Cyberplex: CHAR II

Char wished that she had a weapon. She had found a small cave to sleep in, last night. It was filled to the brim with soft, spongy mosses and proved to be shelter from the light drizzle of rain that started falling soon after her discovery of the cave. But she had woken up to about nineteen earth and rock demons and no way of escaping. She couldn't even turn into her evil side.

All she could do was run straight towards them.

Char knew that this was an extremely bad idea, but what else could she do, sit there and wait to die? No, that wasn't her style. If she was going to die, she was going to die in style.

But, instead of merely charging towards the demons, Char did something that surprised herself. Once she was only a few yards away from the monsters, Char leapt and vaulted over the nearest rock demon. Once she landed on the other side, she ran. It would take the earth and rock demons a while to realize what had happened, but Char knew that they would be after her in a heartbeat once they recovered from their shock. And they could outrun her without breaking a sweat. After all, the rocky, earthen terrain was their home turf.

Char was already breathing hard, and she could hear the demons coming after her. She concentrated hard, picturing herself becoming.... it. She thought about herself becoming taken over by her monster side; her fingers extending into long claws, both of her eyes glowing that iridescent green, herself getting taller and stronger, like a buff and fairly tall adult, her necklace becoming fully red.

It seemed to be working. She felt herself being possessed by it and then, as always, she passed out.

°°°°°

Char dreamed that she was the creature. Whenever she became it, she had blurry dreams about what she was doing as the monster as it took over. But her vision was poor in these dreams, so it was sometimes a bit hard to tell what she was doing.

Anyway, she saw herself swatting away at the swaths of demons that had formed a circle around her. She punched holds that when straight through the earth demons, and wrestled down the rock demons no problem. She eventually destroyed them all.

Char saw herself romping off, the troop of earth and rock demons having vanished back into the earth. No! Char screamed at herself. But It ignored her. She concentrated. She pictured herself shrinking aback to normal size. She thought about her left eye becoming normal again, with the brown iris. She saw her fingernails retreat back into their smooth-ish, short selves. She imagined her necklace becoming only half red, the other half of it now black.

All in vein, for their was no result of her efforts. The monster stomped forward. It snarled. Char wanted to scream for it to stop, but she couldn't find her voice. It was heading for the public park. No doubt there were plenty of people there, probably with their dogs. And the wildlife. Squirrels, chipmunks, birds....

Char's world became black.

°°°°°

Char awoke in the middle of a ruined park. She saw pits in the sidewalk, apparently where It had punched the cement until it gave in. She saw bent park benches. Char closed her eyes, depressed. How could she have done such terrible damage? What if she had hurt the people and animals that had been at the park? She could only hope that she hadn't. She had to get in control of this monster.

Sirens wailed. Char knew that the cops would be after her. She had to get off of the crime seance--and fast. Char stood, though her legs felt wobbly. Becoming it always drained her, but she had no other choice when she was facing a bunch of demons unarmed. But she had to run. Those police cars sounded close, maybe a few minutes until they got here? Char didn't want to wait to find out.

Char raced away, fast as her legs could carry her.

°°°°°

-KittyLover8
© 2013

Obstructa -Chapter II-

After their moment of silence in respect for the dead. Clementine and the strange demon cat sat on either side of Spark, who had tears still streaming down his face. Several hours passed as they sat their, feeling a mix of emotions; hatred towards the hunters, shock, fear, and sadness for those who had suffered.

Clementine blinked her tears away and swallowed the lump that had formed in her throat. She had decided that she would have to be strong, for the new cat was still recovering from her shock and Spark was sobbing hard.

Clementine stood and said, trying to keep her voice from shaking, “We must not let this tragedy distract us from our mission. The hunters come often, and we can’t let them affect us so much each time.”

Clementine said no more, fearing that her voice would crack if she did, which wouldn’t help with making her friends feel better.

With a heavy sigh, the nameless demon cat stood, her long tail still curved in an affectionate, protective way around Spark. “Yes,” she agreed. “Firstly, I think that we should find some food.”

Spark opened his eyes, which were red and puffy from crying. His brows were slightly creased, whether it was from hatred towards the hunters or determined courage or both,  was not known. He rubbed his eyes with his paw repeatedly to wipe his tears away. With a sniff, he nodded. His stomach rumbled.

“So that’s a yes,” the unnamed demon cat said, forcing a dry laugh.

Clementine cracked a smile. Spark got to his feet. But the stranger pushed them down gently--Spark with her tail and Clementine with her paw. “It’s okay,” she said, now smiling slyly. “I think that I can manage a little lunch.”

High up above their heads, a wood lemur was gliding from tree to tree, eating insects and fruit as it went. Wood lemurs are about four feet long. They are colored similarly to lemurs, but are usually more reddish. Wood lemurs have flaps of skin for gliding, like flying squirrels. They have long, retractable claws for climbing. These claws are straight, allowing the wood lemur to climb quickly and efficiently both up and down trees. They have excellent senses of sight and smell, which allows them to find their food, bugs and fruit, with ease. They also have long sticky tongues, which allows them to lick up insects like anteaters.

The demon cat leapt onto the tree stump. She gathered up all of her strength, and jumped. She landed on a tree branch in the same tree as the wood lemur. She landed softly, and the wood lemur was very intent on its food; a colony of leaf-cutter ants that were bringing cuttings of maple leaves back to their colony. The wood lemur was on the opposite side of the tree. The demon cat crept noiselessly along the length of the tree. She had to leap from branch to branch every once in a while, but every time she landed silently, her eyes fixed on her prey.

She neared the wood lemur. She was about seven feet away from her, leaping distance. She wiggled her haunches back and forth, preparing to spring. Then she pounced. The wood lemur heard the leaves of the tree shake when the demon cat leapt. The wood lemur spread out its legs, its skin flaps caught the breeze and started to carry it away from the tree, but the demon cat was faster. She reached out a clawed paw and snagged the wood lemur out of the air. She brought the creature to her mouth and delivered a killing bite.

Holding the wood lemur in her jaws, she leaped down from her perch in the tree. When she landed turned to her friends, then laid the wood lemur down at their feet.

She looked up at them and smiled. “Lunch is served.”

Awe-struck, her companions stared at her, mouths gaping. They looked at her, then the wood lemur, that back at her. They couldn’t believe how high she’d jumped. On top of that, neither of them had ever caught a nimble wood lemur, nor had met someone who had.

“That,” Clementine admitted, “was pretty cool.”

“Are you kidding!” Spark squeaked. “That was awesome!”

“Hey,” their demon cat friend meowed, shrugging and closing her eyes, “thanks, guys.”

“No, seriously,” Clementine said in a complementary tone, nodding. “I have never seen anyone catch a wood lemur. They’re just to fast and stay to hight up in the trees. But you? Wow, that was kink of awesome.”

The demon she-cat smiled. “Friends?” she asked, raising her eyebrows.

“Friends,” Clementine agreed.

“Yay!” Spark cheered gleefully.

Everyone laughed hardily. The horrible jeep and the heartless hunters were, at the moment, forgotten. The sun was hot and high, but the trees provided a pleasant shade. The grass and spongy moss proved to make comfortable seating. So, they gathered around the wood lemur to eat.

Only few moments after they began, Spark sighed in a depressed fashion.

“What is it, Spark?” the demon she-cat inquired.

“It’s just that I feel bad having an animal killed for our sake after so many died because of the hunters,” Spark replied sadly.

The pleasantness of the noon vanished. There was a long and uncomfortably depressing silence. No one ate or talked for a while.

Finally, the demon she-cat spoke. “Spark, those hunters were killing needlessly and for fun,” she said. “This wood lemur was killed for a good cause; for us to eat. Sense we can’t survive without meat, unlike the humans. This is how nature works.”

Spark nodded, but didn’t seem satisfied with the answer. Another silence. Spark thought about what his new friend had said; about how ‘this is how nature works.’ Was it really? All of this killing was going to make him sick. Could they really only kill to survive? He really didn’t want to live like that. He thought about how sad the poor little wood lemur’s family was feeling right now. How would he feel is someone killed his sister, Clementine? Or even his new friend, the demon cat that he had met just this morning?

Clementine broke the ice. “Well, how about we start guessing more names for you?” she suggested, addressing the demon she-cat.

The mood of the demon cats almost visibly brightened. “Sure,” the demon cat agreed, a sparkle in her eyes.

“Well,” Spark started, “we’ve already guessed Gemstone, Jewel, and Gem. So what else could it be?”

“You were going to say something that you thought it might be before... before the hunters came,” Clementine meowed. “What was it?”

“Just that I was thinking that it’s probably a specified gemstone,” she replied.

“But what kind of a gemstone is pink, blue, red and yellow?” Spark questioned.

“Diamond!” Clementine said, standing up abruptly. “Your name is diamond! Diamonds come is all sorts of colors, including red, pink, blue, and yellow.”

“Why didn’t I think of that!” the demon cat squeaked joyfully. “Thank you! Thank you, thank you!”

“Okay then,” Spark meowed purring happily. “What are we waiting for? Let’s try it!”

“Okay,” the demon cat said, taking a shaky breath. She shut her eyes tightly. “I--am--Diamond!”

Her voice rang through the forest, echoing back to them until it faded completely. Nothing happened.

“I don’t feel any different,” the demon cat meowed, sounding disappointed. “Is this how it feels to be named?”

“No,” Clementine said, shaking her head, downcast. “‘Diamond’ isn’t your name. It must be something else. I’m so sorry.”

“Oh,” the demon she-cat said, crestfallen.

“So what about Crystal?” Spark offered.

The demon cat attempted and shook her head. “No,” she sighed. “That doesn’t seem to be my name either.”

“Then how about something like, uh, Ruby, or Sapphire, or Topaz, or something,” Spark said.

“Well, none of those gemstones are all of those colors,” the demon she-cat pointed out. “Plus, I’ve already tried a majority of the names of gemstones that I know.”

There was a silence as the three of them thought.

“Wait! I know!” the demon cat cried. “Sterling!”

“Why Sterling?” Clementine wondered, tilting her head.

“You know, as in sterling silver,” the demon cat replied, still hopping mad with excitement. “I’m silver, so maybe the gemstones in my insignia are a hint.”

“Yeah!” Storm agreed. “Try it!”

“I--am--Sterling!” she shouted, her voice nearly cracking with excitement.

Again, nothing happened. Another disappointment.

Their new friend sighed. “Oh, what could my name be?” she sighed, looking up at the sky. It was already in the afternoon.

The demon she-cat turned to Clementine and Spark. “I’m sorry, guys. I shouldn’t have gotten us all exited over nothing. It’s getting late, now. I suppose we should stop guessing.”

“You can’t give up!” Spark cried.

“I’m not giving up,” she said in reply. “I just think that we should take a break.” She flashed a forced smile.

“Okay,” Spark said begrudgingly. “But what should be call you until we find out what your name is?”

She laughed. “What about Petra?” she suggested.

“Hey,” Clementine said. “Why don’t you try it out?”

“I--am--Petra!” Petra said, although she seemed to be doing it grudgingly as though she knew that this would just lead to another disappointment.

Petra sighed. “Thanks for the suggestion, Clementine, but I suppose we will have to find out what my name is in another way.” Then she looked at her crestfallen friends and said quickly, “You don’t have to come with me, you know. It could be dangerous.”

“What?” Spark meowed, looking horrified at the suggestion. “You think that we would abandon you just like that, no questions asked? No way! Right, Clementine?”

Clementine nodded her head vigorously. Her brows were set and she looked very determined. Spark looked at Petra with an expression that told her that he would face anything to help. Petra could tell that neither of them were ever going to back out of this. She sighed with relief, for she was grateful for their companionship.

“You’re awesome, guys,” she said.

Spark smiled broadly. “Well, let’s get going,” he said.

They all smiled, happy to have each other as friends. It was about noon by now, and they were all hungry. So, Petra offered to hunt.

“Hey,” said Clementine, giving Petra a playful push. “Why don’t you save some of the bragging for someone else for a change?”

“Okay, then,” Petra smiled, “you can hunt.”

“See ya all later, suckers,” Clementine laughed as she ran off. “I’m off to catch me some mice!”

“Girls,” Spark snorted, rolling his eyes.

“Hey!” Petra snarled playfully.

Petra leapt onto Spark with a fake hiss and the two rolled around in a ball of wrestling fur, laughing.

Petra had found herself a couple of wonderful friends.

______________________________________________________________________

-KittyLover8
© 2013

News!

Today, I have added a new gadget! Look to the right of the posts to see it. I will update it every day. Today's is facts about bees. Check it out to see new facts. :3

-KittyLover8
© 2013

Cyberplex: CHAR I

What if you were your own enemy? What if you were undead? What if you were only half human? What if you were fighting for your life every waking moment? Well, welcome to Cyberplex, the world of insanity.

 

Char sighed. She was siting on a large gray boulder. Her breath showed as white mist in the freezing cold air. She looked up and saw the half moon and the stars glowing softly above her against the ink-black sky. They washed the Earth with their pale silver light. All around the boulder, tall dead grasses waved about in the gentle breeze. A few clumps of melting snow could be seen here and there.

Almost directly next to the boulder was a rippling pond. It expanded for a hundred feet or so. It looked as though it were made of black ink. Its surface rippled a little from the midnight breeze, but Char could still see her refection just fine. It seemed as though the pond was teasing her, showing her her refection.

Char was what you would call a literal two-face. She was half 'evil,' and half normal. She mostly stayed as the normal half of her, but the baneful side would often show up unexpectedly. That was why she had run away. She didn't want to hurt anyone when her monstrous side took over, so she tried to stay away from people and animals. She always looked half like her evil side and half normal.

Her beastly side was her entire right side. Her entire right eye glowed a light iridescent shade of green, and was always slightly narrowed. A thin white line, a scar, traced down her right arm. Her hair was scarlet, the same color as blood. The muscles on her right side always seemed to be flexed. Char's tongue was slender and forked, like that of a snake. Her right side's teeth were pointed.

Her other side, her left, was  that of a normal teenaged girl's. She had short black hair, and a brown eye. Char was extremely pale, which made the dark circles under her eyes even more noticeable. She had small obsidian earrings. She had a necklace that had a small, curved, and pointed rock strung on it. The rock was half red and half black. Whenever she took it off, it would return around her neck. She just couldn't get rid of it.

Her cloths were a black t-shirt with tattered sleeves that went up to her elbows. She wore a skirt that came down to her knees that was layered with black on the top half and red on the bottom. She had worn red sneakers on her feet.

Char hopped off of the bounder. She walked over to the pond and knelt down at its edge. She touched the obsidian-colored surface with her ring finger. The dark water rippled at her touch. She shut her eyes tightly, a tear tracing down her cheek. She felt homesickness welling up inside of her. She thought about her mother, who she missed so much.... She had never met her father, and her mother never talked about him. Her mother had been her entire world. Always so sweet and caring....

No. She wouldn't let herself think about that. Still, she kept her eyes shut a while longer, picturing her mother's smiling face. She had a fear that she would someday forget that face. She was hopeful that she would somehow find a way to control it. Then maybe she could come back home. But she had already been gone a year. A little part of her wondered if, by the time she found the antidote, her mother would have forgotten her.

Char opened her eyes and stood. There was no time to think about it. She knew that they would find her soon. Plus, she had to find a way to control that monster within her. Her goal was to find the Whisperer, who lived in a valley and was supposed to know everything. Char was pretty sure that she had gotten a lock on the Whisperer's Valley (as it was called).

But, as if she didn't have problems enough already, Char was being chased by demons. They followed her wherever she went, and fought her with wicked-looking weapons like guns and swards. Char had nothing to fight them back with other then the evil side of her, which usually only showed itself when she was angry. She was starting to learn how to make it show, but she had no power over it once it came, and couldn't stop it.

The demons forced her to become her second side, though. Char knew that they would kill her if they ever gt the chance. She couldn't even kill them (though she wouldn't even wish death on them, no matter how horrible they were.), because they would return to their element whenever they were on the brink of death. There were water demons, tree demons, earth demons, stone demons etc. And if they couldn't find their element, they could always (if they had enough energy, which they usually did) make their element appear.

Char turned away from the pond. She had to hurry. She dashed off.

°°°°°

About a dozen rock demons and half that many earth demons were crowded around the pond with the boulder, the sun beginning to rise behind them.

Earth demons were made of packed dirt or clay with pits for eyes. The rock demon were made of cut stone and had holes with pebbles within them to act as their eyes. They were all ranging from six to seven feet tall.

"The girl was here," an earth demon snarled.

"She must not escape!" hissed a stone demon. "Master will be angry if the girl finds the others."

The other demons cowered and screamed with fear. "Scared of Master!" They wailed. "Must please the Master! Hate the girl. Kill the girl! Please the Master!"

"Yes, yes!" They chanted. "Kill the girl. Kill the girl."

°°°°°

-KittyLover8

© 2013

A Brief Report on the Macaroni Penguin

Macaroni penguins are only 28 inches (70 centimeters) tall, and weigh about 12 pounds (5.5 kilograms). As these measurements suggest, the macaroni penguin is very small.

The macaroni penguin eats crustaceans, particularly krill, its favorite food. Crustaceans make up about half of its diet, with fish making up the other half. They also eat squid. They eat their prey where they catch it; underwater. To catch their food, they can dive 200 feet deep.

The Macaroni penguin, like all penguins, lives in Antarctica. More specifically, they live in the rocky cliff faces overlooking the ocean. Here they nest and breed.

Being so small, the world of the macaroni penguin is full of dangers. One of these threats is global warming. This kills the penguin's food, resulting to mass starvation. Another danger is fishing, for the same reason. Humans overfish, and animals that rely on the fish for food starve. Oil spills kill hundreds of animals, including the macaroni penguin.

All of these threats are things that people cause and can control. Purchasing non-recycled products encourages factory-made goods. Factories are a huge source of pollution. I understand that you can't always buy recycled goods, but try to make an effort. Factories kill thousands of animals every year, and cause massive climate damage.

To prevent overfishing, which kills both fish and the animals that eat them (plus any other animal, like a dolphin, that might have gotten caught in a net), you could stop eating fish. Or, even better, stop eating meat all together! You can save thousands of lives by not eating meat. Even if you don't are about the animals you're eating--cows, pigs, chickens, lambs, turkeys, etc.--think about all of the other animals your harming.

By purchasing a wild salmon or trout, you are raising the salary of a fisher, encouraging him or her to kill. Now he or she continues killing fish. Animals that eat fish--dolphins, sharks, penguins, otters, seals, etc.--are now being deprived of their food. If you can't become a full vegiterian, then at least take out a day of the week to not eat meat.

Ah, and what about oil spills? Well, you can help prevent these by supporting wind powered, solar powered, and water powered energy. You can do this by purchasing solar powered lights or by

Some natural predators to macaroni penguins are leopard seals, sea lions, and killer whales. Eggs and chicks are preyed upon by skuas, gulls, petrels and other marine and shore birds.

-KittyLover8
© 2013

The Anaconda

This carnivorous, non-venomous snake is, by far, the largest snake in the world. Weighing a whopping 550 pounds (227 kilograms), it dominates its habit. These snakes grow to the length of 20 to 30 feet (6 to 9 meters), which is about the length of the average school bus.

The anaconda lives in the amazon rain forest. There is a wide range of prey for the grown anaconda there, pretty much anything it can catch. In youth, anacondas usually eat smaller things like frogs, rodents, and fish (these are things that a full grown normal-seized snake would eat). When they are adults, anacondas can eat turtles, sheep, dogs, jaguars, bird eggs, crocodiles, pigs, deer, smaller seized mammals, and pretty much anything that they can fit through their jaws (which is a lot, because they, like all snakes, can unhinge their jaws when they swallow down their prey).

Despite the fact that movies always show anacondas hunting and eating humans, they will not eat people unless provoked. There haven't been a large number of attacks on humans, and the cause of the attacks were probably the human’s fault. Usually, anacondas are just fine eating what they normally eat (see list above).

But how do they catch such massive and powerful creatures as the jaguar and the crocodile? Well, they simply curl tightly around it. It is like the creatures are bounded with a thick, muscular, and malevolent coil of ropes. The anaconda wraps around its prey tighter and tighter until it finally suffocates it. This hunting tactic, used b all non-venomous snakes, is called constricting. This gives the non-venomous snakes their true name; constrictors.

-KittyLover8
© 2013

Banda Aceh's Grand Mosque

Banda Aceh's Grand Mosque, also known as the Baiturrahman Grand Mosque, is located in Banda Aceh, Indonesia. It was designed by an Italian architect. Though, it was built by the Dutch as an act penance of the previous destruction of different mosque. The construction of the mosque took 3 years (1879-1881).

At some point in history, Banda Aceh's Grand Mosque was destroyed. Then, the Grand Mosque had only one dome. But, as it was reconstructed, Banda Aceh's Grand Mosque was given additional domes. Now it features seven, Oddly enough, these were added at different times; 1935, 1958, and 1982.

Banda Aceh's Grand Mosque also used to have only one minaret. During its reconstruction, the mosque was given extra minarets too, and now has eight.

Banda Aceh's Grand Mosque survived a massive tsunami in 2004, which destroyed much of the rest of Banda Aceh. Many of the people of Banda Aceh took refuge in the Grand Mosque during this immense natural disaster. Though the mosque suffered some minor damage, it survived the tsunami, and saved many people from the tragedy.

-KittyLover8
© 2013

Underwater Plants

Today, we’ll be discussing the ‘plants’ under the sea. Or, sea sponges and coral.

Sea Sponges

Sea sponges have tiny little openings all over. These are used to catch their food. Their food is smaller then even their microscopic cells. Their diet consists mainly of plankton, choanocytes, and archaeocytes. These tiny creatures drift through the water, aimlessly riding its current. When the undersea current flows into the sea sponge, the microscopic plants and animals become the filter feeder's next meal.

Sea sponges also flow water through their pores, with or without the foods they eat. More on this later.

Sea sponges are what are called ‘simple animals.’ Sponges have no organs or tissues. Instead, they have three layers of cells with different jobs.

The outer layer is the one with the pores. These pores are very small and only let the sponge’s food (mentioned above) enter. The rest of the sponge’s outer layer is quite hard. This is the protective covering of the sponge, and keeps it safe from other animals that might want to eat it.

The next layer, the one in the middle, also plays an important part in the eating process. This jelly-like layer is ridden with many channels. The food and water that enters through the pores of the outer layer are moved through these channels by the middle layer’s cells.

The third and final layer’s (or the inner layer’s) cells take the food and oxygen from the water and build a hard, sharp skeleton to support the sponge. These structures are called spicules.

Now that we have sponges covered, it’s time to talk about coral.

Coral

First of all, coral is made up of tiny little animals called polyps. Secondly, their are two different kinds of corals; hard and soft corals. First, we’ll talk about hard corals.

Hard

Hard corals  are made up of polyps (as mentioned above). Polyps are microscopic organisms that grow and die amongst one another. This growth ad death process gradually creates a large and hard mass of polyp skeletons. True to their names, the hard corals form a protective exoskeleton.

Now, for all corals (for both hard and soft verities), algae is vital. But it plays a particularly important role in hard corals.

Algae doesn’t just give corals their beautiful, diverse shades colors, but it helps them with food. Algaes produce food for hard corals in exchange for a place to live (safe inside of the hard exoskeleton). But this awesome allegiance isn’t the only way hard corals get their food.

At night, hard corals reach out their tentacles to catch tiny organisms called zooplankton that drift through the water. But during the day, the vulnerable tentacles retreat  to their hard homes, the coral, so that they are safe from predators.

Soft

Soft corals are also made of polyps, but these polyps are solely alive. This means that there are no exoskeletons on soft corals. Soft corals can also make a beautiful display when, in the underwater current, they gently and gracefully wave about.

Thanks for reading!
-KittyLover8
© 2013