“Come at me!!”
Strén wasted no time at all – as soon as the words left Siyuakén’s
mouth he pounded the ground with his fists, shattering the rock and throwing up
a dense debris cloud. Siyuakén immediately launched two lightning bolts into
the debris cloud but was caught off-guard as Ind leaped out at her, a Chaos
Sword in each hand. The Electrotechnic quickly blocked the incoming sword
slashes by crossing her arms in front of her, allowing her swinging gear to
absorb the hit; by the time Ind was bringing her hand down for another slice
Siyuakén had fired a grappling hook and was rocketing through the air to the
left. Just as she reeled in the hook, however, the stone beneath her suddenly
exploded upwards, launching her into the air where her forward momentum slammed
her into the wall. Stunned, she fell for half a second before managing to
recover just in time to knock away an incoming block of rock and then catch
herself on the ground below, where she immediately dived to the right as the
stone beneath her exploded upwards again.
Of course I’d be fighting a Geotechnic in a rock arena, Siyuakén scowled
as she dodged several Chaos attacks from Ind. She glanced at the upper half of
the room momentarily before using her grappling hooks to snag and deflect
incoming rocks. Looks like there’s metal behind all the rock. If I can just get to that–?!
Her thoughts were interrupted as Strén sprang forward, dashing toward
the Electrotechnic at surprising speeds. As he charged he raised several
different rocks into the air and then pounded them with his fists, sending them
rocketing toward Siyuakén and forcing her to constantly evade until he was
nearly on top of her. Without breaking his charge he swept his fists downward
in a bid to smash Siyuakén’s skull – and then stumbled over as his muscles
contracted involuntarily. “Wha–?!” he growled, realizing that he had just been
shocked.
“Ha–!” Siyuakén began to taunt, but was forced to shut up as several
arrows of Chaos Energy flew in her direction. She flipped out of the way before
launching a grappling hook toward the upper wall and using it to swing away.
She then reeled in the hook and launched the other at the wall across the room,
using her momentum to swing around in a half circle before reeling in that hook
and re-firing the other hook at the far wall again. By the time she swung back
around to her initial position she had picked up significant speed and used it
to launch a flying kick at Ind, who took it straight to the face – but not
without slashing Siyuakén’s leg with her Chaos Sword. Both girls collapsed to
the ground in pain, but the Electrotechnic was forced to ignore her wound and
throw herself to the right as Strén’s fist smashed into her former location.
She quickly scrambled back to her feet and retreated clumsily, attempting to put
distance between herself and Strén as the two Chaotics traded lightning strikes
and boulders.
Noticing that the Geotechnic had recovered surprisingly quickly from
her stunning electric attack, Siyuakén elected for a slight change in tactics.
Just as Strén launched another rock her way, she dived to the left and then
used her good leg to anchor herself to the ground as she snagged the rock with
a grappling hook and swung it around herself, using her swinging gear as a
tether. When the boulder had arced around her she prepared to release it,
sling-shotting it at Strén – only for the stone to suddenly rocket straight
back toward her, nailing her in the stomach and smashing her into the wall
behind her.
Strén guffawed as the Electrotechnic collapsed. “Puahahahahahah!! Didja
really think that’d work? You ain’t the first tree hopper I’ve crushed to a
pulp!” He stepped closer as he surrounded Siyuakén’s wrists and ankles with
stone and lifted her into the air. Before she was too high off the ground,
however, she applied a massive electric shock to herself, shattering her rocky
bounds and allowing herself to drop to the floor. She stumbled as she attempted
to stand back up, but she managed nonetheless and turned to glare at Strén.
“You’re not bad,” Ind commented, “…it’s really obvious that you’ve
never been in actual combat though! Especially not against Chaotics.”
“Ind, we ain’t here to teach the enemy how ta fight,” Strén reprimanded
the Chaostechnic, and then grinned as he turned back toward Siyuakén. “We ain’t
here ta play fair – we’re here ta have fun!”
“What–?!” the Electrotechnic exclaimed as she was suddenly surrounded
by a rapidly rising circle of stone. In a bid to remain free she fired a
grappling hook upwards and then reeled it in, quickly raising her into the air
past the rising stone barriers – just in time to see a large stone slab flying
her way. Before it hit her, though, a blast of fire half-melted it and slammed
it downwards, where it splattered on the ground and forced both Bleeders to
dive backwards in order to not be burned.
“Looks like I got here just in time!”
“Tch,” Siyuakén smirked, allowing herself to hang in the air next to
Kevérin, who had landed on the rock pillar. “What took you so long?”
“Davídrius was being a big baby about closing his wounds,” Kevérin
replied, and then looked down at the two Bleeders. “So, what’ve we got? A
Geotechnic and… a Chaostechnic, right?”
“Yeah. The Geotechnic’s been doing most of the fighting though. I’m not
sure what types the woman is, I’ve only seen her use Directed- and Weapon-type
attacks.”
“Well then, time to find out!” Kevérin smirked, “Time to show them why
you don’t mess with–“
“Don’t,” Siyuakén interrupted warningly.
“…What?” the Pyrotechnic responded innocently, “I was going to say Hero
Machina.”
“Sure you were.”
“Oh, stop being ridiculous–!?” Kevérin suddenly fell off of the pillar
as it spontaneously disintegrated. He quickly righted himself with several fire
blasts before lowering himself to ground level with a jetstream of combustion.
“Oooh, a Pyrotechnic!” Ind exclaimed, “I don’t think I’ve fought a
Pyrotechnic before! This’ll be fun~!”
“It’s only one of the most common Chaotic types…” Kevérin commented,
“…but if you’ve never fought one before, allow me to show you why we’re so
dangerous!” As soon as the words left his mouth a column of fire erupted out
around him, turning all of the stone within two meters to molten rock.
“Hehehehehe~!”
Ind giggled in response, “Maybe it’s time I started being serious, then!”
“Tch!” Kevérin immediately launched several fireballs at the
Chaostechnic before dodging a stray stone flying through the air towards him.
He threw a wave of fire toward the Geotechnic before turning back toward Ind –
just in time for Siyuakén to land on the ground to his side.
“You take care of Strén!” she ordered, “I’ll deal with her!”
“There you go, ordering me around again,” Kevérin scowled, “I’m the CO
here–!?”
“Quit your talkin’ an’ focus on the battle, whelp!” Strén demanded as
he launched the Pyrotechnic into the air with a rock slab. Kevérin immediately
flipped himself around mid-air and slammed his fist into the slab, causing a
blast of fire at the moment of impact that shattered the stone and rained
molten debris down on Strén, who quickly shielded himself with more stone.
Kevérin then propelled himself downwards, slamming into Strén’s cover with a
fire-enveloped fist just as the Bleeder Chaotic punched the cover with great force,
reversing the Pyrotechnic’s course and sending him flying into the far wall.
With no way to directly decrease his momentum, Kevérin instead rapidly heated
the wall, making it just soft enough that he wasn’t stunned when he hit it. He
then jumped forwards and blasted the wall, incinerating the stone that had been
covering it before turning back toward Strén just in time to deflect a hail of
rocks.
Across the room, Siyuakén glanced over at Kevérin’s actions just long
enough to lose her advantage on Ind. The Chaostechnic ducked away from the
Electrotechnic and then dove to the side, shouting, “Chaos Impact!” A second later Siyuakén was knocked over by a blunt force to her
stomach, giving Ind leeway to begin pelting her with Chaos Strike and Arrow
attacks. The Electrotechnic quickly tried to recover and roll over to evade the
attacks, doing so just in time to evade an Arrow – but not in time to evade a
Strike. Gritting her teeth in pain, she reflexively fired a grappling hook at
Ind; the Chaostechnic side-stepped the hook, but the moment it passed her Siyuakén
forced an enormous amount of electricity down the cord, enough to cause the
electricity to arc to Ind and seriously burn her left arm. Reeling back in
pain, the Chaostechnic was unable to evade as Siyuakén prepared to unleash a
particularly painful shock – until she was suddenly flipped by the stone beneath
her feet. Startled, Siyuakén was barely able to stabilize herself and throw
herself backward to avoid being crushed under Strén’s fist.
“Hey, get back here!” Kevérin demanded, rocketing forward and
attempting to slam a flame-enveloped fist into the Geotechnic’s back, only to
miss and go flying past. Strén reached over and grabbed the Pyrotechnic by the
back of his shirt, hoisting him into the air and then throwing him at Siyuakén.
The two Chaotics collided and tumbled to the ground as Ind stepped forward
gleefully.
“Chaos Explosion!”
The ground underneath Kevérin and Siyuakén spontaneously erupted,
tossing the two of them aside and spewing forth metal and rocky debris. They
were little able to shield themselves as they scrambled away from the debris
and stood opposite the room from the Bleeders.
“…They’re playing with us,” Kevérin scowled, “There’s no reason she
couldn’t have just used Explosion on us instead of the ground.”
“Then we should end this now,” Siyuakén declared, “…I have an idea–“
she was interrupted as a stone brushed by her head, followed closely by three
Chaos Arrows. “Just, try to clear out a lot of the stone in the middle, so you
can see the metal floor!”
“What? Why–?” Kevérin attempted to ask but was forced to evade a Chaos
Strike. He then began pushing back with several flame blasts, haphazardly
sweeping the room with fire while being careful to not hit Siyuakén. Despite
this, Strén managed to close the distance between the two and began assaulting
the Pyrotechnic with a seemingly unending barrage of stone, forcing Kevérin to
focus his attacks more and leave Ind to Siyuakén once more.
This time the Electrotechnic offered Ind no quarter. The moment she had
a chance she fired off several lightning bolts, nailing the Chaostechnic in the
back and arm. Yelping in pain, Ind quickly whirled around and began launching
attacks of her own, some of which Siyuakén deflected with her grappling hooks.
The Electrotechnic then reeled in the hooks and fired one at the ceiling before
reeling in the cord, drawing her closer to the ceiling in a wide swinging arc
that swept past Ind. The Chaostechnic muttered “Chaos Dual Blades” and then brandished the resulting weapons
in her hands, preparing to slash at Siyuakén when she flew past – however, the
Electrotechnic was prepared. She released the grappling hook as she held a hand
toward Ind and then produced an electric arc to the woman’s Chaos Swords. The
weapons didn’t conduct the shock to Ind’s body, but it did produce sufficient
force to knock her over sideways and require Strén to momentarily break his
offense against Kevérin to raise the stone around Ind and protect her from
further electric assault.
The
lull allowed the Pyrotechnic to suddenly push forward, assailing Strén with
fire from nearly all directions until the Bleeder eventually just reached over
and grabbed Kevérin by his collar. With a short yelp the Pyrotechnic was
hoisted into the air and then thrown up and over Strén’s shoulder before he
turned around and began firing stones at Kevérin with similar rapidity to a
machine gun. Kevérin quickly produced a shield of fire to incinerate the
incoming stones before they could hit him – and then realized that he was
almost directly over the center of the floor. Remembering Siyuakén’s
suggestion, he enveloped both of his fists in flame, superheated them, and then
propelled himself downward with a fire blast, slamming both of his fists into
the ground as he landed. The impact created a great explosion of fire that blew
Strén away, incinerated the rock for meters around, and heated the metal
underneath to red-hot temperatures. Kevérin quickly began siphoning the excess
heat out of the metal and using it to fuel his continued fire barrage against
Strén until he was certain that the metal had returned to room temperature.
“Siyuakén!”
“On it–!” she started, but was interrupted as a Chaos Arrow flew by her
face. She ducked, whirled around, and launched a lightning blast in Ind’s
direction just in time to deflect the next two Arrows headed her way. The
Electrotechnic then fired her grappling hooks at the far wall and reeled
herself in just in time to evade a Chaos Explosion. Then she fired her other
grappling hook at the far ceiling, releasing the first hook and swinging back
to the center of the room before releasing the second hook and landing in the
center with a roll. As she fired her grappling hook at the ceiling again, she
shouted to Kevérin, “Get in the air!!”
“What–? Uh, okay!” the Pyrotechnic uneasily responded, ducking away
from Strén’s fist before jumping into the air and then hovering via continued
combustion underfoot. He used this method to fly halfway up the room before glancing
down at Siyuakén, who had just crouched to place her hand on the floor – and
was about to be attacked simultaneously by Ind and Strén. Scowling, Kevérin
prepared to draw the Bleeders’ attention away when his hair began to stand on
end. “Wha…?”
Suddenly, the entire room flashed brilliantly as a deafening shock and
shattering sound reverberated through the walls. All of the stone in the room
exploded away from the walls and floor as both Ind and Strén suffered immense
electric shocks and crumpled to the floor, becoming half-buried with stone
debris as the rocks began raining back down to the ground.
“Ho… ly… shit,” Kevérin whistled admirably before gradually lowering
himself to the floor beside Siyuakén. “What did you do?”
“I… I forced a… a whole lot of current… through the walls… and floor…”
the Electrotechnic panted.
“’A whole lot’? You probably could’ve powered a small Tekdecénian town
for two hours with what you just did–! Siyuakén?!” Kevérin exclaimed as she
collapsed to the floor as well. He quickly crouched next to her and took her
pulse. “…She’s still alive. Just unconscious. Phew…” He stood up again and
surveyed the damage to the room. Damn… he thought to himself, …I had no idea
she could do this. Sure, she KO’d herself, but, wow. I really need to step up
my game. He then realized the consequences of being the only person still
conscious in the room. God damn it. Now I have to carry her ass all
the way back. Ngh… guess I’ll go check whether or not the Bleeders are dead,
first… he moved on to perform the tasks, grumbling the entire time.
* * *
3 Days Later
“Well… looks like y’all are better than I thought.”
“I told you we weren’t rookies,” Kevérin replied confidently.
“Keh, well, I see that now,” Davídrius smirked, “Taking on both Strén
and that woman, and taking them both out… I’ll admit, in hindsight, I’m not
sure I could’ve done it.”
“You’re not sure you could’ve done
it?” Siyuakén echoed, glancing incredulously at the Introtechnic’s many
bandages.
“…Shut up,” he growled, “You got
injured too!”
“It
was a superficial cut. Nowhere near as serious as your injuries.”
“...Tch,
if I had been in an open space like you said you were, I wouldn’t’ve been
beaten so badly.”
“Mm hmm,” Siyuakén nodded patronizingly. Davídrius scowled, but chose
to drop that line of conversation.
He turned back to Kevérin. “So, with Strén gone, the Bleeders aren’t
much of a threat. I’m fine with leaving this place and joining y’all…” he
glanced over at Kaoné, “…if you’re willing to let me.”
Kaoné shifted uncomfortably as Kevérin and Siyuakén turned their
attention to her as well. “What are you looking at me for?”
“I’m fine with him joining,” Kevérin commented, “So is Siyuakén. You’re
the only one who’s shown reservations.”
“Complete inverse from the start,” Davídrius muttered amusingly.
“…I guess it’s fine,” the Materiatechnic slowly responded.
Davídrius raised an eyebrow suspiciously. “You ‘guess’?” he
echoed, “You sure?”
“Yes. …I’m sure,” Kaoné nodded. For now... she added mentally.
“Alright,” Kevérin rubbed his hands together expectantly, “What’s next
then? We go get Kievkenalis?”
“Actually, no,” Kaoné refuted, “Commander Nikéyin called in yesterday…
she wants us to return to Nimaliaka Central.”
“She called? Here? How?” the Pyrotechnic frowned in confusion.
“The compound has an old comm receiver,” Davídrius explained, “…I
could’ve sworn the thing was disabled, but, well, what do I know about
machinery.”
“Chaos Engines in mechs…” Kevérin shook his head amusingly.
“Hey, there was no way I could’ve known that–!”
“Anyway,” Siyuakén spoke up, “Why do we need to go to Nimaliaka?”
“For a mission brief…” Kaoné commented, “Something to do with the
Earthians.”
“Tch,” Davídrius scowled, “I thought y’all were investigating the Chaos
Energy Quake, not acting as interstellar baby-sitters.”
“Maybe it’s related to the Quake, somehow,” Kaoné suggested hopefully.
“Regardless, we won’t know until we get there,” Siyuakén stated, and
then glanced back at the Introtechnic. “As soon as you can move around
reasonably again, we should head out.”
“What do you mean ‘as soon as’?” Davídrius smirked, hopping out of the
bed to his feet. He winced slightly, but tried his best to hide it. “See?
Perfectly fine. I could head out today.”
“In that case, let’s do that!” Kevérin exclaimed, jumping toward the
door, “Hill–!” he paused as he felt the disapproving stares of Kaoné and
Siyuakén burrowing into his back. “Uh… what I meant was, of course: Hero
Machina, move out!”
* * * * *
* * * * *
Data Entry: Earthians
The Earthians of Earth are the newest civilization to the galactic stage, and are thusly the least advanced and hold the least territory. However, they are widely considered the luckiest – in fact they are the only galactic civilization to have benefited from the Chaos Energy Quake. When the Quake occurred, the Earthians were still isolated to their solar system and had yet to discover the potential of Chaos Energy, so they did not suffer a technological crisis like the rest of the galaxy. Furthermore, one of the natural disasters caused by the Quake opened up a sinkhole to a cave network that revealed a hidden Interstellar Gate; this Gate allowed the Earthians to begin exploring the galaxy and settling new planets. Five years after they began carefully expanding into the galaxy, they stumbled upon a Nimalian colony, thus introducing Earth to the galactic stage. That was ten years before the formation of the Nimalian Systems Defense and Hero Machina, around Earthian year AD 2100.
The Earthians are advanced in their own right, but they have yet to widely adopt many of the life-improving advancements that the rest of the galaxy employ regularly, such as the universal blindness cure that lead to AR vision being so widespread. Furthermore they have only a rudimentary Interstellar Space Fleet consisting of six frigates, and Chaos Energy-based technology is not prevalent. Despite this, the Earthians are learning quickly; many projections foresee the Earthians catching up to the Nimalians, technologically, within the next century. The Earthians are not within reasonable range of a Transpace, however, which limits their expansion to the Interstellar Gate Network.
In terms of might and power, the Earthians are not very spectacular. They are the only race in the galaxy that has no Chaotic potential – in other words, no Earthians are Chaotics. Their political authority is uncertain as well; shortly after reaching the galactic stage the civilizations of the Core Space Alliance pressured the Earthian nations into forming a central authority that would take care of all extrasolar matters. That authority was eventually created in the form of two agencies: the Department of Extrasolar Diplomacy (DEDi) and Space Exploration, Reconnaissance, and Response Command (SERRCom). The fact that the Earthians created two extrasolar entities has become both a point of contention and amusement for the rest of the galaxy; coupled with the fact that Earthian nations have a tendency to fiercely disagree and quarrel with each other, much of the galaxy is not optimistic of what the young civilization will be able to accomplish.
No comments:
Post a Comment