Space Bunnies!

Chapter 25: Bones

Kai returned from the outside, fatigued, he was entirely slumped over, sweaty, and completely out of breath. Bodi was wide awake but was really concerned for his brother. Kai was gone for at least 45 minutes. He threw Bodi's backpack on the ground, which was full to the brim with logs Kai had processed himself. He then collapsed on the concrete floor of the cave. Bodi shuffled over and inspected the reward that Kai brought back. "Nice work," Bodi said, overly energetic, Kai gave a shaky thumbs up, which was unusual, and Bodi moved to try and flip his brother over. But upon touching him, he withdrew his hands in disgust, "Ew! Why are you so wet!?" Bodi shouted, his voice echoed through the cave, and his nose was wrinkled in a way that expressed his clear displeasure with the situation. Kai didn't respond immediately, but he did manage to turn his head to face Bodi with a weak smile.

"I'm sweating. Don't you know what it's like to have air sucked out of your lungs?" Kai started randomly, he seemed tired, like genuinely tired, he huffed and continued, "We're not the same. Remember what dad told you?" Bodi nodded, he knew that Kai was just a little different, but he never expected this. Heart, lungs, a functional immune system, tastebuds, bones. Everything that Bodi lacked, Kai just had a little bit of, in the world of Omeocoon, there were two types— generation one(Bodi,) and generation two(Kai.) The bone-like structures serve various functions. They act as internal scaffolding, allowing G2 Omeocoon to maintain more complex shapes, including those that require additional support, like wings or large appendages, mallets, and so on.

The bones are capable of melting and morphing, just as one would expect. However, the additional organs introduced weaknesses, like sweating and fatigue, well... a G1 can still feel tired, but for Omeocoon in Kai's situation, it just came faster, they didn't have the 'unlimited' lung capacity. "Can I listen?" Bodi asked curiously Kai turned over painfully on his back and nodded, Bodi rested his ear against Kai's chest, to hear the rapid pounding of a very strong heart. It made him so ecstatic he pumped his fists into the air and clapped happily, "That's awesome. I wish I had one." He put his ear on Kai's chest again after a brief break. It was like some sort of physical representation of all of Kai's hard work. It was quite the phenomenon. "Okay, that's enough. Start the fire... please." Kai ordered wearily, to that Bodi fake saluted, and went to work, bringing the wood together, he reinforced the logs with an exterior barrier of rocks, which not only shored the fire up but also provided protection against the wind, which on this planet would only get worse. Regardless of whether or not they are generation one or two.

Kai tried to sit up and then shrieked in pain, he immediately returned to lying flat on his back, and this caused Bodi to immediately move over after getting the fire started, Kai felt completely helpless, with his arm clutching his chest, his eyes widened in fear. "What's happening? Bode!" Kai yelled, he was panicking, his body was enveloped in pain, and he couldn't move his neck so he was quite restricted to just peripheral vision. Bodi pounced over, fortunately, the little brother was completely fine— even his cut seemed to have healed in a matter of hours, which was evident because he had ditched the makeshift bandage on his arm, healing factor.

"Let me see," Bodi said, his hands just coming within proximity of his brother's chest, Kai immediately flinched away. "Hold, still okay?" Bodi strained in annoyance because immediately Kai went to struggling, complaining that Bodi's hands were cold, he whined about some dull pain, after a brief touch of Kai's side and another cry of pain. Bodi was ready for his diagnosis. "You have a broken rib... maybe two. Rib? I think that's what it's called. How does it feel? I bet it feels awesome!" Bodi said innocently— this sense of 'pain must feel great!' Was actually quite common with Generation One because they were simply curious, of course, they did have pain receptors but nothing as sophisticated as Kai or his other G2 brethren had, Bodi secretly wished that he could experience this pain as well... that was weird, but he couldn't share the same experiences. He wished he could... taste, get sick, feel the exhilarating sensation of the heart pounding in the chest.