"Okay, that's good Leen," said Professor Mahogany, watching the monitors in the control booth. "Now, I want you to just stand there and concentrate as hard as you can on the target." This was getting into new territory. So far the tests had confirmed everything they'd thought about the effects of the Chaos Stone - Leen was now stronger, faster, tougher, and all around quite a bit more dangerous, especially for a Mousewife. But no Mousewife that Leen or Mahogany had ever heard of had energy attacks. Their normal abilities were all physical. But according to what that strange girl who had provided this DNA said, Leen should have some now. The problem was that no one was really sure how to teach a pokewomon to access power she hadn't had like this. In normal evolution, knowledge of how to use the new abilities was instinctive, but that didn't seem to be the case here. So, lacking any better ideas, Mahogany decided to have Leen sit and imagine shooting something at the target he'd set up in a training room. Depending on how that worked out, he'd have a better idea what to try next. Leen cupped her hands in front of her, palms out, the way she'd seen other pokewomen do, and tried to focus on the target as much as she could. *This has to work!* she thought. *I must not fail him, ever!* She could feel that something was happening. There was a strange tingling feeling in her chest, as if something inside her was trying to get out. The feeling slowly spread to her arms, and when it seemed right, she just... let go. A bolt of blue-white energy leapt from her hands, impacting squarely on the center of the target. Leen jumped up. "Yayyy! I did it!" she shouted, happy to have pleased her... the person she loved. Mahogany checked a screen. "A 'Magical Shot'," he said, surprised. Plain 'Magic' was one of the more rare elements. It tended to lack a bit of the raw power of other element types, but it was also harder to defend against. "A bit weak, but still impressive." While Leen continued to bounce around, Mahogany was considering the implications of this accomplishment. "This definitely proves that something unusual is going on here. Increased physical power is one thing, but a Mousewife who can use magic? That's new." Suddenly Leen had herself pressed up against him. "We should celebrate!" she said, and began nibbling on his ears. "Taming again?" he asked smiling. Leen had always had a healthy libido, but it seemed to have skyrocketed after this 'evolution'. "Okay..." Leen smiled into the back of his neck. *Please, let everything between us stay the same...* >--*--< P O K E W O M O N U N I V E R S E --CF-- (chaos factor) Episode 3 - Contamination By Morgan >--*--< Much later... "It's time to get some other researchers in on this," said Mahogany. While he was not given to false underestimation of his abilities, no one person could be expected to deduce everything about something as unusual as this. It was time to get fresh minds in on this. "Are you sure that's a good idea, Professor? We've only just started testing, after all," asked Leen. She'd done well so far; he didn't suspect her of being any different in her mind. But if all sorts of other researchers became involved, the truth would eventually come out... "Yes, I'm sure. This has been our little project for long enough." He went over to the counter and started programming the synthesizer. "Go call the courier service, okay? I want these to get out quickly." "Yes, Professor." >--*--< One of the more unique things to come as a result of pokewomen was the carrier pidgeys. Before Sukebe, cities and towns were mostly isolated units. There were a few wanderers, travelling on foot, driving small vehicles, or occaisionally taking trips on the odd *large* vehicle, but they were rare. Most people were born in one town and would live there all their lives. Now... most people still stayed the same place all their lives, actually. But it was a lot easier to get back and forth now, and there was regular communication between the different towns. Even something of a central government, in the form of the Pokewomon League. Despite the dangers that wild pokewomen could often be, travel was generally considered a lot safer now than it once was. (Not that anyone from that time was around to make a real comparison.) Carrier pidgey service, like so many other things, came about to fufill a particular need. In this case, it was that sometimes something needs to get to a particular destination extremely quickly. Pidgeys and their evolutions were ideal. Though relatively common, they are fast, tough, and good navigators, able to outrun (or outfly) just about anything, and outfight a fair amount of it too. A complicated screening process was devoloped, which looked for intelligence and memory as much as for physical abilities. Girls who thresholded into flying types frequently became carrier pidgeys. It was generally considered one of the best places one could end up. The people were nice (after all, it doesn't pay to abuse a pokewomon who is going to be out of your sight for extended periods of time, nor is it particularly smart to be nasty to someone who will be carrying your valuables), you got to fly a lot (something all pidgeys *loved* doing), and all the things that people distrusted about threshhold girls (personality, initiative, etc.) were *encouraged*. What better life could you find? As for the customers, they loved it. The speed alone was new and useful, but add to that the amazing reliability they demonstrated, and it was just about perfect. And so the niche was filled. For bulk cargo, you still needed one of the big trucks, and finding someone who kept moving was still a better job for tamers on the ground, but if you had something that needed to be there *fast*, carrier pidgey was the only way to go. The one standing in front of them now was a fairly typical example of the type. She was a pidgette, with short and light brown hair and matching feathers. She wore the usual carrier pidgey uniform of light t-shirt, shorts, and a backpack, all designed to avoid interfering with her wings. (Though most pidgeys didn't particularlly *like* wearing clothes, preferring to feel the wind on their bare feathers, this was a job that simply required pockets.) Stitched over her right breast was her name, Jessica. Jessica stood and waited as Leen loaded vials into a carefully cut foam block, a bit impatient but hiding it well. After all, if they were hiring her they were in a hurry too, so no need to do anything to cause bad feeling. Anyway, there were other matters to be arranged. "Now, you'll need to deliver one of these vials to each of the people on this list. I've already notified them all that there will be a delivery," said Mahogany, handing her a clipboard. "You'll need to be careful, as the vials are somewhat fragile." "No problem," said Jessica as she looked over the list. "I've made deliveries to most of these people before, so getting to them again will be no problem." She pulled out a handcomp (a technological cousin to the pokedex) and began entering route information. "It'll take me a few minutes to calculate the charge for you..." "Never mind that," interjected Mahogany. "Just have the office send me an invoice. Cost is no matter, but these samples need to be delivered as quickly as possible." "You got it," replied Jessica, though she continued to work on the handcomp, planning her route. Once she was finished, she opened up her pack and loaded the block containing the vials. "Okay," she said as she closed and reattached it, "Ready to go." Mahogany and Leen both watched as Jessica went out the door and with a few powerful beats of her wings launched into the sky. >--*--< Most of the deliveries were uneventful, which suited Jessica just fine; it left more time to savor the flight. But as she was crossing Lake Macklin, a massive thunderstorm appeared without any warning. If she was over land, she'd just get under cover and wait until it passed, but if she let it force her down now, she'd almost certainly drown. Buffeting winds shoved her around unpredictably, and the rain made even her keen vision almost useless, but still she struggled for what seemed like hours to reach the shore. Finally, she reached land. The forest here would provide excellent cover from the storm, once she managed to land- A sudden gust of wind smashed her back against a large tree. Already weak from fighting against the storm, she fell unconcious, her body slowly sliding to the ground. Unnoticed, the fluid from the smashed vials seeped through the thin fabric of her shirt, working it's changes quietly in the dark. >--*--< Jessica woke up suddenly, feeling cold and damp despite the sun that was now shining through the treetops. Deciding she'd better check on her cargo, she pulled off her pack and opened it. Finding only broken bits remaining, she sighed. "Oh well..." She reached for the pocket holding her handcomp, to report the incident... and almost recoiled in shock when she saw it. The case was cracked almost in two, the screen shattered, bits and pieces everywhere broken or just missing. *These things are just about indestructible,* she thought. *They probably decided I was killed when it stopped transmitting.* *I wonder if I want them to find out I'm still alive?* *... Where did THAT thought come from?* >--*--< The various researchers who recieved samples from Mahogany for the most part followed the same pattern - first testing and analysis with various equipment, then finally trying it on one of their own pokewomen once they had concluded it was safe. Results were mixed. >--*--< "Dejiko!" shouted Professor Geraman. "You still need to clean the kitchen!" A response came quickly, but it wasn't exactly the one he was expecting. "No -nyo! Dejiko doesn't want to -nyo! Dejiko wants to take a nap -nyo!" Geraman just stared in shock. >--*--< [[Insert scenes the author is too tired to think of at the moment]] >--*--< Then there was the case of Doctor Arens, who was rather messily disemboweled by his catgirl during a videoconference. When League investigators arrived, they found her body not ten feet away from his. Though she hadn't been in the best of health (which was likely the cause of her treatment of Arens), they concluded that the cause of death was probably something to do with all those little holes through her body. An expert in lost technology might recognize the holes as the marks of a bullet from a 45 calibur handgun... but there was no such expert here. >--*--< NEPHILIM (insert name here), the Restored (insert title here) Pokewomon Form: Ranges from base type to Extremely Near Human Element: As base type Frequency: Special Diet: As base type Role: Unknown Libido: As base type Strong Vs: As base type, Domina Weak Vs.: As base type Attacks: As base type, plus Extra Power Enhancements: As base type plus Total Control, Unbreakable, Bondbreaker, Independance Evolves: As base type Nephilim are pokewomen who have been exposed to the Chaos Factor agent, or descended from other Nephilim. Nephilim resemble ordinary pokewomen of their type, but generally are more humanlike in form. A Very Near Human form will sometimes become Extremely Near Human, impossible to distinguish from humans under normal circumstances. (Genetic scanning will usually detect an XNH Nephilim.) Extra Power: In addition to their previous attacks, Nephilim gain access to attacks from a different energy-based element. Total Control: Nephilim never lose control of their abilities. For example, A tamer with an Amazonchan Nephilim would not need to fear having their back broken by accident. Bondbreaker: Though it was previously thought that Nephilim were incapable of bonding, this was incorrect. However, an extremely strong emotional connection is required for bonds to form. Weaker bonds will be broken when a normal pokewomon transforms to Nephilim. Unbreakable: Nephilim are immune to all direct attempts to modify their will and thought process, whether through magic, psionics, chemicals, machines, or through any other means, as well as being pretty hard to wear down indirectly. Most Nephilim feel no desire to *tell* anyone about this however. Independance: Nephilim have no particular dependance on others, psychological, biochemical, or otherwise. They have no feral state. WARNING!!! THE "CHAOS FACTOR" EVOLUTIONARY MUTAGEN HAS BEEN DECLARED A CLASS THREE BIOHAZARD THREAT. ALL SAMPLES MUST BE IMMEDIATELY DESTROYED OR REMANDED TO POKEWOMON LEAGUE DEPARTMENT OF RESEARCH. <--*--> [End theme - "Carnival Babel", Blue Seed] end episode 3 - chaos factor <--*--> Disclaimery Bit: Pokewomon created by a variety of people as a parody of a certain highly marketed game. Professor Mahogany created by some of those people. Leen created by me, though with a certain extremely loose inspiration by character of the same name from "Elf Princess Rane". Dejiko created by whatever wonderful demented soul came up with "Digi Charat". Others mostly created by me. Professor Arens inspired by someone in RL who I don't like very much. >:-> Notes: ... Will also be waiting for a while. It's late (though not as late as when I wrote CF2), I'm tired, and I'm developing bad habits. Sorry about the missing scenes; I pretty much ran out of steam here. As always, thanks for reading. Hope you've had as much fun reading as I have writing. -Morgan. September 11, 2002. <--*--> "Blue, the blue time begins to melt The future floats to the surface ephemerally Life glitters in the same number as the lights and then is gone. Blue, the blue heart begins to melt The painful tears fall like rain Prayers glitter in the same number as the lights and then are gone." -"Carnival Babel", Blue Seed