Something awoke the Keeper of the Menagerie. The celestial being resting within its pocket dimension turned one of its eyes toward a world lacking in color. While the Keeper had planned to eventually visit and incorporate the creatures of that world into its menagerie, there were some… interesting creature movements within the oceans of the world known as Terra.
Nothing too serious for the Keeper to deal with, but the creatures moving in the ocean piqued something akin to curiosity. Not enough of the eldritch emotion for it to personally incorporate the creatures immediately, but enough for it to do something.
The Keeper glanced at the world which the inhabitants called Terra and spotted an empty vessel. The soul within had decayed and withered leaving only vague memories remaining in its body and the shine and light that a soul would have was naught more than a dim light. Yet, there was still potential for the soul to regain its previous shine. As such the Keeper of the Menagerie decided that this soul shall be its avatar.
Willing the fifty-six large constellations around it, it searched through each of them before deciding on two small stars within two of the constellations and with an almost gentle flick of the Keeper's hand, the two stars raced toward Terra and into the vessel.
As a side thought the Keeper of the Menagerie placed one of its hands onto what could be considered its head and pulled. A single small mote of ultimately inconsequential knowledge appeared in its hand and the Keeper casually chucked it at the vessel.
Feeling something akin to satisfaction with its own actions, the Keeper set up several lines from the constellations to the vessel so that it would not need to manually send copies of its creatures to its avatar constantly, these lines would activate when the vessel willed it though, the vessel would have to pay the appropriate cost with its own energy. With its plan completed, the Keeper of the Menagerie nodded to no one and once more fell into a meditative state.
Unnoticed by the Keeper, or perhaps simply ignored by it, the vessel's dim soul grew just a tad brighter.
#&) *-2/1- #*$&
Beep. Beep. Beep.
The sounds of an EKG beeping spread throughout the ears of a man encased within an object or was it a prison? He could vaguely hear the sounds of a young girl calling out to him as she grasped his hand. The man however focused his attention on something else, as a feeling of warmth engulfed his body as a woman dressed like a medic of some kind gasped out of the corner of his eyes.
He felt two animalistic presences appear in the back of his head as his brain filtered information about them into his mind, internally humming to himself before he gasped as he felt skills that he knew didn't belong to him forcefully and slowly enter his mind.
"Doctor!"
"W–what are these readings? Did we administrate too much Hexamethasone?" The feline medic said as she panicked.
A young girl who had either donkey or bunny ears quickly turned to face the medic, "Medic, what's wrong?"
The now-named Medic responded as she flipped through the medical data, "The Doctor's temperature readings have just spiked to an almost dangerous degree, its almost as if he's gotten a heat stroke in the past minute!"
"Is there anything we can do?"
Focusing on the feeling of warmth once more, he noticed it slowly slipping away from him causing him to feel colder, but at the same time something which he didn't even notice was missing seemed to return to him as if the two presences returned his very vitality.
"I thi–wait, his body temperature has just returned to normal!"
The young donkey/bunny girl blinked and almost started speaking again before she gasped as the Doctor's hand which she grasped with her right squeezed back. And with a heave of effort, the Doctor sat up straight.
"Doctor! It's me Amiya," The young bunny/donkey girl lightly hugged him and despite not recognizing the young girl, the Doctor reciprocated the hug. "I'm so happy you're alright Doctor!"
"Ah! Doctor, please be careful, your body just woke up and it hasn't fully adapted to moving again." Medic interjected as she placed a hand on Amiya's shoulder.
"I…see…" The Doctor said slowly, "But… may I ask you two something?"
Amiya nodded rapidly, "Of course, Doctor!"
With a tilt of his head, the Doctor spoke, "Who… are you and… who… am I?" The Doctor and Medic flinched as a heartbroken expression appeared on Amiya. He was already regretting asking this question as a desire to hug Amiya more tightly flickered into his mind.
Amiya barely noticed Medic say something about amnesia before she hesitantly spoke.
"You're part of Rhodes Island just like us… my partner and… the most important person in my life." She let go of the Doctor, "Do you not remember me at all?"
The Doctor stayed silent as he tried to figure out what to say. A part of him wanted not to disappoint the young girl in front of him, but he also didn't want to give her false hope. However, before he could respond, Amiya had already taken his silence as an answer.
"I see. Even if that's the case, I–we can't give up. We've already sacrificed too much," Amiya's heartbroken expression faded away to reveal a resolute one, "And no matter what happens, you'll always be my most important person."
Before either Medic or the Doctor could say anything a loud bang reverberated throughout the area and a heavily-armed man wearing a black beanie and a black and bright blue jacket burst into the conversation.
"Amiya, we've got a problem! Someone's broken in!"
"Who?"
Just as the word left Amiya's mouth a group of machete-wielding men with white masks entered without speaking a single word.
Reacting quickly, a group of similarly dressed people as the heavily-armed man standing in front of him blocked the Doctor from view and formed a shield wall as the white masked militants approached. The two groups immediately entered combat as soon as they got close to each other and the sounds of swords, spears, and shields clashing filled the facility.
"Well, they certainly don't like Ursus soldiers that's for sure!"
Behind the group of machete-wielding white masks, a pair of white-masked men wearing brown cloaks and wielding crossbows aimed at Medic and would've hit her if not for the heavily-armed man tackling her out of the way.
"Aaaahh!"
"Be alert everyone! Take cover from the crossbowmen and protect the Doctor!" Amiya ordered while gently pulling the Doctor behind some smooth countertops to hide him from any snipers.
"Who… are these guys?" The Doctor asked Amiya slowly as he peeked over the counter to see the battle. His throat still hurt slightly from unuse and he wished to drink something to soothe it, but considering the current situation, that wasn't really an option.
The formation of what he presumed to be fellow Rhodes Island personnel was simple but effective. Those with shields were in front, spearmen right behind them, those with ranged weapons hung back and sniped at any exposed enemies and the swordsmen helped fill in any gaps in their defense if any member from those white-masked guys somehow broke through the shield wall. Which a surprising amount did as two Rhodes Island shielders were blown back by an explosion caused by a gray-hooded man.
A Rhodes Island swordsman hastily rushed to fill in the gap before managing to block an amateurish swipe from one of the generic white-masked men. The swordsman let out a small grunt as he forced the machete up and kicked the generic militant before he could respond.
The downed man attempted to punch at the Rhodes Island fighter but let out a bloody gurgle after the swordsman stabbed him in the gut.
"Damn, that was brutal."
Amiya didn't notice his quiet statement and started to quickly answer the Doctor's question while sending out bursts of what looked to be black energy?
Apparently, these white-masked guys were from a movement known as Reunion which started out peaceful but seemed to have turned to violence to achieve their goal of better treatment for the infected. Which might've been reasonable depending on the circumstances, if they were truly marginalized and even killed for no reason, he supposes he understood why they turned violent.
"Guard, are you able to reach Kal'tsit?" Amiya turned away from the Doctor to the now-named Guard as he pushed a Reunion grunt into a wall and knocked him out with a punch to the head.
Guard shook his head, "I'm not sure why, but our communication equipment isn't working!"
"…Someone must've cut off our communications. Have we been discovered by the Ursus government?"
Guard shrugged as he got into a defensive position next to the Doctor, Medic trailed behind him, "What do we do now?"
Amiya cringed slightly, "Kal'tsit won't be able to command the battle as we originally planned…" She turned to the Doctor, "Doctor, I know you've just woken up but I hope that you can take command."
Medic stared at Amiya incredulously, "I know that the Doctor was a brilliant strategist but… he has amnesia and has only just woken up. It's just a bit too risky."
"I know, but we need his wisdom more than ever. I believe in him, after all, he's fought with us before."
The Doctor blinked under his helmet, and short bursts of various battles he participated in appeared in his mind though they weren't truly clear as he didn't recognize who spoke to him in those memories. He tapped his finger on a piece of rubble, drawing attention to himself.
"I'm willing to take command if no one else can, we have no choice but to push them back anyways."
An adorable smile bloomed on Amiya's face, "Mm…Please take over command over Rhodes Island, Doctor!"
#$-2/1-(#&
The group comprised of Guard, Medic, Amiya, and the Doctor moved to join the friendly Rhodes Island personnel in combat.
On the way, Amiya quickly briefed the Doctor on the various roles and the currently available operators.
Twelve guards were those guys with shields, nine vanguards aka those guys with swords and spears, five snipers wielding bows and the like, and seven casters who were currently slinging various bolts of energy at the Reunion grunts. Oh right and there were a surprising amount of medics, there were around five medics available. Easy enough to remember.
"There, that's where Reunion is coming from!" Amiya pointed at something and the Doctor turned to see a hole in which Reunion soldiers were entering through to attack the Rhodes Island operators.
"Got it, do we have any way of plugging up that hole?"
Amiya shook her head, "None of our casters have any arts that could do that right now."
Damn, there went plan A.
The Doctor sighed in frustration which Amiya noticed immediately, he stopped to examine his surroundings. There was a lot of rubble for cover but they were fairly small piles and required people to crouch down to use them effectively and even that was a stretch. The actually useable cover was the various tables and furniture spread throughout the facility. There were also walls in the middle of the room which also blocked sniper and caster sightlines.
"Hmm," The Reunion troops were currently forced to funnel through a hole that they made to enter the facility and that was a very bad thing.
For them at least.
The hole while slightly large didn't provide effective sightlines to see to the left or to the right without sticking your head out of it, meaning that hypothetically he could have some vanguards flank and stand near the hole to stab anyone who enters.
A fatal funnel of sorts.
However, that would quickly change as soon as they stab the first Reunion soldier that enters as the rest would realize that entering the hole would mean death and then their casters would either proceed to make another hole through the wall and then through the vanguards or simply enter through the other hallway which while taking longer would mean that they'd have to defend two fronts.
But he also had… The Doctor shook his head and focused on the two presences within his mind. One seemed more peaceful and seemed to be more oriented around… farming or ranching, and its name wasn't that intimidating either, no doubt Reunion would laugh and ignore the Honey Slime. On the other hand, there was the Snow Stalker which gave him the feeling that it was a predator, one that would protect him and those he considered his allies.
However, something was also telling him that it couldn't be too far away from him, meaning that he'd have to get up close to have it fight properly.
And there was also something else. That warm feeling that he'd first felt when he woke up was back and had been back for a while, around the time when Amiya asked him to take command actually.
He felt like he had the option of pulling for something. If… he could call for another presence similar to the Snow Stalker then it'd make the fight much easier.
"Alright, Amiya," Amiya straightened up, "You and your fellow casters should spread out to the backline, with how destructive you all are, focus on the heavily armed enemies first, ignore the others including your Reunion counterparts as I'll have the snipers focus on them and the crossbowmen." The Doctor turned to Guard and Medic, "Have the guards keep the shield wall together, even if they get hurt, we need them to continue standing. Medic, have your fellow medics focus healing on the guards to keep them alive. You three will have command over your fellows and respond to changes as necessary. Amiya's casters and snipers will be given the temporary designation C1, Guard's guards will be C2, and Medic's medics will be C3."
"B-but, I don't know how to command others…" Medic stammered.
"..." The Doctor quickly did some internal thinking and looked at Guard before nodding at him, "Then Guard will assist you on that, at the very least you two can relay who's injured and who's not to spread out the healing as effectively as possible."
Guard gave the Doctor a shaky thumbs up, "Got it, though you do realize I"m a vanguard operator and not a guard operator right?."
Silence and awkwardness practically emanated from the Doctor.
The Doctor turned his attention to the battlefield to the battlefield and swallowed, "As for the vanguards, I'll lead them myself."
"What!" Amiya all but shrieked, thankfully the sounds of battle prevented Reunion from noticing, "Doctor, if we lose you then… then…"
"I'll be fine," The Doctor closed his eyes underneath his helmet as he felt the more aggressive presence in his mind respond to his mental call., "Trust me…please."
Amiya and the others looked torn. On one hand, if they lost the Doctor everything would be for naught, but if the Doctor thought it was necessary then insisting on him not leading the vanguards personally could lead to disaster.
"...Fine, but promise me that you'll be okay."
The Doctor quickly drew Amiya into an extremely warm hug.
The Doctor felt a third presence enter his mind, one that felt like an effective ambusher. Exactly what he needed. "I promise."
$-3/1-%
Guard parried a clumsy swing from a Reunion grunt, causing the man to drop his machete. The man barely had time to scream before Guard drove his sword into his throat, hearing the sounds of the grunt attempting to speak as blood filled his mouth, before swiftly pulling it out.
Noticing another Reunion grunt, this one equipped with both a machete and a rough shield approach him, Guard got into a defensive stance. One that Instructor Dobermann drilled into his head. After all, as a guard operator, his job was to take hits so that the others could do the damage.
The Reunion shielded soldier wildly charged at Guard with his shield up to protect himself from any of Guard's attacks but a dark bolt from Amiya caused him to drop the shield in pain as he cradled his wrist.
He realized his mistake too late as Guard was already in front of him and got punished with a sword slashing at his chest breaking his light under armor and causing him to fall on his back.
"N-no… it can't end like this!" The Reunion shielded soldier howled as he attempted to crawl back to his machete before his life was ended by a crossbow bolt piercing his mask and head.
Guard tore his eyes away from his corpse to check his fellow guards for any injuries. So far, the operation had gone well, Medic and her medic team have been doing a great job of keeping them alive.
Speaking of which, he felt an energizing feeling overcome him as the various scratches and wounds on his body were healed. He turned to see Medic directly behind him with her fellow medics and gave her a slight nod.
She nodded back and Guard waved to the guard operators holding the line.
Reunion was currently on the back foot, one good push was all that was needed before they crumbled and the Doctor and his fellow vanguards wouldn't even need to get involved.
"C'mon, push them back! On me!" Guard ordered the guard operators, before letting out a dry cough. One that almost put him on his knees before he managed to control himself. A guard operator quickly stood in front of him with their shield to deter any would-be Reunion snipers or casters from getting a lucky hit in.
"Guard! Do you need help?" Medic ran over to him and attempted to check his vitals before Guard waved her off.
"I-" Guard coughed again, "I'm fine, focus on healing the others."
"Are you-" Medic started to ask before Guard interrupted her by standing up and turning to the guard operator standing in front of him.
"Benita, take point. I'll be right behind you."
The female guard smiled underneath her balaclava and moved to join the other guard operators who were pushing against Reunion. Guard moved to join her as well but was stopped by Medic who grabbed his right arm which he was using to hold his sword.
"Guard, I'm serious, are you okay? Do you need your injection right now?"
Annoyed, Guard pulled his arm out of her grasp, "And like I said before, I. Am. Fine."
"Wha-you-just-argh!" Medic blurted out in frustration as she shook her head, "You've been acting different since the start of this fight! I'm simply worried for a fellow operator and you've just been brushing me off!"
Guard shook his head and started to walk away, "I don't know what you're talking about. I've got people that need my leadership."
Medic's eyes widened in realization, "You're worried about the people you're leading."
The sentence uttered by Medic caused Guard to pause.
Eyes downcast, Medic continued, "You're scared of letting down your fellow operators and the Doctor aren't you."
"..." Guard stared at the floor as the sounds of combat resumed around them as the guard operators currently being led by Benita once more fought against the second wave of Reunion.
"Guard?"
"Yeah… I'm just terrified that I'll get my team killed."
A slight mischievous expression made its way onto Medic's face, "Your team?"
Guard awkwardly coughed as some guard operators combating Reunion took a second to turn at the two of them conversing. He swore that some of them were smirking underneath their balaclavas and helmets.
The signs of a weak smile appeared underneath Guard's balaclava, "I guess? I mean that–well, the Doctor gave me command over them right?"
"He did," Medic nodded, "And with how you're doing then maybe I should report to Instructor Dobermann that you deserve some leadership training."
"Please don't, I still have nightmares about her training."
"If ya'll are done having a cute private conversation in the middle of battle, then could you maybe assist?" Benita hollered at the two of them causing them to blush.
"R-right!"
-3/1-
The Doctor could hear some of the vanguard operators gushing about how cute Medic and Guard's interaction was, especially how concerned Medic was. He could even hear some of the younger vanguards making bets on whether or not they'd get together or not.
He gripped the cane in his hands, which the others thought he found somewhere. Instead, it was actually the new presence he pulled. Instinctually, he knew that it was called a Mimic because.. Well… it could mimic inanimate objects in their environment. While there weren't actually any canes in the facility, the Doctor was able to describe it well enough to his summoned Mimic that it looked like a cane so long as no one looked at it closely
If they did, then they'd realize it was quite slightly misshapened and bumpy in certain areas.
"You all remember the plan right?" The Doctor asked the five vanguard operators behind him. He already sent four to do that flanking maneuver that he'd planned out, two to do the maneuver and the other two to help them fight their way out to escape back to friendly lines as soon as Reunion wisened up.
Which wasn't fully necessary, team C5 was doing well at whittling down the numbers of the Reunion troops and while they did have to pull back behind the guard operators, they did their job and didn't have to be healed by C3
The rest including him were waiting around the second entrance to await any Reunion soldier that attempted to flank around.
"Yep."
"Affirm."
"Totally."
One of the operators peeked around the corner at the second entrance, noticed some movement in that direction, and proceeded to relay this to the others who all pulled out their blades and spears before moving behind cover to ambush Reunion's second wave.
The same vanguard operator who noticed the Reunion troops put up five fingers to indicate that five Reunion grunts were incoming as the rest nodded to show that they understood.
Soon, the five Reunion grunts entered the battle but as soon as the whole group stepped near the guard operators, the vanguards excluding the Doctor rose up and charged straight into their unprotected backs killing them immediately.
"C4 and C5 regroup on me." The Doctor called out to the vanguards currently behind the guards and the ones nearby him, "We'll hold the second entrance."
"Doctor behind you!" A strict voice called out.
The Doctor turned around and barely managed to dodge a large shield thanks to a woman wielding a whip who pushed him out of the way.
"Instructor Dobermann!" Guard and Amiya called out. As the two raced to join teams C4 and C5 currently battling the Reunion heavy defender but Reunion realizing that Rhodes Island had been separated started pushing relentlessly against teams C2 and C1 forcing them to stay and help defend.
"Argh, what are you doing exposing yourself in the frontlines Doctor?"
Despite not knowing the woman, the Doctor responded casually as it seemed as if she was an ally "It's complicated and provided the best odds."
"I don't recall a VIP exposing themselves as a good decision Doctor."
"Well, we have bigger things to deal with right now!" As the Doctor and Dobermann rolled out of the way of the heavy defender's shield.
Unlike the Doctor who was already panting from moving around, Dobermann quickly got to her feet and lashed at the heavy defender with her whip which didn't even phase the large soldier who merely shrugged it off and attempted to bash her with his large shield.
The instructor was quick on her feet however and easily dodged the giant shield.
As the two got into a heated fight, the Doctor looked at teams C4 and C5 who were busy battling Reunion grunts, and then looked at the fight between Dobermann and the heavy defender. While Dobermann could easily dodge the heavy defender's attacks and strike with her whip, the problem was that the fight was like an ant biting at a bear. Her whip strikes weren't strong enough to get past the heavy defender's armor.
So now it was time to bring out the big guns.
"Tank this!" Yelled the doctor as he threw his cane straight at the heavy defender… which did nothing as it simply landed behind the man not even reaching him. The heavy defender turned around and laughed at the weak attempt to harm him, not realizing that the false cane had turned into its true form, which was a spider-like monster comprised of what looked to be shadowy wires.
It lept straight at the heavy defender's head causing the man to panic and fall flat on his back as it wrapped its appendages around his throat, choking him. It was intelligent enough to realize that it couldn't stab at the man as his armor was too thick, but the man needed air to live and so it would simply choke him out.
The heavy defender let go of his shield and attempted to punch the Mimic, but a cry from the rapidly approaching Doctor stopped that.
The Doctor aimed a finger nearby the juggernaut of a man, "Come, Snow Stalker! Sic'em!"
A large slightly crocodile-like creature covered in white fur and a fin-shaped crest the size of a bear appeared nearby and immediately bit down on the man's arm which was poised to attack the Mimic. While the two creatures were never meant to meet nor would they have been able to meet in the first place, at this moment they were part of the same pack and under the same king.
That was enough for the Snow Stalker to put all of its strength into its bite, crushing the heavy defender's arm and savagely tearing it from the man's socket.
The man attempted to scream in pain but the Mimic merely tightened its appendages around his neck and with a final raspy attempt to breathe, the juggernaut went quiet as his life was snuffed out.
The Doctor let out a sigh of relief as he watched as the behemoth was taken down, but he soon realized it was quiet, he turned to see all the Rhodes Island operators staring at him. Dobermann was staring wearily at him and the Snow Stalker while C4 was staring at the Mimic which pretended it was a front of them.
And Amiya was the worst, she looked so confused, and combined with her teary eyes and animal ears which were bending almost as if responding to her feelings, he wanted to give her an answer which he didn't even have.
Guard summed up his own opinions very easily.
"Holy shit."
