“Ahhhh!” he screamed, rolling on the ground. The burning had intensified until he felt like he was being cooked on his back side.

“It’s napalm!” she cried, running for the armory.

Dustin rolled on the ground, trying to put the fire out, but the pain, when he rolled onto his back, was so intense, he immediately rolled back off of it.

Suddenly, he was blinded by freezing cold clouds of white. He couldn’t tell what hurt more, the cold or the hot.

(HOST HAS BEEN DAMAGED. RECOMMEND EVOLUTION CHANGE TO HEAL DAMAGE TO PLATES.)

“What?” he thought hazily, as he writhed on the ground. He could feel the pain on his back fading, as his healing kicked in.

(HOST HAS TAKEN DAMAGE TO PLATE SCALES. NORMAL HEALING WILL NOT REVIVE THEM.)

“Then,” he sat up as his back stopped hurting, “Initiate evolution of this same form so they revive.”

(INITIATING EVOLUTION)

Dustin loved his healing ability, and really grieved for anyone who had to suffer from burns. They were the most horrible things he could remember having suffered.

“Better?” asked Olivia, holding a strange contraption he assumed was the alien equivalent of a fire extinguisher.

(EVOLUTION COMPLETE)

“Much! Oh God! You are an angel!”

“Well, I’ve been called better, but I’ll take it,” she said with a wide grin.

Before he could groan, a Josagn rushed through the hologram doorway, and aimed his laser at them, firing off several shots.

Both blasts hit Dustin square in the chest, and he watched amazed, as the armor activated, reflecting the blasts back at the Josagn, and sending him flying back through the hologram doorway. Dustin fell back against the wall behind him, but he didn’t waste any time and scrambled towards the last door. Why the hell did the armor just now decide to kick in???

Olivia grabbed up her duffle bag, and followed close behind him. He looked at her and she nodded. They both kicked the door open, and charged into the room. There were about twenty Josagn, waiting for them with weapons drawn.

Most of the blasts reflected back at the Josagn from the armor, but they couldn’t guarantee how long the power would last on the armor, after the weapons sucked so bad. Olivia rolled towards a wall, firing her black electric balls towards them, and Dustin charged straight ahead. Once he reached them, he could feel some of the damage starting to leak through.

Grabbing the first Josagn, he threw it at the others, then grabbed another and bit it. Half the damage he was getting, was halted as they scrambled on the ground under their companion. Tossing the bit Josagn at some others as it started to spasm, he grabbed another one.

Using it to take the blast from a really big gun, he threw it at the idiot who fired the gun, then stepped sideways long enough for some of the blasts he had been getting from behind, hit the Josagn in front of him.

Jumping on top of a pile of them, he clawed at faces and yanked weapons away, without paying attention to what they had. His goal was to do as much damage as quickly as possible.

Someone tried to tackle him, but his body weight was greater than one of theirs, so the only affect it had, was as if it was trying to give him a big bear hug. So, with a laugh, he punched it in the face and then kicked it away, when it stumbled back. All the while, black electric balls of energy were hitting them and sending them into spasms from Olivia.

A noise drew his attention to the back of the room, and he watched as a huge crystal bug straightened up from the restraints that had just been released from it. Dustin ignored the rest of the Josagn as he watched this thing rise high above all of their heads. These guys had to be fucking stupid. They were already bird-brained, but this was ridiculous!

They had taken one of the yellow bugs that terrified him so much, blew it up to an impossible size, then gave it crystal skin, so he couldn’t hurt it.

Licking his lips, a giggle escaped his mouth. He fell to his knees, and started reaching around for a weapon, any weapon, and picked up the first one he found. It was a laser gun. He aimed for its eyes, and fired off a shot. The beam redirected from the crystal, hitting the wall. He fired another beam at its mouth as it opened it to chitter at him. It bounced around, but didn’t come back out. He didn’t know where it ended up, and whether it did any good or not.

Tossing the gun over his shoulder, he scrambled for another one. Olivia fired a black electric ball at it, but it bounced off, landing on a Josagn and frying it. The bug scrambled for him, slamming a foot down, pinning a Josagn to the ground, and he scurried back. Its stinger struck at him, missing him by a hairsbreadth, as he continued climbing over the Josagn bodies. As he felt his back come up against the wall, his hand landed on a grenade. He didn’t hesitate to see what kind it was, pulling the pin and shoving it into the bug’s mouth as it rushed towards him, to bite him. It closed its mandibles, taking a few fingers, and he threw himself underneath it, towards Olivia.

He grabbed her arm, as she jumped up, and they rushed past the giant bug as it turned to attack them, but it got distracted by a couple of Josagn that were trying to drag themselves away from it as well. As they reached the door out of this small command center, there was a blast from the bug, throwing them forward, through the doorway.

“What kind of grenade was that?” she asked, as she picked herself up.

Dustin’s ears were ringing, but he shrugged as he kicked the door shut. The bug was missing its head, exposing its crystal innards as the door slammed shut.

“It was probably super effective against crystal,” he said, flexing his hand, with its short stubs that were already starting to regrow. They hurt and itched like hell.

“Dustin,” Olivia said, turning away from him.

He looked up, and saw that they were in a hanger bay. Several shuttles were ready to be boarded.

“About time!”