FSE

Furry search engine

formerly SoFurry search engine

Borderlands -Caustic Crystals-

Written by Leo_Todrius Commissioned by Cidius

Morning had broken and the heavens were filling with pink sunlight reflected off of the moon that was ever present in the sky. It was also a chilly morning, at least around the Sanctuary Hole. Lakota only hoped that it was early enough and cold enough that the bandits that had laid siege to the area were curled up to sleep through it all... but his hopes were broken as he heard the whistle of bullets slicing through the air. His emerald green eyes scanned the terrain before him before he broke into a sprint.

Lakota was the model image of a soldier. He was six feet tall, lithe but muscled, strong but agile. He was the best of both worlds. His skin was a soft cinnamon brown but his hair had been so bleached from the Pandoran sun that while his roots were a dark brown, the tips were bleached almost to a platinum blond. It was an unusual contrast, one that had earned him a distinction... especially with the Atlas rank insignia tattooed on his neck.

The former soldier ran up the collapsed stairs and crossed the cracked cement, lunging between broken pipes and exposed wiring. Everything around Sanctuary had been devastated during its escape, but that devastation had revealed what was beneath... the Dahl mining berth. It was yet another instillation the bandits had settled into, taking it over from its roots... but Lakota was used to that... it was the history of Pandora.

Lakota had been born to a prestigious family in Atlas' private military, the Crimson Lance. He'd been raised hearing about the wonders of Atlas finding the first Eridian vault on Promethea. Atlas had reverse engineered the technology to improve everything from star drives to space ships to well rounded guns and the Lance had inherited those benefits. The company was even prosperous enough to branch out into pharmaceuticals like Engorge, to help men with manly problems...

He had also heard the stories of how Atlas discovered Pandora, how they had established the fundamental infrastructure before pulling back. It had been a mistake, a mistake that allowed a rival company to sweep in. Dahl wasn't just after the vault like Atlas, Dahl was there for everything. They mined the resources, used convict labor, and then pulled back just like Atlas. The bandits they left behind inherited the infrastructure just as Dahl had taken it from Atlas. It was a parasitic cycle, one Lakota despised.

The blonde soldier cut down several more bandits, ducking under a buzz-axe as it was hurled past him before he jumped over a guard rail, dropping down almost two stories onto a cat walk that rattled with his body weight. He looked around at the cavernous expanse he was in, finding it hard not to appreciate the sight of it... the sight of something so epic that still predated his presence on the planet. Lakota resumed his sprint toward the center of the area, toward the Sanctuary hole.

The ruins were built almost like an artificial crater, a hole of cement and metal, a massive ring with a hole to the vast caverns beneath. The Dahl logo still glowed faintly from the equipment, long since abandoned... Abandoned just like Lakota. Lakota had been in Atlas' army, in the Crimson Lance. He had served under General Knoxx... a fact he did not cherish. The general had given up on life and then he had been defeated, taking all of Atlas with him. The company had gone bankrupt, belly up. It was as dead as a skag beneath a bus... and every soldier in the Lance left on Pandora had been left behind like Dahl's mining equipment, to gather dust and rot.

A few joined the Crimson Raiders, others became bandits. Lakota had decided to try and make his own way in life, to become a vault hunter. Handsome Jack had proven there was more than one vault on Pandora... There had to be more, and Lakota had been searching for years to track it down. He'd traveled from the Dahl Headlands to the Dust, visited the Fridge and even Mount Hellsfont... but one thing kept nagging at him... the focus of Sanctuary.

Lakota ran toward the hole in the center of the artificial crater, bracing himself. The Caustic Caverns had been the single greatest focus of Dahl's mining operations on the planet. They came to that point for a reason, built a landing berth above it and set down their mining ship right on top. They had been close to something and Lakota was going to find out what.

The soldier tapped the digistruct emitters on his wrist, causing a metal spear like structure to form. It was his Scorpio turret, broken during the last days of Fort Knoxx. He'd been trying in vain to upgrade it into a Sabre turret but the parts were scarce. Still, it had many fortunate modifications. Even as the last of the bandit bullets hit the catwalk around him, Lakota lunged over the end of the catwalk, sailing past the elevator and toward the vast hole itself.

As Lakota dropped down over the rim, he stabbed the base of the scorpio turret into the cement. It anchored itself in, the upper portion starting to spin as a carbon nanofiber spilled out. Lakota hooked the fiber up to his belt and started his long descent into the caustic caverns. The chill of the mountain air faded away almost at once, replaced by a humid, acrid heat. The air smelled of sulfur and methane, of acid and alkaline. Lakota looked around at the splintered, shattered rock ceiling of the caves, hidden on the surface by the perfectly shaped cement cover... and he gazed up at the sunlight spilling down on the underground world, but it wasn't the only light source... a vast sea of green glowed beneath Lakota.

Lakes and seas of acid ran between islands of rock covered in necrophage and fungus, glowing with phosphoric light and chemical reactions. The seas bubbled and golden crystals shimmered from the shores. Even that deep down, evidence of Dahl's presence was unmistakable. Pitted out cement buildings covered the islands, aged and decayed and full of the local wild life. Mining tracks snaked across the landscape, melted in places and broken in others. It was a wasteland, but a wasteland with a great secret.

It took almost half an hour for Lakota to descend, but when he was about twenty feet from the ground, the line in his turret went taut. Lakota grimaced, looking down at the ground beneath him and then at the line above him. He had hoped to leave himself an escape route, but that wasn't going to be an option. He reached down and tapped the echo unit on his belt, instructing his turret to return to digital storage. The turret and its immense length of line shimmered in blue and white light as it was deconstructed, dropping Lakota the rest of the way.

The soldier landed on the ground and rolled to displace inertia, though as he came to a stop he heard an unsettling flutter... the flutter of insectoid wings. He looked up to see several Varkid scuttling towards him, ready to attack. He lifted his hand as an Atlas pistol formed in it, the lights shimmering a bright red. The bullets launched out and hit the insects, bursting with flames as they hit the exoskeleton. Several varkid died while the rest scattered, leaving Lakota to regain some composure. He took a breath and started to move further into the caverns in search of evidence that Dahl had discovered another vault. ****

Hours had passed and Lakota was still walking, though he had to admit he had a bit of a headache. The humidity in the air was full of acid and spores, burning his lungs and making his head throb. It even cut down on how fun it was to shoot spider ants, the recoil and the noise doing havoc... but Lakota was a soldier, he would soldier on. He had to find something worth his time. Every so often Lakota glanced at the crystal formations, their shimmering golden light. It was looking more likely that money would have to be his excuse for leaving and coming back, possibly with a respirator.

Lakota moved over toward the acid shores, pulling out his battle axe. He came to a stop by a waist high formation and sized it up before giving a good swing. The axe hit the crystal and shattered a small seam, a crack forming. As he cut into the crystal, the ground beneath the soldier started to rumble and shake. Lakota froze in place, wondering if he had felt a tremor or an earthquake, waiting for it to stop. When the ground grew still again, Lakota waited before swinging again.

Just as his axe hit the crystal, the ground trembled again... this time more than ever. The ground began to shift and split before a massive spire of glowing yellow crystals rose up near Lakota, suspended in place by three pillars of crystal coated legs. The creature stood up to almost twenty feet tall, the crystals on its body emitting the same yellow glow as the crystals the soldier had been harvesting. A small fleshy triangular head came down between two of the legs, six faintly gold colored eyes peering at Lakota.

Lakota chuckled nervously to himself before he started backing up. He'd heard about the Crystalisks, even how they had been discovered in the Caustic Caverns, how they had slaughtered the Dahl Miners... but he'd never seen one in person. Somehow, a creature made of rock seemed far more menacing than any Spider Ant or Bullymong he'd fought before.

The soldier turned to run, though as he did the Crystalisk ejected a shard of crystal and shot it through the air. The crystal implanted in the ground ahead of Lakota before it rapidly started to grow, expanding until it exploded into a cloud of airborne glass and heat. Lakota stumbled back from the explosion, narrowly missing two more crystal mines. He turned to face the crystalisk, deciding going through the creature might be a more viable option.

Lakota let out a scream as he opened fire on the crystalisk, but as he watched, his bullets seemed to just bounce off of its firm rocky skin. The creature launched a few more crystal mines to pin Lakota in before it charged, lumbering along on three legs. One of the huge pillars hit the soldier, knocking him down. Lakota looked up at the underbelly of the crystalisk, readying his gun... but then he saw the spike.

The rock like pile driver speared at Lakota, hitting the ground and causing a shock wave. Lakota narrowly missed getting impaled, rolling to the side before crawling out of the crystalisk's legs. He stumbled to his feet but the ground underneath him gave way, crumbling down as glowing bile green acid rose up, sizzling as the blue hexagons of his shield shimmered, trying to keep the substance from damaging him.

"Shit!" Lakota muttered, watching his shield power drain as the acid eroded at it. He tried to run along the shore until he was clear of the crystalisk before running back up onto the ground. The acid clung to his shield, draining it further before the shield flickered and failed. Lakota broke into a run away from the crystalisk behind him, charging forward... but once more he felt the ground tremble beneath his feet. Another spire of crystal rose up, a crystalisk surfacing. Two legs climbed out of the dirt before it pulled the third free.

The soldier tapped his belt before he tossed his scorpio turret, sticking the spear like extension sideways into the rock wall. The top started to spin, sending several volleys of bullets at the two crystalisks. The creatures backed up as splinters of crystal started to shatter off of their legs and back.

"Get you some!" Lakota grinned, feeling as if he had finally gotten the upper hand... at least until the rock the turret was stuck into shuddered and collapsed, a third crystalisk digging out of the rock itself. The turret tumbled to the ground, unable to spin and hone in on its target. Lakota backed up slowly, surrounded by the three creatures. He backed up all the way to the edge of the shore, hearing the acid starting to lap at his boots, melting the synthetic leather.

Lakota grimaced, knowing this was likely the end of him... at least that version of him. He'd be rebuilt from his genetic model at the last New U station he visited... which was all the way back in the mountains. Still, maybe that wasn't a bad thing. He'd feel refreshed in the cold and maybe he'd know better than venturing into the caverns that got him killed. Still, he was a soldier. He would go out fighting.

With a triumphant yell, Lakota opened fire, peppering the three crystalisks with every bullet he had. He switched out his pistol for an SMG, using that up before he drew out his old Atlas sniper rifle. He'd been through a lot with that rifle. He brought it up to fire, aiming at the nearest crystal coated leg, but his focus on a single target cost his awareness of a most unusual development.

As Lakota aimed, one of the creatures had opened its small mouth, aligned itself carefully, and then sprayed out a thick brown gelatinous slime. The slime hit the sniper rifle with such force that it knocked the weapon from Lakota's hand, sending it skidding across the ground. Lakota moved to grab it, but the slime was already hardening into a brown crystal. His sniper rifle was sealed inside like a bug in amber.

"What the hell did you do?" Lakota asked, turning to face his attacker. The creature stood there, swaying gently. Before Lakota could get a response, he felt something hot and sticky hit his leg. The slime pooled up past his ankle, sizzling. Lakota let out a wretch of disgust, trying to pull his leg free... but it was like he was stuck in molasses. The slime stretched a few times before it firmed, locking his foot in place even as it dissolved his boot. His bare foot became apparent as the slime turned transparent brown, hardening into crystal.

Lakota grunted, pulling out his axe from his digital storage, starting to try and hack at the crystal. Another crystalisk spat, the slime hitting his hand. It firmed and yanked his arm down to his side like a weight, the axe dissolving. The head toppled to the ground harmlessly. Lakota tried to move his arm but it was so heavy... it was also his shooting hand, keeping him from withdrawing another weapon... not that shooting was going to be an option any longer.

The three crystalisks advanced, spraying Lakota with their slime. Both legs were coated up to his knees, then his hips. Both arms were hosed down. Slime splattered on his chest, it even hit his hair. He was being hosed down with brown slime that turned into crystal. Lakota's eyes widened as he realized he was likely being saved for a later meal. Lakota groaned, feeling his legs get crushed and pinned in place. He could even feel the heat of the slime soak through his clothing before dissolving it.

As the crystalisks hosed the soldier up to his waist, Lakota started to feel the forming cocoon more intimately. It filled every crevice, coated him so fully... At first it was great, sticky and hot, like some sort of massage oil... but as it firmed, as it coated his ass cheeks and surrounded his cock, it began to grow tight, firm, hard... and everything was completely exposed.

While the slime had no effect on his flesh, it was devastating his outfit. His uniform had been burned away. His tools melted, his ECHO had dissolved. His naked body was coated in a brown cocoon. Soon even his arms were sealed to his legs, everything covered up to his shoulders... then his neck. Lakota tipped his head back, trying to take in a few last gasps of air. He couldn't move his chest, so restrained in the crystal.

Lakota gasped for air as the goo sprayed up past his ears, across his mouth and nose and eyes, soaking his hair. The slime sealed shut, encasing him completely as it hardened. To Lakota's surprise, the heat didn't leave the crystal as it solidified. It did, however, make the crystal more clear. Lakota could see through with perfect fidelity. In a strange way, it was almost as if he could see easier... though the crystals were changing color.

With each beat of Lakota's heart, the brown cocoon shifted, taking on its own light. It brightened up from brown to green to a yellowish green closer to the acid sea than to the golden crystals that had drawn the soldier's attention. The crystal glowed faintly like a beacon in the night... a beacon with Lakota at its center, still alive. Lakota tried to move but was unable to, completely encased. He had no air, he couldn't breathe, and yet he wasn't passing out, he wasn't dying.

Without his echo, he had no idea of knowing how close to death he was, but it didn't stand to reason he would survive much longer... and yet, he was... He wasn't dying. Then Lakota realized a terrible truth. If he didn't die, he wouldn't respawn... if he didn't respawn, he was stuck there... in the cocoon, trapped. Lakota looked out through his crystal prison at the other crystalisks in shock and horror, wondering what it was that they wanted... and how long it would take him to find out. ****

Lakota awoke with a start, his green eyes snapping open. It took them a few moments to adjust to the light... but he knew right where he was. His lungs felt as though they had imploded, his body stiff and hard... in fact, more so than before. Lakota groaned silently in his crystal coffin, feeling the aching pleasure coming from his groin. His cock felt hard, very hard. It also happened to be encased in crystal that was crushing it and keeping it firm.

Lakota groaned, looking around and then up. His eyes were the only part of him that he could move. He couldn't see the ceiling or the massive hole that the sunlight had come through, but he could faintly make out the dull green eye of the Hyperion ship in orbit. Night had fallen... He'd been encased for almost a full day. The soldier diverted his eyes down, looking around. The crystalisks that had captured him were still around.

One stood in place, guarding their captured prisoner. Another seemed to be rubbing his crystal laden back against a dead tree while the third crouched down by the shore, bringing his tiny triangular head down to the acid lake. A tiny purple tongue emerged, lapping at the acid, drinking it up. Lakota was surprised how docile they seemed... Gentle and calm on their own.

He wondered what it would be like to be so peaceful, so at ease, so... at one with nature. Lakota's eyes started to roll into the back of his head s his mind throbbed, feeling at peace. He longed for the sting of the acid air in his lungs, to feel the hot sludge of the caustic caverns, to be with his kind. Lakota flexed his fingers, trying to wiggle them free, groaning as tiny greenish yellow shards of crystal began pushing out of his skin, coating his forearms... but as soon as the change started, it stopped and Lakota passed out again.

The crystalisks let out a deep guttural grumble to one another, looking at each other before they looked at the crystal cocoon. The one that had been drinking at the lake stood back up and moved over before spitting the acid onto the crystals. The liquid fizzed and bubbled as it ran down into the crystal, finding crevices to erode, releasing oxygen as it moved. It even reached Lakota, though by the time it was there it was no longer acid but a mix of chemicals and crystal.

The creatures watched as the slurry washed over their captive, soaking into his body. The greenish yellow crystals around his wrists grew thicker, creeping up almost all of the way to his elbows like gauntlets. Tiny crystal shards pushed out of the skin around his ankles as well, creating a thick layer of cuffs that emitted their own light. The slurry even soaked into his hair, coating each strand before thickening, even sinking into his skull. As the transformation continued, Lakota soon had glowing, spiked crystal 'hair' covering his head, growing out down the back of his skull and the upper portion of his neck.

The crystalisks watched all of the changes before grumbling in delight, pleased with the changes. They glanced to each other before they moved to go nibble on some mushrooms, waiting for the human to be ready for the next change. The ground trembled as they moved around, foraging for snacks, the crystal cocoon perfectly still in the center of them all. ****

A deep rumbling filled the Caustic Caverns, but for once the sound didn't come from the crystalisks. A storm had settled in over the mountains, lightning flashing high above. The massive hole in the cavern ceilings was letting in a thick column of rain and snow, the snow flakes melting as they fell toward the rising seas of acid. Islands usually left uncovered had disappeared, though the acid wasn't as strong as usual with the rain water diluting it.

The acid sea had threatened the shore where Lakota was trapped, rising quickly until the crystalisks had moved, their massive limbs pushing up a dam of dirt around to protect their acquisition. A small puddle gathered around the base of the cocoon, but it was nothing compared to the lake they had held back.

With the immediate danger relieved, the crystalisks turned to look at their creation. Lakota had continued to mature inside of the crystal cocoon. His muscles had grown, his pecs and abdomen perfectly sculpted as if he had been carved out of granite... and his skin was starting to make that look more likely, taking on a stone like gray sheen. His fingers and toes were tipped with crystal claws, his forearms and ankles covered in crystal gauntlets and small black dots covered his gray back like obsidian freckles. Even the soldier's shoulders were wider, his arms longer, giving him a more imposing figure.

Every part of him had changed... even his mind. The crystalisks watched and waited as they had for days, longing to see the culmination of their efforts. As the storm raged above, they almost missed the first clue... the sound of cracking crystal. It started slowly, a few cracks forming near the fingers... but they soon spread out. Soon the crystal was cracking out around his groin, his feet, then his shoulders.

Lakota's eyes opened, the emerald color replaced with the glowing greenish yellow of the caverns. For the first time in days he could feel wiggle room and he was intent to wiggle. He pushed one way, then the other, shifting. Soon the crystal around him began to give way more easily, as if he was pushing through rock like it was water. The crystal cocoon shattered and fell away, giving the soldier escape at last.

Firm, strong, muscled feet stepped out into the puddle of acid, but it didn't hurt Lakota. He didn't feel a thing. He took several steps before he inhaled sharply, panting for breath. His muscled chest rose and fell and his jaw hung open in desperation for breath... but his mouth was dry. He licked his gray lips with a purple tongue. He needed something to drink.

Lakota looked around anxiously before he saw the puddle of murky green liquid around his feet. He dropped down and cupped the liquid in his hands, bringing it up to his mouth, tipping it back. He gulped it down, loving the coppery taste of the acid, craving more. He looked around before he moved to the sea wall the crystalisks had made, bending over. He gathered handfuls of the stuff and gulped it down, splashing his face with it... but the acid just rolled down his dark grayish brown skin.

As the former soldier turned around, the crystalisks admired what they had created. Lakota was six foot four with a mane of glowing crystal that simulated hair, matching the crystals on his arms and legs. The rest of him was very stone like. He was for every intent and purpose a humanoid crystalisk and his mind was no exception. Lakota looked around at the three crystalisks with love and compassion.

He moved over, hugging one around the large leg while he kissed the massive beast's small triangular head, moving to do the same for the next and the next. Lakota had to admit that it was harder to move in his new form, his body feeling much heavier, but at the same time he felt so much stronger... He was a true man, made of Pandora itself. He grinned softly, lifting his hands to rub up and down on his abdomen in admiration, though his admiration had a side effect.

Lakota felt a rumbling in his groin, the familiar sensation of his rock hard manhood... but as he looked down, he couldn't see it, at least at first. As his lust grew stronger, a small slit on his abdomen quivered before a fully hard, fully erect stone gray cock slid out like one of the crystalisks's massive pile drivers. Lakota tilted his head slowly before looking at his brethren, wondering if it really was the same piece of anatomy or not.

One of the crystalisks let out a high pitch hum that Lakota caught Lakota off guard. In fact, he wasn't even sure if he heard it... it was more like that he felt it. As Lakota focused on them, he picked up more humming. The crystalisks were communicating with vibrations, ranging from sounds so deep that the ground shook to tones so high that they shook. It was a symphony of impossible music and Lakota was starting to pick up on it.

"Higher ground is a good idea..." Lakota said, his voice deeper and more gravely. He murmured, surprised both by how he sounded and that he could understand them. The crystalisks turned and started moving toward the old mining tracks, taking their own sweat time. Lakota followed after, but he didn't seem to have any problem going at their pace. He was too busy looking at the glow of the lake, the shimmer of the mushrooms, the rippling surface of the necrophage plants. It was all so beautiful, a whole new world to him... his world. ****

The heavy doors of the Dahl airlock rumbled open, the yellow and black caution striping disappearing into the vast cement walls. The room on the other side of the airlock held vending machines, a fast travel station and an elevator leading to the Sanctuary Hole... it had been the elevator Lakota had bypassed, one that the bandits had been in control of... and the elevator one particular bandit had used.

The blue electronic eyes of his white mask glowed in the darkness, the air filter over his mouth spinning gently to process the acid. The psycho staggered in, emaciated from hunger and exposure to the elements. His ribs were showing but he still had a fair bit of muscle. His chest and arms were bare, but his pants were handed down prison garb, the orange fabric fading to a dull brown. The psycho had a hard life, hard enough to pursue his target all the way down into the caustic caverns.

"Come to me, my pasty cake! It's time for three pounds of flesh! I've got the need to seed..." He muttered, looking around. There was a fluttering of some varkid near by, enough to spook him. The psycho pulled the pin from a grenade and tossed it at them, laughing maniacally. Rather than exploding, the grenade suddenly imploded, drawing everything into a small singularity. The Varkid fluttered and screeched, pulled into the void before the grenade finally did explode, sending the parts scattering everywhere.

The psycho looked around before rushing over, picking up one of the leg pieces. He crouched down and hugged the meat to his chest, panting in delight before he looked around suspiciously. He didn't trust the piles of garbage. They would want to take his meal, to steal it from him. He slowly rose to his feet and shambled away from the area, stepping off of the cement and onto the rocky dirt.

The moment the psycho's foot hit the ground, vibrations traveled through the soil. It was like a beacon to those that dwelt in the comfort of Pandora's ground. The psycho let out a shriek as the ground started to rumble and shake, watching as mounds of crystal rose out of the ground ahead of him. Three massive crystalisks climbed out of their subterranean nooks, shaking the dirt off of themselves, blinking countless crystal eyes... and in the midst of them all rose a single figure.

The psycho froze in place, watching in awe as the glowing green spiked crystal hair of Lakota's head emerged from the ground, the former soldier rising up as if he was on an elevator. He came to a stop and stood there for a moment, his muscled granite body glistening in ground moisture, his arm and leg gauntlets pulsing with light. A slight grin crossed his lips as he tasted the air with his purple tongue.

"Se... Semen... Wear my face like a condom... I'm your new meat bicycle!" The psycho panted, moving to pinch and tug at his nipples as an obvious bulge grew in his blood stained pants. Lakota looked to his crystalisk brothers. They would need agents on the outside. This would be as good of a start as any... Lakota moved forward, causing the psycho to pant in delighted anticipation.

Lakota reached down, sliding his finger under the inner rim of the mask. The air filter sputtered to a stop before the silver cartridge lifted up into the mask, revealing a round hole to the waiting mouth beyond. The psycho moaned more and more as Lakota put his hand on the back of the bandit's head, guiding him in.

The psycho's head came to rest against Lakota's groin and the bandit licked and slurped on the firm flesh. He was rabid with lust, but he was unprepared for the sudden plunge of the crystalisk cock into his mouth. It slid past his teeth and tongue, brushing the back of his throat. The psycho sucked relentlessly, moaning with fervid adoration. Lakota merely reached down to stroke the human's skull before he closed his glowing eyes and tipped his head back.

What came next was a thick sludge of glowing green semen. The psycho started gulping it down before he even felt the affects on his body. His muscles started to relax and his skin hardened a bit, growing tougher as flesh filled out over his ribs. His body seemed to take great nourishment from the seed, undoing years of malnutrition. The psycho shuddered before Lakota pulled out, leaving a thick stream of green slime to dribble out of the hole in the psycho's mask before the filter dropped back into place.

The psycho took one great gulp before he stood up, no longer swaying or shaking. Lakota gave the bandit's chest a comforting caress before he turned. The psycho took a few steps after the human crystalisk before stopping. He shuddered and soon dropped to his knees, whimpering.

"You showed me such beauty, how do I repay you?!" He called out. Lakota stopped in place, looking to his crystalisk brothers and then back at the psycho.

"You need to travel to Hayter's Folly near Oasis... Find the crystalisks there. The tribes have been separated for far too long. You will be our emissary." Lakota said. Behind the mask, the psycho's eyes widened in excitement.

"Oh yes, yes! I will be the emissary, I will travel far! Yes, yes!" He said with delight, turning before he broke into a sprint. The psycho made it past the varkid bodies, through the airlock and to the fast travel station. Before long the panels popped open and his body dissolved into blue and white light, fizzling away as his information was broadcast across the planet wide network.

Lakota turned to move with his friends, giving one of them a pat on the back before he lowered his chin to his chest and closed his eyes, sinking back into the ground and disappearing from sight. The other crystalisk soon followed, submerging from view. The ground sifted together, evening out into the same clay that lined the acid lakes. It was as if nothing had changed, but nothing would ever be the same again... least of all for Lakota.