Kyle focused on his slime body, carefully he formed a thin tentacle and reached out to Celica’s finger as she continued to poke the puddle of slime with a bored expression. The tentacle reached her finger just as she poked and it fell apart back into liquid.

(“Progress.”) said Celica with a shrug.

(“You know it would be really great if you’d stop poking my sensitive magical slime body with your god damn finger.”) Kyle responded in annoyance.

(“Aww the little slime is mad.”) mocked Celica with a smirk.

(“You…you…”) Kyle formed another tentacle of slime this time thicker, it moved to wrap around Celica’s arm and did so twice.

(“More progress!”) she exclaimed while raising her hand making the tentacle fall apart like it’s predecessor (“Or not…”)

Kyle’s slime puddle body bubbled furiously.

Mars Colonies

12th District, Italia.

Sly walked through the marble white streets as several other humans went about their normal day, on either side of him stood tall white metallic building climbing up higher than the usual skyscraper with a smaller side road going through between each one.

Glancing up Sly pictured Chaoz’s beautiful blue sky with two bright suns and the occasional cloud as he saw the silver metallic ceiling high above, several hundred oval vehicles flew about above the street utilizing several dozen elevations as roads. This all reminding him once more what he longed for, what he was doing this for.

After exiting the building that was now his workplace Sly had immediately made way to his apartment and packed his things, shortly after making his way to the edge of Italia. Over the shoulder, he carried a black backpack and within his left hand he carried a white metallic suitcase where he had packed some belongings and other items he deemed important.

As he arrived to his destination the tall skyscrapers ended there and then opening up into a large area with green grass and dirt making up the ground while trees of varying kinds and sizes formed several rows with benches on either side for people to sit and wait at.

On either side of this opening were several shops and stores with metallic white walls advertising their wares with holographic designs on their storefront. At the very far end of this large waiting area was a building similar but slightly larger than the shops with a single large archway, within the archway was a gleaming silver wall slightly indented outwards from the archway around it.

Sly walked through the pseudo garden not paying attention to anybody that passed by or sat around, briefly he glanced down to see his feet phase through the holographic grass and dirt. Sighing he looked up staring at the station’s entrance, the silver wall that he knew would open once the train arrived.

He picked an empty bench closest to the station entrance and sat down waiting, glancing up he saw six similar entrances up in district’s barrier ceiling where vehicles would enter to park inside the train once it arrived.

As he waited Sly glanced around at the civilians going about their day, he snorted thinking of how ignorant they were of everything. Yet he also pitied them, not only for what they didn’t know nor for how easily pleased they were with their simple lives as commonfolk under someone else’s roof but for what they were missing out on.

Suddenly a voice spoke throughout the entire holographic garden “Voyage 11-12 complete, Voyage 12-13 next. Please make your way through the scanners in an appropriate manner, stay within the Voyage if you wish to continue on to the next district.” spoke a strangely robotic female voice.

Sly stood up from his bench but was suddenly knocked back as a large beast of a man stepped ahead of him, he fell right back into his bench letting go of his suitcase and it fell to the ground next to the bench opening up and scattering it’s insides about.

Sly looked up to see the large man that pushed him aside, his just as large companion and a shorter man continued to walk even over the items that spilled out of his case. Sly cringed as one of the large men walked over his cellular device shattering it.

“Oi.” Sly called out to the three men only to be ignored, so he stood up and stomped after them reaching out for the middle one’s shoulder “Yo you deaf just as you’re blind?” Sly asked as he stopped the man and turned him slightly around.

Taking full stock of all three men Sly noticed the smaller one’s fine silver suit and hat lined with black stripes, white sunglasses with golden shades, short gleaming silver hair and moustache along with a single curl of blue hair above his forehead.

Immediately the two larger men, both wearing light grey pants, black jackets and white shirts with ear pieces and black shades, turned to Sly and grabbed his shoulders almost simultaneously.

“Let go boy and this doesn’t have to go any further.” Said the silver haired man with a raised brow, while glancing at Sly’s hand on his shoulder.

Sly gestured with his head at his scattered belongings and broken phone laying on the ground “I needed that.” Suddenly the two large men’s hands grasped his shoulders with more of a clutch than before allowing him to feel their metallic make. Sly realised both of them weren’t men but androids, a marvel of robotics and AI.

The silver haired man followed Sly’s gesture to see the scattered case and shattered device, he rolled his eyes “What do you want to be reimbursed for that change?” He looked Sly up and down, his dark green hoodie, black pants and sleeveless grey shirt ”Boys, get this border rat off me.”

Sly glanced at each android as they pushed him away and turned to wall him off from the man, both cracked their robotic knuckles menacingly at him. Sly grimaced in annoyance when a sudden wind whistled by his ears, a cold dreadful wisp of air that blew from behind him. Sly recognised the feel of the wind as suddenly the two androids flinched and malfunctioned.

The androids’ eyes briefly went pitch black before returning to normal, entirely stopping their flinching the two turned back around and followed after the man that had continued on. Sly raised a brow in brief confusion as the two massive androids picked up the well-dressed man from both arms and carried him back.

Facing the man for the second time, this time restrained by his own guards and held a foot above the ground Sly smirked knowingly as he glanced at both androids before meeting the man’s confused expression with his own amused one.

“So about that phone…” Sly raised a brow suggestively as he gestured at one of the androids restraining the man.

“T-take it! Le-left pocket! J-just l-leave me a-alone!” the man stuttered as he spoke, his eyes open wide in surprise and slight fear at having his own guards turned against him.

Sly snorted in amusement as he reached out into the man’s blazer and left inner pocket, taking out a silver back phone with the image of a female anime character in a black bikini sitting down on a sandy beach with her back bent backwards while holding her hands flat on the sand. Sly raised a brow at the phone and glanced at the man ”Nice touch.” then pocketed the device.

Turning around Sly moved to pick up his scattered things ignoring the shattered phone, closing the case back up he picked it up by the handle and turned to the two androids still holding the now pale and confused man. He walked by them and made his way towards the station “I’ll be taking these two with me too if you don’t mind.” He told the man and the two androids let him go.

As the man fell to the ground standing but lost his footing and fell back on his ass the two androids turned around and quietly followed after Sly. The man stood back up tidying his suit and pointed his right index finger at Sly’s back, opening his mouth as if about to say something he then froze not knowing what to even say.

Sly snickered under his breath as he reached the station’s entrance with the two androids on his tail. Dozens of people were making their way through the silver wall as if it wasn’t even there. The event that had transpired with the androids utterly ignored as even in such a peaceful district, no matter how real the sense of order was, each person had to fend for themselves.

Sly stopped in front of the silver dented wall and glanced back at either android “Well, follow me.” he told what he knew to be two demons that had somehow taken over the bundles of electronics and fake skin.

Each android silently nodded and all three stepped through the silver wall, stepping out on the other side they found themselves inside a pseudo train station with three elevations where trains stopped. The only currently available train was in the middle elevation too high to walk up to but as Sly approached he watched as several dozen people stepped towards the train and over a blue pad on the floor.

The pads blinked brightly as people stopped on them, suddenly they floated, almost like magic they floated up without taking another step and quickly entered the train’s door. The train itself was almost cylindrical and entirely metallic white with three streaks of light blue glass indicating the three seating floors available inside the massive vehicle.

Sly looked down from the vehicle that hovered in place held by and standing on nothing. Below and between him and the train were several doorways standing side to side with a blueish shimmering wall of light within them, people unquestioningly passed through the wall of light.

He sighed and opened up the phone he had just gained from the back, just now remembering he forgot to ask the asshole to unlock it for him he had to do it manually by factory resetting the device and setting his own personality account on it. Doing so rather quickly he went through the four step registration and immediately opened the browser as a window popped out into his vision identically to how his workstation had acted.

“I’m going to have to register two damn androids too now…Else they won’t let you through.” He explained whilst going through the station’s apparent website “So…how’d you take those things over anyway?” he asked them after closing the window and stepping towards the scanners.

A rough female voice spoke through one of the androids “This object may be somehow animated but it is still an object, as long as no mana flows through it we can possess it. Normally when we come here our host is completely random and preferably newborn but since we were tethered to you we got to choose.”

Sly grimaced at the voice “Great now they think I got some weird fetish…” he whispered under his breath while glancing around, speaking louder now he asked “Is it just you two?” as he stepped through the barrier of light within the metallic doorway followed by both androids.

A male voice spoke this time through the second android “Yes, Miss Lilith is with Little Miss Reyna and our other two companions were lost on the way.”

Sly stopped in his tracks and glanced back at the android, a solemn look on him as he spoke “I’m sorry for your loss.”

The android’s face remained cold and expressionless as the device was incapable, it looked back at him briefly before responding “We are warriors, we knew what we signed up for. Be sorry not and let us focus on our task.”

Sly grinned as he turned back around and stepped onto a blue pad “Do you have names?” he suddenly floated up and towards the train’s circular doorway above. Glancing back he saw one of the androids stare down at the blue glowing pad almost questioningly before stepping onto it and followed closely by the second they both floated after Sly.

Reaching inside the train Sly stepped aside as the two androids floated inside all the while glancing around like children, expressionlessly looking around in pseudo awe. The train’s inside was first a room with a storefront where drinks and snacks could be purchased facing the entrance while to either side was a long curving corridor that took from either end of the train.

In the middle of the entrance almost in front of the store’s doorway was a large blue circular pad and when people stepped onto it they floated up and through the hole in the ceiling taking to the second floor, if they stepped to stand closer to the middle where the light turned green from blue they were elevated to the third floor instead.

Sly gestured for the androids to follow as he took a left and walked down the corridor with phone in hand, the corridor was wide enough for him, the two androids and several other people to walk by. As he quickly typed away into a chat of sorts Sly asked them again “So any names I can call you?”

“Lesha would be mine.” replied the female voice.

“York, or if you would prefer GTX A 370 for this golem’s name.” replied the male.

Sly glanced back with a raised brow “You can access it’s systems?”

“Systems?” repeated York questioningly “I have access to it’s memory, functions and skills if that is what you are inquiring of?”

“Huh…Oh and that’s not a golem, nothing here is powered by what you all are used to.” Sly explained as he looked back ahead.

“Nothing really is powered by mana here?...Then how does everything work? What is all this?” asked Lesha as she stared deeply at any passer-by that held a phone or similar device.

“Science.” Responded Sly as he stopped by a room with the silver plated number ‘056’ on it “Don’t speak unless I tell you to, you don’t want to piss of any of these people.” He warned both demons before knocking on the door.

Immediately the door opened up slightly as the ugliest face Sly had ever seen and knew peaked through “What is my name?” asked the man with a shaved head, a single green eye and an artificial silver one that gleamed with the light.

Sly rolled his eyes “It rhymes with rotten avocado and it’s holder is just as fucking ugly, outta the way Colorado.”

The man named Colorado grinned as he opened the door and stood aside “So it’s really you?” he asked now fully visible. Standing almost as tall as the androids Colorado was middle aged man with a weight lifter’s body, muscles protruding even through his suit, large hands that could grasp another’s entire face and one that was mostly scarred or covered with fake skin not sitting well with his actual colour.

Sly stepped inside the room to find a long cushioned sofa going around the walls other than where the door was, sitting on the right behind Colorado were two others.

“Hah, look Roy it’s actually Kid. All grown up now are we?” said a lanky woman with a mousey face, short black hair and dark brown eyes.

“That he is Ray.” replied and almost identically lanky man with half shaved black hair, brown eyes and a badly cut goatee.

Sly glanced at the twins “I left that name behind long ago.” He told them.

Colorado raised a brow as he asked “Then why did you call us here? Why are the others waiting for us at 13?” closing the door behind the two large androids that he briefly eyed before staring at Sly for a response.

Sly glanced over at Colorado before looking down at his right arm, pulling back his hoodie’s long sleeves “Roy, knife.” he said as suddenly a short blade embedded itself in the metallic wall to his left. Sly grasped the blade’s hilt, decorated black leather with a silver trim, and pulled it out of the metal wall as it’s blade shimmered red.

He held the blade in a backhand grip as he placed it’s tip onto his right arm, onto the upper part and to his skin. He flinched slightly as the hot blade seared skin letting out a wisp of smoke, with even more flinching he tracked the blade’s tip across his arm writing something.

Colorado, Ray and Roy silently watched without blinking, the two demons stared down at Sly almost in confusion as they tilted their heads.

“I’m taking that name back up.” He said after finishing his work, showing them a patch of seared skin on his right arm that looked like a claw mark of four “I’m bringing back the Fourclaws”.

Colorado stared at the mark before glancing down at the red patch on his own arm, entirely seared off and having no shape what so ever “Why? What has changed?”.

“Indeed chap, we’ll just get slaughtered by the current gangs. Nobody wants us back, nobody needs us back.” Said Roy with a saddened smile as he glanced down at his right arm, pulling up the sleeve of his blue jacket he uncovered the four claw marks.

“Things have changed, we have something we never had before.” Declared Sly as he stepped to stand in the centre of the room.

“What? Your two electronic friends there?” asked Ray as she gestured at the two androids with a raised brow.

Sly glanced at her “They are part of it, they can help but there is more. So much more.”

Roy and Ray leaned in closer, their curiosity piqued but Colorado remained standing by the door looking at him with a questioning look.

Sly looked at York “Disrupt the area, you know how right?” York nodded as a sudden shimmer expanded from it’s body and engulfed the room briefly. Sly looked at his phone to see it’s screen had gone entirely black, none of it’s functions functioning “That will do.”

He glanced around at the three older members, Roy and Ray being a few years older whilst Colorado being a long standing member. Sly spoke again, his tone harsher and hands clenched as fists, his eyes open wide in a fierce glare “It has been six years, since they butchered our friends, ran us out of our homes and forced us under their thumb. For what? For wanting freedom? For wanting a roof over our heads that was actually ours?”

The three ex-gang members tensed as Sly spoke to them “Back then we had an army, we had numbers and strength but they had cunning and the home advantage. So they defeated us and here we stand today still shackled by their laws and oppressed by their reign.” He glanced at each of them as they all met his gaze with their own intrigued one.

“We no longer have the numbers but fuck me if we still have our strength, while they lay sitting on their cosy chairs watching out over our kennels. They think we’re all bark and no bite, let them see our fangs once we get closer.” Sly stopped talking and glanced around at the three of them waiting for a reply.

Colorado spoke first breaking the silence “How do we get closer?”

Sly turned to face him “I have something we didn’t have before, someone we did not have before. Someone on the inside capable of opening the front door for us.”

Roy suddenly rose to his feet, eyes wide open he asked “Someone on the inside? Who? Who is willing to betray that man?”

Sly now turned to Roy “Someone willing to risk their lives on it, someone with them willing to risk their own to keep the other’s safe as well.” He glanced back at Colorado knowing full well who’s decision would influence the other’s the most “The enemy is also distracted with something at the moment, their guard will not be lowered by any means but their resources will be scattered and spread out further.”

Sly waited a few moments as silence descended on the room again, suddenly a voice resounded throughout the train “Voyage 12-13 under way, estimated arrival in 10 minutes.”

Colorado sighed as he walked over to the rectangular window opposing the door, a blue glass window going from one side of the room to the other. He looked out as the train exited the 12th district, moving above ground allowing each passenger to see the desolate martian terrain outside.

Far off in the distance they could make out three other districts to the right side of the train, massive half globes of white metal with sheets of black dotting it. Colorado stared off at the districts as he spoke “The gang was my life, it was my home and my family. Now I spend my days in a spacesuit making sure those damn panels haven’t been damaged by rocks, any sort of free time I have I spend either asleep, shitting or shoving dried food down my throat. My pay is shit, my home is worse.”

He glances back at Sly “Tell me Kid, once we’re inside what do you plan to do?”

Sly meets the man’s one eye with his own “We cannot get to the serpent’s head, we just don’t know enough to do so but…We can cut off it’s claws.”