The Ultimate Lifeform

Chapter 3: Mephiles

It took them about three years to finish the project and they were so happy that it was finally complete. Jared is now 18 years old and his brother is now 15. Jerry also got promoted to police officer. Everyone cheered as soon as they saw that a baby fox came out. Jared was so happy that he kissed Scarlett. And that was their first kiss. Now it was time to celebrate. They threw a party in the government facility and while everyone was celebrating, Jared and Jerry went to go see their grandfather and tell him the good news. But when they told him the government brought up the agreement they made when they first started the project; Jared told him that it was too young and that it was going to take a while for it to grow, plus training. So their grandfather decided to make another agreement: Once the fox is all grown up and properly trained, they'll have to give it up to the government and never interfere with whatever he plans to do with it. In other words, Jared and Jerry will never see the fox ever again once they hand it over. Jared and Jerry agreed, but they weren't so sure if that was the right thing to do.

After days of thinking, Jared decided that they needed to protect the young fox and make sure it never falls into the wrong hands. Jerry was very concerned with this idea, but he didn't let his brother know what he was thinking. So they took the young fox to the Space Fox Society and decided to keep it there till it was time for it to go to earth. Jerry stayed behind due to his promotion and Scarlett went with Jared along with a few fellow scientists that agreed to help train the young fox. But first, they had to wait for it to wake up so the training could begin.

Day after day, they waited for the young fox to open its eyes; a normal fox doesn't open their eyes for 13-15 days but it wasn't a normal fox due to it being three days late. The only thing that happened during their patience was that the young fox's fur changed color from dark brown to red. Jared was so happy that it was a red fox but it had two other colors in different areas; it had white paws, a black tipped tail, and a black circle around its right eye. The other scientists were concerned about this because it made it look odd. Even Scarlett wasn't so sure what to make of this, but since it looked different she wanted to experiment on it. But when she brought this up to Jared, he broke up with her and fired her since he was now in control of the situation. Scarlett was furious and vowed that one day she'll get the young fox and experiment on it, painfully. So she got onto a rocket and left the Space Fox Society and was never seen again. Jared was heartbroken by this and he couldn't believe after all this time Scarlett would just do that. Now that made him a bit more protective, since people will now want to experiment on it due to it being odd looking.

The next day, one of the scientists quickly went to go get Jared and tell him that the young fox was opening its eyes. Jared got so excited that he quickly ran into the room so that he could be the first thing the young fox sees when it opens its eyes; in other words, he wanted the fox to imprint on him. The fox slowly opened its eyes and got a good look at its surroundings. It then lifted its head, yawned and took a good look around. Then one of the scientists told Jared that it was a male and that it had turquoise blue eyes, thanks to the papers they got from the machine it was created in. Jared was so happy that it was a male and started thinking that it wasn't odd looking at all, it was just very unique.

"Hey there little fella," said Jared in a really soft voice as he put his hand in front of the young fox.

The young fox sniffed his hand and gave it a small lick. Everyone felt their hearts drop as this was an adorable moment. One of the scientists dared to ask Jared what he was gonna name it. Jared had never really thought about what to name it till now. It took him a few seconds and he came up with the perfect unique name for a unique fox. He turned to the young fox to tell him his name,

"Your name is Mephiles," he said as the young fox fell back asleep.

After that, Jared and the other scientists left to discuss what to do next. Jared wasn't exactly sure since it was gonna take a while for the young fox to grow into the size of a young pup, so they waited yet again for the growth of the young fox. By the time three weeks passed, the young fox was finally the size of a young kit and everyone decided it was time to take an x-ray. So Jared picked him up nice and easy and put him onto a table and a scientist took out the x-ray and put it over him as he laid there soundlessly. After the x-ray was complete, everyone was shocked at what they saw. Mephiles had no organs whatsoever but he still gave off body heat and it felt like had a skeletal structure. Jared wasn't sure what to make of it, but he decided not to worry about it. The only important thing is that it's still alive and well. Once they removed the x-ray, they noticed Mephiles was trying to sit up and Jared thought it was time to teach it some things. So he took him off the table and put him on the floor and encouraged him to walk. Little by little, he began to walk properly and started sniffing everything he came to.

Everyone was just amazed at how well he was walking. A normal fox wouldn't be able to walk without having trouble, but obviously Mephiles wasn't a normal fox. The following week, Jared took Mephiles into a room where he'll be watched and trained carefully at all times. They put certain things in the room: There were books, a whiteboard, dog toys, and a lot of other stuff. Everyone watched him from another room with a control panel and a one way glass, so he wouldn't see them and lose his concentration.

After being in the room for a few minutes, Mephiles just walked around and took a good look at everything and then he just sat down in the middle of the floor and looked towards the one way glass and stared. They weren't sure what he was doing, but they ended up getting a little bit scared due to him staring without blinking or looking away. For a few minutes he just kept on staring and his stare just kept on feeling darker by the minute. Eventually, one of the scientists committed suicide because they couldn't take him staring any longer.

Jared was beginning to think that soon everyone was going to fear him and he didn't want that. He needed something to distract Mephiles, like food. When he brought this up to the others they took a look at the papers and told him that the only thing he'll ever eat is rice and he'll only drink water. So they got a bowl of water and rice and put them onto a panel that would appear on another panel inside the room. Mephiles looked behind him as a panel was rising from beneath the floor. He saw two bowls and sniffed what was inside them and gave each a small lick, then he began to eat the rice and drink the water. Jared was glad the food managed to distract him for a bit and that nothing else bad was going to happen for a while because of his deadly stare.

Another week later, Jerry got two months of vacation off and he decided to go to the Space Fox Society and see how his brother was doing with the young fox. Jared was so happy to see his brother that he told him everything that had happened for the last few weeks and showed him Mephiles. Jerry was quite surprised to see how unique it looked and he was happy to see his brother happy once again.

One month later, Mephiles was one month old and he was beginning to teethe; he started chewing on the dog toys and threw them up in the air and tried to catch them in the air, it was like a little game to him. For hours he would do this while he waited for the panel to appear with his food and water. It was amazing how well he was growing and how he managed to learn how to do things. He even managed to learn how to use his calls after listening to What Does The Fox Say? a few times when they played it for him. But what he really learned how to do was being able to stand on two legs. Which means, Mephiles has human abilities.