Lupus’ Moraimarz:

To say Pharynx was having a good day was like saying a Manticore was a little kitten who’d play around with a ball of catnip. To recollect, he’d been woken up from a thousand year nap, found out the world he knew was gone for good and replaced by an icy husk, then found out a ship was hanging over his ‘hive’s’ head so to speak and he couldn’t do a damn thing about it and now he was onboard that same ship following a madman who called himself a ‘Doctor’.

“So yeah, not a good day. Not a good day at all.” the forest-green Changeling thought to himself as he ran after the longcoat clad-madman who for whatever reason had a Kyuchanger as well. First instinct was telling him that this Doctor had stolen the thing from Stripped Gear, but how in the Hivemother’s name would someone like this man gotten into Stripped Gear’s lab and then gotten out without being noticed? I mean, it wasn’t like the Doctor was the most subtle person in the world, really.

Hoof and foot clanked against the metallic floor as Pharynx followed the Doctor, whose Pyxis Kyutama was projecting a gold arrow that (presumably) pointed to the weapons systems of the Moraimarz.

“You sure you know where you’re going?” Pharynx drawled sarcastically.

“If I wasn’t sure, I wouldn’t be controlling this thing now, would I?” the Doctor just tightened his grip on the Kyutama and just ran a little faster down the darkened hallways. “Now, we need to get where we’re going as fast as possible, before old Lupy can muck even more stuff up.”

Pharynx held his Kyuchanger up his mouth and spoke into it. “Twilight, please tell me you know of a guy with a gold Legend Kyutama based on the Libra constellation?”

“Yeah? What about it?” She asked, the miniature projection tilting her head towards Pharynx.

“Cause I’m looking at one. Bit insane if you ask me, this man. Calls himself a Doctor, even if really don’t see him having any sort of medical degree in the slightest. To be honest, wouldn’t want him at my bedside…”

“Oi, I heard that!” the Doctor shouted. Pharynx, of course, ignored him and continued.

“Did Stripped Gear make more Legend Kyutamas than the ones I know about, namely the six we know of so far? Because of my count, and I’m factoring in the Draco Kyutama along with the one we recovered from that Scorpius Robot, this makes nine.”

Twilight seemed rather surprised by this turn of events. The thought of more Legend Kyutamas was an interesting prospect, but more importantly would be the people who would be able to control such powers. If not the team and their own kinds, then what else? Perhaps a monster, a bandit on the run from the law, or even a harmless animal could hold them and be blessed with their powers. But that was just nonsense to her, as only those chosen by Legend Kyutamas could control them… right? Right?

“...I’ll take your silence as a no then,” Pharynx sighed to himself, looking skywards. “Twilight, can you calculate how long we have before the Chameleon Voyager’s cloaking ability runs out, and everyone knows we’re here?”

“I already did a check while you two were babbling on about the coordinates. We should have at least thirty minutes before our cover’s blown.” she went back to her station, typing on the computer console. “I can try and make it last longer, but I’d need to draw power from the engines, and that could hinder our escape.”

“Yeah, would really rather not drain the fuel cells. I don’t think Spada is going to be happy that we ‘borrowed’ his ship, really…” Pharynx remarked.

The Doctor seemed pleased by this prospect.

“Oh, so you’re not the only one who’s stolen a ship around here?” the man asked, as they rounded another corner before patting Pharynx’s forehead and kissing it. “Nice to know!” he said cheerfully, and the Changeling just let out a growl.

“Please don’t do that,” he stated, knowing full well he’d probably go ignored.

“You know, this tech of this Stripped Gear fellow, while it’s pretty nice and all, I can’t help but notice that there are a few design flaws that could be sorted out in future modes,” Twilight, still fixated on her screen, spoke back to the others. “For example, the hyperdrive system has to go into cooldown for at least three hours after one jump, meaning that getting in and out of war zones is almost impossible to do without taking damage,” she remarked. “Second, with all the new weapons being developed each and every day, these regular plasma cannons and lasers are really starting to feel like dinosaurs. But the stuff this ship could do with a graviton displacer or a pair of ionic cutters and nova beam launchers? That’d be able to tear down a class-9 warship with barely any effort required, provided the cells are properly primed and charged, that is. Am I rambling? I feel like I’m rambling.”

“Yeah, you are. Why don’t you just marry that damn thing already?” Pharynx deadpanned before turning to the Doctor and asking: “You know a single bucking thing about what she’s talking about?”

“Most of it, yes. Though, I’ve never heard of ionic cutters and nova beam launchers before.” the Doctor barely rotated towards Pharynx’s side. “Granted, I’m not really one for weapons systems. I prefer a more… pacifistic approach to things.”

“Pacifism doesn’t win fights, though. And against this Dark Matter Empire, they’ll meet your pacifism with nothing more than bloodshed and laser fire from what I’ve seen.” Pharynx just crossed his arms and gave a stare to the Doctor. “Trust me, Doc. I’ve seen it all before. And besides, if you’re what I think you are, you’re really in the wrong line of work. Because if that really is a Legend Kyutama, you’re a Paladin and that means fighting monsters.”

“Now, who said Paladins always have to jump feet first into a fight? I mean, how do you know it can’t just be someone with a little sonic screwdriver and just his words to change the outcome of a battlefield?”

“A sonic what?” Pharynx asked.

“You know, a sonic screwdriver?” the Doctor asked, waving the device in front of the Changeling’s face.

“A sonic screwdriver,” Pharynx repeated in a flat tone. “Oh, did anyone just look at a screwdriver and think, ooh, this could be more sonic? What, did they have some cabinets to put up or something?” he asked sarcastically. “Who the Hell are you anyways?”

“I'm the Doctor. I'm a Time Lord. I'm from the planet Gallifrey in the constellation of Kasterborous. I'm nine hundred and three years old, and I'm the man who's gonna save your lives and all the lives of the people on the planet below. You got a problem with that?”

“With a screwdriver? Now, if you had guns and a good aim, I’d believe you, but so far, you just handle all the technical stuff, like this ship.” Pharynx eyed the Doctor from top to bottom, feeling his body for muscle mass.

“Ooh, feeling me up already are we?” the Doctor teased. “Didn’t think we’d gotten to that point in our relationship!”

Pharynx growled, and he swore he could have heard Twilight giggling and squeeing to herself. He groaned. Great, a shipper on deck. Last thing he needed.

“Anyways, we should be arriving shortly,” said Twilight, her console beginning to beep and flash. “Remember, thirty minutes and the camo is going to drop, so we need to get out before that happens.”

“Fifteen minutes actually,” the Doctor cut in. “We’ve spent half our time arguing about what kind of man I am.”

“Ugh! You two just need to learn to get along with each other.” Twilight groaned to herself, and Pharynx got the distinct sense she’d just facepalmed.

“Me, get along with him?” Pharynx and the Doctor asked in unison, pointing at the other. “No way!”

“Now, this mission’s even harder because of the halved cloak time. No messing around, you two. If you do need to vent a bit, then do it without attracting the attention of the entire facility.” Twilight stated as she just rolled her arms and watched as several Strongindavers ran up, cudgels in hand. “Idiots, I swear…” she thought to herself.

“Well, there goes the silent approach…” the Doctor remarked as he inserted his Libra Kyutama into his gauntlet. “Star Change: Libra!” In the blink of an eye, the Doctor was consumed by a bright golden light, and his attire had entirely changed. A singular star on his chest with an orb at the center of it, just like the other Paladins on Flashfire’s team. His arms and legs were golden, and he had a pair of smoothened pauldrons on his shoulders. His visor was themed after a scale.

“The Trick-Star! Libra Gold!” the Doctor proclaimed, the sheer energy run-off from the morph sending a few foot soldiers flying backwards into walls and igniting the air around them causing a few explosions of pure energy.

Pharynx was about to shout the same morphing call as well, before he growled remembering that he hadn’t been chosen as a Paladin. All just because he wasn’t, for whatever the Hell reason, ‘special’ enough. Cursing Stardust’s name under his breath, the Changeling’s wings flared briefly in his anger. Pulling out his scythe, Pharynx let out a battle cry as he charged towards the Strongindavers.

“Doctor, you go on ahead, find that control room. Me, I’ve got some frustration I need to take out on these bunch…” Pharynx growled. One of the Strongindavers charged towards him, swinging his cudgel in an attempt to cave the Changeling’s skull in, but Pharynx lunged forwards and grabbed him with his antlers before lifting the monster up to the ceiling.

“Quick question. Any of you assholes know how we used to fight before we metaphorized?” Pharnyx asked, in a rhetorical tone. “No, none of you? Okay, here’s your answer.”

With that, he slammed the Strongindaver into the ground once, and then lifted him up before smashing him into the floor once again in a quick, brutal fashion. “Now, if you were smart…” Pharnyx remarked. “You guys would just run along home.”

The Strongindavers just ran towards Pharynx, like a herd of stampeding bulls, but he just vaulted over all of them and swung his scythe, sending a red and black shockwave towards them all, which struck most of their backs.

“Guess not. I have a need to vent anyways, and I suppose you’ll have to do.” Pharynx muttered.

His strike, it didn’t take them out, but it was clear it did some damage. That much was clear. The beasts stumbled and staggered around as Pharynx twirled his scythe and made a taunting motion with his free hand.

The Strongindavers did exactly as the Changeling warrior expected, and charged once more. Pharynx inserted the Scutum Kyutama into his gauntlet and projected a cyan hard-light energy shield that all three remaining Strongindavers slammed right into. Pharynx then switched that out for the Cancer Kyutama, and a crab’s arm and pincher erupted from his back, and grabbed one of the Strongindavers, who was picking himself up off the floor and threw him into a wall.

“Eat it, ya freaks!” Pharynx fist-pumped and readied his scythe again for the next Strongindaver. “Now, who else wants a taste of the new-and-improved Pharynx?!”

The Strongindavers shared a look, and just charged at him. Clearly, while they had great physical strength, their intelligence left a lot to be desired.

Pharynx cut one down with a swing from his scythe blade and flipped over the second before grabbing him and spinning him around before he swung once more and slashed the Strongindaver across the chest taking him out.

“Anyone else?” he asked casually as if this entire thing had just been a stroll through the park for him. When nobody else appeared to challenge him, he shrugged. “Guess not. Now to find the Doctor…” he thought before running off down another hallway. That had been incredibly therapeutic.

Meanwhile, the Doctor had found the central control room for the weapons systems of this ship. While he knew perfectly well he wouldn’t be able to disable every weapons system in time before the camouflage on the Chameleon Voyager ran out, he could at least disable the two large cannons currently pointed at Equus.

Currently, he was standing on a catwalk lit up by various purple lights that lined either side, and in the center of the room was a very large rotating orb that fired out various electricity bolts from time to time. The catwalk, I should point out, was the only thing keeping the Doctor from falling into the abyss below him.

“Geez, does nobody ever read “Ship-Building Safety 101 anymore?” the Doctor wondered aloud, shaking his head. “...Right, Pyxis Kyutama. Never fails to locate anything. Though I must admit, an actual instruction manual for disabling this thing might have been nice…”

He pulled out his personal weapon, a crossbow-like tool and aimed it at the energy core. “Good idea, or bad idea?” he asked himself before sighing and lowering it. “Oh, who am I kidding, it’s a terrible idea. Just another in a long list of terrible ideas by yours truly…” he muttered in distaste, thinking back to a certain Moment in time.

He was distracted from his internal musings when he heard the sound of feet pounding up against the metal catwalk from behind. Whirling around, he pointed his energy crossbow at the threat, only to find it was just Pharynx.

“Oh, it’s just you,” he sighed in relief, nothing the Changeling now covered in a green substance that could only have been Strongindaver blood. Frowning in distaste for the lives lost, the Doctor spoke “...And I see you managed to deal with your little problem. Surprised you’re not morphed though. I mean, I would have expected you to be a Paladin if only for your sheer nerve. I mean, it’s not everyone who steals a ship with barely any supplies on board and hopes to disable a piece of technology they know nothing about!”

If the Doctor was talking about Pharynx or himself, it wasn’t clear.

“Don’t, just don’t…” Pharynx muttered bitterly, looking directly at the Doctor’s morphed form. If you listened closely, you could detect a hint of jealousy in his voice.

“What?” the Doctor asked, lifting his arms. “You were able to transform too y’know.”

“That’s just it… I can’t. All because this,” Pharynx snapped, holding up the Skill version of the Chameleon Kyutama. “Is nothing like those damned, bucking Legend Kyutamas!” he bellowed. “Oh sure, I get the special abilities and all that crap but I’m far from being able to morph like you or the other Paladins can. All because I wasn’t chosen, all because I wasn’t ‘special’ enough!” he shouted, his voice breaking half-way through.

“Is… that was this is about?” the Doctor slowly raised his hand, reaching out for Pharynx.

“Maybe, maybe not! I sure as Hell don’t know!” Pharynx bellowed. “All I know is, because I was never chosen, or even considered all because I wasn’t woken up in time, I never got my chance to be like you, Flashfire or any of the other Paladins!” he shouted, his voice coming out as a choking sob.

“Calm down,” Twilight’s voice came from their radios. “You got rid of those Strongindavers, and that’s all that matters for now. We can sort out the rest, including Pharnyx and his transformation deficiencies later.”

“Transformation deficiencies…” Pharynx muttered. “You make it sound so trivial, Princess. You know that right?”

“Right... Sorry.” Twilight replied.

“Sorry, sorry for what?” Pharynx questioned.

“I’m just sorry for you not getting a Kyutama. You deserve one, and why you weren’t woken up from your cryosleep earlier is beyond me. Because trust me, if anyone deserves to be a Paladin it’s you Pharynx.” Twilight said softly.

“Yeah, well words won’t fix my current situation…” Pharynx grumbled. It was clear he was touched by the words of the AI, although he definitely wouldn’t show it. He was one of those types that wore his stronger emotions on his sleeve. Anger and sadness, he found it easier to show that rather than something like kindness or joy in general. He’d spent so many years closely guarding his emotions, it was simply just hard for him to show those kinds of things in public.

“Hardly the big three, two, one showtime welcome back debut I wanted, really…” Pharynx muttered. “I know, uncharacteristic of me yes, but… but just once I wanted to be seen as something else, a hero maybe than Thorax’s grumpy big brother.”

“Oh Pharynx…” the Twilight-AI whispered to herself. Searching her memory banks, she did remember that despite being the older of the two, Pharynx was hardly, if ever acknowledged for his deeds. He was hardly a king who led the Changeling race to a new age, he was just a simple warrior. If she remembered correctly, and she did, the only creatures who really showed appreciation for Pharynx and what he could do aside from his brother and maybe his hive was Twilight herself, and that was only after the warrior helped lead them (As in Twilight herself along with Thorax) to safety through the Chaos Lands.

“Underappreciated, maybe a bit feared?” the Doctor asked softly. “Yeah, I know what that’s like.”

“How would you?” Pharynx asked sharply, eyeing the Doctor, with the smaller man shrinking a little under Pharynx’s frankly rather intimidating gaze. “How would you know? HOW WOULD YOU KNOW?” Pharynx boomed, and the Doctor took a step backwards, a little nervous of the angry Changeling. “How in the everlasting CHRYSALIS, would you EVER have known about any of my issues and inability to transform like you can?!” He howled, stamping the ground vigorously. The catwalk below them shook a little, and the Doctor looked rather nervous it might give way.

“Pharynx!” Twilight barked in warning, and the Changeling took a few deep breaths, attempting to calm himself.

“Well, maybe not the inability to transform bit, but feared? Yeah, I know a thing or two about that. I’m called the Oncoming Storm, the Predator by more than a few, hated by a few galaxies just because of what ruin I leave in my wake…” the Doctor whispered.

“This power of mine… Compared to yours, it makes me look like some kind of mutated monstrosity.” He shivered, feeling the back of his spine where that claw had burst out. Wasn’t there now, but... “If you are some kind of space-faring monster hunter disguised as a pacifist, then I must seem like another target to you, huh?”

“Well, a monster hunter might be stretching it a just a teensy bit, as I just go where I’m needed, even if I don’t know it at the time,” the Doctor replied. “If you ask me, you’re hardly a monster. I mean, out of all my years of living, you actually have to be one of the most fascinating creatures I’ve run across. I mean, a Changeling. That would imply…”

“Fascinating?” Pharynx blinked on the spot. “Those are… odd words, coming from you.”

“Trust me, I’ve seen just about everything in this universe you can possibly imagine. Bad gods, mad gods, demigod and every horror you could think up, some of which would drive you mad on the spot but you? You’re something else. I did a bit of research on Equus’s species, and I have to say the Changelings have to be some of the most interesting of the lot! I mean, you can change yourself into anything you want for Rassilon's sake!”

“Yeah, but not all of us are friendly creatures. Just ask some of the other drones in my hive.” Pharynx slumped down and laid his arms on the ground. “Then there’s the queen, Chrysalis. Ever heard of a tyrant queen? One who wants to keep conquering and conquering until there’s nothing left, just to keep her lings alive? Oh sure, she’s long dead by now, but the memory still remains in ponies minds. I can imagine, even thousands of years on, long after the sun and moon are gone, they still remember her from ancient texts. And I served her, loyally,” Pharynx sighed before chuckling bitterly. “Look at me, sniveling like a little larva. Hardly the mighty, fearsome warrior my brother remembered me as.”

“You have a brother?” the Doctor tipped his hand.

“Yeah. Well, I did anyways. He went by the name of Thorax. He’s, like, the complete opposite of me,” Pharynx nodded. “All sappy and ooey-gooey about love being shared instead of taken. Not to mention all the changes he made to the hive ever since he became the king. Feelings forums for crying out loud, and flowers! Made me sick to my stomach when I saw what my hive had become. We were warriors, we just took what we wanted, and what my brother was turning my race into? Oh sure, worked out in the long run and built alliances but…”

“That sounds awfully familiar…” the Doctor put his hand to his chin, thinking back to the time when he met with the Zygons, and tried to integrate them with a foreign race. It worked, for a time, until one branch decided to try and go back to their old warrior ways. In the end, it took a plea to stop things from going completely out of control. “Ah. Ah, right. And when this war is over, when you have a homeland free from humans, what do you think it's going to be like? Do you know? Have you thought about it? Have you given it any consideration? Because you're very close to getting what you want! What's it going to be like? Paint me a picture. Are you going to live in houses? Do you want people to go to work? Will there be holidays? Oh! Will there be music? Do you think people will be allowed to play the violin? Who's going to make the violins? Well? Oh, you don't actually know, do you? Because, like every tantruming child in history, Bonnie, you don't actually know what you want! So let me ask you a question about this brave new world of yours. When you've killed all the bad guys and when it's all perfect and just and fair, when you have finally got it exactly the way you want it, what are you going to do with the people like you? The troublemakers? How are you going to protect your glorious revolution… from the next one? Maybe you will win! But nobody wins for long. The wheel just keeps turning. So come on. Break the cycle.” the Doctor repeated, word for word. “That’s what your brother did, right? Break the cycle your previous queen started, didn’t he?” he asked, and Pharynx nodded.

“But now, we don’t have a king or a queen. The changelings pretty much scattered all over the place, trying to find somewhere to live. Wouldn’t be surprised if the old hive’s been completely collapsed now that we’ve left.” He sighed and turned his back to the Doctor. “Where do you go when you lose absolutely everything? Your monarch? Your family? Your home?”

“I know how you feel, Pharynx. My home planet, Gallifrey is no more too, I’m afraid,” He shuddered, thinking back to the fall of said planet as he walked back up to Pharynx and stroked his back. “I’ve been in the exact same position as you. Time Lords perished, then Gallifrey followed. There was a war, and we all lost. Don’t know where I’m going next after all of this. I’m not sure why this Kyutama,” the Doctor continued, holding up his Libra Kyutama as he spoke. “Chose me, out of the blue, but it did. Maybe it has faith in me, I don’t know. Maybe it wants me to free the universe from Dark Matter’s tyranny.”

“Wait, choose you? How can a Kyutama ‘choose’ you?” Pharynx asked, eyebrow raised.

“I don’t know, but there’s a legend. “When the universe falls into evil clutches and its people shed tears, the Kyutama will choose nine saviors, the Kyurangers, who will save the universe.” Yes, that’s how it goes…”

“Aww, so sweet,” Lupus’ distinctive voice said and both Pharynx and the Doctor whirled around to see him walking towards him sword drawn. “Sadly, no universe-saving from either you. In fact, neither of you are making this off this ship. I’ve got to give you props from the sheer nerve, from getting this far, sneaking aboard thinking you can turn off my cannons and destroying the cities below but… As they say, close but no banana.”

Pharynx swore to himself, he’d forgotten they were on a time limit here. Cracking his knuckles, the Changeling grinned. “Ah, so you’re the boss of this operation? Well, pleased to say I’m shutting it down. No, me and the Doctor are shutting it down.”

As the Doctor set to work on turning off the cannons, Pharynx let out a roar, his fist drawn back and punched Lupus across the jaw. Normally, it would have fractured the jaw with how powerful his punches were, but Lupus just shrugged it off and punched him directly in the muzzle busting his nose and drawing blood, grabbing his next strike and delivering a left hook.

“Oh, you really are a brave one aren’t you?” Lupus sneered. “Remind me of that Coldcast griffon, and yes, I remember the names of all my enemies. At least, the ones who are able to stand against me. You, well let’s see if you can mimic him. He was morphed, you sadly are not.”

“Coldcast? Y’mean that runt with the Wolf Voyager? Gotta say you can’t be all that tough if he beat you…” Pharynx just delivered a powerful kick to Lupus’s chest, staggering him backwards. He took the opportunity to run back to Lupus’s face, grab it, and throw him over his head and onto the ground, only for him to be swept off his feet as Lupus got back on his.

“Cocky little bastard, aren’t you?” Lupus remarked, wiping away the blood from his mouth. “But you’ll know your place fairly soon.” He lunged his claws at Pharynx’s neck, only for him to be grabbed and thrown to the side, as Pharynx leaped back up and stamped on his belly.

“You were saying?” Pharynx asked with a smirk. “You were going to make a remark about me being this little whelp or something?”

“You are.” Lupus threw himself into Pharynx, knocking him onto his back. He then laid himself on top of Pharynx, weighing him down and holding his arms and legs before delivering a strong headbutt to Pharynx’s head. “You just refuse to accept your frailty.”

“Frailty?” Pharynx asked, turning into a massive cross between a spider and an insect in a flash of green flame, and using one of his legs to send Lupus smashing into a wall on the other side of the room. “Never heard of it,” he said, as he resumed his original bipedal form.

“A polymorph, eh? This should be interesting.” Lupus grinned and cracked his claws. Meeting his foe again, he reached behind himself and attached metal claws to himself, grinding them together and watching the sparks tumble down onto the bridge. “Hopefully you’ll put up more of a fight than that Paladin. And, just to make things more interesting…”

Lupus flicked his wrist, and a black and purple version of the Kyuchanger appeared on it.

Lupus inserted the Pegasus Kyutama into it, and a form of armor appeared on his body with a silver flash of light.

The Doctor, looking up from the control console he was hacking into, saw this and his eyes widened. “No, it couldn’t be. Could it?”

From the flash of dark energy, a suit similar in design to the Doctor’s appeared, but there was a pair of black wings stretching out from the chest, which had a horse’s head sprout out from it.

The Doctor’s eyes widened under his visor. “Lupus! That’s the armor of the Pegasus System! I can’t believe… No, I can. You bastardized it for your own use.”

“More like improved it. Such a poor, poor thing it was, underwhelming in the hands of the people who held it.” Lupus chuckled to himself, taking up a combat stance as a weapon appeared in his hands. “They stayed their hands, I will not.”

“It? He happens to be a living thing, just like you and me, and you shut off his mind!” the Doctor snarled. “Pharynx, you need to get out of here, now! You can’t stop him, not when he’s wearing that armor! At least not alone!”

Even as Lupus rushed forwards in a blur of speed, Pharynx didn’t even waver. “I’m a warrior Doctor, and a warrior never runs from a battle. Maybe I should, but you, you have to take those cannons offline. I’m just buying you a little time, that’s all… Oh, and Doctor, it’s been an honor.”

With that, he was sent smashing through several walls, and out into the blackness of space in almost an instant. Lupus laughed, even as he saw Pharynx’s body began to freeze over.

“Well, I guess you weren’t such a challenge after all. And here I was expecting more from someone who managed to fight me hand to hand… Ah well, wishful thinking I suppose…” Lupus mused.

Pharynx, even as he felt his body begin to freeze up, little by little with the ice slowly creeping up to his face to meet him, and his breathing began to slow swore he saw the Skill version of the Chameleon Kyutama began to glow a sharp silver. He thought it must have been a hallucination from the lack of oxygen, but he swore he saw a ghostly silver snake began to appear in front of him.

“So… This is what fate delivered me to, eh?” The snake-like entity slithered and approached Pharynx. “You are in real danger, I sense. There is no mistaking it.”

“Yeah, well considering I’m about to die from lack of oxygen and I’m probably talking to a hallucination caused by it…” Pharynx deadpanned, defiant to the last.

“You are not going to die. The spirits of the stars will not allow it, so long as you and your kind have a purpose.” The snake-deity touched his chest. “If anything, this Lupus is overstepping himself, and upsetting the divine course which we have mapped out. So, what is your greatest desire?”

“W-What do you think?” Pharynx coughed out. “If you’re watching all of us, then you know what I want. To become a Ranger, a Paladin just like everyone else.”

“Ah. Aligning yourself with the forces of good. A wise choice, young one,” the ghost said. “And just what we need at a time when evil is tipping the scales beyond repair.” It tapped his heart, causing a brief glimpse of light to appear. “But you had better hurry. Your Doctor friend is about to meet Lupus’s claws, and no doubt he will continue to hound the rest of the Paladins as well.”

“Believe me, Lupus is going to get what’s coming to him, and then some.” Pharynx snarled, as the spirit of the Ophiuchus constellation coiled around him, before vanishing into a now completed Ophiuchus Legend Kyutama as Pharynx’s body began to glow a sharp silver.

“Say the Change!” his gauntlet proclaimed, and with a trembling hand Pharynx pressed down on his Kyutama and set it in the device.

“Star Change, Ophiuchus!”

Author's Notes:

Okay, last chapter of the month. Now, I figured because of that it needed not only to be humorful and witty but emotionally charged as well. Now, one might think the Doctor alone could pull this off, and maybe he could have but I wanted a lot of the focus on Pharynx as well. Hard to do, write this character who's more than this snarky, grumpy Changeling warrior. So, huge props to my co-writer for the chapter, Shadowmane PX-41. Now, not sure if that came at the cost of the Doctor's focus, so I need your thoughts on that.

Now, for the Ophiuchus spirit summoning scene, I was trying to write it like Shenlong, but Shadow had other ideas. I quote: "I'm trying to write him like Mal'damba in voice." He's from a game called Paladins, apparently. I quote, again. "His snake, Wekono, spits poison at his enemies. Then, when he reloads, he quite literally THROWS THE SNAKE at them, and stuns them if he hits.

And the funny thing is, he's classified as a HEALER.

Yeah. His other moves are a gourd that heals allies and damages/slows enemies, a healing gaze that's hard to aim but heals well if you hit it, and a dash where he can take zero damage for the duration.

As for his Ulitmate, he throws an orb that becomes a massive hallucination of Wekono, that makes enemies get the Feared debuff, where they can't attack or use any abilities, and they can't even control where they move. It's great for flushing players out and getting the jump on them."