Status Report

The Never Ending Quest - Episode 7689

Status Report "I'm surprised at you." Inquirer smiled, looking down at the confused elf. "Supposedly, to be able to make such a body as this....which I couldn't tell the difference between it and one born of mundane means......you'd have the ability to examine yourself via magic! I mean, I wouldn't have known where to look at your Matrix to see the obvious answer....but it's obvious once I knew your special nature!"

"Being that creating a Proxy able to cast spells takes TEN times as one who can't....I think I can be forgiven for not being able to cast anything to examine myself," Ke'lan chuckles mirthlessly. "I was nearly out of my mind with the desire to be able to get OUT of this .....blasted forest that I wanted out as soon as possible! Besides, being an Elven Ranger is quiet the departure from being an Elven Paladin and Mage that my bloodline was known for.....less chance of any Atlantians discovering the truth about me!"

"Well....hmmm," Inquirer nods. "I guess since that's the case, it would be obvious just why you didn't know what was happening to you. You see, the Link you may have created in order to control your Proxy's movements and such might have been of such a nature.....weak enough in the beginning that you could have broken your connection....and stayed disconnected. After something like over ten thousand years or more.....the spiritual connection to your Proxy was as strong and natural as your connection to your own body!"

Ke'lan tilted his head to one side at this information in thought....and slowly nodded. He did remember....dimly (It was so LONG ago) that he'd come across....some small worry about that wile he'd been frantically trying to cobble together and overcome the last of the obstacles for his.....only chance of escape! He'd dismissed it in his frenzied search....and bypassed the last of the obstacles to his escape by using his Father's cache of herbs and magical spell components from beasts and plants that had been extinct well before Ke'lan was a twinkle in his Mother's eye.

The last time he'd cast magic had been the Wards to stop the spread of the Forest. He'd done it for two reasons. One was to prevent others from becoming trapped within this fell place like he was (he didn't want to consign them to that). The other was that the Wards acted, through a complex interaction with the Forest and his Proxy body, as a gate. The Wards allowed his Proxy body to enter and leave the Forest with impotency...even appear within the midst of the Forest like he'd used an Atlantian Teleport item! The last time he'd cast magic....was well over ten thousand years ago......around the time of the FALL of Atlantis.

Had it been worth the price he'd paid? Never again to feel Magic's caress flow through his veins? He'd always assumed that someday he'd be able to assume his original identity.....without fear of the descendants of his subjects come clamoring for him to rule them. He'd always assumed that he'd be able to eventually shape the eldrich powers again. But not now......not in this body.

He laughed long and hard, knowing that he was a fool to even need ask himself that question!

He had won a freedom from the Forest through Grailing, and if he must forevermore be Grailing, Elven Ranger....an elf who was not gifted with magical talent....so be it!

He laughs, and then explains why he's laughing to his concerned friends.

Still chuckling, Ke'lan then gasps in shock as he and the other elves feel a wave of.....something.....er....different. Something emanating from the sky. An absence.....

Gilmuriel points up to the sky at where the Moon (a pale white crescent....hard to see in the bright sunlight) should be. It's not there!

"It's gone!" E'eysha gasps.

Fred 4 and Astra 4 blink as Inquirer and Probe check various instruments, and confirm it. Then....just as mysteriously as the Moon had vanished, it was back (at the same time the newest rabbits in a Military Base returned to their human form.....)

Finally, after getting in touch with the Base, Probe and the others head down there (via the shuttlecraft that the Empress of the Dwarves gave them). They needed to get the ship down to the Base anyway (it was overdue)....but Probe and the others wanted some quick answers to what had just happened....and the they somehow knew that those answers would be there.....and there alone.


They arrive moment's later (unlike most times.....Probe nearly burns out the engines in his attempt to get to the Base quickly......usually he goes slower to spare his passengers). None complain, not even the little ones nor Warg. All have a need to be at the Base, for some reason.

179 had implanted that need, for he'd loathed to leave them wanting like that....so he'd suggested to their subconscious that going to the place where the others seen and heard what 179 had said and done....and knew WHY......Well, now the adventures were either there now in person or by other means.....like magic mirror (Jellico blinks....and slowly nods at that one.....figuring he should have known that magic mirrors would be possible...and not the thing of story), or via "radio" (actually.....tacion transmitters....but the old fashion term held over to the newer brands of communication gear....).

Anyhow, surprise abounds! Case in point, B'elanna, the elfin woman is most shocked at seeing the very person she had been created for by Tesla (in his bid to dominate and torture the Voyager Captain in her dreams).

It's not every day that something like that happened to a rogue Dream Prop.....

"Captain?!" B'elana (not Torres) cries out in surprise.


Explanations and stories are exchanged, and soon the gathered are in a pretty good mood. Soon, a few questions come up in the course of conversation. Questions like "So....where did you come from?", "How old are the little tikes there?", and others.

Manbear Synizn takes out a notepad (an idea taken up by the Manimals from the Military with glee......).

"I've been keeping track of something like that.....and have even been able to include the newest.....er....guests into this little project of mine," the bear mage says. "If I could, I'll read it off and that'll answer a lot of these questions."

The ursine mage begins.

Natives of the Terra Prime universe (aka the Manimal universe):

The manimals, including Fred the Manfox and Alicia, Carradene, Manbear Synizn, and Loam; Queen Astra and Willian La Post, Malachi Droconis, Natthias, Ke'lan (aka "Grailing"), Tarin, Rift, and . Trilling Blackfeather (griffin).

From the "Military universe".

Probe, Inquirer, Seeker (the original one), Captain Sterndeck

From the alternative Manimal universe:

Fredrigo D'Honaire ("Dragon Fred") and Malachi D'Honaire (both Foxpeople at the time of the transfer), Womanfox Alicia 3 (since has become the second wife of Manfox Fred).

"Walants 1":

Fred and Astra 1 (plus 7 babies born subsequent to the transfer) - demifoxes at the time of the transfer.

"Walants 2":

Fred and Astra 2 (plus 7 babies born subsequent to the transfer) - demifoxes at the time of the transfer, Dragon Synizn (originally Werebear Synizn), Duke Dredrick (Fred 2's father), Lady Champlaine (his mother), Lady Fredrina (his sister), Duke Zular (currently at large).

"Walants 3":

Fred and Astra 3 plus their 7 babies, Demifox Synizn, Dragon Sigin, "Living" Dr Vincent.

"Walants 4":

Fred and Astra 4 plus their 7 babies - demifoxes at the time of the transfer (plus various demifox kits and mundane foxes), Synizn (demifox at the time of the transfer), Demifox Sigin and the aware fox Rosepaw plus their 12 demifox kits, Manwolf Carradene 2.

"Walants 5":

Fred and Astra 5 (plus 7 babies born subsequent to the transfer), this world's Tarin.

"Walants 6":

Fred and Astra 6 plus their 7 babies, Synizn 2 (demifox), Sigin 2 (dragon). Thank Tiamat that they were willing to allow the addition of the "2" to their name!

"Walants 7":

Fred and Astra 7 (plus 3 as yet [sort of] unborn babies), Lady Rowena D'Honaire (Fred's sister), Lem, Dokken and assorted dwarves (including this world's Tarin).

"Thaobath":

Astra 8, Lady Andrea Croix, Fred the Oathbreaker "Thaobath".

"Elven":

The elven Gilmuriel (previously Fred) and E'eysha (previously Astra).

Vampire universe:

Alicia 2 (human)

Destroyed Terra:

The elf Elrondir (previously the AI known as Seeker).

"Voyager":

From one or other of the Voyager universes come Jellico, Human Janeway 1, Human Janeway 2, Furry Janeway 1, Furry Janeway 2 (upon finding exact duplicates of themselves on another Voyager.....that wasn't going to just go away any time soon.....the crew of Voyager 1 decided to adopt a similar custom to what has happened to some on Terra Prime. Thus, those from Voyager 1-Scott Chen's Voyager, tacked on the number one and Voyager 2 put on two after their name). As for the designation of Furry and Human, those had been used to distingquish crewmembers from the "human" universe from the "furry" universe).

Nod (a now defunct pocket universe):

The elven B'elanna (reincernated from a Dream Prop made to resemble the real Klingon/human Voyager Engineer, Lt. B'elanna Torres)

Notes:

Which universes the four Helenas come from is not known for sure. While the Military was kind enough to do thorough Quantum Signature Scans with very MASSIVE....but thorough, identification equipment (best way to tell an authorized citizen from a larcenous analog back Home - what little things come from that strange place called Area 51 never ceases to amaze me), they couldn't tell WHICH Helena came from which universe. Their extended stay wherever they had been before being freed....over the decades......made them mimic the quantum signatures around them!

Some of the alternate universes can be grouped together as being more closely related than others. Those bearing least relation to the others are the two where Fred and Astra never met Minestus or Malachi, were not turned into demifoxes and never went to Walants. In one, Fred and Astra were changed into the elves Gilmuriel and E'eysha. From the other, the "Thoabath" universe, there arrived Astra 8 in the form of a werewolf, Lady Andrea Croix and Fred the Oathbreaker. The others can be grouped as:

Walants 1 & 2: In both of these, Fred and Astra arrived on Terra Prime as demifoxes.

Walants 3, 4 & 6: In all of these, Fred and Astra were restored from demifox to human form by their respective universe's version of Snyizn using the Crystallic. Synizn also turned himself from werebear into demifox. 3 and 6 are rather more closely related than is 4, in which Fred, Astra and their children (and Sigin) were turned into demifoxes by the dragon Moreau and arrived on Terra Prime in that form.

Walants 5 & 7: In both of these, Fred and Astra were restored from demifox to human by the Crystallic they had with them. In both, their version of Rift used the Crystallic to turn Astra's skin and hair to black.

For all of 1, 2 and 4, Fred and Astra and their children (except for Astra 4's second litter) were restored to human form after arrival on Terra Prime by use of the Crystallics. For both of 5 and 7, Astra's coloration was restored to normal, in the former case by use of the Crystallics and in the latter case by Rule 179. Also Astra 8's lycanthropy was undone by the Rule. However, for each of 3, 4 and 6, Astra's breast enlargement to enable her to breast-feed 7 children continues.

In each of 1 to 6, Fred and Astra have 7 children. Those of Astra 4 are the eldest, at 8 months, those of Astra 3 a month younger, those of Astra 6 a little younger again, those of Astra 1 and 2 are aged only three months, and those of Astra 5 are youngest of all. Astra 7 is about five months pregnant with triplets, though it is hard to be certain about the time since each of the two occasions she was subject to the Crystallic seemed to push the pregnancy along by a substantial but uncertain amount. Alicia is six months pregnant, bearing within her both a boy and girl kit. Alicia 3 is also three months away from delivering her boy and girl kits, but up to the time of her meeting and being converted into a full Manimal.....her kits developed at the increased rate that all manimal lycanthropes......manimal lycanthropes and not Manimals..... So, while both Alicias in question will probably deliver their blessed bundles in the same month, Alicia 3's kits are younger.

"And it will be a year before our six dragonets see the light of day....when they hatch," Dragon Fred chuckles as his scaly hand fondly caresses his wife's scaly cheek . Jellico notes that, as per legend, these dragons have mounds and mounds of treasure in the background image of the magical mirror.

"As for the change of scale color," Sigin says to his analogous dragon brother. "It happened soon after my joining of my Hoard with the Land. Sato, who we owe so much, had mentioned in his notes that such was possible. I guess he was right.

  1. "Finally, Janeway 2 was asking about names for the children," Queen Astra says, with a quirky smile.

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