The Ultimate Lifeform

Chapter 12: Fear & Depression

Back in the Space Fox Society, Jared's hands clasped each other tightly as he paced the floor of his room. His heart was clenched with worry over the one he had been taking care of for seven years.

"Mephiles ... you just have to be okay," said Jared.

"Please try to calm down, Jared. I'm sure Mephiles is okay," said Jerry.

"I can't Jerry! I can't calm down not knowing if Mephiles is okay or not! I don't know how you can be so calm! Mephiles could be hurt, lost, or . . . or-"

"Don't say that! I'm calm because I believe in him. And I believe the time was right."

"What do you mean?"

"I mean, you can't be there for him forever. He needs to learn how to take care of himself, that we're not always going to be there for him."

"You're right. I just hope he isn't in trouble."

Meanwhile, it was early in the morning when Tod arrived at the warehouse again. He was in charge of helping to care for the animals at all hours; this included feeding them breakfast and making sure they were okay. Of course, the first cell he visited was the one whom he had spent a good portion of the night with. He peered into his cell and gasped. Mephiles was still leaning against the corner Tod had left him leaning against last night. However, his face seemed extremely troubled. His heart broke for him and he immediately felt like hugging him. He was now more than ever determined to pay him another visit in the night, but then he was called into his aunt's office.

"You wanted to see me, aunt Scarlett?" Tod asked as he walked into the office.

"Yes. Please, take a seat. I wanna know what were the results from the blood tests I gave you of specimen ID #235-1," said Scarlett.

"Well, I found three different breeds of fox within him. I guess that explains the white paws and black tipped tail."

"Interesting. Very interesting. Tod, do you remember my ex-boyfriend Jared?"

"Of course I do. He and I were such good friends."

"Yeah, well, specimen ID #235-1 actually belongs to him."

"You mean, that was the project you were working on with him?"

"Yes. But when I wanted to experiment on it he broke up with me and fired me. And now that it's here, this is my chance to finally experiment on it, but differently than what I originally planned."

"Oh. I'm sorry to hear that, but you're not going to kill it are you?"

"No. Well, not yet anyway. But what I plan to do to it is none of your concern. You may go now."

Tod left his aunt's office but was wondering what she planned to do with the odd looking fox.

Later in the afternoon, Scarlett had some guards bring Mephiles to a pool where she'd been waiting for him. But when they did, Mephiles bit another human's wrist and he was bleeding all the way to the pool. Scarlett saw this and remembered the first person he bit and thought she would have to get Mephiles to behave. Once there, Mephiles didn't know what was going on and when he saw Scarlett, he already did not like her. Scarlett explained to him that they'll be seeing how well he could swim as an experiment. Mephiles didn't mind at all and when they signaled him to start he jumped into the pool and began swimming laps. He even went underwater and held his breath for a few minutes. When Mephiles climbed out of the pool, Scarlett told him to swim again.

They had him do this for hours that he was starting to get tired and he almost drowned a few times. Finally, they had him stop and took him back to his cell. He was so exhausted that he just wanted to lay there and sleep for a bit, but the sound of the panel coming up woke him and he really didn't feel like drinking the water. But he did take a look at his food and it was fish this time. And like the rabbit chunks, he gave it a small lick and didn't like the taste of it at all.

It was finally nighttime and the facility closed down. Tod came in like he did last night and tried to see if he could get Mephiles to trust him again. He also brought food with him again and this time it was some cut up pieces of banana. Mephiles had his back turned and was facing the glass again. And like the bread from last night, he gave it a small lick, didn't like the taste of it, and just pushed it aside. Seeing him not eating the banana made Tod worry about him. He tried talking to him again but still no response. Once it got late, Tod left and promised to visit him again the next night.

After Tod left, Mephiles felt the sensation of sadness that tears began to fill up in his eyes. He has never felt this sad before. He's been there for about three days now and Jared still hasn't come to get him. He started using his fire powers to draw lines on the wall to count how long he's been kept there.

For the last few days, Scarlett had him swim again, but had him swim with different amounts of weight each time. And when they had him come back to swim again, he felt the sensation of fear. He was now afraid of water and his love for it was now gone. Seeing Mephiles scared of the water, Scarlett pushed him in and he ended up drowning since he was so tired from the last few times he had to swim. Of course, Scarlett did have someone go down and get him and they had to revive him and they put him back in his cell. And during those last few days, his meals weren't getting any better either. They tried feeding him different variations of fruits and vegetables and mice, but he still wouldn't eat any of it. Even when Tod came in to visit him he wouldn't eat the food he offered. It has been six days now and Mephiles was starting to get worried. He hoped that Jared would come for him soon before things start to get worse.