“Hero Machina… engage!!”
Davídrius wasted no time as he blasted forward, whipping the sabers out
of his sword boxes and slashing through all of the roots in his way. He quickly
reached the base of the tree and began to run up the trunk when part of the
bark spontaneously lashed out and grabbed him by his ankle, ripping him off of
the tree and launching him across the forest floor. He tumbled to a stop just
behind Kevérin, who raised his arms forward. “Watch out!” he shouted just
before dousing the entire area with intense flames. He stood back for a moment
to admire his handiwork – only for a hole to split open in the side of the
giant infected tree and begin flooding the mini-valley with water.
“Well, that worked,” Christeané deadpanned as Kaoné quickly rose the
dirt beneath their feet to remain above the water-level.
“Where the hell did all that water come from…?” Kevérin scowled,
“Kaoné, can you do something about it?”
The Materiatechnic turned toward the water for a few seconds before
quickly whipping around and knocking back several infected animals with a dirt
wall. “I can’t manipulate it…”
“So anything so much as touched by the infection can’t
be directly affected, is that it?” Davídrius snorted, “I guess this means we
should avoid the water at all costs, then?”
“Chaos Assist!” Kievkenalis called, imbuing all of Hero
Machina with a boost of Chaos Energy before whipping around and directing his
hands at several approaching creatures. “Chaos
Strike!
Chaos Strike!” he called repeatedly, before glancing over
at Kevérin. “Kaoné and I will keep the forest off your back. Focus on… whatever
it is you plan to do!”
Siyuakén watched the Chaos- and Materiatechnic spread out and push back
the forest creatures before she turned back to the rest of Hero Machina.
“What is the plan–?”
She was interrupted as the metallic worm atop the tree let out a
deafening, steely screech. It then split in half, with its front half falling
into the water below… and then emerging as a smaller version of the Sunova
Dragon.
“Well that definitely eliminates the possibility of coincidence…”
Davídrius brandished his blades before leaping straight up, whirling himself
around in the air and almost tearing into the dragon as it flew past. It
slammed its tail into the Introtechnic, knocking him straight down toward the
water – only for him to be knocked out of the way again by a certain hammer. He
caught himself on the tree by stabbing one of his sabers into the bark before
turning irately to Christeané, who had blown a hole into the tree with his
hammer.
“That hurt like fuck!” the Tresédian scowled.
“Better than falling into that water!” the Superstrength Introtechnic
replied as he slammed his hammer into the tree again, thoroughly hollowing it
out. The bark let out a loud crack, prompting the two Introtechnics to rapidly
vacate the tree – just as the hole filled with a viscous silver material that
quickly solidified.
Siyuakén immediately fired off two lightning shocks at the new filling
before directing a large current into the water, frying the base of the tree.
The dragon roared and immediately dive-bombed the small platform, forcing the
Chaotics to jump back. Kevérin quickly retaliated by blasting the creature in
its mouth, sending it recoiling. It then jumped back up into the air, where it
turned toward the group and began launching fireballs itself, fireballs that
were barely countered by the Pyrotechnic. Siyuakén followed up by triggering a
massive lightning-strike from the rainclouds above – only for the strike to
instead meet the canopy-high metallic web, the electricity dispersing through
the beams as though the system were one giant lightning rod.
In response, Christeané began whirling his hammer around before
releasing it directly upwards in an attempt to reach – and then smash – the
canopy web. The half of the metallic creature still connected to the tree
quickly picked up on his trajectory, however, and began launching metal
projectiles at him, forcing him to yank his hammer back down and use it to
deflect all of the projectiles. The change in momentum prevented him from
reaching the treetops – but Davídrius quickly leaped up and used him as a
springboard to clear the final distance. The Superstrength Introtechnic glared
after him as he landed on the high branches and then took off toward part of
the metal webbing, sabers out and ready to slice, until two of the branches
suddenly came to life and grabbed Davídrius by his ankles, dangling
him upside down. A third branch moved up and prepared to impale him, but
he quickly slashed his restraints and began falling to the water below – only
to grab Siyuakén’s ankle as she swung around the infected tree.
“That’s the second time!” she shouted down at him, “The second time
someone had to save you!”
“Tch – shush,” Davídrius scowled as the Electrotechnic released her
grappling hook. Davídrius took the opportunity to catapult himself into the
surrounding forest as Siyuakén changed her direction with another grappling
hook, swinging through the air and offering shocks alternatively to the dragon
and the tree as she maintained a current down the grappling line. The dragon
quickly redirected its attention to her, allowing the wind generated by its
powerful wings to blow away the streams of fire Kevérin launched at it. Annoyed
at being ignored, the Pyrotechnic launched himself into the air with a blast of
flame before rocketing himself at the dragon, nailing it with a flame-powered
punch just as Siyuakén shocked its giant maw. It recoiled from the attack,
seemingly stunned – and was then blown to smithereens as Christeané’s hammer
smashed into and obliterated it. The three Chaotics continued on their
trajectories around the tree as the dragon’s pieces fell into the water below,
splashing the platform Kaoné had created with water.
“That could be a problem…” Christeané frowned as he looked down at the
platform from a newly-created hole in the tree trunk. He then smashed his
hammer into the trunk again before launching himself at the canopy above just
in time to avoid being trapped by the silver filling. Kevérin and Siyuakén
continued up and around the tree until they were on level with the half of the
metallic worm that had remained attached to the tree. The Pyrotechnic
immediately began blasting it with fire as Siyuakén flung herself up into the
canopy where she grabbed a branch and quickly began climbing through the final branch
layers until she reached the metal web, upon which she blasted it with a
massive shock. The moment she did, the entire tree rumbled as the worm let out
another screech – and then a branch knocked her sideways. She fell out of the
tree and quickly caught herself just as she spotted Christeané standing in the
canopy just above the metal worm. He launched himself straight up, demolishing
part of the metal web on the way before throwing himself down at the worm,
hammer-first–
– only to be suddenly knocked aside by the dragon’s tail as it launched
itself from the pool below.
“What–?!” the Introtechnic scowled just as Davídrius launched himself
from the edge of the water and caught Christeané mid-fall before catching
himself on the tree.
“I thought I destroyed that thing!” the Master Lieutenant exclaimed.
“Of course this wouldn’t be easy…” Davídrius sighed irately, “…the hell
are we even supposed to do?”
“Well, first we ought to destroy that web, so Siyuakén can just shock
everything,” Christeané suggested, “…hang on.”
“Wait, what are you doing?!” Davídrius questioned apprehensively as the
Superstrength Introtechnic let himself drop and then grabbed the Tresédian by
the leg before he began swinging himself back and forth. Then, at the apex of
one of the swings, he launched his hammer upwards, dragging both himself and
Davídrius through the air.
Spotting the two Introtechnics, Kevérin quickly diverted the dragon’s
attention with another blast of fire before creating two blades of flame on his
wrists and throwing himself at the creature. He stabbed into the dragon’s chest
and then flared the blades, cleanly incinerating the dragon’s guts before
falling away and blasting back toward the tree, watching the creature carefully
as it fell again into the water below.
Above him, Siyuakén swung around the tree before suddenly changing her
direction with a quick grapple firing, successfully evading several metallic
missiles and throwing herself at the tree worm. She immediately diverted to the
side by firing her other grappling hook, barely scraping by the metallic
creature as she zapped it, blowing off one of its arms. She danced nimbly
around its base as it attempted to grab her with its remaining arm, offering
multiple shocks all the way – until the bark below her feet lurched, tripping
her up and allowing the worm’s arm to wrap around, grab her by her wrists, and
swing her directly in front of the creature, where a hole slowly cracked open
as it brought her closer, as if to eat her.
But it had no chance – Kevérin rocketed himself upwards and blasted the
final arm off of the creature, freeing Siyuakén to shove a lightning strike
down the worm’s maw as she flipped through the air and prepared to swing off
again. Just as she fired her grappling hook, however, the dragon burst from the
water below, flying straight up and snatching the Pyro- and Electrotechnics
straight out of the air. It slammed them both into the tree before backing off
slightly, the two dazed Chaotics unable to take advantage of the lull. But before
the dragon could do anything else, Davídrius leaped down from above, shoving
both of his rapiers into the creature’s neck before whipping out his sabers to
cleanly slice off the dragon’s arms and then its head. He quickly sheathed his
sabers, grabbed his rapiers, and leaped back up to the canopy as Kevérin and
Siyuakén freed themselves and followed him upward, allowing the dragon to once
again fall into the water below.
“It keeps regenerating…” Kevérin scowled once the three Chaotics were
gathered on one of the lower branches.
“It must be that water,” Siyuakén suggested, “There must be something
in the water that can heal it…”
“Well, you’re the Electrotechnic here,” Davídrius pointed out, “Can’t
you just shock the whole thing and be over with it?”
“Maybe,” she responded, “but we shouldn’t let ourselves get distracted
by the dragon. We still need to take down the tree…”
She trailed off as another segment of the metal webbing collapsed into
the water below, followed shortly by Christeané, who smashed his hammer down on
the front of the metal worm, shredding its entire front. He caught himself at
the base of the worm and smashed his hammer into it again, ripping it from its
foundations and sending it toppling to the water below.
“…Or we could do that,” Davídrius smirked before launching himself down
at the now-vacant top of the tree. Kevérin quickly followed, and then Siyuakén.
After swinging once, she released her grappling hook as she swung toward the
tree – and was snatched out of the air as the dragon blasted out of the water
at before-unseen speeds and snatched the grappling hook out of the air with its
jaw. It then dove straight down, dragging the Electrotechnic with it as it
disappeared into the water below. Due to the shock of the sudden direction
change, Siyuakén was barely able to register that she was mid-air before she
came within meters of the water’s surface – and suddenly began slamming through
dozens of thin ice shields, her grappling line cut. Her descent speed rapidly
slowed until she landed on a final, floating ice platform, merely bruised all
over as opposed to utterly crushed against the surface of the water, or
whatever demise might have befallen her below it.
“Siyuakén!!”
“Rebehka–!” the Electrotechnic exclaimed, quickly stumbling to her feet
as the Cryotechnic jumped down from the top of the tree valley, freezing the
water just before she landed on it. She immediately ran over to her friend,
freezing the water the whole way before leaping at Siyuakén in a giant bear
hug.
Christeané, Davídrius, and Kevérin all stared down from above. The
Tresédian then turned to look at his fellow Introtechnic blankly. “That’s
Rebehka?”
Christeané smirked. “Yep. That’s Rebehka.”
“Well it’s nice that they’re friends and all,” Kevérin frowned, “but
we are still in the middle of a fight here–!?”
He was interrupted by a deafening, metallic screech, loud enough to
cause the three boys to clasp their ears in pain. Davídrius recovered the
fastest and immediately began searching for the source of the sound – just as
all of the metal hive structures, which had previously been hanging dormant
from the lowest canopy levels, fell into the water below. Shortly after, the
entire tree began rumbling, prompting the three boys to throw themselves from
the tree as Rebehka caught them all with ice platforms.
“Hi, I’m Transfer Captain Kevérin Tyrion, CO of Hero Machina, nice to
meet you,” Kevérin rapidly greeted Rebehka as he and the two Introtechnics
jumped down from the tree, “Now freeze the water!!”
“Ah, right!” she responded, immediately freezing the entire surface of
the large water pool – and then freezing the deeper contents. And then, for
good measure, she froze the large tree as well.
“...What.” Kevérin blinked.
“What? You told me to freeze the water,” Rebehka replied.
“Well, yeah, but… wow,” the Pyrotechnic whistled in awe, “…I didn’t
expect that.”
“Oh. Well, thank you,” the Cryotechnic grinned.
“That can’t be it, though…” Davídrius cut in, “As impressive as that
was, the worm thing already broke out of the ice once, and who knows what was
about to happen after all that rumbling…” he trailed off as the ice surrounding
the tree spontaneously shattered. Kevérin and Rebehka both immediately blasted
the trunk with their respective elements, generating a steam explosion that
rained bits of wood and metallic debris within several meters of the tree. And
indeed, after the steam had cleared there was no tree left behind…
…because a giant five-tailed, spike-backed wolf-like metallic creature
had just burst out of it!
“They just keep gettin’ weirder!” Christeané scowled.
“This must mean we’re close!” Kevérin exclaimed, “If we broke the tree…
it must be almost dead!”
“Or that tree was a cocoon and we just released the monster inside,”
Davídrius countered.
“Quite the optimist, aren’t we,” Rebehka quipped.
“We can’t all be happy little damsels in distress, now
can we?”
“’Damsel in distress’? Excuse me, but I’m hardly–!”
“Hey, stop arguing – here it comes!” Kevérin exclaimed as he began lobbing
fireballs. The huge creature charged them head on as it opened its mouth,
revealing building flames inside – until it was knocked to the side by a sudden
blast of energy. Another lightning-like strike of purple energy hit the
creature as several snapping noises were heard from above – just as rain
started pouring down like never before.
“The canopy's broken and the forest is clear! For now…” Kievkenalis
exclaimed as he jumped down next to the rest of Hero Machina, “Everything just
sorta… collapsed, two minutes ago.”
“What is that?!” Kaoné questioned as she slid over to
the group shortly after the Chaostechnic.
“I… may be able to answer that…” Rebehka frowned,
“…but after we’re done here.”
“Good,” Davídrius nodded, “Now let’s take care of that thing!” He immediately
dashed off toward the metallic creature – or attempted to, at least. Instead of
actually taking off, he slipped on the ice and crashed face-first into the
ground. Kevérin and Kievkenalis quickly jumped forward to block the fallen
Introtechnic from the charging creature, drawing its attention with a
combination of flame and chaos attacks. Meanwhile the Tresédian stumbled back
to a standing position before turning to glare at Rebehka.
“…It’s not my fault that ice is low friction,” she
responded defensively.
“The two of us can handle that thing anyways, I’m sure,” Siyuakén added
before firing a grappling hook at the foliage sitting up at the edge of the
valley and using it to swing off, with Rebehka quickly skating after her on the
ice.
Davídrius glared after them. “And I thought just Siyuakén was
annoying…” he growled.
“Relax, they aren’t actually that bad,” Christeané slapped the
Tresédian on the shoulder, inadvertently sending them both sliding away from
each other.
“The fuck, man?!”
“Uh… oops.”
“Tch, I’m outta here,” Davídrius drew one of his rapiers and stabbed it
into the ice, using it as a springboard to launch himself up to the edge of the
valley.
“Hey, wait a minute!” Christeané called after him, “Are you just going
to leave me here?!”
“Doesn’t sound like a bad idea…”
“What?! No, that’s a terrible idea! I’m just as
useless on ice as you are!”
“Useless? Hey, I could save myself. Do the same.”
“…This is a horrible way to start a friendship.”
“What friendship?”
The two Introtechnics were startled out of their bickering by a sudden
explosion across the ice arena. Out of the smoke tumbled Kevérin, who hit the
ice hard before jumping back to his feet just in time to evade being smashed by
one of the creature’s tails. He then jumped back into the air, hovering a safe
distance from the smoke as Siyuakén dived past him, her palms sparking with
electricity. Kaoné quickly cleared the smoke just in time for Rebehka to raise
an ice shield and block one of the creature’s attacks, allowing Siyuakén to
slide under the creature’s belly and unleash all of her charged-up electricity.
As soon as she emerged from the other side Kievkenalis dived under the creature
in the other direction, directing his hands toward the creature’s belly and
shouting, “Chaos Cannon!”
A sphere of Chaos Energy blasted upwards and straight through the
monster’s stomach, but the damage didn’t slow it down. Anchoring itself to the
ice by stabbing its tails into it, the creature launched itself forwards,
nearly bowling over Kaoné and Siyuakén. Rebehka quickly raised the ice in front
of the two Chaotics like a ramp, sending the monster flying through the air
uncontrollably. Kevérin took advantage of the opportunity to continually blast
it with fire until it crashed into the ground and then slid into the wall of
the small valley. It immediately jumped to its feet before returning fire with
several fireballs, which Kievkenalis easily deflected with Chaos Deflect. The
Chaostechnic followed up with several Chaos Strikes, slightly stunning the
creature, but not enough to cause it to fail evading a lightning blast from
Siyuakén. A pillar of ice suddenly rose underneath the creature, flinging it
into the air – where it withdrew its tails into its body and spawned two pairs
of wings instead.
“Oh, come on!” Kevérin scowled, “Really?!”
“Chaos Cannon! Chaos
Cannon!” Kievkenalis shouted,
directing the energy projectiles at the creature as it began rising into the
air. “…It’s getting away!”
“This is ridiculous…” the Pyrotechnic growled before launching himself into
the air and engaging the large monster. He fired several fireballs at it before
flying close himself, his fists enveloped in flame. With a roar, the creature
suddenly spun around, whacking Kevérin with its wings, but the Pyrotechnic
managed to whip himself around and create two flame swords extending from his
hands just in time to stab and shred two of its wings. He followed with several
blasts of fire to redirect himself up through the air, evading the creature’s
own attacks the whole way. After simply flying around for a couple seconds,
Kevérin finally responded with a blast wave, sending the creature recoiling
before moving a little to the side and causing a burst of light, drawing the
monster’s attention back to him. Just as it moved to attack again, however,
Davídrius suddenly slammed into its jaw rapier-first, using the weapon to pin
the creature’s maw shut. He then leaped to the creature’s back, stabbing one of
his sabers in to stabilize himself before slicing off all of the wings and
stabbing his other saber into the back of the creature’s head. Yet the monster
still did not yield – it thrashed violently, attempting to throw the
Introtechnic off of its back as it ripped its mouth open and began again to
attack Kevérin. The Pyrotechnic was about to respond with his own flames when
Davídrius suddenly leaped off of the creature’s back – just as Christeané
rocketed by. The Superspeed Introtechnic grabbed the battlehammer tether and
yanked downwards hard before letting go and falling to the ground as Christeané
grabbed his hammer and whirled around in mid-air to slam it down on the
creature’s back, launching it straight down into the ice. It impacted with
great force, crumbling a great deal of its body – and still, it attempted to
stand. With a quick prompt from Kievkenalis, Rebehka launched the Chaostechnic
into the air over the creature; just as he passed over it, he shouted, “Chaos… Impact!!”
A sudden invisible force crashed into the monster from above, smashing
it even further into the ice. Before it could attempt to move again, Siyuakén
stepped forward and triggered a massive lightning strike from the rainclouds
above just after Rebehka had super-cooled the creature’s metallic segments,
causing it to turn into a charged superconductor and wrecking the rest of its
body. Shortly after Rebehka froze it through and then encased it in ice,
rendering it incapable of even repairing itself.
“…Well,” Kevérin commented, impressed, as he landed on the ice next to
the frozen creature. “…Did that do it?”
“…I think so,” Rebehka responded after several moments of silence, “it
isn’t trying to move.”
“Chaos Detect,” Kievkenalis muttered, and then nodded. “It
isn’t completely dead, but I think it’s close. …It looks like there’s a bunch
of smaller things inside, though?”
“Are they about to burst out?” Siyuakén questioned, suddenly on guard.
“No… they’re too small for that. They’re just as close to death as the
big thing anyways,” the Chaostechnic reported, “…do you know what they are?”
“…Sort of,” Siyuakén replied, “Let’s just say we were probably lucky
things turned out like this.”
“Is this about whatever it was that happened on that Earthian colony?”
Christeané asked as he and Davídrius slowly slid over to the group.
“Yeah, but let’s not talk about it here,” the Electrotechnic pointed
out, “We should get out of here.”
“I second that,” Rebehka quickly declared, “I’ve been here… for far too
long.”
“What about the rest of the research team?” Kaoné asked, “…did they
survive?”
“…No…” the Cryotechnic responded quietly, “…most of them died before we
even crashed. …But now isn’t the time for stories; I can explain more about
what happened once we get out of here. I think I may be able to fill in several
blanks, as far as the metallic infection, and what we just fought…”
“Then let’s get out of here already,” Davídrius scowled, “Too much
goddamn ice everywhere.”
Rebehka stared at Davídrius for a couple moments before turning to
Siyuakén. “Is he always like this?”
“Sadly… yes.”
“Hey, I can hear you, ya know.”
“Anyways,” Kevérin interrupted the impending argument and then
gestured westward. “Hero Machina… move out–!”
“But it’s past sunset already,” Christeané pointed out, “Shouldn’t we,
like, take shelter somewhere, and wait to ‘move out’ until morning? And when
it’s stopped raining?”
“…Fine,” the Pyrotechnic replied dejectedly, “Let’s get back to the
valley edge, and then Kaoné can build us a house or something. That better?”
“Yeah, that makes more sense. I like it.”
“Of course–“
“C’mon, already!” Davídrius cut in, “Let’s get going–!” he was
interrupted as he tripped up and fell on the ice again.
Rebehka and Siyuakén glanced at each other, both grinning. Siyuakén
quickly grabbed her friend’s hand as the Cryotechnic sped them both across the
ice, shouting back, “Race you to the edge of the valley!”
“What–?” the Superspeed Introtechnic snapped his attention to the two
girls and growled. “Why, they– tch!” He stabbed one of his sabers into the ice
and used it to launch himself forward, leaving the rest of the group behind –
but not for long, as Kaoné quickly sped forward herself, using her control over
matter to manipulate the ice. Kievkenalis quickly sped off too, using a quick
call of “Chaos
Cannon” to launch himself
forward.
“…Uh, help?” Christeané grinned meekly at Kevérin.
“…Fine,” the Pyrotechnic sighed, giving the Superstrength Introtechnic
a shove forwards. He shook his head warily before flying forward himself,
muttering, “Hero Machina, move out…”
* * * * *
==================== End of Chapter 19 ====================
* * * * *
Data Entry: Null
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