Out of This World Gaming [~ read description]

Chapter 28: Wild Cat Consoleoid

"Hey! Wake up! Stay with me, kid." a voice rang out beyond the darkness. Her vision swam into focus to see that she was now in a bright room; a massive one at that. The floor was smooth and cool to the touch with a shade of cerulean while the walls and ceiling were gray; the latter was embedded with large bulbs. There was a slight buzz associated with the light sources, so they must've had some age. 

"Oh, goodie, you're awake! It's not safe here - we gotta move." the voice seemed to be feminine and panicky. Iris fully opened her eyes and sat up abruptly, hitting her forehead against the entity that sat by her side. "Ouch! My head! You brat!" she screamed. "Ouch. Hey, it's your fault for sitting there." Iris retorted cautiously. 

She studied this female figure beside of her; her hair was brown with highlights of neon pink and she wore a dress that extended to her knees and it was colored in periwinkle. A ring with a yellowish gem was wrapped around one of her fingers and her feet were adorned with running shoes colored in gray and sprinkled with glitter. On her neck was a black collar similar to what Iris wore, but only instead of a rainbow-y logo in the center, the emblem was a couple of hearts; one was blue, and one was pink, and they interlocked with each other. 

In correspondence to that, she also had different colored eyes; one was pink, and another was blue. No, she couldn't have been that Consoleoid; her kind was said to have only been advertised in one region in this universe, but failed miserably when it came to being popular. 

"Cassie?" Iris spoke. "Iris?! Oh, my gosh, how did I not recognize you sooner? We totally went to school together and I like, never saw you again. What happened to you? Why are you here? Ooh, you've gotta tell me all about it." she said whilst shaking Iris back and forth by the shoulders. 

"I-I.. c-could ask you the same... thi-i-i-i-i-ng!" Iris struggled to speak. "Oh, sorry, I'm just so excited!" she apologized. "At ease, Cassie, it's kind of a long story. I escaped from our home universe after.. well.. yeah, it's a long story, but what are you doing here in this corner of the multiverse?" Iris inquired. 

"Well, I totally remember some black haired cutie who asked me and a few others to help him and a friend escape, but we were shot off course and crash landed somewhere. A couple of us are probably dead, but that's okay, as long as I find somebody, everything will be just fine!" she carelessly stated. "I'm sorry to hear that. So, who's this black haired cutie you speak of?" 

Iris asked this question with interest, but not because she was interested in him, per se, she was just interested in whom she was speaking of. Even so, that didn't stop Cassie from smirking like a madwoman. "Ooooooh are you jealous?" Cassie teased. "No, I just heard of a guy with black hair who needs help. I gotta get him back from Satara, so are you helping me out or not?" inquired the child.

Cassie's ecstatic expression shifted to one of fright and cringe. "S-Satara?! A-Are you insane?! She's going to kill you! Trust me, we've had a run-in with that bitch, said something about one of my crew members killing her father. We ain't got time to be killing parents when we're trying to get freedom!" Cassie ranted and warned. 

"So this means you know a guy named Ziazan?" Iris questioned. "Yeah, and I assume you've come to help save him?" "Yeah, of course. I'm here for something personal, too." 

"That's all fine and good, but if you know Ziazan, what about Zerrin?" Cassie pressed. "Zerrin and I go way back, but I'm surprised you didn't know the two of us were friends as well. Why didn't she mention you or any other members of the crew?" the child interrogated. "I'm sorry, even if you're my friend, that's classified information." she lamented. 

"We could die at any moment, so at least tell me this classified stuff!" Iris begged angrily. "Yes, do tell her, I'd hate to kill any of my prey before I hear some juicy secrets~" purred an older woman's voice. 

"Oh, no, she's here." Cassie assumed a defensive posture as the both of them looked towards the source of the voice. The sound of clicking echoed in the room; this sound resembled the clicking of high heels. 

A tall, womanly figure approached the AI as they were in their defensive statures. She had long, black hair with glasses clinging to her face; the frames were scarlet, which matched her piercing red eyes. Normally, red eyes would signal an error; however, the sclera was still white, so the color of her irises must've been normal for her. 

She wore a black dress that extended to her ankles, as well as black gloves that reached her elbows. On her neck was a collar colored in red, and the circular portion in the very front had an image of a cat's eye colored entirely in red, but the details remained. "Not you again." Cassie lamented. "Oh, yes, it's me again. The one and only Desiri." She purred. Any word with the letter 'R' in it rolled off her tongue as if she was imitating purring. 

"Desiri, just go back to your bankrupt creators already. Honestly, they kept pouring out add-ons to the point where you physically looked like an earthly biological waste depository." Cassie insulted. "At least I'm not a consoleoid whose kind was only released in one region of all universes that contained an Earth and only targeted females of the human species. To make matters worse, the games you were all bestowed were poor in quality and story telling. " Desiri explained. "Hey, you weren't any better, princess." 

"Oh, really? My kind had - and still has - better graphics, games, and hardware. I only failed because I was ahead of my time, that's all. If you do the math, perhaps you'll know your place - a place that denotes that you're below me, you bat-shit loopy consoleoid." Desiri called out Cassie. "You can't appeal to just a young, female audience. What were your creators thinking?! 

"They had an idea and they rolled with it. Why don't you get lost so we can find our friends?!" Iris ranted, now feeling the slightest arrival of a headache. No, not now, the Software Shock is starting to gradually return! Without Larkspur, the illusion no longer exists, but if she stayed strong, could she perhaps hold onto any remaining thread of it? There has to be just one she can grab! 

"Who are you to talk to me that way? Not even my illustrious leader, Satara Shiro, would ever raise her voice at me." Desiri talked down on the child. She still rolled her r's, but it was now become more subtle and at least pleasurable to listen to, despite coming from a snake like herself. "My name is Iris, and along with Cassie, we're gonna be the ones to take you down!" she unsheathed her fused AeroFrost Cutlass and held it in a defensive manner. The only response from Desiri she received was a laughing fit - one of nervousness. 

"You're a.. a.." she stuttered. "Yeah, I'm one of those consoleoids. "That's right. My kind helped revolutionize gaming, and had helped to create popular franchises. For one thing, nobody insults any of my friends without answering to me. Secondly, we'll make it past you no matter what!" Iris shouted.

She spoke words of bravery, but she was internally screaming at herself to stop. Nonetheless, she held her ground as Desiri began to laugh. "You're the Plaything Satara told us about. Didn't she nearly beat you to a pulp?" taunted the woman. She cackled to the point of being soundless. "Iris?" Cassie reached out in concern. 

Iris ground her teeth and summoned a shard of ice and launched it at her opponent. It missed her body, but Desiri felt lighter than usual. She looked at her black hair to find that her waist length mane now only reached her mid-back. "Didn't I tell you that you'll answer to me if you kept going? Do not, and I mean, do not underestimate the power of this Plaything!" she screeched.

"Fine, you asked for it you brats." Desiri smirked like that of a madwoman, so much so that Cassie looked tame in comparison. "Get ready, Cassie, I have a feeling that we're not going to get out of this as peacefully as you hoped." "Like I was anticipating negotiation." 

Desiri's breathing became erratic and she fell to her hands and knees. Her teeth grew in length, her eyes changed from red to yellow, her smooth skin transformed into fur that was as black as her dress, and all of her clothing disappeared. Instead of a humanoid AI, there was now what appeared to be a full-fledged beast in front of them. "What is that thing?!" Cassie shrieked as the two girls backed up; the quadruped only advanced. "Well, since I've spent some of my time here watching programs about wild animals, I can say for certain that this thing is.. is.." 

Iris and Cassie were stunned by the sight of a tackling Desiri. 

"..A panther!"