The NexttGenns Trilogy: Season 1: THE CORRUPTION SERIES

The Diamond Locke || 4

I blink, not that it helps. I seem to have floated away from the window hole I closed earlier. I look around in the void. Far ahead, a white light appears in a ray, attracting surrounding darkness. Curious, I fly towards it.

I frown at the glowing ray of light in my face. I reach out my hand cautiously, hoping it won't get disintegrated. It pulls at my wrist, and I squint against the blinding light, when suddenly something grabs my hand, and yanks me head first into the unknown.

**

My ears are ringing and I can't hear anything. My vision is blurry. I can tell I'm on the ground, my body feels contorted, and my arms are stretched out in front of me. The ringing goes down some, and I hear some voices around me.

"Who is she?"

"Stygian, what did you do!"

"You told me to open the window!"

"How did she get here?"

"Maybe she's an outcast!"

"What if she's one of them?!"

Some gasps erupt, then a male voice speaks. "Calm down, ya loonies. She's not one of them, see?" There's a pause. "She would be torn up some how if she was."

Another male voice speaks. "Your girlfriend was one of them for a short while!" The first male growls. "She's also.." Ringing fades in and out for a few seconds, making it hard to hear. "..Angel and Tollage had found a cure for her." I blink, regaining my vision. "Oh yeah? where's that cure now, Zaaire?"

I am on the ground, and laying down in an uncomfortable position. I've never seen such a variety of different Cytronics grouped together like this before. An ocelot, A fox, A wolf, A witch hybrid, A phantom hybrid, Another fennec fox, and A fox-rabbit.

The ocelot is yellow, and green. She has a bandage cast on her right leg, from her ankle to her thigh. She has stitches here and there. Yellow and green is kind of thrown everywhere in her arms and legs. Her cat tail is in the air, swaying side to side. On her chest is a red screen, that curves around her. On the screen is a black line, moving like a pulse; unless it's for show, probably her pulse. She has two red band like necklaces on. She has flame shaped eyes, with pupils like fire itself, in a beautiful purple. Above her left eye is a stitched scar. Below it, is a connected X, with a line through it. Under her right eye is another stitched scar. Next to the scar, on her cheek, is a white petalled flower, with a yellow middle. Her curly hair is bright orange, with highlights of red. Her ocelot ears are perched atop her head in interest.

There's the purple fox Cytronic on my right, and a cyan and grey fox-rabbit Cytronic on my left, presumably the two boys.

The fox rabbit has black and grey feet, reaching up his legs, passed his dark blue tail, to his lower ribs. He has orange fur from his chest to his lower ribs. His shoulders are mixed matched it seems: On his right side, dark blue fur curves around metal sheeting that only reaches a few inches wide. The fur curves again, farther down his arm, at his wrist. His left shoulder his dark blue fur, reaching halfway down his arm, and curves around metal sheeting. There's a yellow collar around his neck, with a rectangular button in the center. His fur is split down his face; on his right, is dark grey fur, and his left is dark blue fur. There is a long, white scar under his left eye, which is a russian violet. His right eye is completely darkened, and covered up partially by a red bandage. Under his eye is a three pointed black scar. He has seaweed green hair, curling around in the air. His rabbit ear is metal, and half way down, the dark blue fur rudely interjects, before the metal continues. His fox ear, is metal at the base, and at the tip the fur resides, dark blue and on the inside, it's orange.

The purple fox has black ashy feet, reaching up to his knees, to his purple fox tail. He has light green fur from his chest to his stomach, with a black line of fur diagonally from his bottom right side, to his left, a little higher. There's metallic sheets cutting from his wrists down, and up on his shoulders it ends in a V formation. A red ribbon sits, out of place around his neck. His face markings are below his eyes, on his cheeks. On his right, is a red cut circle, with the bottom edge out. On his left, is a black plus symbol. His eyes are two different colors; his right, is a mix between orange, and yellow, like the embers of fire; his left, is a light blue, like a cloudless sky. His hair is bright blue, like a clear sea. His fox ears are down, as he argues with the fox-rabbit.

There's five other girls standing around, a few looking fearful, the rest with looks of anticipation. I start moving, and the fighting ceases, and everyone turns to me. I blink, startled, and slowly stand up. Everyone seems to hold their breath, watching me carefully.

I glance around the room, hoping someone will speak, and end this awkward silence. The ocelot speaks first.

"H-hello, my name is Stygian. Stygian Von Bùton." I blink. They speak!  I grin. "I'm Pepper..-" I begin.

"Wait.. The Pepper? "The purple fox interrupts. I blink, and glance around. Is this sarcastic, or..?  "Uh..-"

He hugs me suddenly, and the others join in. I look at everyone, very confused. "Oh- okay..uh.. this is normal.." I say awkwardly. Everyone gives me space after a few seconds. "My apologies, My Quoredoone." He says with a nervous laugh. "It's just,- everyone thought you were dead." I frown.

"Quoredoone?"  I ask. I thought my status meant nothing to the pubic as well by now..

The purple fox blinks. "Wait, are you a Tresk now?" He asks hastily. "I haven't kept up with the royals business and stuff since the war started."

I shake my head. "No, I'm still a Quoredoone, at least for another year.." I say. "It's just, Genie doesn't consider my status..-" I glance to the side. "Valid, anymore.. Now that Mother and Elaina are..." I trail off.

The purple fox looks around at his friends. "I don't think we properly introduced ourselves.. I'm Circuit Zaaire. "

The wolf girl speaks. "Illiestra Lockii."

Then the witch hybrid. "Angel Winocur."

Then the phantom hybrid. "Tollage..Stiilucky."

The fennec fox next. "Lycea .. Westluck."

Then, the fox-rabbit. "Boxtrip..." He mouths the rest, as the ringing comes back. I frown, shaking my head and rub my ears. Oh yea, I was looking for my cousin! I could've sworn I knew her name earlier.. "Paluna?" I say suddenly, quieter than I meant. Everyone stares at me. I clear my throat.

"I mean, do any of you know Traple Paluna?" I ask. Circuit and Boxtrip's ears perk up. "I haven't heard her name in so long.." Boxtrip says.

Circuit bumps his elbow. "I just said her name earlier, nitwit!" He says.

I laugh. "This group is funny." I say. " But seriously, does anyone know what happened to her?" The room goes dead silent.