153: A Company of Fools: Success in Concept

"Fours! Alpa!" I yelled out into the laboratory as Baset, Bo, and I walked inside the laboratory.

"Star Shaper!" Alpa'nagia yelled from the maturation tank in the center of the lab. The three of us hurried over to the tank and saw Alpa'nagia coiled around the base and staring at the unconscious evos inside with diligence.

I noticed Fours hanging upside-down from a ceiling support beam and watching them as well, though he was mostly in the shadows, so I almost missed him.

"How are they today?" I asked as I walked up to the control panel.

"Asleep as usual. I'm beginning to wonder if they're still alive…" Alpa'nagia responded.

"They're alive. The console down here is reading their biometrics." I replied. Baset walked up behind me and looked over my shoulder at the console. She made a confused face and then looked at me.

"Biometrics?" She asked.

"Vital signs if you want. The tank has special sensors that can sense heartbeat and blood pressure through minute changes in the tank's fluid volume." I replied. Baset nodded her head in understanding and looked slightly impressed.

"Techno-magi has come far." She said. I started up the flushing sequence for the maturation tank to get all the fluid out of it.

"Let's hope it has come far enough to handle my shaping." I said. "Bone-Lasher, Grimm-Guard, Empress."

I summoned the remainder of my evos just in case the four evos in the tank decided to act stupid. Bone-lasher's structure landed beside me, and he quickly took a defensive position at my rear. Grimm-Guard landed in the ceiling above us and eyed the tank maliciously as he uncoiled his body. Empress landed on a ceiling support beam near Grimm-Guard's head but quickly decided that wasn't where she deserved to be then flew down and landed on Bone-lasher's back. She was so silent and graceful that if you hadn't been observing her, you wouldn't have known she was there.

Baset's eyes widened as she saw Empress who casually looked down at me from her perch; Bone-lasher; and observers my work.

"Is that a divine gold qolitz?!" Baset gasped.

"A transcended divine gold qolitz. Her name is Empress." I replied without looking up from the console.

"Where did you a divine gold qolit! Those are only made in Chine by the royal imperial guard!" Baset exclaimed.

"My lord saw it fit to liberate me from the clutches of my last splicer who discarded me when I lost my wings in a fight and became unable to continue fighting…." Empress said, then unfolded her six golden wings and displayed them proudly to Baset. "…However my lord is nowhere near as short-sighted as that fool. He saw potential in me and granted me mergence like he did with General Alpa'nagia, Commander Grimm-Guard, and General Bone-lasher. Granting me the form you see before you."

Baset groaned again, then pinched the bridge of her nose. After a few seconds, she turned to me.

"You know that you now have four evos that world governments would kill to get their hands on." Baset said.

"No one will ever harm the Boss while I'm around!" Bone-Lasher growled.

"Star Shaper lost an arm the last time you were in charge of protecting him!" Alpa'nagia hissed angrily and glared at Bone-lasher. Bone-lasher growled and slammed a paw down, allowing the armored claws to rake across the metal of the small raised platform.

"I made that whelp pay for that disgrace!" Bone-Lasher defended.

"That should have never happened!" Alpa'nagia hissed.

"DON'T START YOU TWO!" I bellowed the order and made everyone flinch.

"Bone-Lasher acted according to my orders. The fault is mine. So stop fighting with each other about it."

Bone-Lasher and Alpa'nagia stayed silent for several seconds. I could feel waves of guilt and sadness coming off them through the link before they closed off their emotions.

[The pretender cares for the two of you and blames himself for your injuries idiots and your fighting hurts him.] Fours said. He flew down from his hiding spot and landed on the steps to the platform and then pointed at both Bone-Lasher and Alpa'nagia. [Arguing and finger pointing will not help protect the pretender. It's a waste of energy. Instead, be better, so incidents like that one won't happen again.]

Bone-Lasher and Alpa'nagia looked at each other, then looked to me and bowed their heads.

"I'm sorry…" They said in unison.

"There's nothing to apologize for you two. Just listen to what Fours has to say. Arguing and fighting about the past gets us nothing." I said. They both nodded and then returned their attention to the maturation tank. I looked over at Baset, and once again, she was staring at me like I had a second head.

"Is that…a…gravegyle?" She asked, pointing to Fours.

"Yeah, his name's Fours. Not Transcended but saved him from the same place I got Empress." I summarized quickly. Baset muttered something in a language I didn't understand and then pointed at the tank.

"Are you almost done, or is there enough time for me to set up some extra protection in case those creations of yours try and kill you?" Baset asked.

"I still got a few minutes before I can drain the tank." I replied.

"That's good, I'll set up a nice little safe zone for Bo and I." Baset said, then started casting a defensive spell sigil.

"Is that really necessary? I'm sure all of Chase's evos can destroy those four." Bo commented.

"Oh, I'm positive they can, this is just to make sure we don't get caught up in the collateral damage." Baset replied as a stone wall shot up from the ground at the bottom of the steps for the platform. She started casting an enchantment spell sigil. As she cast the spell, a beam of red light shot from the sigil and struck the stone wall.

'What's that going to do?' I wondered then the sudden alarms sounding all over the tanks control console.

"Oh what the fuck?!" I grumbled then looked back at the console. When I read the readout my chest started to tighten. "SHIT! Qigilag oxiphate levels are critically low. Heighten Balsator reactions and sodium levels are elevated as well…"

"What does all that mean?" Bo asked.

"Tank rejection! Their bodies are rejecting the fluid in the tank!" I exclaimed. Bo rushed over and looked at the console and then up at me.

"What happened to they could survive in there for weeks?!" He exclaimed.

"USUALLY, they could survive in a tank for weeks! Tank rejection is rare! I've only seen it a handful of times myself!" I snapped at him and furiously typed at the console controls to force a emergency override and draining of the tank but it wasn't accepting the commands.

"What do we do?!" Bo asked.

I looked up at the tank. The two Void drakes and two Ogrest inside the tank were awake now and thrashing wildly inside, clawing at the fluid around them to try and get out.

"Alpa! Bone! Break the tank!" I ordered.

The two evos complied without hesitation. Alpa'nagia uncoiled around the base of the tank and let out a sonic scream thar cracked the glass but didn't shatter it completely. Bone-lasher wrapped himself in volt attribute mana and dashed forward slamming into the glass and kicking off of it with such force a shockwave knocked everyone back away from the tank and the console as the tank shattered and all the fluid inside gushed out and flooded the floor below.

Instinctively I grabbed Bo and channeled float attribute mana then dashed towards Baset, grabbing her and then jumped to the ceiling just before the rush of tank fluid washed us further into the lab. Fours and Empress simply flew up and landed on a support beam near a section of Grimm-Guard's body.

Bo, Baset and I all floated safely above the tank and watched as it quickly drained. Thanks to Alpa'nagia and Bone-lasher's attacks the entire top half of the tank was now destroyed, exposing the evos to fresh air for the first time and allowing me to get a good look at them for the first time as well.

The void drakes looked exactly how I designed them on the lysdale script. Their black scales shined brightly in the light of the laboratory with a eerie luminescence that was oddly entrancing. The ogrest were a little broader and fatter than I has expected them to be. The ones I had designed on the lysdale script were big and bulky but didn't have a obvious gut, or at least not such a big one. Another odd difference was their tusks and horn seemed to have crystal tips.

All four evos laid in the shattered remains of the maturation tank, gasping loudly or breathing in deeply. All seemingly exhausted and grateful to be out if the tank's fluid.

Grimm-Guard stretched his head over to Bo, Baset and I, allowing himself to become a nice little platform for us to land on. I stopped channeling float attribute mana and let go of my two passengers. Safe on Grimm-Guard's head I walked over to the edge and looked down at the evos.

"Hey! I know you four haven't been alive technically for more than a few seconds but listen up! Several days ago another that was in that tank with you broke free and attacked me and my companion here. He is now dead. Now I would like to chalk his aggression up to just a fluke or some mistake on my part but I'm not taking any chances. I'm giving the four of you a chance, the only chance you'll get, show me that you are not a threat to me or those I care about or take your chances against my protectors." I said then snapped my fingers.

All of my evos made a defensive perimeter around the shattered remains of the tank while Grimm-Guard retreated back a little and chittered aggressively as a warning.

At first the four evos did nothing but lay there and breathe. After a few minutes though one of the ogrest managed to push himself up and looked up at me. At just over seven feet tall this ogrest looked intimidating, even with Grimm-Guard and the others acting as a wall between it and him. He was the heaviest of the two ogrest. While the other one had a slight gut, this one had a full on gut that jiggled slightly with every movement.

"My…my…my m-maker…" The ogrest managed to spit out after a couple attempts at talking. He opened and closed his mouth several times before speaking again, as of getting used to his mew mouth.. "…we are nothing like that…creature. He longed…for blood and death. Whispered of it in his slumber….I long for…acceptance…by my maker."

"Then kneel before the Star Shaper!" Alpa'nagia hissed the order and narrowed his gaze in the ogrest. The ogrest looked back at Alpa'nagia, almost like he was analyzing him then turned his gaze to the me and knelt down on one knee.

"I kneel to you…Star shaper, my maker." He said then bowed his head. The other ogrest in the tank's remains followed suit, standing up only to kneel before me like his brother.

I looked to the two Void drakes, they both were standing in a slightly crouched position and observing both the ogrest as well as me and my evos. Seeing that I was now watching them the taller of the two Void drakes stepped forward slightly.

"Star shaper, my wings are yours." The void drakes said then lowered its head.. The voice that came from the evo was surprisingly feminine. The other Void drake followed the taller Void drake's example and bowed its head. I let out a sigh of relief then looked back to the ogrest that had spoke up first and pointed at him.

"Well since you want to serve and you have the guts to speak up I'll take you with me as one of my evos." I said. The ogrest's expression lit up as he looked up at me then nodded hos head in appreciation.

"Thank you Star Shaper! I will live up to all your expectations!" He exclaimed. The other three evos all looked at him with envious expressions. I pointed to the larger of the two Void drakes then pointed to Bo. "You will go with this kid. He has a knack for getting in trouble so I'll be counting on you to keep him safe."

"I will protect him with my life, Star shaper!" The void drakes exclaimed.

"No not with your life!" Bo suddenly yelled then pointed a finger angrily at the evo. "Your job is to protect me and help me with my schemes, not to die! If something is too strong for you to deal with then sacrificing yourself will only put me in hot water afterwards! Instead fond a way for both of us to escape!"

The void drakes looked astonished by Bo's declaration but nodded and bowed her head in acknowledgement.

"As you wish. Master." She said. Bo smiled stuck his tongue out. The farm crystal on his tongue glowed and a crystalline structure formed around the void drakes.

"Well now you're a part of my team, Midnight!" Bo exclaimed as the void drakes was drawn into his crystal.

I extended my hand and sent tendrils of mana from my farm crystal and surrounded the ogrest. A crystalline structure formed around him but I paused from taking him into my crystal.

"Crap, what am I going to call you?" I asked myself then suddenly I remember the ogrest's large gut and smiled. "Got it! Welcome to the team…Jiggles!"