Episode 8: Spike

Please Note: This story is, so far, probably the goriest (but it really isn’t that bad), most heartwrenching (see above parenthesis) story of mine. And it contains the strongest language. So beware.

        Blu looked at the horrid thing outside the window. She watched it with morbid fascination; its bushy ears and tail, its wicked fanged grin and its three eyes.

        "Blu, c'mere," Trixxy called.

        "No wait, this thing is evil."

        "Right! So c'mere!"

        Blu couldn't break her gaze from the hideous three eyed koala. Its three eyes were oriented on her as it munched on the purple branch of Canahigh. When it finished eating the branch it would slowly reach for another, never taking its eyes of her, and in between branches it would grin with its fangs.

        "Erk!" Blu was suddenly yanked by the wing backwards.

        "This way!" Trixxy called, hopping off down the hall of her family's two-story farm. Blu watched after the window and could have sworn that the koala was laughing.

        "...Trixxy, I don't see why I have to BE at the Grand Opening of the newest Canahigh tree," Blu whined as she followed Trixxy out into the orchard. The smell of the Canahigh was almost intoxicating; sweet but not sickening. That was the addictive thing about it; with human sugar or any other sweet thing, you could get sick of it. But not Canahigh.

        "It's very special," Trixxy urged. She almost blended into the purple trees and surroundings.

        "I-"

        --IMPORTANT MESSAGE FOR BLU FLYER-- her TDT blared. --RESPOND IMMEDIATELY--

        Blu stopped and took out her TDT.

        "Yeah, Flyer here," she said, wondering what was wrong.

        --TRANSFERRING...--

        "Blu Flyer??" A panicky voice was whispering over the comm.

        "Ayeah?"

        "Ms. Flyer, you are desperately needed at Aliroo Base M-17..."

        "M-17? The medlab studying xenomorphs?"

        "Exactly...please...there's been a terrible accident..."

        Blu was about to ask what was wrong when she heard a steady, hissing breath. There was the Aliroo on the other end whimpering. Blu frowned, her face twisted in a look of anticipated torment. There was more hissing, and than a sharp *KTCH,* and Blu knew the Roo was dead. There was the creaking of xenomorph limbs, and then an echoing metallic sound as the thing left.

        Blu turned to Trixxy. "Something's wrong at M-17," she said. That was bad. She had founded M-17 in an attempt to learn more about the xenomorphs that those humans had discovered. The xenos were intelligent, and if more was learned about them, they would make a powerful ally. However, being a parasitic alien, the xenos didn't really have any technology of their own. But still...

        "M-17? The Xenolab? The funky alien hacker post?"

        Blu nodded. "I really have to go. Sorry Trix."

        "I know, I know," she said, "Blu has to go be alien-slayer again, huh?"

        Blu nodded again. Without another word she flashed off to M-17.

**

        M-17 was a spaceport designed like an Embassy, hovering above LV4-26, the first human planet to have encountered the xenomorph. Well, the alien didn't really have a name, "Xenomorph" was simply the term used for it. "Alien" or "Mother Fucker" would work just as well, but Xenomorph was better.

        The base was smaller than most Embassies; there were after all only a few Roos who had volunteered to do the research. Research on the xenomorph biology, habits, etc...Trying to determine xeno history...

        Blu immediately crouched as she appeared in the main transport area of the base. The lights were flickering, there was blood on the floor and walls, a dead Aliroo lying on the transporter pad next to her...He was holding a gun and a TDT...hoping to transport?

        There were holes in the floor, as if they had been melted. The green must have opened fire on the xeno before he died...Blu nodded and hefted the gun from the Roo. "Thanks pal."

        Blu knew the layout of the base like the back of her paw; she HAD designed it after all. Being one of the very few Roos (un?)lucky enough to know about xenos, the base had been designed for easy evacuation and safety. There were no metal conduits in the floor, walls or ceiling. There were no crevices for a xeno to hide in. There were no idiots with The Company, trying to exploit the xenomorphs...And there were plenty of firearms everywhere. The ceilings had voltage charging through them; there was no need to worry about xenos falling on you. All the halls were well-lit. Except for now; the power was almost out.

        She stepped up to the nearest console, after following a hallway and picking up flares and a few nifty charges. She holstered her gun on her back and grabbed a flamethrower. She also shifted to klingon-form, the best bi-pedal small species with opposable thumbs and good hearing. She slung the belt of charges and flares around her waist. And now...to find that alien...

        The first place she visited was the mess hall. She frowned. This wasn't good.

        A few Roos were simply coccooned into the wall, others were lying dismantled all over the room. Uneaten food and drinks were everywhere...yuck. Blu knew that any normal person might break down and cry, or at least throw up...and (un?)fortunately she didn't feel the slightest inclination to do either. She was quite pissed, however...these were prestigious scientists and now they were dead. She didn't recognize any of these ones, but she was afraid of finding Dr. Alcon. Especially if he was dead.

        The next room was the preservation area. Xenomorphs of all kinds hovered in suspension. She looked at the dog-alien, marvelling at it's anatomy; how fast and able it was. And the horde-alien, the one that would guard a queen...with it's four arms and wicked tail... There was even a Queen hovering in one of the tanks. They were all dead however, but in preservation.

        Blu whipped around as she heard something move. She backed up, trying to get her back against a wall. There was an almost indecipherable clicking that she heard and she couldn't place it. It reminded her of a Velociraptor clicking it's nychus claw.

        She darted around again, hearing the clicking noise behind her now. She was slowly making her way to the door on the other end of the suspension chambers, and she continually re-aimed her firearm as she backed towards it.

        Something wobbled behind the liquid suspension tank holding a dead face-hugger. Blu squinted, trying to make out the shape, but couldn't. But there was something there. She didn't want to change form, that would mean dropping her weapons. But...she didn't want to die either. So she backed to the wall and held the flamethrower ready. And she stood there, waiting. There were dead xenos in the chambers, and one live one sitting right over there...The suspense was killing her!

        Blu rolled her eyes and shifted her hold on the gun. Finally she bit her lip and walked cautiously towards the thing...

        She froze as soon as she saw it. The thing twisted it's oblong head in her direction.

        The xenomorph crouched there was deep black and mirror-like. It's head wasn't as long as most xenos, and it had several ridges on the top. It's teeth showed silvery, like hematite. Like other xenos, it had no eyes... It's neck was short and curved up, and it had a long heavy tail. There was a strange bony ridge that stretched from it's shoulder to it's hip, where the ridge split from the body and jagged out behind like a needle. Its hind legs were bent back and strong, it had irregularly long feet ending in the traditional four-toed finger-like foot, with the two middle toes melded together. Its forearms were smaller and armed with tiny claws. It had bony spikes protruding along it's back and it's tail ended in a razor-looking wedge. Blu gulped. It was a xeno-roo.

        She stepped back from the creature, which was gazing intently at her. She wondered if it was like the other xenos, intent on killing, reproducing and surviving. She never relaxed her grip on the gun, however, and that was a good thing, because only moments later the thing jumped.

        It had a powerful jump, and ran head on into her. Blu bunched her legs over her chest to keep the thing at bay, while it raked it's laws on her shoulders. She gritted her teeth and jammed the barrel of the flamethrower beneath the xenoroo's chin and pulled the trigger. A rush of fire flew over the hissing xenoroo..

        Unfortunately it didn't do much.

        The xenoroo screeched and flailed its claws. Blu kicked hard and sent it flying across the room, smashing into a tank. The force field buzzed but fortunately didn't give way, and the xenoroo crouched, stunned temporarily. Blu scrambled to a similar crouch and set the flamethrower on the floor. She quickly un holstered the gun and aimed it. She didn't particularly want to kill the thing; it was the only xeno-aliroo...uh..xenoroo...alive. Ever.

        But there was no time. The xenoroo hissed and lashed it's tail at her. She lifted a foot and managed to block the blade just in time. The sharp edge sunk into the thick sole of her boot. The xenoroo yanked it out, hopping to face her. She gave it one last chance.

        The xenoroo looked at her. Its mouth opened in a silvertoothed grin and it crouched lower. Blu kept the gun pointed at it's head. She knew if she shot it, acid would be everywhere. And that really wasn't good, it would be dead. But...She shrugged. This thing might be unique, but Blu was unique too and she had the gun. She stood up.

        It hadn't learned. It hissed, spraying drool on her, and thrust its head forward like the bull-xeno. Blu held her foot up to hold it. There was a snap as the xeno charged her other foot with it's mouth and her other foot bloodied; she fell on her ass and fired the gun into the xenoroo's chest. Her foot throbbed, but she ignored it for now. If this thing decided to acid-bleed on her, it would be...a bad thing.

        There was acid. Blu took the opportunity to shift into a dragonfly, and darted out of the way, begrudgingly leaving the weapons behind. Soon enough there was a rapidly growing hole in the floor. One of the nearby tanks was struck at the control panel, and the force field flickered out, letting the novacain-smelling liquid gush out onto the floor. Where acid met liquid, there was steam and mist and fog; soon the room was cloudy and Blu hovered in the air. When the air cleared, there was a hole in the floor and no xenoroo.

        Blu returned to klingon-form and retrieved her weapons. She looked around, kicked at the rubbery face hugger laying on the ground with her good foot, and somewhat limped on her way towards the main lab, where hopefully she could access computers and find out what the hell was going on.

        There was no more xenoroo on the way, there was no xenoroo in the lab. There was a silvery blue Roo with his head punched in, however. He had an open TDT in his paw, and the screen read, "Communication trunciated due to idle link." Blu shivered. This was the guy who had called for help.

        Blu looked around, and located a bedsheet and gingerly covered the blue. Normally she didn't have much sympathy for the dead; Hell, they'd died and found their Tower, they were at peace. And if not..well..they were dead for crying out loud.

        Taking a breath, she made her way to the main computer and locked the doors. There was no way the xeno could come through...unless it used its blood to melt a hole in the wall. She never set down her gun, anyways.

        the computer flickered to life.

        "Computer, access Dr. Alcon's latest logs to his TDT."

        "Authorization?"

        "Blu Flyer, you know me," Blu held still as a white beam of light tested her ICF.        

        "Processing..."

**

        5/29 Standard: We've finally found a living egg pod. Two, in fact. They were rescued from the Fury Penitentiary, found frozen in a reservation slide. The men there hid them from the Company when they found them, and we bought the pods from them. We brought the pods to the quarantined area. They are in perfect condition.

        Supplemental: While examining the egg, Dr. Canness noted that one of the pods was moving. We got her out and watched as the pod shivered to life. We're currently running scans and tests.

        5/30 Standard: Tests complete. We've determined that we have here two drone facehuggers...we already knew that the Queen facehugger was planted on the ship or old friend Ripley used to escape from LV4-26 with Sgt. Hicks, a small girl and an android, designation Bishop. The Queen of that hive was destroyed. So we have here to LV4-26 babies.

        Supplemental: Dr. Canness is in danger. If she survives, she will surely be court marshalled! Against orders she visited the pods and was attached to a facehugger. She is currently under quarantine; we know enough about the xenomorph to know what will happen next. We have only 12 hours to finish our experimental xenomorph removal procedure, which we have been working on for a while now. It is no where near being complete, we can only hope that Canness won't be killed for her foolishness.

        Supplemental: No luck. Today we witnessed our first live chestburster, at the behalf of a good scientist. The procedure was ineffective. I-"

        "Computer, pause," Blu said. "Where's the information on this procedure?"

        "Accessing...Procedure information in local computers. Access?"

        "No. That's good. Continue."

        "- wish we could have saved her, but the procedure was not done yet and we didn't have anything that could help. Not even surgery would remove THIS little bugger.

        Supplemental: The chestburster coils in the room that we have contained it in. It repeatedly attempts to break the wall. We have set up a level 4 force field in the walls, as they were meant for."

        "Damn you," Blu shook her head, "Damn! I told you level 10 for xenos!" She shook her head and continued reading.

        "Supplemental: The chestburster has shed its skin. It now resembles an Aliroo faintly, in the xenomorphic way. It is still small, but rapidly growing.

        5/31 Standard: I went to check on the xenomorph today, but it has left! There is an acid-melted hole in the floor, and the force field is down. Blu Flyer will have me beheaded for this. We hope to recapture the xeno before we tell her."

        Blu's jaw hung open in disbelief. "You sonuva bitch!" She screamed at the dead Roo. He didn't say anything. She frowned. "Damn straight!"

        "Supplemental: The xenomorph has disabled the audio command matrix, now the computer only responds to less than half the crew. Our sensors show the xeno has holed up in main engineering.

        Supplemental: While we were discussing course of action, we received a distress call from the lab. When we arrived, the doctors there had been killed and the egg-pod had disappeared. We sent a band of Roos to engineering...they haven't returned.

        6/1 Standard: I fear it is time to call quits. The xenomorph raided our "camp" last night and killed off all but myself and Mr. Macksel. He is headed for the transporter padd, I am returning to the lab to retrieve artifacts in the case that this base will be nuked. I will have to call Ms. Flyer after all, if we are to survive. I regret that I hadn't sooner."

        Blu shook her head in disbelief. "Inconceivable! Damn you!" She glared at the covered Roo. Then she set her hands on her hips, biting her lip and deciding "what now?"

        The xenoroo wasn't a queen, it was a drone. That means that there was only one xeno on the ship, not including the dead ones. There was also a pod; which meant that if the xenoroo let the pod hatch and hug some faces, there might eventually be two. She frowned. Her hand felt an empty spot at her belt and she became distracted. She looked down and frowned again. One of her Pokéballs was missing. Her heart almost stopped when she realized it was Miller's.

        "Fuck!" She grabbed her guns and headed back out to the preservation hall. She poked at the hole in the floor, and, satisfied that it wasn't still acidic, leaned down and looked through the few stories the acid had dripped (in the movie I think it melted at least 3 floors). Something white and blue glinted at the very bottom. An open Pokéball. Blu muttered something incoherent that would have made a harpy blush, gathered her guns and took out her TDT.

        "TDT, place an active location mark on the xenomorph on Science Lab M-17."

        --Complete--

        Blu smiled grimly. There was a blueprint map of the base shining from the VSL, and a red blinking dot in main engineering. Blu conjured a roll of duct tape and taped the TDT to the back of her wrist, shouldered the gun and jumped through the hole in the floor.

        She was airborne temporarily, and hit the deck below with a heavy thud. She immediately sighted the gun around, but didn't see the xenoroo. She cautiously stalked forward, to where the silver stone would be. Hopefully she could knock it back into orbit and make the lights come back on...

        The chamber where the silver stone spun was on its side, half the many wired connected to the statically buzzing chamber disconnected. Blu placed the chamber back on the pedestal, and worked hurriedly to reconnect the wires. She had only a few more to go when she froze, hearing a distant whimpering. A doggy whining. She knew it was Miller and her stomach lurched. She stuck the rest of the wires in, and slowly the ship hummed back to life. The silvery lights on the walls and ceiling came back on. Blu was about to continue in her quest for her faithful pet, when she heard a creak up and behind her.

        Blu shipped around and found herself aiming at the xenoroo. It was on a balcony above her, crouched on the banister. She watched, waiting for it to jump. The arched a brow as she heard a scratchy *pop* and then a sickening twisting noise.

        The needle-like bones running the length of its body began to peal away, and finally they rose up above its back, attached to its "shoulders" by two bony arms. There was another rip, and needle-sharp fingers shot from the first boney "primary." The things flapped its wings and a webbing of skin grew rapidly over the wing-fingers. Blu watched in interest as the xenoroo screeched at her. She frowned. It leapt off the balcony, spreading its wings and gliding towards her, razorsharp toe-claws extended. Blu opened fire, dodging to the side as a downpour of alien drool and acid showered down. She unstrapped the phaser and tried that...but to no avail. She shrugged quickly, unslinging the flamethrower as well. Rapid fire guns worked well too. She battered the thing, feeling only a tiny pang of guilt as it flailed about one last time.

        Finally, it was dead. Blu shook her head. Not much of a xenomorph. Then again, she wasn't really the unsuspecting prey it was used to. The doctors were thinkers, not killers.

        Blu looked at it, a heap of black bones. She leaned in, and only realized it wasn't dead too late.

        There was a lash, and the alien's tail whipped up in a last attack, striking her full on the shoulder and dragging across her collar bone. It lost momentum as it passed her sternum, and remained embedded in her klingon-ish chestplate. As if that wasn't enough, the tail suddenly spiked, driving needle-sharp spined into her shoulder. She could feel something like acid or venom seeping in. And it hurt like hell.

        Blu hissed in pain and jerked haphazardly away from the dying xenomorph, clenching her shoulder with her free hand. Something neon green was dripping out with a rush of blood. She winced, shouldered the flamethrower one-handedly and torched the xenoroo. A wave of backlash heat struck her and she staggered backward, nearly falling. Eventually the flamethrower sputtered and gave out. She pulled the trigger a few times, to no avail.

        Her foot still hurt. Where the hell was the sickbay when you needed it.

        Blu's breath was ragged as she dropped the spent flamethrower to the ground. She ran a hand against her klingon-ridged brow, and shifted to human form. For some reason she healed best in humanform and rooform. Weird. Also, the xenomorph had started on fire, and klingon bodies were extremely sensitive to temperature. Especially cold, but the heat wasn't helping, either. Vulcans could stand heat. She shifted to vulcan form. Whee, she thought unenthusiastically.

        She conjured a sling and handled the other gun in her left hand, the right practically useless now. She clenched her jaws and willed her body to fix itself. An attempt to draw her right hand into a fist only resulted in a tremor of pain shooting through her shoulder and collar. Also, if she breathed too deeply, her shoulder hurt. And now her body was suffering a minor lack of oxygen. Grrrrreat. She was half tempted to flash home. No, Miller had to be found..

        "Mills...mills honey, where are ya?" She called faintly. She heard more whimpering. She trudged in that direction, stumbling over fallen rafters and dead Aliroo bodies. She blinked; her vision was beginning to fuzz. This was probably bad. She knew she was bleeding an awful lot. Her footing wavered. Oh c'mon, she told herself, you've been sliced, stabbed, shot, burnt, eaten alive...

        Her vision wavered. She tripped over a body and stumbled forward, slung arm lurching forward and hurting. But she blinked again and saw something blue up ahead. She also saw something brownish scuttle away. Oh shit.

        Blu made her way to Miller, who was presently encased in slime. He looked sick, his fur was matted down, he had an acid burn on his front paw. Blu blinked and kept herself conscious enough to break him from the casing and flash to the lab on AHQ.

        "Blu!" Cobalt dropped the little device he had been tinkering with to rush to Blu. He ran a hand along her neck, feeling her pulse, which she knew was thready. She fell to her knees, but began to grin. Her grin faded and was replaced with a look of concern.

        "Co...he," she coughed and sank further to the floor, holding herself up with the corner of the lab table, "He's got a xeno inside. Quarantine him. Please Co..you gotta save.." Blu was beginning to be very dizzy. The room swayed and spun. She shook her head, but that didn't help. "Access the..M-17 database..they had..a procedure in the making to help." That was all she could take. She faintly remembered Cobalt calling something out the door. Brain russsssssh....

**

        Light. Light. Ack!

        "ACK!" Blu raised her arm to block the blinding light, but found it tethered to her side. She pulled at the band.

        A light hand rested on her shoulder and she squinted up to see who it was. She blinked; the light was almost blinding, but she managed to make out Lance's figure against the light.

        "Lance! What the -"

        "Quiet, Blu," Lance said sternly.

        Blu shut up. She looked around. Finally, after what seemed hours, the light flickered off. Lance's hand never left her shoulder. She blinked, trying to get the ghostly aftermath of the light from her eyes. Lance finally moved and took the band off her wrist and helped her sit up. She rubbed at her eyes quickly, then at her wrists. She felt her right shoulder; completely sewn up. only a thin bit of scar tissue. Blu prided herself for her ability to stay in a form for a long time; she was still in a vulcan form.

        "What happened?" She asked.

        She saw another figure approach, this one in a human form with a light build. "Co.." she started. She swung her legs around the medbed. Then she remembered and stood up. "What happened to Miller? Is he okay? Did you get the thing-" Cobalt took a hand and pushed her back onto the bed.

        "Did you??"

        Cobalt closed his eyes temporarily. "No."

        Blu waited for him to say he was joking. His cool green eyes simply said it was the truth.

        Blu stood up and grabbed him by the shoulders. "Take me to him."

        "Blu..."

        "Back off Lance."

        Cobalt nodded solemnly. He walked down the corridor to main AHQ sickbay. In the brigg beside Justynn was Miller, standing inside, looking happy, and wagging his tails.

        "How long was I out..?"

        "5 hours."

        "FIVE hours?? WHY?"

        Cobalt crossed his arms. "Whatever happened to you happened to your arm. It totally ripped the muscles, crushed the bone. Injected acid into your shoulder and embedded five four inch spines in the muscle tissue."

        Blu's eyes widened. She rubbed her shoulder with her other hand. And coughed. "So what did you do?"

        Cobalt shrugged. "Some of the needles didn't come out. They were pretty much melted into the muscle and bone. We got two out. We healed the wounds, you had a blood transplant from Jace, and we couldn't get the other needles out. We had to replace some of the bone. Your body healed the rest."

        Blu stared. She flexed her arm, clenched her fist, rotated her shoulder. It felt fine. "So how much of it is xeno?"

        "Not a lot. There's nothing in your blood, just some fragments and those spikes in your shoulder."

        Blu shook her head. Grrrrreat. She turned her attention back to Miller. He was still standing there, oblivious (think Santa's Little Helper).

        "You tried everything?"

        Cobalt nodded. "Surgery..damned thing wouldn't come out."

        Blu took a deep breath. "Open the field."

        Cobalt didn't protest; he keyed at the console and the field flickered out. Blu stepped inside and sat down with her back against the wall. Miller was as happy as ever, slobbering all over her and jumping and smelling like a dog. She smiled sedatedly and scruffled his fur. Finally she leaned back and he curled up beside her, resting his head on her knee. Something was stuck in the back of her throat. The last time she'd felt that feeling had been after Lance had drove his ship into Wolf's on Venom.

        She sniffed and scratched the Ninetales' ear. She closed her eyes and pulled him onto her lap, hugging him. He squirmed with delight and licked her face. After a while he became still. Blu bit her lip, now was the time. She closed her eyes and took a breath, hugging him closer.

        "Be brave, hon," she whispered.

        He began to whine. His ears lay back. He began to tremble.

        "Cobalt," Blu called, "I want him put to sleep now."

        Cobalt was fast and quiet, and soon Miller's whimpering ceased, his convulsions ebbed and his eyes closed. Blu had her eyes closed as well, taking steady, deep breaths.

        "Now get out and erect a level 10 field around this cell."

        Cobalt nodded silently. There was a buzz and a hum. Blu set her Pokémon's body on the ground and stood up. She conjured a small hand gun and took aim with a traditional teacup grip.

        There was a crunching. Blu couldn't close her eyes lest she miss her aim. She held the gun's point aimed at the upper chest.

        Then it happened.

        There was a rip and a spurt of blood. A small blue snakey thing had appeared. It wriggled out of the fox's rib cage and sat, coiled in a pool of blood, gazing eyelessly around the cell. Blu took aim and began to squeeze the trigger. The chestburster's silvery teeth dripped with a mixture of drool and blood. It was covered in some sort of pinkish mucus. Blu saw it didn't look quite like the other chestbursters she'd killed.

        It was a bright blue color. It's teeth were bent in a grin and instead of being snakelike, its tail split into two separate tails, each ending in a scissor-like fork.

        Blu realized her aim had dropped. This thing had killed her dog, now it was going to die. She took aim again, but found that her kill and destroy sequence wavered as she watched the chestburster slither out of the pinkish membrane and approach the force field. It ran right into it and backed off, shaking its head. Then it turned and faced her again. She looked back at it. It then opened its tiny mouth, and she thought it would hiss in true chest burster fashion, but instead it stuck out a long, forked, blue tongue and drooled.

**Some time later...I'd say about 6 or 7 Cycles

        "You'll be fine!" Trixxy patted Vail heartily on the back and turned back to Tiel, Kari, Spumoni and Elenesh. "Let's go! I know of this place where..."

        Vail turned and slammed a fist into the wall. It rattled and several passing Roos looked at him. He shrunk just a little bit then, and walked sheepishly back into the Council room. He sat in a chair and looked at the box on the table. That thing scared him. He decided that he didn't really want to be in the same room as it. So he got up and approached the door that led to Blu's office.

        The door was open and he stepped in, sitting on the cushy couch at the far wall. After a while of trying to figure out what he was going to do, he suddenly heard a strong cadence like some marcher on a mission. He timidly opened the door and saw Blu walking down the hallway with a bag slung over her shoulder. She was in Pokéform, had her shades pushed all the way to the bridge of her nose. Her hair was a bit disheveled, and her mouth said "don't mess with me."

        Vail quickly darted back into the room and tried to look casual as Blu fairly stormed into her office, dumping the bag on the floor.

        "Hello Vail. Don't move."

        The last time she had told him not to move, she had thrown knives at his head.

        He didn't move.

        Blu took a baretta-looking gun from the back of her inner back holster and held it casually. Whatever was in the bag was about the size of a Ninetales and suddenly it squirmed.

        Vail jumped. Blu glared at him. "Don't...MOVE."

        He nodded and looked at the bag. Blu was standing over it with a hand on her hip. She had the sleeveless Team Flyer shirt on, and something black and needle-shaped was just barely visible beneath the skin on her right shoulder. Vail would have asked what it was, but suddenly a monster popped out of the bag.

        The creature had a vaguely teardrop shaped head, with four ridges on the top. It had silvery teeth that seemed turned up in a grin. If it had had fur, Vail guessed it would look very much like a ninetales...It stood on your legs, muscular and thin and fast all at the same time. It had two bony spikes on it's rear, two hands in length. Its back was bony and a darker blue, fading to the light color as it came to the things stomach. Its body looked like a cross between a skeleton and a machine, and it stood there with a smooth posture. It had shiny blue triangle-shaped things on its head, all in a line. And it had two sinewy tails, each ended in what looked like huge greenery clippers. The top of its head was black, as were its feet (which were almost small like paws) and the ends of its tails. It looked at him. He swallowed visibly.

        "Meet Spike," Blu said evenly. She looked at the thing. "Spike, sit."

        The creature looked back at Blu, waving a tail.

        "Spike, SIT!"

        Spike blinked.

        Blu rolled her eyes, took a firm hand on it's rump and shoved down. Now that it was sitting, it looked at her.

        "Good alien."