Just to make it known, since I want the story to continue flowing, but I do like getting critiques so I can do better in the future, please, PLEASE GIVE ALL CRITIQUES AND COMMENTS IN PM FORM. I put it in all caps so it is hard tomiss if you actually read this story. thank you, and yes I know there isn't a whole lot of scaley stuff or paws or stomping, yet, bare with me, there may be some if you all are patient.

       A lone Kangaroo, albeit and oddly colored one, black fur with brilliant neon green covering the end of his muzzle, his fingers and toes and eve a small patch on his chest that fed down to the tip of his tail, lies on a frozen snowy hillside.  Aside from being oddly colored he also is anthropomorphic, that is to say he has human features; such as plantigrade feet and bipedal mobility, he does not appear able to hop too well as his legs are very humanoid.  The legs were covered by a pair of black baggy pants that were tight around the very base of the ankle.  There was a Red cotton sash around his waist, and a leather belt around the sash bearing a small metal clasp, hanging from which was what appeared to be the hilt of a sword.  This lone boomer would seem dead from a distance, for even the arctic cold winds do not make him stir save for his brilliantly colored chest fur. 

          A small winged lizard landed on his chest and chirped at him a bit.  This seemed to rouse the marsupial as he sat up and looked at the curious little blue creature.  He sat up and, to his surprise, the reptile clung to him. “Hey, get off me!”  The roo said trying to shoo the creature off him, but it didn’t listen, just merely slurped at the marsupial and made some sort of purring noise.  Shrugging, he placed the small blue winged lizard on his shoulder and stood up to get his bearings and remember why he was here on this hillside in the first place.  He saw only one thing that caught his attention; a burning blackened structure of mortar and metal.  There seemed to be downed communication equipment around it.

           The roo took a step toward the demolished structure, and heard a slight jingle around his neck.  Upon looking down he saw two silvery tags on a chain, he recognized them as Military type I.D. tags that bore a soldiers name.  He read them: KARO Project 777SOLO.   This seemed to spurn his memory into realizing his own name again; Karosine Hardskale, or Karo for short. In fact he preferred to be called Karo, as for the 777SOLO part, he didn’t know.  It was obviously an ID number, some sort of filing number for his information. 

            Karo, now thinking he might find some answers, went toward the downed and burning structure.

           Upon entering the burning blackened walls he found broken and sparking technology that did not look familiar to him. Screens hooked to long rectangular boards with numbers and letters imprinted on them in the shapes of squares.  Many of these were either in flames of hanging by strangely colored ropes. There was glass and fluid all about the floor from what looked like giant tubes. The little reptile on Karo’s shoulder chirped in an inquisitive manner. “You said it little guy. What the hell is this place, did I do all this?”

Curious, Karo walked carefully about, trying not to step on the broken glass, nor any sparking wires and possible charged puddles. Fragmented thoughts and images were passing through his mind, but not enough to make much sense. The marsupial's eyes fell on a scaly heap of a creature, it wasn't moving, and in fact it was quite limp. It possessed a long spiked tail coming down from an also spiked and winged back, totally scaled, and looking to be just an anthropomorphic version of the small lizard on his own shoulder. Karo crouched down and slowly rolled the creature over as thoughts, violent ones in a string of mismatched images, only some actually linking together, passed through his mind:
Brightness from the sword hilt on his waist, a blade piercing hardened scales of large anthropomorphic reptilians, Crashing and fire all about, crumbling stone and heat, the feeling of breaking out and fighting for freedom, mass rushes of adrenaline.

Karo shook his head a bit to focus on obtaining more info. His little blue companion simply nuzzled and chirped, obviously an affectionate creature, or maybe it just wanted food or something, the roo wasn't quite sure yet. Upon scanning about he found one of the strange screens and boards with letters was unbroken. he went up to it and inspected a bit, somehow his hand-like paws seemed to know the devise and started hitting keys left and right based on what came to mind that Karo wanted to find out. The name of the devise bubbled up through his whirling thoughts; a computer, yes he knew this devise well.

Finally stuff was coming back to him, He'd been knocked out and the next thing he knew he woke up in a tube, hooked up to wires and pipes, some type of breathing apparatus was on the end of his muzzle, his arms and legs had been shackled. Now if he could remember how he escaped and how long he'd actually been out. This computer didn't seem to have his information in it, just some anthropomorphic Doberman woman they had created, bred and genetically altered to be somewhat of a sadistic commando type of soldier, sexy and alluring to draw attention, then loaded to the teeth with weapons knowledge.

"Whoa this bitch seems lethal, I'd hate to run into her in a dark alley." Karo said to know one in particular, though the little reptilian on his shoulder chirped and bobbed it's head almost as if in agreement.
Karo peaked around the corner where the wires from the computer were leading, the tube that they connected too was shattered too though. Now having enough mental capacity regained to do so, he put two and two together, but before he could turn and run, one black furred arm and a fawn brown colored hand-paw was around his neck and holding tight, the other he couldn't see but felt something cold against his temple, cyndrilacle too.
"Don't move hoppy. I wanna be sure you're not going to slice anyone else." a soft yet forceful feminine voice uttered right next to Karo's tall oval shaped ear, he promptly pinned them both back out of a bit of caution.
"S-slice? but I haven--" He was cut off by her
"Don't tell me that hog slop, I watched you take out those scalies, even free that poor little one on your shoulder, they were abusing it and you pushed that energy blade of yours straight through the lunk that was doing it. You threw one of em into the glass of my tube, I do thank you for that, freeing me and all, but how do I know your aren't working for them."
Her own words gave Karo the very window he needed "Why would I kill them if I were on their side?" His eyes now darted quickly to the dead reptilian he'd seen earlier whom was lying dead just diagonally across the room from him, he had a seared wound through the chest, and it was vertical and in the shape of a small line, maybe a dash, his shirt had been burned off around it.

The Doberman released her grip and lowered the pistol, allowing Karo to turn around and face her. Indeed she was quite stunning, well curved, and sleek. Her fur seemed a bit matted from some liquid, possibly the same stuff as on the floor since it did seem quite sticky. She wore a tight piece of leather across her bosoms and a pair of black tights on her legs. She had a pair of combat type boots on her foot-paws, they were relatively clean, and this told him that she'd acquired them after breaking out. Her hair was a brownish blond and currently tied up in a bun with what looked to be computer cord. She was typically colored for her, half of her base species, the Doberman part. Karo had learned from the computer that she was a genetic mix of human and canine, he assumed this was the same for himself except with a kangaroo, as for his oddly canine teeth, he hadn't contemplated too deeply yet.
"So what's your name?" Karo asked her as his little lizard friend fluttered back up to his shoulder after having took off from the canine's sudden attack and disruption of the tiny reptiles perch.
"The tag on my neck says Angelina Jade Project: DOB776, your's?"
"KARO Project: SOLO777"
Her eyes widened. "You? You're project 777?"

“Well that’s what this tag says.”

           Angelina shoved him a bit as she lurched forward and grabbed the tag in her Hand/Paw, as it were.

“Oh my god, you are!  I read your profile; they really did a number on you.  Extensive gene therapy from all sorts of critters DNA, plus experiments with some radioactive substance, some kind of crystallized weed they found.”  She was suddenly very intent, and even excited looking, though she seemed to be staring at his right arm quite a bit.

“So what other information do you have? And why are you staring at my arm? There isn’t anything special about it save for the wild colored fur on my fingers.” Karo felt the need to interrogate her now, she looked tough, but something told him she was hiding things. 

“Well all I know is that they tried a lot of new and exotic gene treatments on you, never really tested before.  I don’t know any specifics for sure; I only caught glimpses before they stuck me in that tank and started messing with my mind.” 

“Before they stuck you in there?”

“………I…er...was one of their soldiers, I was just a grunt, but unfortunately for me, I was a curious one.  When I stumbled upon their plans for better soldiers with animal qualities, I got a little more curious.  Before long I had grown too curious, so they started testing on me.  I remember them bringing your limp and broken form in just before I was given a shot to put me in an artificial sleep till they could rig up the tank in preparation for the mind tampering, although I remember your right arm being only a bloody stub at the shoulder. “

Karo looked at his right arm now, it looked okay, aside from being covered in black fur, then a lime/neon greenish on the fingers.  He poked it with his left hand/paw.  It felt real, and normal too, if normal is what he could call it, maybe a bit hard though. Shrugging he returned his attention to Angelina.  “Y-you saw them bring me in?”

“Yeah, they had me handcuffed to a chair at the time for interrogation purposes, but the big scaly ass guards dragged your body in, you weren’t moving and you looked a hell of a lot different, course you would, being human at the time.”

Karo looked blankly at her for a moment, and then looked around the place, still on fire, and there was some slight trembling.  This alarmed the anthropomorphic marsupial; he began moving around and feeling for the source of the trembling.  Angelina watched him curiously, mobile ears forward and following him with her eyes only slightly turning her head as he moved about.  The blue reptile on his shoulder chirped inquisitively and looked about intently as well as if following Karo’s lead.

Angelina spoke “what the hell are you—“ she was cut off by a shushing noise from Karo. “HEY! Don’t shush me! You arrogant—“ Yet again she was cut off and this time by finger as well, a halting one, not a middle one.  She quieted at this, though she pinned her ears back and rolled her eyes.

Finally Karo found something, a rumble coming from a space in the wall, but as he pressed the side of his face and one ear to the said wall, the rumbling stopped and there was a slight beeping noise, a rhythmic one similar to that of a digital time of some sort.  Something triggered in Karo’s mind, he knew what this sound meant, and in fact he was very familiar with it.  “Angelina…start running.” He told the Doberman gal who was slouching against a wall, watching him.

“Why?” she asked, looking puzzled.

“Because there is a bomb behind this wall and I don’t know how much time is left but the frequency of the beeps is getting shorter and quicker…RUN!”

      Karo ran toward Angelina, diving into her and throwing him and her out the door onto the snow laden hill, the small winged lizard that had claimed itself as Karo’s pet thus far clung tight enough to draw blood from the kangaroo’s shoulder.  The explosion ruptured like the biggest of drums and the loudest of tubas in Karo’s large elliptical ears, he could only imagine how it sounded to Angelina, those sharp Doberman ears that pick up quite a bit of sound as well.  The heat quite intense as well, it melted a good portion of the snow around the small structure.

      Angelina pushed Karo off of her, grumbling at him a bit, but seemingly thankful none the less. “Those bastards! They rigged the joint, how’d they know you’d wake up?”

              “They didn’t, they were rigging the place to go up in flames to prevent me from doing so.” Karo replied to here.

              “How could you know that? You were in suspended animation with tubes running through you, you’re lucky the fur is covering the pinprick scars of the IVs.”

              The oddly colored roo smirked, showing his sharper than normal teeth a bit. “Isn’t it obvious that their timing was just bad?  Those reptile, things were done with our projects, we obviously didn’t turn out as they had hoped, so they set up to burn the evidence that they were even there, but unfortunately for them, one of the failed projects woke up on the wrong side of the bed.  Now I just need to gain the rest of my memory and find out why they wanted me in the first place, there is more to this I think, and since they just tried to kill us, it’s personal.”

      Angelina was quiet now, obviously resolved to the thought process of her kangaroo companion, or so it seemed to Karo from her ear and eye position, plus her posture.  Then there was the matter of the little blue winged lizard on his shoulder. “And as for you little one, since you seem taken with me, we need to give you a name… Hmmmm.” Karo rubbed his chin in thought as suddenly the little creature made a belching noise and let out some flame from its snout. “HA! How bout “Krispi”?”

Krispi chirped a positive response.   Angelina spoke after this “Well he certainly has spunk, *chuckling a bit* Where do we head now then mysteroo?”

     Karo smirked at the bad pun but shrugged it off and looked about; he saw a small village down the slope of the hill. “That looks like a good place to start, that little town down there. “ He pointed at it.

      Angelina just started walking; Karo followed with Krispi sitting upright and looked around brightly and inquisitively.

      The town proved to be farther than it looked, and the hill proved to be steeper, finally making it so that poor Karo became a sled that Angelina and Krispi rode down on to the very edge of the small town.

“Ack, thanks a lot Angelina!” Karo protested after getting up and trying to get all the snow and dirt off of him.

      “Well I’m sorry! I tripped okay!” She pinned her ears back and snarled a bit.

              Krispi just fluttered up onto Karo’s shoulder again and he looked to Angelina and just motioned for her to follow as he headed into the town on what looked to be their main street.

      The town seemed quant, but also a bit reclusive, the residents that could be seen on the street were all a bit skittish and reserved to themselves.  There was a mixture of anthropomorphic beings and human, some had tags around their necks like Karo’s and Angelina’s.  Many had odd features as well, odd skin and fur pigmentation, mechanical limbs, even wings on some.  Vulpine, lupine, equine, homo sapiens, and even a couple ursine type anthrop type beings were seen, both Karo and Angelina had their ears perked in curiosity of them all, they could hear whispers about themselves as they walked by.  Krispi chirped at one or two that were reptilian in appearance.  The living environment seemed fairly clean even if the structures looked a bit odd.

      Indeed the structures and houses were a bit odd, some mix of old run down mortar buildings looking like castles and old churches with their stone and mortar walls, all the way to small wavy tin buildings. The whole place looked like something out of a science fiction story, especially with the paved roads interspersed with dirt and gravel alleyways.  Some of the people even walked about in medieval attire, cloaks, chain mail, and swords, but then had a pistol strapped to their thigh as well.  The of course there were the ones with biker and militant type attires on, leather and or camouflage that carried swords daggers and spiked clubs.  This small town, if it were the only one of its kind, seemed to evolved after some disastrous occurrence of war and devastation and were still so stunned from the event that they kept themselves armed. Mothers walked around shielding their children. Men and fathers meandered about with teeth and fists clenched. Whatever it was may still be going on as Karo noticed turrets and gun emplacements one some structures and vehicles.

      In fact the vehicles were as different from each other as the housing, attire, and denizens.  Anything from old reconstructed el Camino’s with turret guns in the bed, to hovering bikes.  Karo saw police vehicles, or at least they were painted and adorned like them, black and white with blue and red lights, Tanks and Hum-vees seemed the medium for law enforcement even if there didn’t seem to be a whole lot of law.

             After walking about for what seemed like hours, and getting their bearings, the three found a small wooden tavern. The building looked somewhere between a mountain lodge and an old west saloon. All wooden, and various types of wood, but organized into an eye pleasing appearance.  Karo and Angelina sat in a corner booth.  Karo had swiped something that looked like money from a couple of the reptilian beasts that he had apparently slain.  Krispi, chirping happily hopped down onto the table and started munching on a bowl of peanuts.

      “So, what do you make of this place Karo?” Angelina asked after a few minutes of uncomfortable silence and trying not to stare at each other.

      “It seems quant enough, but the people are a bit skittish, I dunno if it’s just us or what.” Karo said, looking about idly at some of the patrons in the tavern, all of which seemed to have their chairs scooted away from the strange threesome.

      “Yeah I noticed that, and a lot of them have tags like ours, you think that little lab was hiding their experiments here? What if they’re going to blow this place too?”

      “Hmmm we’ll just have to play it somewhat cautious for now. You notice anything weird about the houses and vehicles? Looks like there is some war going on.”

      Angelina looked thoughtful for a moment then spoke “yeah and there were scorch marks and burnt looking vegetation about, everything looks cold and dead. Hey! Speaking of cold, aren’t you, you don’t have a jacket or shirt or anything on your torso.”

             “HMM?” Karo looked down at his bright and thick chest fur.  “Well, the cold hasn’t bothered me too much yet, guess it’s this thick fur, hmm I seem to be mostly Kangaroo, but they don’t have thick fur like this.”  He felt a little concerned and a little inquisitive about his origins now, and just what was done to him.

the artist does not make the character, but rather the character makes the artist. and hey! watch were yer steppin

After talking for about five minutes or so, a wolven waitress came by. “What kin ah get ya’all two, or is it threh”

      It was fairly obvious that she was originally from some southern place. Though there was something appealing about her, perhaps it was her total lack of clothing at the moment. In fact Karo was nearly speechless as he just sat there for a moment looking at her before gathering himself to speak. “Uh…just a soda for the time being miss.” She nodded and jotted something on the notepad in her hand-paw.

      “I’ll go with some soda as well, for now and I think our little scaly friend here is happy with the peanuts.” Angelina said, while glancing somewhat bemusedly at Karo.  As the waitress left and Karo pulled up a menu to decide on something to eat, he'd just realized how hungry he was, Angelina giggled at him a bit.

"What? What's so funny?" He asked

"You. *giggling more* you got all hot and bothered by her didn't ya?" she said, grinning and showing her pearly white Doberman teeth.

Karo's black furred cheeks felt rather warm, and he could feel his ears flatten on top of his head. "Er…well…I jus…NO!" He said obstinately.

Angelina just smiled "sure you didn't" Giggling some more she picked up a menu herself.

After what seemed like forever, but was only a few minutes, the wolf woman came back and asked for their food orders. Karo ordered some chili cheese fries; he at least was remembering his favorite foods.  Angelina got a cheeseburger, the menu stated that it was a three pound burger and that she'd get it free for eating it all. Upon seeing her appetite, Karo tacked on a burger himself, but not so big.

      The waitress started to walk away, but then stopped and gave Karo a light slurp on the cheek and winked, then to them all she said "If ya'all need anything, just hollar, mah name's Kalena." She looked at Karo "N you can have whatevah you want sugar." She then sauntered off to get the food, walking in a manner that showed her hips and tail end rather well to the poor kangaroo hybrid that now just sat there dumbfounded.

      Angelina was keeled over in her seat laughing at him by this time, luckily it was a booth or she would have fallen out. Karo shook himself and looked to her. "I—er hey shut up! So what if I'm a little twitterpated she's not wearing any clothes, her soft naughty bits are all there to see."

      "Soft and sensual aren't they *laughing some more* why don't ya just have a squeeze next time." She continued laughing, but was trying to restrain it.

      Krispi had looked up from the peanuts and from how he was holding his little head, wasn't happy with Angelina for laughing at Karo, in fact he skittered over and promptly burnt the cord off her hair so that it tumbled down to her shoulders, then bit her on the finger when she pointed at him in reprimand. The little winged lizard then promptly curled up next to the peanuts again and wouldn't let Angelina near them. She scowled at him but seemed to act as though she was slightly intimidated. Karo said nothing through all of this, though he could see in the mirror next to the table, set into a wooden frame, that he was smirking a bit.

      Angelina stuck her tongue out at him just as the food got to them. Kalena laughed lightly at the Doberman, "Heh well hun, round here ya shouldn do that unless yer wantin ta use it." She set the plates down, and then sat next to Karo for some odd reason.

      Since Angelina didn't have too much to say after that, she started munching away on her burger, while Karo attempted to concentrate on his food. He went to grab a cheese dripping fry, but the nude wolf waitress got to it first, with a wry smile she licked at it before sliding it into her jaws.

      Karo could feel sweat dampening his fur, she really had him going, why, what did she like about him? Karo thought this as he watched her with that fry.  She was cute and looked kike her fur was well kept and groomed, very smooth and almost fluffy looking.  The roo found it hard to control himself, there was some sort of scent about her, it was faint, but it was there, real sweet smelling and alluring.  Karo tried to shake it off and just eat, even with Kalena snuggled to his right side as he did so.

Upon finishing the meal and watching Angelina stuff the rest of that huge burger in her muzzle, Karo pulled out the currency he had plucked off the beasts at the laboratory. However, when he did so, Kalena shook her head to him. "It's on the house sugar, you two looked like the shadey side of death when ya come in heah. No way could I ask ya to pay."

      "Well that is mighty kind of you miss. Thank you." Karo said politely.

      "In fact." Kalena moved in closer and in a hushed voice to the three of them, said "Ya'all threh head down tha street thar's a little shack on the left. Go in there, it's my place, it's the only Tin shack on that end of the street. No hurry and get outta here, I'll explain later."

      Angelina started to say something, but Karo hushed her and pushed to go ahead and move. Something in that wolf's voice said they should move, maybe it was her accent breaking up; there was more to her Karo suspected. 

      As they hurried toward the door, it started to open and a large, bulky, shadowy, figure with a winged back and a scaled epidermis stepped through it accompanied by several others, a good five of them, making six in total.  They all were looking directly at Karo and Angelina. 

      One of them, sporting a black button down, uniform type overcoat, khaki reinforced knee trousers and long smooth black shin-guards that looked to buckle under the creatures scaly green, taloned foot as well as some sort of fancy cap with a shiny gold emblem set in the middle; seemed to be an officer. He or at least Karo assumed it was a he by the tight flat muscled chest, and then there was the smell, a strange smell that told the roo hybrid that this thing was a male, pointed at them and spoke in harsh guttural words, it was English and understandable, but very gruff. "Those two, they are supposed to be dead. The projects were terminated. KARO777 and DOB776 are to be eliminated if found alive. Men! Aim!"

      He didn't know what, He didn't know how, everything just went blurry suddenly. All Karo could see was in a blur of green, varying shades of it, The Dark Pine of blood gushing slowly from the first soldier, and the same for four others until His vision cleared again and he was on top of the officer, with a bright golden yellow blade of pure energy, heating the very molecules of air around it and so close that it made the creatures scales smolder.  "Who are you!?" Karo shouted at the slit pupil, and worried eyes looking back into his.

      "I-I am Captain Jolter, C-Captain Kalvin Jolter. I-I work for the NNRO." His voice was notably less gruff and more on the worried, straining side of things.

      "The who? Who!?" Karo shouted, edging the blade closer so that smoke and the stink of burning flesh and blood wafted up to his nostrils. 

      "The Double N RO, Neo Nazi Reclamation Organization. We will rule this pitiful excuse for a world and nothing you can do will stop us. Go ahead and kill the ones who made you, you filth, you are an abandon project, you weren't even expected to come back to life!" suddenly the Nazi reptilian had more to say, and spat on Karo.

      Without thinking, he shoved the blade through the creature's neck like a knife through butter. 

the artist does not make the character, but rather the character makes the artist. and hey! watch were yer steppin

Karo stood up and headed out the door, beckoning Angelina to follow.  She did so, but so did Kalena, though she had grabbed some clothes and was pulling them on over her thick wolf fur. She had on a pair of striped stockings, red and white, A pair of blue jeans over those. Karo only knew they were stockings vice socks because he was having to stop every time she hollered for them to as they walked down the street. She was pulling on her clothes as they walked along.  She pulled on a denim jacket after pulling on a red T-shirt that was too small for her, or at least looked that way.  It was only now that the roo really noticed her appearance and fur color: Her fur was typical wolf coloration, but there was a slight blue tint to it, a very light blue that stopped where her paws went completely white about halfway up her forearm, he could only assume this was the same for her legs, though she had already covered them and earlier he was a bit distracted.

  "Will you too wait up, jeeze. And what happened back there, those guys were dead in a split second. Who are you two? Hey! Somebody answer me!" Kalena babbled and rambled as Karo continued to walk on, in silence with Angelina following and Krispi on his shoulder looking about as inquisitive and confused as Kalena. 

      After going about halfway down the street, looking for the shack that Kalena mentioned, He finally got annoyed past his breaking point with her. "Shad up! I don't frickan know the answer to a single question you have asked, and most of them I haven't been able to understand anyway cause you need to slow down and pronunciate. Now shut up and show me where this shack of yours is. We need a battle plan and information, now. So where is it?"

      She pinned her ears and looked about to cry if it were possible, he didn't know, this was a new world still and animals walking around on two legs were still quite new to him even if he was getting used to his own form.  After a little bit of lip quivering and puppy dog look, Kalena led them to the shack, and they entered.

      The place was obviously her domicile, there were pictures lining the walls, old ones, black and white and some aged colored ones as well. Clothes were strewn about; bras, socks, stockings, panties, pants, shoes, shirts, jackets, bathrobes, slippers, you name it, it was on the floor. Her furniture didn't match but it was there; an old beat up blue recliner, an old grey couch with holes in the cushions, lawn chairs around a tin table for a kitchen and dining set. She had a fridge, and a microwave, her stove, though, was a fireplace. The kitchen fed off the living area, and there was a hallway going off from the kitchen going back to a few doors that looked to lead to rooms, one door was padlocked.  Karo walked back to this one as if something was pulling him.

      He stood there examining the lock; Krispi and Angelina were in her living area, distracting her.  Karo picked up a paperclip from the floor and started fiddling in the lock. Something inside him remembered how to pick locks. He heard it click and the lock fell. Something cautioned him against entering this room, yet something else compelled him. He threw the caution away and stepped through.

      What Karo saw in the room was old, dust covered clothes, picture frames, a bed that hadn't been slept on in ages, and various weapons ranging from projectile arms, to knives and swords.  There was a photograph, there were lots of them as a matter of fact, but one caught his eye. It was a young man, He wore green, all green; Some type of jacket with lots of pockets, There was a belt around that jacket with a great many more pockets, on his head was a helmet, also green. He wore a pair of green trousers and tall black combat style boots with the pants tucked into them, then tied tight with wraps around the ankles. Behind him was a flag, it had a large square of blue with white stars, Stripes of Red and white adorned the rest.

      The picture was ancient it seemed. It stirred something in the Roo, he felt warm liquid moving down his furry cheeks, he was crying. Memories of battle came flooding back to him in waves like the beaches of Normandy. 

      He had been a soldier, an American soldier. His life was spent on the battlefields of WWII, one bloody conflict after another until one cost him.  The young man had been sent into enemy territory, undercover.  They were supposed to gather information on new experiments in gene therapy being conducted by the Nazi War Machine to create a better soldier, a stronger one. Unfortunately they found out too much and were caught. Karo was bleeding from the loss of his right arm and passed out before he could be interrogated.  Angelina had mentioned that she saw him dragged in, missing his arm just before they punished her for being to nosey of a soldier herself and placed her in a similar situation to himself.  He could remember now, these pictures and memorabilia were all his.  Kalena, she had been some relation to him, no, not relation, but a close friend and confident. Countless questions now raced through Karo's mind; what happened here? Where do I go now? How can I get back at these bastards? How many people have gone under their knife of persecution? What year is it? How long have I been out? What was with that green vision? Why does Kalena not wear clothes? How'd she become a wolf?  These questions and more that just branched off of them one after another raced through his head, as well as the painful memories of his fallen comrades. He was gripping his arms rather tight across his chest and doubling over somewhat to try and concentrate as well as give the tears a place to fall rather than just down his form.

      With his eyes closed and form bent over on his knees on the floor, Karo barely noticed Krispi land on his shoulder, or that Kalena and Angelina were standing in the doorway with saddened worried expressions on their furred and muzzled faces.  He did notice them however even if it didn't totally register with his mind on so many things. He stood slowly, making a decision to take one question at a time and see where it lead before taking the next. 

      He looked at his arm since it bubbled up first. Two accounts now told him that it was not there, so why was it? He felt around the arm and compaired it to its left counterpart. The left was softer and more flesh like, the Right was harder, still soft for the most part but certainly there was something denser than bone or muscle in it. He got to the shoulder and noticed that the Right felt more rounded. Karo dug his claws into the shoulder, Kalena and Angelina winced while Krispi chirped curiously. Karo dug until it hurt and then proceeded to peel back from the shoulder what appeared to be fake flesh, latex in base. When he was done peeling, there was a silvery, smooth, and somewhat skeletal in appearance, cybernetic arm.  He moved the joints with little difficulty.  He'd been using it already and the sight of what it really looked like didn't seem to affect his ability to use that arm. Then he looked at Kalena and thought hard on her, then he noticed a glint of light from a prism on the bedside table, it was covered in dust but there was a ring shape and a small prism, a diamond. It was an engagement ring, and it was also the one thing to spark his memory of the beauty that still stood before him, not blemished by the fur, in fact he found it kind of sexy.  He had planned to propose to her before the mission, but didn't get the chance because they called him up early and she had not gotten home yet.  Then a question that he needed help with popped up.

      "What happened here while I was gone?" He asked

the artist does not make the character, but rather the character makes the artist. and hey! watch were yer steppin

      Kalena sighed, pinned her ears back, and looked quite saddened. "War, nothing but war. Nuclear weapons have been tossed back and forth between countries for the past several years. All this snow, this cold, is an effect of it. Civilization had reached into the heavens so to speak, but politically the world was in shambles and everyone had gotten their hands on nukes.  Then the day came where all hell broke loose. The denizens of this city survived all this because were all those bastards experiments and tucked away in labratories like the one you destroyed on the hill.  After the fighting settled down a bit, they began moving us to this dump, they've kept us secluded here for ages. No one knows where we are, some say this isn't even earth. You, Karo, were one of their most secreted projects, most here thought you not even real. I, for one, just thought you were dead. I thought I'd lost my heart along with my humanity."

      Karo was still in the dark for the most part, but he was beginning to piece things together. "So every person that went under their knife for these experiments was moved here? And do they maintain control over all of them? Is it like a concentration camp or something?"

      Angelina piped up "yes it is, I remember seeing the plans and layouts before I was caught and subjected to treatment myself, I suppose I'm lucky that they didn't decide to eliminate me, but I guess they knew in advance that I'd be out of the way long enough not to be too much trouble.  At the same time though, they didn't figure I'd get out with a thirst for revenge, bastards, I'll kill em all for this I actually feel like shit for pledging my allegiance to them."

      "So wait," Karo chimed back in "You were one of them and found out too much, right? Then you were thrown in along with me, why? Why would they put one of their own next to the enemy for these messed up projects? It doesn't make sense unless there was more to our particular experiments, we were secreted away and then scrapped, so they must have gotten what they needed from us.

      Turning to Kalena, Karo continued "And why so you call me Karo? That's just what's on my tag."

      "Hun, don't you see. Is this room not enough of a memory jog. I know you. I know you like the back of my pawish hand. True love you told me, never ends, nothing can stop it. I knew you as soon as you walked in the tavern, I even knew what you would order. You still wear your spec ops gear, the stuff you fought with your superiors to wear because it made it easier for you to pull of stealth and attacks. I don't know where you got that belt or sword though, only the NNRO use those. There was also the fact that a few of us that were curious enough and had enough "balls" to do it, managed to sneak up to that facility and look in on you, we read the information on the computers, even tinkered with Angelina's programming so that it would ensure she be on our side. Then we sped yours up so you would wake up sooner than they expected. When we saw flame and smoke rising from it, I knew who was responsible; it had to be Captain Karo Hardskale." She was looking, staring directly into Karo's eyes.

      Although they were golden and a wolf's eyes now they still dug into his soul, into his heart and dredged up all the memories, everything he had in his head back to before all this happened and up to it. He knew how he'd gotten out, he knew who'd put him in there, and he remembered what he was fighting for at the time. Karo lurched forward and wrapped his furred arms around Kalena and held her close, he would have kissed her but he couldn't figure how to use his lips for that yet, he could only talk because it was a skill that had been ingrained in him and he had started before he really realized what all had happened.

      She snuggled in as well, but she also licked his cheek. "I've missed you Karo, sweetie."

      Karo felt so good in her warm wolven arms that he barely heard Angelina "Aww that's so sweet, c'mon Krispi. Let's go see what Kalena has to eat, cause I'm about to loose lunch." Krispi chirped and the two went out of the room to give Kalena and Karo some alone time.

      In fact, the two didn't come out till the next morning. When they came into the living room, Karo noticed that Angelina had cleaned the room up a bit.  All the stockings and underwear were folded and stacked next to the TV, Kalena said it didn't actually work but for movies and games, there were no stations anymore.  Angelina herself was found with her muzzle sticking out from under a pillow on the couch, she'd obviously covered her ears. She'd donned a pair of Kalena's pajama pants, white fleece with little red hearts all over, and a red tank top to sleep in.  Her foot-paws were bare, fawn colored and padded on the bottom like any typical Doberman dog but of course with that human foot shape to them. Her foot claws were small stubby and dull, as had been Kalena's; this probably made it easier for them to wear socks and shoes, and was also most likely a result of the gene combination.

      Kalena giggled then said in a semi mock joking tone, but loud enough to startle "HEY! Those are my pants."

      Angelina sprung up; ears perked "I DIDN"T DO IT IT WAS THE OTHER ONE! I…wha… GRRRRRR. Evil wolf!"

      Kalena was rolling on the floor laughing, Karo was holding back his snickering. The Doberman got up and pinned her ears as she glared at Kalena, but then smiled and leapt onto her, pinning the anthro wild candid down and tickling her. "Aha I gottye now dere wuffie!"

      The two went at it, tickling and tickling back and eventually play fighting and wrestling. Karo watched and felt the smile force itself across his muzzle as a smart ass joke popped up "Ooooh Chick fight."

      They both glared up at him, and then upon getting up they said in unison "pffft, men."

      Kalena then rounded the counter, nosing Karo's cheek and giggling as she did so. Then moved to the fridge and pulled out some eggs and steak and bread. The eggs, Karo noticed right away, were very oddly colored, and it was no where near Easter.  

      "Uh Kalena, sweetie. Those Eggs are fucked up." Karo said with a slight disgust in his voice, he could feel his lip turning up and knew he was sneering a little.

      "oh, no hun, see since all the fallout and radiation in the atmosphere, a lot of creatures and different foods and such are affected, not all is bad, just discolored and sometimes enhanced. These eggs came from a chicken like any other, just came out in this odd shade of blue, they're still good." She smiled at him.

      This made Karo think a little about how they were all still living and walking around with the toxic atmosphere and he was determined to find out what was up. He shrugged for the moment though, trusting his mate to know what was best since he'd been out for some time. At the moment something else was drawing his attention.

      Over in the corner of the kitchen was a burlap sack that said peanuts in bold black lettering. The bag looked full, but shaped funny, moving up and down and in and out slightly, and had a blue scaled and spaded tail sticking out the top.  Karo got down on all fours and pulled the tail, dragging Krispi out of the bag. His belly was completely full, bulging out around his hind legs, and he was fast asleep.  Though he woke and looked up at his Kangaroo friend and chirped as happily as ever. 

      "Damn you like peanuts. You shouldn't eat so much though. We are going to have to keep an eye on you." Karo said, poking the little reptile's belly, to the effect of Krispi belching and nearly torching some of Karo's muzzle fur.  "Woah, talk about morning breath."

      After putting the lizard down Karo moved toward the couch when Kalena suddenly called him again, but sounded slightly urgent. He stopped and turned to see her ears perked and nose twitching in earnest. "Karo sugar, uh, heh heh, you remember our dog right? Alitu, our husky?"

      "Uh yeah, the one we dyed her fur pink at Halloween that one year and it never came out?"

      "Yeah her, well she…"

      "Died with all the nuclear stuff and fighting, I figured she probably did I wasn't broke up I…"

      "NO! um actually she, well she is still around, but she sort of mutated and she-"

      Kalena was cut off in her statement as a blur of pink and black fluffy fur sped in and pounced Karo to the floor.

      "DADDIE!" the blur said like a child would.

      Through the mass amounts of slobber, and the added blue of the pinkish canine tounge, Karo made out the face of a husky, a female from her scent and the shape of her chest, she was strong and anthropomorphic as well, and she had him pinned. "ACK! What…the hell…quiddit, yuck, get off me goofy mutt!" fragments of speech were all the roo could mutter as he was mercilessly slurped. "Daddy, what, ACK stoppit!"

      Finally she stood up and let Karo get up as well. He wiped the slobber off and looked her over, then looked to Kalena and shrugged before the pink canine grabbed him again in a bone crushing hug, waggling her tail quickly and panting with a smile.

      "That's Alitu, Karo. The atmosphere ad the effect of mutation on her. And she actually has more than just two legs now she also has-" Kalena was cut off again by a loud, long, ew sound from Karo. "She gained extra naughty bits, she's a hermaphrodite now, but you see that now, sorry."

      A rolled up newspaper came into Karo's field of vision and smacked Alitu on the nose. "No! Bad dog! Get down! Down girl, no humping!"  It was Angelina, and her tactic worked.

      Alitu whimpered and stopped, looking ashamed and embarrassed. "Sowwy daddy." She said in clear, but lisped English.

      Karo was confused to a point "Er it's okay, but, Daddy?" He looked to Kalena.

      "Well honey we did always call her our kid. Here hang on, put in that video there the one that says Scooby Doo, she'll watch that and I can explain everything about her to you while we finish making breakfast." Kalena said, pointing to the top of the entertainment center.

      Karo did so, and then he Kalena and Angelina all went into the kitchen area to finish making the breakfast.  Kalena explained the issue with Alitu. "She isn't developed in the head; she is in essence, a child. What age, I don't know. With dog years she could be older than us, but since she's gotten into the state she is in, I'm not sure. Since she acts so young and hasn't seemed to expire yet after so many years, I'm guessing that the radiation in her system is prolonging her lifespan, as it is for all of us. Whatever type of radiation was released into the atmosphere throughout the warring has had different effects on every individual being. On Alitu, it messed with her hormone and estrogen counts. With us, we were experiments so the extent of our own splicing, mutations, and enhancements are not known to us. You, your powers, abilities, whatever you want to call them, could be limitless. The only ability I see in Alitu, is slobbering and humping and…" Kalena looked up for a moment, then pinned her ears and sighed "licking hirself."

      Karo nodded, and cringed at the sight of what Alitu was doing, then returned to the conversation. "Okay, I get all that, but what's with the daddy thing? Does she call you mommy?"

      Kalena nodded "Yes, she does and, I'm sorry, I have been telling her about you, and she went with us once or twice to that lab to see you, in fact she was one of the ones with the "balls" to do it, no pun intended. We did always call her our daughter, well now, she acts like she is. Last year about this time she asked how old she was and I didn't know what to say, I told her six because she reminded me of a six year old, she may be grossly older, but she'll be seven today if she remembers that. Poor thing, she is totally out of her game, still learning all kinds of things, I haven’t a clue how she got here, followed a scent or something. She just came out of the blue, still had and has her collar, she won't take it off." Kalena looked sad, and almost frightened of what Karo might think, he could see it in her body language and since she had taught him about pheromones last night, he could smell it too. 

      Karo looked at Alitu again, and thought a few things; Cool my dog can walk and talk. Shi thinks I'm her father? That’s weird. I have a hermaphrodite for a daughter. This is way over my head. Maybe not, things happen as they will, probably should just go with it. Ick what if shi humps me again? Well I'm not the biological father, it's not true incest, gross though, but shi is a dog. "It's alright Kalena. Shi's fine. I can be a father figure to hir."

      Kalena smiled and threw her arms around him. "You are such a sweetie. You've changed though, used to you would be revolted."

      "Well Shit happens as they say, why stress on it. Besides there are much bigger things to worry about right now, let's eat and decide where to go from there."

the artist does not make the character, but rather the character makes the artist. and hey! watch were yer steppin

      Truthfully he really did not have a problem with it. Yes it was kind of sick, kind of gross, pretty disgusting, and overall disturbing.  Karo was pretty easy going though, maybe he used to be a prune, but things were happening now that made it so he did not have time to be that way.  Eventually Alitu would learn, but then, she might not because she isn't part human, she was built from a dog where Karo, Kalena, and Angelina were all human at one point. He just decided that time is the best way to deal with Alitu, Canine instincts, plus the human form and appendages make it hard to really teach hir any tricks. The parentage thing was a little creepy to him, though, but that is probably from just what Kalena said, as a pet Alitu was their "child" as is a common thing to find in pet owners.  Karo hoped that she would break out of that, especially if shi was going to continue with the sexual nature.  If she didn't cut it out, then there was going to have to be some way to get her to stop humping people that are perceived as family, granted she didn't understand the concept, but still she would need to be taught.

      The three, well five when Krispi and Alitu smelled it, finished and ate breakfast. They finished just in time too, just in time to hear a massive explosion outside. All present at the table perked up and looked about for the source of the noise. Kalena just looked panic stricken "Oh no, they started."

      "Who, started what? Kalena?" Karo queried the wolf.

      "The NNRO, they are cleaning up their mess, us, this village." She replied in earnest.

      Karo raced outside and looked down the street to see explosions and gunfire going back and forth.  Shouting and battle cries were heard.  He looked around for some kind of plan. The town seemed to be pretty much blocked off from the hill where the lab had been. They were situated in a crater of some sort, and on the coastline which was all cliff and rock. Something then caught his eye, something shining slightly. Over in the distance, next to an old airplane hangar, sat a ship, but it looked different. It was a sea faring vessel, or at least it looked like one. There were some odd adornments on it's hull and they looked to be wired up to be some type of powered contraption.

      "Kalena! What the hell is that?" he asked, pointing at the large vessel.

      "It's an old airship some old codger was working on here in town. He died, someone mentioned that he'd got it working but most here think it's just a rumor." She replied

      "Air Ship?" He made a gesture with his hand paws that signified he wanted more info. "Help me here hun, I haven't been awake for a long time."

      "Well it's just how it sounds. A ship, a boat, which flies. Supposed to use hover technology and some big ass engines. Rumored to be nuclear powered. Nobody has seen it work."

      "Get everyone onboard. Load whatever contents there are in the house that you want to take." He said this and then began walking back in.

      "What are you going to do?" Kalena asked after him.

      "I dunno, I'll think of something." He said forcing what he hoped was a wry smile across his muzzle, then scampering in to inspect the garage that sat adjacent to the kitchen.

      In the garage Karo found a red truck, Dodge Dakota, 1991. It had guns mounted on the front and a turret in the bed where someone could stand and shoot.  The weapon mounted on the turret was a very powerful weapon, he couldn't place the caliber though, he just knew it was high. Angelina was looking it over as well. 

      "Angelina, take the wheel and wait for me I'll be back in a sec." He scampered off back to his room to grab a few weapons, stopping at Kalena, who had come inside to organize things now, and let her know to grab the ones he left behind. He had picked up a few knives to place in various spots on his person. He'd grabbed some clothes, since he was still in his birthday suit from last night, while he was at it; combat boots, a pair of blue jeans, a white t-shirt, and a black leather jacket with a white stripe going down each sleeve. He placed a dagger in the right boot and strapped a hunting knife to the left. A buck knife holstered to a belt he grabbed as well then holstered a pistol to it as well; hoping he hadn't forgot how to shoot. Lastly he grabbed a twelve gauge shotgun.  Karo then made his way back to the truck, throwing the shotgun strap over his shoulder slantways across his chest to hold it tight.

      He hoped into the bed and grabbed the turret, hollering at Angelina to go.  He heard her stomp the clutch, and switch the gear.  They stopped just outside the garage to tell Kalena to do all in her power to get that ship started somehow. None of them were pilots, but there was no better time to learn in his eyes.

      Krispi fluttered out and landed on Karo's shoulder, determined to protect the Kangaroo hybrid. "Heh. You sure got guts there Krispi." He said, rubbing the little one's head with a padded furry green finger. "Step on it Angel!" He said to the Doberman driver, and she did. They sped up to where the fighting was.

      The reptilian soldiers were out in force, swooping down and terrorizing the townsfolk who were fighting back, but seemed to have a very loose control on the situation. The NNRO soldiers, the reptilians, were accompanied by some smaller soldiers; these were more bird-like. They looked to be the same Anthropomorphic build as the rest of the denizens, and genetics projects of this area.  Some had wings, some did not. They looked to be primarily birds of prey and scavengers.

      A group of mixed soldiers suddenly stopped with the townsfolk they had in claw and looked to Karo and Angelina in the truck. They were wearing black uniforms, like the ones in the bar; none of them had anything shiny on their shoulders or collars, so they weren't officers.  For a long moment the two groups just stared back and forth, as if sizing one another up. 

      Finally one of the birds spoke, he looked like a raven or a crow by his size and color.  "Hey, ain't that the project what the boss told us to take out?" It was some type of new England accent.

      "Dyuh, yeah I tink so, boss said he was all glowin green n shit." Another spoke up, same breed it appeared.

      "Well alright yous mugs, les gettim!" With that, the creatures pounced upon the Truck, each drawing pistols.

      Karo sighed at the irony of it all then opened fire upon the creatures, easily taking them out before they laid so much as a feather on him, Krispi, or Angelina.  However, now the place was alerted. The Townsfolk that were still alive began huddling around the truck, baring their arms and various weaponry, including their own claws and teeth. One of them was a raccoon, and all he had was a cane. Karo stifled a snicker at the coon, thinking the little trash digger was a bit ill prepared.

      The NNRO Soldiers started closing in on the position of the crowd. Karo aimed at one of the closest ones and started to fire. Nothing came out of the weapon though. "Angelina, is there any ammo in the front mounted guns?" He asked.

      "Nope, you had the last of it." She said, looking back and shrugging.

      "Damn…Uh alright" he searched for some type of plan, quickly because those soldiers were closing fast, in fact the brawl had already begun.

      Several of the people had already begun taking cracks at the soldiers. One gecko looking guy, with a green back and purple belly had wrapped himself around a soldiers head while that raccoon was smacking the crap out of him with his cane.  There was a vixen Girl that seemed to have a few of them under her control, She was fast and agile and she was using it to the advantage of getting those militants to beat each other to a pulp.

      Karo hopped down as Angelina got out of the cab, He threw her the pistol and went after the oppressors with the shotgun. There were only six rounds in it, three of them were loaded regular, and the other three were combat loaded.  Together, Karo and Angelina were able to take out twelve of the bastards with well aimed shots before it was down to tooth and claw and blade. Despite how good the fight was going, it started turning the other way.  The large reptilian type soldiers had begun taking part in the fight.  The number of Townsfolk had diminished to only a few, these reptiles, these… Dragons packed a wallop. Karo pulled out the energy blade and ran for the nearest one, the brute saw him coming and smacked the roo to the ground, and then promptly stomped on the blade, shattering and bending the fiberglass and metal frame and smashing the circuits required to make it work.

      The gargantuan being then put a foot down on Karo's right arm, and one on his left so that it was standing squarely above the roo with a pistol pointed right at his head.

      Then, quite suddenly, there was a slight chittering noise, like a squirrel or a raccoon. The soldier's attention was diverted for a split second, but that split second cost him. That Raccoon Karo had seen earlier raced up in a grey and black blur and clung to the dragon's face. The little fur ball had his foot claws dug into the scaled muzzle and was whacking the creature on the skull repeatedly with that damn cane. The big oaf stumbled backward and off of Karo's arms.

      Now free, Karo pulled out his dagger and hunting knife and proceeded to climb up the creatures belly and chest with them. He was big, not as big as a building, but close. Karo was possibly four feet smaller than the brute and the roo's height was at five feet nine inches. It was more of a brutal stabbing than a climb. In any case, the reptile went down and it was time to make an exit. Karo could see heavy artillery coming over the hill. The roo headed back for the truck, Angelina was already in the cab, along with Krispi. There were a few villagers in the bed, some wounded but all seemed to be in fairly good condition.  The raccoon leapt in and joined them.  Karo got into the drivers seat and pushed Angelina over to the passenger position.

      He hit the clutch, the gearshift, and then the gas and tore off through the town, dodging shells and bobs as the struck the buildings. He then saw something, something big and hovering off the ground. The air ship, they had gotten it off the ground and it was headed in the truck's direction. Karo threw it into fifth gear and sped up.

      The massive ship turned and came down to a low hover and opened a hatch on it's underside big enough for a vehicle to drive up in, and Karo did so. The thing was big on the inside, and that was just where He had parked the truck.

the artist does not make the character, but rather the character makes the artist. and hey! watch were yer steppin

      Kalena was standing and waiting for them on the balcony of the room they were now in after getting out of the vehicle and using the equipment at hand to secure the wheels.  From the looks of it, it was a sort of vehicle hangar. It was all steel inside right down to the staircase leading up to the balcony of which Kalena was standing.

      "Ah you two got us a crew I see." The wolf woman said from her perch.  

      Karo looked at the townsfolk who were getting to their feet. Then back to his wolf and just shrugged.  The raccoon had made it and Karo felt compelled to express gratitude to the critter.

      "You're pretty lethal with that cane. I thank you for saving my furry ass back there. What's your name and what do you do?"

      "My name? Oh, yes Project Gabriel, well just Gabriel. I'd rather not talk about my profession before they got me, but recently I have been learning some mechanical skills to work on engines and cars and the like, just about any vehicle really. Anything with an engine I can work on, yes." Gabriel said.

      He was rather jittery and quick in his speech, but understandable and looked to be useful. "ah good, there may be a use for you on this thing, if Kalena hasn't already figured out how to work with everything." Karo pointed to where he'd seen Kalena last, but she had moved, in fact she was on his right arm and smiling to the coon to show that she was the one in question. 

      The raccoon snickered a little "pleasure to meet your acquaintance milady, don't you work in the tavern in town?"

      "Well I did, its smoking ruin now, nearly the whole town is, we have been watching out the portholes and windshields."

      Karo went on to inspect the other survivors. There was a scientist wolf, he would have been a typical grey wolf, but his fur was mostly brown on the back and shaded to black on his paws, plus he had a set of wings on his back. They were furred on the stronger boned portions but then he had smooth, soft, velvety membranes that were of a bright blue coloration. His name was Harold and he had a few degrees in high science. Karo felt belittled and confused just saying hi to the creature.

      One survivor was a teenage wolf. She was about eighteen and very into black, one would think she was a pagan as well if they were a stereotypical person, but Karo saw the silver cross on her neck. She wasn't much for conversation, but she liked to doodle. He'd find a place for her somewhere on this tin can. Her Name was Keelu.

      The last two were a young vixen of 23, and a doe of the same age, both were anthropomorphic like everyone else, both were created from human beings that once had a good life. The doe was a nurse and had already patched up the small wounds on the small lot of survivors. The vixen was a police officer, still a young one though. The Doe's name was Jane and the Vixen was Vixy.  Vixy was named this by her friends before she was, converted, as she put it. Her friends always told her that she was a fox, very seductive, even her girl friends said this.

      After feeling like he had acquainted himself with the group thoroughly enough, Karo took to touring around the vessel and thinking on how best to use each space to its fullest. The ship had been put together from various other ships, parts of them. An oil tanker took up most of the hull, but the upper decks seemed to resemble naval vessel's interiors. There was enough space at the moment for everyone to have their own room for living spaces and none of the rooms were not nearly as small as on navy ships.

      As he walked around the ship, something started puzzling him. He got to the top deck and looked over the side. There was a large door on the side and a ramp hinged too, in front of it.  Karo ran back down a few levels to a door that was chained off. He could hear loud, echoing, clopping sounds from inside, like a horse's hooves.

      This puzzled the green and black kangaroo hybrid and he sniffed at the door, why, he didn't know, but something in his mind told him he needed to sniff for an answer.  He could smell horse manure faintly. Kalena happened to be passing by and he beckoned her over.

      "Hey hun, are there horses in here?" he asked.

      She fidgeted for a second, twitched her ears, and then stumbled an answer "Well there's one…"

      "Awful loud hooves for just one."

      "Well we think she is one of the experiments that those Nazi's tried to cover up. Some have whispered of her."

      Karo looked confused, and then promptly yanked the chains off with his right arm, the mechanical one. "Well let's just see this, experiment." He said and began opening the door

      "Um I wouldn't do that, she's supposed to be really ill tempered. Karo stop. Karo!"

      He heard Kalena, but his curiosity was quirked to a point that he could not turn away. There was a light switch on the inside wall, he flicked it.

      For a moment or two Karo stood in aw of the sight before him. It was a vast chamber, with furniture the size of small buildings. It was completely furnished; there was a large door on the far side that said restroom. In the middle of all this there stood an anthropomorphic black and white paint horse, and a mare from the obvious looks of things.  She looked up at him; he had to be nothing but a speck, well bigger than a speck, but certainly not looking like he was any type of threat to her. She was wearing clothes, really big ones; a pair of cut off jean shorts, cutting off right at the beginning point of her thighs, the picket liners hung down even, and on her torso was a very tight tank top, she definitely was not subtle.  Her feet were hooves, very large hooves that had draft horse feathers on them, that extra bit of long fur or hair that hangs down over a draft horses hooves commonly found on Clydesdales.

      "Well?" she said a bit shortly "What do you want? You look like a radioactive booger.

      Karo didn't know quite how to respond to this. She had to be at least 30 to 40 foot tall. She could easily do him in and not break a sweat. "I…er I was just curious. I wanted to know what was in this room."

      "I guess you found out then, are you going to let me out of this prison? That old fox that was keeping me here croaked, I haven't been out in months. And the bilge is starting to get backed up." She pointed in the direction of her restroom.

      "Well, see, we're new to this ship. We needed a way out of town before the NNRO destroyed it. Currently we are flying and looking for some safe spot to begin a sort of base to work out of to strike back at these Nazis.  They can't keep manipulating people and their physical being just to maintain control of everything."

      The giant equine stared at him for a bit, then seemed to smile. "So how many people you got already, and if I help do I get to eat people?"

      Karo tried not to laugh, out of confusion or just the hilarity of her statement. "Well we have nine on board right now, and I suppose yes you would get to eat some of the bad guys, but I didn't know horses ate meat."

      "Hunny, when you get to 50ft tall, it doesn't matter much anymore what you eat so long as it fills the void. And I'm in on your little battle, so long as you clean out the pipes, when a horse has got to go, she has got to go." She grinned politely, a big horse grin with those big square teeth.

      "Alright, but how, I mean where is the switch to do it with? We are all still new to this ship and don't really know where everything is yet."

      She snorted, a big puff of hot air slapped Karo in the face, along with some clear greenish fluid. She then lifted her big three fingered, lightly furred hand up to him. "C'mon it's down here, I'm to big to get into the maintenance door. I'm not going to hurt you."

      Karo timidly climbed onto her hand from the small ledge he'd been standing on that turned out to be the top of her bookcase. She lowered him down to the ground and pointed to the small watertight hatch that said bilge control.

      "And by the way, my name is Nelly. And if you joke that clichéd line of whoa Nelly, I swear to any faith you want, I'll eat your little ass." She said with another grin, but this one hade a bit of mischievousness behind it.

      Karo gulped and went into the door. The controls were fairly simple and very well labeled. There was also a PA system since it was a vacuum system he needed to warn anyone that may be doing their business.

      "Attention denizens of this vessel. I will be pulling the switch to seal off and clean out the bilge, if you are busy, get finished. Thank you." He said into the microphone. After waiting for about ten seconds or so, he flipped the switch. A loud whooshing noise ran through the bowels of the ship.

      After stepping back out of the small room, Karo noticed the room seemed a bit darker, and he could only see one of Nelly's hooves.  He looked up to see the massive black object hovering over him.

the artist does not make the character, but rather the character makes the artist. and hey! watch were yer steppin

the artist does not make the character, but rather the character makes the artist. and hey! watch were yer steppin