This is just a little non-cannon crossover story I did involving some characters of mine from a much larger storyline that I've been fiddling with for ages (and not getting very far xp) visiting a world in which a good story series I like (The Runt series by Nekko Fox) takes place. I love those stories, and after having a dream along these lines a little while ago, I've decided write something up based on it. =3 Hehe... great thing about a pair of twins that travel through various realities and dimensions is they can encounter virtually any character or situation at some point or another if I want them to, even if it's not always cannon. xp



So yeah, anyway... Tellox Velline, Kes Velline, and Tiastos belong to me. All other characters are property of Nekko Fox. This is just the first part, as I apparently don't know the meaning of "short stories". XD



Oh, and the 'Tran-Di" in the title stands for "Trans-Dimensional". Meh. xD



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The sun was down, and it was an extra-dark evening. The sky was black even before the golden disk hit the horizon- storms were roaring in over the little town. The air was just starting to fill with droplets of rain, but the wind had already picked up, and there was a low, steady rumble of thunder in the air as lightning danced in the raging heavens. And it was headed straight for the park.



The park which poor little Tod was running for dear life, although not from the storm. Tod, a collie who was very small and weak for a fifteen year-old due to being a runt, was running because he'd been separated from his newly adopted brother and sister, and being chased by his former brothers, who were without a doubt evil to the core.



Unfortunately, his new siblings, Eric and Amy, had gone off looking the wrong direction, and the pup was lost in the misty fog that was starting to build up amongst the trees. He'd hoped the unexpected storm would scare his old brothers, Ashton and Terrance, off the chase, but for some reason their sadistic cravings weren't affected by the ominous weather. They probably wanted some sort of pay-back for the recent rescue given by his newfound family and friends when he'd been ambushed into an alley the other day.



Tod stumbled into a shallow cave in the side of a hill, hoping to hide as well as get out of the storm. The breeze died down a bit, and for a moment everything seemed eerily still. He perked an ear as he listened and held his breath behind a large rock. When he didn't hear anything, even thunder, for several minutes, he cautiously peeked around the corner.



It turned out to be bad timing. Ashton was just walking into the mouth of the cave, and saw him. Before the poor pup could react, he was grabbed and thrown on the ground.



"Think you're so tough now, huh?! Sicking your new little so-called 'family' on us now, ya little bitch?" Terrance snapped at him, pulling out a pocket knife. Tod whimpered, and Ash grabbed him and bound his arms with a small length of rope. "You think that makes your existence ok? You think that makes you -safe-?!"



But before the older collie could open the knife, things went even more awry. The storm intensified all at once, and the lightning began flashing non-stop. All three glanced outside, where the rain began pouring with drastic intensity. The thunder grew louder. Suddenly, the air was blurred as the mist and rain began spinning rapidly. The trademark train-like sound grew out of the noise.



"Fuck, a tornado!" Terrance yelled above it all, and took a few steps back. The power of the cyclone began sucking Tod towards it, causing him to scream in terror. Ashton fought the wind and crawled back towards Terrance, leaving the runt to be swept away.



And then things got strange. The cycle suddenly twisted up on its side, showing the inside to be a vortex not just of wind and rain and debris, but of a twisting plethora of color and sizzling energy. The whole thing flashed as if the lightning was being drawn into it. Two shadows gradually appeared, and started growing larger.



Suddenly, the suction stopped and instead the air was being blown -into the cave. Two furs flew out of the vortex and skidded on the ground, nearly falling over into Ashton and Terrance. They immediately spun around to look at the vortex, without paying any mind to the collies. The two were clearly some sort of canid- foxes, perhaps- although the exact species wasn't quite placeable. Their fur was light grey, and they both had natural blue hair, and blue markings all over the place... some of which were -glowing-. They were also apparently twins, although one had slightly darker markings and hair than the other.



The darker-haired one was dressed in some sort of loose silk-like outfit- a vest and long pants- with a teal cloth belt around his waist, holding what looked like some sort of sleek black gun with green lines criss-crossing it. The whole outfit was half black and half white, only the division was diagonal, making him look like something out of an 80s movie. This was only enhanced by the fact he was also wearing a large set of high-tech, protective shades that curved around his head.



The other was wearing a slate-colored full body-length trench coat and had some kind of long wooden staff strapped to his back. He was wearing some protective goggles that were smaller and considerably less techy-looking. His coat was closed by a row of large buttons, and went down to his feet, so whatever he was wearing under it wasn't visible.



Another shadow was rapidly growing bigger in the vortex. In a matter of moments, a flailing hulk of metal erupted from the swirling lights, making all kinds of electronic and mechanical noises as it crashed into the ground between the twins. In an instant, it was up on five robotic limbs, and grabbed the one in the trenchcoat. The other twin grabbed the gun at his side and fired a blast at it that lit the entire cave in blinding white light and a burst of warmth for an instant.



Ashton and Terrance screamed and ran from the cave, covering their eyes and half-tripping over themselves as they fled into the rainy night. The metallic menace had a large streak of melted armor down its side, where the one limb had been severed off. It scrambled backwards, deeper into the cave as it recoiled and screamed out in synthetic pain. Tiny sparks and glowing embers extended slowly from the 'wound' as it suddenly started to repair itself.



"Run!" the gun-weilder shouted, then turned to do so himself.



But the other twin suddenly noticed Tod on the ground, still bound and looking terrified out of his poor little mind. "Kes, Wait!"



Kes turned and saw the problem, and quickly helped his brother carry the pup out before the robotic monster decided to come after them again. They moved quickly, until at last they found a shack on the edge of the park and ducked inside it. There, they set Tod down. Kes peeked out the door to check to see if it'd followed them, while the other twin sat next to the pup and helped untie the rope around his arms.



"Looks like the coast is clear, Tellie," Kes said after a moment, then sat on Tod's other side, nearest to the door.



The poor little dog was shaking and wide-eyed, on the verge of feinting from all the sudden action and strangeness. He continued to stare straight ahead, his mouth hung open slightly. It took him a few minutes to realize he could move his hands, at which point he suddenly scrambled into the corner and whimpered, staring at them in bewilderment.



Kes quirked an eyebrow and smirked at him slightly. "Hey there. I'm Kes, and this is Tellox. What's your name?"



"He just saw two strangers fly out of a freakish vortex with a crazed experimental assassin drone, I don't think he's in the mood for pleasantries just yet," Tellox said to his brother flatly, giving him a sideways look. Then, turning his attention back to the trembling pup, he removed his goggles and tried to smile in a comforting way. "I know you must be pretty freaked out, but I promise we're not going to hurt you."



"Yeah, what would be the point of saving you if we were just going to hurt you ourselves?" Kes chimed in. "Well, unless we were just sadistic and wanted to kill you ourselves, or zombies hungering for brains, or aliens looking f- ow!"



Tellox elbowed him in the side. "NOT helping, Kes," he snapped, then lowered his voice and moved a little closer to Tod. "Don't mind him. He's a knucklehead who doesn't know when to stop kidding around sometimes." As he said this, Kes stuck his tongue out at them both, still clutching his side. "But he's basically a good guy. Anyway, I know you're pretty freaked out right now, and you deserve an explanation. But first we have to deal with that... erm, monster."


Tod curled up some more and clung to his knees, whimpering again.



"Don't worry, the rain will keep it in that cave for now. It doesn't like water. But that's why we need your help," Tellox continued. "Is there a lake, or a river, or something like that around here?"



Tod thought for a moment, then shook his head. There may have been one, but in his current shaken state it was very hard to think clearly. He was half-thinking this was another bad dream, and deeply wished to hear Amy's voice gently waking him up any moment. But that never came.



"Frick," Kes pseudo-swore, then sighed. "Looks like we'll have to come up with a better plan."



Tellox nodded and rubbed his chin thoughtfully. "Hmm.... if you could shoot a hole right in the middle, we could pour some water inside it, or mud or something."



"Mud sounds good. We could ambush it. But he'll have to throw the mud, I can't do that AND shoot."



"Him? Why not me? Poor kid's been through enough for one night, don't you think?" Tellox chided.



"You can't," Kes patiently explained, developing a sheepish grin. "Because you've got to lure it out. We need bate. And I'm pretty sure he'd rather throw mud than do that."



Tellox's ears drooped and his looked distinctly unhappy with the idea. But after glancing over at Tod again, he sighed heavily and gave in. "O... kay. You... you make a," he grumbled a bit. "Good point." He turned his eyes upward and groaned in exasperation. "Why me..."



Kes chuckled a bit. "Cus you're good at surviving," he said, then turned back to Tod. "Well, what do you say little man? Want to be a hero and defeat a big bad monster?"



Tod was still curled into a ball, and his shivering had started again. He didn't like this one bit. But after thinking for a minute, he realized that while he was terrified of the idea, he also didn't want to risk letting the monster get away and potentially hurt his new family. After a couple minutes, he slowly nodded.



"Don't worry, you'll be fine," Kes assured him. "So what's your name, shy guy?"



"T-t-tod," the pup mumbled.



Tellox couldn't help but smile slightly, temporarily distracted from his apprehension by the cute stutter that, he had to admit, reminded him of himself a few years ago. Without warning, he pulled the pup into his arms and stroked his back. Tod meeped and didn't resist, though he didn't exactly welcome it either, since the two were still strangers who were, for all he could tell, aliens of some sort. He started to cry a little.



"I think we should rest a bit longer, give him some time to recover," Tellox said, cuddling the pup close. "Sounds like the rain's getting a bit too heavy anyway."



"Well," Kes started, then peeked out the door again. He sighed. "Alright. We can wait a little while, but we need to kill that thing as soon as we can."



"I know," Tellox confirmed, then opened his coat so he could wrap it around Tod. "Shh, it's alright Tod. It's gonna be ok," he cooed softly. Under his coat, he was wearing pants, but no shirt, and his blue chest fur was soft, as was the strange glow it emitted. The coat itself was comforting and warm, like a blanket.



A little time passed, and Tod stopped crying long enough to lift his head and wipe his eyes. He then looked back and forth between the two. "W-where...who..." he started to ask, but couldn't put all his questions into any kind of rational form.



Kes laughed a little. "Yeah, I suppose while we're sitting here we could go ahead and try to explain."



Tellox nodded. "We're from another world. You could call us aliens, but that might be misleading."


"We might be from this planet, but a different version of it," Kes explained. "Long story short, we somehow managed to get leave our own universe and ended up jumping between a bunch of different ones, trying to find our way home."



"The one we just came from was full of experimental robotic monsters like that one in the cave. It was built to be used by the army, but it went haywire and started attacking anything living. Naturally it spotted us and decided to chase us right here into the next universe."



Tod's head spun. He was finding it difficult to understand what they were saying- 'experimental robots', 'alternate realities' and 'parallel universes' weren't exactly in his everyday vocabulary. All he knew is they were definitely aliens and that -thing- in the cave was, too- an evil, monstrous one at that.



Tellox could tell further explanation wouldn't get anywhere, so he decided not to try and go into any more details. Instead, he changed the subject. "So what's a little guy like you doing out here on a dark, stormy night anyway? Especially by yourself?"



"Well, he wasn't totally alone. Who were those two guys that ran away, your brothers?" Kes interjected.



Tod lowered his head and closed his eyes, shivering again. Tellox took note of the reaction and gave him a gentle squeeze. "Tod?"



The pup took a breath and slowly, through a series of stutters explained how he'd gotten separated from Eric and Amy while they were playing, when the unexpected storm suddenly started coming in. Then, with more noticeable emotional turmoil, he explained about his old brothers and his original family life. He told them about the abuse, and eventual abandonment that led him to finding his new family. In the end, Kes was steaming with anger and hatred for the two cowardly ex-siblings, wishing he'd taken a few pot-shots at them with his gun before they'd gotten away. He said so, as he looked out the door again.



Tellox, on the other hand, looked off into the distance, thoughtfully. Unlike Kes, he could relate to Tod somewhat. He and his brother had been separated when they were young, both from their parents and eachother. While Kes was taken in by a kindly, if somewhat odd gypsy woman, Tellox had lived on the streets of a massive city for several years, constantly tormented by an insane gang of thugs for no reason. He still sometimes wondered how he'd managed to survive those years. And there were a few burning knife scars on his back that spoke of his past.



So instead of making some angry comment about Ashton and Terrance, Tellox just held Tod close and curled his tail around him. "You're invincible," he said quietly. The pup looked up at him, eyes still a little watery, but curious. "Don't be afraid of them, Tod. They can hurt your body all they want, but they'll never be able to touch what really counts. Some people call it your soul, other people call it your spirit, some people don't really have a name for it at all. But it's what makes you who you are, your identity. And if you hold onto hope and love, that can never be destroyed."



Part of Kes was groaning from the cheesy speech, but the rest of him knew all too well how serious it was, so he said nothing, and just smiled at Tod and his twin.



***



"Tod!" Amy shouted, tears sliding down her cheeks. "Tod, where are you?!"



Eric held her close, his eyes also watery. A nice trip to the park had turned so sour so quickly, and they were rapidly losing hope despite their best efforts. They stayed out in the rain, looking for their recently adopted brother, no matter how late it got or how strong the storm got.



But their concern for Tod wasn't their only problem. They themselves were finding it hard to keep from getting lost in the blinding rain and gusty winds that'd picked up. The weather forecasters had never been so wrong in their lives. They were frightened, worried, and altogether in a very bad shape.



After a while, they came across the building that housed the park bathrooms, where they took refuge while they waited for the rain to ease up. Eric held his sister close as they shivered and looked out into the mist. Despite his own emotional turmoil, he did his best to comfort her. "Shh, we'll find him sis," he said as soothingly as he could. He then stared out into the greyed-out woods and shook his head slightly as he observed the heaviest downpour he'd seen in ages. The puddles were getting bigger- he wondered if there would be a flood. Something told him this was no normal storm. Behind all his other feelings at the moment, something about it gave him an extra shiver that he couldn't quite explain. Something in the air didn't seem right...



***



Another hour or two passed. When the rain had eased up a little, Tod and the trans-dimensional twins went out to find the cave again. Tellox had given Tod his goggles, and Kes was using a series of bright lights on the rim his own to guide their way. When they found it, they moved back a ways and found a good to set up the ambush. Tod was carrying a large bucket they'd found outside the shack with both arms. It was already mostly full of rainwater. He grabbed some mud anyway and started dumping it in with the water, for good measure.



But there was a slight problem. Even the lowest branches of the nearby trees were fairly high off the ground. For Kes, this proved no obstacle. With impressive grace and agility, he jumped up against one tree, then quickly kicked off of it, launching himself up higher and towards one of the branches of an adjacent one, which he quickly grabbed ahold of. The branch hardly bent at all, indicating that he was quite light for his size. He then hung upside-down by his legs and reached down.



Tod meeped as Tellox grabbed the bucket and set it aside, then lifted him up to Kes, who pulled him up onto an adjacent branch. The bucket soon followed.



"Now remember, Tod- keep those goggles on and keep an eye on the monster. When you see the flash, dump it. Don't even wait until the light clears, don't worry about the aim. We'll wait until its right under us. Ok?" Kes reminded him.



Tod splayed his ears and nodded timidly. Kes smiled, then looked down at Tellox. "Alright, I think we're ready up here. Showtime!"



Tellox groaned and fidgeted nervously as he stared in the direction of the cave. "Easy for YOU to say," he grumbled, then took a deep breath and started moving that way. "Come on out, m-mister beastie..."



Several tense minutes passed after Tellox disappeared in the shadows. Then there was a loud shout and some loud metal clanging sounds, followed by the robotic creature's shrill scream of aggression. Tod nearly fell out of the tree.



***



Eric and Amy were just about to resume their search when they heard faint voices approaching in the rain. They sounded thoroughly shaken... and a bit familiar. All that could be seen of them were a couple faint silhouettes growing out of the mist.



"Hello? Wh-who's there?" Amy called out.



"Who are you?" Eric repeated. The strangers got closer, apparently at a run. Now up close, the fox immediately recognized who it was. His face contorted into a scowl and he growled loudly. "ASHTON?! I thought I told you and your scum brother to stay out of town!" he yelled. He then chased Tod's ex-older-brothers down and tackled Ashton. Terrance didn't even bother noticing, and just kept running.



Amy heard and came running, growling as well. "Where the hell is Tod?! What'd you two bastards do with him?!" She kicked the pinned collie in the side for good measure.



Ashton was clearly scared, and not bothering with a facade of toughness- but not because of them. In fact, he hardly seemed to notice them at all, and just kept staring straight ahead.



"NO! Let me go! They're coming!" he shouted as he thrashed and squirmed about madly. "They want my brains!"



Eric smacked him across the face and gripped the back of his neck tightly, then lifted him up into a sitting position and glared at him eye-to-eye. This seemed to snap the collie out of his panic, at least for the moment. It was as if he was seeing Eric for the first time. For a moment, he glared back, but it faded when he remembered why he was running.



"Where. Is. TOD?" Eric demanded.



"Wha-?! I don't-" he started, then gasped as Eric throttled him a bit. "Okay! Enough! He's somewhere back there, in... in some shallow cave!"



"WHAT DID YOU DO TO HIM?!" Amy screamed, wanting to gouge his eyes out with her bare hands at the mere thought of all the things they might find in that cave.



"NOTHING!" he yelled back, then choked a bit as Eric briefly tightened his grip. "W-we were g-going to-... to rough him up a bit, but th-then THEY showed up and-"



"Who?" Eric asked, not entirely believing his story, but curious nonetheless.



"ALIENS! Oh god, they're here! Let me go, I gotta-"



Both Amy and Eric snarled at the same time. "Right, aliens!" Amy snarled and lifted her leg to slam it where no boy ever wanted it to go, but then suddenly everyone froze. They're blood all went cold as a loud, electronic, definitely not-pleasant sound echoed through the woods.



In the brief moment of wide-eyed shock, Eric accidentally loosened his grip and Ashton managed to squirm free and break into an even more panicked run than before.



"...Tod..." Amy whispered, then ran off in the direction of the noise, with Eric close behind.



***



"HERE IT COMES!" Tellox shouted ahead of himself, running at full speed ahead of a blurred mass of metallic limbs and newly-emerged spinning blades. A few smaller trees were felled in its path as it chased him.



Within moments, they were within plain sight. Luckily, the rain had finally slowed to a light sprinkle, at least for the time being. The visibility had thus improved a bit.



"Get ready!" Kes told Tod, then started taking aim with his gun.



Tellox reached the base of the tree, then suddenly dove to the ground and completely covered himself with his coat. The beast leaped on top of him, and it looked like he was a goner. But the sawblades in fact sparked and bounced off the coat.



"NOW!" Kes fired, lighting the surrounding area of the park up with a blinding flash. Luckily the goggles protected Tod's eyes.



The pup swung the bucket around, but accidentally fell down with it. The mud and water landed right into the freshly-formed but quickly self-sealing hole in the top of the thing's armor. Fortunately, Tod landed in a thick patch of mud that cushioned most of the impact.



The metal-creature made some very distressed sounds and started shaking and twitching in uncertain ways. Sparks and fires started to erupt inside it, followed by smoke and some green vapors. Tellox peaked out of his coat and saw it, then quickly pulled Tod into his coat with him, shielding them both just in time to for the robot to erupt into pieces of red-hot metal, showers of embers, and droplets of some unknown, sizzling green and pink liquids that charred the ground where they landed.



Off in the distance, Eric and Amy saw the flash and heard the explosion, and briefly stalled in shock. Amy cried out after Tod again, her eyes brimming with renewed tears. This time Tod heard her and scrambled out of the debris as Tellox eventually got up and pushed some of it aside.



"Amy!" he yelled, his own eyes getting watery. He ran towards her voice, though it was too dark to see her clearly yet.



Kes lept down from the tree and helped his brother up. They both then began sprinting after him, to make sure he didn't trip and hurt himself. Moments later, Amy practically fell on the pup and pulled him tightly into her arms, weeping with relief. Eric knelt down and embraced him as well, although he soon realized they weren't alone.



At first, all he could see were some vaguely anthropomorphic silhouettes in the shadows, behind the bright light of Kes's eyewear. That certainly made Ashton's alien claim seem a lot more believable. And overjoyed as he was at Tod's return, he was quickly filled with new worries and fear. He stared at them and tried to think of something to say while simultaneously trying to get his siblings to stand up and move back.



"Uh-uhm, g-g-guys," he stammered quietly.



Kes chuckled and dimmed his lights a bit so that they could see him and Tellox a bit better. Eric breathed a slight sigh of relief when he saw they weren't all -that- odd looking. Although they were still definitely unusual.



"Hey there. You two must be Eric and Amy," he said as he approached, then reached out a hand. Eric shook it somewhat timidly, then started trying to ask something, but words continued to fail him. "Ah, what a lovely lady. Tis a pleasure to meet you, Amy."



Kes promptly proceeded to bow and kiss Eric's hand with a wide grin. It took a moment for the male fox to react, but he then quickly tugged his hand back. "No- wait, hey, I'm not-!"



Amy looked up and couldn't help but laugh a bit. Even Tod giggled a bit. Tellox walked out of the shadows and rolled his eyes, smirking a bit. "Forgive Kes, he's a goofball," he murmered, rubbing his head a bit. There was a red spot under his hand, where he'd hit an exposed tree root.



Eric blushed and pouted a little, but then noticed the odd-looking gun Kes was carrying in his other hand. "Um..."



Kes blinked, then chuckled and hooked it into his belt. "No worries. It's off. Just finished taking care of a little problem back there," he explained. "With Tod's help, in fact. Isn't that right little guy?"



Tod looked up and nodded, still clinging to Amy and preventing her from getting up.



"What... kind of problem?" Amy asked hesitantly.



"A monster!" Tod blurted out, then shivered and hid his face in her neck. "Big, cold, metal monster..."



"Heh, that about sums it up pretty well actually. Some experimental killer robot gone crazy, basically. Followed us into your dimension, unfortunately."



Eric and Amy stared at Kes and Tellox blankly for a minute. "Ok... there's definitely something weird going on here, but do you honestly expect us to believe you're some sort of... of aliens or something?" Amy asked incredulously.



"Mm, well, sort of. We're not from this universe, anyway. Apparently from the same or a similar world in another one, though, seeing as how we can communicate," Kes explained. He blinked and glanced over at his brother. "You alright Tellie? Normally you're the one to get technical. Come on man, don't make me do the nerd job for ya!" he teased playfully.



Tellox groaned a bit, still nursing the wound on his head. "S-sorry, kinna fuzzy right now..."



Kes noticed it for the first time. "Woah, man, you've got a nasty one there," he remarked, suddenly very concerned. He quickly moved to Tellox's side and took a closer look, gently moving his hand out of the way. "You should've told me you were hurt! We've got to get you to a hospital or something!"



Tellox waved him away. "I-I'll be fine, I've had worse," he mumbled. He was starting to sway a bit.



"Yeah and nearly died! Come on!" Kes continued to urge him, then looked back at the others. "Where's civilization around here? We need to get him-"



"I said I'll be -fine-, Kes," Tellox protested, albeit weakly. "It's just a... little..."



Suddenly he fell over. Kes quickly caught him, and Eric was soon close by. "We... we can take you to our place and call an ambulance from there. It's not very far away."



Together, they both helped Tellox, while Amy carried Tod. They passed the wrecked remains of the robot, which Kes urged them to step around carefully. Eric and Amy looked at it with wide eyes. It wasn't long before they'd left the park, and were on their way home. The rain returned, but only light and misty, with very light wind. Along the way, Kes explained what'd happened, with the occasional interjection from Tod or Tellox- somewhat groggily in the case of the latter.



***



Meanwhile, a second wave of storms was approaching... and a new wave of strange tornadoes.