Pseudo (Part 2): Written by Exodus, Original Story by Exodus Morn’s newest plans appeared to be coming to pass, the Resistors were tricked by a robot attack on Kirie’s village, meant to cover up Morph’s return as he slipped into their base disguised as one of their own. But let us go back a few moments, when the Resistors gathered after the battle. “Okay, good work everybody.” congratulated Gear, “Let’s get back to the base and- Wait a minute, where’s Kirie? I thought she’d want to be out of here as soon as the battle ended.” “Well, I saw her head towards the north end of the village, perhaps she wanted to see her family.” offered Edwina. “Everyone, head home, we’ll follow shortly.” ordered Gear, before he and Edwina started walking south, and not for very long, as a slick puddle of black was lying on the floor just around the corner. “No... It couldn’t be...” shuddered Gear, “Morph’s still alive, and he’s here?!” “Morph, the name is familiar...” pondered Edwina. “We told you about him, you weren’t there when we battled him, but he’s crazy, he’s versatile, and he’s dangerous, I don’t want to think of what could have happened to-” “Kirie!” interrupted Edwina, running to her friend. “Kirie, are you okay?! I saw some black goo and-” “Morph wasn’t a problem, I mean, he’s tough, but I dealt with the threat.” spoke Kirie, or what the two thought was Kirie. “Are you sure you’re alright, you don’t look hurt at all, but you lost your veil.” commented Edwina. “I told you already, he wasn’t a problem!” shouted out Morph, angry at being patronised, when all he wanted was to go back to the base, he stormed off just ahead of Gear and Edwina. “Boy! She’s in a foul mood today.” she commented to Gear. “You’re right, but I wouldn’t blame her. Maybe coming here was harder for her than we thought.” he replied. Before they departed, a male voice called out, “Kirie...” A man with brown hair, moustache and beard wearing red robes and holding a staff panted as he caught up to the Resistors. Edwina instantly recognised him as Titus Jay, a friend of her father’s and most probably Kirie’s father. Still, she couldn’t risk his recognising her and telling it to Kirie and Gear, she still wasn’t sure if the empire were using her name in their vicious rumours, so she left hastily. “What?” questioned Morph, turning to face the stranger, “Who are-” “Kirie, I can hardly believe its you, I was so worried...” said the man happily. Gear saw Kirie’s (Morph’s) expression and presumed this was difficult for her, and stepped in. “Can I help you?” he inquired. “Yes, I’m Kirie’s father, Titus, and the leader of the village, I’ve been worried sick ever since the empire took you away from me.” he explained. “Oh, right.” said Morph, “Sorry, maybe I got more blows in the battle than I thought, well, I’m sorry Titus, but-” “Oh my, what have they done to you?... Your face...” said Titus with a great deal of concern. “... I’ve gotta go Titus, I can’t stay here...” spoke Kirie/ Morph, turning and running away. Gear simply assumed that this was too much for her. “Wait...” sighed Titus sadly, “I didn’t mean...” “Sir, maybe I should explain, Kirie was forced into an experiment at the empire, she escaped, and joined us, the Resistors, and we fight against the empire. Despite any rumours they may have started, we’re good, we care for each other, and Kirie’s in safe hands.” explained Gear. “You seem familiar, your name wouldn’t be Kyle Gear, would it?” questioned Titus. “Yes Sir, that’s me.” he replied. “Well then Kyle, thank you for taking care of Kirie, but something’s wrong, we’ve had our differences, but she’s always called me ‘Daddy’ and not by my first name, could you check up on her, and please tell her that no matter what’s changed about her, I still love her and I really need to see her again...” “Will do Sir, I think Kirie’s just a little wound up because of her past here, but I’m sure she’ll come round.” suggested Gear. “Thanks, you’re a good kid, you take after your parents...” said Titus as Gear swiftly left. Shortly after he did, Titus thought to himself, “Could that empire have discovered Kirie’s ancestry and awakened her magic? Was Kyos’ sacrifice made in vain?...” Gear found ‘Kirie’ not too far outside the village. “Kirie, you okay?” “Yeah, why wouldn’t I be?” she questioned. “Its just that with your father and everything, I just thought-” “I don’t want to talk about it, let’s just go home...” she replied, turning away from Gear. Gear put an arm around her and walked with her down the valley and into the forest where a teleporter was hidden. Morph wasn’t acting when he was upset by the appearance of Kirie’s father, he was hurt, seeing the father’s concern for the identity he’d stolen while Gear, Morph’s apparent father, didn’t want to know about him. Also, Gear’s comforting arm around him was wrong, he was angry that he cared so much about some girl than his own son, and wished he’d killed Kirie. Morph turned away and acted sad so that Gear would set up the transport for him, he couldn’t make a mistake now that he had got this far, he’d make Gear and all of his friends suffer. One at a time, the two stepped into the teleport and felt a rush of white light around them, until they were standing in a transport, but in a large room full of them. Outside, in the halls, were the other Resistors, waiting for Gear’s orders. “Relax guys, you’re free to do whatever you want, I’ll alert everyone if there’s any problems.” The group disbanded and walked off in different directions, except for Kirie, because Gear was in the way. “So Kirie, why don’t we go back to my lab, and continue working on the Project? It might get your mind off your village and father until you’re ready to-” “No, I have important things to do...” she replied, before storming off. “But...” thought Gear, “The Project is significant to the removing of those scars...” “... Important things like revealing the location of your base!” thought Morph as he approached Kirie’s room, but it wasn’t an ordinary room, the doors were metal and firmly together because of a device at the side with a numerical panel. Morph pressed a few buttons but was denied access, a bleeping green notice read ‘Access Denied’ on a small black screen as part of the device. “Phooey!” spat Morph. “Hey Kirie.” said Dave cheerfully, Gear’s brother and a top mechanic in the Resistance, not that Morph knew this. He was wearing his blue cap on backwards and his short sleeved smart white shirt with jeans. “What’s the matter? Did you forget your password? I could always have it changed.” “You what?” “Gear taught me how when I forgot mine, he’s the best.” “He abandons his own creations and everyone here worships him, he’s the worst.” thought Morph before storming off, he just couldn’t take hearing about Gear. “Shaddup you little brat! He’s the worst!” Morph replied, still keeping in Kirie’s voice. “But I thought you liked him, that you’d get married someday?” questioned Dave. “Just leave me alone!” yelled Morph, storming off. Meanwhile, Gear was watching this in his lab through the camera outside Kirie’s room, the cameras he had set up around the Resistance Base were for security, but today they were his eyes, to see if he was right, if the worst was occurring, if Morph had hurt or killed Kirie, and taken her identity. The Resistors’ rooms were located on this floor, along with the lounge and Gear’s personal lab. Most of the Resistors had left the base entirely, but there were enough around to protect Dave, Pierre and Charlene, the only non-Resistors currently up here. Gear subtly closed off access to the lower and higher floors without any indication of it other than the closing of metal shutters, he’d also have to lock down the control room and any other room with a map of the base or of the kingdom it was situated in (in the centre of Haprin in a hollow mountain), unfortunately the scanners that usually checked anyone who came into the base could only see through machine-based disguises, but it wasn’t sophisticated enough to tell the Resistors from Morph, since he could match the appearance of a Resistor by reconstructing his DNA to literally be them. If not for Morph’s apparent death, Gear would have pressed forward to upgrade the scanners to prevent Morph’s infiltration, Gear knew how bad the situation was, Morph armed with Kirie’s power would be chaos if provoked, he had to play things out exactly right, quickly and quietly, before Morph could destroy the haven of heroes. Morph passed by Edwina’s room, which was open, and she and Charlene were there. Charlene was a hair stylist from Alcath, and had escaped with many to take refuge here. She wore her pink dress that didn’t cover her shoulders and arms, and her long green hair was usually in a different hairstyle every day. Since she had grown up with some of the Resistors, she was welcome to stay with them, she continued to study fashion and make-up, and served as hairdresser and stylist to anyone in the Resistance that required her skills. With the empire gaining allies constantly, the ongoing war could go on for a while, so it was best that the Resistors went out as little as possible, and so, people like Charlene remained in the base to provide the Resistors with services that they’d otherwise have to go out for. “Hey Kirie, like, about yesterday, I was, like, wrong.” called Charlene happily, being able to stay and help the Resistors in her own way helped her move on with her life after the death of her parents. “About what?...” questioned Kirie/ Morph. “Don’t you, like, remember? About your hair, I was, like, going to totally do it up for you. I’ve got lots of time today cos Samia, like, cancelled.” explained Charlene anxiously. “Er, forget it, I’ve changed my mind.” spoke Morph, walking away again. “What’s up with her? She was really excited about getting her hair done.” complained Charlene. “I don’t know, but she’s been like that ever since we battled in Vilem.” said Edwina suspicious. Morph wandered away, and started noticing that many of the doors around the place were locked, a chef walked by with many ingredients, grumbling just a little. His eyes lit up as he saw Kirie, this was Pierre, a chef from Alcath that stayed on as one of the Resistance chefs. He wore white chef’s clothing and hat, a red scarf, and had curly black hair, moustache and beard. “Bonjour Kirie, eets almost time, should Ah make your favour-ite?” “Uh... Favourite what?” questioned Morph, it wasn’t his fault, he didn’t eat normal food, and the head chef at the empire was a big fat slob that didn’t wear traditional chef’s clothes, therefore, he didn’t learn about chefs in general. “What else? Your favour-ite food! I’m ze cook!” “Ugh, would everyone just stop talking to me?!” Morph yelled, storming off once more. “What’s with ‘er Dave?” asked Pierre. “My thoughts exactly.” he replied. “I’ve had enough of this, I’ll have to persuade Gear to tell me the location of the base.” thought Morph, now approaching the hall where his lab resided, and seeing it open. Back in Vilem, Kirie was bound, she couldn’t use her powers, nor move very well, but she was barely able to move herself against one of the shed walls, constantly, making a faint bumping sound, until finally, she was heard. The door opened, and Kirie tumbled out to face the one man she wasn’t quite ready to see: “Oh, um... Dad...” “Kirie?... I’ll get you out of there honey...” Titus hastily untied the ropes and helped his daughter up. “I’m sorry Daddy, but I must leave right away!” said Kirie anxiously. “How... did you end up in there? I saw you a while ago, and Gear told me about what you went through.” inquired Titus. “That was Morph, a shapeshifter, an Evil shapeshifter.” explained Kirie hurriedly. “Then if he was posing exactly like you, then you probably bare the same scars I saw.” sighed Titus. “I’m sorry Daddy, but-” “Is that the reason you didn’t come back, I won’t stop caring about you because of them.” comforted Kirie’s father. “But the other villagers, they-” “Forget the other villagers, I know they’ve never trusted you because of your mother, but I’ve never thought any less of you. We haven’t exactly been as close as a father and daughter should be, but when you were taken away from me, I realised how many wasted years have gone by when we could have been growing closer. Perhaps after this, you could come back to the village, and we can have a long talk...” “You’re not against my job?...” asked Kirie surprised. “What? Saving the world from that empire? As long as you’re careful about it then I’m proud that you’re using your powers for good.” said Titus easily despite the situation. “Oh, Gear told you about that too...” sighed Kirie. “I’m not surprised, you come from a long line of warriors, I knew you’d someday fight, the world’s falling to evil again...” stated Titus. “I’ll come back, I promise...” assured Kirie. “I love you Kirie...” “I love you too Daddy...” Back at the Resistance Base, Morph stomped into Gear’s lab, only to be zapped by a device floating above the doorway. “Gear, what are you-” “Can it Morph, I know its you, that’s why I sealed off all other floors and closed the shutters, you might have got into our base, but you’ll never discover where its located.” said Gear firmly as he stood up from his rotating chair. “You kidding right? How would Morph get in here? I’m not him!” argued ‘Kirie’. “Too late slimy, I’ve got enough proof: Kirie would always be willing to work on the Project, the one that will erase those scars from her body someday, also, Kirie isn’t half as stubborn as you are, Kirie’s known to wear a veil, she wouldn’t just leave it behind, she wouldn’t act the way you acted towards her father, and according to him, Kirie calls him Daddy and not by his first name. I thought you used that word a lot, Morph.” explained Gear thoroughly. “Its just a lot of misinterpretations and coincidences!” claimed ‘Kirie’. “Oh, and of course, the final proof, I stuck a device on you back in Vilem, after I saw your residue and ‘Kirie’s’ strangeness, I scanned your body shortly after we got back, I just hope for your sake that no harm has come to Kirie.” added Gear. “So you knew from the start, what if I told you I killed her?” bluffed Morph effectively. “Then I’ll set this machine to force you into your liquid form so you can be killed.” threatened Gear. “No you won’t, you’ve failed to realise the extent of my powers...” With that, Morph concentrated, and the machine above him overloaded and exploded, forcing Gear back into a corner. “Oh no... You’ve got All of Kirie’s abilities, all of the power she usually holds back.” noted Gear too late. “Uh huh, but I’ve got nothing to lose by unleashing everything!” sniggered Morph, approaching Gear, and holding his/ her hands against his/ her head until they glowed with power and he/ she outstretched them. “Gear, we-” shuddered Edwina as she entered and saw the situation. “Kirie, what are you doing?!” accused Ross. “Its not her!” shouted Gear. “Are these all of the Resistors here?” questioned Morph. “Yeah.” sighed Gear, of all the things to be defeated by, it was the powers of one of his allies. Morph summoned a sphere which glowed, but not with power, it was a prison. “Unless any of you wish for your base to be destroyed, get in there now!” Gear and Ross, stepped forward, and into the rounded prison, while Edwina stepped towards it slowly, and then leapt back at Morph, concentrating her magics on him/ her. Morph stumbled back from the force, and Edwina grabbed a prototype crossbow from Gear’s desk, and started firing rapidly, the shots blasting into Morph’s shoulder, and soon tearing the arm off, the blood was black, and didn’t return to Morph because he’d have to give up Kirie’s form before he could repair the arm with his own powers. “You think I need both arms, one is enough to use far more power than Kirie would dare to!” he/ she screamed. Edwina was slammed into the wall and pushed against it with yellow energy, she shot her own concentrated plasma beam to counter it, but the two magics were building up, and would surely cause an explosion that would take out a chunk of the base. “If I don’t use more power, it’ll beat me, but if I do, I might be risking everyone’s lives...” Edwina stopped the beam, and was rewarded by a big force that repelled her off the wall, and in front of Morph, weakened. “You can’t hold a candle to me, Blondie, but I guess I could do a better job with your powers...” Edwina crawled back towards the prison, she knew that if her powers got into the wrong hands, the whole world could be in danger. Kirie’s powers were awakened by Morn’s experiments, and a sample of Edwina’s magic. On their own, Edwina’s powers had more potential than Kirie’s in terms of destruction, while Kirie’s seemed to have more techniques. Edwina had been training for years so that she could control her magic, because her mother was the queen of the magic-using Gaians, her powers were absolute in order to rule her world. In theory, that would mean Edwina only had half as much of that power, but this didn’t seem apparent, as if her Calian side made her stronger when it came to magic. It seemed that Calians that were linked with or born of Gaians had just as much potential in terms of magic, but it also seemed that a combination of the two genes enhanced the available magic in a person. Edwina knew all this, and had become aware of her great power, and absolutely couldn’t let Morph take her form, he might never want to give it up once he got a taste of her power, and the rumour of her evil ways would, in a twisted way, become real. “You’re backing away... You must be Edwina... Morn said to look out for you, that you’d be valuable if I stole your powers.” Edwina stumbled back into the psychic prison, but Morph just grinned, “You think you’re safe there? I control that prison, I can have it destroy you, or do this...” The area around Edwina sunk until she was out of the prison, as if it were water draining, but only around her and not the others. It lowered down to around her feet, and held her in place. “I’ll just take your identity, and then I’ll be able to blast my way out of this place to find out where it is.” gloated Morph. “No, please... My power is too much for you, you might even destroy yourself if you don’t know how to control it.” warned Edwina nervously. “Pah, I can handle it!” grinned Morph sadistically. A blast of bright light hit him from behind, and knocked him over, breaking his concentration, and making the prison vanish. “I doubt it, since you can’t even handle mine.” spoke Kirie confidently. “My prison!” shouted Morph, still in Kirie’s form. “Morph, even you know that my psychic power cannot be used without concentration.” stated Kirie confidently. “I’ll get you! I have your power!” screamed Morph. “You’re looking kinda ‘armless to me.” joked Kirie, referring to Morph only having the one arm to battle with. Morph fired of a small sphere of energy that would explode upon contact with a person, but Kirie was able to raise the power of her defensive magic above the sphere’s, and deflect it (because Morph was growing weak), the sphere travelled back at him and exploded, tearing him apart. Kirie exhaled a sigh of relief, realising how lethal the shot would have been had it hit her, but it was over now, Morph in Kirie’s form was in pieces, and he had no alternative but to return to his true form, and try again to nab a good identity, but Kirie didn’t give him a moment to try. A more solid psychic sphere was hurled at him, and he didn’t have time to shift, the damage from the previous battle having left him hurt and woozy. The ball hit him hard, and knocked him out, but dissipated before it could ricochet into anything else... “Good going Kirie!” congratulated Gear shortly after, while Edwina and Ross carried the unconscious but solid Morph towards a teleporter in order to conceal their home location, “Morph could never imitate you perfectly, you’re one of a kind.” “Well if you knew that then you wouldn’t have gotten into this mess.” smirked Kirie. “Hey, I suspected it was him shortly before he got inside, but if I confronted him head on, many people could have been hurt by your powers, I tried to use all precautions but he went towards the limits of your powers... I suppose I should have the scientists speed up on upgrading the security scanner to make sure this sort of breach never happens again.” stated Gear, “Where were you all this time?” “In a shed, but I was freed... by my father, which reminds me, I think the eleventh teleporter should be moved inside the village, in the large unused shed near my house for easy access to the village. And I volunteer to move it there, so that Morph doesn’t retrace his steps back to it, and if I may Gear, I’d like to spend some time at home.” suggested Kirie. “I knew you’d sort things out if you just talked to your father.” smiled Gear. “I assumed that he might act the way that the other villagers have towards me, but I was wrong.” stated Kirie, “If the empire was ever good for something, it was giving me the power to fight against them, and giving me time away from home to truly think about things... Its really shaped me as a person, and This person’s ready to return to her home. Me and Daddy have got a lot of catching up to do...” Days later at the empire, Morph had been found, and returned to Morn (after both were shouted at by the emperor, of course), but the professor wasn’t discouraged, he’d just have to teach Morph how to be more tact, and he’d infiltrate the Resistors’ base, or kill them all with his powers. And while Morph recovered, Morn would unleash some of his secret experiments on the world, the turquoise haired boy brought in from Vilem, for instance, and an old lieutenant that the Evalon Empire and Resistors had long forgotten... Morn had yet to prove his ingenious schemes worked, but it wouldn’t stop him from trying. Morn’s works were getting more and more inhumane, and more and more dangerous, sooner or later, he thought, he’d get lucky, and one of his many creations would rise up in the empire, and destroy the Resistors. End Back to Part 1 Click to read the next story: "Dangerous Newcomers”: Part 1 Back to “The Complete Set” Back to the Library