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Dulse was proud to be a member of the Ultra Recon Squad. For as long as he could remember, his mother had told him stories about it. She told him of her missions. She told him about the Ultra Beasts.
His father had been encouraging him to follow his dreams of joining them since he was little. He helped Dulse study for the exams, told him about other star systems, and taught him everything about what Beasts needed to live.
It wasn’t surprising that he got in. It was not odd that he had been the youngest cadet enrolled in the program at the time. There just wasn’t anyone his age.
He made friends with the older recruits easily enough, but he hadn’t ever taken the time to just bond with them. They went to the same academy and knew the same people. That was it.
He researched the Ultra Beasts in his free time, as he wasn’t allowed to see them until he was an adult. That seemed a bit unfair, since he actually knew more about them than most of the adult officers, but rules were rules. There were plenty of papers that he had access to as a Cadet of the Ultra Recon Squad.
He loved learning about Ultra Beasts, though no one actually called them anything other than Beasts. He loved talking about them with others, he loved reading about them, and he loved looking at the few pictures there were of some of the rarer ones.
Beasts were just so interesting! Many different people had done extensive research on Poipole and Naganadel, so Dulse had quite a bit of knowledge on them, but many other types just didn’t have much known about them. It was like a puzzle.
He looked forward to the days that he could have his own partner for missions, but those were nearly a decade away. At least it gave him time to do proper research on Beasts.
It was in his third year that he finally found a friend. There was another student who had been accepted unusually early. She specialized in cultures, languages, and technological communication. Even though their classes were structured very differently, they were both much younger than the rest of their peers.
He taught her what he knew about the Beasts and she taught him about communicators. They traded knowledge a lot, and Dulse was glad that they could do that. He really did like to “hang out” with Zossie.
Of course, his mother frequently checked in on his friends, so she met Zossie as well. He wasn’t sure when, but at some point, his mother had switched from inviting her over occasionally to giving her blanket permission to join them for dinner.
It was just natural to have Zossie around. So natural, that at the start of his final year it felt odd to not have any classes with her. But they still studied together. There was no reason not to.
Dulse just went from spending the planet’s heat cycle with her doing projects to spending most of his time in classes without her. It was rather lonely. However, since he was in his last year, he had much more freedom in choosing his classes.
That meant he could specialize in studying the Beasts! He filled his schedule with classes, even taking two extra that most soon to be graduates took for study breaks. He had classes on advanced mathematics, multiple sciences, and some technology as a requirement, but was taking an additional three on Beasts.
There was a whole class on their anatomy, which excited him. He learned about the main species and the subspecies. He learned about the Beasts of Legend. He learned about how they lived in the environments that they lived in.
There was another class about the ancient history of the Beasts, which he actually knew most of. It was lovely to have guided discussions about it, though, and to be around people who actually understood what he was talking about.
A third one was about how to work with a beast. It was actually a requirement for all the students who would graduate, and even the adults who joined the program. After completing the program, one got paired with a beast, so the class was designed to teach you how to work with a Beast. There was another class that you and your partners would have to take once you got paired and grouped as an official member, but this taught the basics of Beast handling.
Really, it was wonderful to be able to devote so much time to the study of Beasts. Unfortunately, he still had to be an adult before they paired him with one, so it would be a while before he could go off on those types of missions.
On his 16th birthday, he was given permission to meet his mother’s partners. He had been hearing stories about them for as long as he could remember, but he had never seen them. It had honestly been the best gift he could have gotten.
Nia and Holly were both rather dangerous beasts. Nia was a Nihilego, code name UB-01 Symbiont. The species could be very dangerous, it was one of the Beasts that the old stories said to avoid at all costs. They were incredibly fascinating.
Nihilego had very little structure to its body. They had no bones and their DNA itself could change. They were incredibly adaptive due to that and they lived everywhere. Since they could mimic the structure of a life form with access to their body and mind, they would latch onto them.
Nihilego were essentially very dangerous parasites. They were coated in toxins and touch was what transmitted the neurotoxins required to get into the species’ brain. The toxin was a very dangerous drug that was illegal throughout the world, but used.
The drug itself had very interesting properties. It basically forced you to rely on your greatest strength. It increased the strength, but also made it the only thing you could do.
Dulse could write a whole book on the Nihilego species if he wanted, and he probably would later in life, but even that couldn’t prepare him for meeting the Beast. Nia was of the Ulserva subset, the type most commonly thought of as Nihilego. She was mostly white with a body made mostly of tentacles and her head was clear, filled with poison sacs.
It had taken a lot of self restraint to not touch her.
However, Dulse knew about the things that could happen if he did, so eventually, that side of his brain won. But Nia was just so impressive! She floated, and this was both because of the composition of the poisons, lighter than air, and because of its weak psychic abilities.
(Nihilego may have been considered a Rock and Poison type, but each subset had its own inclinations. The Ulserva Nihilego were mostly poison, a little psychic, and a little rock. They generally used rocks to give themselves a more stable form and had a strong connection with the minerals inside. The Ulserva tended to use the rocks for attacking more than as a part of themselves. The rock typing was directed more towards the Vanamon, who didn’t float and absorbed rocks into their being, using them in their “legs” for stability.)
So Dulse introduced himself to Nia, who was surprisingly calm. His mother was in her suit, and she put on her special glove that allowed her to interact with Nia without touching the poison. Dulse watched the two of them play a game of what Alolans would call tic-tac-toe.
Beasts were sentient, you see. They had thoughts, feelings, and individual purposes. The reason they were so powerful wasn’t really because of their venom, but because they had a society and could think for themselves.
Humans as a species, and even the advanced subspecies, didn’t have many natural advantages. Humans just had a very social society and creative minds. Though the beasts were sentient, their thoughts and planning were generally at a different stage than humans.
Nihilego were descendants of the original apex predator. They were suited to take over a planet and adapt to it. They could find a dangerous environment and adapt to living in it as a species in a generation.
Nihilego were dangerous. Just like any other Beast, they could easily kill a human. But a human could kill a beast just as easily, with a gun, sedative, or other similar means.
Dulse studied them because they interested him. He wanted to know all about the Beasts. He wanted to know what made them individual species. He wanted to know how they lived. He wanted to know how they fought.
He just wanted to know all about them. That was why he loved the chance to meet Nia. There were things that had to be learned by experience, rather than a class.
~
He had joined the Beast Research Corp. after graduation. He got to interact with a lot of people who knew a lot about Beasts. He got to meet their partners, both human and not. He got to train for missions.
His mother was also a member. Actually, she was the head of the department. In the 16 years since the Ultra Recon Squad’s founding, Soliera Kaiser had climbed through the ranks. She led missions all over the world.
It was due to Nia and Holly, her Beast partners, and Phyco, his Uncle, that many discoveries of the Beasts were made. Multiple Holidrisk nests had been found and marked, several types of Nihilego studied, a herd of Navatoria had been tracked, and several other famous missions had been completed under her watch.
His mom was pretty awesome. Which was great. Except everyone who had been there for more than about 4 years had seen his baby pictures.
Which was not great. Especially when Dulse had been trying to convince them that he was a scientist. It took the better part of those two years for him to convince them he was a rational human being with a job.
He attended Zossie’s graduation, of course. She had the top marks of her class. Her family had traveled to see her, but she had lunch with his family the next day. They caught up with each other and talked about their future plans.
It had actually been Dulse’s father who actually asked the question they had been toeing around the whole afternoon. He asked which division she was joining.
Zossie had talked about joining a couple of them before, but none of them were actually sure which one she was sticking with. Communications was one she had been looking into, what with her specialty in languages and technology. Extra-terrestrial exploration had been another.
It had been a shock to everyone when she admitted she decided on Beast Research.
A good shock, of course. Dulse remembered smiling at her, and his mother wrapping her up in a big hug. It was then Zossie explained that it had been a more recent decision.
She said that people didn’t usually study how the Beasts interacted with each other, and that she wanted to look into their cultures. She wanted to do studies on how they lived naturally in the wild.
She also said she wanted to work with them. That touched Dulse. They had been around each other for long enough that it felt natural to research together, and he didn’t want to be separated from her entirely.
He soon introduced her to everyone he had been working with. They all liked her, as no one could dislike someone who was as genuinely nice as Zossie. She liked them, too. Dulse felt pleased that his friends could all get along.
Zossie got a desk in the same room as him and a few other researchers. They ate lunch together frequently, and spent a lot of time going over their Beast research.
Then he turned 18. As an official adult, he was allowed to have his own Beast partner. He turned in the application papers the next day. While the papers were processed, he took the chance to look at the Beasts.
He saw Nia and Holly frequently, but they were both incredibly intelligent and shockingly non-agressive for their species. The Beasts in the observatory were neither. They lived their lives close to how they would have in the wild.
That meant they hunted each other, fought for territory, and had little interaction with humans. Dulse got to see them, but he would not be allowed to interact with them. No one did, really.
The Beasts that would be paired as partners were trained, both by the Ultra Recon Squad and their own communities. Since Beasts were sentient, it was only the ones who volunteered who got trained.
Dulse would be paired with a Beast who signed up for a partnership, though not in as many words. There were not many Beasts who could actually communicate with humans. The exception was limited to the legendary Beasts and Naganadel, who fell into its own category.
Naganadel were an interesting type of Beast. They were able to form a direct psychic link with other beings, Beast or human. They also had two forms, though one was more common. They also underwent a transformation, unlike most other Beasts.
They started out as a Poipole, considered a Class 2 Beast. Class 2 Beasts were small, but still deadly. They were relatively easy to subdue, and could even be taken down by a solo operative if necessary. Other examples of Beasts that fell into that category were Kartana and Navatoria.
Poipole was considered special because it underwent metamorphosis. Once it reached a certain point in its life, a Poipole would build itself a cocoon and transform. Out from the cocoon, a Naganadel would appear.
As stated before, there were 2 types of Naganadel. There were the Nest-Mothers, who were all female. They were the type often thought of as Naganadel. They had incredible psychic prowess, were gigantic, and led the colony. They were also the diplomats, the ones interacting with humans who stumbled upon their territory.
A male Poipole could also evolve, but into a different form. They were smaller, faster, and more vicious. These Naganadel were warriors, and were loyal to their queen.
Poipole was a very common Beast to be paired up with, simply because bonding with another being helped them grow stronger. Many of the Poipole who were interested in metamorphosis joined the Beast program.
Class 2 and 3 Beasts were really the only Beasts they partnered cadets up with. Class 4 Beasts were generally aggressive and large, which no one wanted to pair up with a young student.
Holidrisk was an example of a Class 4 Beast. It was large enough to fly while carrying up to 600 standard weight units, used paralyzing venoms, was incredibly intelligent, and was fiercely protective of anything it claimed. If you were going to detain one, always make sure that you never injured it’s family, else the whole clan would hunt you down.
No one was ever partnered originally with a Class 4 Beast, because of those things. If Dulse were to guess, he would say that he would be getting partnered with a Poipole. There were about 10 waiting to be paired up, and some of them had been waiting a few years, due to personality conflicts.
It took 4 weeks before the paperwork was processed and a partner was chosen for him. He had met with several of the caretakers during that period, and had been observed closely. They wanted to know how he acted all the time, not just at work, to see who he would pair best with.
He had just got home, where he rented his room from his parents (he was an adult, there was no reason his parents had to let them stay, or so he had convinced them after months of pestering), when he checked his email. Zossie had been hovering over his shoulder, as usual, presumably to see if any of her Midwinter’s Eve gifts were showing.
Which, in and of itself, was silly. As if he would leave information of her presents anywhere near where she could find it? He had learned better within the first year he knew her. Any information that he wanted to hide from her had to be mathematically coded, translated into archaic Freiiden, and then coded again, though not the same way every time. If not, she would inevitably find out.
Really, it just meant that he planned out ideas for her gifts and didn’t buy them until the week before the holiday. It was certainly easier than trying to hide them from her for longer.
It was as she was looking over his shoulder that he realized the Partnership Department had contacted him. They had presented him with a date to meet his partner candidates. While he spent the next few minutes staring at the screen in shock, Zossie gathered the rest of his family.
His parents cheered and hugged him, nearly as excited as he was to meet his partner. He spent that weekend with his uncle, talking about Beasts. He prepared, excited to be officially partnered.
~
Dulse walked into the conference hall. He was unsure why the lecture had to be in the presentation area, as he was the only one being taught, but that was where they gathered. He paid attention to the lecture, which was a feat in and of itself, considering what it was about.
He would be getting a partner.
He would get to become a full time member of the Ultra Recon Squad. He would be certified for individual missions and Beast Strike missions.
After the conference, they led him down into the lower levels of the Ultra Recon Squad’s Beast Center. Jayna Kharris, a woman he knew pretty well, smiled as she sent him into the room.
Jayna was rather stoic and had transferred to Beast Research from Extraterrestrial Exploration the year before. She had joined his mother’s team, so he saw her often. She rarely smiled, so it really touched him that the blue haired woman felt excited for him.
The room was a Level 2 containment room, like most that deep in the Center. It had steel doors that could seal shut. If that happened, the room would be surrounded by 4 inches of steel. It wouldn’t hold most Class 4 Beasts, but it could hold most other Beasts for a time in the case of an emergency.
He was greeted by Uncle Phyco and Yveina Kleisby. There were Ultra Beasts in the room. It was real. He was getting evaluated for a partner.
Dulse looked into his uncle’s eyes, determined. He saluted briefly, “Major General Phyco Arnold, Captain Yveina Kleisby, Master Sergeant Dulse Kaiser reporting for evaluation!”
“Yes, Kaiser, it is good to see you here. As I am certain you are aware, it is time for you to be evaluated for a partner Beast. You passed all classes related to Ultra Beasts with flying colors, but I am still required to walk you through the rules again.”
“Yes, Ma’am,” Dulse replied. He tried to appear stoic, but his eagerness showed in the way he struggled to keep his eyes flat and how his knuckles were squeezed until they were white and shaking.
“Ah, yes. The years have certainly gone by. It seems like it was just the other day that you were a new cadet, Yveina. Now you’re assigning Beast partnerships, and to my baby sister’s son, no less.”
Yveina snorted and Dulse attempted to hide the flush in his cheeks. He was fairly certain it hadn’t worked, considering his face felt all tight and warm.
Uncle Phyco reached up at his moustache. He pinched it between two fingers and started twirling it. “I do suppose that means I am old.”
Yveina carried on with the explanations. She ran through basic feeding, socialization, and healthcare routines. She told him about making sure that he prepared a room for his partner. She made sure what he was supposed to do in regards to taking care of a Beast.
After that, the partners were brought in. Yveina’s partner, a Nestmother Naganadel, had been in the room the whole time. There were 4 Beasts that had been brought in. Two of them were Poipole, one was a young Ravalux, and the fourth was a Navatoria.
He could feel the Nestmother attempting to be a bridge between them. Dulse had read about how to allow for the Nestmother’s communication, but he had yet to attempt it. Nestmothers could communicate with humans by force, but it was like screaming. It didn’t cause severe damage, but it was disorienting and a bit painful.
Images and memories passed through his mind at dizzying speeds. It must have worked. “Dulse,” he heard, though it was more like a flash of emotions, pictures, and the impression of sound.
“Nestmother, I ask your name and how I may help you today,” he said. He said it out loud, as that was how he was used to communicating, but he tried to get the pictures across to her mind.
“I am Echo. You may bond with a partner today. Go, I shall help you, youngling.”
Dulse ignored the flash of surprise he felt at the nickname and walked over to the Beasts. He felt a flash of amusement at that, and heard laughter from Yveina.
“I am Dulse. I would like a partner. Would you like to join me?” he asked. He reached his hand out to the Beasts, his palm up to the sky. He was willing to extend himself to them, and he hoped they could do the same.
The Navatoria cooed. It flew towards him and perched on his hand. He could feel it, no, her in his mind, thanks to Echo and their contact. “Hello, I am Dulse.”
He saw images spinning in his mind, bright-shining-sun-moon-white-black-silver-life. Curiosity and intelligence were obvious in her mind. She wanted to know things.
Dulse wanted to learn things. Perhaps this Navatoria could help him with that. Would she be his partner?
“Would you like to join me?” he asked. He ran through his memories, what he did at work, what he researched, his mom, dad, Zossie, Uncle Phyco, and everything he could think of.
He saw fields of swirling mists and felt the dizzying changes of G-forces that came with flying. He saw landscape after landscape of hills, mists, rivers, and ravines. This was her life.
He felt excited; would he be able to go see those places with her? Would they explore the world together?
Navatoria shook her head. She briefly pressed her little halo against his nose. He felt confused, but he realized that she was waiting for someone. She already knew who she wanted. It wasn’t him.
The Navatoria fluttered away, settling on the bench nearby. “I hope you find your partner,” he responded.
Her answering coo was apologetic and comforting, so he tried not to let sadness or bitterness take hold. It wasn’t the end of the world. The Navatoria already had someone in mind. She just needed to find her partner. He needed to find his.
“Youngling, these Beasts are open to the idea of taking you as a partner, but they are open to many. You cannot be all of their partners. They cannot take every human.”
Echo’s impression bolstered his determination. This was fine, he just had to find someone who wanted him as a partner.
It was the larger of the two Poipoles who came up to him next. She was likely a girl, considering her size and markings, but it was possible that she could be from a colony of larger males with ovalesque patterns. There were a few, though he was fairly certain there hadn’t been in the Partnership Programs the last time he checked.
He felt an overwhelming feeling of fire-burning-bright-impulsive-warmth-stars-desire from her. It startled him, the intensity. He could work with her, but it would be hard. She was very intense, such power and spirit.
He tried to project himself through Echo, calm-stable-curiosity-learning-embers-night. It appeared that they were in agreement; they were not partners. They could be, but there was someone else out there for them.
“Goodbye, little star,” he said, and felt a farewell in return.
He walked over to the Ravalux next. He offered his hand to it and was greeted by a nuzzle from the rocky armor protruding from its skin. “Hello, I am Dulse.”
He shared his memories with the Ravalux, all the learning and his interest in Beasts. He recalled the times he sat with Nia and Holly. He remembered his days in the Research Lab.
He saw days of exploration. He saw siblings and parents, aunts and uncles. He saw friends. He saw humans and their interactions. He saw a desire for understanding, a love for learning.
“Will you join me?” he asked.
He felt questions about his human partners. Where was the bright one? What about the one of serenity and confidence? The helper?
His family. The bright one, Zossie. He thought about all the things she liked, how she loved figuring out interactions between people. He remembered her desire to find out the cultures of Beasts.
The Ravalux wanted a Zossie. He tried to show him the diffences between him and Zossie. Him, sitting with Beasts studying, her, talking with them. Him, sitting with his team, observing. Zossie, asking the questions finding the answers.
He felt acceptance from the Ravalux. The Ravalux would join him, maybe. Dulse could feel it, the Ravalux would take him, but not yet.
“Yes, grow, Younglings, come back when you have learned. Not now, later,” Echo said. That felt right, not now, but eventually.
That left the smaller Poipole. If he didn’t want to partner with Dulse, it would be a bit before they reevaluated a partnership for him. He supposed it would be fine, the missions weren’t imperative. He didn’t need a partner.
He just wanted a partner. He wanted to share his life with a researcher who desired knowledge and understanding. He wasnted to partner with a Beast who liked the idea of finding everything in the Universe.
The little Poipole flew up to him. He sent his wave of self, peace-calm-learning-light-dark-balace-questions-why-bubbles-cool-stable-content. He pushed his feelings through the bond they shared with Echo.
He got a greeting. Chaos-order-observer-fighter-destruction-creation-happines-sadness-knowledge-ignorance-learning. He saw mountains and rivers. He saw humans and Beasts. He saw understanding and questions.
This felt right.
It felt right.
He shared his family, warmth-support-happines-contentment. He saw Nestmother-siblings-joy-anger-inspiration.
It felt right.
Dulse looked at the Poipole. He was a small Poipole, full of chaos and curiosity. He sought order and learning.
Mine-yours-partner?
Mine-yours-partner, he agreed.
“Yes, Younglings. You are partners. Your bond is ready to grow.”
“He is my partner,” Dulse announced. “I am his.”
“I am Dulse, he is…”
Chaos-order-falling-rising-balance-learning…
Adazel?
Adazel.
“I am Dulse, he is Adazel. We are.”