The PuriFICation // Kaiju Paradise

Chapter One

It's almost 9. 

That's the hour where the gootraxians flee, and run back to the hideout. That's where the humans can't get us. 

Right now though, it's only 8, so I've still got an hour. 

I see Sprinklekit in the corner of my eye, dashing into a locker. 

I turn my head to face her, but instead, I'm met with the feeling of a bat, smashing into the back of my head. I tumble to the floor, looking up at the group of humans. They've picked a fight with me, so I will fight back.

Jumping up, I kick one of the humans in the stomach, sending them to the other side of the room, (the room we're in isn't very big.) while I use my tail to grab one of the other humans. The last human flees, leaving his axe behind.

The human I grabbed becomes infected, like me, and looks up at me with resentment. 

I don't care though, so I walk towards the human I kicked. They refuse to back down. They swing their bat, and I dodge. I give them a nice scratch across the face, leaving a nasty mark. I see them start to become frustrated. With another failed swoop of their bat, I grab them from behind, infecting them slowly. After they become infected, I leave the scene. 

I open the locker Sprinklekit was hiding in.

"Hey Sprinkle, it's alright now. I took care of them." I say, reaching out my paw, as a sign of friendship, maybe. She smiles, and grabs ahold. 

"Oh my goodness, thank you so much. Those jerks were chasing me for hours... good thing you took care of them." She confesses. I nod, letting her know she won't have to worry. 

The clock strikes 9.

Finally, today felt like it lasted too long.

"Oh, it's nine already? Guess we should start heading back to the base.." 

She sighs, and looks down at the floor. I'm not so sure what she's sad about, I think it's nice to be able to sleep without being raided by humans.

"Hey, wait, Fashui, could you... walk with me to the base? I don't want any humans following me.." She says, fidgeting with her paws. I can notice a slight coloration on her face, but I choose to ignore it.

"Sure, we're all going to the same place, anyway." I shrug. With a smile, Sprinklekit starts to lead the way. We find ourselves walking with the rest of gootraxians to our base, until we finally get there. I'm just excited to get some sleep. 

"Fashui, thanks for walking with me and uh... saving my ass back there." 

I know it was the right decision to help a friend in need, but Sprinkle is starting to show signs of wanting to be more than just friends.

Or maybe I'm overthinking it.

"yeah... you're welcome. Any time." 

I know i say "any time" as if I could do this shit again, but realistically, there's no way.

In the base, theres a small huddle of gootraxians discussing. There's a catte, who is missing an eye, and has some red crystals poking out of his chest. Then, theres a Hazzy, wearing a hazmat suit. Finally, there's a Figs, with no distinctive features. I decide to join in on their conversation.

"Have you guys been seeing those keycards lying around? What's that about?" The Catte says to Hazzy.

"I don't know, but I managed to snag one from a shelf. Take a look." The hazzy reaches into the pocket of his yellow hazmat suit, and pulls out a small, white keycard. In big, bold letters at the top of the card, it says, "LAMINAX SECURITY" and below it, theres some type of weird barcode. Probably to unlock something. 

"That's... so weird. There's nothing at Laminax that needs a keycard to unlock... maybe the humans brought in something new?" The Figs says, inspecting the card. I don't say anything though, but I'm just as confused as them. 

"You don't think this could be apart of that purification event, do you?" The Catte says, with a worried expression in his eye. "Catte, the purification isn't real, it was made up to scare gootraxians." The Figs says, handing the card back to Hazzy. "You don't know that! The purification could be very real, and it could kill all of us!" "What's the purification?" I hear someone say from behind. It was Sprinklekit. "The purification is a event that's held in Laminax, that's rumored to make the lights go orange, and that giant door in the crystal cave to open. The purification will kill every gootraxian, and leave only the humans. There is no way any gootraxian will survive." The Hazzy says, and Sprinklekit looks traumatized. I always knew the purification existed, but I never had an opinion on it. Did I think it was real? Maybe. I never wanted to become one of the gootraxians who feared the inevitable downfall of all gootrax kind, but I did want to be one of them who felt indifferent about the whole thing. 

"Fashui, you... don't think the purification will kill us, do you?" Sprinkle says, holding onto my arm, and looking up at me with puppy-dog eyes. I'm feeling kind of uncomfortable.

"Uh... no.? It's probably not real." Right after I say this, the Catte makes a frustrated groan, and walks off. 

Catte must fear it.

"Catte believes in the purification a little too much, they always talk about how it will be here soon, and we need to start worrying about it more... but I think we should all just stay calm." Figs says, smiling. I nod, not really agreeing with her, but understanding where she's coming from. 

I hear someone rapidly approaching the base, and my tail instantly raises in some type of defense. Did a human find our base?

To my surprise, it was only Feizao. 

Feizao entered the base, panting, and dripping with their goo.

"the humans, they almost got me!" Feizao announces, making everyones head turn.

"Feizao, are you alright? Hazzy says, walking toward him."

Hazzy placed his paw on Feizao's back, but when he pulled it away, his paw was covered in blood.