Ty fired a shot from his plasma rifle as whistles blow all around him. He lower his rifle and wiped his gray hair of sweat as he looked at the steel target right in front of him with his bright green eyes. The plasma hits dead center at the target from 200 meters. He gave a foxy grinned as he pulled out his pocket watch and looked at the time.

“15 minuten before the eleventh stunde,” Ty muttered to himself. Ty then stared at the orange sky above him. “It’s time.”

He walked out through the door and saw his sister, Emily, throwing knifes at a target. She had just thrown her third knife just below the center target when she saw her brother, with her rose colored eyes, walking towards her.

“I’m guessing it’s time,” Emily said as she threw a knife right behind her back towards the target.

“Yes,” Ty confirmed while watching the knife hit dead center in not only the target, but also all three knives.

“Well,” Emily remarked as threw on her cloak and quickly adjusted her blond hair, “I’ll alert KayCee.”

“Just don’t scare her like last time,” Ty cried out as Emily quickly and silently ran out of the room.

“I don’t want to replace those walls again, since she melted the last one,” Ty whispered as he put on a top hat with goggles on it. “I better go to KC now. I sure hope that he got those gliders and jammers ready. If he doesn’t, we’re screwed.”

----4 hours later----

A Hund, an anthro dog, walked through the hallway, with his hands on his flintlock, as he breathed in the smoke from his cigar. He breathed out the smoke when he reached to the door at the other end of the hallway and entered through it.

Inside was a small Otter, staring at a wooden box with straps around it. The Otter leap up and turned around when he heard the door slammed shut.

“Oh. It’s you, Lt. Pleite,” the Otter stammered as he relaxed and sat down.

“Don’t worry, Mr. Plage,” Lt. Pleits said gruffly as he blows out more smoke. “No one can sneak into this air ship without us noticing.”

“Right. Right.” Mr. Plage said as he looked out the window to see an air ship, one of the many surrounding this ship, the K.S. Bismarck.

There were 20 ship in total, not including the K.S. Bismarck. These ships were small, but sleek and fast, though the black soot that pours out of these ships make them easy to notice when one is looking for them. But then, why should anyone look for the ships that made the humans of the Insel nation terrified?

“Anyone who’s came here to get the cargo has got to be crazy and stupid,” Lt. Pleits remarked as he walked to Mr. Plage side. “Unfortunately, the air pirates are often crazy and stupid. Well, except Ty. He’s just crazy.”

“Oh? You mean Ty of the Täuschen Pirates?” Mr. Plage asked.

Lt. Pleite dropped his cigar and stomp on it. “Yes. That guy is clever for a human. For 4 Jahr I chased him and every time I seem to be able to catch him, he always manage to outfox me like a . . . a Fuchs! He and his assassin sister!”

“His sister’s an assassin?” Mr. Plage asked, his eyebrows raised. “I didn’t think those humans has the capabilities of such a skilled art of killings.”

“Yes, they do,” Lt. Pleite confirmed as he pulled out another cigar. “Humans can be . . . adaptive when they need to be.”

“Makes me wonder why the Hell did our ancestors take hundreds of them from their own world secretly and placed them on a few other worlds, including this world, Kolonie,” Mr. Plage remarked as he sat down on his chair.

“Yeah,” Lt. Pleite admitted as he pulled out a lighter from his coat pocket. “Though I have to ask since my superiors never bother to tell me. What is in that cargo that caused us to use this much security? Our Heinkel, while fast and powerful, requires so much fuel to keep on the air.”

The Otter stared at the strapped in cargo and sighed. “Well, it’s an El-”

BOOM![/i]

The room shook as Lt. Pleite dropped his lighter to the ground. “Of all the-”

BOOM! BOOM![/i]

The room, or rather the ship shook more as a Funk message spoke out from Lt. Pleite coat pocket. “Bzzt-The air pirates, Täuschen, are attack-bzzt! I repea-bzzt-the Täuschen pirates a-bzzt-ttacking!”

“I knew it,” Lt. Pleite muttered as he ran out of the room, not even bothering to pick up the lighter.

The small Otter timidly looked out the window and saw what looked like 50 steel gliders flying around the K.S. Bismarck, dropping bombs on her and the Heinkel ships. One took a direct hit, but a blue energy field surrounded it and it came out of the smoke unscratched.

Mr. Plage smiled timidly at the ships, knowing that part of the fuel on those ships powers its magie shields, powerful technomagic invented by their ancestors during the times when all the leute in the universe were united under the Säugetier Republic. While they might not had kept all that was learned and used during those times, they learned and improved many others like these shields. The K.S. Bismarck doesn’t have the shield except its thick armor, though it’s highly doubtful that anyone could get pass the Heinkel nor the miliz who piloted the ships.

Mr. Plage mused on the technomagic helium, known as Äther, that was keeping this ship flying. Äther could not be burned, especially Äther of this quality, and a small bottle can carry 500 pounds in metal. The Äther are also in the Heinkel ships, though much of its fast speed and lifting comes from the three rotors, two on the sides and one in front of it.

The Heinkel ships flew up and fires electrical shots at the gliders, causing several to fall down. Then all of the gliders broke off from attacking and flew away, with the Heinkel ships following after they let the gliders gain some distance. Soon they were like specks in the orange sky.

Mr. Plage sat back down and relaxed as he waited for the Leutnant to return and, soon enough, Lt. Pleite returned with soot covering his clothes. He leaned next to the steel wall as he wiped the sweat off of his furry brow. His piercing blue eyes then gazed at Mr. Plage.

“Well, that was a rough fight,” Lt. Pleite admitted as he picked up his lighter. “But we finally chased off Ty’s radio controlled gliders. Now they’re following them back to its source.”

“Radio controlled?” Mr. Plage remarked, his dark eyes widening. “How can you tell?”

Lt. Pleite gave a harsh laugh. “I know Ty enough that there are only 3 other people in that group. Sure he uses such illusions and trickery like that glider bit to make them bigger than they really are, they are usually produced by that technomage KayCee and tech genius KC.”

“What?” Mr. Plage leaned his head to his side. “I mean, you ju-”

Lt. Pleite handed a picture to Mr. Plage. “Here are the four members of the Täuschen pirates on their heist of the azure sapphire of Senator Jauchzer last year which they left behind after fooling us that they were after the senator own diamond which he wears around his neck. It’s their personal message that they will always outfox us.”

Mr. Plage examined the picture while scratching his furry head. The picture contains four humans, all wearing suits and top hats with goggles and carrying a sign that tells their name. At the left is Ty and right beside him is his sister, Emily, wearing her cloak and holding a few knives. Right next to them were two people that, except for their clothes and gender, looked exactly alike. The male of the pair, KC, was wearing an overall while holding a wrench and remote control. The female, which Mr. Plage realized that her name’s KayCee (thus explaining why her name has the same pronunciation as KC), was wearing a dark robe with a staff that has electrical sparks coming out of its end and a gauntlet.

“That lady KayCee must be a high ranking technomage,” Mr. Plage remarked as he handed the picture back to Lt. Pleite. “Very few people can skillfully use a gauntlet as a means for battle.”

Lt. Pleite nodded. “All are extremely dangerous, especially Ty, who’s the strategist of the four who plans all of these heists and skillfully uses the others talents to bring them to their fullest potential to succeed in his plans.”

Mr. Plage nodded as he looked out of the window. The ships were no longer in sight.

“Hopefully, they will be able find them and bring them to justice,” Lt. Pleite declared as he pulls out his Funk and speak to it. “Have you found them?”

Only static returned his answer.

“Heinkel, this is the K.S. Bismarck. Report!”

Nothing but static returned.

Lt. Pleite lowered his Funk as his eyes widen. “Oh no. . . .”

The lights flickered all around them as Lt. Pleite silently stood still. Mr. Plage shivered as he looked around the room. Then Lt. Pleite kicked a wall.

“Damn it! I should’ve seen this one coming!” Lt. Pleite shouted as he pulled out his flintlock.

“What’s going on?” Mr. Plage demanded as the ship shook around.

“Ty fooled us again! He didn’t returned those gliders when the plan failed. He sent those gliders away so the Heinkel ships won’t be here while his own ship comes and does the real robbery! He also jammed our signals so we can’t call the Heinkel ships back! We’re sitting ducks here!”

---

Ty looked down at the K.S. Bismarck as he lowered his rifle. The end of the rifle was smoking as he grinned, seeing the ship slowly descending to the land below.

“Nice shot!” a brown hair guy next to Ty remarked as Ty rubbed the back of his head.

“Thanks, KC, but you deserved some credit. After all, you created the gliders as a diversion for those Heinkel,” Ty admitted as he grabbed some rope. “And KayCee set up those bombs your gliders dropped to drain the power from that ship. By the way, you can reveal us now, KayCee.”

The brown hair lady nodded and waved her staff. Soon, the shield she was generating faded, revealing a small airship with a couple of rotors spinning at it sides with a steel covered balloon being lifted by Äther. Ty grinned as he strapped the rifle to his back, knowing that the illusion was casted by having the technomagic shield cast a reflection to the sky, making it look like you’re looking at the sky when staring at the ship itself.

“OK,” Ty said as he leaned out and put on his goggles like the others, being held onto the ship by the rope he was holding. “Ready for the fun part?”

“You know I’m always ready, brother,” Emily said besides Ty while holding her own rope, who hadn’t noticed her until now. He turned around and saw her covered in dark gray clothing and even her face and hair was dark gray.

“Heh. She got you good this time,” KC chuckled as he pulled a few levers and grabbed his own rope while strapping a huge gun on his back.

“She’s sneaky like that,” KayCee sighed as she strapped her staff to her back and grabbed a rope.

“Now!” Ty cried.

Soon, the foursome jumped down and slid down to the K.S. Bismarck bridge. Soon, they reached to the upper deck itself, right next to several dead bodies with burnt holes on their bodies. Emily, as soon as her feet touched the floor, looked around and saw several more of the miliz coming out, with guns on hand. But all but one were taken out by a electrical blast coming from KayCee staff.

The lone miliz standing, a Fuchs, shivered as his brown tail with a white tip stay stilled and dropped his gun. Soon the four surrounded him and KC lifted him up as KayCee gripped the Fuchs’s head with her gauntlet hand.

“Where is the cargo you miliz were guarding?” KayCee commanded as blue energy surrounded the gauntlet.

“In the lastage,” the Fuchs slowly said, his eyes empty. “In the main deck.”

“Thank you,” Ty said as KC puts the Fuchs to the ground, unconscious. “OK. We have the map of an airship like this memorized, so we know that it’s several levels below us. Emily, you take the venting shaft and sneak into the room itself. KC, KayCee, and I will take a more direct route.”

“Right,” Emily said and, like a flash, she was gone.

Soon, the three ran off and enters the dark ship, fighting off miliz after miliz, though on occasion they’d encountered a clockwork robot or several of them, which they successfully destroyed each time thanks to KC huge energy gun that leaves them without a chest. Soon, they reached the final hallway, where there were several more clockwork robots and, when KC destroyed the last one, his gun lost power.

“Well, I better improved it when we get back,” KC muttered as he strapped it back to his back.

Soon Ty break opened the door, only to be greeted by five barrels pointing at them.

“Very well done,” Lt. Pleite commented, the cargo and Mr. Plage right behind him with four other miliz beside him. “But all for nothing. Your days of pirating has come to the end and lower your staff or else there will be a fried hole in your head, lady!”

KayCee lowered her staff, the sparks coming from it fading.

“Humans can be so troublesome, though you take the cake,” Lt. Pleite said gruffly. “But it’s over.”

“No,” Ty retorted, gripping his rifle tightly. “It’ll never be over. Not until you miliz and your Republic pay for your own crime.”

“That old story?” Lt. Pleite remarked, taking out his cigar and breathing out smoke. “You humans should’ve obey us. After all, we are the reason why you exist here, away from the less technological and more war-torn world you came from. Hell, there are worlds where you are happy and even live peacefully with our-”

“I’ve read your reports on those world,” Ty snapped back, “and I learned that they have no idea what the Hell happened long ago. Hell, only 5% of our people knows the half truth at best there. Oh? Surprised that I managed to hack into your glorious Republic files?”

“. . . Yes,” Lt. Pleite admitted. He then grinned. “That’s another reason why we should keep you lock up instead of out here and being free.”

“Yeah. But unfortunately for you, that’s not happening today,” Ty said, grinning.

“Wh-”

Cold steel touches the fur on Lt. Pleite back. That was when his eyes looked at the sides and realized the four miliz right next to him are dead. His head turned.

“Don’t make any sudden movement or else you’ll end up with a knife to the back,” the soft voice of Emily whispered to Lt. Pleite’s ear.

Lt. Pleite nodded and dropped his flintlock. He then raised his hand as Ty took the cigar and dropped it to the floor. Ty and KC then went to the startled and tied up Otter, his eyes bulging out as he muffled from the cloth in his mouth.

“I’m sorry, sir,” Mr. Plage cried out when Ty removed the cloth and placed him to the floor. “I honestly didn’t see her come in.”

“That’s my sister, alright,” Ty said as he and KC lifted the cargo. “Silent, invisible, and deadly. Now let’s take what you guys desperately wanted us not to get.”

“Wait! Wait!” Mr. Plage nearly yelled as Ty and KC carried out the cargo. “There’s a terrible spell or curse on that cargo, the Eluch-Schalter! I know it is because my grandfather was cursed by it! That’s why we were transporting it away: so it will never curse another creature again! My grandfather believe it was created by the-”

“Shut up!” KC shouted and kicked Mr. Plage to unconsciousness.

“Mr. Plage!” Lt. Pleite shouted before being knocked out by KayCee’s staff.

“Never tell a technomage to lower her staff. Especially if they’re high ranking ones like myself!”

---

Soon, Ty airship then flew away from the descending K.S. Bismarck after they loaded their ship with the stolen cargo. The foursome relaxed in their quarters as KC adjusted the autopilot so that, by tomorrow, they’ll be in Insel.

“That went flawlessly, as usual,” Emily remarked as she cleaned her face of the dark gray paint from her face and hair.

“Thanks to all of you,” Ty declared, patting Emily and KC shoulders.

“Though I often wonder how you can hide in plain sight without us seeing you until you moved,” KayCee admitted as she put down her staff.

“It’s because dark and night is not black,” Emily explained as she removed the cloak. “If you wear black in the night, you’ll look like a black blob that can be noticed by a sharp eye. But dark clothing, heh, will easily blends into a night and dark surrounding. You’ll have to really look for me in order to see me.”

“I don’t think I completely understand, but OK,” KayCee sighed as she removed her own cloak. “But then, I doubt you’ll be able to understand how the technomage works their magie.”

“No,” Emily laughed as she puts away her knives, all cleaned up.

“Well then,” Ty said as he got up. “Shall we open this ‘cursed’ goods they were guarding?”

Everyone nodded as KC grabbed a crowbar and pried it open. Soon, the wooden box surrounding it were removed and, inside, was a chest without a keyhole. Then, slowly, Ty opened the chest and, inside, was gold coins and diamonds.

“Wow!” Ty cried out. “We hit the jackpot!”

All four instinctively grabbed the treasure and-

A piece of music and singing played as all four felt a shock.

Mar gheall tú gadaithe goideadh ár stór

Mura bhfuil aon cheol agus as ár fóillíochta

Beidh tú a chlaochlú i íomhá

Beidh an damáiste eile[/i]

The four stood there, dumbfounded.

“Did . . . anyone hear that?” KC asked.

“Yes. . . . I’m sure you also felt that,” Ty confirmed while dropping the coins and diamonds.

“Hey!” Emily said while looking closely at the coin. “There’s something written there. It said-”

Snap!

Soon, all four dropped the treasure as they fell to their knees, gripping their hands while gritting their teeth. Ty fell to his side as he sprawled on the floor. He looked at his hands and saw something gray was growing there. He looked closer and realized that it was fur!

“The He-”

Crack!

Ty gritted his teeth tighter as he felt his nails were getting longer and thicker, feeling like needles were coming out from his fingertips. Soon, his hand was covered in gray fur as his palms had thickened into pads. He flexed his fingers as he stared at his hands, wide eyed.

Creek!

Ty’s hands were rubbing his back as he shut his eyes and moans. Through the layers of clothing he was wearing, he felt fur were also growing on his back as his stomach turned. The fur had spread up to his neck and he rubbed it, feeling soft to the touch.

Ty’s hands then rubbed his ears when he noticed that they were feeling warm. He felt from his hands that his ears were changing into a more triangular shaped and getting more furry as they traveled to the top of his head.

Ty then looked at his nose and saw that it was black and moist as his jaw dropped. His nose and mouth pushed forward as his hands rubbed his forming muzzle. Soon, the acute shaped muzzle was covered in fur as his longer tongue rubbed his teeth. He felt that his teeth were longer and sharper now.

Split!

Ty’s hands went down to his back as he felt that it was bending backwards and becoming longer. He then felt a couple of lumps right below his abdomen and-

Rips!

Ty’s pants ripped off as a couple of appendixes grows and his pants fell from his growing back from the lower end. Soon, the appendixes forms into an extra pair of legs as his lower end looked like a feral animal with Ty’s torso, arms, and head in a place of a head. A bushy tail grows from his end until it was three to four feet long, the fur’s gray except for the white tip.

Tears!

Ty screamed out with the others, who were having similar changed to their bodies, but KC and KayCee were growing blue fur and were still anthro while Ty’s sister had pink fur and was a taur like Ty, as his shoes ripped off from his digitigrades paws.

Soon, the changed stopped.

All four breathed easily as KC and KayCee got up and examined their bodies. “What the Hell!? We’re Echidna!!”

Both Ty and Emily lean up and saw each other. “You’re like those Fuchs, but with a taur like body!”

Soon, all four were standing up, looking at the remains of their clothes.

“Well, that mad Otter wasn’t lying about a curse after all,” KC sighed as he look at his thin tail.

“This is- I can’t believe it!” Emily cried out as she hugged her brother. “I’ve spent years training to be a skilled assassin and, thanks to . . . this, I doubt I can sneak as good as I did.”

Ty consoled his sister as KayCee waved her staff at the treasure and electricity hits the treasure, but there wasn’t a scratch. “Must be something powerful. That electric blast will fry even metals into molten liquid.”

“I think we better calm down now,” Ty said as he went to a sitting position. “I’m sure that we’ll get this solved somehow. After all, curses can be cured. We just need to go to Insel and, once there, we’ll find a technomage that will cure us, since you’re specially is in electricity, illusions, and shields, KayCee.”

KayCee nodded as she hugged Emily tightly. “Don’t worry. We’ll get this fix eventually.”

Emily and KayCee walked to another deck in the ship with KC following them as Ty picked up one of the coins. He tilted his head as he tried to read what it said.

What was on it was: Athrú.

“That old myth?” Ty muttered as he put down the coin. “Anyways, we better hurry and find a cure. I sure hope the others back at home will be . . . accepting of our forms.”