I stopped in my tracks as the thought occurred to me, and I started to pat down my body. Nothing said that a control mechanism had to be a literal collar, and I honestly wasn't sure which parts of my body could hide such an object.
Unfortunately, I found no such machine or item on my person, no sign of one anywhe-.
...
...
...Wait.
Looking through the hole in my shirt, I noticed four small circular metal objects embedded into the sides of my chest. How could I not notice that? Turning back into a Cerebrocrustacean, I checked my body to see if they were there. And sure enough, they were.
I tried to push through the disorientation of such a disturbing thing and having yet another small human breakdown and tried to analyze said objects as best I could with my limited, 'More like nonexistence', resources.
If only I could somehow pull them out…
...
...
Wait a minute... There's a variety of species I could turn into that would get rid of what I could only assume were bolts in one fashion or another.
Slowly, on instinct, I felt the skull plates that cover my otherwise exposed brain open, electricity slowly coursed around it as I focused it on the spheres indented on my person, while my pincers tried to find out how they were secured to my body. If they were actually spheres, they might be magnetised to the machine in my body, which I could just demagnetise. If they really were bolts, then I could just twist them out. Granted, I didn't know what they did, but I don't want to have a possibly exploitable item on my person and I-
What the hell?
Before I could think too much about that though, there was a sudden reaction from the spheres and―
AARRRGH!
I screamed aloud as electricity arched from my body, and I fell to the ground in a twitching heap as I was forcibly reverted to my human form as the pain ripped through me, I felt everything go fuzzy and dark, like I was slipping back into where I was before.
No. No. No. No! I won't go back to that! I mentally screamed as I forced myself to stay conscious, to keep myself together. I've been through worse damnit! Tougher things have beaten me! Nothing could feel worse than being erased!
Moments later, the electricity cut off, and I was able to get my senses back. Which, naturally, didn't make the pain any less hellish. When I get my hands on those little shits. Even Asmuth never treated me like this.
This was… Informative... Yeah, let's go with informative.
Before I could reflect on that much, though, the door to my cell suddenly snapped open, and I felt myself being dragged forward by an unseen force.
Psychics? Forced Levitation? Gravitational Pull?
I tried to resist, but I hadn't recovered enough from my previous ordeal and thusly, all my body did was twitch uselessly in the air. Moments later, I found myself dragged onto a small hovering platform, and I felt the air snap and charge around me as if it had been held in place.
I finally managed to pull myself up on my knees and take a look around. I was now in a hallway about five meters across, where the walls and ceiling bulged outwards, most likely I was in some kind of large tube. Aside from a few sparse curves and outlets, there were a number of doors lining the walls in both directions, most likely more cells like my own.
I didn't have long to look at them before the platform I was on started to move, and I noticed a pair of lizard people fall in step beside it. What happened next was entirely my fault. I suspected what would happen, I was sure of what would happen next and yet I did so anyway. Damn human side. It's like the Chili Fries all over again.
I reached out towards one of them, only for an electric jolt to force my arm back as it reached the edge of the circular platform. Forcefield. Typical. One of them let out something that I think was a laugh before spouting off some more noises that I could only assume were their language.
I didn't know what it said, but I was sure it was being an antagonistic bellend.
I shook out my hand as I studied my surroundings. Just where the hell was I? This had to be a base of some kind. But how the hell did I get from either city to here? Was it underneath the city? If so, how far down was it for no one to notice? And it simply couldn't be underneath Galvan Prime's capital city, as Asmuth would never allow such a thing to exist.
So I was either somewhere else on Planet Earth or on some other planet, or perhaps a research station floating around space. But I honestly wasn't sure if that was more plausible than some underground technologically advanced reptiles. Personally, as much as I hate to admit it, I hoped it was the former, because the latter implied terrible things about my chances of seeing my home again.
...Either of them.
I let out a breath to dismiss such thoughts, instead thinking back to what I had just learned back in my cell.
I believe... I thought to myself as the glorified cart hovered down the hallway. Silently reviewing everything I've learned up until now. That I'm now in some sort of research facility or possibly even a station to undergo tests of my abilities.
...
...
Now that I think about it. Given my altered state... Couldn't I do more with my abilities? Who says I have to undergo a full transformation? What about a partial one? Like a hybrid. What about just using the abilities and attributes while still in my human form? What about using multiple abilities from various species?
It's not off the table... I could- should be able to do that, given I've done things that aren't too far off from it. Such as when I had turned back from a Polymorph, the transformation Tennyson calls Goop, and my feet were still in the semi-liquid-solid form of a Polymorph.
Looking at my hand, I flexed the same mental and physical muscles I used for transforming, only this time focusing solely on my hand. And...
...
...
...
It fell...
...
My hand fell to the floor...
...
My hand was now on the platform I was sitting on. The red substance lay helplessly waiting for something to interact with it. My wrist was now leaking the red ick, a small froth bubbling where my hand once was a second ago.
All that is signified by my transformation sound.
Focusing once again, I focused on the same hand that was now on the floor and tried to change it once again.
And once more, my transformation cue sounded as the red ooze rushed to my outstretched leg and into my body while the slime from my cut-off wrist sprung to life. It quickly elongated and morphed into a sharp, pointed, three-clawed hand as the skin around my wrist turned dark blue.
Despite the risk of being tased again, I started rapidly shifting my hand into those of various species.
Polar Manzardill, Splixson, Tetraman, Galvan, Conductoid, Galvanic Mechamorph and Appoplexian were some of the more interesting transformations to note.
Unfortunately, I was forced to stop almost as soon as I started, as one of my escorts let out an angry-sounding growl as it turned to face me. I went still as it stared at me for a few moments before it was satisfied and turned back to face forward.
I'll remember your face for later. I thought with a smile, though I did feel a little miffed about it. I won't lie and say that I didn't enjoy the feeling a little. And I had a feeling that there was a lot I was missing about my new discovery, something I was jumping with concealed excitement to get into. However, I did wonder, and I wasn't sure if I would get the chance to. Especially since even as I started to consider the ways I could test this, I found the platform reaching the end of a hallway and hovered through an open door, my guards, or I suppose, escorts, stopping before they entered themselves. Seeming to wait outside.
Odd.
The new room was very large, too large, one might say. Beyond the slightly curving upward wall at my back, in front of me looked to be a number of large blocky pillar-like structures, walls, ramps, pillars, and all manner of things forming all around me into what I would generally call obstacles.
To be honest, it reminded me of one of those advanced laser tag arenas. Or perhaps a multiplier game map, similar to Halo. Custom map to be more specific.
That thought filled me with an abrupt sense of trepidation and suspicion; one does not simply create a large dome-like room that can bend and change on the dime.
This feeling was not helped when the door behind me slammed shut and the force field around me suddenly dropped. Of course, the quite inhuman roar from a short distance away that followed just drove the point home even harder.
I quickly got up from my sitting position and darted towards the nearest structure, hoping to get cover from whatever had made that noise. For better or worse, it wasn't long before I found out.
Crashing through one of the pillars nearby was… something. It was about the size of a huge Earth bear but was noticeably heavy and broader on the front, even as it moved on all fours. It reminded me a bit of a bulldog but mixed with a rhino and/or maybe an elephant, as its head was triangular and had forward-pointed horns and tusks. The whole thing was covered in rigid armour plates over its thick, orange fur.
Nothing I haven't fought and overpowered before. Especially not when compared to Tennyson or to a lesser extent even Vilgax. He should really change his title to Collector of Ass whoopings, a lot more accurate in my humble opinion.
Looking at the thing. It seems to have paused after its showing of power and mindless destruction for a brief moment before its head twitched and it let out another roar, allowing me to get a great view of how its mouth opened along perpendicular seams. It then swung its head around towards me before it charged.
I, embarrassingly, let out something akin to a yell before I spun and scrambled up the side of the wall I was next to in a bid to get away from the creature. Which I managed to do just before the creature slammed into the pillar I was just behind, smashing a gaping hole clean through and causing the top of the now destroyed structure to fall to the floor with a heavy thud, kicking up dust in the process.
I stared down at the thing as it started to turn, perched precariously on the unstable wall.
This is a combat test. I thought to myself. My eyes trained on the beast. They've captured me, and now they want to see my abilities in combat. They want to see how well I perform. And I'm guessing failure is the sort of thing they would learn from, and I… wouldn't. I narrowed my eyes at the thought as I jumped away onto another wall, as the one I was on was destroyed by the rampaging brute.
So that meant that if I wanted to live, I was probably going to have to kill this thing. Which, to be honest… I didn't mind doing it. It wasn't a Galvan and it wasn't a human. Just a mindless animal trying to kill me. There'd be no point in holding back or feeling sorry about it. Survival of the fittest and all. Even my human side had no qualms with such a thing.
Not that humans often do with such a situation.
I once again pounced off the wall I was on the moment before the creature slammed into it, landing deftly on the ground before I instantly turned and bolted at the thing.
If there was one thing I could be proud of was that Tennyson's body was quite the physical marvel. And given his experiences and training, it would be hard to not praise him for such a thing.
It started to turn but before it could completely face me I was already on it, leaping up into the air just above it while turning into a Vulpimancer, my skin turned a dark peach colour as the same colour of fur quickly grew across my body; my pinkie fingers fused into my hand as my body grew in size and quill-like spines grew out of my back. My jaw unhinging and came forward as my lower canines grew, giving me a slight underbite.
My Ultimatrix moving onto a deep red collar around my neck.
I land on its back while trying to sink my claws into it. It didn't really work, though, as its armor plates merely scratched a little at the contact. Quite a durable metal I must admit. Though its skin on the other hand was weak enough for me to pierce it.
Knew it'd be easy. I thought to myself as the... the... You know what, screw it, I'm just going to start calling it a B-Bear for brevity's sake – the B-Bear started to buck to try and remove me.
Even with my changed senses and lack of proper vision, I still managed to catch a glimpse, or I suppose notion of something strange about the plates near the base of its neck before it simply rolled over, and I was forced to leap off. Though not before giving it a nasty bite.
Abandoning that idea, I swerved back in and tried to strike at its now upturned legs, at its joints where it was less protected. Unfortunately, even though I was faster and quicker than the thing, the creature was much better at fighting on all fours than I was. Being on them all its life and all.
The result was less a less-than-desired series of hit-and-run strikes as it was me tactically slashing, biting, clawing and dodging out of the way. Such as it was, it wasn't long before the thing landed a crushing blow on me.
Sending me tumbling in the air like I was a small animal just being hit by an 18-wheeler.
This was, embarrassing, as it may be. Mainly due to my own underestimation of its prowess.