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Stone and Steel Ch.3- Back to the Present

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Ch. 3

Chase’s POV 

October, 1780 

    "UGH!" I shout as soon as Drake and I are safely inside our private airship. This entire meeting was a complete disaster! "Everything's gone to pieces." I wail.  

    "I think you're being a bit dramatic." Drake says, giving me his big brother look of concern. "Why don't you have a drink or something? Might help take your mind of things?" He offers. I know he's trying to help but I'm a whisker away from pulling all my fur out. 

    "Thanks for the advice." I mutter dryly. "Drake you know that this is a terrible idea, whenever Blake is forced into any-and I do mean anything she fights back three times as hard." I see Drake's expression sour, he knows I'm right. 

    "Well..." He pauses to mull over his words. Suddenly, his expression changes into one of joy. "Well, you're right! Absolutely right!" He barks cheerfully. I can't help but eye him strangely. 

    "Why is that a good thing to you?"  

    "Don't you see?" He's lost it. 

    "Alright I'll humor you, oh wise one." He obviously sees something I don't. "Enlighten me." 

    "This is brilliant! Think about it, there's literally no way that they can get her to come to this intervention unless they kidnap her! That's the only way they'll get her to come, especially since the festival's starting. She hates Soran, she knows that Rebekah works with him so Blake'll ignore her too, and she's pissed at you ever since that whole debacle went down! The only other way that that intervention plan will work is if she decides to go willingly, and she won't do that either." 'Gee thanks, stupid mutt', "See they can't do anything!" 

    As annoyed as I am that he brought up the incident from last month, I can't help but see the logic in his words. This will all blow over soon enough. I can't help but smile at the thought. 

~~~ 

    When we land another member of the castle guard, a rather lany looking deer anthro, calls my brother over with a sharp whistle.  

    "Hey bro, this looks pretty important. I'm gonna head out, you're not still freaking are you?" He questions. 

    "Eh, a little, but I think it's just because of the creepy general. I'm sure I'll get over it. I'm actually about to head down and check on some progress reports, see if that helps take my mind of things." I say becoming a little lost in thought about my research. 

    "Good, that's good, have fun little bro." He calls as he excuses himself and goes to chat with the other guard. 

    I wave at him before I walk briskly into the castle and down the main hallway. The mere thoughts about the progress reports that I had mentioned to Drake were flying through my head. A group of my most trusted (and not to mention smartest) scientists and I have been playing around with some biological improvements that they (and by extension, I) have come to call 'Enhancers'. I know, not the fanciest name, but then again that's not really the point. I came up with the idea about a year ago, when a terrible sickness swept across the kingdom and many of my people died. Good, strong anthros that needn't have died because of a little sickness. The idea had been to merely come up with a medicine that would strengthen the immune system of whoever received it. But my scientists thought we could go a little further. Instead of just making it harder to get sick, we're trying to figure out a way to make the people stronger, faster, smarter, even! If we get it to work we could potentially create a new breed of people. It could be the end to poverty and sickness, maybe even death...or at least premature death. 

    When I finish reminiscing, I quickly charge down the narrow corridor gunning for the small door at the end of it, no longer trying to maintain my royal visage. At this point, I'd be impressed if I managed to be sneaky or secretive at all on my way there. I'm trying to keep this under wraps until I'm sure I've gotten this down 100%, I don't want to give anyone false hope. With a mighty pull, I tug the door open and walk in. Instantly numbers pass by my eyes on a screen and the hurried chatter of my scientists fill my ears. 

    Tearing my eyes from the screens displaying data, I locate the man I'm looking for. Doctor Robert Winters, a tall blonde yellow tabby cat, one of the smartest scientists of the lot was over in the corner of the lab, his glasses almost slipping off his snout, muttering over some papers the screens have chugged out. 

    "Doctor Winters!" I call out. 

    "Huh? Oh Chaston. What can I help you with?" He asks, pocketing his glasses. 

    "Progress reports, how are we doing?" I say, all business. This was my element after all, no nonsense here. 

    "Straight to the point as always, Chase. Well, we've taken some pretty large strides with one of our patients as of late. Walk with me, won't you?" He doesn't wait for a response before walking towards where our test subjects are, not that he really needed to wait anyway. We've been testing our current Enhancers on anthros for a while now. Of course we tested them on sick livestock at first, to make sure they were safe to test on live subjects, but we figured it had to be done if we ever wanted to make progress. to get the most promising results, we've tried to make sure all the subjects have some sort of terminal illness so that there's a bigger chance of helping them out. So far the Enhancer's haven't been working at top capacity, but you never know what could happen. We stop by a room with a propped open door labeled 'Test Subject 037'. A small little black wolf girl was kicking a ball around the room. "This is Sammy." Doctor Winters says with a grin. "Before agreeing to undergo these tests, she couldn't walk, now it's all she wants to do." 

    "That's great, what did you give'r?" I question urgently, seeing Sammy jumping around was giving me some hope. We've been developing different types of Enhancers. Certain ones strengthen certain things like physical strength, speed, and physical defenses. There are other's of course but these are the easiest to detect changes in. Once we're able to have more measurable results on the physical aspects, we plan on trying to work on more internal enhancements, such as memory and brain capacity. 

    "Well, at first we merely gave her a small dose of the Strengthening Enhancer, to see if that would bring the function back to her legs." He explains. 

    "Which it did." I point out. 

    "Yes, that part has worked wonderfully, but unfortunately other than that, there has been no other signs of little Sammy's physical strength being anything more than that of a typical 9 year old. Theoretically speaking, if the Enhancer worked, she should be able to lift almost twice her weight but that's not the case." My face must have fallen because he's quick to defend himself. "But all things considered, I would like to see this as a success. Not only have we helped this young child have a normal life, but think of what this means for our research! We've gone from curing ailments, to curing paralysis!" He exclaims. 

    "Yeah I guess you're right." I look over to Sammy, who's noticed our presence. "Excuse me, your name's Sammy right?" I ask squatting down to her level. 

    "Yup! And you’re the Alpha right?" She says with a cheery voice. 

    "That's right, I just wanted to see how you're feeling." I was about to say more when she cut me off. 

    "Oh I feel super great! Look how far I can kick this ball!" She announces before demonstrating enthusiastically. 

    "That's great!" I cheer, and I mean it, it makes me happy to see how happy this little girl is. 

    "Well, we'll leave you to it, dear." Doctor Winters tells her before ushering me out. I'm content to leave it at that, since me being away from the throne and the ever growing line of angered nobles for this long practically spells disaster, but I can't help but feel a question nagging me. 

    "Doctor," I start, "You wouldn't happen to have made any progress on replicating the other one, have you?" I ask, a little desperately, if I must admit. 

    "No, I'm sorry, Chase, but we haven't been able to make any advances in replicating the Hypersuasion Enhancer." He answers, a bit of sadness in his voice. 

    "I figured, but you know me, heh." I say, me voice a bit strained before I turn towards the door. As I start to walk back down towards the throne room I can't help but feel disappointed. The Hypersuasion Enhancer was something that had been something my scientists and I had worked on a long time ago. It was the first time an Enhancer was to affect a more internal part of the body. I smile a little at the name Hypersuasion, it had been my idea to call it that since it was supposed to give it's user a heightened sense of persuasion. A way to subconsciously make anyone see your side of an argument, so that they could understand your stance and make a more objective decision. Unfortunately, when we were so close to making a breakthrough an accident happened and the Enhancer was lost, stolen or disposed of, no one knows, but we haven't been able to recreate it since. 

    I reach the throne room and sit down with Drake standing patiently next to the throne, letting the first noble in and dealing with his complaint quickly. He leaves and the next one enters, rinse, and repeat. I had entered a bit of trance at this point, sitting on my throne and dispatching noble after noble, until one the deer guard from the airship deck came forward. 

    "Sir, a message from the General of Woirwen." Oh joy "He requests a meeting with you next week at the Grand Council Hall. Will you accept?" He asks diplomatically. 

    "Er, I don't know. I need time to think about it." I mutter crossly, it's bad enough that I have to be in that General's presence during monthly meetings, now he wants to see me ahead of time too? 

    "Sir, he says it's urgent. He needs a reply today." He says firmly. 

    "For the love of- Okay yes tell him I accept." I saw my ears flattening. 

    "Yessir." He responds before turning and walking out, no doubt to deliver the message.  

    "I wonder what he needs to see me for." I think out loud. 

    "Who knows why that man does anything." Drake asks. 

    "Good point." 

-------------------------------------------------------------------- 

Blake's POV Archery Field 

    "Your highness?" A voice calls, but I pay it no mind as I pull another arrow from my quiver. 

    *Thunk!*  

    "Your highness." It's firmer now, closer too, but I still ignore it. 

    *Thunk!* 

    "BLAKE OCHOA! " The voice bellows right in my frickin' ear. It's Ash. She's the only one who calls me by name. 

    "Erg, what?" I ask, my ear flicking in annoyance. 

    "Don't flick your ear at me missy." Damn. "There's a letter here for you." She states matter of factly. 

    "Wazzit say?" I barely recognize her snort of contempt as I lace another arrow. Or at least, I try to before my arrow is yanked from my hands, quite rudely I might add. "Heyyy!" I whine. 

    "I don't know what it says, it's addressed to you, not me." She snarks. 

    "You say that as if that has stopped you before." 

    "Ack, okay, that was once! And I apologized, so read your dumb old letter because it looks pretty important." She remarks before she turns tail and walks away, her royal guard persona at it’s highest ring. 

    "Where are you going?!" I ask her. She stalls. 

    "I- I don't know!" She huffs, blowing out a stream of smoke. 'Hmph whatever.' I think turning my nose up at the letter and dropping it. I'm about to walk away...but I can't. 'Fine!! I'll read you!! Spirits!!'. I flop down on the grass and grab the arrow that Ash had frickin' stolen and rip the envelope. 

    "Mmkay, let's see what this says." I mumble, holding the letter up. 

    "Dear Blake,It starts. "Betcha weren't expecting anything from me so soon, huh?-Wait what" I stop reading. "Who wrote this?" I pick up the discarded envelope and try to find a name on it, besides mine which has been written on the front in bright red ink. 'Looks almost like blood. Hmph that's kinda neat.' Well, the letter doesn't want me to know about it's mystery author until the end of it. "Uh, dear Blake, blah blah, expec- okay! Yeah well it’s a surprise for me too. My council thinks it would be better for both of us if we make nice.This must be from Chase, he follows every order from his stupid council like they're delivering prophecies. "So that's why I'm writing this letter, I want to make things right.Make things right my ass..."I was way out of line when I came over last time and I hope that you're willing to forgive me. If you are, come and meet me at the Council Hall, next week at like noon, maybe we can do lunch? Your (hopefully still) best friend, Chase." 

    I put the letter down and lay in the grass, dropping my arm over my eyes as I think all this over. Of course I want to be friends but it's hard to forgive him. I mean I want to, don't get me wrong, it's just hard. I keep remembering the fight, how he was mad, how I was mad, how I'm still mad but not, it's all just weird. It doesn't help that next week is when the festival starts. 

    "Blergh." I grab the letter and my bow, and walk into the castle.  

    "Hey." What's with everyone sneaking up on me! 

    "Huh?" I turn and see Dakoda behind me. 

    "I'll drop that off in the armory for you." He grunts motioning to relinquish the bow and quiver to him but before he takes it I stop him. 

    "Sure, only if you go take a break or something after, you look tired." I say, he nods and takes my equipment. I watch him leave for a bit before I start strolling over to my room. 'I wonder if I should go to this meeting with Chase. Maybe it's a good idea.' I walk through the door to my room and I'm honestly not that shocked to see Ash laying lazily on my bed, messing with her claws. Her eyes pop up and motions for me to sit with her. 

    "Heyyyy." She drawls. 

    "Hi. Wanna know what this was all about?" I gesture to the letter. 

    "Ooh yeah, tell me all the juicy details." She says rolling her eyes a little, but sitting up straight. 

    I quickly explain everything to her and ask for her opinion. 

    "You're asking me if you should go to this thing with Chase? Me?" She asks. 

    “Yeah why not? You give good advice.” I reply shrugging. 

    “Yes okay but I also hate him. If you're asking me of course I say don't go because it's stupid and he's stupid. Is that what you want to hear?”  

    “Maybe it is.” I answer haughtily. “Maybe that's exactly what I want to hear. Maybe I just want an excuse not to go and you just gave me one. Ever think about that?” 

    “I thought about it but it's not like you. You hate being told what to do.” She says giving me a weird look. She's right, I hate when she's right. 

    “Yes but I don't know what to do!” I shout in frustration, before I flop on my back and throw my arm over my eyes. I feel the bed shift as she scoots closer to me. 

    "Well...if you want my opinion-" I snort and give her a look. "My objective opinion. I guess it'd be a good idea if you went." She says. 

    "How do ya figure?" I ask, propping myself up on my arms. 

    "Well, it's never good to fight with a kingdom. And I mean you definitely can't be fighting with a kingdom in the middle of the Summer Festival, that's like law, isn't it?" I shoot her another look, which she brushes off. "Well, if it's not a law then it should be. Even if it's with that two bit excuse for a leader's kingdom." 

    "Yeah I guess..." I don't know, this doesn't sit right. 

    "Hey, if it'll help you rest easy, I'll go too." She offers kindly. 

    "You weren't invited." I can't help but stress, even though having her there would calm me down immensely. 

    "Whose gonna try and stop me. Besides it's a knights job to protect their charge so that's exactly what I plan on doing. I'm going, don't argue." She remarks firmly, at this point there's no stopping her. "When this thing going on anyway?" She mutters squinting at the letter. 

    "Um, next week, I think, yeah?" She nods. "Well, might as well start preparing." 

    "Not like there's much of a choice, right?" She asks, with tight smile. 

-------------------------------------------------------------------- 

    No POV Council Hall 

    "Hmmph. I believe that is that, as the saying goes." Remarks the General, signing off at the bottom of the letter. "You there!" He barked at bull servant as he walks by. 

"Me sir?" 

    ""Yes, see to it that this message is delivered as soon as possible." He ordered, one of his heads staring straight at the servant while the other two busied themselves as he conducted another letter. 

"Where, sir? There's no address." The bull asks, taking the letter from him anyway. 

    "Drosa. Now off you go, on your way out send another maid in. I have another message to be sent." He stated watching as the servant turned and left the room, quickly being replaced by a red squirrel dressed in the common maid uniform. "You, what's your name." 

    "Naavi, sir." 

    "Well then, Naavi, send a message to Chaston Steele of Afena, let him know that I wish to have a meeting with him in a weeks time." Soran said briskly. 

    "Where should I say this meeting is taking place, sir?" She asked timidly. 

    "The Great Hall." He answered 

    "Oh and sir?" She said "There's someone here to see you, should I send them in?" 

    "Yes, please. Thank you." He said before shooing her away. There was a few minutes of silence before the door opened again and a rather lanky cat anthro walked in. "Close the door, I don't want anymore interruptions." He muttered darkly. The stranger obliged, before taking a seat across from him. 

    "You wanted to see me?" She asked. 

    "Yes, I feel that we should discuss this plan a bit more in depth, wouldn't you agree?" He questioned, his three heads shooting her sickeningly sweet grins, which she was quick to return. 

    "I couldn't agree more. When should we start?" The stranger said, propping her elbows up on the table. 

    "How soon can you start?" He answered, already knowing the response. 

    "How's next week?"  

    Soran let out a deep chuckle before responding. "Perfect."

WoO FINALLY FINISHED CH 3 AFTER LIKE 2 MONTHS OF NOT DOING ANYTHING. BUT WHATEVS WHO CARES CUZ IT'S HERE NOW. Lots of stuff happened in this chapter. Things were established, background things happened, I got to write some fluffy stuff, and omigosh new character who dis? But yeah anyway to avoid spoilers I'll only be crediting named characters even though you all probably now who's who regardless.

Characters belong to:
AspieFox (welcome back dude)
ashlaforce
me and someone else who shall not be named at the moment
Also, a quick P.S- not only is this the first time I've ever written a long story, it's the first time I've ever written anything, so in the future please be patient as it might take me some time to put out new chapters. Hopefully not this long, but you never know. Hope you guys like it, cuz now I'm going to bed.
© 2016 - 2024 Rockystar11
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ashlaforce's avatar
Oh my!  Thanks to you I have become so deliciously evil!!!
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