Starchaser Beyond - Autumnhollow Chronicles - S01E00A - Still Here (Part 1)

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Author's Note:
Season 01 Episode 01 is due for an update.

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Season 01 Episode Zero A

Still Here
(Part 1)
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“Hey, where you going, beautiful?” The wendigo-like SEED hollered gleefully as he chased the fleeing girl, his booming voice overwhelming the clash of thunder as it echoed throughout the derelict alley that served as the service artery for these apartment complexes, half of which were mostly abandoned. 

“Let’s party like you said!”

The girl he was chasing was soaked in the rain, her thick denim jacket and jeans having finally succumbed to the inevitability of rigorous motion and splashing water from all directions. Her dark ponytail flopping like a wet mop behind her head, her canvas backpack bouncing around as she ran, clinking along the way and giving away her position.

His planned follow-up quip was interrupted as his antler snagged on a fire escape ladder. From the darkness ahead, the alley erupted in golden light as the sharp report of an assault rifle peppered his body. 

Despite the inconvenience of still being stuck, the wendigo brayed in laughter. 

“Are you stupid or wha-BLFPPHHH!”

A thrown molotov cocktail smashed into his face, dousing him in fire. He howled in rage, the ladder clattering as he tried to jerk himself free. He hated how those alien numbnuts made him so tough yet couldn’t be bothered to add more muscle to this big wendigo body. What’s the point of making him so big and tough if he couldn’t yank his antlers free from some rusty ladder?

Another magazine’s worth of high-velocity slugs reminded him he needed to act soon. The fire was already feeling like a shower too hot and the bullets were getting too hard for a love tap. 

The SEED growled in frustration as he finally broke free, wincing as he felt some of his own antlers breaking as the ladder finally snapped. The girl he was chasing continued shooting until his vision burned white-hot.

Flashbang! Fuckin’ flashbang again! He continued rampaging forward, flailing his long arms wildly. Parts of his mind was shouting all sorts of unhelpful advice on when to turn right. All of them guessed wrong and he smashed against the wall, the old bricks pummelling his head.

At least it helped clear it.

Loud clanging sounds to his right caught his attention, followed by another burst of bullets which was starting to feel like the hard kicks those bikers back then gave him after he and his “friends” gave them a piece of his mind on how people should learn to act around each other. 

He wished he could’ve kept tabs on those wastes of excuses of people and gone for them first.

But first, he had to take care of this bad example before more became like them.

He wheeled around, his dark blotches still marred his vision but he could see now. The girl was now much farther ahead, taking pot shots at him in disciplined intervals. 

As he charged, he noticed that the girl’s backpack was no longer there.

The last of the dying flames the molotov cocktail had lit on him had just gone out when the first dumpster he passed detonated. Adrenaline fueled his body just as the brutal explosion cloaked him in fires anew. 

Damned Imperial Eggheads should account for vigilante shits like these! The wendigo thought, buckling against a fresh volley of slugs from the girl, who had introduced herself at the bar as Ingrid Blair.

“You’re running out of tricks, Ingrid!” The wendigo’s voice was ragged, desperate and enraged, “I can shrug this off in time, but you… there won’t be a next ti-”

A headshot missed slightly, shattering several front teeth. While his adamantine broke off the bullet’s inertia, it was still enough to painfully punch his throat and make him choke and cough. 

“Sorry about that, Adrian!” Ingrid’s voice echoed with schadenfreude, “Girls aren’t supposed to deepthroat guys, my bad!”

More bullets were starting to hurt, his shields were starting to fail him. Adrian Keller, the wendigo-like SEED, knew that he had to get up and kill this country hick Ingrid before her gun became as deadly to him as it would to any human before the Dark Empire’s enlightenment.

“Guess I’m the one wearing the pants when we hitch, huh, honey?” Ingrid laughed as she continued firing in evenly spaced shots. Adrian felt his rib crack as the slug bounced off his torso, making his labored breathing harder, his expanding and contracting lungs aggravating his injuries more. Another caught him in the knee, stumbling him but fortunately not enough to make him fall over.

The way ahead was blocked by a dumpster, and Ingrid was perched atop it. Another booby trap? Adrian thought, No, it can’t be. There’s no way she could escape in time at the rate I’m coming at her-

He approached a T-junction in the alley, a mere afterthought considering there was someone gunning him down. The pain from the dumpster explosion, the fires engulfing him, the shrapnel that bypassed his shields and embedded themselves deep into his body, and the constant barrage of gunfire allowed the Dodge Ram pickup truck to T-bone him, squashing him flat against the wall. 

Coughing up blood, Adrian felt more than heard the sickening crunch as his antler broke off. He grabbed the hood of the truck and recoiled as Ingrid plugged his wrist. It felt like someone had smashed a baseball bat against it while he was in human form. 

The resounding click as Ingrid’s magazine went empty had Adrian crow in triumph as he took advantage of this and pushed the truck away. There was nobody behind the wheel, it must have been rigged in some way… a tripwire or something, a brick on the accelerator that jiggled loose after colliding with him.

Still, he was now badly beaten up and profusely bleeding.

Ingrid abandoned her reloading and ran further into the alley as he barreled towards her.

Damned Dark Empire quacks and their shitty dollar-store super-soldier formulas! Adrian thought savagely, I feel like I’m wearing a suit of bricks in this shitty body!

His grin widened as his big meaty fist sent the dumpster Ingrid had been perched on skidding towards her, only to wane as a dull throbbing pain radiated across his knuckles. He had taken too much punishment and now his [Mana] was acting on its own and stretching itself thin between keeping him alive and keeping him super-strong.

A flash of lighting lit up the alley, revealing through the driving rain the big dent he made across its rusted surface. The only problem now was that his flash of anger had ended up making an impromptu barrier as it wedged itself between two more. 

Ingrid leapt atop the wedged dumpster once more. With quick hands, she tore off the spent magazine of her SCAR rifle and pulled from her denim jacket a fresh one.

Dammit, she IS fast! Adrian thought.

“Open wide, asshole!” Ingrid yelled.

A burst of fire from her rifle caught him in the chest, with one smashing right into his nose.

Fuck, that stings! The wendigo’s attempt to hide his pain was undone by a howl of agony as his bare foot was suddenly shod in a bear trap. 

Once again, Ingrid’s eyes barely registered the look of surprise. 

She did have a good poker face after all. 

He wondered when she found out he was SEED earlier that evening. Not that it mattered. The fact that he was running her SAW-like maze told him that maybe he should have taken a page from his own book and noticed the nuances and circumstances he was in. 

“Augh! You bit-!” He was cut off as another burst caught him in the head. That [Mana] shielding was beginning to thin too much. A bullet smashed right into his left eye and while it didn’t go through his head, he saw nothing but blinding stars exploding in his head.

It felt like a heavyweight clocked him right in the face while he was in human form.

His knee buckled as the pain on his mangled foot shot up his leg. 

The hell is this!? The wendigo thought, If I can shrug off bullets, then why-

A flash of lighting struck too close to the roofs four stories overhead, sending glowing sparks showering down along with the downpour. Despite having only one good eye now, he recognized the make.

“Is this titanium!?” The wendigo bellowed, “The fuck is wrong with you people!?”

He tried to power through the pain and take another step but his foot really hurt. He glanced back at Ingrid, whose rifle had jammed and was quickly clearing it. He dropped to one knee and tried to fumble it open, groaning as the pain only worsened.

“The fuck is wrong with you, Adrian!?” Ingrid yelled back, “You people selling us out to those goddamned aliens over a fucking fender bender! Go to hell!”

There was an ominous click as the lodged bullet sprung free from the catch. 

Adrian, the wendigo-like SEED, roared in agony as Ingrid opened fire again. This time he felt a tearing in his arm as the bullet breached his barrier of [Mana]. The slug lost much of its inertia, but it was enough to lodge itself into his arm. His rage-filled scream amplified as now he had to deal with the pain in his foot and his arm as the severed muscle writhed while the rest took up the slack. 

“Those titanium traps are for SEED bastards like you Adrian!” Ingrid yelled over the thunder, firing off another burst.

“It’s inhumane!” Adrian shouted as he threw the now-broken trap at her. Ingrid nimbly dodged and kept firing, retreating further into the alley as he loped at her in a now-broken gait.

“Preach, asshole!” Ingrid laughed as her voice disappeared around the corner. 

“As I said…!” Adrian yelled as he barreled through the alley, ‘It’s all about nuance, and circumstance, if all perso- AGAIN! Damn you!”

He collapsed to his knees as his other foot received its new titanium shoe.

A bullet tore through his arm this time, cleaving through the bone, leaving it limp at his side. With a scream of despair he charged at Ingrid as she unloaded her magazine at him. Every step felt like hell but Adrian’s failing shields reminded him that becoming a SEED allowed him to recover with serious injuries with time.

But if he keeps taking too many shots, that will never happen.

Despite his faltering gait he was catching up to Ingrid. He allowed himself a chuckle as Ingrid did the most videogame thing ever by suddenly sliding low across the slick pavement. As she slid she quickly whipped around, keeping her body low while she opened fire.

Whatever snide remark Adrian was about to belt out was reduced to a wet gurgle as he ran straight into a web of piano wire. Dark blood spattered across the alley as bullets sang their taunting songs of pain, egging him to further mutilate himself now lest the more of their shiny, red-hot brethren rendered all his vaunted power moot.

Filled with rage, he broke free through and launched himself at her.

Lighting illuminated the dim alley. Adrian lay sprawled face-first onto the dirty alley. The weakening rain sluiced off the damaged gutters in a chaotic shower, bathing the concrete valley between condemned apartment complexes in uneven gouts of filth.

Ingrid Blair was panting heavily, slumped against the dumpster. The sounds of Riverdale City carried on as usual, the blaring sirens of a police siren echoing somewhere, no doubt in response to hearing the racket of gunshots and explosions she made taking this monster down.

The rain was beginning to taper off,  washing away the wounds from her stomach, but the stabbing pains reminded her that Adrian had got her good. At least her legs were still working as she slowly got to her feet, grimacing as the pain flared more.

“Fucking bastard tore my jeans…” Ingrid murmured, looking ruefully at the unsightly tears that ran down her shin, exposing her thick woolen socks and prized sneakers. She was loathe to wear her prized clothes when on a hunt, but discovering Adrian Keller as a SEED was not in her schedule. 

She had just met him at the Karma Klub bar, and he passed off as just one of those delusional idiots that were just the right amount entertaining. Like a trainwreck worth watching.

He was fun until she started noticing the signs. 

She had to act. There was no telling if she would ever see this psychotic freak ever again. She had to take him down tonight, before God knows how many he’ll hurt in his deluded rampage.

Ingrid Blair would be damned to wait like sheep for one of those dumbass Starchaser girls to show up. 

Fortunately, her leg only had slight scratches on it. Unfortunately, she had to do something about her pierced gut.

A small part of her did wish she was like those Starchasers who could tank a crashing plane to the face thanks to their silly frilly dresses acting as a shield generator. That said, if that ever happened she was sure as hell she wouldn’t be caught dead looking like a damned frilly fairy like Star Tulip did. 

Now Star Lotus on the other hand, I’d wanna tap THAT. Ingrid thought with a smile, before turning her attention back to the dollar-store wendigo before her.

Her battered SCAR-H lay half-hidden opposite, half-wedged between two tin garbage cans, long divested of anything useful by scavengers and raccoons. She made a mental note to pick up the gun later, she had discarded it when she had no time to reload. Her hand was steady as she continued to train her pistol, heavy Desert Eagle at Adrian, just in case it was playing possum. Hopefully, those one too many shots on his head after his voodoo magic barrier had failed him and a rusty pipe jammed into his body finally did him in. 

She kept her gun trained on Adrian, not the blue slime creature that perched atop the pipe. The adorable blue blob had dropped onto him with full force. As it did so, it had pulled an air conditioning unit from a window and used it as extra weight to ensure the long pipe breached Adrian’s tough hide, went in from his neck and all the way into the heart. The boxy window appliance now lay crumpled several feet away, spattered with blood as it had smashed against the SEED’s head before tumbling away.

The slime creature tentatively extended a pseudopod and wrapped it tightly against Adrian's neck. Whether it was to strangle him, snap his neck, or check for a pulse, Ingrid hoped it was all three.

“It’s already dead.” The slime said, looking at her with cute beady eyes, “Can you not point that gun at me, please?”

“S-sorry…” Ingrid gasped, holstering her pistol. “I was aiming at its head, not you… uhh, you alright? That AC unit hit you pretty good.”

“I’m fine!” The slime squeaked, reaching out a pseudopod like a handshake, “Cecil, by the way… come on, I’ll help you get to a hospital…”

“Y-yeah, about that…” Ingrid laughed, shaking Cecil’s tendril. He felt cool to the touch, and surprisingly, “dry”, she was sort of expecting her hand to be covered in some nasty residue, or it being sticky like gum but he was merely wiggly like rubber.

“Ingrid by the way…” she continued, “Ingrid Blair. My van’s nearby, I can stitch myself back up, no worries.”

Without needing to say anything, Cecil stretched out a tendril and took her battered SCAR, handing it to her. 

“Thanks…” Ingrid smiled, “Umm… wanna come along? It’s cold here and… there’s a chance I might not make it, so…”

“Yay!” The adorable slime squeaked, shrinking in size as he hopped onto her shoulder. 

“I’m guessing you’re the one that rammed him with that Dodge.” Ingrid said as she staggered back the way she came, her breath misting up.

“Yup, and those bear traps too.” Cecil said, “Got them from this really cool chick who hustles anthrax on the side.”

Ingrid chuckled, her laughter causing her gut to remind her it was punctured deep.

“You alright?” Cecil asked in a concerned voice.

“No…” Ingrid grimaced, “I ordered some extra spicy salsa and now all those chilies are marinating my insides.”

“Yeowch!” Cecil said, stretching out tendrils along the wall to help Ingrid brace herself, “Bet that stings really bad, but don’t worry, I can call in a favor…”

“What favor?” Ingrid wheezed, “You got your spaceship nearby too?”

“Spaceship?” Cecil chuckled, stretching out a tendril to grab a discarded mop for Ingrid to use to further steady herself, “No, I’m not an alien. Well… technically not a space alien. I was summoned here by those Starchasers, but uhh… let’s say we had a falling out and I didn’t want to go home anyway…”

“Oh, those guys…” Ingrid nodded, “Screw them, I refuse to be a Saturday morning cartoon hero…”

“Yeah…” Cecil replied with a distorted voice as the alley around the two began to crumble. It wasn’t with the rumbling of rocks, but the quiet rustle of flaking paint. 

“That’s not how this happened…” Ingrid remarked easily, coughing a bit as she straightened up and fixed her gait, Cecil retracted his tendrils, shaking them free of the peeling paint.

“I’m done with this place.” Cecil’s voice had dropped several octaves lower, “What about you, Ingrid?”

“Agreed.” Ingrid said, handing her mop to Happy Dino who began using it to sweep the marble floor of confetti.

More Happy Dinos were tapping at the alley walls with candy canes, causing the flimsy facade to crumble away. There was no stone behind it, just the swirling mass of flame-like clouds seen in stylized traditional Japanese art. The view had a peculiar quality to it. It wasn’t like animation where every frame was drawn, but rather a real camera trained on a diorama of layered paper cutouts. Each sheet slowly spun at different speeds to induce the image of parallax and depth.

“Tomorrow was supposed to be your 5 million subscriber video..,” Ingrid sighed. 

The winding alleyways had become straight, leading towards dancing godrays constantly stirred by the roiling sharp clouds.

“I have my number one fan right here.” Cecil replied.

“Awww…love you, you cute little slime!”

Ingrid craned her neck to rub her cheek onto the slime’s plushy body. The path ahead was both narrow and wide, guiding her to walk a straight path without a single angle of deviation. At the periphery were more life-sized dioramas where tap-dancing Happy Dinos in her stage voice narrated memories they already knew.

“Love you too.” Cecil said. 

The Happy Dinos were talking loudly like carnival barkers but all he and Ingrid’s ears could register were quiet little buzzing sounds, more calming than the chirping of crickets.

The two of them continued on, pausing only to see an unfamiliar scene.

Two Happy Dinos were pantomiming a different kind of diorama, but the cutout wasn’t Ingrid.

“I’ve never seen this before…” Ingrid frowned, but Cecil covered her eyes with a tendril.

“Just keep walking…” Cecil said quietly, his voice having returned to normal, “Let me keep a few secrets.”

“Only if I keep you, Cecil.”

“Deal.”

(To be Continued in S01E00B - Still Here Part 2)

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