Kii surveyed the vast landscape visible from the edge of Cloud City Seragato. He raised his muzzle and arms, letting the balmy breeze blow through his black fur as he caught the unfamiliar aether scents they brought with them.
“Watch me, Star Wolf!” cried out several of the local cubs, using the moniker they had bestowed on him on account of his yellow, star-shaped fur tattoos. As soon as Kii caught their eyes and they knew he was watching, they would bolt to the edge and launch themselves into the open air. Just as they began to plummet towards their deaths thousands of meters below, their bionic wings would spread wide and they would shoot up and soar high above.
As much as the Seragoto Valkyrie recruit’s enthusiasm always made him smile, it was his meeting with Onyx which brought him to the Aerial Port this morning. Onyx, a curious inorganic AI in the metallic body of an ancient digitigrade black horse, had always intrigued and oddly aroused Kii since their first meeting during a less-than-legal “salvage” mission of interplanetary teleportation technology from a research outpost that had been crippled but survived an attack from hostile forces. They rescued the remaining crew and made off with the technology.
Kii caught his first glimpse of Onyx hurtling through the air toward him. Inside his metallic frame was an impressive propulsion system, and it was always faster than waiting for transport from one of the border outposts. Kii, flipped his head and his long hair with it, striking a pose for his friend without realizing it, taking sad note as always that Onyx lacked the necessary equipment to indulge some of the seedier desires Onyx’s synthetic woven muscles filled his head with. Surely something could be commissioned and installed….
“Greetings, friend Kii,” boomed Oryx’s voice as he landed, his LED mane flashing with an array of colors which paired with each word he spoke. Kii was tall for his species, yet Onyx towered over him.
“Hello, Onyx” returned Kii, embracing his friend, unable to help a touch of innocent grinding against those bands of black horse muscle. “How have you—”
Both of them turned at the sound and shockwave of the explosion. Two of the Valkyries in training had collided into each other, and it must have been at peak velocity because it had been enough to overload their shield generators enough to detonate. Both pups were unconscious, but one of their anti-gravity safety spheres hadn’t deployed and was limply plummeting. Kii leaped onto Onyx’s back, engaging the force saddle as Onyx launched off the edge to intercept.
Kii clung tight, eyes barely open against the intense winds as the Onyx’s thrusters pushed them past terminal velocity. The ground was coming up fast, but the battered pup was almost within reach. Kii could feel Onyx fighting to compensate for the turbulence his furred frame was causing at these high speeds. Teeth clenched, muscles tight, he reached toward the pup painfully slow as Onyx warned they were dangerously low.
Kii lunged out and grabbed the chest straps of the pup’s gear, the sudden motion throwing them all into a spin. Every muscle in the wolf’s body strained against the sudden radial g-forces and continued tornado-strength winds to keep a hold of the pup. Banking hard, Onyx stabilized their trajectory and the pup crashed into Kii’s open arms. Kii pulled the pup close and wrapped his free arms tightly around him, pressing both their bodies as tight as he could against Onyx as the huge horse leveled out frighteningly close to the forest canopy below before banking up and back towards Seragato.