Azguardia Planetia Collective
The rather straight-backed Azguard looked at the couple in front of him and the little bundle of ugliness they deemed to call their child.
Truth be told, all Azguard babies looked ugly. It was a fact of life. It was not till their second Tri-year that the Duality manifested itself for formal indoctrination within Azguard society.
The Duality, as they called their split personalities, tended to somehow stimulate aesthetic biological activity giving Azguards such eye-catching features as a lusterous and radiant scaley hide, rich looking mane (a rare feature to be sure) and smooth claws.
One could tell alot about another Azguard by looking at his or her claws.
The Azguard Representative of the Collective looked at the claws of the couple in front of him and immediately knew they were followers of the Unity of Belief group that seemed to be spreading invasively along the Planetia coastline.
He knew something had to be done or an upset in the Balance of the Gods would not be far behind. He shuddered at that thought for the only upset to the Balance happened many many years ago when the imbalance caused a war among the Gods themselves.
"I am sorry but your baby will not live beyond the third season." he said, with all the cool and calm he could muster from the Duality.
He saw that the couple in front of him could not maintain the typical forms of etiquette within Duality but that was no real surprise. If they switched to the unemotional side, they would lose all empathy for their bundle of ugliness which they did not want to do... but if they remained in their present state, hysterical panic might creep into their talk.
There was never a middle ground with Azguard emotionalism.
"We can run several programs on your tubes to see if we may prevent another occurance from happening again." he offered helpfully and that was the needed push for the couple to switch personalities.
"Can there be a guarantee that our next child will live?" one asked.
"That depends on the results of the test.." the Representative replied.
With that, the ugly baby was plucked from the hands of the couple and was taken to a holding pen.
The Representative was very concerned that some outside force was influencing birth defects within the province, a thing unheard of since before the Days of Discord.
An aide came and carried the baby away, the unfamiliarity of the aide surprisingly not causing the baby to wail in panic, something for which the representative was grateful. The other two babies had given such a cry the ceiling glass grids cracked under the ultrasonic pressure.
The aide came to a dark room and placed in a box with two other moving bundles.
"You truly are ugly.." the aide said with affection. "Uglier than my own baby pictures..." and off she went happily remembering some lost point in time from her past.
The baby squrimed and sat up, his rather large head making the movements rather funny to watch (if one was).
He blinked his little soft skinlids twice as his eyes began to adjust to the surroundings and the baby felt the presence of the others.
"Goo.." one said.
"Tooo.." the other said.
The baby flopped down, his head just too heavy for his little body.
"Goo.." the one said again.
"Boo.." the other said.
The baby coughed.
"ack.."
*
17 Cycles Later...
Azguard Special Services Collective: Planetia
The teacher looked at the trio huddled together while walking several educational students through the Learning Center. "That's the way they have been, since their Birthing Days. The little one is already living on borrowed time.."
"What is their overall prognosis?" a student asked.
"They were born with certain defects limiting or, with the little one, outright denying their ability to achieve Duality.
"ohhhhhh.." several students whispered and eyed the trio as if they had the plague.
"That's why they are still ugly then?" one asked.
"Of course. There is not such thing as an ugly Azguard unless you are a baby or mentally challenged." and they walked on.
*
When they had left, a young Azguard of medium size, with a paunch belly looked up and scowled. "Azzy's gone." he whispered. He looked angry. He always looked angry. Even when he was happy. He was "Tweek".
"Quack" came a reply from the midget Azguard as he drew furiously on his pad of paper. The tiniest of the crew, his vocabulary was not as advanced as the other two but he still had no trouble getting his point across. His oversized head seemed ready to fall off of his midget body but he stubbornly kept it on. He always looked happy.. even when he was mad.
He was "Squeek".
Then there was the very skinny, very tall companion who was always hungry. Beeker was his name and he snorted, "I could go for fish.."
And together, they made up Azguard's last line of defence.
Or so they had come to believe. Ever since they had pooled their collective intelligence together, they'd been able to figure out "stuff". It was a knack they had no idea how they possessed but it was one they would use to help their people.
About as hard as finding Lizzy Greentooth's missing glass eye, they began to figure out that they were not ordinary Azguards. No.
They were a part of a secret organization run by the "Teacher".
It was almost too good a cover for they found themselves watched at almost every turn. They had to be sneaky, they had to be quiet.. they had to act like Special Service Agents.
The Azguard Special Services program had accepted them, or so they thought though they didn't remember their recruitment. Why else would they be living in the Azguard Special Services building? Yes, they were on their way to adventures and special assignments to do their bit for God or Gods, Regrad and Azguardia.
They'd seen the holocams and had memorized every aspect of High Commander Regrad. Now there was an Azguard who was by no means ugly. Tweek, Squeek and Beeker all hoped they looked like Regrad when they had half as many accomplishments under their tiny belt loops as the High Commander did.
But how to get his attention?
One thing they had not figured out as part of the Azguard Special Services was how to contact their superior.
"Perhaps we need a plan?" Beeker said munching on jelly rolls.
"We don't know where Regrad is.." Tweek hissed, from his the top bunk.
"Quack.." Squeek said, muffled since he was under the bed.
"Quiet Squeeks! Azzy's gonna make you go back to the smelly room!" Beeker whispered through jelly stained teeth.
"Squeek's got a point." Tweek said cautiously.
"What good is finding Regrad if we don't know what we'll say to him.."
"Quack.. quack.." a whisper came from under Beeker's bottom bunk.
"What do you have, Squeek?" Tweek asked as he slipped off the top bunk nearly stepping on Beeker's Jelly packets.
Squeek slipped out from under the bed and Beeker pulled him up. The midget Azguard slapped down a piece of paper on Beeker's jelly rolls.
"Hey!" Beeker said indignantly.
"Quiet!" Tweek slapped Beeker on the back of his head. They both looked at Squeek's drawing.
"We need bonafides.."
"quack...quack..quack.." Squeek said looking around suspiciously.
"True." Beeker said licking his fingers using his claw to clean the gaps in his teeth. "With bonafides, we can present them with a plan."
"I've got it!" Tweek whispered loudly, causing Beeker to smack him upside the head. "We present our bonafides and then hint at a plan to destroy the Empire."
"What's the Empire?" Beeker said.
"Quack?" Squeek said.
"I don't watch the news during lunch. I eat during lunch." Beeker protested.
"The Empire is a bad planet that seems to be evil and everybody hates."
"What did they do?"
"I don't know.. but it must be evil."
"If Regrad hates them then I hate them.." Tweek said and Beeker nodded in assent.
"Quack."
They all three looked at the drawing and smiled.
Each dreaming their own little dream...
illustrated by Squeek
Thus began the adventures of an unknown organization within the society of Azguard: A.S.S.
TBC...
The rather straight-backed Azguard looked at the couple in front of him and the little bundle of ugliness they deemed to call their child.
Truth be told, all Azguard babies looked ugly. It was a fact of life. It was not till their second Tri-year that the Duality manifested itself for formal indoctrination within Azguard society.
The Duality, as they called their split personalities, tended to somehow stimulate aesthetic biological activity giving Azguards such eye-catching features as a lusterous and radiant scaley hide, rich looking mane (a rare feature to be sure) and smooth claws.
One could tell alot about another Azguard by looking at his or her claws.
The Azguard Representative of the Collective looked at the claws of the couple in front of him and immediately knew they were followers of the Unity of Belief group that seemed to be spreading invasively along the Planetia coastline.
He knew something had to be done or an upset in the Balance of the Gods would not be far behind. He shuddered at that thought for the only upset to the Balance happened many many years ago when the imbalance caused a war among the Gods themselves.
"I am sorry but your baby will not live beyond the third season." he said, with all the cool and calm he could muster from the Duality.
He saw that the couple in front of him could not maintain the typical forms of etiquette within Duality but that was no real surprise. If they switched to the unemotional side, they would lose all empathy for their bundle of ugliness which they did not want to do... but if they remained in their present state, hysterical panic might creep into their talk.
There was never a middle ground with Azguard emotionalism.
"We can run several programs on your tubes to see if we may prevent another occurance from happening again." he offered helpfully and that was the needed push for the couple to switch personalities.
"Can there be a guarantee that our next child will live?" one asked.
"That depends on the results of the test.." the Representative replied.
With that, the ugly baby was plucked from the hands of the couple and was taken to a holding pen.
The Representative was very concerned that some outside force was influencing birth defects within the province, a thing unheard of since before the Days of Discord.
An aide came and carried the baby away, the unfamiliarity of the aide surprisingly not causing the baby to wail in panic, something for which the representative was grateful. The other two babies had given such a cry the ceiling glass grids cracked under the ultrasonic pressure.
The aide came to a dark room and placed in a box with two other moving bundles.
"You truly are ugly.." the aide said with affection. "Uglier than my own baby pictures..." and off she went happily remembering some lost point in time from her past.
The baby squrimed and sat up, his rather large head making the movements rather funny to watch (if one was).
He blinked his little soft skinlids twice as his eyes began to adjust to the surroundings and the baby felt the presence of the others.
"Goo.." one said.
"Tooo.." the other said.
The baby flopped down, his head just too heavy for his little body.
"Goo.." the one said again.
"Boo.." the other said.
The baby coughed.
"ack.."
*
17 Cycles Later...
Azguard Special Services Collective: Planetia
The teacher looked at the trio huddled together while walking several educational students through the Learning Center. "That's the way they have been, since their Birthing Days. The little one is already living on borrowed time.."
"What is their overall prognosis?" a student asked.
"They were born with certain defects limiting or, with the little one, outright denying their ability to achieve Duality.
"ohhhhhh.." several students whispered and eyed the trio as if they had the plague.
"That's why they are still ugly then?" one asked.
"Of course. There is not such thing as an ugly Azguard unless you are a baby or mentally challenged." and they walked on.
*
When they had left, a young Azguard of medium size, with a paunch belly looked up and scowled. "Azzy's gone." he whispered. He looked angry. He always looked angry. Even when he was happy. He was "Tweek".
"Quack" came a reply from the midget Azguard as he drew furiously on his pad of paper. The tiniest of the crew, his vocabulary was not as advanced as the other two but he still had no trouble getting his point across. His oversized head seemed ready to fall off of his midget body but he stubbornly kept it on. He always looked happy.. even when he was mad.
He was "Squeek".
Then there was the very skinny, very tall companion who was always hungry. Beeker was his name and he snorted, "I could go for fish.."
And together, they made up Azguard's last line of defence.
Or so they had come to believe. Ever since they had pooled their collective intelligence together, they'd been able to figure out "stuff". It was a knack they had no idea how they possessed but it was one they would use to help their people.
About as hard as finding Lizzy Greentooth's missing glass eye, they began to figure out that they were not ordinary Azguards. No.
They were a part of a secret organization run by the "Teacher".
It was almost too good a cover for they found themselves watched at almost every turn. They had to be sneaky, they had to be quiet.. they had to act like Special Service Agents.
The Azguard Special Services program had accepted them, or so they thought though they didn't remember their recruitment. Why else would they be living in the Azguard Special Services building? Yes, they were on their way to adventures and special assignments to do their bit for God or Gods, Regrad and Azguardia.
They'd seen the holocams and had memorized every aspect of High Commander Regrad. Now there was an Azguard who was by no means ugly. Tweek, Squeek and Beeker all hoped they looked like Regrad when they had half as many accomplishments under their tiny belt loops as the High Commander did.
But how to get his attention?
One thing they had not figured out as part of the Azguard Special Services was how to contact their superior.
"Perhaps we need a plan?" Beeker said munching on jelly rolls.
"We don't know where Regrad is.." Tweek hissed, from his the top bunk.
"Quack.." Squeek said, muffled since he was under the bed.
"Quiet Squeeks! Azzy's gonna make you go back to the smelly room!" Beeker whispered through jelly stained teeth.
"Squeek's got a point." Tweek said cautiously.
"What good is finding Regrad if we don't know what we'll say to him.."
"Quack.. quack.." a whisper came from under Beeker's bottom bunk.
"What do you have, Squeek?" Tweek asked as he slipped off the top bunk nearly stepping on Beeker's Jelly packets.
Squeek slipped out from under the bed and Beeker pulled him up. The midget Azguard slapped down a piece of paper on Beeker's jelly rolls.
"Hey!" Beeker said indignantly.
"Quiet!" Tweek slapped Beeker on the back of his head. They both looked at Squeek's drawing.
"We need bonafides.."
"quack...quack..quack.." Squeek said looking around suspiciously.
"True." Beeker said licking his fingers using his claw to clean the gaps in his teeth. "With bonafides, we can present them with a plan."
"I've got it!" Tweek whispered loudly, causing Beeker to smack him upside the head. "We present our bonafides and then hint at a plan to destroy the Empire."
"What's the Empire?" Beeker said.
"Quack?" Squeek said.
"I don't watch the news during lunch. I eat during lunch." Beeker protested.
"The Empire is a bad planet that seems to be evil and everybody hates."
"What did they do?"
"I don't know.. but it must be evil."
"If Regrad hates them then I hate them.." Tweek said and Beeker nodded in assent.
"Quack."
They all three looked at the drawing and smiled.
Each dreaming their own little dream...
illustrated by Squeek
Thus began the adventures of an unknown organization within the society of Azguard: A.S.S.
TBC...
