Tulia's Pack

[AlexFili]

I'm always reading your comments and here is my response to Oddey's request.
Sorry if it's a bit long, I wasn't sure how much of it I should trim so I'm leaving it like this for now. I promise that the story won't get too raunchy or anything. I'll try and keep it at a Teen (12/15) rating if possible. You won't see anything (because its a story!) and I'll keep the graphic descriptions to a minimum.

* Karako = A mating proposal, similar to engagement/courtship

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Chapter 16: The Darkness and the Light

Elementaris, the study of the elemental magic used on Oddworld long ago. The balance between good and evil was always a hot topic for young magicians. The Shamans used their powers for good, but the necromancers used their power for evil. But now there is a different kind of evil... The technology of the Glukkons, the armaments of the Sligs, the spears of the Mudokon tribesmen... Oddworld is facing war, so magic will strike back in the only way it can. The equation must be rebalanced. Light and Darkness will meet once more, the circle of life is everchanging and unstoppable. Only the heroes can protect the light and the villains covet the darkness within.

At the height of power, many Mudokon slaves were freed by heroes... One being born of darkness, the Elite Black Reaper created an army of Black Reapers. His intentions were to balance the scales in the favor of darkness. Black Reapers descent on the Oddworldian landscape far and wide. The Mudokons tribes try and protect their shamans as much as possible, but spears and Mudarchers can only do so much. The Sligs protect their Glukkon masters with guns, while the Glukkons order technology to try and improve their defensive capabilities. The Dark Reapers infect society like never before, such a plague on the world. Who can stop this evil?

Meanwhile, the powers that be grant blessings to those that fight the darkness. There are two things that can be used to fight the darkness; Strength and Love. The greatest of the two, is Love. Silpher yawned. "Is this nice Tule?", Tulia smiled as Silpher was massaging her shoulders again, "Yeah, it's lovely. Can you place your hands a little lower please?". Silpher smiled, "Sure". Silpher's hands moved down to Tulia's lower back. Silpher was enjoying this just as much as Tulia. Their bond was becoming stronger and stronger with each passing day. Tulia turned her head to look at Silpher through the corner of her eye, "Silpher... If you're ready... then I am". Silpher looked at her with an expression not unlike confusion, "Tule, I know this is going to sound corny but... I feel that we are united by a strong bond". Tulia smiled, "Then, it is time. Karako... Silpher". Silpher smiled in return, "Karako, my dear Tule". Silpher unzipped Tulia's bra.

Lorn and Hemm were talking together. Lorn sighed, "This evil presence, is there anything we can do?". Hemm nodded, "We have to believe that we can beat them. We need to work as a team and beat them all". Lorn looked at Hemm, "You're right. It's time we started to rally our own forces, the world needs to know about this impending doom". Lorn stood up, "Thanks for the Malko by the way, it was delicious". Hemm smiled, "No probs, Bitsy's Malkoshake is always fantastic".

[Splat]

Plot = thickening. Finally getting somewhere

[AlexFili]

Chapter 17: Of Love and War

Silpher approached Ulric the next day. “I did it, Ulric. I finally got the nerve to do it. I said Karako to Tulia!”. Ulric rolled his eyes, “Really? I said that to Inna ages ago”. Silpher was shocked, “You did?”. Ulric smiled, “She said ‘no’… I think I was being too selfish back then. I’ll try again sometime soon though, she can’t resist me forever”. Silpher chuckled, “Your rippling muscles can attract any one of the females here, I bet”. Ulric raised an eyebrow, “Silpher, is there something you want to tell me?”. Silpher looked shocked again, “No! No! I don’t like you in THAT way Ulric”. Ulric laughed, they both wrestled each other to the ground and chuckled.

Hemm stood up and walked out of the hut. He sighed and looked out at the horizon. ‘The calm before the storm’, he thought to himself. When Sligs make a mistake, they are killed either because of the mistake or are killed shortly after by the Glukkon bosses. Slig-Scrab hybrids have to learn from their mistakes and adjust, which is not nearly as easy. Hemm was usually in quite a happy mood, but this whole situation has been more dangerous than anyone had imagined. Karn walked up to Hemm. “Hi, you okay?”. Hemm smiled, “Barely. Good call with that attack the other night by the way, Ulric told me”. Karn chuckled, “Well, I knew somethin’ was wrong… I could feel the darkness creep around”. Hemm nodded, “That’s lucky, but what if next time we don’t sense it? We need to do something”.

Lara had finished talking with Riley. She left the hut and approached Ulric. “Lara? Are you alright?”. Lara nodded, “Ulric, I need your permission for something. We need to make weapons while we have time. I have a good knowledge of the surrounding wood, I can create some decent weapons for us”. Ulric nodded, “Okay, but take Karn and Hemm, they look bored as heck over there”. Lara smiled, “Sure thing”.

[mr.odd]

finally caught up with everything now. the story with the dark reapers was interesting.

[AlexFili]

This chapter is a bit boring, sorry. Hopefully you'll like 19 and 20 a lot more. 20 is going to be the final part for Tulia's Pack at the moment. I'm starting to run out of ideas again!

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Chapter 18: Wood from the West

Bitsy was stirring the soup in the container. She added a bit of seasoning into the pot to make the soup taste better. Tulia walked up to Bitsy. “Can I have some soup? I feel a bit hungry”. Bitsy smiled and passed her a bowl, “Of course”. Tulia thanked Bitsy and drank the soup. It was very nice, especially after the ordeals of the previous few days.

“Spears, bows, swords and shields... That’s what we need!”, Hemm was talking a lot again, Karn was getting annoyed. “Let’s just get this one”, he broke the tree trunk in half and collected wood. When they returned, Lara took the twigs and got to work, she showed some of the other hybrids how to put them together to make a basic spear. She then created some shields and a bow. They practiced with the weapons a bit. Silpher and Ulric were sparring with theirs. Ulric smiled, “Good Silph, you’ve improved!”. Silpher chuckled, “Come on Ulric, step it up”. They clashed spears and proceeded to fight for a few more minutes.

Lorn sighed, “Think this will help?”. He turned around and looked at Dogol. Dogol nodded, “Yeah, it will help a lot more than you might think. It’s a good confidence booster as well”. Lorn nodded, “True… We could use some good vibes now and then”.

[Oddey]

Why, if it isn't me who's missed a bit again. A nice bit I might add.

[AlexFili]

I've been thinking, I might re-write Chapters 1 and 2 to make them more interesting. I can keep the old 1/2 for a recap. As for the next step in the Pack series... I might do a semi-prequel set during when they were learning how to hunt... I think I skipped over a lot of potential ideas. I might even chop and change the entire thing. Keep your eyes peeled.

If you haven't tried the Tulia's Pack game? Can you click on my Signature and play it? I'd really love to see what you think of it.

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Chapter 19: War Unfolds

As the bombs hit the ground, the earth shakes with a mighty tremble. The Dark Reapers are progressing over the hills and valleys as wave after wave of Slig try to shoot them with machineguns. The Slig general was walking alongside his troops, motioning them and yelling orders. His red leader jacket was really quite a sight to behold. The army had almost been driven back, but he put his own life in danger to save his men. The Dark Reapers started trying to group together, but the flamethrower and rocket units picked them off and the battle was won. “Sir, Sir!”, a young recruit walked up to him. The Slig Commander looked down to see his advisor standing nearby, “The battle is won, Flutol”. The little Slig saluted and walked away to record the result of the battle. The commander wiped his head with a cloth, “I have to find the rest of them”. With that, the commander picked up his heavy-duty rifle and headed in the direction the Dark Reapers came from.

After a few miles of walking, he heard noises and peered through the trees. He saw a large group of Dark Reapers up ahead, moving around in a circle. He held his rifle steady. Suddenly the Dark Reapers moved, possibly to attack something else. The commander waited and then followed them. He tried not to make any kind of noise on the ground, but it was still wet from the rainfall. He nearly slipped but grabbed himself just in time and kept steady.

Lara woke up and ran towards Ulric. Ulric knew what the news would be. He picked up his spear, Silpher picked up his own spear. Lara gasped, “They’re on their way”. Lorn stood up and whistled to the hybrids. “Everyone, this time we’re prepared. Let’s give them a real fight”. The hybrids yelled “Yeah!” in approval. Silpher and Ulric knew that this wouldn’t be easy, but they would have to push hard in order to survive. Tulia was nervous, she didn't want to lose Silpher. The hybrid who she had been most close to and cared for the most. If Silpher died... she'd want to stay alone. But there were only five female hybrids in the entire group. What if something happened to the other girls? She would be forced to sacrifice her honour for the sake of breeding the next generation of hybrids. With all this in mind, she walked up to Silpher. Silpher looked at her, "Tule...". Tulia stopped him, "We can talk later. I care very much for you and for the clan. Let's give these Mites something to remember". Silpher smiled, "Yeah. Let's drive them back into the darkness!". Everyone cheered and the hunt was on. The hunters became the hunted.

[Oddey]

Or have the hunted become hunters, who are in turn being hunted by the hunted? Just a thought.

[AlexFili]

Chapter 20: End of the Line

Within a few minutes, Lara’s suspicions were confirmed. A total of thirteen Dark Reapers were approaching on the horizon. Lorn counted, “Thirteen… think that’s a co-incidence?”. Riley gulped, “No matter what, we have to try and drive them back”. Ulric nodded, “You said it… Attack formations!”. Each hybrid went back to back with another, Karn stood alongside Riley and Bitsy. The Dark Reapers were upon them quickly, their rattling raspy voices penetrated the air and their dark bodies oozing despair and death. The hybrids made the first move. Silpher and Magnus released their charged attacks and took out two of the Dark Reapers. Karn counter-attacked another Reaper which flew back and turned into ash upon hitting a tree.

Hemm rushed forwards and attacked a Reaper with furious speed. He was a blur, attacking with all his might and as quick as lightning. The Reaper turned to ash before him. Ulric threw a spear into a Dark Reaper and started attacking it with his fists. The fight it seemed was in the hybrids favor.

Bron was struggling to get out of this situation. Bron could only handle one Reaper as it was, but there were two Reapers approaching from the southern side. He needed some backup. Bitsy came up to Bron and smiled, "Looks like I got here in time, not that you needed my help". Bron raised an eyebrow, "What do you mean?". Bitsy looked behind Bron, "Seems your friend is back". Bron turned around and was quite shocked to see the return of something he thought that he would never see again, “No way!”.

TO BE CONTINUED...

[Oddey]

Amusing ending to a nice story. What are the Dark Reapers, and where do they come from? Only the next part will tell.

[AlexFili]

They are collections of the most evil parts of Oddworld. Think of the Nazgul / Dementors. That kind of thing

[Splat]

How very cheerful...

Nice cliffhanger ending, though.

[AlexFili]

Thank you for the advice and input. You've helped improve this story a lot!