92: NOT. FRIENDLY.

92: NOT. FRIENDLY.

“Man, I’m too tired for this,” Nyssa grumbled as she free fell through the darkness. After attempting in the first second to transform into a bird and escape, she had found a sealed entrance on the other side. Too lazy to try anything else, she let the increasing suction force take her.

The air whistled around her as she fell. Her hair fluttered, and the faint glow she gave off faded into nothing. No walls as far as she could see.

“I hope Celeste is okay,” She spoke into the air as the falling continued. Though, after a few thoughts, she flipped in the air to face downward. “This is probably smarter...”

As she fell, the air turned colder and whispered into her ears like snakes peddling their lies while her surroundings brightened like an entrance into heaven. After a faint period of blindness, the ground came into view, and she, out of prudence, transformed into a bird, floating in the air instead of landing.

She flapped her wings, gliding in slow circles while scoping out the room. A cracked floor punctuated the sleek metal walls, lines of solid light criss-crossed along every wall, and a few ragged boxes sat in a corner, half-rotted after years.

After sweeping her eyes over the area one more time, she descended with a swoop, transforming back into a human as she neared the floor. Landing in a crouch after letting her human body handle the last of the descent, she frowned. Her hairs stood on end and her stomach flipped. Gear sounds filled the room as the lights dimmed and flickered, shifting towards a more blue-hue with every passing second.

A section of the wall opened on one end of the room, out from it came a humanoid robot covered in a liquid-like covering of nano-machines. Its eyes glowed blue-white as it crossed its arms in stretches. It laced its fingers and pushed them outward to crack its knuckles, it tilted its head left and right to loosen its neck, and pulled its legs back one by one as if any of these actions would make a difference in its capability.

“What... What the...” Nyssa scrambled backward while staying in a crouched position. Her legs tensed up as she swiveled her head.

Wall. Wall. Wall. Good, there’s nothing else.

Without any other walls opening up to let anything through, she turned back to the automaton with a deep breath. The wall closed behind it with a couple of clunks and a hiss, the crack marking the door from the wall non-existent as she watched the plates sit flush with the rest of the wall.

Her shoulders rose and fell as her eyes squinted. After holding in a faint breath, she let out a long sigh as her heart rate increased. The machine, on the other hand, took slow steps forward. Its body swirled as nanomachines migrated across the surface of its body in tidal-like currents.

“Don’t be stupid and let it regenerate,” Nyssa slapped herself on the cheek as she dredged her motivation. Transforming back into the same lopsided dragon from earlier, she sent another blasting laser beam in the automaton’s direction, though this time, for a fraction of the time.

The sound of steps.

CRACK.

Nyssa scrambled backward, cycling through transformations as she rushed away.

What? Huh? Hgeello? Whrut?

A sharp pain on her nose pushed her out of the transformation. Blood dripped down her face as she transformed her lower body into a frog to leap away. The automaton chased after her with a newfound lance in place of its arm.

Unaffected by the laser? Did it adapt?

First the thrusters, then the blue-layer... and now a lance. Is it transforming like me?

She scowled, holding her nose with one hand as the frog transformation allowed her to keep a sizable distance from the automaton. They fell into a cycle, pacing in circles around the walls of the gymnasium-sized room. Whenever the automaton came rushing forward to attack, Nyssa backed off.

I need to think... How am I supposed to beat people who transform again? Angelica and Roxanne were lecturing me about this last time... Why was I sleeping? Come on... Why? Why?

As the battle dragged on though, she felt her body burning up. Each breath scraped against the insides of her lungs as her head began to pound. Her eyes unfocused every few moments, leading to lapses in attention.

And the several holes pockmarking parts of the walls acted as cruel reminders of why she had to stay focused.