From the Stars above.

The beast twitched in his grasp, blood gushing out of the open wound. Hunching over he let his chelicerae crosscut through hide and flesh at an effective pace. The high level of adrenaline reached after the successful catch begun to subside as fast as it came only to leave the Bug unsatisfied by his meal. The local fauna was not particularly dangerous or witty, nourishing for sure but not what he was craving.
Still, all those preys had allowed him to finally acclimate his metabolism to the gas mixture comprising the atmosphere of this world. His bone structure had solidified just enough to support acceleration under the gravity and observing the night/day cycle informed him of how time passed here. Luckily he had all the time to study these parameters without being discovered by any sentient being inhabiting the planet. But he nonetheless was hoping he hadn’t fell too far away from any settlement, although he didn’t fell in a large body of water this time. The taste of weird horned creature and flying pests was all too familiar and banal now.
 
As the moon shone above the Thief left the cavern he used as a lair and begun his manhunt. He had managed to repress his craving up until now but now there was no need for it anymore. The forest provided cover even for his large stature as he was running, almost on all four, through the thick green foliage. Although he had no idea of where to begin his search, nor about where he was heading, he figured that simply waiting for clues to stumble around his crash site was plain foolish.
 
That and he refused to consume any more mere animal.
 
 Dashing in between the trees he marked a sharp stop when two of his eyes caught glimpse of an approaching source of light. Muscle contracted in a flight or fight posture, breathing steadying to minimize movement. Curiously the light continued its course in a straight path several meters away in front of him followed by a rumbling sound.
The four eyes followed the light until it disappeared in the distance. Even then he remained still for a bit more before finally allowing himself to take cautious step again. From where the light came the forest was suddenly cut by a long black scar extending in two direction. Some white line left in a regular pattern marked the middle.
 
A road, perfect.
 
Sharp scent of freshly exuded petroleum smoke filled his nostrils. An interesting detail for him. This civilization was at the point of using refined fossil fuel then. At this point they must have kinetic weaponry, maybe something more developed even. Keeping it in mind he simply followed the road, going in the same direction as the passing light while still using the forest to cover his advance. Things were finally coming into play the way he wanted. Multiple colorful sources of static light informed him that he was approaching a settlement. The road was going downhill, offering him a view of the small-town bellow.
Many different sounds from multiple sources reached him even up there. Rumbling of engines, some kind of music and, more importantly, voices. The intelligible character of the spoken dialect wouldn’t be an issue for long though. Not when he’ll get a hold of a prey. Without further ado the Bug rushed to the silver plate dressed for him.
He quickly found an access through a dimly lit and deserted street at the closest extremities of the city. Hiding in this environment felt way more contrived due to the scarcity of object large enough to conceal him. He therefore relied more on the obscurity, avoiding the few still functioning lamp posts. Low to the ground his antennae kept brushing the ground and sensing vibration from all direction. The motorized vehicle used all over the town skewed his perception and he had to rely primarily on sight and hearing to navigate.
 
Until a much closer sounds alerted him. A metallic creak of a door opening followed closely by footsteps on the asphalt coming to him. Crouched next to a square rusty container from which a foul odor emanated; all of his muscles relaxed with the notable exception from the one of his legs. Soon he saw more clearly what was coming. A bipedal individual wearing white clothing with multiple grease stains, blue fur, long pointy ears. Small too, not bigger than his torso in comparison. It was carrying a black bag right to the container and did not noticed the presence of the bug until he was already 4 meters away from it. The little silhouette stopped and looked with a mix confusion and fear. Vilrym was looking straight at him, although the prey could not discern such vital detail with the poor light. Shaking his head, it spoke.


- Hello ?...
 
The Thief didn’t get the meaning of it but he was sure now the prey was aware of his presence. He slowly raised ever so slightly while turning in his direction. The prey took a half-witted step backward and let the bag slipped out of his grasp. Before any thought of escape could be processed by the mammal’s brain the powerful insectoid leg unwound, propelling the massive body directly to it. A strong hand got hold of his face and forced him to the ground. The panicked yelp got quickly shut down by the precise cutting motion of the mandibles going for his neck. A long gurgling sound signaled the escape of the remaining air inside the victim’s lung. With the indulgence of a starved beast in front of his long-awaited feast, the Bug made quick work of the body. Finishing with the grey matter of his prey he felt an incomprehensible amount of knowledge pouring into him all at once. Speech, traditions, current political climate, notable event of history and so on.
Although it was nowhere near enough to know everything he wanted about this civilization, mostly due to it being only one individual knowledge, it was at least comfortable to know both how to speak their language and decipher their written text. All four eyes of the Alien raised in the direction of the metallic doors from which the cooks came from. Stepping up, he opened it and rushed inside without any hesitation.
 
He needed more.
 
 


 
Multiple calls were made to the local police station. Panicked, barely coherent claim about a monster in a restaurant. Said building was surrounded by a dozen people standing at a safe distance. A few windows were covered in blood blocking the view and the very few lucky one to have actually got out of the building unharmed were crying their eyes out. The ruckus was enough to attract the attention of more bystanders, although none of them were willing to approach the scene without any police car in view. And the few sounds escaping from the previously welcoming entrance was not helping at all. Fast, wet cracking sounds.
 
A monster people were saying. A nightmare given form.

Slash Kopis was sitting in his lab, testing programs for his biggest project yet: Slash Experiment 6, or SX6. His last five were certainly incredible, but this would change the world, at least... In a couple years...

But as he was fiddling with one of the spare parts he found in the trash, something came up on the TV:

"Breaking news! Genocide at a local restaurant! Killer Unknown."


"Well, ain't that just great, that was one of the good ones too..."


Slash sighed in despair as the rest of the report played by, but something about the mess' pictured didn't seem like a normal person did it. There were unusual scratchings on the ground and walls, and there wasn't any corpses simply scratched into.


It wasn't the work of a typical powerful Mobian, that's for sure.
But there was always the possibility that this was just a distraction for detectives and whatnot.


While pondering however, his phone chimed, it was his son.

Did you see the news?
Yeah, it's pretty crazy.
The police were going crazy when Kane snuck over there.
He said the blood tasted funny too, which means it's gotta be SOMETHING bad.
Clash, please don't do what I think you're doing.
You're not stopping me dad, what if more people get hurt by this guy?
I'll have Metal check it out, DON'T go over there.
Dad please, you know I can handle quite a bit.

Slash had enough of this, he put the phone down and went over to a capsule, marked SX5 - Metal Slash and opened it.

Good Morning, Master Slash, Judging by the recent reports, I assume that you want me to investigate the restaurant?

Yes, I am allowing use of all equipment, and if you see Clash, please teleport him home.

Understood, I do not see the problem with Clash's assistance, but I shall do as instructed if he does not comply.

Fine, now, please get going.

Metal Slash had left the lab to investigate the monster that had invaded the building




EDIT: CHANGED TO BE ACCURATE

(I contacted Tau and he won't be able to participate unfortunatly. So back to that with just the two of us.)


Siren sounds filled the crowded street as police cars and ambulance parked all around the foreboding building. Direct witnesses were immediately taken into a vehicle and looking bystanders were simply moved back by an officer while the other took upon themselves to investigate. Firearm at hand, they entered. The scenery was incredibly violent: blood seeping in the ground, drooling from walls and ceiling, broken counter and tables. Huge impact on the ground along with strange scratches left the authority puzzled. Although it wasn’t the strangest noticeable details. It was rather that there was not a single body on the ground.
 
The blood, however, pooled and formed a red pathway leading up the kitchen door. The cautious procession slowly made their way there and adopted their usual formation. One of them put his hand on the door, taking a deep breath before pushing it open. They were immediately greeted by a strong scent of blood washing onto them and the sight of a kitchen, brutally rearranged around a macabre centerpiece.
 
A pile of skeletal pieces stripped bare of their meat but left to marinade in a stew of bodily fluids.
 
One officer couldn’t take the blunt force of the view and barely suppressed his nausea long enough to vomit away from his crew. A female mobian put a napkin on her nose to conceal the odor as best she could and a second one took a step back to collect his thoughts. None of them were ready to see such a thing. But much to their dismay this was only the beginning of their work and the whole place was not yet secured completely. Once past the utter disgust they planned their final descent in the yet unexplored reserve of the restaurant.
 
They readied their gun and, one at a time, avoided the odious bone collection to climb down the stairs. No sane person could’ve done something so vile and they clearly intended to take the culprit dead.
 




The first gunshot was faint. People outside stopped their chattering and the local news crew turned their camera to the origin of the sound. A tense silence dominated the place with the expectation of more or, for Gaia’s sake, no follow up. And for a brief moment the latter seemed to be the option. Only to subside when a full-on barrage of increasingly close similar sounds followed. Emerging from the gate was the female officer now covered in blood and tripping onto the ground. Her two remaining colleagues left outside rushed to her aid. Raising her head while trying to get up as fast as she could, she mustered her words just as quickly.



-G-Get away! Evacuate every-


The Bug came through the front window next to the door. His fist fell down onto one of the running officer’s head and crushed it into the ground. The second one was stunned by the sudden appearance of the monster whose attention was now directed toward him. The second four digited hand grabbed his face and brought his neck right into the chainsaw-like mouthpart of the beast. The compound eyes caught the mass of the now flying and screaming crowd. His eyes scootered through this amalgamation of prey in an effort to isolate a slower running one, or even one to isolated who could be caught easily.
His posture changed as he prepared to sprint toward the cameraman still holding to his material even when the cumbersome instrument slowed him down. All of the four eyes were locked on him as the Thief evaluated the most efficient trajectory.
 
Before anything could happen, a thundering noise came from his right.
 
The head of the bug jerked to the side when the bullet collided with it. The surviving officer was now standing up, trembling like a dead leaf while still holding the fuming gun with both of her hand. She could see an impact on the red carapace. Although not as deep as she wished it was still enough to draw a thick black ichor from the wound.  The creature remained in the same position for a fleeting moment before slowly raising on his hand to wipe his blood with his thumb. He then proceeded to extract the little scrap of metal and examined it.
 
The tremors coursing through the mobian body worsen when the face of the creature took a slow turn toward her. It was unnaturally calm, fluid in its movement. Her gaze meets his unwavering and cold visage. The mandible opened, produced some clatters and started to move.


- Touché…



It spoke. The voice was a bizarre and unnatural mix of different tonality. Both male and female, young and old, deep and high. She was baffled by this simple little word and the nature of what pronounced it. This trance presented an opening that Vilrym gladly took. His now defenseless prey succumbed quickly to ravenous hunger.
After this ample meal his hunting craving was satisfied and he gleaned much precious information. But on the other hand, not a single one of them had any special ability. Even the armed one had only basic weaponry to defend themselves. From memory gathered from preys it was apparent that individual of great power exists in this planet and many of them were recorded multiple time.
Patience was needed. If no opportunity came tonight it would only need time before one eventually come up. For now, he decided to leave and reflect on everything he acquired.
 
That was his plan before he heard something coming to him. Maybe this night will prove profitable after all.

Metal Slash's scanner picked up the carnage that took place, the robot was surprised at this beast's agility and strength. But furthermore, a familiar arrange of 3 signals were rushing over there at a good pace.

"Arming weaponry, Core charged..." "Master Clash must stay out of this fight..."

As he started to see the restaurant, The robot was picking up something odd, his energy sensor wasn't losing signals with each death, instead, the beast's power just seemed to grow.
This was quite alarming, if he was correct, eating Clash to gain his power would be disastrous.

Finally, Metal Slash had reached the area, as he touched down in front of the crowd, he holds out his hands and shouts: "Evacuate! This threat will kill you all instantly, run Far away!" 

His held out hands point towards the beast, and fires a machine gun burst of small Chaos Spears.

(EDIT: I've modified the little slip up, excuse me for that)


This was not a prey. Merely a metal puppet getting between him and the fleeing lot. The newly arrived bot begun his assault through some kind of energy-based weaponry directed at him. The warmed-up muscles of the Bug sprang into action, allowing him to dodge the bolt.
With a well calculated leap he managed to get behind one of the parked police car and swiftly flipped it on the side to absorb the rest of the onslaught. Such paultry cover would'nt help him for long, as the flying capability of the machine would circumvent it efficiently. His vision glazed over every direction to look for a way to protect retaliate and close the gap.
 
Slowly backing down while staying hidden between the car, his voice raised at the intention of the robot.


- You come too late to save anyone, Machine. 


One of his hand finally reached down behind him to get a hold of the heavy metal plate covering the manhole on the road. The Bug then dashed back at to the the car and rammed it with full speed. The metallic frame rolled over and over in the direction of the Robot but it wouldn't be enough to reach it at this distance. However it provided good distraction for the movement of the Bug as he lept on the left to get a sideway opening on the bot
Twisting his torso in midair, he threw the manhole cover at incredible speed toward it.   

The insect was capable of speech, impressive.
The robot stops shooting to defend against the manhole, simply reflecting it off its arm, despite leaving a mark.

"Perhaps, but I have not failed my mission."

Metal Slash then runs to the car, removing its headlights and placing them on his back, spinning into a spin attack to hit the beast.

Immediately after landing from his previous jump, Vilrym followed the metallic shell with all for of his eyes. He was not expecting this foe to yield with such a simple trick but he had to appreciate the sturdiness of the metal. His response was puzzling to an extent. Was it the machine or someone controlling it who had answered ?
 
Curiously the machine had gone for the headlight to attach them to itself. He would not underestimate his opponent enough to not discern any intention behind this. Hence, he simply leaped above the spinning robot at the last second to hang on from one lamp post. The feeble metal was creaking, barely holding itself under the weight of the creature who was staring, immobile, at the mechanical construct.
 
The mandible resumed their clattering.
 
- You seem to be more advanced than the other piece of technology I’ve seen so far on this world.
 
Feeling his footing becoming more and more tenuous he jumped backward, back onto the pavement. The movement broke the summit of the lamp post which light bulb fell to the ground producing a faint shattering noise.
 
- I haven’t seen any A.I for an eternity. My regards to your creator. He shall make a very good addition.

The robot's suspicions were confirmed, he did have some sort of assimilation. This was bad, as the three signals were here.
A brown hedgehog with red anklets and blue bracelets approached, looking on at the destruction.

"Metal Slash?!" "Dad sent you here didn't he? Let me help!"

"Clash... You must leave after you do this."

Suddenly, they boy took the headlights and charged it up with some weird energy that seemed more like life energy. Bringing a bright flash to the eyes of the beast, the robot, referred to as "Metal Slash" threw something away from him as well, a cyan light from his arm.

"I thank you for the compliments, but I cannot let you continue this carnage."

(Sorry if this sounds unfair, hope this helps?)
A while ago, Clash ran out his apartment door to start running over to the restaurant when he suddenly gets a text:

"Clash, if you are going after that thing, Metal managed to take a picture, should help you take care of it."

Clash's reaction to the photo was one of intrigue, it looked like something from a space-age video game setting, however, this allowed him to come up with a plan.

"Metal has some headlights attached to him, I know you're strong, but I hypothesize that he'll take your power once he catches you, so please, after you help, get out of there!"

"Got it, I can handle this dad, don't worry about me."

(Sorry for the time I took, had quite a lot to deal with)


An organic life from. Another prey entering the scene. The machine was no longer the focus of the Bug. His sight was entirely focused on this child. Obviously it wanted to fight as well which further piqued his attention. Now it was sure he had some level of capacity.


A young,daring member of a species trying to save the day. He had seen this scenario often enough.


Catching a glimpse of movement from the robot he turned his head back to it. He reacted to the flash in the fraction of a second. From the moment it attached those headlights the Thief had discerned their intention clearly and was therefore able to react. Raising an arm on the way he blocked most of the light. However his eyes still received enough damage to blur his vision. 


- Your services are no longer required, Machine

Without a sign the creature immediately leaped for the young mobian. His fist raised above his head, ready to strike at full force and aiming for the head.

The blue light had zipped around in many locations, particularly around the boy, until finally landing at the robot's feet.
Clash meanwhile, raised his arm, seemingly to protect himself and yells out:


"Chaos Barrier!"


Afterwards, a dome of translucent chaos energy surrounds Clash starting from his hand. The robot, at the same time, gets engulfed in a blue light and zips around in the exact path the light did, at incredibly high speeds rushing into the beast that was about to hit the shield.

Yet again with this strange energy. Now used as a defensive tool it would seems. The Bug found the multipurpose nature of this “chaotic energy” very fascinating. And the fact that preys on this world could use it for themselves was even better news. He was willing to push the boy further to see the limit of his power, study it before acquiring it. But of course the bot was still here to meddle with his affair.
 
It was growing tiresome.
 
While two of his eyes stayed on his primary target, the other pair followed the blue light trajectory. Turns out this was another ploy. He couldn’t pinpoint exactly the position of the light thanks to his blurred vision and the robot went straight for him. All of that zigzagging was but a mere distraction. There was no time to retaliate and hitting the shield, even breaking it, would leave him too open. The Bug opted instead for a defensive stance: Stopping his movement by planting one of his feet on the ground in front of him he turned to the machine, crossed his arms in front of his face and brace himself at the very last second before impact.  

The beast tried to defend itself, but there wasn't much time to brace, as the robot was easily going fast enough to start approaching mach speed (Please DM me if this is too much), it crashed into the beast with incredible force, the smaller light returning to the inside of the robot's arm.

"Now, while you still can!" "Get out of here Clash!" "I doubt that was enough to kill it!"

Clash was very conflicted, even when the beast stopped itself before it hit the barrier, he had a strange feeling that it had a good chance of shattering.
He didn't just want to run away though, he wasn't one that would from something this vile, after he weighs his options, he focuses his power and closes his eyes, and then, in a flash of light, he was gone.

Upon mere seconds he could feel the weight of the metallic construct against him. The impact was violent enough to send the Bug flying right into the desolated restaurant. The façade of the building was pierced by the propelled mass who crashed violently on the farthest wall, at the back of the dining hall. The sudden crash left only the faint rumbling sound of rubbles rolling and a little cloud of powdered cement and plaster.
For a solid minute nothing else moved or even produced the faintest of sound in the damaged building. Further away police sirens were audible but not coming anywhere near the action for now. Surely to ensure a secured perimeter. The town was small and didn’t have that much police presence after all. The relatively calm and peaceful aftermath could’ve been a sign of victory, that the monster finally felled.
 
A distinctively heavy footstep broke through the silence, accompanied by the scratching of the claws on the creature’s feet. He simply walked through the hole left by his passage and into the street.
 
The carapaces on his torso was visibly cracked but held in place, some unprotected flesh was either bruised or bleeding even so slightly and one of his horn was almost falling off. At first hunched, his posture quickly regained its usual straightness Some of the thick black blood was leaking out of his mandible. With an unnerving calmness he simply brushed his mouthpiece with the back of his hand to wipe it approximately clean. The two pair of eyes looked at the robot before he spoke.
 
- The prey ran away.
 
Wrapping his hand around the damaged horn he tugged at it until it finally broke. Surprisingly he begun devouring it immediately after. After that he simply reprise his speak.
 
- But I had what I wanted. Plenty of food and information. There is no reason for me to stay here any longer.

The robot knew that its attack wouldn't kill the beast, but it still seemed quite relieved at one thing: It bled.

From what the beast said, it seemed like that it was trying to retreat since Clash was long gone, because of him, the beast knew of Chaos energy.

"My instructions were not to kill you, but besides that fact, it would be futile to give chase." "You will be exterminated eventually, that much, I can promise you."

A small pinging noise came from its finger, and it also seemed to smile at the noise. Afterwards, it simply stood there, waiting for the creature to leave.

Not pursuing him ? It felt almost too easy but the Thief had no time to question it any further. After all there will be ruckus and attention drawn to this place. He had to go and grow in power, such was his purpose. 


"You will be exterminated eventually, that much, I can promise you."


Vilrym stopped in his way. Looking at the forest in the distance he let out a strange sound from his mandible. It felt almost like the beast was sighing.

- They all did.

Not delaying his retreat any further he begun running away to the outer limit of the city as fast as he could. On his way he shoulder bashed on of the police car out of his way and sustained multiple gun shots who left little to no impact on him.
Finally hidden by the line of trees he didn't stop. He would need quite a lot of distances away from the town. His original plan included laying low for a time as well but he now knows such things won't be easily done.


Because of that A.I.


The Thief was no fool: It left him flee only because it was tracking him. The beeping sound left him to believe as much at the very least. He would have to wait to see if his hypothesis was right but would it be true things wouldn't go as they plan.


May they ever come to him, he would be ready.



[Fin]