren plain and the three hadn’t yet run out of energy. Soon enough, in a few days they could see the rocky peaks of the Taina Mountains fast approaching.
“Taina Mountains ahead!” called Suged to his passengers.

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hmmm? does atobe want to tell me something?