Amoebas'; Can't Walk em', Can't Trust em'.

[Ozmodious]

"I've said it before and I'll say it again, and this time write it down you fools, there is a way to prevent contamination; don’t think." - Polapat Frig's address to the public concerning the Brain-Rot outbreak.

------------------------------------

Bright, freckled emerald light poured forth from bulbed plants that hung over the vaulted ceiling of the Research & Development Laboratory. It was assumed by all Yzæk lab assistants that the Sovereign of their reclusive order had allowed the leaders of each laboratory to run it as they saw fit. Hundreds of the facilities dotted throughout the Cabal's fortress, each with its own habitat that suited the needs' of its caretaker. The Botanist Research Department was littered with oozing, Firspitt plants native to the lead premier's habitat, Tyla Eiir. The Natural Selection department at the eastern part of the fortress was submerged under six-feet of stagnant water to suit the needs of its director whose legs made up three-fourths of his over-all body. As for Madij Abarrik's department, it was designed around the Revolution of Chaos theory, published by an Yzæk researcher over the correlation between Althanas' planetary rotation and the rapid evolution of all beings that inhabit the world.

Creatures of all races, shapes, sizes and odors ran at a brisk pace and stopped to a slow crawl while they worked as a tribute to the radical theory. The entire lab was made constructed from goblin-made adobe bricks covered with moss, vines, and other wild life. Hundreds of experiments were going on all at once. Ear-piercing screams echoed through neighboring corridors from live test subjects as they were put through cruel, sickening experiments that ranged from rapid hair growth to immune-system research.

The small, lithe director-in-chief sat at a crescent-shaped table pouring liquid from vials and dabbing it onto wailing slime, testing the textile strength of Viper Mold during its mating season. The slime danced around the petri dish as drops of a pungent acid scorched its scaly flesh. Metallic, mossy goggles strapped to the goblin's head magnified his stoic gaze. Madij observed vocally the results of his experiment as a quill scribbled unattended on thick, opaque pieces of parchment upon a table nearby. The voice of the R&D director alone was strange, fast-paced, and quick to the point, "Subject AB433-7 is experiencing microscopic fissures across its skin. It appears to be oozing some sort of fluid mixed with blood, I have yet to puncture the subject with the Rabix serum in order to strengthen its squishy exterior. . . wait a minute, that’s odd. ."

Prodding the slime with a metallic device it flailed and screeched violently, beads of glowing ooze pouring forth from the wound. Yellow orbs blinked from the center of the lens of the goggles as Madij grinned with surprise. Even under duress, knowledge is power, the goblin thought. Poking the beads of ooze with his metal probe, the intrigued scientist watched as the beads grew slowly at his coaxing. The slime continued to wail, its sharpened teeth dripping with venom, strapped to the dish. Feeling a sense of honor as most Yzæk do when they are on the verge of discovery, Madij took a leaded syringe filled with an opaque, brick-red liquid from a nearby tray and injected it inside the rapidly-growing ooze, now the size of a baseball.

The following moments passed through the goblin's eyes in an ethereal swirl of lunacy. Jumping from the table, Madij ducked under a nearby trolley as the amoeba-like liquid absorbed the table, experiment, and serum, where until moments ago the mage had been hunched over observing his experiment in action. The amoeba was the size of three hay wagons stacked on top of each other. It's scaly, translucent flesh oozed red droplets of serum every where. Everyone in the department stood in awe as the over-sized slime creature lashed forth a pseudo pod in the direction of the director's bluish-green head when a tree-trunk sized, feathery and scaly arm knocked it aside as it stretched like elastic across the laboratory's other side and retracted quickly back to it's owner. The amoeba wailed as Madij stared up at his protector, experimental subject, and long time rival stood poised to defend his master. Grux had arrived just in time.

[Ozmodious]

Tension filled the room like water into a capsized boat, the atmosphere hot and sticky, full of scholar intrigue and animalistic fear. Grux and the strange amoeba-thing were at a stand off, both beasts trying to assess the other's weaknesses in loud silence. Madij had taken the opportunity of his protector's distraction, thrown his micro-goggles to the side, and hurried down the cobbled adobe steps, away from his open office at the back of the laboratory to the rest of his colleagues, looking on in awe at the struggle. The micro-insects that were implanted into his hive-like brain stimulated the magus into a quantum state of rationality. As thoughts buzzed and fluttered about, his brain swam in random patterns within his fishbowl-like cranium, the liquid surrounding it moving with a loud slush. Madij's brief foresight, a gift given to him by his madness and the augmentations he had been so fervently grafted to his body by his fellow colleagues and superiors, allowed him to witness his protector in action.

***

Grux thrust his fist forward towards the amoeba, his feather's whistling in the wind as the blow, along with most of his arm, was absorbed into the creature. Grux looked on with horror as the amoeba lunged forward with pseudo pods and wrapped around his waist and right shoulder, threatening to drag the mutant to his doom. Not one to give up without a fight, Grux grabbed a faraway table with his free hand and smashed it into the amoeba's would-be head. The side of the table landed on the beast with a disgusting sucking sound and was absorbed into the amoeba, causing it grow at an even more unstoppable rate. The beast's head now barely touched the top of the R & D's high vaulted ceiling.

***

Madij shook his head in disgust as he watched Grux's struggle as the beast was slowly being absorbed by the monstrosity he had recently created. Back-peddling through the crowd towards the entrance of the room he looked towards the cage containing the subjects he had finished a week ago. They looked a cross between a gorilla and a puddle of water, their gray, muscle-bound skin translucent from daily injections with an engineered parasite that unraveled the energy that originally bound them to this plane of reality. The experiment was never truly finished, because the parasite needed to be obliterated; the toxins exuding from its body had become airborne and threatened to launch the Umndr Dar into another outbreak crisis.

Pulling the latches of the specially made cages, the creatures Madij had dubbed as "Ekargs" beat their translucent chests, ripples flowing throughout the rest of their body like a rock dropped into a pond. Grabbing the nearest control rod that was used to tame the beasts, Madij spoke the phrase to switch it on and ran through the dispersing crowd, the Ekargs trailing behind.

***

Grux had his entire left side of his body absorbed as the amoeba patiently sucked him in; savoring the mutant like he had been the single greatest meal it had ever had. In a last ditch effort to preserve his life, Grux's right foot pushed into the floor and his left hand, stuck in the amoeba swung upward like a catapult, lifting the amoeba into the air, the beast's mutant strength taking the brunt of the force. The strange slime smashed into the wall, the objects save for Grux's body gave a loud sickening crunch as they hit into the wall.

Lying on his side, Madij's protector slid his hand out of the amoeba; the digestive juices inside the beast hadn't done enough work to make Grux's regeneration capabilities in-operable. Digging his fingers into the adobe floor, the mutant pulled the rest of his body from the amoeba. The searing pain alone as his raw, pink skin came in contact with fresh air caused him to lose touch with the conscious realm, unaware that the creature he had struggled with had regained its composure and its appetite, and was slowly creeping towards him.

[Ozmodious]

A choking, humid blast of air caught Yalap Rup in the face as the massive, wooden doors parted to reveal a long winding hallway teeming with life. Plant and vegetation had made a hostile take over of the Cabal's lair but it seemed that every time he had walked these corridors to and from his master's lab they watched him. Yalap was no fool, in fact, he was the second laboratory assistant to Raal Hamyn, director of the Fungi Manipulation Lab, and was promised that once he completed this task he would graduate to Assistant Project Director over at the Augmentation & Implant Department. He knew that any wildlife within these walls had some sort of brain, whether it is plant or dull-witted test subject.

Holding a satchel at his side, the short, robust lab assistant walked with a limp down the corridor, a constant reminder of his required time served as a test subject in a long forgotten lab. Although he was one of many goblins who ran to and fro at their master's whim, he held out a hope that he would some day be as fortunate as that crazy Madij Abarrik over at the R&D Lab. It had been every goblin's dream, or at least that’s what Yalap thought, to one day be in control of untamed, wild experiments that could spell doom for Althanas with just one slip-up and the lab assistant had to admit, he had that as one of his most selfish, noble goals for his time here at the Yzæk.

Passing his pudgy green hand over a beady red eye at the door in front of him he took one last longing glance at the outside behind him, where for many lab assistant and test subject thought alike lived true freedom. Shaking his head with a grin of a servant who placed the duty of his master above himself he stepped through the door and pressed on with his mission, thinking of only the bright future ahead of him.

***

Madij swung the control stick fervently as he raced up the adobe-brick staircase, his eyes fixed on his fallen companion. The wily biomancer knew that it took more then an over-sized, rampaging gelatin dessert to take his protector down, for Grux had been the brunt of many an experiment and had been dubbed by the laboratory technicians as damn near indestructible when it came to certain experiments. But, this was the first time in a very, very long time that Madij Abarrik had a shred of doubt in his swimming mind that his personal protector was about to bite it.

Casting a wary glance behind him, the goblin nodded proudly that the Ekargs were keeping up with him, if perhaps slowing down a little as not to embarrass their handler. Turning his attention back to the scene before him, he stepped over the last step, standing on the threshold of his desecrated office. Madij had made it very, very clear to any lab assistants he had assigned to work for him, which were very few as his experiments called for more 'capable' hands, that they should never, ever touch any of his instruments.

The reason had a dual purpose; The first being that Madij Abarrik never readjusts the calibrations to his devices twice, and two was that he had lost too many assistants to whims of wonder and exploration when they mistakenly gripped the wrong side of a device and accidentally impregnate themselves with a strain of deadly bacteria. And for the wily scientist he perceived any accidents in this laboratory had never been his fault, but to the incompetent insects who served to do his bidding. Craning his neck at an awkward angle he stared up at a gooey, brick-red mistake that seemed all confident that it would get its meal come Hell or high water.

***

Yalap had been walking through the intricate network of hallways and corridors for almost an hour when a runner from his department urged him to hurry up and that his master was growing impatient. Always the optimist, Yalap turned the corner down the hallway where the R&D lab was stationed. For some reason the burden on the goblin's shoulder grew slightly heavier.

***

The bright, speckled light of the R&D department seemed for some unknown reason to cast the illusion that there were far more people present in the laboratory then there really was. But for a predator or test subject, they shared one common thought while in under the subjection to these crazy, tree-hugging scientists: rage. The amoeba crawled over to where its prey had stopped moving, it hadn't a care in the world whether its food was mobile or not, either way the beast was going to be fed. Extending its pseudo pods in either direction the amoeba watched with disembodied eyes as its limbs spiraled and weaved to their prey, patiently anticipating its first meal. Euphoria had cast the amoeba-beast into a lulled state until something hard knocked its tendrils aside. Glancing down at the distraction it wailed in frustration as it became clear that small, bluish-green thing wasn't going to give up without a fight.

***

Ethereal wisps and flutters of coming events caused Madij to take a step backward upon the staircase. His out-of-control experiment took action against it's attacker like any thirty-foot tall, hungry gelatin science-fair-project-gone-awry would. Grabbing at anything it could get its hands on, the amoeba hurled and threw anything not bolted to the floor at the obedient, monstrous Ekargs. The biomancer's face jeered with anticipation as the ghostly primates jumped, dodged, evaded, and everything in-between, slowly making their way towards the beast.

The amoeba slowly backed away as it felt its territory being encroached upon, and Madij had to agree, he was very competitive when it came to any event that caused the mage to strive for victory. As one of the Ekargs latched onto the amber translucent skin when the amoeba had ran out of room, it was batted into the air like a cat toy. Madij cursed himself for not realizing it before, the Ekargs still had some material presence on this world, or else they wouldn't have been to knock the beast's limbs aside or dodge the misplaced furniture being hurled at them. The goblin's head, as well as most of every living thing in the laboratory turned, tracking the otherworldly ape as it soared away from the wall-less platform that had served as Madij's office for many a year and slammed into a column conveniently placed at the edge of the room, causing shards of sharp rock and debris to fly out into the open, unprotected hallway.

***

For many lab assistants, death or injury was a professional hazard, and there had been many a contract and notation needed to be signed that waived the assistant's grievances with any injury taken on the field. Yalap Rup had signed them with his signature without a second thought, after all, the average lifespan for a goblin amounted to forty-five years, who was he to judge the legal work of the Yzæk Cabal? As the young goblin's footsteps echoed throughout the hall, he felt the strange speckled light of the R&D lab shine upon him once more.

Holding his satchel closely, not willing to give up his dream, his reward, or his job for anything he heard an ear-piercing wail and a crash coming from inside the laboratory. As Yalap turned to look he casually thought it was just another one of the R&D's strange and twisted experiments. But when his brown, dull eyes took in the scene before him of a ghostly ape, a goblin, laboratory assistants, project directors, test subjects, and a giant goo monster looking back at him in surprise he flew back into the living wall behind him as a giant, elongated, jagged piece of stone caught him in the center of the chest and pinned him to the very wall he had looked at moments before. Blood spurted from his mouth and wound as he slowly came to grips with his quandary and no rewards the Yzæk could ever offer the lab assistant was currently coursing through his mind.

As the satchel fell upon the ground, the contents of carefully collected fungus rolled in disarray onto the marble floor, in which he had spent many a day in the aqueducts carefully scraping the canal for samples. He looked back into the room and his gaze met with those of Madij Abarrik, the same person that he and every goblin dreamed of meeting, working for, learning from, or becoming shrug at him and turn back to his current problem. One last thought echoed throughout Yalap Rup's primitive brain as he looked down at his wound, his hands grasping at the elongated rock that had so cruelly impaled the chubby lab assistant. The thought dispelled any rumors of seeing your life flash before your eyes or any other cockamamie preacher's theory of what you'll see upon death.

Yalap Rup; determined scholar, noble lab assistant, and wily goblin came to the conclusion with his last breath that he no longer envied the one and only Madij Abarrik.

[Ozmodious]

The amoeba had taken advantage of the confusion it had caused and grabbed the beast that was slowly climbing its side by the arm and swung the nuisance in front of the floating orbs that served as the red monstrosity’s primary line of vision. The gooey creature gave a satisfying squeeze that caused its prey to squeal in pain. The amoeba made it apparent that it would not leave this place until it had had its fill.

***

A gross, stomach-curdling snap echoed throughout the laboratory as the remaining Ekarg's translucent, gray arm bent at an awkward angle. The giant amber blob's tendrils tightened their grip on the strange creature's broken limb as it howled wildly and struggled violently, hoping to loosen its opponents grip and gain the upper hand once more. The primate lunged at the beast with all of its remaining limbs and penetrated the red, oozy flesh with a wet slap. No longer focused on the outside world, the Ekarg dug deeper into the burning liquid, searching for a weak spot.

***

Padded footsteps rushed about the platform as Madij searched for something, anything that could help him with his plight. As far as the biomancer knew there would be no clean-up crew or any help of ANY kind unless the laboratory was blown to pieces or at the unlikely event the goblin administrator couldn't clean up in his own mess in which he would be awarded by the Sovereign for giving evolution another leg up. . unfortunately the Cabal leader often ate those he praised, which to this day both intrigued and made him steely with dread.

Shaking his head to dismiss the silly thought he caught sight of Grux lying helplessly on the floor. Looking at his constant-experiment with an eye of intrigue, observing the oily green blood ooze from his wounds slowly dripping upon a pile of parchment written with black, enchanted ink. Realization struck the biomancer like a lightning bolt and he emitted a squeal of delight, snapped his fingers and screeched," Eureka!".

Dashing with promise at his unconscious protector he dodged ethereal visages of tendrils and appendages, the green lunatic fell to the mutant's side and swept the pile of papers away from the makeshift faucet of green liquid, sitting them on his lap. Saving the paper from certain doom, Madij's yellow eyes darted from line to line looking for something useful amongst the intricate layers of figures, notes, symbols, and algorithms. When the last paragraph of the fourteenth page registered in the goblin's brain he slapped his forehead gently and screamed," Why hadn't I thought of this before?!”

***

Every once and awhile when the momentum wears out and a wind-up toy stops dead, it needs to be wound up again. The same could be said for the mutant lying at Madij's side. In his years of service to his master, Grux had had many injuries, and not one of them. . Except those inflicted by his master. . Had ever caused him so much anguish. Burning, black coals stared up at the ceiling of the laboratory as his master ranted and raved about something the mutant couldn't even begin to understand which jump started his spindling quagmire of a brain. Reaching for the back of his head, Grux rubbed his scaly, bruised skin. Sitting up with a start he almost jumped when his master prodded his pink vulnerable skin with a bluish-green finger. For some unknown reason the beast knew that the pain rippling through him from his creator's urging was going to be the least of what he would be feeling today.

***

"Hey, get up you big lug and follow me!. . and watch out for that blob's long reach inless you want the other half of you to match your pudgy pink exterior!", Madij shouted. The goblin ran down the stairs for the third time, leaving the Ekarg and the amoeba in their eternal struggle. The plodded, massive footsteps of the mutant behind the biomancer gave him a sense of satisfaction as he beckoned a group of trembling lab assistants, technicians, and directors to follow him to his destination.

Looking from side to side the scientist led the rag-tag group towards the endless rows of shelves littered with chemicals and concoctions that stood side by side at the western part of the laboratory. Stopping at a dead halt he pointed to a group of empty metal drums that were laid in no particular order ontop of a lab table and barked orders," You three, pull any chemicals off the shelves that are labeled 'enables vasodilatation' and toss them into these barrels over here! The rest of you look alive and mix any freezing concoction you know of and place them into any breakable containers! As for you Grux, follow me!".

The group of scientists nodded in unison and got to work, rushing from shelf to shelf, carefully collecting what was needed and took turns pouring the archaic chemicals into the big metal basins, while their colleagues concocted whatever cold, chaotic brew they had been taught or read in mischievous books. Jogging to the other side of the room with his companion, Madij directed the rest of the scientists to work on their plan B. It was something the biomancer had learned long ago; when it comes to combating nature, you always fail twice.

***

Madij's eyes danced over the parchment as he took in the information of the documents before him:



Rabix is a highly coagulative fluid when subjected to a

super cold element, this causes the enzymes within the chemical

to emit deadly radioactive material and when in contact with

any other organism or host the Rabix causes the body to become

Highly mutagenic and triples the production of any blood cells

within the body. The result is a double edged sword that will

cause a phenomenal leap in energy production while. .


Beckoning Grux to follow him, the strange goblin took to the staircase, a plan formulating within his mind. . .

***

After twenty, short minutes, both groups of laboratory lackeys had completed their tasks and were now standing at the sidelines, witnessing their work unfold before them. Madij stared up at the Amoeba who had been plaguing him today, watching the fight between the beast and the Ekarg as it punched at the goo from the inside. The biomancer's face twisted once more into a grin of grim satisfaction, that beast's days were numbered, and it was too bad that it had already reached zero.

***

Wailing and screeching from upon the platform, the amoeba plunged pseudo pods into its own body, trying to fish the beast that pestered it so out of the gooey monstrosity's body. It provided no nourishment. . It wasn't a meal, it wasn't even a snack! Finally grabbing hold of the Ekarg the goo-beast's eyes scowled at it's opponent as it fished it from its amber, oily ooze and was about to finish the primate when it felt something frosty hit it's fleshy ooze and with surprise the amoeba felt itself grow once more, causing the ceiling to collapse over it. The Rabix-thing had just breached containment.

[Ozmodious]

Darkness spanned the dome-like structure as far as the eye could see. The gush of water roared into the black abyss, creating a natural sense of vertigo to any newcomer who traveled the long, narrow span of living rock that led to the oddity that was the Yzæk. Attached to long, tree truck thick tentacles, each building of the citadel hung in uneven suspension, only held together by the willpower of the Cabal's leader. The outside perimeter of the fortress, hundreds of yards from any contact with life hung gigantic spheres of thriving flesh, constantly covering up open patches of itself in order to contain the most dangerous and deadly of dabbles with evolution and nature.

But the most awe-inspiring sight was not the fortress, or the containment flesh-cocoons, it was above all else, an afront to technology and advancement but a tribute to Nature and its ways. A mass of churning coils covered the wide expanse of it's domain. Tentacles sprouted from it, carrying the eternal burden of Yzæk, ready to drop each individual building, laboratory, cocoon, or the gigantic, horizontal tower hanging a few feet lower then the rest of the fortress, serving as the Cabal's central authority into the darkness below.

Nobody knew what laid within the waves of charcoal, amber, cerulean, and emerald coils that continued to pulse and move in an archaic pattern, but they all had theories of what it might be. A gush of amber fluid burst through the south-western building of the gigantic citadel, and more eyes watched the scene then even the most prominent of Yzæk members knew about.

***

Shadows danced across the laboratory as the emerald, bulbed lights began to flicker, the luminescent fluid off-balance by the shockwave of activity that gave way from below. The amoeba continued to wrestle with the Ekarg, its spring-like limbs plunging into itself, desperately attempting to latch onto the pestilence that had infected it and purge itself of it. Madij's personal assistants, dubbed the names Ulji and Quso, were pudgy spheres with hundreds of spindly, black arms. They grabbed at the frosty containers provided by the demented chemists as instructed by the goblin's wayward plan. The two creatures were mutants of an earlier R & D premier's doing, she supposedly had a fetish with multiple appendages and the realm of weird, something the current one wasn't too skeptical of. Grabbing at the adobe tiles with their unoccupied hands, the two oddities moved to their destination on either side of the lab.

Grux stood bisecting the two staircases that lead up to his master's office, clutching an enormous replica of his arm, fingers and all, holding a sealed, metal barrel in its grip. The mutant had been told by his creator that he would be given a chance for revenge, all he had to do was use his cludgel as for delivery and then get ready for the next stage. Madij stood beside him, holding his favorite weapon, the whip-like blade wrapped around a similar metallic barrel. Knowing the durablity and limitations of his own creations, he strode ahead, letting the whip-thing grow taut, stopping a few yards from the stairway.

He had explained this plan twice to all the key players, and they stood awaiting his signal. Tightening his grip upon the handle of his weapon, watching as the amoeba pulled the Ekarg from its body, the biomancer knew the time was right. Drawing air into his strange, augmented lungs the goblin roared above the chaos stirring within his laboratory," Now!".

A chorus of approval from the bystanders, the twin-like mutants, Grux, and even Madij himself rang through the building. A flick of a wrist and a pull of his forearm, the goblin flung the barrel at the oozey beast that disrupted his operations and smirked when the barrel sunk into the amber flesh with a slurp. Grux followed with his barrel, a massive display of strength as two hands swung at the beast, unleashing its cargo upon their victim. With another slurp the metal drum hung within the amber fluid and slowly but surely the two barrels clanged against each other, causing the tops of the containers to snap open, unleashing their bizarre contents inside the creature.

***

Cold. A feeling the amoeba had never experienced before eclipsed the realization that it's skin was expanding with a dizzy, medicinal sense of foul play. Before the beast could reassure itself it wasn't growing, its gooey head impacted the ceiling and continued to grow, grow, grow. The ceiling bent at the bouyant monstrosity but finally gave way after a few seconds, releasing the crimson gelatin behemoth into a world of darkness. Feeling anew with a sense of wonder the pudgy blob realized the Ekarg was still in its clutches and tightened its grip until a disgusting crunch rang through the darkness and a satisfying wave of euphoria carried the amoeba into a more relaxed state.

Unfortunately for all those present, something stirred within the creature. . something unsettling. .

***

With its insides pulverized the Ekarg lost the will to fight, the creature sagged backward its mouth opened at an akward angle, peppered with ghostly, brackish blood. The primate's eyes widened as it prepared to meet the afterworld. The ape watched with its last moments as the amoeba continued to expand, the ceiling tearing away from far below and a glimpse of strange colored, thriving coils coming into view. laying with a pain exceeding the definition of pain, the Ekarg wished nothing within it's primal mind but for the amoeba's death, whether it be swift or slow. But with that thought, the primate's eyes slowly glazed over as, like a bubble about to burst, the crimson, wayward-enraged-gelatin beast erupted with a wet pop.

[Ozmodious]

Success! The word rippled through Madij Abarrik's mind as he watched his mistake grow unhindered, a sense of pride filling the goblin at the same moment. The crimson oozey blob had began to take on a luminescent glow as it started to congeal, radioactive chemicals coursing through every patch of the creature. As the amoeba's head crashed into the ceiling, pulling it upward until a loud crack echoed within the laboratory. Growing higher, and higher the beast eclipsed the view of the outside. The biomancer began cackle maniacly as he witnessed his hypothesis being proven successful. But, as quick as the colossus of a beast rose from a petri dish just a few fateful hours ago, the world around it began to rumble.


***

Gooey muck soared in all directions as the amoeba collapsed in on itself, threatening to paint the surrounding area an ugly shade of red. A tingling feeling had exceeded the tension as the radioctive material bore into all the individuals, tainting those in the laboratory with its sickness before it had even reached them physically.

A flurry of hands became a blur as hundreds of egg-shaped containers were catapulted into the air at the crimson wave of ooze. With the radiation hanging in the air, it melted the containers even before they reached the bloodied mess. At a breakneck speed blue patches of frosty ice engulfed the red flood, stopping it in its tracks until gravity took control of the scene and sent the once lively amoeba crashing down onto the laboratory floor.

***

Cold, glassy shards of all shapes and sizes were flung in all directions as the icy wave of once blood-red ooze impacted into the adobe floor. A jungle green barrier eclipsed the shards as Grux commanded his weapon to protect the inhabitants of the complex. A loud series of sharp pings and tears overwhelmed the hearing of everybody in the area, causing Madij to fold his own ears ontop of themselves, wincing in pain.

But as the sound of the radioactive ice began to die down, it was filled with the uproar of victory. Those who still stood threw their hands into the air wildly, even the remaining Ekarg howled as it beat its chest mourning its fallen comrade. Madij gave a toothy smile as he watched his colleagues dance and cheer, he knew full well, as did everyone who were in the R & D roster that this sort of thing was just another day of hard work attempting to give Nature a fighting chance.

***

-- many hours later --

Silence had filled the laboratory as those who dwelled within it were ushered out by the late clean-up crew to recieve treatment for their injuries. Madij sat at his desk in the newly reassembled office. The goblin was hunched over a stack of parchment, filling out the paperwork that seemed to flock to him whenever a disaster like today seemed to be avoided. Dotting the last 'i' in his report with a satisfying stab with his feathery quill, he dropped the utensil in the black inkwell and brought his hands behind the chrome, glass dome that stored his brain, leaning backwards into his plush brown chair.

Glancing up at the new ceiling that had been put in, Madij began to count the tiles, pondering his next move in this elegant game of chess he had with this band of lunatics he had joined. Like many of his colleagues, Madij loved his job. He loved the chaos he could brew, the ideas he could cultivate with a mere hypothisis, but most of all the premier of the Research & Development department enjoyed the trouble that came when he casually played God in his laboratory. But an image of his old boss, Polapat Frig, raced through the bouyant brain and a smile rose slowly across the goblin's face. Madij Abarrik loved his job.

***

Grux laid in a bed inside the infirmary, the left side of his body covered in mossy bandages used to speed-up the healing process. The mutant was fast asleep, exhausted by the amount of activity he had been forced to do to ensure his master's survival. Others like him laid in beds lined against either wall of the infirmary. An unspoken bond formed between them, asleep or awake, despite being created and used like pin cushions, the mutants too enjoyed their jobs, for it was all they knew.

But, as the wave of peace washed over the room, something stirred within Grux's body. Not enough to wake him of course, but deep down within the recesses of his body stirred as it was slowly being intruded upon. A malevolent amber molecule floated listlessly in one of the muscles inside the mutant's chest, unable to be spotted by the most advanced of Yzæk microscopes. The molecule waited in an omnious silence, waiting for just the right time to inflict its revenge upon the world. Waiting for just the right time to feed again.

[INDK]

Ozmodious, I’m not sure if I’ve ever seen you write anything before, but color me impressed. You’re very creative and it shows. The one problem here is that threads need to receive 10 posts to receive judgement and EXP under our rules. However, I couldn’t find this fact reposted anywhere since the crash, and since you’re new, I am waving this requirement once.

Total Score= 70 That’s a really high score for me to give out. Good work.

Introduction – 5 A bit weak. Your descriptions were fine and everything, it was just an odd set of choices on what you chose to emphasize.

Setting – 7 My biggest problem with the setting was that it seemed almost unrelated to Alerar. I have trouble imagining such a place as this existing in Ettermire, unless it’s an underground lab of sorts. Otherwise, this setting was magnificent. I really felt the lab come to life here.

Strategy – 0/0 This thread was not really set up with a problem. It was a narration of events that primarily happened to the characters, as opposed to problems the characters addressed. Points shifted to wild card.

Dialogue – 5 The dialogue here was mostly secondary to the plot, but you missed ways of using nonverbal forms of communication from saying anything.

Character – 6 Your characters seemed real, they just didn’t seem very “known.”

Rising Action – 9 This was quite a rush.

Climax – 6 I would have liked this to have been a bit more clever.

Conclusion – 8 Very ominous close, reminiscent of a horror movie.

Writing Style – 7 You need to breakup your sentences more. Sentences with too many fragments in them can be particularly hard to follow. Also, be careful of not stating the obvious. If your character think “success” you don’t have to tell me that he’s happy. He wouldn’t be thinking that if he wasn’t happy.

Wild Card – 17/20 This was a different change of pace form most threads and I liked it. Way to go.

Spoils=
Ozmodious receives 300 EXP

[Thoracis]

Rewards Added!