NOVEL NEXT 33: Slime-capture team
Krysanthea paced the length of the RV, her claws clicking with agitation against the crystalline-infused aluminum floor. Every few steps, she'd pause to glare at the blooming tree and the newly formed root pathway spreading up the wall or across the ceiling, her scaled hands clenching and unclenching with barely contained frustration.
"This is absolutely, positively, one-hundred-percent unacceptable," she hissed, her feathers rising and falling with each agitated breath. "We've turned Alec's grandfather's perfectly normal RV into... into a dimensional anomaly! In Ferguson! The town I've sworn to protect from exactly this kind of System corruption!"
Nessy lounge-sat on a pile of pillows, looking utterly unconcerned as she munched on an apple. She watched Krysanthea's distressed movements with the amused patience of someone enjoying a particularly entertaining theatrical performance.
"You know," the husky finally said, licking apple juice from her muzzle and furry hands, "you're acting like we've committed some terrible crime against reality, when all we've done is create a super-awesome magical house on wheels that's basically the coolest thing ever."
"The coolest thing ever?!" Krysanthea's voice rose to a pitch I hadn't yet heard from her. "There's a glass tree in here! We've created a spatial distortion that's literally rooting itself into our world! The integrity of Ferguson's boundaries could be compromised!"
"Not rooting out," Nessy yawned with a too-wide mouth. "The crystal roots don't extend out of the RV. Only the inside is affected."
"FOR NOW!" Kristi growled.
Nessy sat up, setting her apple core aside with unexpected seriousness. "Listen, lizard-brain. You can pace and hiss and flap your feathers all day long, but it won't change the facts." Her blue eyes held an unusual gravitas. "Ferguson is dying."
The words landed like a stone in still water. Krysanthea froze mid-step, her amber eyes widening.
"What are you talking about?" she demanded.
"You know damn well what I'm talking about—this island of normality in an ocean of chaos?" Nessy continued, gesturing toward the window where the seemingly ordinary forest of Ferguson lay beyond. "It can't last. Not forever. Not without help." She stood. "You and your family have been fighting to keep everything the way it was, but the world isn't that way anymore. We need new tools, new approaches. We need to embrace syntropic elements like our tree to have any chance of surviving what's coming. Everything is levelling up—not just us but our future enemies too..."
Krysanthea's feathers flattened, her posture stiffening. "You don't know that…. We… I…"
"I do know it 'cus I can smell it," Nessy replied simply, tapping her nose. "Remember? Got my Scrutiosmia reloaded. I can smell the future crumbling at the edges. I can smell unnatural entropy trying to seep in through every crack, every crevice. And I can smell that this—" she gestured around at our transformed RV, "—is actually helping. It's creating a pocket of helpful stability, safety. In fact, we need to do this to our entire town ASAP."
"What?!"
"Yes," Nessy said. "We need to enforce Ferguson as a domain of its people. Everyone must believe in Ferguson and love her as an idea to enforce local syntropy."
"But…"
"Did you already conveniently forget that you're Systemfall-infected yourself?" Nessy asked. "We need to give Ferguson stats, need to make her alive, just like this RV. That's the only way we can save our hometown, Kristi. The only way Ferguson can avoid the fate of the Nameless City. The ever-expanding city of Eureka doesn't sit around. It breeds, multiplies, spreads... devours."
For a long moment, Krysanthea stood motionless, the internal struggle playing out across her features. Her gaze wandered to the Bulwichu tree, its crystalline flowers and fruits glowing with gentle, rhythmic pulses that somehow felt comforting, stabilizing.
"Kris, I trust Nessy's nose," I pointed out. "She hasn't steered me wrong yet. She brought me here. We can save Ferguson. We're building a foundation here, one that will help everyone survive."
Kristi rubbed her scaled face.
"I don't like it… and if this goes horribly wrong," she finally said, her voice low, "I'm holding both of you personally responsible."
"Fair enough," I nodded, relieved that she seemed to be accepting our magic Airstream bus.
"And I'm strapping C4 packs around the perimeter of this RV," she added, "just to be safe."
"I'm sorry, what?" I blinked.
"C4," she repeated matter-of-factly. "Plastic explosives. If this crystal-tree thing starts eating people or grows into the ground or does anything remotely evil, I'm blowing it to kingdom come before it can spread."
"Where would you even get C4?" I asked.
Krysanthea paused at the door, one scaled hand on the frame. "I already told you—my family raided the Fort Ashwood military base right after Systemfall," she explained. "Secured all their weapons. We have quite the arsenal stashed."
"I see," I said.
"Honestly? I'm kind of impressed," Nessy replied with a wag of her tail. "Raptor mafia is planning way ahead! All of the shops smell like they're packed full of fresh produce—how much stuff have you stolen from the Superstore beside the highway?"
"I don't know," Kristi said. "I was mostly handling town security before I went to find Alec. I ordered Katerina to handle the food acquisition… she still does, I suppose. Anyways… I'm going to the ranger station to change—you should get dressed into non-sleep stuff too… be ready in 15 minutes for me to pick you up."
We nodded.
I could see Krysanthea jumping into her cruiser and rapidly driving off towards the station in her car while yelling something into her phone, presumably arranging for the explosives she'd mentioned.
"Should we be worried?" I asked Nessy.
She shrugged, retrieving her half-eaten apple. "Nah. She's practical. She won't blow us up unless we actually start turning into blob monsters or something." She paused, considering. "We're not gonna turn into blob monsters, right?"
"I sincerely hope not."
"Good, 'cause I'd make a terrible blob. All my floof would get all gooey and gross." She bobbed. "Plus, you just brushed my tail."
"Uh-huh."
"I'll make you brush other things after our dungeon escapade tonight," she leaned towards me and whispered huskily into my ear, making the hair on the back of my neck stand up.
It was just past 10:30 AM when Krysanthea returned, now fully dressed in her ranger uniform, complete with utility belt, sidearm, and a ranger hat that cast a shadow over her amber eyes.
Her car was packed with several plastic orange swords, plastic buckets and what looked like hockey goalie uniforms.
"It's time," she announced. "Let's get to the ranger station to meet the others."
I picked up one of the buckets and uniforms as we shuffled into the car. "This is our high-tech slime-fighting equipment?"
"They're acid-resistant," the raptor-girl replied with a hint of defensiveness. "And yes, buckets are currently our most effective weapon against the slimes. They got good at eating metal ones. I expect them to struggle against plastic for a week."
"Genius in its simplicity," Nessy declared, picking up a bucket and placing it on her head like a helmet. "How do I look?"
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"Like an idiot," Krysanthea said flatly, though I caught the corner of her mouth twitching upward slightly.
"A lovable idiot!" The husky stuck her tongue out at the raptor.
Krysanthea drove us toward the back of the ranger station, where a small crowd had already gathered. As we approached, I realized they were a mix of species—a few more raptors, clearly related to Krysanthea, alongside fox, wolf and dog pradavarians in various uniforms and a couple of humans.
"Nice of you to finally join us, Chief!" called one of the raptors. She was smaller than Krysanthea, with more blue-tinted feathers and glittering violet-blue scales. "We were beginning to think you'd been dissolved."
"Very funny, Kaledoniya," Krysanthea replied. "Everyone, say 'Hi' to Alec and Nessy. They'll be joining us today."
I felt the weight of several evaluating gazes, but none more intense than that of a raptor standing slightly apart from the others. Her scales were a darker emerald than Krysanthea's, with a dark pattern on her snout that gave her a shark-like appearance. She held an impressive automatic rifle with the casual comfort of someone who knew exactly how to use it, her clawed finger resting just outside the trigger guard as she methodically polished the barrel.
Katerina.
Her amber eyes with green specks locked onto mine, her gaze so penetrating it felt almost physical. Then her attention shifted to Nessy, and the temperature seemed to drop several degrees.
"Dog," Katerina acknowledged with a slight curl of her lip.
"Lizard," Nessy replied cheerfully. "Nice gun. Compensating for something?"
I subtly elbowed Nessy, trying to convey that antagonizing the heavily armed raptor might not be our best opening move. She responded with an innocent What? expression that fooled absolutely no one.
Krysanthea cleared her throat, drawing attention back to herself. "Let's focus, people. Alec, can you handle a firearm if needed?"
"My grandfather taught me the basics," I admitted. "Though it's been about four years since I shot anything, so I might be rusty."
"I can shoot!" Nessy declared, raising her paw. "Used to go hunting with my dad in the north woods. I'm pretty good at dropping rabbits at fifty paces."
"We're not hunting rabbits," Katerina said coldly. "And guns aren't particularly effective against slimes."
"Then why you got that big gun then, hrmmm?" Nessy asked.
"As a reminder to everyone—bullets pass through slime bodies without causing significant damage. However," Kristi added, retrieving a pistol from her car trunk weapons cache and handing it to me, "it's always better to be armed in case we encounter anything else in the caves. Systemfall has a habit of introducing new threats when you least expect them."
Like us, right, Alec? Nessy winked at me with a grin without actually saying it, but clearly delighting in our status as Systemfall "abominations" now fighting alongside the town's defenders.
I gave her an eye-roll, which only made her tail wag more.
Krysanthea continued her briefing, pointing to a map of the Birchwood cave system pinned to a board. "The slimes emerge from this chamber, approximately one kilometer into the main tourist route. We've tried sealing off the tunnels with dynamite three times, but they always dissolve through the rubble within days."
"Maybe you should try super glue instead of dynamite," Nessy suggested. "Or, like, really strong air fresheners. They might hate nice smells."
Katerina's eye twitched.
"Thank you for that insightful contribution, Whitepaw," Krysanthea said dryly. "Our actual strategy is containment and removal. We trap them in water-filled buckets, seal the lids, and run them to the lake. The water dilutes their acidity enough that they become manageable."
"By 'manageable,' she means 'stabbable,'" added a young wolf pradavarian with silvery fur. "Once they're watered down, you can just pop 'em with a pointy stick. Makes a really satisfying splortch sound."
"That's... graphic, Officer Grayfell," Krysanthea commented, "but accurate. Umm… right. This is Officer Tash Grayfell," Krysanthea continued, pointing to the silver-furred wolf. "And this is Deputy Howlish—" she indicated a stocky bulldog in a reinforced uniform, "—Officer Lavros—" a sleek, copper-furred female fox with alert eyes, "—and my sisters Kaledoniya and Katerina you've already had the pleasure of meeting today."
The two remaining humans were introduced as Ranger Wilson and Volunteer Michaels, both wearing the green-and-tan ranger uniforms with acid-resistant plastic armor modifications. They nodded politely, though I caught them exchanging curious glances at Nessy and me.
"And finally, our technical support today—Dr. Barksdale," Krysanthea concluded, gesturing toward an older retriever pradavarian with spectacles and a lab coat over his ranger uniform. He was fiddling with what appeared to be modified surveying equipment.
"Ye, ye," Dr. Barksdale muttered without looking up from his instruments. "If anyone's interested, my seismic readings indicate increased activity in the lower chambers. We might be dealing with more slimes than usual today. Or… something new."
"More target practice," Kat clicked her beak-snout. "Sis, shouldn't Alec and Nessy already know us, what's with the introductions?"
Kristi blue-screened for a fraction of a second.
"It's been four years, Kat," she replied far too quickly. "Alec doesn't know everyone in town and it's just in case he forgot things after university. Plus, Nessy is pretty dumb for a dog."
"Hey!" Nessy growled.
Kristi sent her a 'cooperate, you idiot' glare.
"Fine, fine," Nessy seemed to understand the implied look. "I am a total airhead with names, I admit and you raptors do look alike to us dogs. Thanks for the reminder, Kristi."
Katerina looked only somewhat pacified at this explanation.
"Any other questions before we head out?" Kristi asked.
"Yeah," Nessy raised her white paw high like an eager student. "What do slimes taste like?"
"They taste like death and burning," Kaledoniya replied with a grimace. "Found that out the hard way when one splashed on my snout last week. Couldn't taste anything but metal for three days."
"Sounds like a dare to me," Nessy whispered, elbowing me.
"Please do not lick, taste, or attempt to befriend the acid slimes," Krysanthea announced to the group, though her gaze was fixed squarely on Nessy. "They are not potential pets, they are not misunderstood, and they are not here to make friends. They are hostile environmental hazards that have already caused significant damage to Ferguson's infrastructure and injured several citizens."
"So that's a firm maybe on the befriending," Nessy mumbled.
Krysanthea distributed more equipment—rubber gloves, protective plastic goggles, and what appeared to be modified fishing nets with plastic bits. Throughout the preparations, I noticed Katerina's gaze returning to me again and again, her expression unreadable but somehow threatening.
"Kat doesn't like us very much," I murmured to Nessy as we followed the group toward the trailhead that would lead to the Birchwood caves.
"Could be just her face," Nessy replied, though her own expression had grown more watchful. "Some prads just naturally look like they're plotting murder. It's evolution."
"I'm pretty sure in her case it's not just looks," I said.
The path to Birchwood wound through dense forest, climbing steadily upward along the flank of the mountain that loomed over Ferguson. The morning air was crisp and clean, carrying the scent of pine and wildflowers. It would have been a pleasant hike under different circumstances—without the looming threat of acid-secreting monsters and the knowledge that we were about to walk directly into their territory.
As we hiked, I found myself drawing closer to Nessy, taking comfort in her steady presence beside me. For all her husky energy and boundary issues, there was something reassuring about having her as my... packmate. Her blue eyes caught mine, and she offered a small smile that somehow conveyed both mischief and solidarity.
"Ready to be a hero, Alec?" she asked quietly.
"I'm just hoping not to get melted into a puddle today," I admitted.
"Oh, we'll do more than melt!" she replied, her tail giving a confident swish. "We're gonna kick some slimy butt, save the town, and make our green raptor admit that we're superrrr awesome! In that order."
"You're quite optimistic for someone heading into a cave full of acid monsters."
"Optimism is my superpower," she declared. "That and my incredible sense of smell. And my singing. And my irresistible charm. And—"
"I get it," I laughed softly. "You're a canine of many talents."
Ahead of us, the mouth of Birchwood Cave came into view—a massive opening in the mountainside, flanked by birch trees whose pale trunks seemed to glow against the shadows. A large wooden sign on the roadside proclaimed "Birchwood Caverns - Ferguson's Natural Wonder!" with a smaller sign beneath it reading "CLOSED DUE TO MAINTENANCE" hastily nailed below.
Krysanthea paused at the entrance, checking her watch. "10:45. We have a bit of time until they emerge. Let's get into position." She turned to face the group, her expression grim but determined. "Remember your training. No heroics, no solo missions. We work as a team or not at all."
Her gaze lingered on me for a moment. "Alec, if you get injured, do not hesitate to use your... ability. We need every advantage we can get."
Katerina's eyes narrowed at this exchange, her clawed finger tightening around her rifle. "What ability?" she asked sharply.
"Classified," Krysanthea replied without hesitation. "Need-to-know basis."
"I'm your sister," Katerina hissed.
"And this operation is under my command," Krysanthea countered smoothly. "Focus on the mission, Kat."
With that, she turned and stepped into the darkness of the cave, her scaled hand reaching up to switch on the powerful flashlight attached to her belt. One by one, the rest of the team followed, turning on their headlamps and flashlights, until only Nessy and I remained at the threshold.
I took a deep breath, feeling the cool air flowing from the cave's mouth against my face. Somewhere in that darkness, things born of the Systemfall's influence were waiting. And for reasons I couldn't fully articulate, I was more alive, more purposeful than I had ever felt in my entire life.
Perhaps it was because I had Nessy and Kristi to impress as my new friends. Perhaps, it was because it was harder for me to die permanently. Either way, my heart thrummed merrily for my first dungeon delving experience.
"Right," I agreed, stepping forward into the cave with Nessy at my side. "Let's go fight some slimes."