Wyvern
Wyvern
Standing on the safe side of the enclosed paddock boundary, a brown Ferret stood, his silvery grey hair combed back. He stood, hands in pockets, watching as his most prized and important piece of his career prowled around in the deep, rocky, scrub filled depression in the hillside. She was a deep brown Wyvern, with deep green stripes adorning her leathery hide; the perfect camoflague for such terrain. Her back was rowed with masses of tall, sharp creamy white spines, and her tail ended in a brutal barbed, elongated and segmented club. Adorning her head, a set of equally impressive horns sat, the longest swept backward, the shortest forward. She stretched her winged arms and made a flapping hop onto the largest boulder, a large, yellow, slit pupilled eye swivelling to focus on her keeper. Ted sighed, watching as she settled warily onto the massive chunk of rock, wings flared, as she soaked up the early autumn sunshine. Indeed, she was an impressive sight; her bulk belying her terrifying agility and speed. But she was the last of her kind, and artifically breeding her was prooving to be more difficult than anticipated. Several members of his work force had either been roasted, crushed or eaten trying to get blood samples off of her. A Silk Moth in a long white lab coat walked up to stand beside him. The pair stood in silence for a moment, watching the Wyvern doze in the warm glow of the sun, a low, rumbling emanating from her; A Wyvern's version of purring.
''How goes the latest endeavor?'' Ted asked, finally turning his attention away from the creature.
''Not good. We've just lost the last hatchling.'' The scientist replied solemnly.
Ted pinched the bridge of his nose and heaved a frustrated sigh. This was the seventh cluster of hatchlings to have died.
''We don't know what's causing them to grow abnormally. There's either something wrong with the artificial insemination process, or something wrong with the female.''
''There's nothing wrong with her, Luke.'' Ted said, looking back at her. ''She's perfectly healthy. What we need is a male.''
''And where do you suggest we get one from?'' Luke asked, flailing his arms slightly out of frustration. ''She's the last one of her kind. All the others of her species are stuffed and wall mounted in some fat hunter's palace.''
Ted looked at Luke. He had an idea. He'd been formulating it since the tests started.
''How's the serum comming along?'' He asked.
''It's ready to be tested.'' Luke replied slowly. ''Why...?''
''We're going to get ourselves a male Wyvern.'' Ted said as he turned to head into the main building that lurked within a thick belt of trees.
Luke hurried and kept pace longside his boss.
''Do you have a willing candidate?'' He asked.
''Yes, I have a candidate. He works in our offices, is in peak physical condition and has no family or spouses to speak of.'' Ted replied, a faint smile touching his lips. ''Now, go prepare the serum. Once it's ready, come see me for your next task.''
''Yes sir.'' Luke muttered and hurried off down a side path.
Walking down the street, dressed in his best clothing, was Joe, a Silver Fox, paws stuffed firmly in his trouser pockets, thumbing a small, velveteen case he'd hidden away. There was a look of worry on his features, that was slowly turning into terror as he neared the fancy restaurant. He was wondering how the next few hours would pan out. He'd never done anything like he was about to do. Or hoped he was about to do. He was going to propose to his girlfriend, a Panda a few years younger than his thirty two years of age. What would her reaction be? Would she accept? Would she decline? If so, how would she do it? A cold knot formed in the pit of his stomach, tightening with each step he took. When the fancy restaurant came into view, he swore he was going to be ill. His paws were shaking in his pockets. Too late to turn back now. Come too far to turn back now. He looked up at the tall, tuxedo clad Panther, who watched him curiously from behind thin, round rimmed glasses.
''Sir?'' He prompted politely.
Joe's gaze wondered to the small desk the Panther was stood at and his subconscious then gave his brain a swift boot up the arse, spurring it back into action.
''Benette.'' Joe said, his tongue desperately trying to keep up with his reeling mind.
The Panther in the tuxedo nodded and gestured at the main body of the restaurant that lay beyond the large, mahogony and brass inlayed double doors.
''Table twenty five, second terrace. She is sat by the tropical fish tank.'' He said smoothly, handing Joe a slim, leather bound menu.
''Thankyou.'' He replied, taking the menu in a trembling paw and making his way through the doors and into the main dining area.
Oh god, I'm gonna die... He whined in the back of his mind as he ascended onto the second terrace, spotting Sasha, who, indeed, was sat at a two seater table, slim, crystal glass in paw, staring into the wall mounted fish tank, watching the colourful creatures go about their daily business.
''Sasha.'' He smiled.
''Joe!'' She beamed, turning abruptly in her chair and almost spilling her red wine over her silken blue dress.
She placed the glass on the table and rose from her seat, wrapping her arms around him and placing a kiss on his cheek.
''I thought you weren't gonna make it.'' She said, re-settling in her chair as Joe took his own up, opposite her.
''Sorry sweetheart. Had more paperwork than I initially thought.'' He apologised.
Sasha smiled. ''No need to apologise. I know the feeling. My inbox was stacked higher than Everest this morning.'' She smiled sweetly.
Joe felt a little bit of himself melt under the warmth of that smile. Across the second terrace, a waiter was serving, weaving in and out of tables, darting in and out of the kitchen. Joe dismissed the feeling of familiarity that seemed to radiate from the man and returned his attentions to Sasha.
''Sasha.'' He said hesitantly. Sasha placed her menu neatly on the table and looked at him intently, ears perked.
''What's the matter, hun?'' She asked.
''It's about our relationship.'' He fumbled.
''Oh god.'' She muttered. ''You want to end it, don't you?'' She said miserably.
''What?'' Joe blurted rather unexpectedly. ''No! No, no, no, no. Of course not!'' He reassured. Then he swallowed hard, dreading the next part. ''I was hoping, y'know. If you wanted to take it further...''
Sasha looked mildly puzzled for a moment, then her eyes lit up. Joe noticed, and decided to seize the moment, something he rarely did.
''Will you marry me?'' He asked suddenly, producing the deep red ring case from his pocket and flicking the lid open to reveal the silver band with the three crystals that were embedded into it.
Sasha gaped. Joe went tense to the point of almost pulling a muscle. Then she grinned broadly.
''Yes!''
The purest feeling of relief flooded Joe's system and he let out a long breath. Removing the ring from its cushioned case, he gently took her left paw and slid the ring onto her ring finger.
''Perfect fit.'' He smiled as Sasha admired it more closely, her green eyes glistening wetly.
A Silk Moth suddenly appeared at their table, grinning broadly. He bore two glasses of deep red wine.
''My apologies sir, madam.'' He said. ''But upon serving the table behind, I happened to overhear you little, er, discussion. And as a congradulations, I would like to offer you both a taste of our finest wine.'' He smiled, placing the two, finely cut glasses on the table before them.
''Oh, thankyou!'' Shasha beamed, genuinely happy.
''It is my pleasure, miss.'' The waiter replied, with a slight bow. ''If you require anything, all you need to do is ask.''
With that, the Silk Moth hurried back into the kitchen picking up an armful of dirty plates on the way, leaving the pleasantly surprised couple behind.
Luke stood in the alley behind the restaurant, undoing his tie, mobile phone pressed against an ear.
''Ted?'' He spoke almost quietly into the mouth piece. ''He's just drank it.''
''You sure?'' Came Ted's voice from some miles away.
''Yes. I watched him drink it through a port window in one of the kitchen doors.''
''Excellent work. Keep me informed. I'll have a team prepared and on stand-by.'' Ted replied.
The line clicked dead. Luke pushed the green answer button again on his phone to hang up and tucked the small device away into a pocket. He sighed. He didn't feel excellent, having just potentially ruined the future of an otherwise perfectly happy couple.
Joe leaned against the cold brick wall of Sasha's house. His head buzzed and he felt horribly bloated. He sucked in lungful after lungful of cool night air. Sasha unlocked her door, prodding it open.
''Are you okay, Joe, hunny?'' She asked worridly, descending the three steps that led to her front door.
''That fancy wine ain't sitting right...'' He mumbled, rubbing at his gurgling stomach.
''Mph. You're staying with me tonight. C'mon.'' She said, ushering him inside, closing and locking the door behind them.
They stepped through the inner door out of the porch and into the lightly decorated living room.
''Sorry. Really gotta sit down.'' He grumbled, rubbing a hand across his forehead.
He wandered unsteadily across to the couch and sat down heavily. He was starting to feel hot and the whites, greys and creams of the living room decor started to swirl and dance irritably around him.
''I'll go get you a drink of water.'' Sasha said, feeling his forehead. ''And a doctor.''
She walked into the kitchen and pulled a glass from the cupboard and filled it with cold water. When she came back into the living room, Joe was passed out on the couch, snoring lightly. She pulled a face, then placed the glass of water on the coffee table before proceeding to try and make her new fiancee more comfortable, pulling his legs onto the sofa and putting the thin, white throw over him as a make shift cover.
It was the early hours of the morning when Joe awoke with a splitting headache, paws clutching his head and sitting up with a pained groan. He panted heavily, his breaths comming short. He felt like he was on fire. He pulled his shirt and trousers off, Sasha apparently already having removed his shoes, placing them by the fire place. The room was swirling and dancing around him, mocking his senses. He could hear Sasha upstairs, her light snores, her movements in bed, her heartbeat... He pulled himself to his feet, only to fall back down, knocking the glass of un-touched water off the coffee table, the glass tumbler smashing on the white marble hearth of the electric fire place. Through the pounding in his ears he heard Sasha stir. He heard her grumbled something, yawn then her feet hit the bedroom floor with a dull thump. Joe let out a gasp as his back arched painfully, skin rippling uncertainly beneath his thinning fur. His entire skeleton felt as if it was trying to escape his body. His fingers lengthened and he started to malt his grey and black fur, hair by hair, clump by clump. He whimpered then cried out. The pain was unbearable. He had no idea what was happening. He dimly saw Sasha standing at the bottom of the stairs. His vision blurred harshly then cleared to a crystal clarity.
He could now see colours he never knew existed. He whimpered as spikes forced their way through his flesh down his lengthening spine, splitting through skin. His arms grew longer too. Muscles rippled, skin tore and his skull stretched and contracted, taking on a new form. He heard Sasha scream. Joe reeled at the horrible, ear drum splitting sound and something within him snapped. He twisted his painfully contorting body, a jet of hot flame erupting from his maw. There was a terrible screech and moments later, after hopelessly flailing, trying to put herself out, Sasha fell to the floor as a smouldering, blackened carcass. Joe let out a half Humanimal and half monster cry of agony. His bones cracked, split and reformed, stretching and shortening as his muscles rippled and the rest of his fur shed away onto the torn up carpet beneath him. His longer, much more powerful tail whipped out, slashing the couch apart as he writhed into a new shape, the skin on his arms and between his fingers stretching and discolouring, turning deep brown and green. Horns pushed through his now deformed skull and his teeth were larger, stronger.
There was a hammering on the front door and several shouts. Joe roared irritably, almost gagging as his neck stretched out. By the time the sirens pulled up outside the house, Joe was filling the living room to capacity, head striking the ceiling light with each move he made. Beneath him, the furniture was crushed, shattered and broken, the carpet horribly scarred and torn up beneath his clawed feet. The pain had finally subsided, vanished along with most of his saner, more civil thoughts. All he felt at this moment now, was the need to secure territory, to hunt for food and the need to mate. The front door and the porch door were battered down by a group of police in armour. They looked at Sasha's smouldering remains then at the Wyvern that hogged the living room space.
''I thought the last of those fuckers were killed last year...'' Muttered one of the officers.
Joe let out a roar. No time to contemplate how the Wyvern got into someone's house. The coppers were already half way back to their armoured vehicles by the time the last notes of anger had left Joe's fanged maw. He surged forward, breaking through the wall of the house, the rest of the building's front collapsing as its support was snatched away from it. Joe lumbered awkwardly out into the street, confusion swirling in his brain.
He knew he'd been doing something there, but what? There was a small flash as someone took a picture. Joe squinted, shook his head and turned, baring his large teeth at the purpotrator. The teenager squeeked something and hid in a bush. Joe inhaled deeply and a jet of fire ignited the bushes. The gathered crowd in the street snapped out of their stupour, panicked and ran in every direction possible, screaming. The noise and commotion only served to anger him further. He reared up, flapping his massive wings and roared as loud as possible. He knew he wanted to do something with these limbs he was currently flailing, but he couldn't quite figure what it was he wanted to do with them. He hunched down onto all fours again, snarled and lumbered off down the street, slowly gaining speed, giving the odd flap of his wings and a hop as he did so. As he neared the end of the street, he finally became airborne, flapping hard, gaining altitude as fast as possible. He soared clumsily over the roof of a house, his unusually heavy tail slapping hard against a chimney pot, toppling it over and through the roof of the abode. Joe's roar of triumph echoed through the darkness. Below, he could hear the squeel of tyres on damp tarmac. He dared a look down. Following him in the streets below was a line of black, heavily armoured military style trucks.
Several of them had large guns mounted on the rooves. A hatch on the back of the lead truck opened and suddenly his nostrils were filled with the tantallising scent of a female. He momentarily lost concentration on his new found flying ability and inadvertantly started descending. Several sharp pricks to his body and he roared angrily, fire jetting down into the street below. The trucks swerved. Joe felt light headed and his muscles started to relax. He continued to lose what little altitude he'd gained. Then something cold and tough wrapped around his neck. He flailed feebly and the tarmac came up faster than it should have. He hit road hard, sliding across the tarmac face first. The black vehicles manuvered to surround him. He tried to stand up, but his legs felt weak. He made an odd mumbling sound, as if trying to speak, then he fell. Forcing his eyes to stay open, he took note of the lorry that trundled around the corner. It had a sturdy cage as a trailer. Men in thick armour surrounded him, long harpoon styled weapons pointed at him. He mumbled again, a puff os grey smoke escaping his nostrils. Then darkness swallowed him.
When he came to, his head spun. He blinked hard and lifted his head. His thoughts were much clearer now, though he still felt the mildly overpowering need to secure territory, feed and mate, but as far as he was concerned, he was still Joe. He grumbled something and yawned. He couldn't remember what happened last night. Tried, but failed. Everything was a screen of black mist after leaving the fancy restaurant. He sat on his heels and looked at his surroundings. He was in a large paddock of some sort. There was a protective dome surrounding it. A trickle of water ran down next to him and he groggily looked over the edge of the rock he was sat on, looking at his reflection in the clear pool of water. He gave growling yelp and fell over, trying to escape his image, completely unaware that he was being watched. He flapped and hopped across the rocky and shrub filled terrain in a rather clumsy fashion, finally comming to rest in a small cave that he could just barely fit in. He looked around with wide, yellow slit pupilled eyes. Then he slowly looked down at himself. He was definately no longer a Silver Fox. He panicked.
Then he heard a gate open on the opposite side of the paddock. There was a roar and the sound of wings beating. He watched as a female Wyvern landed on the largest boulder in the paddock a few yards away from him. All thoughts of panic and of being Joe evaporated as a familiar scent drifted across to him. He looked the female over, his libido and the Wyvern within taking ahold. Stretching his neck and tensing his muscles as much as he could, he walked out into light, dewlap hanging loose and flushing a vivid red. The female looked at the newcommer and lowered her head, giving a low, grumbling hiss. Joe rattle his tail tip, the segmented pieces of barbed tail smacking together like a bone rattle. A low thrum emanated from his chest and the female looked on in curiosity. Joe kept the display up, stretching his winged arms. The female let out a puff of smoke and hopped toward him, circling him and eyeing him up. After a thorough inspection of the new male, she finally circled back around infront of him, turning her back on him and hunching her fore down, raising her tail in presentation. She'd accepted Joe as her new mate by revealing her moistening readiness. Joe's body reacted in a similar fashion; a long, thick ridged cylinder of hardening flesh sliding out from the bulbouse slit between his legs.
He made an awkward attempt at mounting her, sliding from her smooth rump, unable to get a grip on the strange terrain beneath him. The female grunted impatience. Her scent filled his nostrils. He wanted to do this so badly, his new found body crying out for relief. She looked over her shoulder and waved her tail at him. Joe snorted determination and tried again, this time mounting her successfully, winged arms wrapping around her waist, his hips girating, the tip of his erection brushing against her, seeking that all too welcoming slit. After a moment's fumbling, he finally pushed forward, sliding into the heat he'd been seeking. The female let out a long, low thrumming, a stream of smoke leaving her nostrils. Joe moaned, his voice more Wyvern than Silver Fox as he pulled back slightly before pushing back in again, the female tightening up with each ridge that was pushed into her. Stood on the safe side of the paddock boundaries, a Ferret and Silk Moth watched the mating with interest.
''I wasn't expecting her to take to him so quickly.'' Ted mused, stroking a thumb across his chin.
''I wasn't expecting the change to happen so quickly.'' Luke, the Silk Moth replied absently.
''If this goes well, we shall have to set about creating a serum for the other near extinct and extinct species. See if we can't bring some life to this little planet of ours, eh?'' Ted said, slapping Luke on the back, a smile dominating his features. ''Keep me informed, Luke, and if all goes well, you can have that promotion and rise.''
Luke sighed as he continued to write his notes. Ted walked off toward the main building, quite satisfied with the morning's results.