13And here we are at the conclusion to Gas Pockets. I know this story has been a little… odd… to those who looking for the Dragon Ball familiarity, but I wanted to work on something a little more original while at the same time holding its own tie ins. A lot of the characters in this story actually do come from other shows and games. Prats'R'Us already spotted the Jack Harkness reference, and anyone who's a fan of Akira Toriyama should know where Shu directly came from. There are still three members of Serius Prime who reference or are based from other shows though, so I wanted to put it out there and see if anyone can spot them. I'm sure the shows they're from aren't as popular as the ones already discovered so how about this… I'll offer a cookie and a request fic one shot for each of the remaining characters to be correctly deciphered. I like games! Just leave your guesses in the form of a review, and of course only one guess per review. So take a stab in the dark and review, hehe!
Chronicle 1: Gas Pockets
Part 7
Crayana's eyes widened incredibly large. Shu could feel the heat in the room rising still as he tried to keep his distance from the girl. Standing against opposing walls though, Shu could still see the dim light reflecting from Crayana's terrified eyes. His shadow dragon kept the girl pinned to make sure she made no further advances while Shu attempted to recompose himself.
A chill crept down Shu's spine as he took in another breath. His perception started yelling that something was wrong, but he couldn't quite figure out what.
From across the town, various lewd acts came to a sudden halt. The gas creatures all screamed in their hosts' minds that one of their own was in danger.
Shu had finally just about caught his breath, "If you promise not to try that again I'll let go of you, alright?"
Crayana nodded hurriedly, and as promised Shu's dragon receded into the darkness. Once free Crayana leaned against the opposite wall from Shu, and the two slowly slid to the ground. They sat staring at each other in an awkward silence for several minutes.
"I'm sorry…" Crayana finally said.
Shu bit his lip, "Don't be, I know it's not your fault."
"I just…" Crayana pulled her knees up to her chest and stared down the long dark hallway, "I can't control it… at all. It wants to do things that I don't want to do, but I can't help myself. I don't want to live with this… I'd rather die!" Shu's features softened as he saw Crayana shiver and cry, "After what I did to Sorbet, I deserve to die…"
"You didn't do that!" Shu exclaimed immediately, "You didn't do any of that! It was all that thing that's inside you, be mad at it, be strong against it, and help us get rid of them!" Under normal circumstance Shu would have gotten closer to the girl to be a little more comforting towards her, but he still held his reservations on her ability to control herself now.
Crayana sniffed and closed her eyes, "I wish I was strong like you."
Shaking his head, Shu replied, "Being a magic user for a big peace keeping group can really be…"
Before he could finish, Crayana quieted him with, "No, not the whole… dragon… thing… that actually really creeps me out. I mean your real strength. I know it must have been hard fighting against this thing when we were… I've seen what it does to people… it makes them want… desire… need…" Crayana gulped down her nervousness before continuing, "me… more than anything they've ever wanted before. But you were able to overcome that."
"It wasn't easy…" Shu laughed, "But I have experience holding back some of those… emotions… too."
"You're in love with someone," Crayana concluded.
"Was…" Shu haphazardly agreed, "A long time ago…"
A loud crash echoed through the hall way. The entire building had been dead silent until that sound of shattering glass. Shu was on his feet immediately and squinted his eyes as he stared down the dark hallway trying to see.
"What was that?" Crayana whispered feeling alarmed herself. The symbiot inside of her though was being unusually silent.
Shu could feel the temperature of the room rising further, "I think the ones we've been looking for have found us instead…"
A quick movement caught Shu's attention and he assumed a defensive posture. His body began to glow, ready to call out his dragon again should he need it, when he was tackled from behind.
Crayana screamed as at least eight people ran out from the shadows and pinned Shu down. Most of them were hardly dressed and had a crazed look about their face. In looking at them Crayana somehow knew that succumbing to the creature's desires enough is what led them to this complete loss of control.
Shu tried to struggle and push himself up, but the hands caressing the bare skin of his back quelled his efforts by removing his will to resist. Every touch was sending jolts of sensation through his body. He couldn't help it when his breathing hitched sharply or he'd let out a grunt from the sensation overload.
"The power is subdued," the possessed hosts looked at each other and nodded. They flipped Shu over onto his back and held him down two to a limb before motioning to Crayana, "Xtizexet, you need more energy, hurry and take him now!"
Crayana felt a strong pull, and though she tried to fight it, she found her legs carrying her closer to Shu. She kneeled down between his legs and noticed his eyes were glazing over and he couldn't breathe properly. She wrapped her arms around him and pulled him close once again. Her heart was beating hard knowing what would happen to him if she allowed the gas creature inside her to do with Shu as it wanted. She closed her eyes and breathed in Shu's scent.
Everything looked normal to the infected whose strong grips had turned more into stroking touches. They were caught off guard as Crayana hopped onto her feet and with her arms still wrapped around Shu's body, ripped him out of their grasp and tossed him across the room.
"Xtizerxet is not in control!" came from the huddled mound of bodies as they backed away.
"Leave him alone!" Crayana shouted extending her arms in front of the other symbiot's in a protective manner.
Looks were exchanged among the synergic aliens as they silently conversed with one another. They grimly looked up to Crayana at the same time, "Apologies Xtizerxet, but if you are not in control yet… then you are nothing but a liability to our survival." The eight of them stood and began approaching Crayana.
A look of terror crossed Crayana's face as she realized what they meant. The voice inside her began screaming to run as well.
Shu shook his head to clear the haze effect from his vision. He regained his sense of being in time to see Crayana being pinned against a wall, "No!" As Shu shouted, his aura expanded into the ethereal form of his dragon which completely encased his body, "Get away from her!" In an incredibly fast motion, Shu flew by the symbiots closest to Crayana and mowed them down.
The downed aliens actually hissed and slowly pushed themselves back up, "The powered one is strong…"
Shu grit his teeth in frustration as he looked over the situation. He didn't feel right hurting the people since they were under the control of another creature, but at the same time he knew he and Crayana were in danger if he didn't do something.
As Shu frantically looked around for a way out of the situation, he failed to notice the symbiots were breathing heavily. His knees began to buckle before he realized what was going on. All of them at the same time were taking deep panting breaths. Every time they exhaled they were dumping huge amounts of pheromones into the air.
It was hard enough to keep his concentration in tact before, but Shu found it hard to focus on anything now. Sweat was dripping from his brow as his own internal body heat began to rise as a reaction to the overdose of sexual pheromones.
The alien symbiots began to take steps closer to them again, "Take him, take him, take him," they recited in a perverted mantra.
"I won't give up…" Shut took in another breath and tried focusing only on his familiar chant as the symbiots closed in around them, "I won't give up…"
A voice from the side spoke, "Well someone's looking all hot and bothered,"
"Lao?!" Shu perked up immediately recognizing the voice and seeing Lao and Jurkool standing nearby.
The symbiots turned to the new intruders in surprise as well, "More powers!" they all shrieked.
A coy smile spread across Lao's face, "That's right, do the honors Jurkool?"
"Absolutely sir," Jurkool flipped a switch on a device he brought with him which charged up immediately and encased the area in an energy shield. All of the symbiots reacted violently to the energy and began convulsing before dropping to the ground where the seizure continued.
Shu noticed Crayana among the group reacting badly to the energy, "Jurkool, what are you doing?!"
"Atmospheric electromagnetic discharge," Jurkool stated simply as the scent of ozone began to overpower the room.
They all looked to be in great pain. Shu's concern grew and he started pushing his way toward Jurkool.
Lao placed a hand on Shu's chest stopping him. "Give it a sec…" he interjected authoritatively.
All of the symbiot's opened their mouths as clouds of gas began to escape. The clouds floated upward but were quickly ensnared by the same energy which drove them from their hosts.
"Sequence completed successfully sir," Jurkool stated as emotionless as ever.
"Get them back to their home dimension," Lao ordered to which Jurkool bowed and teleported away.
Shu kneeled down by Crayana and cradled her for a second, "How long were you standing there?" He asked his boss.
"Five… maybe ten minutes…" Lao grinned.
"You were here that long and you didn't help?" Shu asked feeling put off.
"I wasn't done with my popcorn yet!" Lao chuckled as he kneeled by Crayana and checked her vitals. "She'll be alright, but let's get all these people home."
The Sovereign Guards teleported their unconscious passengers across town, depositing them in their home beds hoping the events of the last few days would remain only in the form of a bad dream to most of them. Crayana was the last stop for Shu. He gently placed her atop her bed and began to walk away, "Shu…?"
Shu cringed a little not wanting to have to go through the whole good bye thing, "Hey Crayana."
"Is it over?" Crayana whispered weakly.
With a nod, Shu turned back around, "Yeah, everything's going to be okay now, you did great. Thanks for saving me too."
Crayana sighed, "After all the bad things I did… it was the least I could do."
Shu crossed his arms to think of something encouraging to say, "Hey Crayana listen… Those things that happened, none of it was you that did it. What happened to your boyfriend was tragic, but he wouldn't want you to let it dominate your life. Don't let this hold you back from going out there and living the fullest life that you can."
A sad smile crept up Crayana's face, "Okay…" She thought for a moment before adding, "As long as you promise me that you'll follow your own advice."
Shu drew in a sharp breath, caught off guard by Crayana's bold comment. She slowly closed the distance between them, reached out, and slowly stroked Crayana's hair, "I will…"
Crayana's eyes closed and she almost immediately fell asleep. Shu backed away from bed and sighed. The last thing he had actually wanted was to think about his own past. He gathered enough courage to smile though as he looked over Crayana one last time before he was overtaken by light and warped away.
End Chronicle
And so concludes the first chronicle to Serius Prime. This chronicle was a little long due to the kind of introductions in the beginning, so the next couple chronicles shouldn't take as long to get through. If I follow the layout I have for this series right, the entire story should follow about seven different chronicles or so. And anyone who's reading ZAT:Immortal should really get a kick out of a couple places that the coming chronicles are going to be going. So I hope this first chronicle was enjoyable, and there is much more to come.