Animal Instincts (hal7283 & wolfdog12) (18+, private)

[hal7283]

The next few days the two traveled without any trouble. The food was also abundant since many animals came to the shore for water. Soon they began to see the large bridge from a distance, with the river being so wide the bridge was equally majestic, and they could see a town on this end of the bridge. It's not hard to imagine the town must have flourished from all the trade and traffic.

 

Yet Ekichu coukd sense something was wrong from afar. The smell of fear, to be exact. “Be careful.” Ekichu said to Suteneko as they approached the bridge town.

 

When they entered the town the place was silent, though not dead. Ekichi could sense the residents of the town were mostly inside their homes, as if hiding from something. The town square had many shops, but most were closed. Only one merchant selling souvenirs could be seen taking a nap.

 

Ekichu approached the merchant and he immediately jumped up hearing Ekichu's foot steps on the stone floor. "By the gods!" the merchant screamed, then he looked at the two and sighed in relief. "Oh... you scared the hell out of me...I thought you were one of the bandits."

 

"Bandits?" Ekichu asked.

 

"Yeah! Bandits! They came here a few weeks ago and set up camp right in the middle of the bridge! And demanded anyone who want to pass to pay, and if you don't they kill you and feed you to the fishes! The price was so high all the merchants stopped coming here, so they started to raid the village." The merchant looked at the two and said: "You guys look like travellers, I suggest you find another way across. Those bandits are really dangerous."

 

Ekichu looked at Suteneko and asked: " So, wjat do you think? Should we find another way across? Or maybe we can persuade them to let us pass?" Ekichu clenched his claws together and created a loud sound when he said the word "persuade".

[WolfDog12]

It was such a calming walk towards the bridge and Suteneko found himself drawn more and more towards the Arthroplon. He wasn't sure why but there was a strange attraction to his friend that made him want to be a little more then friends. The dragon shook his head and understood that this was completely wrong. There was no way he was attracted in that way... he couldn't be. Could he? It wasn't long before his discomfort was thoroughly known but he was continuing to deny his feelings.

 

As the days passed by, Suteneko required more food with every meal. This was pretty strange to him but that's what was happening. All he wanted to do was eat most of the time now. The dragon didn't think too much of it though and figured maybe he was growing... Not likely since he could only make himself look so old at a time. Anyway, as they got within view of the bridge, Suteneko became a little more excited. "We're almost there," He breathed happily.

 

The two entered the village and Suteneko was on high alert even before Ekichu had said anything but it was comforting to know that Ekichu was feeling the same way that he was. As they approached the shop, Suteneko was about ready to blast him with magic the way he reacted but when the other calmed down, so did the dragon. The answer to the larger male's question was easy. "Lets go 'persuade' them as you say." The dragon gave a smirk before he began to lead the way. "Sounds like we're going to have more meat then we know what to do with." He exclaimed happily as he continued on.

 

It wasn't long for them to get closer enough to the bandits for them to take notice of the odd couple. Suteneko simply said, "Hi" and then shot a fireball right at a group of them. That got the fight going easily and the bandits quickly attacked. The dragon let out a roar and was ready to fight.

[hal7283]

Ekichu let out what could be interpreted as a "laugh" when he heard Suteneko's answer. The two then traveled to the large bridge and up the stone paved road. The bridge was as wide as it was long, and there was more than enough space for even Ekichu to maneuver quite freely. Soon they saw several tents set up in the middle of the bridge, along with various wooden barricades. The bandits consists of many different races and species, and a few of them could be seen patrolling. But before they could say anything Suteneko shot a fire ball at them. Ekichu laughed slightly at how quick Suteneko attacked and he leaped high into the air and landed right in the middle of the bandit camp, using his armored limbs to swipe, crush, cut and impale the bandits around him.

[WolfDog12]

The dragon ran in and jumped onto Ekichu before shooting off small fireballs that would set the tents on fire. While the Arthroplon attacked the bandits themselves, Suteneko was making it so they had to leave so they could at least get more supplies. They probably wouldn't be returning after this. The Kokuei probably would have gotten hit by his friend but he jumped high enough to avoid the claw and into the other's line of sight so he knew not to attack. As the few that remained ran away as fast as they could, Suteneko chuckled a little and got off his friend.

[hal7283]

Even though the bandits had the numerical advantages, they were not match against the brute force of Ekichu and the magical power of Suteneko. Soon they began to scatter, and the few who were still fighting were losing ground quickly. Yet suddenly Ekichu felt something, a strange cold creep up his spine. His instinct told him that something was wrong, and immediately he did a 360 degree swipe with his long tail, and the swipe was stopped midway. Ekichu looked down and saw someone shrouded in black cloak, blocking his tail with a strange looking lance.

 

The next second more of the cloaked beings came out of nowhere, with weapons in their hands they jumped at Ekichu and Suteneko. The bandits were also surprised by the sudden change of event, for a moment they thought the cloaked beings were their allies, but soon found out otherwise when a few of them who were standing between the cloaked beings and Ekichu were cut in half by the mysterious attackers, most likely just to make way for their attack.

[WolfDog12]

The fur all over Suteneko's body stood on end and Ekichu stopping suddenly confirmed that. The dragon looked around at the hooded figures remembering them. 'How did they get here?' He thought to himself unsure if they even passes the two on the path. The Kokuei watched as they mercilessly killed anything in their way and as he was watching, there was something strange that came up under Suteneko and threw him backwards off of his friend and a good distance. The dragon was able to land on his feet and could tell these guys wanted the two separate.

 

Suteneko attempted to attack them back but he was quickly overwhelmed by just two of them. He was barely able to hold on as he defended himself. Most of these insanely strong creatures were after Ekichu. "Eki-!!" Suteneko tried jumping over them but was brought down by another weapon that threw the dragon onto his butt before another heavy swing of the blunt object, came crashing hard into his stomach. Suteneko coughed and even ended up throwing up, he couldn't seem to fight anymore and he didn't know why. He'd been hit like this before but for some reason this time was different. He wasn't getting back up.

[hal7283]

Ekichu roared when he saw Suyeneko being hit by the attackers, and tried to rush to his side. He was stopped however by the attackers rushing at him from all sides. Their weapons were able to leave marks on Ekichu's hard shells, but he didn't let them get a clean hit and penetrate the armor too much. Ekichu began to fight more ferociously, his metabolism accelerated to make him move faster and strike harder. Ekichu made a fierce swipe. knocking several attackers into the air. One of them sneak from below and closed in, but was slammed to the ground by two of his front legs. Ekichu could feel his front leg had crushed something hard, likely through some hard armor and bones. Ekichu was certain he had crippled this one.

 

"What the hell are you!?" Ekichu roared and grabbed the cloak off the attacker and froze when he saw what's under the cloth: A mask-like featureless and expressionless face, with four red glowing eyes staring at his own. For a moment Ekichu thought he was looking at a reflection in the water.

 

And the next moment the attacker under his legs exploded. The strong explosion punched a large hole in the middle of the bridge. Ekichu was caught off guard and fell into the river, and was overwhelmed by the strong current. Meanwhile all the attackers vanished as they saw one of them exploded.

[WolfDog12]

"Ekichu, Noo!!!" Suteneko tried to get up but still couldn't even get to his feet. He roared loudly but that wasn't much help. Suteneko wasn't even able to think about his magic to use. He whimpered and continued to just lay there on the ground until someone from the village came by. He was thankful the bandits were gone and helped get Suteneko back to town. He had to rest for the day but the villagers agreed to start a search for Ekichu.

 

As night role around, Suteneko was able to get up and walked out of the village. He should remain resting but he had to find his friend. As this pace there was no way he'd find Ekichu. The dragon had to fly but he still didn't know how. He did manage to catch up with the search party that had begun to head back. One of them was a bird and offered to help. They two spent half the night working on how to fly until Suteneko was in the air. He was a mess but was at least up. The bird returned to rest and Suteneko spent the rest of the night flying down the river to try and find Ekichu.

[hal7283]

Ekichu was dreaming.

 

The dream was blurry, like watching something through thick fog. However the events were linear and logical, almost like a distant memory coming back.

 

In the dream Ekichu was different, without the strong claws, six legs, long powerful tail and above all without the hard shells. In the dream Ekichu looked through two eyes and found himself in a messy room which looked like it had been through a disaster, with broken tables and other equipment scattered all over the place, and on top of all that mess more strange looking objects and files which looked like they were pilled up carelessly. Ekichu could feel his heart filled with regret, self disdain even. But above all a maddening obsession to complete something. He had sacrificed too much for it, and are now willing to do whatever it takes.

 

Ekichu found himself taking a semi-transparent tube with a needle like tip. The inside of the tube was filled with some form of strange liquid. He looked at the object for a second, then pierced the needle through the skin of his arm, and through it pushing the strange liquid inside. A cold sensation spread from his arm, and shortly after followed by immense pain all over his body. He stood up and walked towards a door at the end of the room, which opened in its own when he was a step away from it. He walked down a long corridor which looked as messy as the room before. With each step forward the pain grew worse, gradually to the point where he could no longer stand, and began to crawl slowly on four.

 

Eventually he arrived at a door. He supported himself by leaning on the wall and stood up, and pressed on a strange glowing pad on the side of the door. It opened up and immediately Ekichu felt a gust of choking gas blowing in his face. He could no longer breath and soon collapsed back down, his consciousness fading quickly.

 

And then Ekichu woke up, with all of his claws and six legs, long tail and four eyes, and the armored body back. He looked around cautiously and found himself on the shore of the river. He tried to see where the bridge was but it was nowhere to be seen. Ekichu concluded that he must have been flushed far down stream. He got up from the ground and stretched his limbs, all working well. Ekichu then began to travel back up stream, while worrying what might have happened to Suteneko after he fell into the water.

[WolfDog12]

Suteneko flew for so long and at such an accelerated rate that it was only a couple more hours before he finally spotted Ekichu. The large insect was impossible to miss and was thankfully alright and returning up the river. Suteneko flew towards him but clearly had no idea how to land. He ended up just pulling his wings in and jumping onto Ekichu. The dragon carefully got off his friend full of emotion.

 

"I thought I'd never see you again," He sobbed, tears streaming down his face. The dragon was just too happy to be with his friend again. "I hate to spring thin on you so suddenly but...I love you and I don't ever want to leave you. This may sound strange but these last couple weeks have given me the time to feel this and the past day and the long hours I spend just now searching and being without you, I couldn't take it. This time only confirmed that I actually love you!!!" Suteneko worked himself up again and turned away to throw up again.

 

The dragon threw up three times before he stopped, shaking. The dragon was shaky on his feet and was actually surprisingly hungry considering he just threw up as much as he did. Suteneko laid down too weak to keep going. A fever was raging but in a very different, more sickly then in a heated way like before.

[hal7283]

Ekichu was overjoyed when he saw the familiar figure approaching, and was equally surprised seeing Suteneko came from the sky. His joy was quickly turned into almost a panic however when the dragon flew into him and started crying. And the shocking confession which followed suit certainly didn't help to ease the confusion.

 

"Love? Suteneko what are you..." Ekichu was paralyzed by the flood of emotion coming from his friend and didn't know how to respond. He knew love, but only as a abstract concept, something the Arhthroplons' preys talked about. As far as he understood rejecting Suteneko would bring him great sadness and that's something Ekichu didn't want, but could he respond to Suteneko's affection? Sure Suteneko is important in Ekichu's heart, and Ekichu did tried to mate and reproduce with him, but could that be called love?

 

After a moment of thought Ekichu looked straight at Suteneko and said: "Calm down Suteneko, it can't be love. You're just scared and lonely because you were left alone, and the fatigue is messing with your brain. I'm sorry I made you go through this but...." It was then Ekichu noticed the condition of Suteneko, and quickly took Suteneko in his arms examine him more closely: “Suteneko, you don't look well! Your body his heating up... You're ill!"

[WolfDog12]

The dragon yanked himself away from Ekichu's hands and glared at his friend. "Is that all this is to you? I've had lots of time to think and realize my feelings. Don't brush them aside so easily. You have generations of knowledge in your head. You should at least understand other species have things called feelings and they can't be taken so lightly!!!" Suteneko ended up throwing up again and collapsed to the ground again. The dragon panted and his tears streamed down his face.

 

"Just let me rest here. You can return to the village." The young Kokuei was trying to calm down as he was already sick and feeling horrible. He no longer wanted to deal with this. He spent all this time searching and now his feelings were not just being rejected but completely denied.

[hal7283]

Ekichu changed the tone of his voice to a more serious one and said: "You're not well and you're not thinking straight. You'll talk about this once you've recovered." Ekichu feared Suteneko would run or fly away so he immediately rushed the dragon. Fearing harming him Ekichu was careful but precise, and secure him with his tail wrapped around the dragon's body.

 

"Let's go back to the village." Ekichu said firmly as he put Suteneko on his back, his tail still pressed on the dragon to make sure he won't run away. It brought pain to Ekichu rejecting Suteneko but he himself was in a lot of confusion and need time to think and figure things out.

[WolfDog12]

Suteneko really couldn't flee so he was wrapped up. He was scared though when Ekichu suddenly rushed him. The dragon clenched up and just whined in pain. Suteneko still understood what he was saying and doing but couldn't seem to understand why Ekichu was being so mean. The dragon was then lifted right off the ground and secured to the Arthroplon's back. He was sad but didn't bother talking or struggling anymore.

 

Suteneko laid there silently for hours staying awake. Every now and then he couldn't help but throw up, regretfully right on Ekichu's back. The Kokuei really couldn't move at all anymore but when Ekichu's tail ended up putting too much pressure on his lower gut, Suteneko said, "Your tail is hurting me... Move it up..." There was so much pain in his lower gut area and he looked like he'd gained some weight there.

[hal7283]

Ekichu lifted didn't bothered to talk but focused on rushing back to the village. He pressure put on Suteneko immediately and only left enough power to keep him from falling off. While there's still much confusion in Ekichu's mind, he had swiped them away and focused on Suteneko's well being completely. When he finally arrived at the bridge he simply leaped over the large hole left by the explosion, and rushed across the river shortly after.

 

Ekichu soon arrived at the town and immediately grabbed a townsman with his claws and asked where was the town doctor. The townsman was almost too frightened to talk, but muttered out the location of the doctor. Ekichu literally broke through the front door and laid Suteneko on the bed and roared at the doctor to examine him.

[WolfDog12]

The doctor walked over and looked at the dragon's condition. After a quick inspection, the doctor then turned and rushed to get Ekichu out of the room. "I will take care of everything, please just wait out here." He quickly returned to Suteneko and did a deeper inspection and had to be very careful. He learned about more then he expected and made sure the Kokuei was comfortable and had enough to eat and drink. He then went to talk to Ekichu.

 

"You are quite an unusual couple. Your wife is fine. She is resting now. These are very normal syptoms this late in the pregnancy." He could see Ekichu's confusion. "I'm sorry, did you not know? Your wife is pregnant." The doctor hadn't payed enough attention to realize Suteneko was a male.

[hal7283]

"Pregnant...? But... that's not possible..." Ekichu muttered. It's true that Arthroplons can impregnate males of other species, but it requires the Arthroplon to "reconstruct" the victims' body, and it's a long a grueling process which Ekichu have barely started back in the cave and stopped before the reconstruction actually kick in. "Are you certain?" Ekichu asked the doctor, who replied with a sure nod and a smile.

 

Ekichu's mind went blank for a moment, then he asked the doctor: "Is... is he okay? Can I go see him?"

[WolfDog12]

"Yes, of course but try to let her sleep and please do not break anything else." The doctor gave a quick bow and walked off to go see to his other patients.

 

In the other room, Suteneko was asleep and clearly in less pain. He was relaxed and resting peacefully but could still throw up if need be. He was just showing serious morning sickness symptoms which was why it was so common. If Ekichu bothered to remove the blanket, he would now be able to see Suteneko's protruding belly from the pregnancy. However, the blanket covered that almost completely.

 

- - - Updated - - -

 

"Yes, of course but try to let her sleep and please do not break anything else." The doctor gave a quick bow and walked off to go see to his other patients.

 

In the other room, Suteneko was asleep and clearly in less pain. He was relaxed and resting peacefully but could still throw up if need be. He was just showing serious morning sickness symptoms which was why it was so common. If Ekichu bothered to remove the blanket, he would now be able to see Suteneko's protruding belly from the pregnancy. However, the blanket covered that almost completely.

[hal7283]

Ekichu nodded and apologized for breaking the door, and quietly sneaked into the door. He set down his body beside the bed and looked at Suteneko. He extended his hand tentacles and examined Suteneko's body, and found out for himself that Suteneko was indeed pregnant, but how? Could it be the spell on Suteneko had somehow accelerated the "reconstruction" process?

 

Ekichu thought about what Suteneko had said earlier, love. What's love? Love was a concept too remote from the Arthroplons that it troubled Ekichu to no end. Certainly it's not simply the desire to mate and reproduce. While he cares about Suteneko and want to protect him at all cost, does that counts as love? Wasn't that called friendship? If you put these two together does that make it love? Either way Suteneko is now pregnant with Ekichu's child, and judging by the size of Suteneko's belly it's growing extremely fast. If he allow the egg to continue growing inside Suteneko to result could be deadly. Ekichu thought for a moment and slowly raised his claws. This might be the only chance to abort the egg before it's too late....

[WolfDog12]

Suteneko shifted slightly as if having heard Ekichu raise his claw to attempt to rip the baby out of the dragon but he did not wake and slept on peaceful and ignorant. The dragon continued to rest and the doctor returned just to make sure the Kokuei slept on. "I have to ask," he whispered, "Your wife is a Kokuei correct? Then why is she here? They are typically of royal blood and I thought their laws prevented them from marrying outside of their species." He stopped to think about it. "Actually, I just never met a case like yours."

 

As he was waiting for an answer, a nurse hurried in and pulled the doctor out of the room for an emergency across the hospital. He couldn't stay long and rushed off. They were very busy.

[hal7283]

Ekichu stopped his movement when Suteneko shifted his bosy in his sleep. He looked at the peaceful expression on the Kokuei's face finally put his claw down. Even though he knew aborting the egg now is likely the best course of action, somehow Ekichu felt wrong for trying to do so without Suteneko even knowing what's going on. And part of him, wanted Suteneko to carry his child, but whether it was out of the reproduction instincts of the Arthroplons, or some other feelings deep inside Ekichu's mind, was too hard even for Ekichu himself to decipher.

 

Just as Ekichu was dwelling in his thoughts the doctor came in and checked on Suteneko's condition. He listened to the doctor's questions and said: "Well...it's complicated...." But before he could say anymore the doctor was called out by the nurse, Ekichu said hurriedly: "Please come back soon doctor, there're many questions I need to discuss with you."

[WolfDog12]

The doctor had quickly nodded before he left. The two were once again alone. Suteneko was still laying on his side, though he did shift to try and lay on his belly which ended in him grunting slightly and letting out a small whimper of pain before he returned to sleeping peacefully on his side. \

 

Several hours passed before the doctor finally returned. Just as he did, The dragon roared in pain for some reason and began waking up. He screamed in agony and tried to get out of the bed but the doctor had to give him some pain medication and told Suteneko to sleep more. The Kokuei laid back down carefully and looked at Ekichu then around to where he was before looking about at the arthroplon. Suteneko looked hurt but this time emotionally and he got up to lay on his other side so he was turned away from the larger male. The doctor wondered what was going on but didn't say anything because he didn't want to rial the dragon any more. He wanted for the Kokuei to fall back to sleep.

 

"She'll be fine, no need to worry. Though I would worry about the child she's carrying. There was something strange about the egg though it is probably because it is an Arthroplon egg. Though, I do feel bad for your wife, I'm sorry to say this, but she isn't fully grown and at her age of still a teenager.... no... her blood actually says she's only a couple years old. Mind if I ask what happened? You can also ask me anything you want."

[hal7283]

Ekichu nodded and explained Suteneko's situation to the doctor, how Suteneko's kingdom was destroyed and he was under a spell which prevented him from growing, and how HE was able to counter its effect with the magic he inherited from his mother. He then explained the Ahrthroplon's ability to "reconstruct" victims of other species to become a suitable mother, regardless of its original gender. Ekichu then told the doctor that after they mated during Suteneko's heat, somehow the reconstruction process had been unnaturally accelerated to the point the egg had grown exponentially.

 

"I know this is probably way out of your league," Ekichu asked: "But in your medical opinion what do you think we should do? Since the Arthroplon egg is usually very large I fear it could kill Suteneko if it continues to grow. Even if he could survive with the egg inside I doubt he would be able to give birth to it naturally... Could C- section be performed in this case? And a question not so medical, you seems to know about the Kokuei race, do you know of any others? Are there other kingdoms ruled by them? "

[WolfDog12]

"I see," the doctor began, "his body seems to have changed because of the magic inside him. You may not have needed to use the reconstruction process if he'd gained the magic from his mother. This is the first time I have ever met a male Kokuei with magic... it's just so far out of normalcy." The doctor scratched the back of his neck.

 

"His body probably had to do the reconstruction itself to help change his body and accommodate for the magic. You see, I know about Kokuei because I grew up with one. I loved her so much but knew she was bound by the rules of her species and as the only daughter, she was destined to become queen and when she was old enough, she married a prince and took rule over her country. This was a country far from here, I had traveled away with my family but it was nice to be able to spend so much time with her when I could. We managed to stay in touch until a few years ago when no messages seemed to be allowed into the country or even from. I do not know what happened to her kingdom but I am sure she will present herself to me again in another form. Their spirits will live on in the world. Before I lost contact though, she had mentioned being pregnant. I do not know if the child was born or if it was a boy or a girl. Kokuei are quite mysterious creatures aren't they... She told me a lot about them."

 

The doctor realized he had gone off topic and returned to the issue at hand. "Now, If you really thing a normal birth is not possible, I, unlike most doctors, could in fact preform the operation. Most doctors need to know the species they are operating on so they don't cut into a heart or anything. That is why I could preform this because I know about Kokueis and not just from being friends with one, though I'll admit that is part of it. Suteneko here still has a month and a half left before any problems can occur and will probably be ready to give birth by the end of the second month. You can feel free to stay here until then if you wish."

[hal7283]

Ekichu fell silent and looked at Suteneko, then he turned to look at the doctor and said: "Thank you doctor. I'll discuss the issue with him once he's awake." He was quite relieved to hear that Suteneko isn't in any immediate danger, but keeping the egg would prevent them from continuing their quest, and even after the egg is laid carrying it on the journey would be risky, especially with the mysterious attackers still looming in the shadow.

 

And about the attackers, what exactly are they? Ekichu remembered the familiar face under the hood, and it looked almost identical to his, only without the long horns on the head. But why? Could they be another line of Arthroplons which evolved elsewhere? If so why would they want to attack him? While Ekichu had sworn to protect Suteneko, given everything that happened in the past months, was he bringing more harm than good to Suteneko?