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Hug initiated.

Her human was large enough that she couldn't quite get her arms all the way around him. Also, hugging someone who is currently prone on the ground was a bit tricky in practice. But she made do! For Science! And humans not going extinct.

Okay, if she recalled the next step in the instruction booklet, she needed to carry the human in her embrace back to the portal. Can do!

Canon, arms still around her human, braced her feet, kept her back straight, heaved, and... nothing.

The human didn't budge.

Hmmm... interesting. Perhaps she should consult the voices she heard from this radio...

______

Newly armed with knowledge and advice from the helpful people on the radio, Canon returned to hugging the human. Apparently, the hugging helped them heal! She hugged as hard as she could, even wrapping her tail around him, and squeezing, but couldn't get the human to pop.

Well, hopefully her efforts had done at least a little to help him. She checked to make sure his face was up, as advised, and then looked about for something she could tie around the human.

After a moment, she realized her tail was still wrapped around the human, and the radio had said to use legs and back. Her tail was conveniently situated between the two. It also wasn't likely to come off, so...

Yes, this would work!

Canon strained against the weight of her human, feet scrabbling for purchase, and ...

He moved! A little! Canon took another step, and another, and another. The portal was still quite a ways off, though. She decided to report in on the radio, since this was going to take some time.

_____

So there were other humans helping with the rescue efforts? Canon tried to spot one, but the fog was simply too thick to make out anything in at the moment.

She was sweaty and her tail hurt, but she was almost to the portal! Focusing on her goal, the little Skark dragged the human up to the threshold of the portal, and unwound her tail with a sigh of relief. Grabbing a shoulder, she heaved it up, and watched as her human tumbled through. She followed shortly after.

Canon ran and ran, moving her human legs as fast as she could get them going. She could hear the horse creature behind her, and around her, she could see vines racing alongside her, swallowing buildings whole. The empty cars seemed to be providing her some cover as she weaved in and out between them.

And then there weren't anymore cars. And the fog rolled in. Canon could feel it sapping the returned strength from her, taking even more than when she'd first entered the human world. And with a sudden 'poof!', things became a lot more interesting.

Canon realized she was in her natural form. She was even smaller now, but her human was the same size as before!



She managed to get out from beneath her human before he fell on her, but she was left with an approaching horse creature, and no good way to move him! Canon's eye stalk whipped around, looking for something she could use, and her eyes fell on something red. And shiny. It was a metal thing! And it looked like it would work, too! Canon ran over to it, and hopped up, examining the machine. It even had the keys in it! After working out how to get the thing to go, Canon wobbily directed the red miracle over to her human. She hopped down onto him from the seat, and considered just how to do this. That creature was still coming!

One bit at a time, she decided, and wrapped her antennae around the human's arm. She wrestled that arm up and over the seat, and went back for the other one. The head got in the way a bit, and Canon had to pull it up by the hair to get it over the seat. Okay, he was sort of leaning on the machine. Now what?

An idea occurred to her, and she scrabbled underneath the human's lower body. Opening every air-hole she had, she started sucking in air like a vacuum. It was difficult with the human's weight, but the little Skark soon started to inflate like a balloon, forcing him higher, and higher, and... Canon clamped all of her air-holes shut except the one directly under the human... and exhaled. Normally, this would send her flying, but the human trapped her, and all that force pushed the human just enough to drape him over the seat. His feet were dragging, but it would have to do!

Canon jumped on top of the human's back, gunned the throttle, and roared- well, buzzed away!

The portal was close! She could feel it! She could almost see it! Canon tried to coax a little more speed from her red, shrapnel scored, bike, but the horse soon caught up again.

This time the vines slammed into the bike. Canon jabbed at them with her stinger, preventing them from gaining a hold on her human, her bike, or her, but they'd all taken damage yet again.

[6/10 km]
[Canon HP: 30/40]
[Bing HP: 40/50]

Canon hopped off the faithful bike, and started tugging at her human. Just a little further! If she could get his arms inside the portal, hopefully someone on the other side would notice and pull him through!

But as she lifted the arm, the human twitched, and suddenly his hand was around her eye stalk, squeezing hard. This hurt, but it wasn't like it cut off her ability to breath. Still, this was no time for a sparring match! Why couldn't he have waited until they were on the other side of the portal to ask for one?!

Canon wrapped her tail around the human's arm, and tried to pull herself away from his grip, but his strength was surprising. She couldn't wiggle free, and she didn't want to envenomate him, but he could easily hold her there until the horse caught up with them both!

Okay, so venom it had to be! Canon quickly brewed a batch of something that would help him relax, hopefully without melting anything inside his body. Venom at the ready, she jabbed the human in the arm, and gave him the lowest dose possible. She waited, and after a few seconds, his grip lessened. Yes! Canon wriggled free, grabbed his arm again, and dragged him to the por-

Where was the portal?