More Meteor Showers Bring Even Stranger Powers. (O/A)

[Rikki Tikki Travi]

Ilex sniffled and huffed a few more times before she sat up on her knees. "I knew something was wrong when I stepped outside. The air tasted different. I had hoped that it was isolated to this city. Industrialization was always an inevitability, and I taught them everything they would need to maintain the balance. But-"

A scream from the direction of the playground stopped Ilex in mid sentence. There was a gunshot, which caused the birds to squawk and scatter, followed by more yelling, screaming, and shouting.

"Hailey." Ilex gasped. "Hurry, Kerana Carter! I fear the worst!"

She hoisted herself up and ran to the playground as fast as her small legs would carry her.

The scene at the playground was one of chaos. Children and parents were running, bystanders were on their phones calling the police, and a few others filmed the playground with their camera phones while they shouted about how the perpetrators were being filmed.

In fact, one of the thugs was also filming the act while he laughed. Another had put all of his weight on the back of the girl Kerana had spoken to, Natalie. Her arm was wrenched behind her at a dangerous angle, but she still struggled to get out from under him. A third one stood over a man that had attempted to aid the victims. The fourth held a little girl up by her arms as she struggled to get free from his grip. The thugs were the men that had been intimidating the families from the border of the playground. The little girl had hands and feet that looked like cat paws, two tails, and a set of ears that all matched the color of her bouncing brown hair that were still tied in pigtails.

"See, I toldja! No human lands on their hands and feet like that, only an animal!" said the thug that held Hailey.

Natalie cried, "Let go of her you a*****e! AUGH! ******** thug on her back had put a bit more pressure on Natalie's arm. "Hah! Can't go hiding her deformities when you're in pain, can you?"

Ilex ran up to the scene, jumped, and rammed her shoulder into the thug with the camera from behind. As he stumbled, barely phased from her low impact, she dropped her disguise and declared, "Cease this violence at once! I will not allow more blood to be shed in this place of mirth!"

There was a moment's pause, and then the four thugs all laughed at the tiny voice that came from the little green girl. The thug with the camera turned to her and sneered, <******** really!? Oh the guys on Right Community are going to love this!"  

[Rikki Tikki Travi]

The man with the gun dropped his firearm and ran the moment he realized his bullets went right through the giant woman. The one on Natalie's back also quickly ran at the sight. The one with the camera filmed open air and blathered, "Yeah, go ahead! Show us how dangerous you are!"

Ilex was impressed at Kerana's ingenuity to create plants with psychotropic venom. But she had no interest in illusions. She closed her right hand and produced seeds out of her palm. She walked by the cameraman and threw the handful of seeds around his feet. A moment later, thick vines burst from the Earth and wrapped all but his head.

Natale scrambled to her feet and ran to the man that held her sister. Seeing that he was outmatched and outnumbered, he threw Hailey against the playground equipment and turned to run. Hailey's ribs hit a support pole. She fell hard on the ground and curled up with her arms around her chest and stomach.

"Hailey!" Natalie shrieked. In her haste to reach her little sister, she stumbled and fell on her knees at Hailey's side.

Ilex gasped as her eyes went wide with shock when the little girl hit the pole. It all seemed to happen in slow motion from her view. Shock turned to rage as she shifted her attention to the fleeing assailant. The bones in her right arm cracked as a thorned vine worked it's way out of the palm of her hand. She snapped her arm and threw out the vine like a whip. It wrapped around the man's ankle and caused him to fall on his face.

"Gah!" he exclaimed in a mix of pain from his broken jaw and the thorns that dug into his ankle. He continued to protest and curse as he was dragged back toward the little green girl. He reached into his pocket and pulled out a knife to cut the vine.

Ilex saw the light reflect off the blade. She immediately knew what he planned, but she would not allow it. She held her hands to her side with her palms open and faced forward. Two more rose vines bursts from her right palm, and three from her left. They lashed out and wrapped his other ankle, both wrists, torso, and neck. She lifted him into the air and suspended him upside down.

"Kerana Carter, Hailey needs your help. I will have words with this filth."

The barbs vines tightened, and the barbs cut into the man's skin. He choked out a pained scream.

"You are young, but old enough to know better. No doubt a product of ignorant, vicious upbringing. Your actions today have led me to believe that you are beyond redemption. Thus, I am faced with a conundrum. Do you make amends to the Earth as flora, or fauna?"  

[Nova Blancke]

Theo thought about it.

"The only one here that can nullify abilities is Liv. Despite having two of them now, it'd be unfair to ask that of our newer arrival. And our Liv would need to be around you 24/7." His mind went over some options.

He got an idea.

"Though a powerful psychic could suppress or overwrite those urges. I could assign him to you. Bout time he pulls his weight. All he does is sit on his a** and mess with people's heads."

"Apology accepted. You can train Trinity's kid later if you want another outlet if you weren't aware of that yet." She responded.

"I'll visit him later. No need for calling if I can I just knock on his door."

She stared at her for a short moment when she explained about the pistons.

"Where the ******** did you even find the time to do that?" She sighed" Man you must have been a handful as a kid."  

[Rikki Tikki Travi]

Rydia's ears drooped in disappointment. "You can't mean Alexavier? Did you already forget what I said? The embarrassment I already feel after last night's debacle will be exponentially worse should he be present at my most vulnerable."

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

"You don't know the half of it."

Fenris snapped her head in the direction of the voice. "Mother! I'm so sorry. I didn't mean to wake you."

"It's alright, Fenris. I don't need to be asleep all day. There is much to do, after all. Now, what did you do?"

Fenris folded her ears, hunched her shoulders, and tapped the tips of her index fingers together. "I kidnapped Liv's girlfriend."

"Don't make me have to prompt all your indiscretions with an and." she said with an authorotative motherly tone.

Fenris took a deep breath and blurted out, "I also tied her up in fetish ropes, stole her panties, put a cougar in her shower and rigged their bed to throw them into a wall."

Lokelonni rubbed the bridge of her nose and muttered in her native tongue. After a moment she firmly said, "You will go to that poor girl, apologize, return her under garments, take the mountain lion back home, and disable any other traps that you set up in that room."

"But I didn't put-"

"Fenris."

The wolf swallowed hard and sighed, "Yes Mother. Sorry Mother."

"I'm not the one you should apologize to. Now go."

Fenris ducked into the shadows as Lokelonni sat herself up against the wall and looked directly at Liv. "I apologize for any trouble she may have caused you and your loved one. Before you go, I must ask. Are you that Liv? The one to whom my daughter entrusted her eyes?"  

[Rikki Tikki Travi]

Natalie watched silently and held her little sister's hand as Kerana worked her magic. She'd seen healers before, but she'd never seen one work so quickly. It was all over within thirty seconds. Hailey sniffled and blinked a few times as she came to the realization that she was no longer in pain. She sat up like nothing was wrong and looked to Kerana.

"I feel all better now. Thank you nice fox lady." Hailey chirped.

Natalie held her little sister tight to her chest, which caused Hailey to grunt and giggle. She looked to Kerana and huffed, "Thank you so much, Kerana! I looked away for a second too long and let her illusion lapse. If it hadn't been for you and-"

Natalie's gaze gravitated to something going on behind Kerana. Something the young woman could only think of as "Hellraiser with plants."

"Kerana, w-w-what's your little sister doing?!" Natalie asked with a slight tremble to her question.

Hailey followed her big sister's gaze and gasped with fright. As though hypnotized by the event that played out before her, she had her eyes locked onto the friend she had just made. A friend that was dangling the man that had hurt her like a gruesome pinata.

"Ilex?" she whispered.

Ilex knelt down and transferred the roots of the vines from her palms to the ground. Blood trickled from the man's wounds and down the vines that held him. He wanted to struggle, she could tell, but any movement he made only resulted in the thorns cutting into him more.

"Terrifying, is it not? To be helpless in the face of overwhelming power. I suppose that is why, in your tiny mind, you are justified in assaulting the gifted. You are scared. Scared to a point that you have been reduced to a coward that harms children because they are easy prey."

Ilex got right into the man's face and glared dangerously into his eyes. "Children! The generational beacons of hope that hold limitless potential. You would darken their light with the shadows of fear, anger, and hatred. To what end? To perpetuate an endless dance of fear, murder, retribution, and hatred."

"No doubt you fear that I will kill you. You need not worry. I do not kill. Tell me, do leporids still exist?"

The man looked at her with terrified confusion.

"Ah, excuse me. I think you call them rabbits. The children who played in my garden adored rabbits. Though, seemingly, cowards in their own right, their gentle nature brought peace to those patient enough to befriend them. You are a coward, but you are not gentle. Ah, I do believe I have arrived at my answer."

Ilex raised her right index finger and produced a red barb from it's tip. It dripped with a clear substance that came from it's hollow point. "I believe you would bring more to the world as a gentle rabbit, than as a hateful young man."

He started to shake his head, but the thorns around his neck quickly reminded him that doing so could potentially kill him.

"There is no need to struggle. I will not kill you because, as I said, I do not kill."

The vines lowed him into a suspended supine position. She walked to the side of him and positioned her index finger over his heart. "I repurpose."  

[Nova Blancke]

"He can literally make you forget about that if you'd like." Theo commented.

"Regardless, you should visit the infirmary. You're not the only one around these parts that gets that. Got a few Meta's that seemed to have picked up that trait as they gained more animalistic bodyparts. I am sure they can prescribe you with some things to suppress the urges. So we have a few options for you in this moment. Find someone who's fine with getting freaky, medication to suppress it, house arrest, psychic suppression guards. You name it."

Liv was baffled by the instant shift in personality for Fenris. Guess her mother really did raise her firmly. That got handled swiftly,

"Yes, she did. Though they've changed this morning. Do you...also have a problem turning them off like Rydia? I take it that's why you're wearing that?" Liv asked.  

[Rikki Tikki Travi]

Rydia shuffled in place for a moment as all the options were laid out for her. "This...forgive me. As foolish as it may sound, I'm actually not accustomed to having so many choices regarding this. My father made all the decisions for this week since I started puberty. I shall consider my options and get back to you."

Widget rolled over to Rydia and bumped her foot.

"Ouch. Oh! I remember you. You're the funny little A.I. I pulled out of the rift."

Widget displayed her chibi hologram and chirped, "That's right, and I just got done cross referencing your name through my database! Your family name appears in a few records regarding your lost civilization. You should stay with us and help!"

Rydia looked from the android to Theonis and asked, "What is it talking about?"

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Lokelonni smiled gracefully and replied, "You are half right. I am unable to as you say, turn off, the eleilya. However, it is not a congenital problem as it is with Rydia. There simply came a point where my live span outlasted my eyes. Because of that, and my unique spiritual condition, my eyes have evolved beyond sight."

"Oh, do forgive me. In my excitement to converse with you I completely forgot my manners. I am Lokelonni Eleilya Soichi. You may call me Lokelonni. The change you mentioned earlier, would it happen to be from the same event that elevated young Alec Yates?"  

[Nova Blancke]

"Just straight up ruined the surprise Widget. Ah well." He joked.

"This little fella along with those people we rescued, are from an alternate future. Widget here contains all of the knowledge they had gathered in said future."

"So there is no easy way to say this but they discovered your civilization at the bottom of the ocean after detecting a massive tidal wave. If I had to guess.....Eclipse. You could help shed some light on some things. Like that spaceship we need to find."


"Huh....wonder if something like that will happen to me as well."

"But yes, I have 'Ascended" as they've called it. I think they said I no longer age but seeing as I am a regenerator as well, I think that was already the case. Anyway, yeah they are a bit different. I could see potential futures of the room I was in, along with images of myself and Heather."  

[Rikki Tikki Travi]

Widget displayed a hologram of the hull with the moon mark.

Rydia's ears perked as soon as she saw the mark. "That's the Crescent Moon! My father's ship. But it looks like it's among the rubble of my home. That must mean no one came to warn us in that timeline. In this one, Dad made sure to hide it away shortly after he introduced me to Trinity. In the one place he knew I would find it."

"Where is that?" Widget asked.

"There's a large network of caves with heavy geothermal activity about three kilometers to the south-southeast, and two point five kilometers deep. The ship lies in a hollowed out location an additional five hundred meters deeper surrounded by hydrothermal vents that mask it's location from thermal scopes. The only person who knows how to navigate that abyssal labyrinth, and can safely disengage the Crescent Moon's security protocols, is me."

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Lokelonni shook her head and said, "You need not worry. Your ascension has put you on par with me regarding your visual aptitude. Unless you plan to live for over a thousand years, there is little cause for concern."

Lokelonni nodded as she hung to every word Liv said. "Impressive. It took Kaelonni years to reach that level of acuity. However, that also means that you have reached an advanced level with no actual experience on how to master it. Rydia can help, but she has only ever experienced the eleilya at their strongest. I can teach you how to condition not only your eyes, but your mind and body as well. Because what good is looking into the future if you're unable to process what to do with it and act appropriately before you find yourself in danger."

Lokelonni titled her head in order to focus her senses on their surroundings. After a second, she grinned playfully and bid Liv to come a bit closer. She placed her hand by her mouth and whispered mischievously, "No doubt you have seen how erratic my daughter can be. That can be tricky for your eyes to predict. How about I show you a little something now, and then you can surprise her when your physical training starts? Maybe get a little payback in the process?"  

[Nova Blancke]

"Well that certainly makes it easier. I take it you've been there before?" Theo asked as he was putting together a simple mission plan which he would send to Gidget afterwards to hammer out the details.

"Alright, you're definitely on the team. Anything you know about forging of Mithril? Could be rather useful against Eclipse. Even if it can be a double edged weapon."

Liv nodded a bit as she listened. It was true. What good is seeing the future if you can't adapt to it.

"I'd appreciate it. I still need to check in with Rydia. See if I can tweak her...eleilya."

"Oooh? Spill the beans girl. I'd love to get back at her."  

[Rikki Tikki Travi]

"I haven't, no. My father actually made it a point to have me memorize it's location, and a series of maps that would only make sense when put together. Ironically enough, the effort I put into doing so became moot when my infinite eye manifested."

"Unfortunately, my duties as princess and my training in subterfuge and assassination left little time for lessons in metallurgy and forging. However, there is a boy that was rescued from that massacre by Legio. Heron Cael'anon descends from a long line of blacksmiths gifted with eyes that not only allow them to see past illusions, but to also perceive the impurities in metals and alloys. I haven't seen him since yesterday when I last checked on him, but if there's anyone who knows how to forge mithril it'd be him."

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

"Even though she's different, I can still here and feel remnants of my two daughters in that one wolf. As such, she will stick to certain habits. She's already attempted to establish dominance by showing that she is unpredictable, tenacious, and ingenious. If she has not already done so, she will demonstrate the weakness of your eyes by way of flooding your vision with more possibilities than you can process physically and mentally at your level."

"She does have one constant. She will rush you. It is her favored way to further assert her dominance as a teacher. More likely then not, it will be a flying right straight, or a flying spinning right heel kick. Focus on those instances. Then, if you succeed, and she has sailed past you, tie a pair of cans to her tail with strings. She used to torment my son in law with a similar prank when she was a young teenager. That should knock her down a peg or two."  

[Nova Blancke]

Theo nodded to himself and made a note.

"I see, That could be useful if he did."

"Alright, so the ship will be our priority. Is there anything else you want us to prioritize? Because it looks like we'd need to have multiple groups. One for the ship and the others for recovery of whatever is salvageable."

"I think she was about to mention something like that before. Yeah she doesn't seem like the patient type."

She chuckled a bit. That did sound like fun.However,

"But even avoiding her, tying a pair of cans around her tail is....millisecond work. I'm not that fast with it. And...I am pretty sure she'd dial everything up to 12 after that out of retaliation."  

[Rikki Tikki Travi]

"Two things. Trying to find inert meteors would be a difficult undertaking. There are too few of them, and it takes to long for their radiation to fade out. There was a sizable store of mithril in the artisan district. Other than any weapons that may've sunk, that will be the best place to find the metal."

"The second thing is the Crown's Codex. The throne room served as the digital hub of Aylathas. In it is a digital black box, slash time capsule, that houses the art, history, technology, and genealogy of my people. It's relatively small, about the size of a locker, and it's marked by an image of my mother's crown."

She looked at Widget, and then back to Theonis. "I would think that little AI would have that information, but I suppose they had other concerns in that timeline. Not much need for sunken history when your whole world is under attack."

Widget blipped sadly, "Sorry about that. Gidget did the best she could., considering the circumstances."

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

"Oh, that is going to be true no matter what happens. The training my husband's clan endured was brutal. Your saving grace will be that he, and thus my children, did not go so far as to seriously threaten your life. You can ask Rydia or Trinity what they endured. It will be hard, but you will be ready."

"She wont retaliate. If anything, she will appreciate your gumption. Though you have a point. Tying cans is a bit complex."

She pondered for a moment until an idea struck her.

"Ah! How about a classic prank. A sign on the back. A clever one that says something to the effect of, 'Your mother says hello.'" she suggested, blissfully unaware of the suggestive nature of the phrase she offered.