When Worlds Collide

Chapter 2: Complete Metamorphosis

Up ahead loomed the building of Genekinesis' laboratories; dark grey-green and foreboding. The van drove into the car park and pulled up outside the front door, reversing to shorten the trip that was needed to take the new cargo down to the labs. Kejura sighed. He hated kidnapping random kids for the experiments, he hated seeing their distressed parents on the news, and he absolutely loathed the fact he couldn't do anything about it. And the company itself, for that matter. It was them who gave him his scales.

Back when Kejura was just twelve, his father, the Professor, made him the first subject of the Skylo Theory Experiment. It left him not only with his shimmery scales with a nifty UV glow, but a dark entity on the back of his mind. It called itself Wynter and took the form of a psychopathic purple dragon, living in his head and influencing his thoughts and actions. But he told no one of the strange creature, instead choosing to put up with it the best he could.

Jumping out of the van, Kejura went round to the back and opened the door. Kyrie and Cotastros also jumped out, carrying one of the teens between them wrapped tightly in the sheet. His father, the professor, came round to help and together he and Kejura took the other teen inside and down to the labs.

On his way down, Kejura let his mind wander. What if... What if these two became intelligent creatures? And not only that, what if they understood him, trusted him and... What if he could help them escape? Or even escape with them? Kejura pictured himself flying on the back of a flying reptile not unlike a dragon, and smiled happily. Then, they arrived at his dad's lab. The lab was dimly lit, with dark green walls and a dark grey floor. The only sources of light were two large tanks at one end of the room that almost reached the ceiling full of a strange, glowing green-blue liquid. On one side of each tank was a ladder, both on the outside and in. On the other, a small black box with a pipe attached that lead off to a nearby drain. The box had little buttons on and a couple of little screens.

Returning to reality, Kejura reluctantly helped his dad unwrap their bundle, revealing an unconscious girl about his age. So this is what they're testing on? Poor girl... The professor laid her on what looked an operation table while Kyrie and Cotastros silently unwrapped their load and set an unconscious boy on the other table before going through their pockets. Anything electrical and everything else was removed. There was a chance that they may be able to use them again. Solemnly, the two teens were then picked up again and taken to the tanks at the other side of the room before gently being lowered in. The little black boxes flickered into life and bleeped happily away to themselves as they began processing the chemicals inside the tank. The process would be a long one; the chemicals inside the tank caused a complete metamorphosis within submerged subjects and the box was their life support. Although, it wouldn't be needed until the subject's body was being rebuilt. Then, everyone left the room and waited for the chemicals to do their job.

Inside the tanks, Emily and Jordyn's bodies were being completely dissolved by the chemicals, and completely rebuilt at the same time. The liquid reshaped bones, reorganised organs and overall, changes their bodies so that they were completely unrecognisable. And a lot smaller - the process simply recycled existing chemical material so if the new body shape had extra limbs and a tail the final creature was smaller than the original. It took a week, and a week later Kejura and the professor returned to see the fruits of the experiment.

Inside the tanks were two of the weirdest creatures Kejura had ever seen. Where there'd once been a teenage girl now floated some sort of tiny dragon about the size of a dog. She was a soft green with a yellow-tinged underside and had a short mane of brown fur down her neck. She had longish pointy ears on the sides of her head just below a pair of three-pronged antler shaped protrusions, each with a small gold earring that she must have been wearing beforehand. Also, she had a large pair of yellow-splattered membranous wings and her arms had become forelegs, with a small pair of vestigial arms just behind. All of her limbs, excluding the wings, had a trim of the brown fur down their forearm or foot just before the paw and her forelegs had a row of scale plates protecting the front angle of them. Her face was covered in some sort of chitin, and she now had four eyes and a pair of long, stringy antenna floated aimlessly above her, anchored to her skull between the "antlers."

The other tank was a similar story, aside from the colour and horns. The boy was covered in silver-grey skin and had a bright blue mane and tufts on his legs and rump. The main difference was that his face had a pearly blue marking, like the blaze on a horse's face. And instead of antlers he had three pairs of horn like points protuding from his jawbone as it curved towards his ear. He also had markings on his wings - a splattering of neon blue that seemed to glow. Below his feet lay the clothes he'd been wearing before.

Suddenly the grey's four eyes snapped open, panicked at being submerged. Kejura couldnt help but notice that the rear pair were devoid of a pupil or an iris. The grey kicked clumsily to the surface and clung to the glass around the rim. He stayed there panting, with his head hanging over the edge, dripping chemicals onto the floor. He looked at Kejura and the professor in bewilderment, before finding the rungs of the inside ladder with his hind feet and clambering out of the chemicals, dropping in a soggy heap on the floor. After a while, he shakily picked himself up. Standing uncertainly on his new feet he swayed drunkenly, experimenting with his new tail and wings and getting confused between his fore legs and tiny arms. Once he seemed happy he could coordinate himself he tottered over to the other tank, where he'd obviously noticed the other creature, and scratched against the glass, chirping quietly.