Work Text
Through the Portal
The day had turned out to be beautiful, a blessing for the start of April. There was a bright sun in a cloudless sky, with a mild breeze cooling the air of the small town in central Japan. Everything was lush and green with a multitude of colourful flowers blooming. There was a smell of fresh cut grass that lingered on the air of the well-kept street, which came from the manicured lawns around the army base. There were even birds chirping and butterflies floating lazily from flower to flower.It was far too nice to be cooped up inside of one of the small houses on the street. At least that’s what the eight-year boy told his mother, for the eighth time that day. His black hair flying messily about his head as he hopped from one foot to the other, refusing to sit still even as he spoke to his mother.“You know I do not like you to go out without me, nanny or your father, Takeshi,” the plainly dressed, young Japanese woman said with a hint of irritation in her voice. The young woman was a doctor at the military hospital, who specialised in cardiothoracic surgery. She was not an exceptional beauty, but she was rather pretty, especially when she dressed up in something other than hospital scrubs or plain pantsuits. Most people would agree that she should try a little harder, but she didn’t agree with their judgement. After all, she was climbing a highly competitive career ladder, while being married with two children. She didn’t need to look attractive, though she did at least try to make herself appear well put together. And, she would also try to make her children appear well put together as well.At the moment, the young doctor was trying to look through her case notes for the day. She had barely glanced in the direction of her son as he came in to complain again. She was going to be in surgery all day tomorrow, and she needed to review the notes so that she thoroughly understood the cases. Though, she wasn’t making much headway due to her son’s constant interruptions.“But, it’s so warm outside. It’s as if summer is already here! All I want to do is go to the park, I’ve been there plenty of times before. It’s only two minutes from the house, and I can see father in the training grounds from there. I promise I won’t talk to any strangers, look both ways before crossing the street and I’ll be really careful in the playground!” Takeshi whined as only an energetic eight-year-old boy could.The young doctor sighed heavily, massaging her temple to rid herself of the headache that was building. Then she finally looked at her eldest child. He was a bundle of energy, especially when he was cooped up inside on a warm day. Almost as if he was a tiger caged in an enclosure too small for him. His bright brown eyes looked up at her with the most hopeful expression, almost pleading to be allowed salvation of a day out in the sun. While his shiny black hair stood up at impossible angles due to his tendency to watch TV upside-down and from jumping around. She would have to brush it later.He had been underfoot all day, getting into everything and anything. Normally, Doctor Yukimura would have had the nanny take both of her children to the park, just to get them out of the house and away from the television. She didn’t like the idea of her children parking themselves in front of the television and not moving for several hours. There were several children on the base whose parents had let them do that, and now they were severely overweight. Doctor Yukimura liked her kids to be active, and it seemed that they preferred that as well. Unfortunately, their nanny had called in sick earlier that morning. And, since her husband was busy all day training the new recruits, Doctor Yukimura had elected to cancel her clinic for the day and stay with her children. But, her work as a surgeon couldn’t just stop because her children had the day off school. She had to look over cases, write reports and complete some more training, if she wanted to advance further.The young mother let out another sigh and looked past her son towards her daughter. She was sitting quite contently, on the living-room floor, colouring picture of various animals. The young girl’s hair was hanging down her back, falling into her face whenever she leaned forward. It made her look so pretty and innocent. The pink shirt that she was wearing was bunched up half way up her back as she knelled on the floor, showing the room the top of her flowery underpants. But, the girl was so involved with what she was doing that she didn’t notice her lapse of discretion.Her five-year-old daughter was less active than her son, but she followed Takeshi’s lead whenever possible. When Major Yukimura had begun training Takeshi in martial arts, Ayako had toddled after them, trying to copy the moves. Often falling on her bottom rather than executing the katas with the preciseness of her father and older brother.Doctor Yukimura did have a huge argument with her husband when he started to take Takeshi through weapons drills. He seemed very adept using the sword and was also proving to be a great marksman. Much like his father. Doctor Yukimura thought it was too dangerous to allow her eight-year-old, and by extension, her five-year-old, to handle such dangerous instruments. But, it kept Takeshi happy and active. And her husband was always with him. Plus, he had promised not to let Ayako handle any of the weapons until she was older.Another irritated sigh escaped Doctor Yukimura’s lips. It would be so much easier if she let the boy go out. After all, she could see the park from their small garden. If she worked outside, at the garden table, she could keep an eye on him. But, that would mean making Ayako move to outside as well. She really didn’t want to disturb her daughter when she looked so content.“Alright, you can go. But, you can only go to park, where you can see the house. And, you must take Ayako with you,” Doctor Yukimura said calmly, setting her notes down and looking at her son. She calmly poured herself another cup of tea while she watched her son’s changing emotions.There was an instant moment of relief when Takeshi was told that he was finally allowed outside, followed by a whine of annoyance. It wasn’t as if her children didn’t get along. In fact, they got along a lot better than other children she had seen. It was more the fact that he would be responsible for Ayako when all he wanted to do was to swing and jump from the monkey bars.“Either take her, or you’ll have to both sit inside and watch a movie,” Doctor Yukimura said sternly.“No! Don’t make us watch a movie, he’ll make us watch Alice in Wonderland, again! He’s obsessed with that movie!” Ayako’s desperate sounding voice called her place on the living room floor. This caused a small cry of denial from Takeshi, even though it was completely true. The young boy seemed to be obsessed with that story. He had even tried to walk through the bedroom mirror a few times. He was certain that one day he would find a way to a magical land.“Fine! Fine, I’ll take Ayako with me! Let’s go!” Takeshi called, before running into the living-room, taking his sisters hand and dragging her out the door without so much as a backwards glance.Doctor Yukimura smiled with relief as her children were finally out of her hair for a little while and she would finally have some peace and quiet to finish her work for the day. She gathered up her notes, and walked outside, setting herself up in the small garden. She watched as her two kids ran, hand in hand towards the park, specifically the merry-go-round, and smiled. Her focus was then on her case notes, once again. After all, the children were within eyesight of the house, just outside the perimeter of the army base. Nothing could possibly happen to them. *** Takeshi took after his father in a number of ways. From his light brown eyes, to his defined cheekbones, just hidden underneath a layer of baby fat. He would be tall and broad, again, like his father. As well as that, he loved to learn to fight. And had a strong desire to learn new things. That was part of the reason that Major Yukimura had begun training his son in martial arts.But, his most distinctive trait that was inherited from his father was his stubbornness. Major Yukimura refused to call it that, he would always say it was a desire to not give in. A desire to always be the best. Doctor Yukimura would just shake her head complaining that he was stubborn about being stubborn. Yet, it was how the young major had risen so far in the army in such a short space of time. That was another reason why Major Yukimura had begun to teach Takeshi martial arts. He hoped that it would direct his stubbornness in a worthier direction, other than refusing to eat his vegetables.When Takeshi had wanted to learn martial arts, despite being so young, he had not giving in when he was told no. He snuck into the training grounds, watched his father, who had been trained by his father. The young boy would then copy the moves, as much as his young body could. He had hurt himself a few times, and, as a result, his father had elected to start training him himself. Takeshi’s parents hoped that this would make it a little safer. And, the Major had promised Takeshi that when he was older he would send him to train under a great ninja master, like he had done when he was younger.Ayako on the other hand, was not as stubborn. Unfortunately, she hero-worshipped her older brother. And, if Takeshi had an interest in something, then she would have an interest in it too. That was why she was now beginning to learn to fight as well. Though, she didn’t have the same aptitude for it like Takeshi did.She was a very pretty little girl. She had darker eyes than her brother, more similar to her mother than her father, but everything else was almost identical to her brother. Except her height, she was more than likely going to a little taller than her mother, but a lot shorter than Takeshi. Her black fell down her back, and was so silky that it was easy to brush straight. Her mother hoped that she would never cut it short, like she had done and would keep it long.Takeshi and Ayako were both very athletic. As, neither the children nor their parents liked them to be sedentary. They would rarely sit in front of the TV, preferring to go out and play. Though, they did like watching movies. Takeshi had a soft spot for Alice in Wonderland and would be happy to watch that again and again and Ayako loved Cinderella. Ayako was very lean, though she still had quite a bit of baby fat. Whereas, Takeshi had already begun to develop toned muscles due to his martial arts training.The two Yukimura children were also exceptionally close. Which was lucky, as Ayako would follow Takeshi everywhere. Often getting into everything that Takeshi would. But, he was very protective of his younger sister. And would do whatever it took to make her happy. There were times when Takeshi had gotten into a few fights to protect his sister from bullies. And every time that a teacher had called their home, or he had arrived with bruises on his face, Takeshi would get a stern dressing down from his mother. Which was then followed by praise from his father, as the Major had instilled a sense of duty into the young boy and he was glad that his son was taking it seriously.They were both quite clever as well. So far, the reports from their teachers had made both Doctor and Major Yukimura proud. Both parents had high hopes for their children. They had their whole future ahead of them *** The park wasn’t very crowded, as many of the families that lived around the army base had left for the long weekend. There were a few children that were from Takeshi’s and Ayako’s primary school already there, with a few of the older children off to the side, just hanging out around the trees and benches. As well as a couple of teenagers from the high school trying to smoke without drawing the attention of the soldiers practicing their katas and drills on the square.Ayako saw their father leading the katas and gave a very exuberant wave. She loved to watch her father practice martial arts. She loved to hear him tell stories of the times that he was training in a ninjutsu clan further south. His movements were so fluid and strong, that just watching him made her feel safe. she had begun to get that feeling when Takeshi trained as well, though her older brother still lacked the grace and strength of their father.Of course, their father didn’t return the wave that his daughter had given him, though he had seen it. He couldn’t show such a lack of decorum while he was working. And, although she had been given this reason many times before, it would still upset Ayako. Though, their father did nod in their direction, indicating that he had seen his children.“He can’t wave back, but look, he sees us. And he’ll probably come and get us when he’s done, so we can play with him,” Takeshi reasoned in a cheerful tone, making his sister smile. Even, if he knew it wasn’t true, it was worth the small white lie to make his sister smile again.It wasn’t as if Major Yukimura was unfeeling, or uncaring. He was just a high-ranking officer in the Japanese army, who had been raised by a high-ranking officer in the Japanese army. And so on, through their entire family history. And it was expected that Takeshi would follow his father’s footsteps.Once his younger sister was placated, he pulled her over to swings. She always enjoyed swinging high and fast, so high that she could see into their garden. Into the manicured flower beds that their mother painstakingly kept. And that Takeshi accidently ripped apart a few weeks ago, after falling from their garden fence. As punishment, Takeshi had to replant the entire garden, as well as every other garden on their street.That had been a very bad day for Takeshi. His mother had yelled at him for what felt like hours, while his father looked disapprovingly on. He hated feeling like he had disappointed or shamed his parents. All he had been trying to do was some of the exercises that he saw his father doing earlier that day, with the recruits. His father was an expert martial artist, having won many contests in his youth. And all Takeshi wanted was to be just like him, to make him proud.The young boy shook out his dark thoughts of being a disappointment long enough to wave at his mother. The young doctor waved back, before she sat down at the garden table and busied herself in her work once again. She would look up every few minutes, to check that her children had not gotten into too much mischief while off by themselves.“Come on Ayako-chan, let’s go on the merry-go-round! I wanna see how fast we can spin it!” Takeshi said enthusiastically, jumping from the swing as he did so. He landed smoothly on the ground, and took off running.Within seconds Ayako was chasing after her older brother, and gaining ground. For, although she was small and young, she was fast. The young girl had won all the foot races in her kindergarten’s sports day a few weeks earlier.There was no one on the merry-go-round, which meant that Takeshi and Ayako had free reign to try and make the thing break the sound barrier. As they had tried every other time they had been on the playground apparatus. Though, they had yet to achieve their goal they were both convinced that it could be done and that they were very close to doing it.Takeshi would start spinning the contraption, while Ayako held on and yelped with joy. She would scream for her older brother to make it go faster, until Takeshi felt like he was being pulled rather than pushing. At that point he would jump on, short black hair flying and obscuring his vison, and they would ride out the spin. Laughing madly all the way round, until they couldn’t breathe. They would then repeat the procedure several times, until they both could not stand from the effort of pushing and from laughing.At least, that was the usual course of events. But, it was not going to be a usual day as something extraordinary suddenly occurred in the small park. It was Ayako who noticed first, cutting off her panting laughter and staring at something just behind Takeshi. The young boy turned around, curious to see what had caused the sudden change in his sister. And became equally shocked and silent. Just like the few other children that were in the park.There was a magic pink door that had appeared just in front of the merry-go-round. It was triangular in shape and seemed to be floating in mid-air, just a few centimetres above the ground. It seemed to be made of a shimmering substance that didn’t look solid, or liquid, but was solid enough to obscure what was behind it.Most of the children were backing away from the magic door. Scared by how suddenly it had appeared and unsure of what had caused it. But not Takeshi. The young boy stared the door down, stepping in front of it to try and peer inside.“Big brother! Be careful! Don’t get too close!” Ayako’s concerned voice called out from behind the young boy.“Don’t you want to find out what it is or where it goes?” Takeshi replied, quickly glancing behind him to see his sister’s worried face, while his own face shined with wonder. The prospect of adventure blazing brightly within his heart and the magic door beckoning him forward towards it.“How do you know it’ll go anywhere? It might you destroy anything that it touches!” Ayako yelled, looking around at all the other children who were running away from the glowing thing. “Because, it’s magic! How else could it have appeared here, in front of us! It wants us to go through. Just think of the adventure, Ayako-chan! Don’t you want to see where it would send us? What sort of world that it will take us to?” Takeshi looked back, almost desperately. He needed Ayako to want to come with him. Ayako was feeling torn though. She did want to go wherever her brother went, and she knew that he would never put her in danger willingly. But, she felt scared. The magic door could take them to a magical realm, or it could take them somewhere nightmarish. The young girl looked around, hoping her mother or her father would have seen them, so that they would make the decision for her. Unfortunately, both were busy with their respective jobs. Neither had noticed the children flocking from the park.“Ayako, please. I don’t want to do this without you. You do trust me, don’t you?” Takeshi asked, holding out his hand for his sister to take.“Of course, I do, Takeshi-san,” Ayako replied, taking her brothers hand and allowing him to pull her from the merry-go-round and into the unknown.With one final look back, in the direction of their little house and garden, Ayako and Takeshi disappeared into the pink, shimmery door. Which then disappeared from sight, leaving only an empty park, with an empty merry-go-round that was still slowly spinning. *** Doctor Yukimura sighed into her cup of tea. It was so refreshing to have tea in the garden, on such a nice clear, sunny day. She had so far gotten a lot of work done, now that she had quiet to do it. Her notes were written up and ordered, her case studies researched, and her schedule and procedures committed to memory. She brought the cup up to her mouth, taking a small sip. It had gone cold. That was strange, she could have sworn she only just made this pot of tea, but the liquid was stone cold. She must have been more focused on her work than she thought. Doctor Yukimura could now feel the slight chill in the air as early evening was approaching.“I should probably call the children in, it will be time for dinner soon,” Doctor Yukimura said to herself with a slight groan. She remembered that the nanny was not here today, and that she was responsible for cooking for her husband and children. And, while she was more than capable of making a simple meal, she was not the best cook around. She supposed that they could all go out for dinner, there were many restaurants around the base and it would be easier than cooking.Nodding to herself, as she cemented the plan in her mind as she knew her husband would not object. After all, he knew she was somewhat lacking in domestic skills, that was why they had a nanny. Doctor Yukimura picked up her books and notes, piling them together before she looked in the direction of the park.The sight before her stopped her dead, halfway between piling her things together. The park was completely deserted. That should have been impossible. That park was never empty, even when it rained. There was always someone on the playground, or on the grass.Dropping her things, Doctor Yukimura jogged out of her garden and begun a quick pace down the street. As she did she scanned up and down the street, taking note of all the young children Takeshi and Ayako’s age. Children who would have been in the park, but were currently crying to their parents in their various gardens.She had now broken out into a run, causing many of the adults on the street to look in her direction. It was very rare to see such a competent, and cool, young doctor rushing around the street in her house slippers. Having finally arrived at the park, Doctor Yukimura vaulted over the fence, feeling the desperation and fear clawing at her heart. She ran into the middle of the playground, scanning the area. She took note of all the abandoned toys, candy and books that littered the ground. As if several children had suddenly taken off in terror towards home.“TAKESHI! AYAKO!” Doctor Yukimura screamed, drawing the attention of everyone down the street and on the parade square.Major Yukimura saw his wife screaming his children’s names. She looked frantic and worried, causing a horrible thought to twist in his chest. The Major suddenly abandoned his post, dropping his bokken onto the ground, while several of his recruits followed.“Azami-san, what is wrong?” came the sudden voice of Major Yukimura. He took hold of his wife’s shoulders, pulling her towards him and making her face him.“Takeshi, and Ayako, they were just here. And I can’t find them,” Doctor Yukimura replied, tears beginning to fall from her eyes.“What? How could that have happened? Why were you not watching them?” Major Yukimura shouted, his voice raising with each word spoken. He looked around the playground, taking in the sights of abandoned play.“Major, Doctor, my son has told me that something appeared in the playground, a door of some kind. And that Takeshi and Ayako ventured into it,” said one of the other mothers who lived on the street.“What are you babbling about! That makes no sense! How could a door appear? No, something else must have happened,” Major Yukimura said, as his eyes darted from place to place. As if he was trying to find some other explanation.By this time, the park was full of concerned parents, sniffling children, and soldiers. Each member of the crowd was looking between the distraught parents, and at the scene in the park. All the parents had been told the same thing. That a magic door had appeared and that the Yukimura children had walked through it, before it disappeared. No one believed this though, but it was obvious that the two young children had somehow disappeared.“We will start to look for you children, Major. I will get the other recruits, and anyone else who is willing to help, while the others begin the search,” one of the young recruits said. He then gestured towards his comrades and ran off in the direction of the base. The other recruits began to spread out, searching for any sign of the children.Several of the fathers in the group joined the search, and within the hour most of the residents of both the army base and the small suburb had volunteered for the search party. While, several other mothers kept Doctor Yukimura company, Major Yukimura headed up the search.By night fall, their plight was being broadcasted on the local news station, asking for anyone with information to come forward. But no one ever did, and no one paid much mind to the voices of the other children who continued to explain that a magic door had spirited the siblings away.
----- CHAPTER BREAK -----
Terror, Horror and Pain
It took Takeshi maybe two seconds before he realised that going through the magic door was a bad idea. As soon as the two children were on the other side, they both began to choke, unable to breath. The pink air seeped into their lungs and it almost burned.Takeshi watched as his sister dropped to the ground, clutching both her throat and her chest. Her eyes became glassy and wide, tears streaming down her face in panic, as she searched out for her brother. She reached out for him, before she lost consciousness and stopped moving completely.The young boy tried to reach Ayako, but he was also running out of air. Takeshi tried to hold his breath, not wanting to waste a single molecule of oxygen. He reached out and grabbed his sister’s hand, dragging her back towards the shimmering, pink door. If he could just get to it, then they could go home.Unfortunately, it was too far away. When they had materialised into this world they had fallen a few feet from the door. Now, it felt like it was miles away, and getting further away rather than closer. Yet Takeshi wouldn’t give up. He had made them go through the magic door, and he was going to get both himself and his sister home safely. He could make it, if only could go a little further.The desire to breath in was making his chest burn, and his head spin. His legs began to feel too heavy, and the weight of Ayako was dragging him down. Takeshi fell to his knees, reaching with his free hand towards the magic door, when it suddenly vanished from his sight.His shock at seeing their way home disappear made the boy take in a shocked breath. Then, his lungs really began to burn. Takeshi clutched his throat as he fell to the floor, convulsing, trying to catch his breath.Just before he blacked out he saw something move. Several somethings. What looked like robots, with something pink in the middle. Takeshi didn’t have time to process what was happening before he passed out. The only thing on his mind was an apology to whatever god was listening, and prayers that his sister would forgive him for what he had caused her. He hoped that she didn’t suffer the pain that he was suffering, and that it would be over soon. ** The robots with the squishy pink middles, otherwise known as the Kraang, were very surprised to see a couple of small humans coming tumbling out of the portal and into their large lab.They had been experimenting with their portal projection, hoping to be able to make portals appear in any location that they wanted on Earth. This portal was in Japan, which was on the other side of the world to where they were planning to start their invasion. They could see into the small area where the portal had opened and had taken note of the small humans playing in front of the portal.The Kraang had assumed that all the small humans had run, and had not anticipated the two that walked through. They had watched as the two small humans gasped for air, before falling to the ground unconscious and convulsing.“What are we to do with the small humans who have walked through the portal, Kraang?” asked one of the Kraang droids. This Kraang droid looked the most robotic of the two, as you could see the metal skeleton of the droid. His large, pink eyes looked at the two children who were now lying at his feet.“We shall take the small humans, who have walked through the portal, back to lab where we keep the humans who will be used for testing the mutagen, Kraang,” replied the other Kraang droid. This had a blue, opaque plastic resin that seemed to cover his metallic skeleton.“Before we take the small humans to where we keep the other humans, we must stabilise the small humans, as humans cannot breathe the atmosphere of our home, Kraang,” stated the first Kraang.“Indeed, Kraang, we shall have to quicken our pace, for it looks like the smallest of the small humans might expire soon,” answered the second Kraang.For all their talk of hurrying, it took the two Kraang droids a while to begin to help both Takeshi and Ayako. The two aliens in robot bodies were able to lift the two children, as if they weighed nothing. They then put them both into pods, and drained the atmosphere from it, replacing it with the nitrogen and oxygen mixture that covered Earth. This allowed both Takeshi and Ayako to begin to breathe again, though only time would tell if the atmosphere had had an effect on their developing bodies.“Why is there a delay in the portal control research, Kraang?” came the monotoned and synthesised voice of a third Kraang. The Kraang bot had the body and face of a human man. Though he seemed to have a rather impassive face.“We are sorry for the delay in the portal control research, Kraang. Two small humans came through the portal, during the portal control research experiment. We are going to deliver them to Kraang, so that they might be used for the mutagen research, Kraang,” replied the first Kraang.“That is a good idea, Kraang. Kraang, was saying in the recent past, that he would like to find small humans to use in the mutagen experiment to see what the effects of mutagen will be on small humans. We have not managed to gather small humans before as they are always with the larger parental unit humans. I will tell Kraang of this plan for the small humans. Kraang, you will take the small humans to the enclosures where the humans that are being used in that experiment are being held,” the human looking Kraang robot said, before he turned on his heel and walked off.“Kraang is always telling Kraang what to do,” said the blue tinted Kraang droid, with a hint of bitterness to this synthesised voice.“Stupid Kraang,” added the metallic Kraang droid, in an irritated voice. Or as irritated as a synthesised, monotoned, robotic voice could be.The two Kraang droids put the pods, that contained the two young children onto a floating trolley. The blue droid then began to attach a control panel to the pod that contained Takeshi, while the metallic droid did the same to the pod that contained Ayako. Once this was done, both the panels started to emit a steady beeping.At first, the beeping was loud, fast and slightly irregular. The droids listened to these beeps, and began to press several buttons and turn a few dials. The pods were then filled with a mixture of vaporised medicine, while the gas contents were adjusted accordingly. After a few minutes of listening, then fiddling with various controls, the beeps began to slow, until the beeping resembled a regular, human heartbeat.“The small humans appear to be stable now, Kraang. It would be a good time to transport them to the place where Kraang is,” the blue tinted Kraang said.The two children, still unconscious within their pods were transported down the long hallway, towards the lab where other human captives were being kept. This Lab contained dozens of large, glass pods, with people from all walks of life. Yet, Takeshi and Ayako were the only children. There were also other strange creatures in some of the pods. Creatures that looked like something from mythology or a fairy tale. Creatures that seemed to be part animal, and part human. Who were crying and begging to be let out, while clawing at the glass with real claws. While some were just whimpering in the centre of their pods, curled in on themselves.The two Kraang bots dumped the two children into one pod. Since they were so small there didn’t seem to be much call in wasting two pods. The two children were still unconscious, so were just placed on the floor and the door was closed, trapping them in another glass prison. * It took a few minutes before Takeshi became fully aware of himself. His head was splitting and spinning at the same time, and it hurt to take a deep breath. He really didn’t want to open his eyes, but he felt that he had to. He could hear a loud beeping noise, probably the alarm in his mother’s room. So, had to get up for school soon, or help Ayako with something pretty soon.Slowly, the young boy opened his eyes, expecting to see the poster filled, cream walls of his bedroom. Instead, he was greeted with a glass prison wall and sights that made him wish that he was still sleeping. For that would mean that he was having a nightmare, instead of being in a living nightmare.It was then that he suddenly remembered all that had happened. The door that had opened in the playground. The pink tinted, metallic lab where they couldn’t breathe. Ayako falling down and not moving. The two alien robots that were coming towards him. Then blacking out into nothingness.Takeshi jumped up, looking frantically around the container that he now found himself in. It was a large glass dome, similar to the small fish bowl that Ayako kept in her room. It was perfectly circular and had a large metal roof. He ran towards the side of the glass prison, pressing his hands up against it. He looked around wildly, hoping to find a door, but there was nothing. It was all smooth all the way around. It seemed there was no way in or out.In the middle of the glass container, lay his sister. She was still unconscious, with her black hair fanning out around her. She appeared to be sleeping soundly, with no indication that she was in pain. Hopefully she would be okay, thought Takeshi, as he kneeled beside her to try and shake her awake.Then he looked past his own prison into the other glass cages. It took all of the strength in his small body to keep himself from crumbling into a blubbering lump. What Takeshi saw horrified him. In those cages were other people, all grown-ups and all crying out. Their clothes were in tatters and they looked like they were very close to giving up on life.Or there were monsters beyond his worst nightmares that were clawing trying to get out. Most likely to try to eat some of the people that were there. Or maybe, that was why the other people were there. To feed the monsters.“Ayako! Ayako! Wake up!” Takeshi yelled, roughly shaking her to try to wake her up. She had to be okay, she had to wake up.“Takeshi?” Ayako said groggily as she began to regain consciousness.“Thank the heavens! We have to find a way to get out!”“Get out? Where, what are you talking about big brother?” Ayako asked before she looked up, her eyes widening and screaming.She clung to her brother in fear, unable to process what she was seeing. There were tears falling freely from her eyes as she looked around in utter terror, mumbling to herself that it can’t be real. As if she was trying to convince herself that she was in a dream.“Where are we, Takeshi?” Ayako asked tearfully.“I do not know, Ayako, I do not know,” Takeshi replied, holding his sister as tightly to his body as possible.Suddenly, Ayako let a terrified squeak, clinging to Takeshi’s should with all her might. Her eyes widened in terror as she pointed to the floating, squishy brain that was observing them. Both siblings clung harder to each other and dared not to move, hoping that the horrible creature wouldn’t see them.Instead, the floating brain monster signalled for another floating brain, followed by another. It seemed that they were discussing something with each other, while they gestured towards the terrified children with their long tentacles. The two children couldn’t move due to fright, unable to take their eyes off the monsters. Which, were then joined by robots, actual robots, each with another one of those brain monsters in their chests. These robot brain monsters, held some form of computers within their hands and gestured towards the glass containers front then to Takeshi and Ayako.After a few minutes, or possibly hours, of the horrible creatures talking and gesturing, they dispersed and went to check on all the other containers around them. Takeshi’s eyes followed the robotic monsters as he made his rounds, so that he could finally take in more of the ghastly living nightmare.It seemed that they were in some kind of lab, like the ones that were in the cartoons they had begun to watch on Saturday morning. There were large tubes of glowing, green ooze doted here and there, with huge computers that seemed to be recording a lot of different date.Or it could have been an interdimensional zoo. There seemed to be not only people and monsters in those containers, but a whole menagerie of animals that both Takeshi and Ayako had never seen before, other than in a book. He could see tigers, lions, foxes, turtles, lizards of varying shapes, sizes and colours.“Oi, Oi, kiddies!” came a frantic voice to the left side of their enclosure.Both Takeshi and Ayako looked over to see a man waving at them and banging on the glass. He seemed to be of a similar age to their father, but his skin was darker than anyone else they had ever seen before. It was almost black, and his hair was so curly that it puffed out into a sort of ball. His clothes looked to be in tatters, with tattoos all up and down his arms. He also seemed to be speaking, but they were words that neither Takeshi nor Ayako could recognise.The man seemed desperate to try and communicate with them, he begun to speak slower and louder, gesturing wildly around him. He seemed to grow more and more frustrated with each passing moment.“I’m sorry, Sir, I can’t understand you,” Takeshi replied with all the politeness his scared little brain could muster.“Hello,” the man said slowly, waving his hand.It was finally a word that Takeshi recognised. His year had recently begun to learn English and it seemed the man was speaking that to them, rather than Japanese. Ayako, on the other hand, had not begun to learn it yet.“Hello,” Takeshi replied before he translated what was happening to his bewildered sister.“Hobbs,” the man said, pointing to his chest by way of an introduction.“Takeshi, Ayako,” Takeshi replied, pointing to himself then to his sister.“I wish you could understand me kiddie. I wish even more that I could tell you not to worry, but I can’t. These things are awful,” the man, Hobbs, said quickly in English causing both Takeshi and Ayako to frown in confusion. Neither had managed to understand a thing that was said.“You see those poor bastards there,” Hobbs said pointing towards the monsters that were in the containers next to them. The two children followed the direction of his finger, flinching in fear at the monsters.“Yeah, them. Those poor bastards were human a few days ago. They take into that big container in the middle of the room, spray you with stuff from those animals over there. Then they dose you with glowing goop. Then, you’re either dead or one of those freaky things. Don’t know which I’d prefer to be honest. It’s a shame you two don’t understand, the only way that you’re going to know what’s happening is when you see it. Which is horrible. I don’t think I’ll ever forget it. I’m sorry, kiddies.”The man looked very sad when he finished. He sat down quietly and looked lost, almost hopeless. Meanwhile, Takeshi and Ayako merely looked at each other and shrugged. They had no idea what the strange man had said, or why he was suddenly looking so defeated.“What are we to do, Takeshi-san?” Ayako asked, shaking slightly in fear.“I do not know Ayako-chan, but I will get us out, I promise,” Takeshi answered as he pulled his younger sister into a tight hug. ** The Kraang, those strange alien things that were either in hover machines or hidden inside the bodies of robots, kept both Ayako and Takeshi alive and in good health. They brought them food regularly, though not any food that they had ever seen before. After each meal the Kraang would speak in their backwards and overcomplicated English. The only reason the two siblings knew that they were called Kraang was due to the sheer amount of times that had heard them refer to themselves as such. It was always, ‘Kraang this’ or ‘Kraang that’.Neither Takeshi nor Ayako understood why they wanted to keep them alive and well. That was, until a few days after they arrived. At least, they assumed it was a few days after they arrived. It was hard to keep track of time when there was no sun or moon. Takeshi only took a guess at a few days as they had eaten several meals and slept a few times.There seemed to be a hushed, frantic anxiety that was passing through the lab that morning. Something that Takeshi didn’t understand. All the adults were rocking and looking around nervously. The man who they had been talking to, Old Hobbs, was sitting on the side of his container closest to them. He kept on speaking and glancing around, as if waiting for something.Looking around the lab, Takeshi did notice more Kraang robots around, rather than just the floating brain monsters. There was also more equipment around, such as floating trolleys and small containers of the glowing stuff.“What do you think is happening, Big Brother?” Ayako asked, glancing around nervously.“I am unsure, Ayako-chan,” Takeshi replied.He knocked on the glass, to get Old Hobbs attention, then when the older man looked his way the young boy pointed towards the lab. Over the last few days they had only managed to exchange a few simple words, mainly ‘yes’, ‘no’ and their names. Luckily, they seemed to be able to communicate non-verbally effectively enough.The older man looked towards the gathering Kraang, knowing exactly what was going to happen. Only wishing that it wouldn’t be him this time, and knowing that if it wasn’t, it would be his turn soon. Most of the people who were brought in only stayed human for a matter of weeks, and he had been here for what seemed like a month.“I’m sorry, kids,” Old Hobbs said dejectedly, tears rolling from his eyes.This only served to confuse Takeshi more, as he did understand what the word ‘sorry’ meant. He just didn’t understand what he had to be sorry for.Then, as if a signal had been sent, all the Kraang robots turned in their direction. It was a terrifying sight, seeing all their beady eyes and emotionless robot eyes turned in their direction. The occupants of the two containers backed up as quickly as they could, almost pushing against the back of the containers as if they could fall through the glass and escape. Not that there was much luck there. In the several days that they had been captured, Takeshi had felt every inch within reach for a weakness.The two siblings were lucky, this time, the Kraang only briefly glanced at them before they rounded on Old Hobbs container. The man losing all self of control and dignity as he wept uncontrollably, begging and pleading, ‘please, no’ and ‘don’t’.Takeshi understood the words and the emotions that were showing. The poor man was terrified beyond anything that he had witnessed before. All the other humans and monsters were now looking in their direction, many coming to look at the glass with tears in their eyes, as if they all knew what would happen.The Kraang robots opened the container, and at least a dozen piled in. It seemed they would not render him unconscious so they instead used sheer numbers to restrain the now struggling Hobbs. They pulled him out of the container, while he frantically grabbed a hold of anything that would keep him in the horrid prison.The Kraang robots forcibly pulled him out of the container and strapped him onto one of the floating tables. The Kraang robot that seemed to be in a human suit piloted the floating table with Hobbs until he was on a platform in the centre of the room. The monsters were now looking at the straining man with some kind of horrid curiosity painted across their scary faces, while the other humans began to fold in on themselves. As if they knew something was going to be happening. But, Takeshi couldn’t understand the monsters’ reactions. It was almost as if they were human.Once Old Hobbs was in the centre of the room another dome came up over him. All the while he was wailing and pleading like a pig. It was a truly gruesome sound, which caused Ayako to cover her ears and bury her head into her brothers’ chest.A shot suddenly rang out across the lab, followed by a ferocious roar. This caused all the occupants heads to snap towards the part of the lab that housed the collection of animals. One of the Kraang had shot and killed a huge lion. Its poor body was now lying across its container as the horrid robot drew a large vial of its blood.This was then inserted to the long tube of green, glowing ooze that another Kraang was carrying. The cacophony of noise started up again, with Hobbs’ screaming, the other people yelling, the monsters growling and the Kraang talking their backwards language. All the while, Takeshi and Ayako could only look on in terror.The Kraang carrying the glowing tube of ooze inserted it into the control panel of the central dome. The ooze then went up a series of different tubes, all leading up to the top of the dome, into something that was like a sprinkler. It was almost mesmerising, watching the blood mix with the ooze as it travelled up the tubes. It was so thick and vicus, with such an array of tranquil greens that it gave a sense of calm to Takeshi and Ayako. Though, they were the only ones.Poor Old Hobbs was screaming bloody murder while he wet himself in panic, his eyes completely focused on the travelling ooze. Until it hit the sprinklers and begun to shower him in large droplets of the glowing goo.The entire lab went silent, as if it was holding it breath. Then Old Hobbs let out a bloodcurdling scream that shattered the silence of the lab and shattering whatever innocence Takeshi and Ayako had once had. The poor man twisted and flayed in agony, straining against the bonds that held him tight. All the while, the Kraang watched and took notes, as if the man before them was just a fruit fly in a biological experiment.And that was when Takeshi realised, that he was. The squishy brain monsters were scientist and they were the test subjects.The realisation didn’t help ease his young mind as he continued to watch Old Hobbs thrash on the table, contorting into horrible shapes. It was as if his body was being moved without his control, like he was trying to escape from something.And then, the most horrible thing started to happen. The man’s legs began to elongate, and his face looked like it was melting and being put back into shape. He begun to sprout fur everywhere, and his hair became longer and bushier. Long fangs began to drop down from where his teeth once were and his hands were tipped with claws.Before their very eyes, the man they had met became some sort of monster. A type of lion-man.Takeshi’s eyes widened as he looked frantically around, finally realising that the monsters in the cages weren’t monster. They had all once been people. These horrible squishy alien brains had changed them from people into monsters by using the animals’ blood and the green glowing ooze.The brain monsters took a still whimpering Old Hobbs back to his container once they had finished their talking. The poor man was still whimpering and shaking. It looked like he might keel over at any moment.Then, every alien and robot looked in the direction of Takeshi and Ayako.“No!” Takeshi shouted as he grabbed Ayako and pulled her to the back of the container. He pushed her, until she was right up against the glass, behind him.“Small humans must cooperate with Kraang,” one of the advancing robots said as it opened the glass of the container.“No, you won’t take us!” Takeshi yelled, over the screams of his younger sister. Every monster and human was now banging on their containers, all suddenly united at the horror of seeing two young children in fear.Takeshi tried valiantly to protect his sister. He punched and kicked out, hitting one of the squishy brains between its beady eyes, knocking it unconscious. Unfortunately, he was just too small and weak to put up any real fight against the dozens of robots that had entered the container to pull both Ayako ad Takeshi apart.The took Takeshi first. And though he fought as hard as he could against their grasp, he was merely a boy of eight against robots that were stronger than men, he didn’t stand a chance. They ripped him from his sister’s grasp as they both wept and screamed and begged for mercy. But it all fell upon death ears as the robots took him towards the glass container where Old Hobbs had once been.The strapped him onto the same floating table, before they walked out and erected the glass dome. Takeshi struggled against the straps, his senses on overdrive as he heard Ayako crying out, the din of the others in the lab, a roar that faded from some animal and the synthetic voices droning on about what they were going to do.He tried to pull himself out as he saw the glowing green ooze begin its ascent up the tubes towards the sprinklers. He kept on begging and pleading, both in Japanese and the only words that he knew in English. But it didn’t stop the progression of the ooze. Takeshi wanted to close his eyes as he watched the green ooze start to dribble out of the sprinklers before it started to drop in large droplets. But he couldn’t, his eyes were glued to him impending doom. He was frozen in fear as the glowing, green ooze hit his bare skin. All he could see was his beloved little sister pressing against the glass of her cage, hysterical.As soon as the first drop touched his skin, he could feel the change taking place in his body. The pain had been unimaginable, like hot acid coursing through his veins and causing his head to pound and his skin to feel like it was on fire. His bones felt like they were being broken over and over again, then reformed and broken again. His eyes burned with the tears that he was shedding while they seemed to be melted and everything came into sharper focus. The noise around him grew steadily louder until his brain pounded with the effort to shut it out, and he could smell everything, searing it into his memory forever.His body twisted and mutated, elongating and building so much more muscle while his skin ripped open sprouting fur everywhere. Then a sharp pain erupted at the bottom of his spine, shooting upwards. It took a moment to realise that he was growing an extra limb. Takeshi screamed out at the pain until he roared in an animalistic fashion.The pain seemed to last forever, but it was probably only a few minutes in real time. But, the young boy didn’t care, all he wanted was for the pain to stop. And, when it finally did, he slumped defeated to the floor of the cage, trying to catch his breath.He was barely conscious as they took him out of the chamber and replaced him with his sister. He could barely keep his eyes open as they dropped the same ooze onto her. The sheer terror on her face as she contorted into something that resembled a red fox, complete with a bright bushy tail. He could barely hear her screams of terror and pain as he looked down at his four clawed fingers, or black and orange striped fur that was now spread all over his arm. His mind barely piecing together that they had mutated him into a tiger boy.That was when he had passed out.
----- CHAPTER BREAK -----
A Mad Dash
It took a while for Takeshi to come back to himself after he finally regained consciousness. He moved sluggishly, his body aching as if he had run a marathon. But it also felt strangely warm and large. He wiggled his toes, feelings them bare on the floor, as if his shoes were gone. He could feel the tattered remains of his clothes hanging off his body, though it still felt covered for some reason.Then a series of horrid images came flooding back to him, making him sick to his stomach. He had hoped that the horrible visions of him and his sister being turned into monsters were scenes from a terrible nightmare that would only traumatise him for the rest of his young life and need him and his family to spend far too much money at a therapist’s office to deal with it.Opening one eye he saw the glass prison start to come into focus. Groaning, he opened the other eye and began to stand up. But, somehow, he felt really off balance. His legs felt like jelly, but there was something else wrong though he couldn’t quite put his finger on it with his mind still wading through the quagmire of horrible visions.Widening his stance, he flung his arms out wide as well to stop himself from falling, when he felt something brush up against his leg. It was firm, and long and it freaked Takeshi out instantly, as he felt it both against his leg and against something else.He spun on his heels, losing his balance and falling flat on his face with a loud smack against the metallic floors. With a deep, calming breath, Takeshi put his hands under his shoulders and pushed up. As he did he opened his eyes and finally saw his reflection in the shiny floor underneath him.Instead of his straight, black hair that fell into his dark eyes, he saw short, vibrant orange, black and white fur around golden yellow eyes. Instead of his button nose, that his mother promised would look more dignified when he was older, he saw a pink cat-like nose surrounded by long, white whiskers. His small, pink mouth with his three missing front teeth had been replaced with a wide snout with long, menacingly sharp fangs and whiskers. And, sitting atop his head, were two pointed ears that seemed to be focusing straight ahead.He couldn’t look at his new face any longer, and quickly looked down at his hands in shame. Unfortunately, it didn’t help the feelings of absolute horror that were squirming in his stomach. For, where his tanned hands had once been, there were now two large paws that were tipped in sharp, black claws. He looked further down his body and saw the torn clothes that had not held up against his mutating body. He saw the stripes in black on the orange fur, with the white fur covering his stomach. He tried not to look over and see the tail that was flicking anxiously from side to side.The young boy that used to be Yukimura Takeshi wanted to scream, but it died in his throat as he finally comprehended that the horrendous images that had flashed through his mind were real and the monstrous face that was looking at was now his. With wide, terrified eyes he looked to the other side of the glass cage to see another creature lying in a heap, wearing the torn and dirty clothes that his sister had been wearing.The creature, which had to be his younger sister Ayako, had a long, bushy white and reddish-brown tail. Her body looked bulkier, but that might be because of the bushy reddish-brown fur that was covering her body. Her once sweet face, that resembled their mother so much, held none of her previous features. Instead, there was a long snout with a black nose, which held small, sharp, pointed teeth.“No,” finally leaked from Takeshi’s throat as he realised what he had caused. It was because of him that both he and his baby sister were now monsters, trapped in glass cages.Looking around, Takeshi couldn’t stop the tears from finally falling. He had tried to stay strong, tried to keep his spirit and hopes up for the sake of Ayako, but now it all felt hopeless. He could see the other monsters, curled in on themselves, or pacing like the trapped animals they now were. This was all they could now hope for, madness and grief. There was no hope of returning home, and even if they did, would their parents take them back?“Hey, hey, kiddo, don’t cry,” came the same low voice with the incomprehensible words from before.Takeshi looked up and to his left hand side, over the curled-up body of his sister who still seemed to be sleeping soundly. That was the only positive thing that Ayako was not aware of what they were now and could lie in blissful ignorance for a little while longer.The man, who had once had the darkest skin that Takeshi had ever seen in real life, was now covered with golden fur with a bushy mane of brown fur. He was leaning his against the glass closest to Takeshi’s and Ayako’s container. The older man’s new paws were spread wide, and Takeshi could see the claws tapping against the glass before they retracted.“What did they do to us!?” Takeshi cried, as he rushed forward to the glass, jumping over the sleeping body of Ayako so as not to wake her. But, he still had not gotten used to his new body, so toppled over and crashed into the glass.“Hey, hey, kiddo, be careful, you haven’t gotten used to walking with a tail yet,” Old Hobbs said, crouching down low so he could be face to face with a crumpled and crying Takeshi.Looking up, Takeshi could see that the old man was really concerned about both him and his sister. And, once again, the young boy wished he could understand the words that were coming out of the mouth of the now mutated lion-man. The tone that he was speaking in was soothing though, and did make him feel a little bit better.“Why did they do this to us?” Takeshi asked again, the tears still silently falling as he looked down at his large paws and across to the sniffling snout of his sister.“Aw, kiddo, don’t know what you’re saying. I’m sorry,” Old Hobbs replied sadly, sitting down so that he was eye level with the young boy.“W-Wh-Why?” Takeshi eventually managed to stutter out after many attempts of trying to think back over the last year of English lessons that he had at school.With a sad smile, Old Hobbs shrugged his shoulder, trying his best to convey without words how little he knew about what was going on and why. He wished that these kids were a little older, or that they had a better grasp of English, as he had no idea how to explain to a child in a language they both understood about the horror that awaited them all. Or, that death was probably a preferable option.Over the few months, or was it only weeks, that Old Hobbs had been imprisoned by these horrendous aliens, he had never seen them experiment on anyone as young as the two Asian children that were now a tiger-boy and fox-girl. The youngest he had seen were a few teenagers near the start of his imprisonment. They had been taken away a few days before the two kids arrived, and had not been returned. Poor Old Hobbs shuddered to think what could have possibly happened to them.A sudden and quiet sniffling noise alerted both Old Hobbs and Takeshi that Ayako was finally waking up. She got up just as sluggishly as her brother had, smiling dreamily for a few moments before she caught sight of Takeshi and began to scream.The young fox mutant scooted as far back, as fast as, she could, hitting the glass at the other side of the container while Takeshi tried to talk to her. But she just kept on screaming as she pleaded with the other being in the container, who she didn’t know was her brother.It wasn’t until she spotted her own mutated hands, which were now darkened paws that were tipped with dark claws, that she finally realised what happened. She stopped screaming and really looked around, catching sight of her new face in the glass.“Takeshi!” Ayako called out, tears already falling from her now golden eyes and staining the fur that covered her face.“Please don’t cry, Ayako,” Takeshi said, instantly at his sister’s side to provide comfort that he wished someone would give him.“What happened to us, Takeshi? Why are we monsters?”“You are not monster, Ayako. You will never be a monster, Ayako. I promise you that. We, we will find a way. We will figure this out and get home. This will all be a horrible nightmare, but it will not be our reality,” Takeshi said, taking his sister by the shoulders and looking directly into her eyes, which still thankfully matched his.The two then embraced as tightly as they could, hoping that the world would stop and make sense again. At least for a few moments. But that wasn’t to be, as that was when the Kraang decided to make their presence known.The two mutated children moved back against the glass quickly, as they cowered into each other. Takeshi was whispering comforting words as Ayako clung to him, trying to take them in. Both kept their eyes entirely focused on the hideous aliens who were talking about them in their backwards and broken language, as if they were not there.This was their reality for days, possibly weeks. Time had very little meaning for everyone who was trapped in the Kraang lab. The only way they knew that time had passed was the meals that were being brought to them. Though, they weren’t very edible meals. It was only Old Hobbs encouraging them to eat through a variety of encouraging smiles, soothing tones and ridiculous, rudimentary sign language that got the two youngsters to eat.Occasionally the monotony was broken by the Kraang’s experiments. There was a new victim that was brought in and was mutated into something horrible. Most of the time they were turned into a hybrid-mutant animal. There were other times when they were turned into something worse. Such as a horrendous worm like creature, with the persons old face on their butt.Then there were the times when the hideous Kraang scientist would come in a take one of the already mutated humans away for experimentation. Sometimes the poor soul came back, even more traumatised than they had already been, waiting for the next time they would be taken away. And sometimes, they didn’t.Parts of them came back though, in jars and boxes which were then used for further experimentation. When that happened Old Hobbs, who could see the door a lot more clearly than Takeshi could, would warn the two children of what was to come. The two would then hide their eyes, with Ayako burying her face into her brother’s chest while Takeshi hugged her close and closed his eyes as tightly as he could, until Old Hobbs let them know it was safe to look again.Takeshi had peeked once though. From what he saw though wished to every god that would listen that he hadn’t done it. Now he lived in eternal fear that the dissected and experimented body parts were going to be the fates of himself and Ayako.That was when he decided that they would not endure this torment quietly any longer. Their father would not have been so cowardly and submissive. Major Yukimura would have put up a fight, he would have thought tooth and nail to escape. He would have ensured that they would get back to their home.The next time that a Kraang came to open their container, Takeshi was ready for them. Despite his small size, he knew that he was now stronger. Yes, he was still having trouble keeping his balance with his tail not doing what he wanted it to do but he had years of intense martial arts training under his father.His mother didn’t know how hard Major Yukimura had pushed young Takeshi, and from what age. He had begun training when he had learned to walk. They did it secretly though, so his mother wouldn’t worry. He had been determined to carry on his father’s family legacy. Hopefully, al he had learned in the five years of training with his father would aide him in their escape.When the container was opened by the Kraang droid bringing them food, Takeshi struck. The droid opened the glass door, and called to the children to come in its broken language. When the two children didn’t move, they could hear some more of the broken sentences being uttered as the droid opened the door further and begun to climb in.As quick as his new legs could move, Takeshi darted towards the hideous being. He tried to bash the robotic head against the side of the container, before he realised that that would be no use. So, he switched tactics.With his new, sharp claws, Takeshi swiped at the squishy, pink face of the alien that inhabited the middle of the robot. And then he swiped again, and again, and again, until he finally opened his eyes and looked down and the bleeding mass of pink goo in the useless robotic body that was blocking the exit.“Takeshi, you killed it!” Ayako whispered, wide-eyed terror striking her young, fox face.Takeshi tried to answer her, but he couldn’t. Instead, he looked at his own blood covered hands in absolute horror at his own actions. He tried to wipe his mutant paws clean of the bright pink blood on the tatters of the clothes that he wore, but he only succeeded in smearing it everywhere. The scent pulling at his delicate new sense of smell.Giving up on trying to rid the blood from his hands, Takeshi reached forward and grabbed Ayako by her small black paw. He pulled her as hard as he could, causing her to shriek out in pain. But he couldn’t heed her cries, they had to get out of there before anything worse happened to them.He could see Old Hobbs trying to signal them, the poor old man turned lion hybrid looked like he was desperately trying to tell them something. He was probably asking them to get him out too, this could be his only chance before those horrible aliens dissected him. Or something even worse.Takeshi only felt guilty for a second. Yes, the old man had been really kind to them, trying to comfort them in a language they didn’t understand. But, if it was between helping Old Hobbs and escaping with Ayako, Takeshi would choose his sister without a second thought.“Come, we must hurry!” Takeshi practically yelled as he pulled his sister behind him. The poor girl tried not to look at the mutilated corpse of the monster blocking the entrance, or the bloodied hands of the one that now pulled her along.Once he had climbed over the robotic body, Takeshi lifted Ayako down onto the floor. Since she had been mutated she seemed to be smaller than she had been before. Or, perhaps, he was just so much taller than her now.The two ran quickly through the collection of glass containers, each occupant banging their paws, tentacles or legs against the glass as the passed. None more so than Old Hobbs, who was almost frantically trying to get their attention.The noise was defeating to Takeshi’s new ears, especially the screaming in languages he couldn’t understand. But he feared that all the noise would bring more the alien monsters to them, and he couldn’t deal with more of them. Killing the single one had been enough.Luckily, there didn’t seem to be any more of the hideous creatures as they finally reached the door. He had seen it opened what felt like a hundred times, all the monsters had to do was put their hands on it and slide their hand down.Copying the movement though, nothing happened. So, Takeshi tried again and again, each try to no avail. That was when he realised that there must be a scanner in the panel that would scan the aliens robotic hands.Charging back across the lab, Takeshi quickly grabbed the arm of the alien robot and pulled hard. He could hear Ayako pleading for him to hurry as the metal finally gave way and he tumbled backwards, arm in hand.The roars of all the creatures around him were getting louder and making him more frantic as he slid the robotic hand across the panel. He watched as the door opened and a pinkish gas started to leak in, causing both Takeshi and Ayako to cough and splutter.Before long the lab had been filled with the gas, and the two mutant children had dropped to the floor. Both were lightheaded from the lack of air not being delivered to their lungs. They could do nothing but gasp and try to suck in breath as they were picked up by more of the alien monsters in the robot bodies and deposited back into their glass prison, and lost consciousness as they stared at the frantic creatures and spilled blood.“What the Kraang happened here!” an eye-patch wearing, flying monster exclaimed as he hovered into the lab.“Greetings Kraang Sub-Prime. The happening that has happened here, is a happening with the small humans who are now small mutants,” one of the Kraang scientists replied as some others took away the mutilated body of their fallen comrade.“Jeeze, can’t you learn to speak English! We’ve been trying to invade for thousands of years and you still can’t speak a single one of their languages!” Sub-Prime yelled angrily as he surveyed the damage more closely.He could see the blood that stained the glass container that held the two young mutants. Both were unconscious on the floor as the Kraang atmosphere was drained from the container. They kept this lab full of Earth atmosphere, in case they needed to move one of the test subjects, but outside was regular Kraang air. Which humans, or mutants, couldn’t breath.“These two did this?” Sub-Prime asked, gesturing to the peaceful looking children.“These two did not do this, the tiger-mutant of these two, did the this to Kraang,” replied the same scientist who was checking on the vitals of the children.“Well, that is interesting. Seems we've caused the tiger to be a bit more of a predator than we usually do. And he’s how young?” Sub-Prime asked, stroking his chin as a plan began to formulate.“The tiger mutant child is the age of eight years of age, Kraang Sub-Prime. The younger fox mutant child is younger,” answered the scientist, looking at a translucent tablet that held all the information on the two young mutants before them.“Where did they come from?”“The country the young humans came from is the country known as Japan.”“Interesting,” said Kraang Sub-Prime as he looked over the two unconscious children-predatorial animal hybrids.He then looked around the lab and noticed just how many of the other experiments were hybrids of humans and large predators. He also noticed how worked up they all seemed to be, probably over the two children in the glass container. Humans always did have a very strong reaction to children. That was part of the reason they had not succeeded in taking many children. There was always someone around to protect them or to stop one of the Norman’s from taking the child.But, having two young children, one of which who had already given into the fight part of the fight or flight response was something that he could use. He had hoped to have an army trained to fight for himself and the glory of Kraang Prime. They had the Triceratons to battle after all as well whatever other race they were going to eliminate from whatever planet they were going to invade next.If he could train these two children to be foot soldiers, or maybe even officers, then he would be able to push for other children to be taken and mutated. That would definitely build him an army to use on Earth. They would be useless here, or in space, with that pesky need for oxygen. But an army specifically designed for Earth would be useful.They might even find a way to break some of these other mutant creatures to their will. Though all the other creatures were older and already fading, both mentally and physically. Those mutants were disposable, they could easily abduct some more test subjects.“I want these two at optimum health. Go through their new biology and see what else we can enhance. These two will be the first of our new army. And, get me two of those re-breather collars!” Sub-Prime yelled as he floated away to the tell Kraang Prime of his plans for their youngest acquisitions.It was hours after this visit that Takeshi and Ayako finally woke up to find food inside their container and some fresh clothes. There seemed to be only pants in Takeshi’s size, whereas Ayako had pants and a shirt in her size, but it was still better than wearing the blood stained clothes.The food was a little more surprising though. All of the mutant creatures got fed once a day on a bowl of thick stew that Takeshi tried not to think about too much. He had no idea what meat was in the stew and hoped that the creatures that went missing weren’t being added to the food. It seemed to give them enough nutrients to survive and nothing more.So, having another bowl of food especially after his murderous escape attempt was highly suspicious. He would have pushed it to the side and left it all to rot, not trusting what was there in case it had been poisoned. But the sight of fresh fruit and what looked like actual rice was too appetising to simply push away.“Why did they give us this?” Ayako asked as she shyly took off her tattered and stained clothes and pulled on her new vest and pants. She kept on glancing around, trying to keep her undeveloped body hidden from anyone who could be watching.“I don’t know, Little Sister. I thought they would kill us. I-I-I, we, um, one of them...” Takeshi said as he took off his shirt just as shyly, trying not to look down at his mutated body, or his stained fur, too much.He felt Ayako take his forearm of his right arm gently, squeezing comfortingly as he remembered what he had done. It was something that could not be undone, or unremembered. It was something that Takeshi knew would always be with him, that he had killed another being. Even though it was a horrible alien that had turned him into a monster, it was still a sentient being.His thoughts were luckily brought back to their glass container before he could get too upset by Old Hobbs banging on the glass to get their attention. The old lion-man looked so concerned and relieved that they were both up and moving.Takeshi quickly pulled up his new pants before he walked over to the side of the glass container that was closest to their unlikely friend. He could see that Ayako looked happy to see him, and that he seemed to be miming the O-K sign to them, then pointing to them, which made her beam brightly and nod enthusiastically, telling Old Hobbs that they were okay.“That was something kid,” Old Hobbs sighed, looking towards the stained floor.The blank look from Takeshi and Ayako didn’t phase him. He had been telling them his entire life story for days now, and bouncing ideas off of the two, even though they had no idea what he was saying. It was cathartic to the old man, talking at someone when he had been alone for so long.“I’ll tell you what, kids. I’ve never seen those floating brains as excited as they’ve been since you ripped apart that one. They’ve been bringing things in, looking over pictures, and talking in that weird way that they talk. I don’t know what they’re planning, but I know it’s not going to be anything good,” Old Hobbs explained, as he looked around the lab at the buzzing Kraang.One of the flying Kraang, one that was wearing an eyepatch, approached the glass container that housed the two young mutants. He wasn’t alone though, he was flanked by several other Kraang in those blue robot bodies, each carrying a large weapon trained on the door of the container. They didn’t appear to want to take any chances.The floating, eyepatch Kraang opened the door of the container and flew in causing the two young children to move swiftly to the back of the container. Takeshi was in front of Ayako, shielding her from the new floating Kraang, who seemed to be regarding both of the children with malevolent glee.“Put these on,” the flying Kraang said sternly as he threw two metallic collars towards the children.Unfortunately, the flying Kraang had spoken English, which neither child understood. They just looked at the floor in front of them, where the collars had landed and then back up at the floating Kraang. Both utterly confused and terrified.“I said, put these on!” the eye-patch Kraang yelled, looking more angry with each passing second, while the other Kraang robots powered up their weapons and locked their sights on the two children.It was only through Old Hobbs miming the instructions that Takeshi and Ayako finally moved to put on the collars. Though, they hesitated for a long time, as they were still unsure of what was going to happen. The sight of the weapons trained on them did give them a lot of incentive.Once the collars were on, the floating eye-patched Kraang beckoned them out of their container and towards the door. All of the mutant creatures started yelling and roaring at the assembled Kraang as Takeshi and Ayako clung to each other.“Please, please, they’re only children!” Old Hobbs yelled as he banged his fists against the glass, joined by the pleads of the other cognisant mutants.“Oh, will you all just shut up, already! Nothings going to happen to them. The collars will neutralise the air and let them breath. They’re just going to the training grounds,” Kraang Sub-Prime yelled, getting tired of all the noise and wishing that he could blast every single mutant in that lab.The explanation didn’t help anyone, least of all Takeshi and Ayako, who couldn’t understand a word that was said. Both thought they were going to die when the door opened, choking to death on air that they couldn’t breath.But, when the door opened and the pink gas flowed into the lab, both were still breathing quite comfortable. That would be the only thing was going to be comfortable for them as they were suddenly pulled apart by several of the Kraang, and taken in opposite directions from the lab.“Takeshi! Brother! Please! Help me!” Ayako yelled, reaching her hands out desperately towards her brother as she was flung over the shoulder of one of the robots.“Ayako! I'll save you! I won’t let them hurt you!” Takeshi cried, looking back over his shoulder as both his arms were pinned down.He was practically dragged down to what looked like the training grounds that his father would drill the new recruits. He could see various Kraang robots, floating Kraang and some human-looking men who looked completely identical watching him. He could also see an array of weapons on a rack to the side, with one of the human-looking men holding what appeared to be a long baton.Takeshi couldn’t help but feel curious and intrigued as to why he was there. It was soon all explained through the actions of the aliens, rather than the words that he still couldn’t understand. As the Kraang that held his arms pushed him to the centre of the square and he was beat by the baton welding human-like man until he finally complied.The human-like man took him through various moves, before they moved onto weapons. He was forced to take apart and put together various weapons, with each wrong placement earning a electrified hit with the baton. The young mutant prayed that his sister was not going through this torment as well, but he knew that she was likely going through something similiar.In what felt like days, or it might be hours, time still held very little meaning, Takeshi was taken back to his glass container. He was beaten, bruised, bleeding and his face was wet with the tears that he had shed. They had taken him to a shower before they threw him back into the glass container, though it seemed to be designed for vehicles rather than children. The high powered jets of water felt like they had ripped out his fur rather than just wash it.At least when he arrived back he saw that Ayako was already there. And, that she looked a little better off than he did. She didn’t appear to be covered in blood at least. Though, she looked like she had been crying and her new clothes were dirty.“Takeshi! What happened to you?” Ayako asked as soon as her brother was thrown into the container.“I think, I think they are training me, to, to kill? I had to fire at huge targets that looked like dinosaurs on two legs. What did they do to you?” Takeshi answered, sitting down as delicately as he could. He had been struck across the back of his legs many times and it hurt to sit.“Not much. They put me on a track to see how fast I could run. Then they made me run faster and faster. And if I didn’t run fast enough, they hit me with a stick that gave me a shock. Why? Why are they doing this to us, Takeshi?”“I don’t know, Ayako.”“I want to go home.”“Me too. I miss papa, and momma. I want to be back in my room. I want to be back at the part. But, I don’t know how we are going to get back. We have to wait and try to find a way to get out,” Takeshi answered as he hugged his sister and tried not to look at the pitying looks being sent his way by Old Hobbs.