Minus four felt... strange.
For some reason, calling on the number that had become its power, brought with it something on its skin. Similar to the sentients. What were these pieces of dead plant and protein that coated it so? Why was Four... something like this? What were these creatures? What had it... become? It was necessary... wasn't it? These questions brought on more questions... and those even more. It was a raging torrent of questions that ended with..
"Who... am... I?"
As soon as that happened, Minus Four knew something had gone terribly wrong. It- it wasn't what it once was. Isolated in a mind like this, it was the edge of madness. How could anything endure... this? After spending a time in this body, It was alive. Thoughts and feelings, confusing desires- in particular a pressing desire to survive... which was counter to the reason it existed in the first place. It sought to resolve this using cold logic.
It was an aberration... But a truth more horrible then it could endure was starting to rear itself in the mind. Number Four and itself were both aberrations. But now that it existed, it could resolve this situation. Once they met, both numbers would return to zero...
The red one was no match for it... it tried, but it was no match for a number. It saw her fall... and.. it provoked a kind of emotional response in this body. Though it didn't know what it was. None of these emotions made sense.
Minus four paused for a moment, looking darkening day. She saw a few 'templates' starting to pour out of the various structures and into streets. How strange those emotions were, when they interacted with the potentials. Why were they acting like this anyway? Was it due to sentience?
It did not matter... none of that mattered.
But it felt.. so alone. Why did this task mean it was to be separated? Alone.. with just a... body? Why did such isolation affect it like this? To want.. need... at least it was not cold. At least it had a purpose... at least... it was alive? It was exploring who it was... something it never got a chance to do before.
It jumped easily down, the lower coatings almost acting as a parachute in its decent back to the ground. Number four was very close... Soon this will end.
Lilly stood there alone contemplating. She was supposed to go home now... her parents would be very angry with her if she disobeyed. But... the way Jenny and the cat girl looked at each other, was a look she vaguely knew. Something was wrong... maybe it was an animal instinct, but something here wanted to make her flee. Especially pronounced given she was a 'pray' type creature.
The squirrel girl wondered around, going towards the direction of the park. The sight of trees always elated her now. She glanced up at the dark cloud that seemed to be covering up the sun... it seemed thick enough that people might not change if they came out. Why couldn't it have been dark when she was exposed to the sunlight? That day... she could still remember the initial shock. The absolute fear of.. turning into this form- everything growing big around her... Even if she did use this body really well...
There was nobody in the park. Few kids could go in the start of the week she guessed. Still it was nice to have a bit of time alone. It gave her time to think on what her friends might be doing. What could be wrong? Jenny was the sweetest, kindest, best person in the world. Nobody could want to hurt her friend...
Lilly didn't really know how to be a girl... but she knew as a boy, she wouldn't allow Jenny to get hurt. It would be like letting her little sister get hurt. This whole situation was so messed up! She was the little girl now. What could be so secret and important that they wouldn't tell her? Artemis seemed to know something... but... she was excluded from knowing.
"We'll stick together," She repeated the promise Artemis had made... She wanted to promise that to them. Even if she turned back into a boy... she or even he would be their friend anyway! Even if... they didn't want to be, it wouldn't change that she could still consider them friends...
you are special to me she heard the voice of her mother say.
you can do anything my son she heard the voice of her father say.
No! She could help! Whatever was going on, she could help. They were her friends! Her instincts just told her they were in trouble... It was almost as if she could smell them close by- wait...
there was a scent...
Lilly got down on all fours, and started sniffing the ground. She couldn't smell Artemis... actually, come to think of it, Artemis didn't have a scent at all when she thought about it. So that was not too surprising... but Jenny did. She could smell her. Something seemed a bit odd about the scent. Lilly felt thrilled. She could find them! Then she could show that she was strong to them... whatever it was, she could help.
She sniffed a small gate to an old though small building, and found that the trail went... up? What? How could Jenny's scent go up the wall? Admittedly it wasn't very high, but it was high enough. The squirrel girl dug her claws into the gravel, climbing it as one would a tree, her twin tails moving a little aggressively as if she was going against some instinct of her body- though it relented to her goal.
Still she climbed, up a window ledge, then up a drain pipe, moving with impeccable grace- but it was making her heart beat so quickly. She wasn't sure how good her body was at this kind of thing. She remembered when she almost fell and Jenny caught her... her body was not super-human... it was very agile sure. In private moments she realised she could even do the splits... but it was not invulnerable.
Minutes later, she was at the roof, panting heavily.
She sniffed around again... the scent was now moving south, across another... building? Lilly swallowed. She wasn't sure if she could make that jump but... she was a squirrel, wasn't she? If anyone could...
She jumped the distance, almost falling... but her claws dug in and she moved quickly again. This was incredibly dangerous! How did Jenny do this? It wasn't possible...
"I .. can... do... this," Said Lilly. She'll follow the scent... to find her friends. But she was hesitant. If she really wanted to do this... she had to let her human reasoning go a little. Lilly let herself drift, and just allowed the squirrel part of her do what it felt it needed to. It was like slipping into another way of moving, her desire to find a quarry... The image of Jenny solely guiding her as her nose twitched, and her body darted in the direction.
Under this deeper sensing of instinct, suddenly smells just... exploded. She could smell everything... so much that wasn't important... but there was a trail.
She scurried down, landing onto a branch in a small allotment... continuing to move as an animal. Her dress got torn slightly and the animal part of her wanted to get rid of it. She had to move freely. Lilly managed to resist the urge to rip off the dress- she didn't want to be naked. She then glanced around seeing herself underneath a park bench. The scent was so confusing... she knew they were here somewhere.
The squirrel part of her mind was now telling her something else. She didn't know what it was though... it set her hairs on end...
Minus four sensed it... a potential, following after it- and did so with a tenacity.
Number Four was still some distance away... who was this new entity that was seeking contact with? An ally of Four perhaps? Someone that wished to stop the mission?
It clearly had been detected... but now, it was fully powered. It could not analyse the threat this one possessed... however it detected no abilities like its own... so it was clearly not a number..
It jumped in front of her, eyeing the strange furred creature, negative magical energy coursing through her, to deal with any threat it showed.
"J-Jenny?" Lilly said gasping as she stared at her. Was that really Jenny? But her hair was black... and she was wearing something strange. Did they go to a costume party and didn't tell her about it? Suddenly the squirrel girl felt foolish if that's all it was. Maybe it was a girl's only party... they could have just told her, she would have understood!
'Jenny' raised her hand, as a magical light sprung forth. Its tendrils of energy were like a dark splash of ink, curling and teasing around Jenny's small fingers.
The squirrel girl stared at it with awe... like a person who had never seen fire. She approached closer... "J-Jenny? I-its me..." why was she acting like this? She had not even said a word... did the sun do something even weirder to her? She hoped not! "Is... Artemis wearing a costume too?" She asked hopefully.
Minus four stared at the furry girl with a surreal expression. "Jen...ny..." it said, rolling the word with its tongue. The magic light left her hand briefly.
"I-It's me... your friend..." Lilly was now very confused. They were friends still... right? "I'm sorry.. I thought you were in trouble... I just wanted to help.."
'Jenny' got closer, moving almost like a mannequin... she touched the fur of the squirrel-girl, with an air of curiosity as sensation prickled along her hand. So soft... so warm... it felt nice. She ran the hand across her forehead and then down the length of her tail, even moving her cheek across the squirrel girl's neck.
The squirrel girl gasped as Jenny started to 'pet' her like this. Maybe it was because she had been as an animal a moment before, but it felt quite nice... and it was Jenny... she trusted her. She didn't know what was going on, and she could feel her touch bringing those instincts to the fore again. Lilly sniffed. The scent was the same... but something was still off. She wasn't sure quite what it was.
... then it connected. It was what her squirrel senses were trying to tell her. It was Jenny's scent... but there was no scent of the school or anywhere else she normally was. None of her own scent either.. The squirrel girl was about to ask... just as a blast of strange energy rippled through Jenny's hand, and into her, sending Lilly to blackness.
Minus four regarded the motionless squirrel girl. Even if it was successful at 'distracting' her... how strange for something to have no power, to be that distracting. For what purpose?
More strange 'feelings' came to it's mind. Something... odd. A familiarity it didn't know how to process. That it had Four's body and proteins meant it also had some of it's memories and speech, even if it didn't know how to understand it all. That it was all written backwards to it's mind was all the more difficult. It also heard a sound... like... something deep inside this body.
The strange negative number placed her hand on the squirrel girl's head. Thought... All locked up inside that structure. It was so much easier to communicate with them...
Yet.. It wanted to experience more...
