Author's Note :

Hello, long time no see! I must admit, that was the longest hiatus I have ever been on, but now that I got everything settled in real life again... Anyway, I have gotten around to doing many things other then gluing myself to my computer and forcing myself to write this amazing story. I have both played and beaten Final Fantasy 13, which has actually inspired me to create some kind of Dragon Storm spin-off of it. For those of the six newcomer characters, none of you will be in this chapter, but you will all start to make appearances in the next chapters. At any rate Aisu has been really patient with his upcoming fight with Nezbit, so please enjoy this installment of Dragon Storm! ^,=,^

SoFurry Cast

DS-Rio: http://ds-rio.sofurry.com/

A Soviet Dragon: http://a-soviet-dragon.sofurry.com/

Yun95: http://yun95.sofurry.com/

Eveser: http://eveser.sofurry.com/

Naraku: http://naraku.sofurry.com/

Aresues: http://aresues.sofurry.com/

ASCII Artwork:

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            /,,;';;.  ,;;;..  ,,;.    '

          .',''   ::;:';;;;' ..'

          `      ,,/'     ,,//           jv

I do not take credit for this artwork.

-PREVIOUSLY ON DRAGON STORM-

"ARRRGGGGHHHHHH!!!!!!!!!!!" Shayde yelled and blocked Yun's sword attack and then forced all of his remaining Quintessence into his right hand and formed a fist, by letting go of his katana and landing a direct punch on Yun's face, making him skid back a few feet, but not before Yun landed his own punch directly on Shayde's face as well.

"ARGH!!" Yun yelled and staggered forward toward Shayde a little bit and then began shaking uncontrollably and fell down to the ground, dropping all of his swords while doing so.

"Argh... ouch...oww..." Shayde whimpered.

" What...what is... happening to me...?" Yun asked in shock.

" When I punched you just now... I robbed you of all your body heat... now you are going through hypothermic shock..." Shayde explained and stood up.

" Nooo.... I can't lose..." Yun said.

"I'm afraid you just did... so I can go through the gates... to get to where Rio is..." Shayde said and then suddenly coughed up blood and fell down to the ground.

"Hmph." Yun muttered while going through hypothermic shock.

"What? What's... happening... to... me...?" Shayde asked in pain and felt extremely light-headed.

"Heh... You forget Shayde... I use... sound, so I don't have to make direct contact... but that's only if the ears are exposed...however... I punched you with... everything I had...and... made direct contact..." Yun explained.

"Okay, but... that still doesn't... explain..." Shayde said, but then coughed up more blood.

" Argh... you are a fool, pup... Don't forget that more than 70% of the anthro body is made of water, and water transmits sound... in other words, your whole body is like an ear." Yun explained and shakes uncontrollably.

" Damn... I guess... it's another draw..." Shayde said and tried to reach out to grab his katana, and as soon as he does... he passes out.

~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~

" SHIT! THERE'S NO TIME TO GRAB MY OWN KEY!!!" Andal yelled and used his chain to swing across the square opening of water and land by Rio, grab his key and attempt to unshackle him.

However, before Andal could do so, the timer reached zero for the giant anchor and dropped down with a massive velocity. The giant anchor pulled on the chains that shackled Andal and Rio and pulled them both under the deep blue sea. As the giant anchor sunk deeper and deeper and deeper into the ocean, Andale undid Rio's shackle and set him free. Andal slowly sank to the bottom of the ocean while watching Rio float back up to the surface. There was nothing Andal could do; he was in so much pain now due to the salt water on all his wounds, that he could hardly move. Andal passed out with a smile on his face knowing that May would get to live on.

Ben had placed the crate that May was tied to back on the dock and quickly untied her while explaining to her that he could not swim. Just as May was free she dashed over to the square opening and watched Rio surface. She pulled him out and screamed at the top of her lungs.

"RIO, RIO WAKE UP!!! YOU'RE ALL I HAVE LEFT!!!!!" May yelled while crying her heart out.

OPENING#3:

I realize the screaming pain

Hearing it loud in my brain

But I'm going straight ahead with the scar

Can you hear me?

Can you hear me?

Can you hear me? (So am I)

It's fine if you forget, it's fine if you can't feel it

I've patched up the scrapes in my heart

It's okay if I'm hurt, because I no longer feel the pain

Even as I drag my feet along

I can no longer see

The self

That made a sound

and then collapsed

If you just notice the sound of the wind...

It told me to follow these scars

Before I'd be crushed by the weight of the world

Can you remember it? The sky of tears...

That pain has given you protection

Because this pain will always protect you

More than the strength of being unhurt, the kindness that cannot hurt

Its voice in some ways, seems sad

Can you hear me?

Can you hear me?

Can you hear me? (So am I)

I do not own Sign.

Dragon Storm

CHAPTER 35: A battle for freedom and A Sorrowful Reunion! Aisu vs. Nezbit!

"RIO!!!" May yelled out while crying.

"It's no use! He needs CPR and fast!" Ben said, taking a step back in shock.

"I... I can't... I have a beak, Rio needs someone with a snout!" May stated firmly and lifted Rio up and flew into the air while carrying him.

"Where are you going?" Ben said while flying upward toward May.

"I have someone in mind who can save Rio and he shouldn't be too far away. Listen Ben, My father is dead now... that makes me the new General of this griffin army, so do as I say and follow me! We have to find Lazz!!" May exclaimed and took off.

"Yes, General May!" Ben agreed and then followed her.

General May and Ben flew as fast as they could toward the Dragon Talon Island's Forest looking to see if they couldn't find a building to stay inside. Being out in the open would only reveal their location to any third party guests. Sadly though, Rock Lizard had access to Rio and Lazz's whereabouts thanks to the GPS transmitters in their respective Nano-machines within their bodies. May knew she could not hide from him and not for long, but she figured Lazz would be indoors for better cover anyway. May didn't want to risk calling Lazz over the codec in case Lazz was in no condition to deal with the consequences of their codecs being tapped or anyone listening in.

They were now just about in the middle of the Dragon Talon Island's Forest when all of a sudden Ben spotted something. He was trying to make it out and squinted eyes a bit. It didn't take long for Ben to notice that May was looking in a different direction, so no wonder she wasn't concerned. Ben noticed something right behind the small figure, it was magma and allot of it. Ben quickly put two and two together and figured the figure was injured and was trying to get away from the magma before it engulfed him alive. With that, Ben quickly swooped down to save the small figure as the magma was closing in.

"Ben!? Where are you going? I GAVE YOU AN ORDER!!" General May yelled.

" I think he needs our help!" Ben shouted back.

"Damn it, Ben this better be good!" General May said and followed Ben down into the forest.

"Huh? A dog? It's a dog!" Ben said as he landed in front of him.

"Arghh... who... are..." Shayde muttered with the last bit of his strength.

"Ben! We don't have time for this, Rio needs our help!" General May exclaimed.

"But the lava is going to kill him! We have to save him May!" Ben said and picked up Shayde.

"Rio..." Shayde whispered.

"Huh? Wait! You know him!?" Ben asked in shock.

"Yes... Rio..." Shayde whispered and then placed his fingers in his mouth in attempts to whistle, but because Shayde was to exhausted he fainted before he could.

" Let's go Ben! We have to hurry!!" General May demanded and took off into the air again before the lava engulfed where they were just standing.

"I don't know who you are or where you came from, but I will save you... you must be one of Rio's friends." Ben said and followed right behind May.

"That's too bad. He had a snout... he could have saved you Rio... something that I cannot do. I don't even have enough quintessence to heal this dog so he can give you CPR... some general I am..." General May said.

======================= (Elsewhere) ============================

" Nezbit..." Aisu said.

"Long time no see, huh Aisu?" Nezbit said.

"Hmph." Aisu muttered as his Giant ice dragon stood behind him and roared.

"Hah! The one who once feared my menacing air... has now matured, huh?" Nezbit asked sarcastically.

"..." Aisu remained silent, waiting for Nezbit's first move. He knew that Nezbit could bind him at any time with his G.O.N. so he had to be prepared this time.

" Everything I do is for my goal..." Nezbit said.

"What?" Aisu asked.

"No, I do it to clear the darkness that stands in the way of my goal." Nezbit said and closed his eyes.

• - - - - - - - - - - - (Flashback: Nezbit's past) - - - - - - - - - - - - -

Nezbit was walking with Rock Lizard talking about various things. They walked in the maintenance base to check on the Pseudo-chimera adult project, when suddenly Nezbit slowed down.

"And what of the preparations on the Pseudo-chimera teenager, Nezbit?" Rock Lizard asked in a firm voice.

"Hmph. It is in it's final stages of completion, or so that goodie scientist Carl Kurotsuchi informed me. Kilala warned me about him... I'd be careful if I were you boss." Nezbit said as he took out a throwing knife and charged right at Rock Lizard and cut him on his neck.

"AAAAAAAAAGGGGGGGGHHHHHHHHHH!!!!!!!!!!!!!!" Nezbit screamed and blood spurted everywhere.

• - - (Flash forward: Dragon Talon Island: Shores) - - - - -

"Hey! Open your eyes when you are talking to me! This is no time to daydream Nezbit! I don't want you to miss how I will kill you!" Aisu said.

"Fine." Nezbit said and quickly opened his eyes and used his Binding G.O.N. to bind Aisu in place just like before.

"Damn you!" Aisu said loudly.

"Well, at least I had the pleasure of talking with you again after all these years Aisu." Nezbit said while taking out a throwing knife and walking toward Aisu.

"..." Aisu remained silent and watched.

"This time, I think I will stab your brains out, what do you think?" Nezbit asked sarcastically.

Suddenly, a giant swarm of neon blue snowflakes swirled around Nezbit and disarmed him of his throwing knife and covered him in frost. The swirling snowflakes slowly began to freeze Nezbit alive and gusts of winds began to pick up increasing the process.

"The nature of this quintessence... but, I've never seen this change in quintessence before. What are you, Aisu? You have become something far more powerful then a genome solider..." Nezbit said in shock while beginning to bleed.

" Your G.O.N. may still be able to bind me, but it doesn't come as a surprise to me anymore, so I'm afraid it's half-effective now Nezbit. You said it yourself, I carry allot of childhood trauma with me and on top of that, I have already died once." Aisu said while still bonded.

"Interesting..." Nezbit said while shivering.

"I have nothing left to learn from you Nezbit... Even here before you... I think I can become even more heartless." Aisu said.

• - - - - - - - - - - - (Flashback: Aisu's past) - - - - - - - - - - - - -

"Hmph. You didn't kill all of them Aisu. You won't get to eat tonight!" Tiger wanghu said firmly.

"Hmph. There are others I'd rather kill." Aisu said.

"Hah! Unless you don't become heartless, you will never survive in this world! It's kill or be killed, that's how it has always been!

"So... who cares." Aisu snapped back.

"You will never have what it takes to kill him..." Tiger wanghu said.

"Hmph. Nezbit? When I stand before him, I'll be heartless, whether I want to or not." Aisu said and walked away, walking on top of hundreds of bodies littered all over the battle arena.

"Hmmm....." Tiger Wanghu muttered.

• - - (Flash forward: Dragon Talon Island: Shores) - - - - -

Aisu's giant ice dragon suddenly used its talon to stab Aisu in the back slightly; just enough to make him bleed and just enough to cancel out the bind from Nezbit's G.O.N. Aisu then began to walk toward Nezbit.

" I found it weird that your G.O.N. did not show me my "cause of death" this time, I guess that means that I am not the one who will die here today. Nezbit! You are weaker then me." Aisu stated firmly.

"You have some nerve... You are still just a fledgling, Aisu!" Nezbit said.

"Hah! If I hadn't been a fledgling, you would've had no chance at me, right? You were eyeing me, trying to appraise this "fledgling" in the underground battle arena." Aisu stated.

"..." Nezbit remained silent.

" So you put dibs on me. You also had countless others that were bound to you because of the power you gave them in becoming a genome solider. They got power in exchange for their freedom. To gain something, we have to give something up. You wanted to see how strong I could get and then withdraw my blood so that you could experiment until you got some of my powers, huh? That really was your goal wasn't it?" Aisu asked.

"Hmph. I'll never tell yo-" Nezbit said, but then was interrupted by Aisu.

"Rock Lizard didn't work out... That's why you came after me, a fledgling. Isn't that right, Nezbit? The one who they said died two years ago in an explosion in your lab. Your lab, which is located in the maintenance base." Aisu explained.

• - - - - - - - - - - - (Flashback: Nezbit's past) - - - - - - - - - - - - -

"And what of the preparations on the Pseudo-chimera teenager, Nezbit?" Rock Lizard asked in a firm voice.

"Hmph. It is in it's final stages of completion, or so that goodie scientist Carl Kurotsuchi informed me. Kilala warned me about him... I'd be careful if I were you boss." Nezbit said as he took out a throwing knife and charged right at Rock Lizard and cut him on his neck.

"AAAAAAAAAGGGGGGGGHHHHHHHHHH!!!!!!!!!!!!!!" Nezbit screamed and blood spurted everywhere.

Rock Lizard had quickly snapped his fingers and it was all he needed to completely blow off Nezbit's arm thanks to his G.O.N.

"I never really did trust you, Nezbit. Why don't you crawl back into the hole that you crawled out of? You better not let me catch you in my sight again.

"Agggghhhh!!! How...?" Nezbit asked in pain, but Rock Lizard just walked away and then faded into the darkness.

The next thing that Nezbit heard was another snap from Rock Lizards fingers. Not a second later, there was a huge explosion that engulfed Nezbit in it, thus destroying his lab.

• - - (Flash forward: Dragon Talon Island: Shores) - - - - -

"..." Nezbit remained silent and gripped his metal arm and then quickly pulled out two throwing knifes and threw them at Aisu.

Aisu effortlessly dodged them both only letting the first one graze him on the arm.

"Hmph. And what's more, I don't like the way you things. You hopped hideout to hideout on the island, all of which your labs, Rock Lizard might not have noticed, but I did. Conducting experiments on shunned creatures BLACKFANG had captured. Injecting them, hurting them, dissecting them, drugging them... Toying with life after life... Saying that you were trying to unravel the order of this world. You continued to toy with others for your own stupid and selfish reasons..." Aisu stated firmly.

Just then Aisu held his hand out and the giant ice dragon flew high into the air and then landed right on top of Nezbit, crushing him. This sent snow and ice flying in every direction and huge gusts of wind blew past Aisu and pushing the waves in the water to ripple outward some. Just then, the giant ice dragon instantly shattered and neon blue ice shards littered the sky. After the dust cleared Aisu was in shock at what he saw.

"So this is your true form, Nezbit? You even went as far as experimenting on yourself, huh?" Aisu said in a surprised tone of voice.

"Hmph. I guess I got a little... bored." Nezbit said, while pealing off his skin to reveal cyber parts.

Suddenly, Nezbit charged out at Aisu and swiped his sharp claws at him. Aisu quickly avoided the claw swipe, but then staggered onto the ground quickly. He was in pain suddenly and didn't understand why.

"What the- Now I get it... the throwing knife you grazed me with earlier..." Aisu said while panting.

"You're only half right." Nezbit said.

"Huh?" Aisu asked.

"My throwing knifes are dipped in a poison, yes, but it only takes away your sense of touch. Meaning now your brain can't receive signals from your body when you are touched or touch. I have stopped you from using your G.O.N. temporary you idiot! You can't absorb other G.O.N.s now seeing as how you have to touch them in order to get it, but you can touch them all you want, as long as your brain doesn't register that action your G.O.N. will not activate! Also, you forgot about my clan trait. It's beginning to take effect! The body fluid of my pealed skin vaporizes upon contact with the air and becomes an anesthetic. I AM IMMORTAL! THE LIKES OF YOUR POWERS ARE NO MATCH FOR ME!!!" Nezbit explained and then laughed evilly.

Just then Nezbit's metal tail began to spin like a drill and headed right for Aisu's head. However, Aisu reached into the air and all of a sudden thousands of ice shards hailed on to Nezbit cutting him up endlessly. Then Aisu, reached his other hand out and a giant rush of wind blew past him removing the anesthetic air around him. Next, Aisu used Nezbit's G.O.N. to bind Nezbit in place. It showed him his own death at the hands of Aisu. Nezbit began to scream in fear of what was happening. Aisu then used one of his new Shattering G.O.N. and quickly pointed at Nezbit so that it looked as though Aisu was pointing a gun with his hand and suddenly Nezbit's legs were both blown off completely.

"AGGGGGGGHHHHHHHHAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAA!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!" Nezbit screamed.

"Nezbit, you're the idiot here! My lance only houses all my powers so if I can't touch my lance that's not a problem. You see, I can hold onto five G.O.N.s at one time. The more G.O.N.s I hold onto the more ineffective they become, but since you cut off my sense of touch, you also released those restrictions. In other words... I am now temporarily allowed to use all five of my G.O.N.s as if they were at full strength!" Aisu explained while a gust of wind rushed past him, making his teal hair flow in the wind.

"NNOOOOO!!!!" Nezbit yelled in defeat.

" It's over, Nezbit! Go to hell!" Aisu said and then picked up an ice shard and watched as the color of the shard became negative in coloration and then threw it at Nezbit.

When it stabbed him he instantly vanished. There was nothing left of Nezbit. Aisu's warping G.O.N. was normally hard to use, but since he wasn't being restricted at the moment he got the job done with ease. Aisu knew he would never see Nezbit again because whatever is hit with that power is sent to another dimension forever.

"Hmph. Weakling." Aisu said and strapped his lance to his back and walked along the shores.

Aisu walked until he noticed a dock. Rio's quintessence readings were faint, but they were still in the air. Aisu knew that he wasn't to far behind and let out a laugh.

======================= (Meanwhile) ============================

"Hey look! Over there!" General May shouted.

"Hm? A building? It looks to be on fire. Wait. Is that a black colored flame?" Ben asked confusedly.

"Umm... yeah... hey look! This is unreal! I can see Lazz!" General May said and then they both landed on the ground near Lazz.

"May?" Lazz asked.

"So this is Lazz?" Ben asked.

"WHAT THE HELL HAPPENED TO YOUR ARM!?" General May asked in shock.

"I...was careless..." Lazz whispered.

"There's no time for this! We have to save Rio! Lazz hurry up and perform CPR, you're the only one who can do it! May and I have beaks it will never work!" Ben shouted.

"Rio! What the hell happened to him!?" Lazz asked in shock.

"Are you going to save him or not!?" General May shouted.

"I will need your help as well... I only have one hand and won't be able to properly pump Rio's chest." Lazz said and kneeled down as May placed Rio on the ground.

"Then I will pump his chest!" General May said and kneeled down also, ripping Rio's shirt open and placing her hands on his chest.

"That black fire is heating this place up very well. I suppose we won't need to take this inside." Ben said.

Just then, Shayde whistled for the first time, watery in the eyes, and still exhausted. Everyone glanced at Shayde, but then returned their attention to Rio once again.

"Stay with us... Rio..." Shayde whispered while reaching out toward him.

Lazz hovered over Rio's mouth and stared at his face. He began to feel an overwhelming heat flow through out his body in unexplainable ways. His heart pumped faster, his eyes got watery, his stomach felt empty, sweat could be seen, Lazz didn't understand what this feeling was. What happened next seemed to just take place on it's own. As if Lazz could no longer move according to his will. He closed his eyes and slowly placed his lips on Rio's for a passionate kiss. Everyone else blushed, but after a few seconds Lazz kissed Rio again. Soon after, it became second nature to him and before everyone knew it Lazz was performing CPR. May pumped Rio's chest as Lazz proceeded to kiss Rio, snout to snout. After sixteen tries, May began to cry.

"STAY WITH US YOU BASTARD!!! I WANT TO TALK WITH YOU AGAIN!!! I LIKED BEING YOUR FRIEND!!!" General May yelled and pumped harder.

"Come Rio! You told me that you would always be here to keep me straight and narrow! I expect you to keep your promise to me!" Lazz said and proceeded with CPR.

"Rio... no...come back..." Shayde whispered.

"It's not... working..." Ben whispered and put Shayde down gently.

Lazz and May kept performing CPR until nearly ten minutes had passed and still no results. May was now at this point upset and Lazz was speechless. Everyone had this empty feeling of sorrow wash over them instantly. They could do nothing, but watch Rio in his slumber.

" RIO!!!" General May yelled.

"..........." Lazz remained silent.

"You... lied to me... you said you would... come running... if I whistled..." Shayde whispered.

"I have always had a crush on you, May, Please use my power..." Ben said and transferred all his quintessence into May, and then fainted.

"BEN!!" General May shouted.

"Hurry, there's still time! Remove the bullets and water from his lungs!" Lazz said.

With that, May used all the quintessence that Ben gave her to completely heal everyone. Shayde stood up, Lazz was no longer in intense pain, and Rio coughed up water and woke up.

"ACK!!" Rio coughed.

"RIO!!!" Everyone said together and hugged him.

Suddenly, a massive wave of quintessence engulfed them. It swirled around Rio's body and empowered him. He felt stronger then ever. He quickly stood up and pointed at Ben, but before Rio could get his question out May shook her head.

"In the griffin family, those who pass on their powers... die." General May explained.

"He sacrificed himself for me...?" Rio asked.

".................." Lazz remained silent.

"This is amazing Rio. Quintessence isn't normally supposed to be visible, but you're so strong now, that I can clearly see the flow of your quintessence engulfing your body and swirling around you." Shayde said enlightened.

"Unbelievable, he's not lying... I can see it too." Lazz said.

"Rio? It isn't normal to be this strong... just what exactly are you?" General May said.

"I'm... a dragon and your friend. I will protect what I believe in! My dream will come true!" Rio said as he walked over to Ben's body and picked up his gear that Ben had picked up before following May off the docks without her knowing.

Just then, they all got a call from HQ on their respective codecs and began to talk.

"Can you guys hear me? It's me Kilala!" Kilala said.

"Kilala? What the hell? Amy's not here anymore, but I can still hear you!" Rio said.

"Rio!" Lazz said and gave himself a face palm.

"Sorry." Rio said.

"Who are you?" General May asked.

"I'm not so sure myself. I don't know my real name or even what my parents look like. I bought all my identification, but my reason for getting into genetics was true." Kilala explained.

"Because you want to know yourself, right?" Lazz added.

"That's right! I want to know where I came from... m, my age, my race... anything..." Kilala explained.

"Kilala..." Shayde whispered.

"I was found in Rhodesia sometime in the 80's... I was a dirty little orphan." Kilala said.

"What the hell is that? I can't even say that word!" Rio said and laughed.

"Rhodesia? What's now know as Zimbabwe?" Lazz asked.

"Yes. Rhodesia was owned by England until 1965 and there were lots of Indian laborers around, that's probably where I got my accent from, but I'm not sure myself..." Kilala explained.

"Damn, your old!" Rio shouted.

"RIO! Aww... that's awful Kilala..." General May said.

"Kilala your too worried about the past. Isn't it enough to understand who you are now?" Lazz asked.

"Understand who I am now!? Why should I no one else tries to understand me! I was alone for so long... until I met him..." Kilala said.

"Him?" Shayde asked.

"Yes. Him... he was in Squad # 6220, AU877, A.K.A. my big brother... Allen." Kilala said.

"What the hell?!" Lazz said in shock.

"That's when it happened! You left him... and killed him! It was you that elaborated that plan! It was all you! It's your fault! I hate you! You killed the only family I had... even as an orphan when I was half-dead due to starvation he shared some of his rations with me! You took my step-brother away from me, Lazz!" Kilala explained.

"You got to be kidding me! The whole reason why I smoke is because of his death! He was a good solider and I was happy to have him on my squad!" Lazz exclaimed.

"Yes, and this reminds me, if I see you start to smoke for Ben's sake, I'll kick your ass right where you stand!" Rio said firmly.

"HAH! I vowed revenge and joined BLACKFANG. I knew it was my best chance to meet you and I prayed for the day that I would..." Kilala explained.

"Yes. I waited two long years..." Kilala said.

"Heh... to kill me? Is that all you care about?" Lazz asked.

"Yes. That's right! You were all I thought about for two long years... like some kind of twisted obsession..." Kilala explained.

"You better not do anything to hurt Lazz! He is my friend and it's my dream to protect him!" Rio stated.

"But after everything we have all been through... do you still hate me, Kilala?" Lazz asked.

"Not exactly... I was partly wrong about you... thus I created "Fur-ex"." Kilala said.

"Fur-ex?" Shayde asked.

"Yes. Fur-ex is a type of retrovirus that targets and kills only specific Anthros. First it infects the macrophages in the victim's body. Fur-ex contains "smart" enzymes, created through protein engineering. They're programmed to respond to specific genetic patterns in the cells." Kilala explained.

"Those enzymes recognize the target's DNA?" Lazz asked.

"Right. They respond by becoming active, and using the macrophages, they begin creating TNF (Tumor Necrosis Factor) epsilon!" Kilala explained.

"Huh?" Rio asked.

"It's a type of cytokine, a peptide which causes cells to die. The TNF epsilon is carried along the bloodstream to the heart, where they attach to the TNF receptors in the heart cells!" Kilala explained.

"And then... they cause a heart attack?" Lazz asked.

" The heart cells suffer a shock and undergo an extreme apoptosis. Then... the victim dies." Kilala explained.

"Apoptosis... you mean the heart cells commit suicide..." General May said.

"So that's what happened to the DARPA chief and the Dragons tech president! Because you injected me with nano-machines right before we woke Rio up and they only died when I was around them." Lazz said.

"I forced you to fail your mission Lazz." Kilala said.

"You must have programmed that thing to kill me to, huh?" Lazz asked.

"..........................." Kilala remained silent.

"Do I still have time?" Lazz asked.

"..............................." Kilala remained silent.

"But I can't go yet... I still have a job to do!" Lazz exclaimed.

"Listen, Lazz... I'm not the one who made the decision to use Fur-ex..." Kilala said.

"You weren't?" Lazz asked.

"No... it... it was... Quicksilv- AAAGGGGRRRRRHHHHH!!!!!!!!!!!!" Kilala screamed.

"KILALA!!!!" Rio yelled.

"Rio, Lazz, May, Shayde, I can't allow Kilala to make any more unauthorized transmissions!" Quicksilver stated.

"Dad!?" Rio asked.

"What?" Lazz asked.

"That's right! Kilala has been removed from this operation!" Quicksilver stated.

"QUICKSILVER!!! WHAT DID SHE MEAN SHE WASN'T THE ONE TO DECIDE UPON INJECTING ME WITH FUR-EX!? LET ME TALK TO HER!!!" Lazz yelled.

"I won't! She's under arrest!" Quicksilver stated firmly.

"Quicksilver! You double crossed me!" Lazz exclaimed.

"Lazz, there's no time for that! Kilala has been acting weird from the beginning, and I even had Eubanks keep a close eye on her... she has been seen sending coded messages to BLACKFANG! I have had enough! I will not let you talk to your commanding officer like this any longer! Right now, your job is to STOP the Pseudo-Chimera Adult project! You are dismissed..." Quicksilver demanded and ended the call.

Everyone stood there and blankly stared at one another confused as to what they should do next. They all felt betrayed one way or another... and suddenly, nothing mattered to them any more... not each other, not the mission, not anything.

======================= (Elsewhere in Fur Dreams) ==========================

Tia dropped her cell phone in complete shock as she heard everything that was said thanks to Kilala, her mom. Quicksilver didn't notice it, but Kilala had called Tia just before this conversation. With this all being said... Tia grabbed her gear and walked right past her T.V that was displaying a very urgent alert message.

"We advise you to stay indoors for the time being as a powerful entity has been seen causing destruction around the city of Fur Dreams." Reporter warned.

Tia ignored everything and walked down the streets into a city of massive chaos. She had only one thought in her mind... revenge!

To be continued...................

Author's suspenseful questions:

How does Tia plan on getting her revenge?

What will our heroes do now that everything seems hopeless?

Will Aisu catch up with Rio?

STAY TUNED IN!

THANKS FOR READING!!! XD