Ionizing
Legacy Name: Ionizing

Ever since I met that man… that Euclid… my life was changed - literally. I was young and naïve… but let me start from the beginning.

I am a scientist. For years I had dedicated countless hours into working on my own research, which primarily focuses on harvesting energy from unique elements found in Subeta, such as [REDACTED] and [REDACTED]. I've been passionate about producing cleaner forms of energy from natural resources for a long time. I was particularly interested in [REDACTED], which has the potential to produce vast amounts of energy from a small amount of of fuel. The best part of it is that there are no toxic byproducts! That means that the beauty of Subeta can be preserved for just a bit longer. Unfortunately, research is expensive. I had had been greatly limited in recent years by the lack of funding as interest in my work started to dwindle, and I soon found myself paying out of pocket. Eventually I had to stop. I must have sent hundreds of letters and applications to appeal for more funds, but without success. I felt empty, like a part of me had been taken away. For half a year this continued and I was at a very low point in my life.

One day, a man approached me. This was, of course, Euclid. He offered me a hefty sum of money to work for him. He would continue to fund my research for as long as I needed, but on one condition. The energy generated would be used to power his invention, the Zapper, which required astronomical amounts of energy to keep running. I did not know much about the Zapper at the time, but I was desperate and agreed straight away. Euclid assured me it would be a win-win situation, and that's all I needed to hear.

I became more motivated than ever, and began to work tirelessly day and night. I had developed a small reactor that could be attached directly to the Zapper to power it which also made it easy for me to monitor the energy input and output after each Zap. On the off chance that Euclid wasn't in the lab, he had also authorized me to operate the Zapper for my own purposes, though on inanimate objects only of course. Over time, I came to know more about the Zapper as well. The existing model of the Zapper amasses energy from multiple unnamed sources in Subeta. A high energy current surges through the Pet and re-arranges its atoms, effectively changing its genetic makeup to an extent that an entirely different species or colour can be produced. In fact, the Zapper is notorious for producing horribly disfigured Pets, which Euclid passes off as his "Experiments"! Other undesirable events have been known to occur, including changing the accompanying Minion into slime, or one's items into dust. The consequences of this has been profound, including psychological distress, financial loss, and mounting mistrust against scientific developments in Subeta. This is just an educated guess, but I thought that there might be a technical flaw in the regulator of the Zapper so it was unable to control the amount of energy surging through it, causing erratic dispersion to surrounding non-targeted areas. As a fellow scientist, I advised Euclid to prioritize stabilisation of the Zapper to lessen the frequency of these unpredictable negative outcomes, but I don't think my message got through to him at all! He had been carried away by the popularity of his Experiments, and told me to focus on my own research instead.

That fateful day, I had stayed behind to finish up an trial run. I loaded up some [REDACTED] with a new co-reactant that I had been experimenting with, and placed my usual placeholder item (a Dark Moonrock, which produces an array of interesting outcomes due to its unique chemical structure) into the Transformation Zone. I pressed the START button on the Zapper, then eagerly grabbed my logbook to chart the result I had been waiting for.

The Zapper sprang to life. It shuddered and groaned a bit, as it often did after a period of inactivity. But I quickly realized that something was wrong. The noise it emitted grew with frightening intensity, and it began shaking and clattering with a ferocity I had never seen before. It was as if there was a monster within it that was trying to claw its way out. It released a shrill, piercing cry, then a flash of light filled the room, so blindingly bright I saw nothing else in my visual field. This was followed shortly by an intense painful shock that radiated from my core to my peripheries, immobilizing my body and joints; I felt as though someone with a thousand knives had sliced through my skin and bone, then ripped my vertebral column out, if that was even anatomically possible. Although I had been blinded, I was able to perceive myself falling onto the floor. The pain and the light culminated into a grand crescendo, and then exploded…

Into the sweet relief of nothingness.

I don't remember much of what happened immediately after the accident. I suppose I was in a dissociative state for a while. I later found out I had been a victim of the very thing I was trying to prevent. A freak torrent of energy had surged through the Zapper unhindered, at an unimaginable magnitude, and ripped into the center of my body like a beast with its prey. The Zapper itself was largely intact, save for a few fragments of plastic and metal that had been dislodged. A piece of shrapnel had wedged itself in my left eye socket, and I lost most of my vision in that eye since then. The colour of my pelt had turned dull and dark, as if it had been singed. I had to leave the lab shortly after that because I developed debilitating tremors and palpitations before I even stepped foot in it. However, I knew that even if my brain had tried to forget that horrific incident, the multitude of scars on my body would be a lasting reminder of what had happened.

What am I doing now, you may ask. Well, I've had enough of Euclid, unsurprisingly, and I've jumped ship, so to speak, to Asmodeus' side. It took a few months before I was able to step foot into a lab again, and I have yet to resume work in my original line of research. I am still waiting for the day when I can do so, and I know when that time comes, my wounds will have finally healed.

Credits:
Story by fairybones
Profile code by helix
Edited by fairybones
Background from National Geographic