Teach me how to make people miserable (Inu)

[Neepik]

The large humanoid walked through what was once a very large field. Now the crops were in ruins and the farmers lay in pools of their own blood. The humanoid laughed as he watched the women run.

"These people had it too easy. Let's see them regain what they;ve lost," his deep voice rumbled.

The large humanoid swung his tail, knocking over the vehicle the farmers were using to carry their crops in, then went into the forest with the bushels of food he had left unharmed.

A short distance into the forest was a large waterfall. The alien's red eyes glowed with satisfaction. He would have plenty of water to drink.

A large rock stood at the base of the waterfall. A perfect place to eat. The monster took his meal over to the rock and sat down, letting his tail dip into the cool water. Just as he was about to take his first bite, he heard a noise. It was a faint noise, but the humanoid had very good hearing and vision. He locked onto the noise and saw someone there, watching.

"I am Neepik! Destroyer of Lives! Come and show yourself!"

[Inu]

"I'm not hiding. Look up."

The Jackel is sitting at the top of the fall, legs hanging over the side of the cliff, watching with interest the marauder below him. Destroying a peaceful village is hardly a worthy accomplishment; any apprentice can achieve that end. But for whatever reason, he sees potential in this one.

[Neepik]

Neepik growls at the man at the top of the waterfall. His red eyes glow bright with fury.

"WHAT DO YOU WANT?" He roars. The entire forest is filled by the shout of the man, sending animals running and causing birds to fly from their nests in fear.

Neepik's body automatcally gears up for battle. Two large bones come out of the sides of his face and cover his mouth, and the horns on his head stand up straighter.

Neepik wanted to eat. And while he loved to make things difficult for others, he did not like it when people made things difficult for him. And right now, Neepik was hungry.

[Inu]

"To talk."

Actually, Inu would love to test the man's mettle, but for now, he'll be content with simply finding out about him. The Jackel can't say he's ever seen such a creature as Neepik before.

"What are you?"

[Neepik]

Neepik felt his heart tighten with anxiety. How many times had he been asked that question? He remembered the first time someone has asked him that. A kid asked him that question.

For Neepik, that question always took on a negative connotation. People asked that question out of fear, or anger, or disgust.

"What's it to you?" Neepik's voice was now quieter, but still hard as the rock he sat on. Neepik stood up, and slammed his tail on the ground, sending up a large spray and making a depression where it hit. Neepik was now tensed up to strike: if the strange man made a move to kill him, Neepik would make it the most difficult task the man would ever have to accomplish.

[Inu]

"I've never seen one of you before. Why else would I ask?"

Inu quells his impatience. It seems he's hit a soft spot with this Neepik thing. He makes a note to choose his words more carefully; he doesn't want to make an enemy of a potential ally.

[Neepik]

Neepik settles a little. His eyes no longer glow as intensely and the horns on his head settle a little bit. But the face mask remains.

"My people refuse to let anyone outside my race know who we are or where we come from. Only one other group of people know where we live, but they won't be telling anytime soon."

[Inu]

"Oh? And why's that? Did you kill them too?"

Inu wouldn't put it past the guy. Seems killing is his forte.

[Neepik]

Neepik's face mask retracted ino his cheeks, revealing a sadistic grin.

"Not with my own hands."

Neepik remembered crashing across the countryside after the intrudersm and seeing them fall off of a cliff and crashing onto the sharp rocks below. Neepik checked to see if they were still alive of course. Neepik never left a job undone.

"It was a joy to watch them struggle for their lives."

[Inu]

"So is that all you do? Kill at random? Or do you have some kind of special purpose in mind when you kill?"

Inu's considering extending an offer of membership to the Krath...it all depends upon how this interview goes.

[Neepik]

"I bring chaos to the lives of people who are too comfortable in their surroundings. People who think that nothing bad could ever happen to a good person like them. I bring disillusionment to cure the arrogance that their good fortunes have brought them."

Neepik smiled. "I seek to destroy people's hard work, to show them their folly in thinking they will ever have a future. To show them what it feels like to have everything they ever hoped for to slip away from them like sand through their fingers."

Neepik chuckled and slammed his tail on the ground again.

[Inu]

"And what drives you to this end?"

[Neepik]

"They think they are so much better than me."

Most humans, and various other species with class and money looked down upon Neepik. They found him disgusting, or fearsome. Years of scorn and prejudice had molded Neepik's view of life into one of animosity for everyone.

[Inu]

"Sounds kinda lame if ya ask me. Just because you're shunned you wanna kill everyone ya can..."

The Jackel lies back and shuts his eyes.

"I used to think like you. Wantin' to kill people because I wasn't considered 'normal'...got over it though."

[Neepik]

The face mask reappeared, and the horns were once again at full attention.

"How dare you judge me?" Neepik could feel the squeezing in his heart again. The anxiety, and the anger.

"I kill because it brings me satisfaction in life!"

[Inu]

Is that all? It's gotta be something deeper than that...something more personal. Inu's sure of it. The anxiety that gathers itself in his heart is testimony to that.

"What's so special about killin' people? I've done it plenty of times...after a while it gets kinda monotonous."

[Neepik]

Neepik roared. It was a loud, animalistic sound that wrung more birds from the trees.

"I hate people who are quick to judge. I hate the arrogant, those that think they are invincible, and think they are always right. Senators, businessmen, Jedi, even the average citizen. They take one look at my kind and retaliate with fear."

Neepik clenched his fists. "And if they want to fear me, then I'll give them a real reason to be afraid!"

[Inu]

"Okay then. Let's go see about this for ourselves, eh? There's a larger settlement a good distance from here...a spaceport, if I'm not mistaken. How about we go there?"

[Neepik]

Neepik's stomach growled. He picked up a bushel in one arm, then got the other with his tail.

"If you wish."

Neepik didn't like being made an experiment out of, but he was hungry, and he was beginning to get an idea that this man meant him no harm...yet.

Neepik calmed down, his body relaxing at last. Neepik reached into one of the bushels and began to eat large fistfuls of vegetables at a time as he walked in the direction of the spaceport.

[Inu]

"You mean to eat all of that?" Inu asks as he walks side by side with the alien. "I've got a pit of a stomach, but it'd take ten of me to eat all the food you're carrying."

[Neepik]

Neepik's manners were poor, but he made sure to swallow his food before answering.

"My kind has a very high metabolism."

The giant reached for another handful of vegetables and gulped them down. Neepik at quickly, and threw the soon empty bushel basket over his shoulder. Then he brougt his tail around and took that basket in one arm and continued to eat.

[Inu]

He's worse than a Cizerack...Inu's never seen someone go through so much food so quickly.

"Why is that?"

[Neepik]

"So we can regenerate lost limbs, and heal ourselves quickly."

Neepik soon found himself staring at the bottom of the basket. It hadn't been enough.

"Perhaps there will be a fruit vendor at the spaceport."

Neepik's hunger now took the most of his attention, causing him to forget why they were going to the spaceport in the first place.

"You already know my name to be Neepik. And your name is?"

[Inu]

"Inu is what they call me."

[Neepik]

Neepik nodded. "Inu, then."

At last, they reached the outskirts of a bustling town. A large open air market greeted the two and Neepik walked up to a person selling fruit.

"I would like some fruit." Neepik asked the lady.

Neepik's large body cast a shadow over the woman and his deep voice startled her. A little boy was playing near the vendor and she clutched him close to her and screamed.

Soon, everybody was looking at Neepik. People paled. Grown men wet their pants. Women screamed and soon people were shouting for the police.

"A MONSTER! WE'RE ALL GOING TO DIE!"

Neepik growled. "I only wanted some food!" He roared and smashed three stalls with his tail. His face mask slid into place just as a group of police officers came on their speeders.

"This is how it always is."

Neepik ducked as several blasterbolts were fired at him. Scrambling on all fours like a giant lizard, he slid behind the stalls that were still standing. The crowd had drained from the marketplace, and all was still. The policemen looked around, worried. Neepik seemed to have disappeared.

[Inu]

Inu simply stands and watches. Let's see how this creature deals with the threat of the police. Any other arrogant darksider would simply charge, but it doesn't seem to be Neepik's style. What's he got up his sleeve?

[Neepik]

Aha. He found one. A staggler who stayed behind to watch his heroes, the police fight the large monster. He was about 7 or 8 years old.

Neepik took the little boy around the neck and stood, holding the little boy in his tail as though he were a punching bag.

"So, Mr. Po-lice. Come on. Fight me."

One officer hit his commlink. "We have a situation here."

Neepik tightened his hold on the boy. He kicked and gurgled, fighting for air.

"Times running out, Mr. Po-lice."

One of the police stepped forward. "Wait a second, now. Can't we talk?"

Neepik roared again. "YOU WANT TO TALK? YOU SHOW UP GUNS BLAZING AND NOW YOU WANT TO TALK?"

Neepik released the boy and caught him by the hair using one of his hands. "Why not just shoot? Come on, I'm a big target."

The leader broke a sweat. What was he to do?

"Why so scared? I suppose you don;t like having the odds against you?" Neepik gave the boy a quick shake. A small snap was hear, and the boy hung lifeless in Neepik's hand.

"How sad. The hero has let down his fan-boy. Say it ain't so."

Faces tightened with pain at the loss of the boy. Neepik charged in, sweeping the legs out from under the entire group with his large tail. The alien grabbed two of the cops by the heads and smashed them together. Two more were trampled underfoot. The last one was caught trying to escape: he got bulldozed into a duracrete wall.

Neepik went back to the broken fruit stand and began picking out bits of undamaged food.

"See how they act? they judge me to be a monster, then try to kil me. The minute things get out of control for them, they start changing their minds. They had their chance to talk and to listen. They got what they deserved."

[Inu]

Inu considers this. Neepik seems to have a noble motive...but his actions have twisted it into something horrid. Inu decides he likes it, in a perverse sort of way. But still, he's hesitant about extending a membership offer.

"True enough. And you mean to remedy this problem by killing those that would persecute you?"

Just to make sure he knows what he thinks he knows...

[Neepik]

"Not necessarily," Neepik's voice was low, and he turned his head away from Inu. "As long as they suffer. I killed the cops because they would have killed me. Destroying that child was all that I needed to do to wake them up."

Neepik smiled as he remembered the almost casual motion that snapped the boy's neck. "Did you see the looks on that one man's face? He finally decided to talk. He woke up the fastest."

Neepik laughed. "Kill them all. Kill them all."

[Inu]

No...not quite the sort of being for the Krath...but Inu still feels a sense of obligation to Neepik.

"There is a strong dark power in you...are you aware of that? Can you use it?"

[Neepik]

"Power? I know I am powerful. My enemies crumble at my feet. But I do feel like I am capable of more than I am."

Neepik didn't know where Inu was going with all this, but if it could help him destroy the galaxy, and all the pride it contained, he would listen.

[Inu]

"You are not aware of the Force?" he asks. "Surely you must feel it...when your rage escalates, when you unleash your frustrations upon those that would scorn you..."

[Neepik]

Neepik shrugged. "Just a sort of pressure in my chest. A squeezing sensation that doesn't disappear until they're all destroyed."

The face mask was gone, and Neepik was now eating the food he had scavenged.

[Inu]

"I can teach you to bring that sensation to bear on those you hate. Hatred and anger are powerful weapons. I imagine that a being such as yourself could find all manner of methods for using them."

[Neepik]

Neepik grinned. "I would like that. So teach me."

Neepik finished up his meal. He was not quite full, but food could wait for a few more hours.

[Inu]

An impatient one, he is. Inu rolls his wrists and neck, then folds his arms.

"Firstly, you must learn to access and use the Force. Bring forth the sensation you feel, and when you find it, focus your attention upon it, visualize it as a tangible thing...a weapon, as it were..."

[Neepik]

Neepik surveyed the wrecked marketplace. He remembered the screams, the pointing and the staring and soon the pressure came back. Neepik concentrated on that feeling, making it tangible as Inu had instructed.

"Now what?" He asked. Neepik was growing impatient, a feeling which only fueled the fire of hatred inside.

[Inu]

"Push out at something...anything...even me, if it should suit you..."

[Neepik]

Neepik growled in his throat and shoved at the Police speeder. The speeder was disturbed as though it had been hit by a strong force.

Neepik grinned and tried again. This time the speeder rocked more violently.

[Inu]

"Make it fly. You've got more in you than that."

This is one of the most basic skills to know. Neepik is using it with fair ease, but other skills will be harder. Some may even be easier. It all depends on the Force's prescence in him.

[Neepik]

Neepik shoved at the car with all his might this time, releasing a yell from his throat. The speeder tumbled over and over until it his a building and exploded in a ball of fire.

Neepik swished his tail, and a row of stalls splintered into pieces. He rathere enjoyed this new power Inu showed him.

[Inu]

"That is the least of your abilities. Using this same principle of Force manipulation, you can pull objects, lift them, move them in any way you desire. I am fairly weak in this field, but I know enough to teach you further...I find it easier to alter the Force."

[Neepik]

Neepik made a beckoning motion and one of the bodies began sliding toward him. Then the monster lifted his hand, and the body floated a bit before Neepik let it drop to the ground.

"Alter the Force? What do you mean?"

[Inu]

The body Neepik has been toying with bursts into flame before Inu lifts a hand and sends a bolt of lightning streaking toward it, causing the dead body to twitch uncontrollably.

"That's what I mean."

[Neepik]

Neepik's expression described a raised eyebrow. This was intriguing. Simply fantastic! "How do I do such things?"

Neepik was practically drooling. Inu had just performed the most awesome display he had ever seen in his life.

"Teach me how to do that."

[Inu]

"In due time. I can teach you to create fire with fair ease...but the lightning will take a long, long time. I myself am still learning to fully control that one."

As if to punctuate his point, Inu lifts his hand again, but succeeds in doing little more than make the electric bolts arc from his palm to his fingertips.

"Only true masters of the dark side may wield this power with true efficiency and control. Alot of the power I put into the skill is wasted."

[Neepik]

Neepik nodded. "What else can I do with this power?"

Neepik had never been so excited in his life. He absorbed Inu's instructions like a sponge soaks up water. Neepik was absolutely enthralled with his new abilities.

[Inu]

"You can boost your natural speed, strength, and agility. You already possess the strength to crack durracrete with your raw power...try it with the Force backing your punch."

[Neepik]

Neepik gave a slight nod and rushed one of the buildings. With his anger concentrated into his fist, Neepik dealt a powerful blow to the building, making the wall crack and crumble. Soon a large hole was where the wall once was.

"Not bad."

Neepik burst around the marketplace with his new speed, juking and dodging around the wreckage and dead bodies.

"Not bad at all." The original excitement had worn off. Now Neepik was seriously gauging his new skills.

[Inu]

"You also will learn in time to sense others through the Force, and perform other feats...but that will come later. He who accumulates all his skill quickly is the first to fall."

[Neepik]

Neepik made a face that resembled a human raising an eyebrow.

"Never heard that saying."

Neepik settled a little, then started to play around with his telekinetic skills by floating some fruits that he had yet to eat.

"So, I suppose you and I are now war buddies in a sense."

[Inu]

"I'd say that's a fairly accurate statement. Come, there is one other person you must meet."

Inu turns and walks to a speeder that has been mercifully neglected by Neepik's fury.

"Get in."

[Neepik]

Neepik jumped in the back seat, taking up almost the entire seat. He was glad the thing had no roof.

"Where are we going?"

[Inu]

"To meet your training partner."

With that, Inu starts the speeder and drives off to find his first apprentice.