Psycher Chronicles

Chapter 51

A Team Game, With Team Blame

(Misha Tulley)

There was a faint hint of electricity and the scent of an autumn breeze that filled the gymnasium, swirling around the basketball fans that were in attendance for the day’s game and finally made their way to her. These were the winds that hinted that the seasons would soon change, going from a crisp autumn to a cold winter.

The winds also hinted at something deeper, something that Misha was unable to fully comprehend, even with all of her years of experience and lifetimes of memories to call upon.

Misha stood there, breathing in the air and listening to its silent confessions, trying to understand what her heightened senses were trying to tell her.

Nothing was wrong, at least not yet.

There was no immediate sense of danger.

Yet, Misha couldn’t help but heed the warning that was on the gentle breeze.

Change was coming and when the change came it would be cold and decisive.

At least that was what Misha gathered from the sensations that were gently whispering to her mind. If she but focused her will, she swore that she would be able to hear a sympathetic message in the wind’s resonance. Focusing for just a moment, she felt it a deeper message that was in fact hidden on the wind.

BZZZ!

Then the moment she did, a ringing discordant note of tinnitus buzzed irritatingly in her ear, distracting her from any semblance of coherent though. Mentally she knew this was a direct act of sabotage by the organo-tech that had molded itself with her own genetic structure. Somehow the organo-tech realized the breeze for what it was, an unknown message from an unknown source. It identified the unusual energy and then executed hundreds of hidden defensive measures that Misha had never seen or been able to observe in action.

Working quickly, Misha reacted swiftly and violently to the sources of hidden code. Ensuring that such measures would not happen again, though by the time she was done the mission and intent of the disrupting code was achieved, as Misha never got a chance to try to understand the hidden message.

Looking around, Misha tried to see the source of the message, but found no anomalies. Looking around she found her mother and her boyfriend, looking at the two Misha could only hope that her mother. Or rather the biological manufacturer for the body that she now inhabited, Misha could only hope that she found a suitable procreation partner. Though procreation, at least the type practiced and endorsed on this planet seemed to be both disgusting and inconvenient. However, after seeing the genetic results, Misha could not argue with the fact that this form of procreation did allow for a much faster evolution process.

Shudder.

Still, despite the obvious advantages Misha was not willing to be part of this process. Especially as she did not consider herself as a true participant in this species.

Though she did have a few more questions for herself, ones that would obviously need to be answered here shortly. The most pressing of which would be would she ever consider herself to be a participant of the planet? If so, which species would she want to embody. So far humans had the most versatility with their adaptability and fine motor functions, at least compared to other creatures that she had seen thus far. Their bipedal form and ability to move around freely on the surface of their planet was also a bonus in their favor.

The only real flaw she saw with their design was the ability to get colds and illnesses. From an organo-tech point of view these were to be expected as viruses and bacteria were the two easiest ways to introduce widespread changes to a body’s composition without being too obvious.

Misha had of course been made aware of this infection vector when she was first introduced to her own organo-tech. Then looking at it logically, with the fact that everyone knew that both Lykanthropy and Vampirism were passed on as diseases, it became apparent that organo-tech spread by infections.

Of course, Misha would need to see a ruler class be awakened to see if they too were infected via a viral route, to be completely certain of her assumption, but there had been more than enough evidence that Misha had looked into this process.

Misha even went so far as to remove the open infection vectors that her body previously had. This was not to say that Misha was now incapable of making changes to her own code or body, quite the opposite in fact. While she had cut off all, or almost all external methods of altering her genetic code, Misha still had all the internal methods open. This was so Misha could direct change internally and know exactly what was getting into her body and why it was being added.

This level of security, while possibly coming across as eccentric was paramount in her need to survive and adapt to being in an enemy body, on an enemy controlled planet, in what was now enemy controlled space.

Exhale.

In this moment, Misha realized that she was alone. Worse, she realized that despite everything she had been through and gone through to this point. All the countless hours and lifetimes of improving herself and the fleet, she now had no mission. Worst of all, she was seen as expendable by her own fleet.

Then before Misha could get too lost in her own thoughts, her coach came over and spoke to her.

“You ready for this?” Coach Green asked, a fire and enthusiasm filling her voice.

Blinking twice, Misha focused herself and looked directly at her coach. “Yes.”

Coach Green stared at her for a minute, apparently waiting to see if she would be fired up, but then pausing she looked into Misha’s eyes.

“You know, if anyone else came to me with this seeming lack of energy I would sit them. But for you,” Coach Green began while staring Misha in the eyes, a stare that Misha did not break away from in the slightest. “I know you are always going to give your best. Go out there and show the Big Reds what who the new boss is.”

The coach was of course talking about the native American mascot that was the symbol for Parkersburg High School, the Big Reds, as they were called.

Misha nodded, standing up, and feeling her full frame stretch out putting her well above most of her peers.

“Come on Coach, we all know the only big red here is Tulley.” J-Sweep stated, as she too stood up and joined Misha.

“Darn right coach, they don’t stand a chance against us.” K-Bar added, hopping up to her feet and bouncing to join the group.

Then in no time at all, the rest of the team was up and gathered around coach.

Coach Green for her part, felt calm, though she knew she had to say something to the girls, so she shot from the hip. “I didn’t have a speech prepared. Normally I would. Normally, I would try to find the words to motivate you all, right here.” Coach said, scanning the group and making eye contact with each of her players.

“But this isn’t a normal year. This isn’t even a normal starting game. Normally we start against our rivals but they are steal dealing with lack of power and other amenities. As such, this is our first game. And All I want you to do, is go out there, have fun, and do the little things that I know you all are capable of.”

“YEAH!” K-Bar, J-Sweep and even Amoni all screamed and raised their fists in the air, touching at the center. Then the rest of the team joined in afterwards. Misha for her part raised her fist to touch the others and be part of the festivities, though she still didn’t growl or scream. Instead, she let a slow intensity fill her as she straightened up her posture and began to get in her game mode.

“Looks like one of them isn’t ready to play.” Number five from the Big Reds called out.

“I don’t blame them, they came to the wrong place today. Should have just stayed home and avoided the whoopin’ that is about to come their way.” Number eleven from the Big Reds replied back her voice loud enough to hear.

Turning her gaze slightly, she locked gazes with the two girls, instantly her senses went off, telling her who, or rather what the people before her were.

Tier 1 Warrior Class member identified – meets minimum threshold standards.

Tier 2 Warrior Class member identified – below minimum threshold standards.

The first two talkers were sort of what Misha had expected a Tier 1 with a big mouth, who was supported by a Tier 2 werewolf.

Tier 1 Warrior Class member identified – meets minimum threshold standards.

Tier 2 Warrior Class member identified – meets minimum threshold standards.

Tier 2 Warrior Class member identified – meets minimum threshold standards.

Then looking at the rest of the team, it was clear that the starting five were all werewolves, with number five being the weakest of the bunch. Number 11 wasn’t much better as they apparently were at the threshold to go to Tier 2, but didn’t do much since their transition making it so they were a prime candidate to be reset by Misha’s Reaper class.

Though this was supposed to be a friendly game, the rest of the pack could apparently smell blood in the water, as they likely realized that most of Misha’s team was reset to Tier 0, a stronger base for Tier 0, and one that would have a fundamentally higher standard than what the other Big Red starters had, but that would take time. For now Misha and her team were weak, at least to the heightened senses of multiple Tier 2 werewolves.

“Go out there and get them!” Amoni both shoved and pushed Misha forward, trying to hype up Misha who strolled with confidence to her starting position. She was the point guard, meaning she would be in the back court, first to defend if the toss-up was won by the opposing team, or first to guide the team if Michelle tipped the ball in her direction. Either way, Misha was prepared for what was to come.

Getting into position, Misha let a hungry smile fill her lips as she could all but taste the power of not one, but three Tier 2 warriors coming to her.

Pausing, she felt out for a moment trying to sense the world with her recently stolen Danger Sense.

To Misha’s senses Danger Sense almost felt like staring out over a vast flat pond to see what was coming. If you held still, you could feel the waves of the world ripple out from you, based on your movements, then bounce back.

Focusing her mind, Misha found that the lake she now focused her senses over was calm, for the only ripples that she felt were ones created by her.

Realizing that everything was okay, if only for the moment, Misha let her smile widen as she showed teeth. In this moment, Misha was the hunter, ready to lash out and strike down fellow carnivores that forgot about their place in the world.

So intense were these feelings of placid hunger that Misha was able to tune everything out.

Misha tuned out the screaming fans that suddenly went quiet as the referee came to center court with the ball. She focused past the cheering section of both home and away teams that filled the gymnasium, and she was only vaguely aware of the higher Tiered Warriors and Workers that stared down from the bleachers, watching as their children or friends of their children squared off to compete.

Poof.

The ball rolled up into the air, Michelle and the opposing Tier 2 center jumped up for the ball, and as expected the Tier 2 managed to jump slightly faster and higher than Michelle, reaching the ball almost before it reached its apex and began its descent.

Blur.

Misha was already running, seeing the victor of the tip off before it even began.

Thump, thump, thump.

By her third step, Misha was already at full speed, by her fifth step, she was weaving through her own players, by the sixth and seventh step she was winding around and through her opponents. Though as Misha made her move, she pushed out, pushing the off balanced center, number 11, and causing her to take an awkward step back. Slapping her arm out to quickly brush aside the opposing team’s power forward, a tall Scandinavian girl wearing number 13.

Both girls looked dazed for a moment, as they just stood there, this wasn’t enough for Misha to cause the group to reset their Tier rating for a more sustainable version, but it was enough to get them to feel disoriented for a moment.

That moment was all Misha’s team needed to charge forward, as they had dealt with and battled through Misha’s disarming ability. They saw the moment for what it was, a chance to strike and move decisively.

Tap-tippity-tap.

The ball bounced to the ground, Number seven, a Tier 2 point guard named Walker for the opposing team was moving forward and managed to scoop up the ball into a near instant dribble as she stood up with the ball. Being that this was the backcourt, she felt confident enough to not practice squatting and protecting the ball.

***

(Number 7, Big Red Point Guard: Kendra Walker)

This was a problem that would come back to bite her as the opposing team had already blitzed past the halfcourt line like they were invaders at Normandy.

“HA!” K-Bar screamed, forcing her way through and past the dazed number 13, Kahn, as she went left, away from the ball and the momentarily distracted Walker.

Walker could only glance left for a moment, before a blur came right long arms seeming to claw at and scratch for her face and arms.

For a moment Walker felt fear. She felt all consuming fear that the girl before her was coming to rip her apart. Somehow instinctively she knew that there was a looming threat in front of her, and all she could do was pause for a moment and stare.

That pause, that slight hesitation was just enough.

The hesitation caused Walker’s hand to miss its natural timing of when to drop, causing the ball to bounce up and lightly tap her hand, throwing off her entire rhythm of her bounce and stride.

With that slight pause, Misha lashed out, her long arms reaching in, down and around Walker. As if they were dancers moving to two different beats of music. Then just as quickly as the girl had appeared and blurred past Walker’s heightened senses, she was gone.

Only after reaching down, and feeling the open air did Walker even think to look down for the ball, only to find it missing.

Turning around, she looked to see the read head running down the court, dribbling the ball, her ball. Then running in lock step with her was the tall power forward from the opposing team who had the name Barrett stenciled on her back.

Then there was an unspoken moment, the red head broke slight left, while the taller Barrett continued running for the basket, only for the red head to throw up the ball high in the air. Then Walker watched as Barrett grabbed the ball mid-flight and still rising, managed to slam the ball down with a violence and intensity that caused the raucous crowd that was on hand to go quiet.

Everyone, except for the visitor’s cheering section who chose that moment to continue cheering loudly.

To be able to reach such heights in a female game, despite the size and arm length, that was impressive. The fact that the girl Barrett could clearly leap two feet in the air was not missed by the others of Walker’s team.

What happened next, was something that would plague Walker’s nightmares for years to come.

Every inbound, every walk up the court, every pass, and especially every shot were all contested. Hell, half the time Walker thought that the quiet girl, Tulley was contesting her breathing.

“HAHAHA! Oh, man, it feels so good to watch the Misha Misery play out on others.” A werewolf girl, shouted from the benches. From the freaking benches, though it was clear that this werewolf girl had lost her starting role to Misha, a fact that was made clear as the girl from the benches was the first to come in and let everyone else rest.

Not Misha though, that girl was a machine.

Worse, Walker tried everything to get in the girl’s head.

“That all you got?” Walker asked after having her pass picked off, then providing the pass to a teammate who missed a shot, only for Smallet to gather the rebound.

“No.” Was the simple one word answer that Tulley provided, and that one word was enough to send shivers down her back.

Afterwards, when asked, she would tell the truth, “she wasn’t the best, but would grind you down. Hell the whole team just ground you to dust. Ground your bones to dust.”

Worst of all, Walker and the rest of her team had nothing. The crowd was as good as dead after the first steal and score by the opposing team. The only ones making any noise were the opposing Team’s section, clearly all family members.

By the second half of the game, Walker couldn’t even find the energy to trash talk, as breathing was tough. Finally, coach realizing that she was struggling put in a new girl, one of the girls that will eventually be made into a pack member if they keep with the team long enough, but one who was definitely not pack yet.

“Good luck, Mavey.” Walker said to her replacement.

Then half expecting the new girl to get obliterated by the unrelenting force that was Tulley, Walker was surprised to see the girl stand her own. Or at least not get bullied about as badly as Walker had been. Yes, she was still pressed, forced to make bad mistakes that cost the team even more of the lead, but she was able to stand up to her relentless pursuit.

Unfortunately for Mavey, her hands weren’t as fast as the new girls, her ball handling skills were subpar to those of the rest of the team and by the end she too was being exposed for her weaknesses on the court.

Errnt.

Finally, the buzzer blew, indicating that the time was over. Everyone was dead, well not everyone, especially not if they were from Jackson County. The opposing team and their fan base all appeared excited. Everyone, except for Tulley, who even now just let a wolfish smile crest her lips as she stared down Walker and her teammates as they all left the court.

“Why did you have to go and poke her.” Khan cried out, criticizing both Jenna and Rachel for their comments to Tulley before the game.

Hearing them, Walker could only walk back to the locker room, ready to change and forget the day.

“Big Red, more like Big Dead!” One of the opposing boys shouted. Hearing that Walker almost felt rage well up, but then feeling for where her wolf was and would be, all she felt was empty. This made sense, for if she still had enough energy to get angry, then she should have tried a little harder on the court. At least that is what her coach would say.

As it was, everyone could only focus on what to do next.

Silence.

As the team entered the home team’s locker room the Coach gathered everyone around. “Honestly, I think recovering from games like this are easier, than losing close games that come down to the wire. What needs to improve, everything. What can we do better, not play like we did today. We came out flat and let the game get away from us right away. Just go home, relax and forget about today. Tomorrow is a new day and our next game is on Tuesday. I know many of you have plans for going out of town this weekend, do so. Don’t even worry about setting foot on a Basketball court until Monday. Good bye and have fun.”

With that the rest of the team slowly looked like they had some life breathed back into them by the words. Then she added, “as for those of you going to the Hasty concert this weekend, let me know how it was.”

And like that, the opening night for the team was over and everyone was left to their own devices.

Walker changed quickly, but was still met by Palwasha Khan who found her in the parking lot.

“We are still going, right?”

Hearing that Walker could only nod, speaking was still too much at this point, though she had looked forward to seeing Hasty all week, it only made sense that she lost focus on the game at the end and didn’t take her opponents that seriously.

“Yeah,” Walker said, then clicking her locks, she let Palwasha Khan in her car as they realized their weekend had just started a bit early.

“Come on, relax. This weekend can’t possibly be worse than the game.” Palwasha said, trying to cheer up her teammate.

“Yeah, that’s for sure.” Kendra Walker agreed, as she pulled out of the parking lot and hit the open road.

Unfortunately for the two of them, they didn’t realize just how wrong they would be with their thoughts of a peaceful weekend.