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“What’s with this detour? Do I need to remind you all how much time we wasted last time Adenine got a hunch?”
It took a moment for any of the others to formulate a response because they could not deny the truth of Mythra’s words.
“Calling it a waste of time is a bit harsh, don’t you think?” Rex said, rubbing his neck sheepishly. “Adenine was more satisfied than I’d ever seen her.”
“Oh yeah, real satisfying to start a project you won’t live to see the end of,” Nia said with a roll of her eyes.
“This one’s different, though.” Zeke flashed a sly smile as he gathered everyone’s attention, bringing his fingers to his chin. “Now, she requests the insight of the Zekenator! Too rarely do others recognize what my dazzling mind could uncover.”
The others looked at Pandoria, expecting her to shut him down. She took a more oblique route to pierce his heart. “I know I’m sure curious to see why someone would want to hear your thoughts on anything.”
While the others giggled at Zeke’s plight, Mòrag and Brighid simply glanced at each other. “It is curious,” Brighid said in a hushed tone to her Driver.
“Indeed,” Mòrag replied. “Adenine knows everything there is to know about ancient civilizations. She has no equal on Alrest.” She glances upward, to where their destination sits. “Why would she ever require our insight?”
That curiosity was what drove the party back here to the base of the World Tree, ascending the mechanical interior to heed Adenine’s request. She had recently informed them of a new set of records she found in the Data Processing Room. It was one of the many she had deciphered from the grand cache of ancient wisdom the group had gathered during their previous travels. Evidently, she had been using her time efficiently ever since she started to live inside the Data Processing Room. For reasons yet to be made clear, this new bank of records needed their help to be fully understood.
Upon climbing the last ladder, they saw Adenine standing at her usual spot. Her back was turned to the entrance, and she was fully immersed in the glowing blue interface representing all the knowledge of ancient Morytha.
“She didn’t hear us come up, huh?” Rex says with his hands on his hips. “That’s some classic Adenine there. How should we get her attention this time?”
Mòrag stepped ahead. “I shall do the honors. The rest of you have… too heavy a hand.” Diplomatically, she walks over to the databank and clears her throat. “Adenine!” she announces in a military tone. “We’ve arrived.”
“Oh!” If Adenine was caught off-guard by the aggressive greeting, she only let it show for a second. Once she realized who’d arrived, she beamed. “My reliable friends, I knew you’d come quickly.”
“Negative,” Poppi quickly replied.
At her feet, Tora added, “Tora and friends were busy and ignored Adenine’s request for days!”
Rex shot a glance at Tora and Poppi. “Not ‘ignored!’ I admit we were busy, but this was on our minds. You’ve never asked for something like this from us, Adenine.”
Undeterred by their tardiness, or her own failure to notice it, Adenine beckoned them to follow her until she reached another console in the corner of the room, this one with screens of various sizes. “You know by now that I’ve focused on uncovering the historical records from the ancient civilizations which once lived on Morytha, but I happened upon something different during my last trip through the documents.” She began manipulating the console to bring it up. “This one is an ecological survey!”
Dromarch’s eyes lit up. “Fascinating!” he said, looking at Adenine. “Does it detail ancient flora?”
Adenine shook her head. “This one is all about animals, but I hope to find a dossier on plants soon in the linked biology records.”
“Ecology, eh?” Zeke mumbled, crossing his arms and drumming his fingers in a nervous gesture.
“Are you getting cold feet, my prince?” Pandora asked, leaning forward to look at his face from below.
“Well, it is surprising,” Rex added. “This seems real different from the type of stuff you usually study.”
“Everything can shape a culture!” Adenine proclaimed. “The environment the Morythans lived in would have affected their daily lives, down to the animals they interacted with. This could be an entirely new perspective on that ancient world.”
After taking a moment to consider it, Rex nodded. “That does make sense when you put it like that. Still, how come you need us to help you figure the file out? Ecology, biology… We don’t have a scientist on our team who would know any more than you.”
Tora stamped his feet indignantly. “Pardon?!”
“What you do is different, isn’t it? It’s building, not studying like scientists do.”
“What Rex-Rex talking about?” Tora sputtered.
Adenine interrupted. “Ah, but that’s not what I need from you all. What I’m looking for is your lived experience. The lot of you have traveled across Alrest more than anyone. You’ve seen so many environments! I want to show you the animals in this survey, and I want you to tell me if you’ve seen them. My hypothesis is that a region which these ancient animals still inhabit may have other signs of ancient activity.”
“I see,” Dromarch said with a nod. “By the end of this, you will have a promising list of locations to dig for undiscovered ruins or artifacts.”
“Logic is sound,” Poppi added.
“Alright!” Zeke clapped his hands together. “This really does sound like something I can handle. Finally, ‘scientific discoveries’ will be added to the many feats of Thunderbolt Zeke. I’ve been looking for a well-rounded, peaceful accomplishment to display next to slaying legendary beasts, unlocking the power of the Eye of Shining Justice, capturing the Aeg–”
“Hold it,” Mòrag said suddenly, nearly throwing Zeke off balance. She stepped up to the console, right next to Adenine, and pointed a finger at one of the smaller displays off to the side. “Explain this,” she ordered.
“Oh, that happens every time I access these files,” Adenine said, waving a hand dismissively.
Brighid brought her hand up to her chin and spoke seriously. “It claims a machine is initiating…”
Without missing a beat, flames flickered to life between Mòrag and Brighid as they shifted into battle-ready stances. “On your guard, everyone!” Mòrag said. “I fear a repeat of our last visit to this place.”
Despite the continued calm, Mòrag’s traveling companions began to regard the ceiling with suspicion. Memories of that encounter with the World Tree’s mysterious and finicky security system were evidently flooding back.
Adenine shut them down quickly. “Calm down, everyone,” she said, shaking her head. “It isn’t even for this room.”
Mòrag snapped her head to Adenine. “As I said, explain.”
“That monitor is linked to some room called the Genetic Index. It has no records of ancient Morytha to speak of, so I don’t think it’s worth worrying about.”
Nia crossed her arms. “What happened to ‘Everything can shape a culture?’”
While the others relaxed and got ready to look at the ecological record, Mòrag and Brighid remained on edge. “Even if it deploys in another room,” Mòrag said, “it can make its way here. It would not do to be caught from behind whilst we are engrossed in Adenine’s presentation.”
“You wish to take a precautionary look, Lady Mòrag?” Brighid asked, resulting in a nod.
“Are you sure?” Rex asked.
“Well, this tree does love throwing surprises at us,” Nia said with a tired sigh.
“One can never be too careful.” Mòrag sheathed her swords for the moment. “Go on and get started. We will return momentarily.”
The others all nodded, and, with conviction, Mòrag and Brighid stepped out of the Data Processing Room, prepared to stop any mechanical incursions.
“This is it, Lady Mòrag.”
“Genetic Index…” Mòrag repeated the words on the door’s label and squinted her eyes. “It sounds similar to Adenine’s room.”
“Quite similar.” Brighid nodded in agreement. “It is reasonable to assume it would have similar security measures.”
“Prepare yourself, Brighid.” Mòrag once again drew a sword in each hand. Slowly, she stepped close enough for the door to slide open, Brighid mirroring her movement. When nothing emerged, she took a few more careful steps until they were fully inside.
“How strange,” Brighid said, eyebrows raising in surprise. “Adenine mentioned it lacked historical records, but this place seems to have no records at all.”
“Indeed.” Mòrag’s arms twitched, ready to sheathe her weapons once again, but first, she gave the whole room a cursory glance. It was wide and flat, and the floor was utterly barren. “I expected more from a so-called index… Ah!”
Her sweep of the area ended with a glance upward, and that is where her suspicions felt confirmed. Mounted to the ceiling was a large, cylindrical device, clearly powering on. Parts were spinning, lights were activating, and, now that she was really paying attention, a low hum was building. The machine tapered off toward the end facing the door, resembling a turret in the Special Inquisitor’s mind.
“Brighid, be prepared to dodge!” Mòrag whipped both of her arms, igniting the swords. Brighid at her side, she ran forward and prepared to attack the weapon before it could cause harm.
Adenine pressed a button, and an image appeared on the main screen of the console.
The others regarded it closely until Zeke blurted out, “A baby Aspar?”
The animal on screen indeed resembled the limbless, reptilian monster the party had fought many times before.
“Missing some parts, don’t you think?” Nia added, cocking her head at the image.
“That’s why I’m calling it a baby. The horns and the beak haven’t grown in yet.” He nodded to himself. “Am I right, Adenine?”
“Not quite,” Adenine replied with a shake of her head. “The records say this is a totally different animal called a snake. In fact, I think this is mature for its species.”
“This?” Zeke’s visible eye widened. “This is mature? But it’s so small and…”
“... And cute!” Pandoria finished, smiling widely.
Although the “snake” on screen was shown in the midst of striking at something, fangs bared and dripping with venom, the others could not help but nod in agreement.
“Amazing how cute scaly friend looks when spiky-sharp helmet is removed!” Tora said cheerfully.
Pandoria raised one of her arms. “At that size, it could coil around your arm like a little hug, unlike an Aspar, you know, crushing your whole body.”
Adenine, on the other hand, had a negative reaction to their positive reactions. With a frown, she asked, “I take it none of you have seen this animal before?”
Nia shook her head. “Nope. This one’s new to me. Why would we fight something so nonthreatening, anyway?”
“Oh, well. We have a lot more to go through.” Adenine clicked through to the next image.
“Online. Raw material detected.”
Just as quickly as they started, Mòrag and Brighid came to a quick halt. “What did it say?” Mòrag asked.
“Raw material analyzed and catalogued.”
The voice was coming from above, which Brighid pointed out. “I believe it is the turret speaking. Or what we thought was a turret.”
Driver and Blade both looked up at it. Now that they were many paces closer, Mòrag could make out more details as she squinted. It was certainly powering up with some sort of energy, but it did not look like ether. “It does not look like any turret I know. This mention of raw material… I suppose this is a tool.”
Brighid followed her Driver’s sight and came to the same conclusion. “If it were a weapon, it would have already fired.” She turned her body to face Mòrag. “Still, your prudence is as respectable as ever.”
Mòrag responded with an acknowledging nod, and she relaxed her body. “It would have bothered me through this whole exercise if we did not check. Shall we return to the others?”
Brighid opened her mouth to respond, but whatever came out, Mòrag did not hear. A sudden wave of pressure overtook her body, her vision blurred, and she was unable to move for a second.
“Lady Mòrag!” Brighid’s panicked voice was the first thing she heard when her senses returned to her. For a moment, all seemed back to normal. However, when she moved to take a step, her leg was unable to hold her weight. As she collapsed to her knees, the strange sensation started again.
“What… happened?” Mòrag asked in a weak tone.
Brighid rushed to her side and knelt down next to her, placing a warm hand on Mòrag’s shoulder to stabilize her. “The device on the ceiling, it fired a beam of light and hit your back. Are you hurt?”
“Hurt? No… but it feels as though my stomach is churning all across my body.” Mòrag wobbled back and forth in Brighid’s grasp. She gathered the willpower to try rising to her feet again, but her legs had gone nearly numb. “Brighid, go and tell Adenine what has happened, and ask her what the nature of this machine is. There must be some record somewhere. Then get Nia.”
Brighid’s response was once again interrupted. This time, it was by the soft clink of metal against metal. Both heads quickly shifted to look down at the floor. There, settling to a stop, was Mòrag’s hat. Considering how well Mòrag usually secured it with her bun, this was a rare sight. Almost forgetting the terrible pressure across her body, Mòrag lifted a hand to the top of her head. Just in time for Brighid to gasp at the sight, Mòrag felt something fuzzy.
“What is happening…?” she heaved out.
“This is an owl.”
“A no-wool?”
“No. Owl.”
“Isn’t that what I said?”
As Adenine and Zeke had their exchange, the rest looked closely at the bird displayed on screen.
“That’s a Quadwing, isn’t it?” Rex asked.
“Not enough wings, Rex,” Nia pointed out.
“Then maybe those grow in later?”
Adenine wilted. “You think this is a juvenile again?”
“Only logical conclusion,” Poppi said.
“I admit,” Dromarch said, “it does look remarkably like a Quadwing with certain missing features.”
“Yeah, all the worst ones...” Nia said, pointing at each body part with her finger. “No metal spikes on the talons, no horns, and not even any claws on the two wings it does have.”
“When you put it like that, it’s downright cuddly,” Zeke said with a chuckle. “It looks like it’s hunting in this picture, but I wonder how it manages when it lacks all its weapons.”
“Yeah, and we’d remember something this cute,” Rex said to Adenine. “Sorry, but we’ve never seen this one, either.”
Nodding, Adenine clicked forward to the next item.
“I feel them,” Mòrag weakly muttered, confirming the reality of the furry ears atop her head. “How is this possible?”
“I have never heard of anything like this…” Brighid said, frowning. “Will you be alright here while I gather the others?”
Mòrag could not answer. She was looking at her hands. Each time she had used them to tap the newly extended lobes of her ears, they felt different. Now, she was staring with wide eyes at the shifting waves of flesh beneath her gloves. The pristine white accessories first bulged at the fingertips, then the bulges retreated inwards, shrinking down toward Mòrag’s palms. The empty finger holes shriveled up, now dangling from the tips of Mòrag’s widening appendages. At the first knuckles of each glove, a new, sharper bulge appeared. Each lengthened until, all at once, black claws tore through white fabric. This cascaded through the rest of the gloves soon after, ripping both of them completely off and revealing the black paws which had replaced Mòrag’s hands.
Brighid watched the paws shake.
“Brighid, put an end to this!”
Nothing in Mòrag’s bellicose tone gave her fear away. Ever the professional, Brighid thought. Still, from years of partnership, Brighid could sense Mòrag’s state of mind clearly. She was quite horrified at the changes to her body, and there was no longer any time to return to the Data Processing Room. With no hesitation, Brighid grabbed the whipswords from the floor and charged toward the device on the ceiling. “Swirling Dragon!” she roared as she activated their flames and leapt upward.
Just as the flames were about to melt through the casing of the machine, the tip lit up with that same color she saw make a cowardly shot at her lady’s back. Brighid gasped, but she was already airborne. It was too late to move out of the way of the laser, which struck her chest in midair.
“Nope, look at the tail,” Zeke said.
“Oh, yeah,” Rex replied, nodding. “I see what you mean.”
“Gah, and just when we thought it was something familiar,” Pandoria said with pout.
The “rabbit” on screen could have easily passed for a Bunnit, other than the fact it lacked the telltale prehensile tail.
“And that disqualifies it from being a baby Bunnit, too?” Nia asked, tilting her head in Adenine’s direction.
Adenine responded with a sage nod. “The records do everything to indicate this is a different animal from the Bunnits we know… but isn’t that hard to believe? Look how similar they are! I thought you would surely have seen this variant on your adventures. Can they really be unrelated?”
“Obviously not,” Mythra said, speaking for the first time since the start of Adenine’s presentation.
“What do you mean?” Adenine asked.
“Don’t you get it? These are the same monsters as the ones we fight. Well, their descendants, anyway. Is it so hard to believe they changed over time? Everything does that.”
“There’s a difference between adapting titan to titan and going from baby to that,” Zeke said, shaking his head.
“Got any proof of that other than your own gut, Zeke?” When the Bringer of Chaos could not bring himself to answer, Mythra groaned. “Even after all this time, still simpletons…”
“What you’re saying makes sense, Mythra,” Rex said, “but I guess we all just wanted to believe. If you’re right, then all these cute animals are long gone.”
“Meh-meh?” Tora said sadly. “Tora will never be face-to-face with cute baby critters?”
As she licked her gums and felt her teeth sharpen, Mòrag feared Brighid was now face-to-face with a monster. The disdainful expression aimed at her paws, now flat on the floor, was wiped off as she lifted her head up to look at Brighid, similarly brought down to all fours.
“I spoke too rashly, Brighid. You needn’t have been dragged into this. Forgive my panic.” Mòrag sighed. Both had calmed down significantly now that their transformations were well underway, with Mòrag resigned to face it with dignity.
Brighid could tell her flames were dying down due to the wetness of her nose. She spoke quickly, afraid her jaw would change too fast to reassure her Driver. “Nonsense, Lady Mòrag. It was an unprecedented situation. Nevertheless, I would have attacked any direct threat to you, whether you told me to get help or not.”
At the declaration of camaraderie, Mòrag looked at Brighid silently for a moment and nodded. “With any luck, that option will still be open to us.”
“With any luck?”
“Clearly, we are transforming into monsters…” Mòrag shifted slightly, unsuccessfully trying to loosen her uniform which was now constricting all the fur on her chest. “If the changes only apply to our bodies, not our minds, Nia might heal us without rendering us unconscious first.”
Brigid grit her teeth, both from worry at Mòrag’s idea and from the rotation of her shoulders. She held strong through the cracking of her joints as they repositioned to a forward direction and asked, “Do you truly believe that is possible?”
Mòrag glanced to the floor. “We can only wait.”
“It is unlike you to give up so quickly.”
Mòrag sucked in a breath. She thought again about how her panic may have done this to Brighid and realized she did not have the right to give up yet. The breath was held as she groaned and bent backwards, fighting against the churning which only permeated more as her whole body changed. With this determination, she fully shifted her weight back onto her knees. One of her whipswords was back in her hand. “I only need one good swing…” With her eyes trained on the ceiling machine, Mòrag pushed her hips and ankles as much as she could through the cloud of transformation. She couldn’t feel it was working other than seeing her viewpoint rise. A confident smile crossed her lips.
CRACK!
“Lady Mòrag!” Brighid cried out as Mòrag’s spine transitioned into a quadrupedal stance and sent her tumbling forward.
The animal in the next image was not as tiny and cute as the previous ones, but it was still a stark difference from what they were used to.
“Fat Ponio,” Poppi said bluntly. None could argue with her.
“Hm… Nothing noted here indicates this is an overweight specimen,” Adenine said, scrolling through the metadata. “This is just what they called a horse.”
“Horse… Harsh-sounding,” Rex said, feeling it on his tongue. “But the animal itself sure isn’t.”
“Ponios would be a lot more approachable if you couldn’t see their ribcages poking through their bellies,” Zeke said. “This one looks downright rideable.”
“Hah!” Nia threw her head back in amusement, and her ears fluttered as she giggled. “It would be a sight to watch you try to tame a beast.”
“It’s been done before! This one seems nonviolent without those horns, anyway.” Seeing Nia’s smirk remained, Zeke changed the subject quickly. “Ponios are all over Mor Ardain, aren’t they? Mòrag should be here. Maybe she’s seen this Ponio variant before.”
“Hm.” Mythra glanced at the door. “What’s taking her and Brighid so long, anyway?”
“We all know her,” Rex said. “She’s just thorough.”
Mòrag sighed in relief once she finally kicked her boot off her foot. Brighid watched it slide away, followed by watching Mòrag’s foot finish elongating. The toes bunched up while the heel retreated, trapping the Special Inquisitor in a digitigrade position.
Well and truly defeated, the pair looked at each other shamefully.
Mòrag squinted, looking closer at Brighid’s chest. In a stark contrast with Mòrag, Brighid’s clothes let a lot more skin breathe, including a clear window down the middle of her torso. Violet fur was creeping up from Brighid’s lower half, the same luminescent quality as her hair.
“That’s good,” she mumbled.
“What is?” Brighid asked.
“If we are rendered unable to communicate with the others, they may still recognize you by your color. With that, they might piece together what thappenth…”
Brighid’s eyes widened.
Mòrag knew a moment like this would be coming once she started feeling fur on her cheeks, but this was the most disgraceful way it could have happened! “No! Thith cannot be.” She mumbled other phrases of disbelief through the extending tongue now lolling out of her mouth. To save face, Mòrag immediately flicked her head upward in an attempt to land her tongue back in her own mouth. Even though she could feel it continue to lengthen, it somehow seemed to be working.
Brighid could see the truth. With every attempt by Mòrag to suck in her tongue, her nose and chin would push out a little more, each time catching more and more of the tongue. As Mòrag’s snout fully grew in, Brighid felt the need to stop the sad scene in front of her. She tried to tell her Driver to calm down, but the words were morphed into growls inside her expanding throat. Before she knew what she was doing, the Blade leapt over to her Driver’s side in a single bound. It was difficult to tell if this comforted Mòrag as her face was nearly unrecognizable. That face, usually the only part of Mòrag visible through her uniform, was now stretched out to a point. The fur growing over her skin in waves matched her raven black hair, but her brown eyes were lightening to a more yellow shade.
Seeing the human’s body was now almost entirely gone, Brighid huffed, baring her fangs in frustration. When she craned her neck to look down, it reminded her how, earlier, during her leap, she felt the choker holding her iridescent dress in place had finally snapped off. She looked back to determine why she still felt her dress on her body. Another disappointed sigh came when she saw it had gotten snagged on the long purple tail at the end of her spine.
“Here’s the next one!” Adenine announced.
When the image appeared, several of the spectators answered the same way. “Aww…”
“Puppy!” Tora said.
“This has to be a Volff pup, right?” Rex said, looking around at the others. “We must have seen at least one of those while fighting those big packs. This one just hasn’t grown its tusks yet.”
Some nodded in agreement. The creature on screen was definitely some sort of canine, like a Volff, but with fluffier fur and a friendlier face.
“This one fits Mythra’s theory the most,” Adenine said.
Mythra squinted. “Theory?”
Adenine pulled the name up. “They called this a wolf. There must be some throughline which kept the name alive until it shifted to Volff. I wonder how that could be…”
As Adenine pondered, Zeke shook his head. “There are only so many cute puppies a Bringer of Chaos like myself can take.”
“I think we’ve run out of ways to repeat ourselves,” Mythra said. “Like the name shows, the wolf up there changed into the Volffs we know. Sorry, Adenine, but these animals are long gone.”
“Darn.” Adenine pouted. “I thought this would be a great lead. Maybe I should’ve stayed out of biology.”
Rex made an attempt to reassure her. “The information about the animals themselves is pretty interesting, though. Like you said, it gives us an idea of the environment.” He flashed a smile her way, and Adenine reciprocated. “That said… If we are done here, we should really find Mòrag and Brighid. It’s getting weird that they’re not back yet.”
“Well, we know what room she went to,” Mythra said.
“Oh!” Adenine waved a hand. “If you are leaving, then Zeke, can you stay for just one more moment? I was saving it for the end.”
Zeke immediately dashed over to her side. “So you did need my mind, after all!”
While Zeke bombarded Adenine with questions about how much he would be credited for any discoveries, the others took the opportunity to start the journey to the Genetic Index.
The final changes were beginning in Brighid’s body just as they were finishing up in Mòrag’s. The remaining crackling noises of Mòrag’s bones settling into new locations were drowned out by the loud cracks of Brighid’s limbs and face reshaping. Across her extending snout, Brighid could see discomfort clear on Mòrag’s canine face. Mòrag kept shaking and twisting her torso in what Brighid could only assume was an attempt to remove her uniform. In contrast to Brighid’s form-fitting attire, long since removed by her expanding body, Mòrag’s uniform was always slightly oversized. The growth of new muscles and a fluffy fur coat across her torso had caused the uniform to bulge outwards, but it had not yet ripped. Now, her uniform was simply constricting Mòrag’s movements and breath.
Feeling her teeth slide across her gums, Brighid realized she had only one tool left to help Mòrag. Pawing over to her Driver, Brighid tried to state her intentions, but it came out jumbled. Somehow, perhaps because of their connection as Driver and Blade, Mòrag nodded with understanding. Brighid clamped her new jaw around one of the sleeves of Mòrag’s uniform, and she took a few steps back. It only took a small amount of movement for the whole thing to pop open, flopping onto the floor with a cascade of clinks from all the metallic accessories.
Underneath the uniform, a black Volff pup was revealed. That was the only thing Brighid could think of. Her eyes, expecting a fierce monster, widened at the harmless-looking canine. Her fur coat, though long, was smooth and silky instead of rugged and spiked. Her fierce fangs were entirely hidden behind her jowls.
Mòrag went through a similar process in her mind. When those claws ripped through her gloves, she was certain she was becoming something truly dangerous. Now, though, all she sees is an adorable Brighid-themed puppy. The creature in front of her was like a Volff coated in violet fur tipped with blue flames around the neck, tail, and paws, yet it lacked all the threatening features a Volff would normally have. Her core crystal even still glowed through the fur on her chest, allaying any worry that she was no longer a Blade. This approachable specimen approached Mòrag first, and they ended up circling each other.
Both animals cocked their heads at each other as they inspected the bodies. A mutual understanding was shared that they fully retained their minds through the transformations, with their muscles visibly relaxing after that. Both made attempts to speak, but both times, the words came out as whines and howls.
“What’s all that noise?”
Upon hearing Rex’s voice, Mòrag and Brighid let out some coarse barks and whirled around. Independently, even as their friends’ faces rounded the corner of the Genetic Index, they tried to formulate plans. How can they be quickly convinced to not attack? Mòrag thought diplomatically, hoping a course of evading their attacks and whining for long enough would give them ample time to think. Brighid knew time was short, and she prepared herself to defend Mòrag, even from her friends.
“What in the–?” Nia scoffed. “It’s the puppies!”
“Aww!” Tora said.
The wolves were struck, silenced, by the unexpected reaction.
“H-How is that possible?” Mythra sputtered. “We just established they were all gone.”
“Perhaps… furry friends summoned by large device?” Poppi said, pointing up at the ceiling.
Rex bent down to pick up something at his feet. “Uh, guys…” The others slowly turned their heads and gathered around him to see what he picked up, leaving Mòrag and Brighid agape that they would turn their back on dangerous creatures. Did they truly look so harmless?
“No bloody way…” Nia said, looking at the hat in Rex’s hands.
Mòrag’s uniform cap was twisted and turned by Rex, as if a new angle would debunk their suspicions. “That’s not possible, is it?” he asked the group.
“Nuh-uh. It can’t be…” Mythra’s eyes darted back to the wolves, trained on the violent one. “Ugh,” she said with troubled realization. “I’d recognize those blue flames anywhere, though.”
“Tora know piercing stare all too well, too,” Tora said, averting his eyes from Mòrag’s gaze.
Rex kneeled down and placed the hat on the black wolf’s head. When she accepted it, he knew there was no longer any denying reality. “This is crazy. Um, if you understand us, did that thing on the ceiling do this to you?”
Both wolves nodded, causing smiles to cross everyone’s faces. Internally, Mòrag knew she, too, would be amused if a Volff pup did something so humanlike.
The smiles fell off as the seriousness was reassessed. “This might not be easy,” Rex said. “Do you think Adenine knows how to control that machine?”
“Even if she does, does this thing have a reverse button?” Mythra asked.
As worry draped itself over everyone present, especially the wolves, footsteps approached from outside. In the doorway, Adenine appeared, looking excited. “Hey, what’s happening here? I just had two new entries from this room appear in my records!” This was quickly followed by “Ah!” as she noticed the wolves.
The situation was explained to her, and she understood quickly. “Wow, so we have two living ancient specimens here. That’s fascinating in its own right.”
“Don’t start studying already,” Nia chided.
“And what was that about new entries?” Dromarch asked.
Adenine nodded and looked at the group. “There were two quick new entries into the biology records a few minutes ago. Something about genetic data. It was categorized with all the other animals.”
“Two records?” Rex looked at the two wolves. “Then could it be…?”
“It must be their original bodies,” Nia said, smiling. “Turns out there is a reverse button.”
The group heard the wolves let out what could only be sighs of relief when they heard that. Although they tried to keep it professional with their nods of acknowledgement afterward, their tails noticeably twitched.
As Rex asked Adenine to set the device back up again, Poppi walked to the two wolves and kneeled down to speak to them directly. “Situation no longer urgent, so Poppi has request.”
Mòrag nodded, wobbling the hat on her head.
Poppi opened her hand up and hovered her palm over Mòrag’s head, doing the same with her other hand over Brighid’s. “Will Mòrag and Brighid allow petting?”
The wolves glanced at each other, expressionless. Silent communication took place between them. Slowly, their eyes moved back to look at Poppi. Simultaneously, Mòrag nodded and Brighid shook her head. Brighid looked in surprise at Mòrag, letting out a raspy squeak, before both were inundated in pats and rubs from Poppi.
Nia giggled at it all and looked around to make a comment, only to end up with a question. “Hey, where’s Zeke?”
Adenine answered that. “Oh, right. I had him stay behind because there was an ancient turtle in those records, so I wanted to ask him about Turters.” She sighed. “Instead, he commandeered my console…”
“Haha!” Zeke scrolled through more and more pictures, holding his small companion right up to the screen to take it all in. “I knew it! Turters, you truly are a member of the mightiest race.”