Metamorphosis: Seven Sins VII - Parched Paradise

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Chapter 7 - Parched Paradise

“Hey, Swamp Boy.”

The Baruragaru’s eyes snapped open in a flash of orange. He raised his head from the wooden floor and peered up at the cell door, immediately seeing the Blue Female on the other side. His tongue flicked out with a hiss, tasting her scent, as she opened the door.

“You’ve been pretty calm these last few days on the airship,” she said to him. “Everyone else has been restless. You must be a strong monster to be so unconcerned with all this unfamiliarity.”

He gave her a skeptical snort. Strong… maybe he had been, but no longer.

“Come on, out you go,” the Blue Female urged. She stepped aside to let him through the door. “We’re going to be landing soon, then we have to take you and the other new hybrids to Duruhos. He’s going to want to look you over.”

“Sssss…” the Baruragaru slurred. His eyes narrowed to slits, suspecting some kind of trap.

“Don’t make me come in there and drag you out,” she added, her voice taking on a dangerous tone.

Like that did anything to assuage his suspicions. He took a step back into the shadows and flexed his tongue threateningly, making sure his fins were pricked up and adding a low gurgle to the display. There was no way he was going out there if the Blue Female had to resort to threatening him.

She reluctantly spat out a word. “P… Please?”

He didn’t know what this ‘please’ was supposed to mean, so he ignored it. Instead of a hiss, he belted out a howl. “HUWAAAAAAWGH!”

The reply he got didn’t come from the Blue Female, though.

“MYAAAAAAGGGRRRR!”

A horrid sound, a mechanical roar that grated on the ears, made both the Baruragaru and the Blue Female flinch at its suddenness. Just then, there was another female standing before him – the one with the glinting tail and covered face, the one that privately filled the Baruragaru with nervousness.

“What’s taking so long?” the Covered One growled, swishing that powerful tail impatiently. Whenever it touched the floor, hot sparks flew.

“He’s not coming out,” the Blue Female complained. Her own tail flicked back and forth in an annoyed manner.

A low snarl vibrated through the confines of the artificial chamber, and the Covered One advanced. The Baruragaru leapt back and crouched, unleashing his worst howl in hopes it would deter her. If only he hadn’t run out of ammo from the Red Poison-Spitter yesterday…

“He doesn’t have a choice,” she growled, and raised her tailblade.

There was a *crack*, a burst of pain that shot through the Baruragaru’s head, and all-consuming darkness.

The everlasting twin spires of Loc Lac City were visible on the horizon when Cindy and Keyren emerged from the cargo hold. The latter was dragging the unconscious form of the strange hybrid behind her.

Seeing the boy’s condition and jumping to the right conclusion, Melody scowled at Cindy. “You didn’t have to hit him so hard.”

“No one disobeys me,” the Dinovaldo-woman snarled.

Keyren cast her gaze over at the Qurupeco-girl, as well as Gekula, silently asking them if they had everything under control. Naturally, Gekula missed it, but Melody caught her friend’s look and pointed over to the other side of the airship’s deck.

Standing out in the open was the Deviljho-girl that she had recently let out, on account of her learning how to speak the human language. Her arms and legs were bulky and covered with scales, while her feet and hands were clawed. She wore a bright green T-shirt and shorts – the latter of which had a large hole in the back to accommodate a huge pickle-shaped tail.

“Dissidia?” she asked. “Did you do what I asked?”

“Yes,” the recently-named Dissidia grunted. “Dissidia keep watch on others. Others no make trouble. They be quiet.”

The ‘others’ she spoke of were right behind her. The first was a Chameleos-boy, with a long and pointy nose as well as a pair of crescent-shaped wings. His choice of clothing was a ludicrous purple cloak decorated with yellow stars. When he caught Keyren looking his way, he flashed her a goofy grin, showing viper-like fangs.

The second was far less friendly-looking. She was a regular, brown-skinned human woman from the waist up, but a Najarala from the waist down. Her long green body was coiled in a neat circle, and the brightly-colored crown of plates on her head clattered every time they moved. Right now, she sent a vibration through her plates, causing them to produce a resonating rattle.

“They no make trouble,” Dissidia repeated. “Dissidia pound them if they do. That what Keyren said.”

Keyren gave her a nod and a smile. Fortunately for all of them, the Deviljho-girl had turned out to be kind-hearted and sensitive – even if she was also pretty dumb. Melody loved her, and the two had become best friends in less time than it took to skin a Jaggi.

All of a sudden, there was a harsh hiss and a flurry of movement. The unfamiliar hybrid had, evidently, recovered from the thrashing Cindy had given him and was now fully awake. He jumped to his feet and scurried to a spot where the airship’s balloon cast a shadow over the deck, hissing and rubbing his face as if he had been burnt by the sun.

The sun… A realization hit Keyren like a thunderbolt.

“Of course,” she said. “We found you in a cave in the Swamp, didn’t we? Of course you wouldn’t like the sunlight.”

Swamp Boy simply stared at her, blinking. His expression couldn’t be read.

“Can’t say I enjoy the light, myself,” Gekula grumbled. Currently, he was sniffing his arms for any sign of a burn.

Suddenly, Cindy broke through the chatter by pounding her tailblade on the ground for attention. She ordered, “Prepare the airship for landing. We’re nearing the border of Loc Lac City.”

A shiver of anticipation ran down Keyren’s spine, and electricity crackled across her back. Seeing the twin towers that soared high above the desert city always gave her such a thrill. She noticed that Gekula and Melody appeared excited as well. They were as relieved as she was to be back home after their long scouting mission.

“Gekula, help me land the airship,” she told the Khezu-boy. “Melody and Dissidia, you keep watch over the hybrids. Don’t go anywhere, Swamp Boy.”

Catching the nickname, the Baruragaru’s fins pricked up alertly, and he gazed expectantly at the Blue Female. She repeated her statement – “Don’t go anywhere” – and headed to another part of the ‘airship’ with the Pale One following close behind. Good. The farther away that blind creature was from him, the better.

Then he looked to his right and instantly met the unforgiving glare of the Covered One. Torn between fight and flight, the Baruragaru crouched into his defensive posture and warily backed away, extending his tongue in case she attacked him.

But the Covered One didn’t make a move. “No inconveniences from you,” she growled. “Give me a reason to, and I’ll smack you to sleep again.”

“Sssss…” he replied.

She grunted with something like disgust, then turned and walked away with a swish of her tailblade.

Now that he was safe, the Baruragaru turned his attention to the rest of his surroundings and began to investigate – but made sure to stay out of the light. Being exposed to the sky’s Bright Circle seared his eyes like fire. So he lowered himself onto all fours as best as he could and let his tongue hover in front of him, tasting everything that was nearby.

All sorts of new information started to stream in through the Baruragaru’s taste buds. The floor carried a tree-like scent, but also faint traces of Two-Legs. Could it have been those weaklings that had made this complex contraption? It boggled his mind. Furthermore, he could taste the individual scents of three new ‘hybrids’ around him – the Legless Female smelled of earth and blood, the Big Female had an overpowering scent of raw meat, and the Purple Male carried faint traces of poison. For those reasons, he decided that they were threats and to stay far away from them. He’d stick close to the Blue Female from now on.

It was very windy on the ‘airship’. The Baruragaru closely examined the fence that was built along the edges of the contraption, and came to the conclusion that it was designed so that passengers wouldn’t accidentally fall off. When he hazarded a peek over the edge of the fence, though, he got the shock of his life – the ground was a long way down!

Feeling dizzy, the Baruragaru sat down on his posterior, a position that felt natural in this absurd new body of his. Why were they so high in the air? Wherever they were going, wouldn’t it have been safer to walk? Was flying really necessary?

A rattle brought him out of his admittedly cowardly thoughts. The Legless Female was nearby, and was lying flat on the deck with her hands planted solidly on the wood, holding up her torso. She, too, seemed unnerved by how high up they were… and when she shared a glance with him, and he saw the fear in her eyes, he felt like he had just been stabbed in the chest.

Wait, was that what pity felt like?

Disgusted with himself, the Baruragaru gurgled hostilely at the Legless Female. What are you looking at?

She glared in response and rattled her plates loud enough to make his fins quiver. I am queen of my domain. Don’t trifle with me, worm.

The temptation to make her pay for her insolence was strong, but the Baruragaru resisted the urge. Undoubtedly, the Covered One was watching him to see if he would cause any ‘inconveniences’ – and starting a fight miles above the ground probably wasn’t a wise thing to do, anyway.

Unwilling to accidentally cause any more confrontations, the Baruragaru flicked his tail dismissively at the Legless Female and wandered to another part of the airship. He intended to stay as still as possible, and as far away from the edge as possible, until they landed.

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