beleive this is where it starts to get more interesting. Locke begins to have his first clash with his past. Someone commented to me (not going to mention who) That I keep using the gender titles boy, girl, male, and female. Apparently that person looks for that sort of thing. But I dont use 'man' or 'woman' when talking about Anthros. Because I assosiate 'man' and 'woman' with huMAN, got it? Chapter 4 My history class started at about fifteenth hour, the time was about 12:46. I went downstairs to my kitchen to eat a hearty, organized breakfast. This was going to be a lot different, since for the past seven years Ive been used to just wandering down here in my fur and shoving everything that wasnt stuck to the shelves of my refreezer towards my mouth. Today I was wearing a five thousand gp maroon suit, my very expensive jewelry, black high heels, and black lace bra & panties (for good measure). A funny thing about the Talis, we can eat more than a horse twice as tall as one of us, and never ever look any fatter. Food really never was an important part of Talis culture here on Alto. Though if enough of us were around today, I think it would be seeing as good food brings excitement to life. We dont have to eat to live, as we cannot die, but if we dont eat, we become weaker and waste away until we look... basicaly like we always do: skinny. Sunshine poured through the window of my kitchen, a sight I always like to see in the morning. I sighed longingly when I saw it, for it would have looked so much better with Celestia sitting there, drinking her morning beverage. Life just wasnt fair, I knew it then, have known it for about six hundred and ninety thousand years. The details of my breakfast are unimportant, really. I think its time I said something about my home planet Alto. Its a planet located in the milky way on side opposite from earth. Its one of only three known planets that harbor intelligent life, the other being earth and the third being a planet in Alpha Cent called bellaria. Humans arent allowed on Alto, but earth has a decent number of furs. But most arent allowed in without prior authorization by the neo-earth govenments(I snuk in there once though, I got caught, and they ended up sending the military on me, ha!) the place where they mingle is Bellaria, which is a life supporting planet with no animal life, just plants. If you wanted to compare the size of our planet to one of those in your solar system, it would definately be jupiter. The only difference being ours rotates slower (we have a 36 hour day, and our hours are longer than yours), and Alto is a solid planet. Theres some of you who might ask: wouldnt the gravity on Alto just be crushing? Thats what I thought too, so I did some independant research. Research that took me near around one hundred years to complete. In the multiverse exists Crovax, the bird god of space and time. Before life existed on Alto, he placed a seal of his mark upon the same stone which holds the almighty rune of wisdom. This seal of Crovax evened the gravity to be similar to a planet of much, much smaller size. Soon after that, Crovax became an evil god and in about the year 6507 he attacked Alto with the intent of destroying his seal. I'll explain that later. Also I mentioned the rune of wisdom. Now I have to explain it. The furs on this planet walk on two legs, talk, and think at a faster pace than humans. They feel empathy for each other, and are free willed beings that reject anyone telling them what to do (such as in government) they can also harness the powers of magic and learn to do things humans only dream of. They, unlike humans, were not products of evolution. The furs were once animals on this planet just like the ones on yours are now. When this planet was created (the gods tell me these things), there was on a rock a rune. When the animals were put onto Alto, they were just pawns of instinct, with very little free will. Probobly thousands of years before I beleive I was born(Im not sure when I was), one of these animals touched the rune and became what you see today. That furs mind and body advanced to an advanced stage, and it began to think for itself. It then brought the rest of the animals to the rune and had them touch it, and thus was born the Anthros. Why the rune of wisdom was created I will never know, because the gods will not tell me this. At 13:40 I finaly washed the last of the syrup out of my hair (please dont ask), and my suit had just come out of the dry cleaning closet I owned. As I got out of the shower, I heard the sounds of male hooting and hollering. Completely shocked I looked around, nobody. To my own surprise, I realized I had forgotten to dispel my illusionary office personel. "YOURE ALL FIRED!" I yelled, naked and dripping wet from my shower. I heard the sounds of a hundred furs dying, not painfuly, more like a massive death rattle that echoed throughout the house. They were just illusions so it bothered me not. Instead I smiled and went back downstairs to fetch my clothes. It wasnt until 13:67 that I actualy left the house. Next to my huge house was a six car garage, but I only kept two. The first car I owned was a very old, peice of junk 4-wheeler that I remember buying close to seven hundred years ago. It still ran alright but looked like a car fit for a corpse. But next to it was a flaming pink beauty. A six fan, eight ton pulling power, open roof chrysm hovercraft capable of 400 mph. It was made especialy for Corelle by the finest automobile designers of all three planets. It was a car that cried power and wealth, worthy of such a lady that I had built Corelle to be. Its scratch resistant chrome shined like polished gems as I opened the garage door. On the back of the craft there was a bumper sticker of myself as Corelle in a pink string bikini with the words 'self-spoiled' next to it. Everything down to the steering mechanisms was designed for me, you can guess how much this cost, but when your as old as I you accumulate unbeleivable wealth just because you work for so long. I ghostly little monitor popped up on the dashboard, on it appeared an outline of my hand. The words 'handprint identification' scrolled across its translucent frame. What did I have to worry, I placed my hand where the outline was. I couldnt feel the moniter, as it didnt actualy exist. The hovercraft gave a heavy jolt as its systems started up. Little green words flashed across the little screen as more diagnostic information ran through the on board computer. The fans under my vehicle began to hum softly. The radio blinked on and set itself to my favorite girl station. The kind of music I would never enjoy as Locke. But absolutely love as Corelle. A minute later the fans picked up speed and my auto began to lift itself off the groun about a foot. It was a nice little rush of excitement, something I rarely get anymore. The powerful feeling of high technology was something heavily desired by those who grew up in grass huts. One bit of proof of that would be the ridiculous amount of money I spend on upgrading my computer. Even though computers run nowadays in the hundreds of terrabytes and have processors that would boggle your mind, advancement still occurs on an almost yearly basis. It wasnt long before I was on delfria highway, named after the corporation that built it. The engines of my hovercraft humming loudly, yet drowned out by both my radio music and the sound of air rushing by. The hair on my head flapped wildly as I breathed in the scent of fresh air, something I rarely took time to enjoy. My foot pressed the accelerator pad down firmly. The speed was around one hundred thirty miles per hour. The sun shone brightly that day. It was the perfect example of what life should be. Serene, peaceful, bright, and lively. Funny how it actualy turns out... I was looking up at the cloud when it happened. A strange tingling in my eyes. It was an odd feeling I had never to my knowlege felt before. I thought it might be the fatigue from last nights ritual, so I rubbed my eyes. Heres where I get to thinking. People sometimes would wonder why changing your gender is such an incredible feat. I have to say blowing up the planet would be easier, but nobody ever understands why. Well what do you do to blow up the planet? You gather a huge mass of destructive energy, and release it on the planets core. The worst think happens is your arch nemesis busts in your lair and tries to stop you. With changing your gender, it requires you to twist the very fabrics of space. as in changing your bodily structure, externaly and internaly. Your magic must form your alternate gender organs and make them work properly. The hardest part is the physical conditioning that you must go through to even survive the process. I never had to do it since Im immortal, but Ive seen many a fur die trying to live as the opposite sex for a single day. Not only that, but without prior approval of the gods, changing your gender is pretty much insulting them. They made you the gender you are, changing it tell them you think their judgement is poor. So they smite you. Back to what I was talking about. Rubbing my eyes did not help the tingling, instead it got worse. It even began to spread all around my body. As it got to my hands I began to feel strangely relaxed. Not even the thought of wrecking my staggeringly expensive automobile could phase me. I just looked ahead with my eyes itching like mad. The highway kept going straight ahead, seemingly on forever, much like my own life. No matter how much I would like for it to end, it keeps on going. My vision began to get blurry, strange, long forgotten feelings swept over me like a blanket of emotion. My other limbs began to lose my influence as well. It was almost as if someone had injected me with a sleeping poison. What a stupid idea, I killed all my enemies long ago... or had I. Darkness rolled over me, and I went out like a light. When I came to I no longer heard the usual highway sounds, my eyes were still close and everything was dark. The strong, industrial smell of cracked asphalt filled my senses. Strange, it felt like I was standing up, my feet even felt warm from what felt like heated pavement. I felt hot and sticky all over. Most importantly, I could feel my long talis tail. My vixen form had somehow gone away. I finaly opened my eyes. I was looking up at the sky. It was a brown, swirling sky much like the color of mud. It was an atmosphere that seemed familiar to me, but I just couldnt remember. In the middle of my vision I could see what looked like a severaly beaten up green road sign. It read <----- West Falena East Falena -----> 60 MI 72 MI Highway ends in 80 MI Please drive safely I looked downwards to see a large six lane highway stretching in front of me. It was dead, no cars of any kind were in sight. The highway itself was elevated about thrity feet off the ground by ether jacks, or by special runes that cause the road to levitate so that nature would not be affected greatly by its presense. Only now there was no nature to be affected, it was all desert. "We need to go through west Balena to get to roqueford." A familiar voice informed me. I turned to the scource of the voice. To my utter amazement, it was Eva. My spirit practicaly jumped for joy as I saw her, I wanted to grab her and squeeze her like it would be the last time I would ever see her. She was dirty, her blue green hair was littered with dirt particles, all her body fur was messed up and dirty. She looked as if she had neither bathed nor slept in a very long time. However, she was still as beautiful and sexy as ever. I didnt know what else to do I quickly wrapped my arms around her and gave a dramatic kiss. I just felt so much love for her I couldnt contain it. Eva let out a surprised little 'mmmph!' sound. To my surprise, she slowly returned the favor. We embraced, our bodies pressing against each other. It was a moment out of a movie. Something metallic pressed against my body. I opened my eyes from our long embrace to see what it was. Eva was carrying a C.G.I Shock rifle. How I love shock rifles. With chrysm ammo they drive a concentrated beam of energy that hits the target like a sack of burning cement flying at doulbe the speed of sound. Many of my enemies died at the barrel of this weapon. "ahem!" someone behind me announced their presense. We pulled ourselves apart from each other reluctantly. Eva looked behind me, her eyes telling me to look as well. I turned around, falling on the street in sheer surprise. It was at that moment I realized this wasnt real, or at least had to be some sort of strange time flux. There was a green motorcycle stopped on the highway, it was mine. Yet in the side car was someone whose sight caused me to almost burst out into tears. It was so wonderful and heart breaking at the same time. The fur was a talis with dirty purple hair. Her name was Phaylasuthailtisica, and she was my daughter. "Traffic is only as fast as the slowest driver." - ID_Fox