The Prey’s Same Old Story (Cassette Beasts Crossover) - Ch 14
A fanfiction of “The Nature of Predators” by u/SpacePaladin15 As well as a crossover with “Cassette Beasts” by Bytten Studios
[THIS FANFIC FOLLOWS THE EVENTS OF “CASSETTE BEASTS”, BE ADVISED FOR SPOILERS.]
[EDIT: Adding this after posting because I had totally forgotten to before, but we got memes! It’s so great to have people who genuinely enjoy reading my little fic and I want to highlight them by giving them a little mention whenever they come up!]
“Look at how they massacred my Skalgans” by u/Terran_Catgirl49
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Memory transcription subject: Rania, Venlil Exterminator, New Wirrel Castaway
**Date [standardized human time]: E******R̷̬̈́͝R̷͈͈̓͝O̷̝͆̓R̴͈̆̚]̵̛̯
Days Since Arrival: 4
I looked down at the dark brown liquid that I held in my mug in contemplation. After I had been released from the clinic, Kayleigh had taken me back to the gramophone cafe in order for us to decompress after the encounter we both had. The place alive with conversation from various tables as humans talked over cups of coffee. It was very much unlike the last time where the entire place was empty due to my arrival. It was interesting to see humans engaging in herd behavior.
Apparently after Kayleigh carried me all the way back to town, she brought me to the town doctor, a woman she called Dr Pensby. Pensby did her best to patch me up, the wounds I had received on my arms healing over with stitches that sealed them shut. Despite that I still decided to keep my arms wrapped up in fresh bandages, my previous ones having already been disposed of. The stinging pain being numbed with anesthetic until I recover.
The clinic itself was quite quaint, it seemed as if only a few people worked there. A couple beds intended for patients being off to the side. I was surprised by how these humans were able to establish a place for their sick to be taken care of in such circumstances. It was rare to even see an Arxur dress their own wounds, despite how cobbled together their structures seemed to be. It didn’t even really feel like a doctor’s office, which certainly helped put me at ease at least.
A part of me couldn’t help but wonder if Pensby had difficulty when treating me. Even though I knew that as a doctor Pensby probably interacted with blood on a regular basis, it was probably always human blood. She never operated on a Venlil before, and I was surprised that she was able to keep her composure around my open wounds in order to treat me properly.
While I’m not a doctor or anything, Varynn had taught me emergency first aid for the most dire of situations. The stitches were certainly better than the few times I had to do them myself.
I certainly didn’t complain however, as after everything I had just experienced with that… thing, I was just thankful that there was still anything left of me to put back together.
“I recommend not doing anything too extraneous in this form,” the doctor told me when I woke, "you don’t want to do anything to rip your stitches.” I was never really a fan of doctors, mostly because they were never fans of me. However Pensby was at the very least amicable enough when directing me through post-recovery.
Her tone was not overly clinical, having some degree of warmth to their words, “Try to prevent getting wet for a couple days to avoid infection. I don’t know how fast a venlil’s body repairs itself, but come back to me in about 2 weeks so we can look into removal of your stitches.”
I knew that most likely they were trying to look out for me, but still there was a part inside me that couldn’t help but fear the worst and wonder if Kayleigh had snitched on me about what I had told her.
I worried that she had told them about what I was, of my disease. I wanted to believe that Kayleigh wouldn’t betray my trust, but I just couldn’t be sure. She said that my secret was safe, but that was before whatever that thing was had gotten into my head. What if she saw me as a liability now that whatever predator was down there was now in me?”
My line of thought was interrupted as Kayleigh spoke up from the other side of the small table that we had sat at, “So… how are you feeling? Are you okay?”
My ears perked up as my concentration was drawn away from my beverage, “hmm?”
Kayleigh pointed toward my cup, “Your coffee, you barely touched it, was your last experience really that bad? I promise that there’s no milk in it this time-“
I shook my head, Kayleigh had made sure to get me my own cup for me to enjoy this time, without milk, thankfully. “No no, it’s not that just… thinking…”
“About the archangel?” Kayleigh not only got a cup of her own, but also had a plate of strange circular shaped confectioneries to enjoy on her side of the table. Something she called an ‘oatmeal cookie’. I was interested, however I didn’t want to risk eating another human-made dish until I knew what was in it. That, and my mind was currently preoccupied with other things in the moment.
“You could say that…” I absentmindedly swirled the coffee around in my mug before cautiously taking a sip, “did you… talk to the doctor about anything?”
Kayleigh tilted her head to the side, “what do you mean?”
My tail flicked back and forth uncomfortably, unsure how to ask in a subtle way, “I mean… did you tell them about…”
“Ah I see,” Kayleigh took a sip from her cup while maintaining eyecontact, “No, I didn't tell them about our little ‘chat’, nor about our encounter with that archangel.”
Wait… what? They didn’t tell her about the archangel? Now that surprised me, more than her keeping to her word about keeping my disease under wraps. “Why not?”
Kayleigh shrugged, “I just didn’t think it would be the right time, we still don’t know if that thing was telling the truth. Plus the people around here talk a lot. Don’t want to stir up trouble by spreading rumors of an ‘exit’ that may not even exist yet.” She looked toward me before continuing to drink from her beverage, “Why do you ask?”
“Just…haven’t been able to get them out of my mind.” In more ways than one… Speh, I should probably just change the subject, “What even was that thing? Is that something you guys have just been dealing with? You seemed to be more knowledgeable of the subject.”
Kayleigh’s face contorted in that of a cringed expression, “Define ‘knowledgeable.”
“Well you at least had a name for it.”
“Fair point” Kayleigh shifted uncomfortably in her seat before continuing, “it’s just… hard for me to explain, it was before my time you see.”
I tilted my head to the side, “You mean before you arrived?”
Kayleigh rubbed the back of her head, “Yeah, basically what I’m saying is that anything I tell you is based on stories and tall tales that other people have told me. So take it with a grain of salt.”
“…I’m sorry?”
“Nevermind, basically a long time ago, back when the first poor sods washed up on new Wirral. Those people thought that the monsters here were actually angels.”
“Angels?” I tilted my head to the side, “I still don’t quite understand, what are ‘angels’, and what makes them different than an ‘archangel’?”
“Oh… I… didn’t think I would be explaining this to an alien…” After thinking to herself for a moment she continued, “Angels, at least how I was taught of them, were thought to be the servants to god, at least in one of the major religions of the world where I come from.”
“Wait… the servants to god?” Those things? Really? “Kayleigh, one of them was literally wearing garbage like a hat.” Not exactly the most majestic thing for a seemingly divine being to be wearing.
Also, Humans have religion? I would have to ask about that later. I couldn’t help but feel my imagination go wild. I wonder, if these angels were supposedly servants. Does that mean they were also hunters? tracking down and catching whatever prey they could find for their master? That’s the only way I could see a predator could see a creature like this.
Kayleigh simply shrugged, “You have to remember, this was over 100 years ago, we didn’t know how to transform back then. Monsters were significantly stronger and couldn’t really be fought with standard weapons.”
My ears perked up in intrigue at Kayleigh’s statement. From what she was saying, it sounds like for a while, humans were basically reduced to prey while on this island. Is that why everyone around here is so docile? Is that how they were able to make a society? By being forced back into the role of prey?
As I was lost in my own thoughts, Kayleigh continued with her story, “There have been many names used for monsters over the years, angels, demons, devils, ghouls, yokai, aswang…” She listed off each term as she kept count with her fingers.
I grumbled in annoyance as most of the terms thrown at me were reduced to a simpler meaning, I knew that each of them were probably significantly more different and nuanced in their use but for the life of me my translator only spat back the word ‘predator’ after the first term, which again it translated as ‘herald’. Even if there were more complexities that I was being denied, I still found it surprised that humans had this many terms for creatures that hunted them. Mostly because I didn’t expect predators to be hunted so often that they would need such terms. “So what I’m getting is that no one really knew what to call these things.”
“Yeah, we just call them ‘monsters’ now, it’s a good catch all term.” An embarrassed smile spread across Kayleigh’s face before her expression hardened ever so slightly once more, “However, these people also wrote of others, other beings who stood above the rest. Who looked and felt, ‘wrong’.”
I could feel my trail drag along the floor with unease, “Like with that monster in the tunnel.”
“Yeah, logically they called these beings ‘archangels’. The highest ranking in the order of angels. However of course, once people realized you could fight the normal monsters, they lost some of the ‘Angelic allure’ that they once had so to speak.”
I guess that makes sense, once you take away the intimidation factor they once had with their strange powers they really were just animals.
“Those other creatures however, like the one we fought, they’re still considered ‘archangels’ to us. No one knows what they are, and no one has seen one for a long time.”
“Until last night...” I growled as I rubbed a paw along my forehead, my head still throbbing from whatever that archangel did while rattling around in there.
“Yeah… thinking back on it, it’s hard for me to even remember what it looked like. It felt like I wasn’t viewing it correctly. Like watching a movie through binoculars.” Kayleigh looked down at her mug once more, it seemed as if something began to bother her before she looked back up to me with a smile on her face, “Oh, sorry, shouldn’t make assumptions, somehow I forget that we’re from different worlds sometimes. You probably don't even know what movies are!”
“Of course I- wait…” Humans made films? As in, a genuine form of artistic expression? There was never any mention of that in any of the exhibits I went to. Why wasn’t this something included in any part of the information we have on humans? Was it just the humans from Kayleigh’s world? Were they genuinely that much of an outlier? “…you also have movies where you come from?”
Kayleigh breathed a sigh of relief, “Yeah, and I’m darn grateful that you did too. I’ve been stuck here for three years but I still haven’t completely adjusted my cultural references when talking to new folk. Maybe we’ll actually have something in common to talk about!”
“Yeah… I doubt it, you probably wouldn’t have seen any of the shows that I watched.” I didn’t think that Kayleigh would particularly enjoy an episode of The Exterminators if we ever managed able to get our paws on a copy. “But moving past that, is it true what you said? That we fused into a single being. Like that one monster we fought before?”
Kayleigh’s eyes widened in realization before an awkward smile spread across her lips, “Oh yeah… that… I should probably explain that properly now shouldn’t I?”
Kayleigh put her cup back onto the table with a clink, “To give a very simple explanation. Fusion is a phenomenon that is commonly known, yet not quite understood. A theory I’ve often heard is that it’s something that happens when two individuals share a common will, Fusions are often composed of two wild monsters although on rare occasions some humans manage it. I hear that the head ranger is able to do it as well.”
“I’m sorry… Head ranger?” If Kayleigh calls herself a ranger, and she apparently reports to ‘captains’ would a head ranger be the rank above a ranger captain? How does it even work? Is it a strength based thing? I would assume it would have to somewhat be, even if some humans here come from less predatory worlds. “Would you say that she is the strongest amongst your kind?”
“You could certainly say that. She was fighting monsters before we even had the ability to transform.”
My ears instantly perked up in interest upon hearing what Kayleigh had just told me, “She’s really that strong?”
“Yeah, I’ve heard people say she had this awesome oversized mechanical sword she used to have in order to cut monsters down.” Kayleigh gripped her fists together and swung as if she was holding an invisible club, “Although barely anyone has actually seen her fuse, and even fewer actually know who her partner is.”
Kayleigh grabbed one of the two strange treats off of a plate in front of her and continued, “That's another thing, not everyone can do it. That’s why it was so surprising, since it can usually only be done in the proper circumstances.”
Kayleigh took a bite out of the odd confectionery as she closed her eyes in thought, “I guess ‘the right circumstances’ include nearly being killed by an Archangel...”
I began to take a sip from my cup as Kayleigh swallowed her cookie, fiddling with her hair absentmindedly, “It felt strange. In that moment, I was sharing a body with you, and the thing we became was both us and not us at the same time…”
As Kayleigh continued to talk I noticed that she attempted to indiscreetly look away from me as a pink bloom spread across her face, “I-I’ve never fused with anyone before, and wasn't expecting it to be with an extraterrestrial I barely knew.” It was at this point in the conversation that I realized that it had been way too long since I had last taken a breath, almost causing me to choke on my own drink. Embarrassment slowly spreading across Kayleigh’s face as she watches my struggle, “Talking about it just made it feel more awkward didn’t it? Sorry, It was just sorta something that happened in the heat of the moment ya know?”
“Cough cough… It’s… fine… don’t apologize.” Thankfully I didn’t spit any of my drink up, but I could feel heat begin to spread across my own face as I tried to stop myself, ”F-From what you say, it sounds like that was the only reason we survived at all…”
“I-I guess you’re right about that.” Kayleigh said with a chuckle, looking down at her own hands as she flexed her fingers in contemplation. “Now that we’ve done it once, I feel like a door has opened that wasn’t there before. I think if we wanted to…we could perhaps… do it again?”
Truth be told, I was, at the very least, curious about this phenomenon. I was barely conscious the first time, but even still… ever since I woke I’ve been vividly remembering the experience, if only by sensation.
It was almost as if I had been deconstructed, not only in body, but in spirit as well. Subsequently remade with bits and pieces of another person like a jigsaw puzzle, only to be separated once more as if nothing had happened. It was disorienting to say the least, I didn’t know where Kayleigh ended and where I began, or if there was even any difference in the first place.
The thing I was most concerned about however, was whether or not the process was safe. I was already treading the line as far as I was concerned when it came to predatory behavior as I still didn’t know whether or not I was risking my own sanity each time I transformed into a monster.
And while at this point I was pretty sure that Kayleigh wasn’t a predator, or at least came from a world where humanity’s instincts were significantly stunted. I still wasn’t particularly keen to the idea of fusing. It was one thing to take the form of a predator, it was a whole other thing to potentially share bodies with one.
As such a part of me thought it would be best if we considered shelving that strategy for now. At the very least I had to limit myself to those I absolutely trusted.
I tried my best to turn down the suggestion in a way Kayleigh might not find suspicious while not hurting her feelings, “Maybe… let’s hope it doesn’t get to the point where we would need to use it.”
Kayleigh almost looked disappointed at my suggestion, opening her mouth to protest before reluctantly agreeing with me. “I… yeah… you’re probably right, we should be more careful. But still, if the need ever does arise, it is an option…”
“…I’ll keep it in mind,” I gave a silent tail flick in agreement, knowing that it probably wouldn’t be a matter of if, but when.
Some time passed as we finished the rest of our drinks in silence, Kayleigh taking the last bite out of her pastry as I finished telling her about what I had seen when I was under.
“Alright so, let me see if I understand this correctly.” Kayleigh clapped her hands together as she spoke in what I intuited to be mild disbelief, “that archangel we fought, it’s… inside you?”
“It seems that way unfortunately,” I sighed despondently as I looked down into my now empty mug. What I wouldn’t give for some Venlilian wine right about now, “I think its name is… Morgante…?”
I don’t even know how I know that name, I don’t remember that thing telling me it. Or maybe it did, and I was too busy crapping my wool to actually pay attention.
“Alright, so this… ‘Morgante’.” Kayleigh gestured air quotes with her fingers, similarly to how a Venlil would do so with their ears. Humans really do talk with their hands a lot. “You’re saying she knows a way to leave New Wirral?”
“That’s what they claim, however I wouldn’t put your credits on it. It didn't exactly give me a choice in the matter and seemed pretty desperate.” I growled at the memory in shame, we were so close to purging such an abomination from this world, and now I’m practically aiding in their recovery.
Kayleigh placed her hand on her chin in thought, “Hmm… Well in any case If there is even a chance that this can lead to a way off this island and return people to their homes and their families. Then I feel like we owe it to everyone on New Wirral to find out don't we?”
“Well you're not wrong…” I let out a huff in reluctant acceptance, “…and while I’m not excited about having to fight another archangel, I would be lying if I said I didn’t want to get off of this island as soon as physically possible. No offense.”
Kayleigh shook her head, “Trust me, absolutely none taken.”
“And we don’t really have any other leads… So… I guess it wouldn’t hurt to try…?”
“Exactly!” Kayleigh slid her chair back as she jumped up from her seat with a renewed sense of vigor, extending her paw out in my direction, “So what do you say? Are you with me?
I stared nervously at Kayleigh’s paw unsure of its meaning, must be a human gesture. To be honest, it didn’t feel right to be doing this, to be making friends with a human, to make deals with a predator, to so brazenly run into danger that’s unlike anything I've ever seen. But I knew that I was already in too deep to back off now, I had to find a way off this predatory rock, and not only that, I had to know what that archangel wanted to tell me.
And so, swallowing my fear I stood up from my chair and grasped Kayleigh’s paw with my own. Allowing her to shake it violently and practically pull me off my feet as a wide grin spread across her face, “Great! It’s you and I!” Even after her initial excitement the smile didn’t fully go away, “If your visions are caused by an archangel, then I guess it makes sense that we would need to find another one to figure out more. However when we do, we need to be a lot stronger than we are now.”
I shuddered at the suggestion, not excited about the idea of having to face an archangel one more. “I agree, even if I end up never seeing another one of those things ever again, it would be too soon.”
“Well… if we want to get stronger, there’s a training programme that the rangers run for potential recruits if you’re interested!”
My ears perked up in interest, “What, like a boot camp of sorts?” Wouldn’t be my first time, although I did feel sorta uneasy about meeting more of these humans, I felt like it would make it more likely that I would meet one that was more predatory inclined, “Didn't Dr Pensby say that I shouldn’t do anything extraneous?
“She said in this form. Damage done in a monster form doesn’t affect your real form, and the same is true for the reverse. Injuries that your real form suffers from is masked while transformed. Don’t need to worry about ripping your stitches if they don’t exist at the moment.” She waved her hand as if to dismiss my worries, “And I wouldn’t say it's a bootcamp, more like an aptitude test. The intention is to get a gauge on your strengths and weaknesses, your skills as well as your shortcomings. They want to see what you bring to the table so to speak, as well as teaching you how to improve.”
Kayleigh picked up her pack as we prepared to leave, Clèmene already taking our mugs from our table, “If you would like, we can start by getting you a meeting with our leader, last I heard she left for the outpost in the park. So we’ll head there first.”
We’re really going to be meeting the strongest human? It seemed risky, however Kayleigh seemed to think highly of them so I could only hope that I could trust her judgement. “if you think that’s what would be the best course of action… Well… I guess you’ll have no complaints from me.”
A bright smile beamed across Kayleigh’s face as I agreed, “Perfect! Before we head out we should probably pick up some more supplies.” With a goal set, Kayleigh pulled a map out from her backpack and began to study it as we walked out of the bustling cafe, “Now let’s see, from here, the fastest route to the outpost should be…”
Before Kayleigh could finish her thought, we were interrupted by shouting coming from down the street. “Stop right there!”
Both of us turned toward the source of the commotion, where we saw a human standing off against two others of its kind. I recognized the lone human as Eugene, the man who helped me back in the forest, although I couldn’t say the same for the other two, which I think was a pair of a male and a female human. Both of them had skin as white as ash and wore black suits that covered their body like shadow. Both of them bared their fangs in an unsettling smile. What’s going on? Is this some sort of territorial dispute?
Eugene practically snarled at the pale humans, and this time I wasn’t throwing that term around without reason as it was clear he felt nothing but contempt for them. “Don’t make me tell you again! You aren’t welcome here! Harbourtown will never fall victim to you bloodsuckers!” As soon as the phrase was able to be processed by my translator my fur stood on end as for the first time since coming here, I had encountered a truly bloodthirsty human.
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[Ranger Arsenal]
Rania:
Wooltergeist (Astral)
- Smack
- Shear Luck
- Battering Ram
- Bite
- Elemental Wall
- Shooting Star
Carniviper (Poison) [2 Star]
- Spit
- Raise Arms
- Toxic Stab
- Pustule Bomb
(EMPTY SLOT)
Kayleigh:
Sirenade (Air) [3 Star]
-Spit
-Dodge
-Sonic Boom
-Provoke
-Air Wall
Squirey (Beast) [3 Star]
- Smack
- Sharpen
- Copper Chop
- Parry Stance
(EMPTY SLOT)
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