Solo Trip 4

Kaelon sprinted down tunnel with a semi-large horde of Xeomorphs behind him. The Inner-Hive was much hotter than he would like, but he had to deal with it while searching for the food storage or the Egg Carrier. 

As he ran he spread his arms to either side of the tunnel. On the center of his palms were a single hole no larger than a coin. The beetle like wings on his back unfurled revealing 6 more similar holes, 3 on either side of his back. As he ran thick web shot out of each of the holes along his body. 

Earlier that day he had eaten a variety of different creatures to gain different abilities. The Asteroid Web Weaver is one such creature he ate. A 16 limbed spider as large as a 5 story building. They hide in asteroid fields and weave large webs that trap starships. They would capture these starships and eat those inside. 

This was the technique he had stolen from eating one of them. As he ran down the tunnel think webs shot out of the holes along his body. The webs detached from himself sticking to the wall creating an intricate web pattern. Those behind him got caught in the sticky webbing. 

The only Xeomorphs that managed to break free from the webbing were the Hive Guard Hunters. They used their sharp claws to slash through the webbing. Though, the hundreds of Kompies couldn't break free as they screeched at their capture. They also pleaded to the Hive Guard Hunters who ignored their pleads for help. They were ordered by Yellow Stripe to chase and kill the intruder and that's what they were going to do. 

They rushed at Kaelon as he fled down the tunnel. He quickly switched from his webbing power to another he had eaten. He turned to face the small horde of Hive Guard Hunters as his body doubled in size and grew another pair of limbs. His head touched the top of the tunnel as his body began to grow more and more muscles bulking him into a giant of a monster!

2 Hive Guard Hunters leapt out at Kaelon with their claws extended ready to sink into his flesh. Kaelon reached out with his powerful hands grabbing the Hive Guard Hunters heads and squeezed. Their heads popped like grapes in his hand. He was satisfied with his kill, but was quickly swallowed by pain in his sides. 

Two more Hive Guard Hunters sunk their claws into his side. His second pair of limbs weren't as fast. He tried to grab them, but they were fast. He quickly spun around grabbing them by the arms and grabbing tightly. He squeezed so hard he grabbed them by the bone! The Hive Guard Hunters yelped out in pain, but he didn't care. He lifted the Xeomorphs up in the air and turned back to fight his assailants. 

He used the two Hive Guard Hunters as weapons. He bashed their bodies against the other Hive Guard Hunters trying to claw their way to his heart. His assault was violent and brutal. With each swing of his 'weapons' he would turn a Hive Guard Hunter into paste. 

His 'weapons' didn't last long. After a handful of swings all that were left of them were the arms in his hand and stringy guts. The entire tunnel had blood splattered all over it from his brutal attacks. Just as he threw his 'weapons' away and tried to grab another 2 he felt a sharp pain in his back. 

One of the Hive Guard Hunters had closed its hand into a point and stabbed deep into the shoulder blade of his new second right arm. He turned reaching over his shoulder to grab the Xeomorph only to be struck by another similar pain on the other side of his shoulders. 

Another Hive Guard Hunter had stabbed him with a pointed claw. He turned his back towards the wall of the tunnel and jumped into it. He would use his larger body to squish the Xeomorphs on his back. Just as he did so he focused where he shouldn't. That was the bait.

Just as he jumped into the wall killing the two on his back 8 more jumped on him. 4 stabbing into his arms, another 2 into his thighs and the last two into his shoulders. The two stabbing in his shoulders stood on his thighs stabbing near where the other two were. 

Kaelon was in excruciating pain! He tried to move, but was pinned to the wall by the Xeomorphs. The two standing on him raised their free limbs and thrusted down into his chest and dug deep. His eyes bulged as he could feel them digging into him trying to crush his heart. 

"[Second Molt]!" Kaelon yelled as his consciousness began to transfer into a smaller body hidden in the stomach. This is only the fourth time he's used this technique, but he never go used to it. It was an odd sensation. From his larger form he felt a pulling sensation. His vision began to darken like he was walking backwards down a dark tunnel. His vision completely turned to darkness before he saw another new light in the distance. 

He felt himself getting closer and closer to the light as it got larger in his vision. The light quickly blinded him forcing him to blink. As soon as he blinked he saw himself in a womb. He quickly had to adjust to his new body. He opened and closed his hands to get his sense of feeling back. He began to test other motor functions while hiding within his own body. 

Even testing his motor skills he remained hidden in his body. The [Second Molt] technique was another copying technique from Moltirous Alien. A race of aliens that are asexual and always pregnant. They are as large as Gorilla's and have fleshy bellies like a Hippo. Inside their bellies are 2 smaller versions of themselves. Upon death their consciousness is split and enters the two babies. 

The Moltirous aliens tend to hide in their corpse till their assailant leaves or if they began to feed on the corpse the babies will wait for the right moment to strike. This is what Kaelon was planning. While hidden inside his corpse he could feel his body being dragged.

He smiled thanking his plan worked out well. Although, he thought he'd be able to take out more Xeomorphs than he did, but they were tougher than he thought. He wanted to take out at least half of the Xeomorph horde, but they were strong. Though, his plan worked out in the end. He still didn't want take on a horde like that again or he knew he would really be killed.

________________________________

Zyra sprinted down another tunnel with a Xeomorph horde behind her. In one hand he held her [Shadow Cleaving Sword] and in the other was an orb of darkness. Out of the orb darkness fell from it like a thick mist. 

"[Shadow Trail]!" She spoke softly as she ran. The thick shadow mist fell to the ground behind her steps and began to spread out covering the entire ground. The Xeomorphs were hesitant to follow her, at least the Hive Guard Hunters wore, but the Kompies didn't care. They stepped on the shadowy mist only for nothing to happen. They gave chase to Zyra. 

Seeing as nothing happened to the Kompies the Hive Guard Hunters followed after. They quickly over took the Kompies in speed and gained on Zyra. She grinned as she tricked the Xeomorphs into running over her [Shadow Trail]. She ran another 50ft with the Hive Guard Hunters hot on her heels. 

With the Xeomorphs getting closer and closer she sprung her trap!

"[Shadow Trail: Awaken Psionic Field]!" She cried out loud as she spun around blade in hand and sliced one of the Hive Guard Hunters in half. Its torso fell one way as its legs fell the other. 

As soon as she sliced the alien in half her technique activated. Almost like their instincts told them to halt, the Xeomorphs stopped. Before their eyes shadows rose from the [Shadow Trail] that took the form of the of the Xeomorphs. The shadow figured were exact replicas of the aliens standing before them. Before the Xeomorphs could react, the shadows were quicker.

Their Shadow counterpart tackled their living variants. It was an all out brawl as the Xeomorphs were fighting their shadows that has the same level of strength as them. The only difference was Zyra. She slide around the [Shadow Trail] like an ice skater on ice. With each step as she slid she would swing her [Shadow Cleaving Sword]. Each swing of her mighty weapon she would cleave a Hive Guard Hunter in two.

In a matter of seconds she had killed nearly a dozen Hive Guard Hunters, but something didn't seem right. She was killing the Hive Guard Hunters at a rapid pace, yet her and her shadows didn't outnumber the Xeomorphs. She started to notice that even when she would kill one her Shadows wouldn't double up on an enemy, but one verses one them. Odd.

They have to be coming from somewhere she thought to her self. She didn't remember running past an intersection. The tunnel they were in was a singular tunnel going forward. She had to find where they were coming from. She ignored the fight and slide past. She had to dodge an claws swing at her once or twice, but it wasn't a challenge. When she is in [Shadow Trail: Awaken Psionic Field] is able to psionically see the battle field. An attack could come from behind her and she would already know when her enemy moved to strike at her. 

This is also how she knew where the new Xeomorphs were coming from. She slide further down the tunnel to the start of her [Shadow Trail]. There is where she saw 4 more Hive Guard Hunters and even more Kompies coming out a literal crack in the wall. The crack in the wall was angled in a way that she didn't spot it when she was sprinting down the tunnel. She clicked her tongue in annoyance and moved to intercept the Xeomorphs from crack.

She swung her sword horizontally unleashing a wave of shadow and psionic energy. She sliced through the small group in front of her and moved towards the crack. She had a technique that she could use to close the crack, if only for a mew moments. Her plan was to seal the crack, kill all those around and then cloak herself in shadow to get away. 

Yet as soon as she got close to the crack a new hand emerged. The red skinned hand was a large as her head. It gripped part of the wall and with a simple squeeze the wall was crushed.

"Ah shit!"