TPH Forum
General => General => Topic started by: Swiftman on May 27, 2005, 07:56:46 pm
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This here is a story I've worked on for a wee bit of time. (eg: Since winter of '04) and I hope to publish this someday, so I was wanting some constructive critisism or something.
This is not the whole story. The whole story is 123,000 characters, which is probably more than TPH could handle..
Just a taster for those who care enough to read it!
"Good afternoon, Deccus. I knew I could trust you in coming here."
Deccus stood up. He has been sitting for awhile, so his legs were slightly stiff and he wobbled a little, but maintained his composure. He was addressing the General, after all.
"Yes, sir. I always keep my word. I agreed to be here, and here I am."
"Good. Then I have an assignment for you. I need you to command a small force and take over an enemy outpost on the outskirts of their territory. It's far enough from their headquarters that they probably won't retake it."
"How large is my force, sir?"
"It consists of five soldiers, including you."
"What? That's a nothing troop!"
"I assure you, they are very well trained in what they do. They're waiting for you at the Academy, ready to leave when you need. They're all in dorm room five. Go meet them, get to know them, and finish your assignment. One of the soldiers knows how to get to the target. Return here after you're done."
"But..."
"GO!"
Deccus left without a word of objection. When the General tells you to go, you go, no questions asked.
Deccus stepped out of the head building and blinked from the sudden change of light. It's always so dark in there. The General never showed his full face, for fear of spies finding him when he went home. The fresh coat of snow seemed really bright in the noon sun. Regardless of the weather, he headed for the Academy.
Deccus walked through the city of Vahal, a town surrounded by a thick, high wall. There were food stores, weapon shops, suburbs, almost everything you'd expect in a city.
If it weren't completely populated by children.
This didn't surprise Deccus in any way, for he was only a child of twelve years himself. There was no one over fourteen in the town. The wall around the city was composed of only densely packed snow around a wood foundation, since the engineers here didn't know how to mix concrete. It stood over 10 feet high, and a meter thick. Soldiers walked on top of the wall, armed with Snowthrowers. They were basic infantry, only ten years of age. Since Deccus was older, he was a bit more advanced than the standard unit. For one, Deccus had thicker armor. He also had a shield, which clearly marked him as a 'Shield Joe' unit. He wasn't an average Shield Joe, however. He had a much more advanced gun. Instead of holding a small hand-held Snowthrower, he had an S-buster, which enveloped his entire hand and had a com unit built right in. Usually com units were separate walkie-talkies, but not Deccus's. He made the gun himself, as with his outfit. No one had a second glance at Deccus. They were all busy, or they didn't care. Most soldiers made their own outfits, so no one criticized any one else's. Except for the Bunny Boy. Rumor was he was bugged to the brink of insanity, and ran away from Vahal before he graduated from the Academy. Ah, the memories Deccus had at that place...
He arrived at his destination before he realized it. He entered and paused, looking around.
It was exactly as he remembered. From the fountain in the middle of the entry hall, from the four huge stairways leading to different destinations in the massive building.
Deccus took the stairwell that led to the dormitories. The amount of times he took these stairs...
He chuckled. He was only a child, yet he thought like an adult, thinking of past memories in such a way. He felt rather old, as well. A child shouldn't have to feel this way.
He found dorm room five rather quickly, since it used to be his friend Holly's room. Deccus opened the door and entered.
In the room were four people, doing various tasks. Two people were playing cards on the table, one losing badly. Another person, whom Deccus recognized immediately as Holly herself, who was leaning against the wall watching the card game with low interest. The only other person in the room was sitting on the window sill, drawing something on a notepad.
"I never expected you to be the commander of this mission. At least you haven't changed since our school days."
Deccus turned to Holly, who had addressed him. "How haven't I changed?"
Holly was wearing tight armor, red with black trim. Deccus had never seen it before, yet it looked good on her. She didn't have a helmet on, so her pony-tailed brown hair hung down past her shoulders. She had a small backpack on, but Deccus didn't know what was in it.
She walked up to him and hit him on the chest with her knuckle, making his armor rattle. "You're late."
"Sorry if the General took longer than expected."
"That's the same excuse you used when you were late for class."
"Well, it worked then..."
"Hey! Lovebirds! Shut up!"
The soldier that was losing at cards had yelled loudly to stop the bickering. Lovebirds? Deccus thought.
The angry soldier was dressed in black armor, black helmet and black boots. It seemed to reflect his mood perfectly.
The silence was broken by the person on the window sill. "Thank you, Kaeden. That will suffice."
Kaeden grunted and sat down.
"Hello, captain. I don't believe we introduced ourselves properly. I am Kleth." He stuck out his hand. "What's your name?"
Deccus shook Kleth's hand. The hand bore fingerless gloves, made of leather. Kleth wore a light coat and boots, with numerous tools hanging from his belt, and a full looking backpack filled with who knows what. "I'm Deccus, your commander for this mission."
Holly spoke up. "If you can keep your mental stability for more than five minutes, that is."
"Don't read too much into what she says, Kleth." Deccus whispered to his companion.
"I've inferred that from the five minutes that I've known her. You look more than adept at commanding our squad." he replied intelligently.
"Thank you. I don't seem to know the character behind you, though."
Kleth glanced behind him and looked back. "Oh, yes. That's Ted. He's rather quiet, so we don't know him at all well. Kaeden seems to know him good, though."
"That's cuz he's my neighbor." Kaeden replied loudly. "I've known him since before the Academy."
Ted nodded a hello and started packing the cards. He had a navy-blue down filled coat and a toque on, with a face that clearly said he wasn't much a person for talking.
"I won’t pressure him." Deccus looked to the rest of the group. "What are the details to the mission?"
"The fortress we're to surmount is poorly defended." Kleth said and laid his notebook on the table. It was a drawing of a small outpost, drawn in perspective. "If we use a divide and conquer tactic, we can conquer this obstacle with relative ease."
"Divide and conquer? From the looks of it, there are only three fighters in this group!" Deccus exclaimed.
"Maybe. I'm a Systemator, so I do technical support. Receiving messages, sending and intercepting messages, repairing stuff, things like that. Kaeden is an Elite unit, with a bazooka-like Snowthrower, and such making him lethal on the battlefield. You, as a Shield Joe can defend and attack simultaneously, making you very capable of the assault. Holly is a Snow Fox unit, so she can attack rather deftly with her heavily modified Snowthrower."
"What's so modified about it?"
Deccus was then hit with a cloud of snow. He was partially buried in snow from Holly's Snowthrower. He came up sputtering.
"Wha- ph- was that?"
"Instead of packing the snow into one projectile, like Kaeden's, it focuses the snow into a continuous stream, like a real flamethrower." Kleth described the weapon in Holly's arms, consisting of a thin gun connected to a pack on her back.
"Don't we have a mission to do?" Kaeden said loudly.
"Right. We should go." Kleth walked out. Everyone followed.
The first half hour of the trip was spent in silence. Kaeden broke the placid scene by asking when lunch was, but was silenced by a sandwich from Kleth.
It was a two hour hike to the mission target, but only the first quarter was quiet.
“You know what? We should talk, get to know each other better.” Kleth said while hopping to catch up. “Better knowledge of your comrades is proven to lead to better performance on the battlefield, you know.”
He was hushed by a grunt from Kaeden, but Holly came to his rescue. “You know, he’s right. We should talk about each other more. Deccus, tell everyone about yourself.”
Deccus hesitated. “What? Why me?”
“Because, you’re the leader. They always go first.”
“Fine.” He sighed and began to speak.
“I was raised in Alberta, Canada, in a town that you’ve never heard of before. I was fairly average. Good grades, a few friends, things like that. My parents heard about the problem up here, and I was drafted for the Snowcraft force. They thought it would be a good experience for me. I met Holly at the Academy and we became friends, mostly because of spite. After I graduated when I was ten, and I fought on the field for two years, rising in the ranks up to Valiant status, due to my assistance in numerous missions. I was called to meet the General, and here I am. I’ve never seen Holly since graduation, so I was surprised to see her here.
“Now, how about you, Holly?”
She launched into her story immediately, not surprised by Deccus’s haste.
“I was born in a farming community in Colorado. I had eight brothers and no sisters, so it’s not a surprise that I don’t act that feminine. My parents wanted me to meet other girls my age, so they sent me here. I was already strong from farm work, so the training here was nothing. The only one that could compete with me in the physical department was Deccus, so we always competed for first. He beat me in the end, and thus that’s partly why he has Valiant status and I don’t. Not that I’d care, but I’d like to beat him at something. I was told to talk to the General, and I offered to use my old dorm as a meeting room, you all came along, so now I’m hiking with some idiots.”
“Hey! I’m not at all unintelligent!” Kleth stormed.
“I said some, Kleth. Not all of you.”
“Oh. That’s good. Who’s next?”
No one jumped at the offer.
“Fine. I’ll go.” Kleth cleared his throat and spoke.
“I was actually born in the town of Vahal. Believe it or not, my parents were only ten when I was born.”
“WHAT!?” Everyone was completely caught off guard.
“Isn’t it impossible for someone so young to have kids?” Holly seemed genuinely worried.
“Of course not. The youngest couple to have a child were nine years old, so my parents weren’t special. If being raised in this climate doesn’t make a person resistant to cold, I don’t know what does. Of course, I was drafted at the Academy when I was six. I never was good in the physical department, so I compensated by training my mind to the extreme. I graduated with flying colors in the academic courses, but barely passed in anything else. That made me automatically qualified to be a Systemator, so I participated in numerous battles repairing transports while being bombarded by enemy fire. I’ve had to defend myself with my wrench on more than one occasion.”
He patted the said tool strung to his belt. It looked to be a high-quality chrome tool. “I was asked to come on this mission, so I’m here being packboy for you folks.”
Kaeden let out a belch from his just finished sandwich.
“Why don’t you tell us about yourself, Kaeden? I’m sure it’ll be interesting.” Holly asked.
*this is only the first 2.5 pages. Anyone who wants the full thing i can e-mail the MS Word or wordpad document to you*
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I'l have to read it later, Blade Trinity starts in a few minutes, but don't think I'm just ignoring you.
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yea same here, i have to go out somewhere, but i PROMISE to criticize it later lol
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Ok, I like it, I want to read the rest of it, my email is in my profile, so please send it to me! You've definatly caught my attention.
But why is everyone so young? Unless that's answered by something in the rest of the story, in that case don't tell me.
Not that I'm an English professor or anything, but grammar seemed very good, it was written nicely.
"But..."
"GO!"
Deccus left without a word of objection.
However, shouldn't that be, "Without another word of objection?" He's already objected.
So, I give these first two pages
(http://www.public.iastate.edu/~jkubik/Thumbs%20up.jpg)
A thumbs up. Good job.
(By the way, tha'ts not me)
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Read it, liked it.
Though I did notice 2 things that stood out to me.
'Shield Joe' And 'S-Buster'. Which kinda screamed out as Megaman inspired to me.
Otherwise I'd like to hear the rest of it. i'm interested, which doesn't happen often mind you.
My E-mail is in my profile, which you already know.
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Thanks guys! I appreciate it.
Many of the names are just working titles now. Not full versions yet. I just called them that since I couldn't think of anything better at that time.
I'll be sure to send the full versions tonight to you two. (it's a big read. Are you guys up to it?
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Up to it? Your talking to me! I'm up for anything.....
...Besides getting naked but wearing a hat, claiming to be Megatron, demanding to have my own radioshow while holding chocolate bunnies hostage....
....Thats Novas department. XD
(http://img198.echo.cx/img198/7224/nova13tz.png)
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Oh..... Kay..... I don't know who Nova is, btu he/she/it seems to be a rather disturbed person...
That insulted Megatron! That's not good.... If ever I cross fists with the person, regardless of the type of person it is!
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It was a joke. You'd have to be there I'd guess. Nova is one of the coolest people I know.
He uses photoshop alot and he's tyhe one who made my Trigger Avatar And Sig.
He's a pretty cool guy.
Here
MegamanNova1: Except for the death of MMTL, this girl jerking my chain and ignoring my calls, no work and a major debt.
OmegaXEye: >>
MegamanNova1: It could be better, the "girlfriend situation" that is.
OmegaXEye: well....There is but one thing to do....Highjack Bill gates Airplane and demand millions of dollars.
MegamanNova1: >: )
OmegaXEye: :D
OmegaXEye: Where do you work at anyways?
MegamanNova1: Or I could run around naked claming to be Megatron and demand to have my own radio show while holding chocolate bunnies hostage.
But thats all offtopic now.
I like this little story, and wanna read the rest of it.
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I e-mailed you and Lazlo the full version. If you don't have word, let me know and I can put it in wordpad.
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I e-mailed you and Lazlo the full version. If you don't have word, let me know and I can put it in wordpad.
Nope, I don't have word. XD
EDIT: it came in a wrodpad file, so its all good...
Snowcraft?
*cough*Starcraft ripoff name*cough*
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I TOLD you, it's a working title. I'll come up with a better name for it when I'm finished. Also I'll re-name all the copyright infringements then. It's a work in progress!
If you want, it cuold be easier if I put it in an HTML document, readable in IE (or whatever you use.)
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Nahh I read it all.
I like it....I like it alot.
Its pretty cool. Its like Black Hawk Down but with kids. I tell ya, if this was real you'd see me there. Its a cool world you've made.
....I don't really know what to say besides that.....
i just like it alot. And can't wait to read the next part.
Oh yeah, there were a few spelling mistakes. I counted 2 that I could see without a spell check.
'tot he' and another part where you wrote 'put his put' when I think you meant to say 'put his foot'.
Also I have a question they are obviously in a big snowy place, since it was even said to be, but what are they using for ammo? Snow? The way you wrote it, it seems more like their using something else becuase it seems pretty impossible to kill someone with snow. Just wondering if you can enlighten me, cuase I'm alittle confused about it.
Nice job none the less. Keep it up.
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The whole story is 123,000 characters, which is probably more than TPH could handle..
that might be more than crappy phpbb can handle, but i assure you, tph can handle 123,000 characters. ;P
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Oh, ok. That's good Protoman. No wonder your forum is so uber.
And Trigger, they do use snow as ammo, just some of the "Bad guys" have compacters in their weapons that pack snow to extreme amounts and fire it out like a bullet, causing massive damage. I'm going to elabrate on that later in the story.
And to clear it up a bit, the limit of being on the "Snowcraft Force" (That name WILL change!) is once your 14, you're kicked off. And everyhting is on an island in the north pole that's constantly snowing. It was found to be a good place for military like simulations, so the government set up a kind of winter camp for kids and THEY run the Island. Adults have no doing in the progress of the Island, just the parents sending their kids. They stay there for a number of years, when they choose to leave or they turn 14. That's why there's academic courses in the Academy as well, to make up for the lost schooling the kids would normally be doing had they not joined. (all taught by kids, of course)
I just think that there's enough stories about adults. I want kids to have a bit of fame and glory, too.
Everything is explained later in the story, which hasn't been written yet. I already explained what happens when one obtains Valiant rank, how they take a break and relax in Vahal for a while.
Anyone else who wants the full version, you request it and I'll send it. (Maybe specify if you want it in HTML, MS word or wordpad.
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I'm pretty sure PHPbb can handle 123,000 characters, I know that IPB can(on a good server) and while phpbb lacks some of the robustness, it's a good program.
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Apparently, i don't have wordpad, so could you send me a TXT? or if it's too big for Notepad, an HTML?
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Ok thanks for explaining that stuff for me.
Awsomeness Swift. You just be sure to acually FINISH this story.
And when you get the next part done, you tell me so I can ready it. ;)
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Id like the rest please, it sounds pretty good
maybe you could introduce some more characters into the story (not like main characters or anything, but slightly-important ones) that resemble some of us here on the forum. Thatd be really cool
nice work
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I sorta have one of the characters based on Protoman (simply due to the awesomeness of the character and Protoman, they're both so cool [This can apply to both of the Protoman's we know])
Heh... I'm just bursting with idea's for Trigger's guy... heh... I'll have to work on that. Minion!
:arrow: What now?
I need you to send Herb and Lazlo the html-oh, screw it. Just paste it right onto this page!
:arrow: Right... Here sir?
Actually, no. Next post! Do it! Now!
:arrow: But why not just make it into an html? it should be easy.
It's harder than you think. Just make a new post with it!
:arrow: Fine... I sure hope the TPH server can hold up.
Hey, It's Protoman. What can't he do?
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How did it go, minion?
:arrow: Looks good so far. The only problem is the lack of indents.
Ah, that's okay. I'm sure they can still read it.
:arrow: I sure hope so.... A lot is riding on this story.
I know. I'm working damn hard on it.
:arrow: Can I just paste it now?
Yes. DO IT!
:arrow: Enter twice, and..... ctrl+V!
"Good afternoon, Deccus. I knew I could trust you in coming here."
Deccus stood up. He has been sitting for awhile, so his legs were slightly stiff and he wobbled a little, but maintained his composure. He was addressing the General, after all.
"Yes, sir. I always keep my word. I agreed to be here, and here I am."
"Good. Then I have an assignment for you. I need you to command a small force and take over an enemy outpost on the outskirts of their territory. It's far enough from their headquarters that they probably won't retake it."
"How large is my force, sir?"
"It consists of five soldiers, including you."
"What? That's a nothing troop!"
"I assure you, they are very well trained in what they do. They're waiting for you at the Academy, ready to leave when you need. They're all in dorm room five. Go meet them, get to know them, and finish your assignment. One of the soldiers knows how to get to the target. Return here after you're done."
"But..."
"GO!"
Deccus left without a word of objection. When the General tells you to go, you go, no questions asked.
Deccus stepped out of the head building and blinked from the sudden change of light. It's always so dark in there. The General never showed his full face, for fear of spies finding him when he went home. The fresh coat of snow seemed really bright in the noon sun. Regardless of the weather, he headed for the Academy.
Deccus walked through the city of Vahal, a town surrounded by a thick, high wall. There were food stores, weapon shops, suburbs, almost everything you'd expect in a city.
If it weren't completely populated by children.
This didn't surprise Deccus in any way, for he was only a child of twelve years himself. There was no one over fourteen in the town. The wall around the city was composed of only densely packed snow around a wood foundation, since the engineers here didn't know how to mix concrete. It stood over 10 feet high, and a meter thick. Soldiers walked on top of the wall, armed with Snowthrowers. They were basic infantry, only ten years of age. Since Deccus was older, he was a bit more advanced than the standard unit. For one, Deccus had thicker armor. He also had a shield, which clearly marked him as a 'Shield Joe' unit. He wasn't an average Shield Joe, however. He had a much more advanced gun. Instead of holding a small hand-held Snowthrower, he had an S-buster, which enveloped his entire hand and had a com unit built right in. Usually com units were separate walkie-talkies, but not Deccus's. He made the gun himself, as with his outfit. No one had a second glance at Deccus. They were all busy, or they didn't care. Most soldiers made their own outfits, so no one criticized any one else's. Except for the Bunny Boy. Rumor was he was bugged to the brink of insanity, and ran away from Vahal before he graduated from the Academy. Ah, the memories Deccus had at that place...
He arrived at his destination before he realized it. He entered and paused, looking around.
It was exactly as he remembered. From the fountain in the middle of the entry hall, from the four huge stairways leading to different destinations in the massive building.
Deccus took the stairwell that led to the dormitories. The amount of times he took these stairs...
He chuckled. He was only a child, yet he thought like an adult, thinking of past memories in such a way. He felt rather old, as well. A child shouldn't have to feel this way.
He found dorm room five rather quickly, since it used to be his friend Holly's room. Deccus opened the door and entered.
In the room were four people, doing various tasks. Two people were playing cards on the table, one losing badly. Another person, whom Deccus recognized immediately as Holly herself, who was leaning against the wall watching the card game with low interest. The only other person in the room was sitting on the window sill, drawing something on a notepad.
"I never expected you to be the commander of this mission. At least you haven't changed since our school days."
Deccus turned to Holly, who had addressed him. "How haven't I changed?"
Holly was wearing tight armor, red with black trim. Deccus had never seen it before, yet it looked good on her. She didn't have a helmet on, so her pony-tailed brown hair hung down past her shoulders. She had a small backpack on, but Deccus didn't know what was in it.
She walked up to him and hit him on the chest with her knuckle, making his armor rattle. "You're late."
"Sorry if the General took longer than expected."
"That's the same excuse you used when you were late for class."
"Well, it worked then..."
"Hey! Lovebirds! Shut up!"
The soldier that was losing at cards had yelled loudly to stop the bickering. Lovebirds? Deccus thought.
The angry soldier was dressed in black armor, black helmet and black boots. It seemed to reflect his mood perfectly.
The silence was broken by the person on the window sill. "Thank you, Kaeden. That will suffice."
Kaeden grunted and sat down.
"Hello, captain. I don't believe we introduced ourselves properly. I am Kleth." He stuck out his hand. "What's your name?"
Deccus shook Kleth's hand. The hand bore fingerless gloves, made of leather. Kleth wore a light coat and boots, with numerous tools hanging from his belt, and a full looking backpack filled with who knows what. "I'm Deccus, your commander for this mission."
Holly spoke up. "If you can keep your mental stability for more than five minutes, that is."
"Don't read too much into what she says, Kleth." Deccus whispered to his companion.
"I've inferred that from the five minutes that I've known her. You look more than adept at commanding our squad." he replied intelligently.
"Thank you. I don't seem to know the character behind you, though."
Kleth glanced behind him and looked back. "Oh, yes. That's Ted. He's rather quiet, so we don't know him at all well. Kaeden seems to know him good, though."
"That's cuz he's my neighbor." Kaeden replied loudly. "I've known him since before the Academy."
Ted nodded a hello and started packing the cards. He had a navy-blue down filled coat and a toque on, with a face that clearly said he wasn't much a person for talking.
"I won’t pressure him." Deccus looked to the rest of the group. "What are the details to the mission?"
"The fortress we're to surmount is poorly defended." Kleth said and laid his notebook on the table. It was a drawing of a small outpost, drawn in perspective. "If we use a divide and conquer tactic, we can conquer this obstacle with relative ease."
"Divide and conquer? From the looks of it, there are only three fighters in this group!" Deccus exclaimed.
"Maybe. I'm a Systemator, so I do technical support. Receiving messages, sending and intercepting messages, repairing stuff, things like that. Kaeden is an Elite unit, with a bazooka-like Snowthrower, and such making him lethal on the battlefield. You, as a Shield Joe can defend and attack simultaneously, making you very capable of the assault. Holly is a Snow Fox unit, so she can attack rather deftly with her heavily modified Snowthrower."
"What's so modified about it?"
Deccus was then hit with a cloud of snow. He was partially buried in snow from Holly's Snowthrower. He came up sputtering.
"Wha- ph- was that?"
"Instead of packing the snow into one projectile, like Kaeden's, it focuses the snow into a continuous stream, like a real flamethrower." Kleth described the weapon in Holly's arms, consisting of a thin gun connected to a pack on her back.
"Don't we have a mission to do?" Kaeden said loudly.
"Right. We should go." Kleth walked out. Everyone followed.
The first half hour of the trip was spent in silence. Kaeden broke the placid scene by asking when lunch was, but was silenced by a sandwich from Kleth.
It was a two hour hike to the mission target, but only the first quarter was quiet.
“You know what? We should talk, get to know each other better.” Kleth said while hopping to catch up. “Better knowledge of your comrades is proven to lead to better performance on the battlefield, you know.”
He was hushed by a grunt from Kaeden, but Holly came to his rescue. “You know, he’s right. We should talk about each other more. Deccus, tell everyone about yourself.”
Deccus hesitated. “What? Why me?”
“Because, you’re the leader. They always go first.”
“Fine.” He sighed and began to speak.
“I was raised in Alberta, Canada, in a town that you’ve never heard of before. I was fairly average. Good grades, a few friends, things like that. My parents heard about the problem up here, and I was drafted for the Snowcraft force. They thought it would be a good experience for me. I met Holly at the Academy and we became friends, mostly because of spite. After I graduated when I was ten, and I fought on the field for two years, rising in the ranks up to Valiant status, due to my assistance in numerous missions. I was called to meet the General, and here I am. I’ve never seen Holly since graduation, so I was surprised to see her here.
“Now, how about you, Holly?”
She launched into her story immediately, not surprised by Deccus’s haste.
“I was born in a farming community in Colorado. I had eight brothers and no sisters, so it’s not a surprise that I don’t act that feminine. My parents wanted me to meet other girls my age, so they sent me here. I was already strong from farm work, so the training here was nothing. The only one that could compete with me in the physical department was Deccus, so we always competed for first. He beat me in the end, and thus that’s partly why he has Valiant status and I don’t. Not that I’d care, but I’d like to beat him at something. I was told to talk to the General, and I offered to use my old dorm as a meeting room, you all came along, so now I’m hiking with some idiots.”
“Hey! I’m not at all unintelligent!” Kleth stormed.
“I said some, Kleth. Not all of you.”
“Oh. That’s good. Who’s next?”
No one jumped at the offer.
“Fine. I’ll go.” Kleth cleared his throat and spoke.
“I was actually born in the town of Vahal. Believe it or not, my parents were only ten when I was born.”
“WHAT!?” Everyone was completely caught off guard.
“Isn’t it impossible for someone so young to have kids?” Holly seemed genuinely worried.
“Of course not. The youngest couple to have a child were nine years old, so my parents weren’t special. If being raised in this climate doesn’t make a person resistant to cold, I don’t know what does. Of course, I was drafted at the Academy when I was six. I never was good in the physical department, so I compensated by training my mind to the extreme. I graduated with flying colors in the academic courses, but barely passed in anything else. That made me automatically qualified to be a Systemator, so I participated in numerous battles repairing transports while being bombarded by enemy fire. I’ve had to defend myself with my wrench on more than one occasion.”
He patted the said tool strung to his belt. It looked to be a high-quality chrome tool. “I was asked to come on this mission, so I’m here being packboy for you folks.”
Kaeden let out a belch from his just finished sandwich.
“Why don’t you tell us about yourself, Kaeden? I’m sure it’ll be interesting.” Holly asked.
“Sure.” He wiped his mouth and spoke.
“I was born in Billings, Montana. That place had cliffs out to wazoo, so that’s probably why I’m so big now, climbing around all the time. Ted was living next door to me, and he was bugged quite a bit from bullies. I helped him out, and showed him a cave in the cliffs he could hide in. He didn’t always use it, though. He just spent all his time on that computer of his. Ted heard about this place on the internet, and he decided to go. I knew someone had to look out for him, so here we are.”
Kleth nodded slowly. “Yes, I was right. I guess that explanation goes for both you and Ted, so he doesn’t have to say anything if he doesn’t want to.”
Ted looked at Kleth with such a look of thanks that it took him by surprise.
“Ah, come on.” Holly moved up to Ted and put her hand on his shoulder. “I’m sure Ted has something to say.”
He shook his head no, but Holly didn’t accept that.
“Don’t you want to say something?” She put her head beside his on his shoulder. He was panicking something fierce, but still shaking his head.
“Please?” She started to massage his shoulders.
Deccus couldn’t take it. “Holly, can I speak to you? Over there?”
She stopped immediately. “Sure.”
Deccus walked off course so they wouldn’t be in earshot with Kleth and the others. Holly followed.
“What’s up?”
“What are you doing!?” Deccus was mad.
She was unperturbed by this. “I said I’d help him around girls, and that’s what I’m doing.”
“Why are you helping him? You hardly know him!”
“C’mon. If I don’t help him, he’s going to spend the rest of his life alone. Look at his face. Picture him in twenty years, all alone, wishing he had spoken up, but never did, so he’s all alone and miserable. I wouldn’t be able to handle it if that happened, knowing I could’ve changed that. If he’s comfortable with me, I can introduce him to some my friends and maybe he’ll get lucky. He’s kinda cute, so it shouldn’t be a problem.”
Deccus was touched by this speech. He was only thinking of himself, not anyone else. He just got so envious. It could’ve been him she was massaging…
“You know, if we don’t get back they’re gonna think something’s going on.”
Her voice snapped Deccus to attention. “Right. Wouldn’t want that to happen, huh? Ha, ha- ha…”
She looked at him suspiciously, but walked back to the others regardless.
“Sorry, Ted. If you don’t want to tell us, don’t.” Holly told him, rubbing his head.
Ted sighed and smiled, enjoying her hand on his head without fear of having to talk about himself. She continued rubbing him, regardless of not having to persuade him of anything. Even though he knew this didn’t mean anything, it still drove Deccus to the brink. Sensing this, Kleth started conversation again.
“Hey, we should see what our interests are. Maybe we can find some similarities between us.”
“Good idea, Kleth. Only this time, Holly goes first.” Deccus wasted no time in making her go first.
“What do I like? Let’s see. Umm…” Her brow was furrowed from mock thinking. “I’d say… Fighting.”
“Fighting?” Deccus hadn’t expected that, but it fit her. “Why fighting?”
“It gives off a feeling that you can’t really explain. You may have felt it, but not like I have. Knowing that when I get home, I could easily beat them all to the ground. The knowledge that I’m the strongest in my family, let alone a family of boys, just makes me feel great. That’s why I’m training as hard as I am. I want to be the strongest one in the Snowcraft force. I want to be a general. I want to single-handedly defeat the Howlers. Then I can return home proud.”
It convinced everyone else, but Deccus was curious on whether that was her true want.
“Let’s see what Kaeden likes. I’m sure it will be most unexpected.” Kleth waved his arm at his large companion.
“Food! I like food!”
“Or… maybe it’s exactly what you expected. Ted?”
Of course, he said nothing.
“C’mon, kid. Get it over with.” Kaeden persuaded his smaller companion.
He still waved no.
Giving up, Kleth decided it was his turn. “What I really like is electronics. If I had the resources, I could make a digital targeting system for Snowthrowers, dramatically increasing the hit rate for units. I have it all drawn out, I just need to make it. But since there’s no metal here on Vahal, I can’t construct anything like that.”
“Maybe when we get back to the General, maybe we can talk him into importing some metal.” Deccus suggested.
Since there was no metal, the people had to get by on the next strongest thing, wood. The inside of the buildings had a foundation of wood, coated with a layer of snow. The armor that they wore was wood, specially made to fit them. There was plenty of trees on the continent, but since it was always winter, the trees couldn’t grow back, so more had to be imported from other countries.
“I think that covers everyone.” Kleth looked around.
“Except Deccus.” Holly pointed out.
Drat. She remembered. Deccus thought to himself.
“Well… Where to start…” He stalled. He had to make something up, since his real passion was not something he was willing to share. “What I really like is cooking. I love to bake bread, grill steaks and make cookies. I originally applied to be a cook, but my physical attributes made me a top-notch soldier. I’d rather be a cook than a fighter, any day.”
A silence followed this speech.
“Cooking?” Kaeden was in disbelief.
“You want to be a cook?” Kleth could hardly believe it.
"Well, you did work at the cafeteria back at the Academy." Holly wasn't completely sure that this was what he liked. She looked skeptical.
"That I did. Hey, look. It's the fort."
It wasn't at all a big fort. Only two levels, and hardly bigger than a garage. A few soldiers patrolled on top of the wall, but that was all.
"Seems easy enough. At least we're not outnumbered."
"I have a plan. Deccus, you attack the front gate and try to distract them as much as you can. Kaeden, fire at them from a distance, assisting Deccus. Ted will be the medic if the need arises, and I will be here for support functions."
"Sounds good. Let's go!" Deccus yelled and ran towards the fort, firing away with his gun to get their attention. They saw him and countered his attack by launching a barrage of snow at him. He rolled, dodging them with ease. He aimed at one of them, but he was out of ammo. Pulling out his shield, Deccus blocked all attacks while loading his weapon, one handed. He specifically built it to be reloaded in a situation like this.
The roof soldiers had a good strategy. They each fired one blast, then the other one fired, then the next, and so on, so each had a few seconds to reload their weapon.
Finally done reloading, Deccus charged up his gun, adding more snow to the shot. Draining all of his ammo stores into one blast, he drew his shield and fired at them, a super dense blast heading straight for the head of the main shooter. He didn't have a helmet on, so he took the hit and fell out of sight behind the wall.
By now, reinforcements had come to their aid, so five people were firing at Deccus instead of three. Using the shield to its full potential, Deccus could charge his weapon from behind its cover, but it wasn't enough. One of the shooters was lobbing shots, hitting Deccus in the head.
"Hey! Kaeden! Where are you! You're supposed to give me support fire!"
"Sorry!" One of the shooters suddenly fell to the floor. "I'm workin' on it!"
Now they separated to two groups to counter both Deccus's and Kaeden's firing. Kaeden had more power to each hit, but he couldn't charge it, like Deccus could. Plus, he couldn't refill his ammo stores as easily. Deccus made his gun himself, and designed it to be filled one handedly. Kaeden's had more power, so he could fire from greater distances.
The front gate opened a little and three foot soldiers rolled out, while more took to the roof.
Deccus fired a few shots at the foot soldiers, then fired again at the roof, switching between the two. More came out of the gate, and still more on the roof. He couldn't fire fast enough to keep the foot soldiers at bay long enough for Kaeden to knock them down.
His shield has never been tested quite like this. His main job was to distract them, and he was doing it well. All of their forces were focused on him and Kaeden. What was Kleth planning, having him sit here like this?
He didn't have time to think about it, due to the even dozen soldiers marching his way. His shield was large enough to cover his body when crouched down, but no good when they were three feet away.
Deccus turned on his walkie-talkie, which was built right into his gun. "Kaeden! Focus on the ground guys!"
"Sure thing!"
Eventually they came so close that they could fire right above the shield.
"Get off of me!"
With a burst of adrenaline, Deccus ran forward, shield first. They hadn't expected this, and didn't have time to dodge before being knocked to their feet, where Kaeden proceeded to bury them under a layer of snow.
Deccus's speaker came to life. "Nice tactic. They weren't expecting that."
He turned on his mike and replied. "Thanks Kleth, but what are you planning here? I'm getting pounded here, and you're just sitting back and watching me."
"If you need it, ask for Ted to come."
Suddenly a cloud of snow erupted from the top of the fort, completely covering all the soldiers up there.
"Can't you guys do anything right?" Holly called from up above.
"I thought we were supposed to distract them, not finish them off." Deccus called back to her.
"And a fine job you did at that. They didn't even hear me climb the north wall."
"That's good. Now how about opening the door so we can come in?"
"Give me a second." She disappeared from view.
After a minute the front door opened, allowing access for the rest of the group to come in.
The inside was very well laid out. The second level was only an outrigger of floor a few feet down from the top of the wall. A few people were on the floor, buried from Holly's assault. There were a few rooms on the first floor, but were all very small.
"I'll call HQ to come and pick up these guys." Kleth kicked one unconscious opponent.
"Good idea. I'll see if we can find something we can use."
Deccus went to the dormitory room. The bunks were very close together, and had minimal blankets. Nothing was here except for a few trinkets that the soldiers had.
He stepped back outside and asked Kaeden if he found anything in the armory, but every weapon they had was being used against them. Holly had found nothing in the kitchen either.
"Well, guess we should report back to base. Let's go." Deccus waved his hand towards the door.
"Wait." Holly put her arm up. "Hear that?"
A muffled cry was heard somewhere to their left.
"Sounds like someone's gagged somewhere."
The sound got louder.
"Sounds like it's in the wall."
Deccus tapped a part of it. "Seems pretty solid to me."
"Not there." Holly rapped a section of wall with her knuckle. "Here."
She pushed and prodded, but couldn't find anything. "It sounds kinda hollow."
"Maybe try kicking it."
She kicked the wall. It did sound hollow.
Then the wall shook from a kick on the other side.
"Someone's in there, all right. Kaeden, pull the door down."
Kaeden strolled up to the wall, put his fingers around a loose section and pulled. The snow came loose, revealing a slab of wood separate from the wall.
"Keep pulling!"
With a grunt the wall gave way and led to a very small closet.
With a prisoner.
"What's he doing here?"
"Who'd know better than him? Let him out."
Kaeden helped him stand while Deccus and Holly untied his binds.
Lastly the gag around his mouth was undone.
"Finally. I thought no one would come and rescue me."
He wore minimal armor and had no boots whatsoever. Covering his eyes were a pair of ski goggles, tinted so his eyes weren't visible.
"Who’re you?" Kaeden asked the new arrival gruffly.
"My name is Wedge. I was a sniper for a scout squad, but we were ambushed. All my teammates were taken into separate bases, so we couldn't escape as a team. I was the most dangerous of us, so I was put in the most uncomfortable place possible."
"Maybe we should report back to boss soon, before they find out that this guy's gone." Holly suggested.
"I'd suggest it. I sent a message to HQ and they're waiting for us back at Vahal. If we hurry we can make it back before nightfall."
On the way back Wedge was barraged with questions.
"Where're you from?"
"I'm from Fairbanks, Alaska."
"You've come a long ways."
“Not really, if you think."
"How old are you?"
"Eleven."
"Can you tell us about yourself?"
He cleared his throat. "I was eight when I joined the Snowcraft force. I wasn't the best fighter in my class, but my accuracy with a blaster and my running speed made me ideal for being a sniper class. I fought in the main army for two years before being commissioned for a scout force. We worked for a nearly a full year before we discovered-"
"Hold it."
Everyone stopped.
"What is it Deccus?"
"See that up ahead?"
Everyone looked.
"I don't see anything."
"I can't see much, but I know something's up there."
"It's a Howler army. Roughly forty soldiers, all fighters. If we head that way and hide behind that boulder, we can avoid them." Wedge pointed sideways.
"Good eye."
"I have to have good eyes to be a good sniper. Let's hurry."
Everyone went in the direction Wedge pointed. The army marched past without noticing anything behind the rock, though it came close when Ted was about to sneeze, but Wedge plugged his nose to stop him. After a while, the army's backs receded down a hill and out of sight.
"What's an army like that doing out here?" Kaeden asked. "There's nothing in that direction besides where we were just at."
"That's probably where they were headed." Wedge suggested. "They may be going there to resupply the forces."
"But a tiny place like that? I don't get it. It doesn't even have a strategic location."
"I don't get it either. All I know is that the way they're going is the not the way for us to go."
And so they trudged on. Wedge did a good job of covering their tracks in case they came back.
For an hour they walked, until Vahal was in plain sight.
"Hm. The city seems to have grown since I was last here." Wedge perspected.
"How long has it been since you were captured?"
"About six months ago."
Silence.
"You've been in that hole in the wall for half a year?"
"Yeah. I got pretty stiff, but I made it."
By now they had reached the front gate. Deccus identified himself to the guards on top of the wall, who granted them passage.
They went through the city until they hit the Main office. They walked in and found that the General had been expecting them. The door opened and they all went in.
"Hello again, Deccus. I heard of your victory. Good job." the General said, his face hidden in shadows again.
"Thank you, sir. When we were there, we found this prisoner." Deccus waved his arm at Wedge.
"Yes, Kleth told me of him. You can supply him with weapons if you go to the armory. He will work for you until further notice."
"Yes, sir."
"Now then, your next assignment.
"There is a force of Howler elites going around, taking out our smaller forces. I want you to find them and capture them. They just took over Fort Prodigy, so you may be able to catch them if you move quickly."
“They what!?”
“They recently took Fort Prodigy.”
“But… There was an entire brigade there! What chance do we have against that kind of power?”
“You just took over a fortress that had almost as much defense as Prodigy. Do you have any objections?”
“No, sir…”
“Good. Then go.”
"Yes, sir."
The door behind them opened. They walked out, a sense of foreboding about them. Nevertheless, they bucked up and headed for the armory.
They entered. "Hey, Dagor. We got a new guy and he needs some stuff."
The stout boy turned to Deccus's voice. "Oh, it's you. I've been wanting to talk to you."
"What about?"
"I just built a new type of shield. Since you're the best Shield Joe out there, I want you to try it out." He brought out a huge, four foot high shield from behind the counter. It had an angular nature, obviously meant to deflect projectiles better than a flat shield, like Deccus’s.
"Tempting, but no thanks. My shield is fine."
"That tiny thing? That can't cover any of you."
"It's light, so I can move it quickly. Plus, it can cover all of me when I crouch. Maybe let Kleth use it. He could use some protection while he's working."
"Oh, no thank you. It looks much too heavy for me to use effectively."
"But we aren't here for the shield." Holly spoke up. "We're here to equip our newest member with some sniper equipment."
"Right. What are you, a medium?"
Wedge nodded.
"Give me a sec." Dagor stepped to the back of the shop, where more weapons were kept. He returned with a thin armored coat, some gloves, sniper style boots and a long, thin, rifle like snowthrower.
"Got a whole sniper outfit here for ya."
"Thanks." Wedge picked up his equipment and put them on.
"I'll pay for this. Here." Deccus handed Dagor a few thin pieces of cloth.
The Snowcraft Force used cloth instead of paper for currency since it lasted longer and held its color better than paper did. Plus it was harder to make counterfeits out of fabric, and cloth was better in extreme cold than paper. The currency you earned depended on what rank you were. Money that Privates earned was worth less than what Deccus earned, since he was a Valiant class.
Dagor's eye's widened slightly. "That should more than cover the cost."
"Keep the change."
He grabbed it without hesitation.
"Let's go, troop." Deccus thumbed the door
Everyone stepped out of the armory, out onto the street and out of Vahal, then out of the gate and into the field once again.
"Which way, Kleth?"
He pointed to a direction to the east. "That way."
And so they marched.
"How many are in this Howler force?" Holly asked.
"About six." Kleth replied. "They're better equipped than us, more experienced and can work together as an army with expert ease."
"We're the same as them, only with more people. This'll be easy."
"But they're better equipped and more experienced than us. They are not to be taken lightly. They can take over entire fortresses."
Deccus laughed. "So can we."
"We took over a very small encampment, with minimal opposition. Fort Prodigy was a very well defended base, with plenty of personnel, and it was completely overtaken! We can't afford to underestimate these people..."
"Ok, Kleth. We get the picture. You can shut up now."
Kleth went to the back of the line and was silent the remainder of the trip.
Holly smacked Deccus on the arm. "That was a bit harsh on him. You should go and apologize."
"He's fine. After a good fight he'll be nice and happy again."
"If you say so. Still, you should go."
"I'll do what I damn well feel like."
She shrugged and fell back.
For the next hour they marched in silence. Kleth kept a stiff upper lip towards Deccus, and relayed messages to him through Holly.
"There they are." Wedge told the others and pointed somewhere south of them.
Deccus squinted but he saw them. Six of them, all in matching red armor.
"Let's get a little closer and do a some reconnaissance. Maybe we can find a weakness." Deccus said and crouched behind a boulder.
"It's like what they say." Wedge said and also ducked behind the rock. "'Know thyself and know thy enemy, and you will not be defeated in a hundred battles.'"
"I guess it will help to see what they're like." Holly said and crouched too.
Looking down, Deccus saw the enemy.
The first one he saw that stuck out most was a rather portly boy. His armor was very thick, and his weapon was a lethal railgun. His expression clearly said he'd rather be else where.
One other soldier was a small, skinny kid with minimal armor and weapons. He had a small hand snowthrower, but nothing else.
Beside him was a girl about Holly's size. She had long, blonde hair and an expression Deccus didn't want to see again. Her weapons were twin heavy handguns and her armor was reasonably thick, but not enough to seriously hinder movement.
A huge, muscle bound kid was next. His arms were huge, his body was huge, and his guns were huge. Twin cannon blasters, one in each hand, connected to an ammo pack on his back and strapped onto his arms. He looked extremely bored.
The other one was a very strange unit. He was barely three feet tall, and his head was nearly as big as the rest of him. He looked to be like Kleth, a support unit, only he had more weapons.
The leader had a shield, very much like Deccus, only it was bigger. He also had a small hand blaster, like Deccus, only it was bigger as well.
The corpulent boy spoke first. "I'm hungry. When can we eat?"
"When you stop badgering me about it." The leader replied fiercely. "The more times we stop, the slower we go."
"Venra, at this rate we can't continue much further anyways." The midget said. "We've gone ten hours without rest or food. We can't go on like this. We're all getting edgy and irritable."
"Shut it, pipsqueak!" The girl yelled and hit his head with her fist.
The skinny one hurried up to the midget's aid. "You all right, Pix?"
He rubbed his head. "Yeah. I think so."
"If he doesn't start closing his trap, he's gonna get more than a thwack on the head."
"Now you should be nice to Pix. He does a lot of work that otherwise you'd be doing."
"Does it look like I give a damn?"
"You all better start shuttin up, or I'm gonna start shootin!" The twin cannoned soldier said, lifting his guns towards the rest of them, his eye twitching.
"Calm down, Allouette. You're gonna hurt yourself."
"I can't calm down! I haven't shot somethin fer hours! I can't take it anymore!"
He unloaded a few rounds of ammo on the boulder Deccus was behind of, yelling. The power of those blasters reverberated through the whole rock. Deccus could feel it through the rock and his shield on his back.
Allouette panted for a minute afterwards.
The leader spoke first. "Cool it, Allouette. You've killed people with those things. Don't add us to the list."
This hit Deccus to the core. Are they so merciless that they kill people?
"They... They killed the guards of Prodigy?" Holly whimpered.
"Who'd be sick enough to do something like that?" Wedge was disgusted.
"We gotta stop these guys. They're a menace to this island. Kaeden, you take on that big guy with the twin cannons. Holly, pick off who you can. Wedge, help Holly out. Ted and Kleth, do what you always do. I'll go after the leader. Ready? Go!"
Dashing shield first, Deccus slammed into the back of the leaders head, knocking him out cold.
"He got Venra! Get him!" The girl pulled out her guns and fired at Deccus, but the rounds bounced harmlessly off his shield.
"I'll get through that shield o' your's!" Allouette yelled and started to fire.
The first shot sent Deccus flying. He was more worried about the condition of his shield than his own shape, at least until he saw the rock his head was aimed for.
* * *
"Ow..."
Deccus lifted his head. Such pain... He let it fall down. It hurt too much to move. Breathing heavily, he grunted and got up.
"So he is alive."
"I thought he'd died."
"I'm here. Don't worry." Deccus said and started to open his eyes. "You're leader is tougher than he... Looks..."
Pix was staring him in the face.
"He looks all right."
"Lemme finish im off!"
"No, Allouette. Don't kill unnecessary people if we don't have to."
"Can it, shorty!" The girl punted him a few feet. "Let Allouette have his fun."
"Sweet!"
Reacting quickly, Deccus made a mad dash away from the madman's cannon guns. The shot's followed close to his heels, but he managed to avoid them all.
"Stop runnin so fast!"
Suddenly Deccus fell over something. He had stumbled over Pix's unconscious body.
As if in slow motion, Deccus could see the shell of frost headed for his head. He rolled in time, but was followed by another shot. Making a circular dash around them, he frantically searched for his gun and shield in the snow. Where were they? They had to be buried somewhere. If that was the case, then it was hopeless.
A small shot hit his arm. Both of them were firing at him. He saw the other enemies unconscious, faces in the snow. It was just the two of them against him.
Something smashed into Deccus's stomach. It brought him to the ground, and his armor was destroyed.
"Got him!"
Another hit his arm. He didn't hear the projectile hit his arm, but the snap of bone was audible. His thoughts were on his arm, but soon switched to his leg, which were also hit. Then his other arm, then his chest.
"He survived five hits? What is he, a freak?" Allouette paused to reload.
"He's been trained to specialize in defense." Venra was back up. "His armor is better than ours, and his body adapted to taking hits. You just have to hit him in the right spot."
"Righto. One shot to th head, comin up!"
No... Where's Kaeden? Kleth? Ted?
"Don't move now. It'll only make ya hurt longer."
"Where's... My team...?" Deccus could only make out a few words.
"Oh, them. They're over there." Allouette nodded his head to a pile of people. "Good and dead. Yer all alone."
No... Not them...
"You'll be joinin them soon, though. Don't you worry."
"Not... Not them..."
"What, you gonna start cryin now? Take yer beatin like a man!"
"Not Holly!"
Despite all the pain, Deccus managed to get up and dash for Allouette, only to be knocked down again.
"Jus don learn, do ye? Take this!"
A shot to his head.
Hollllyyyy........
* * *
Blackness. Total blackness. Kind of scary. Almost soothing, though.
Wait. There's a light. What's going on? Am I dead? Only one way to find out.
No. Come back here, light. Don't go. Crap. Now I'm all alone, with no where to go. Just blackness.
Great. Another light. It'll just move away, like the last one did. Wait. It's coming for me. Dare I? Nothing else to do. May as well.
Whoa. That's getting bright. Hey, whoever's in charge of lights there, turn them down. Maybe they don't have a dimmer installed, and it's either this or off. Makes sense.
Wait. Now I hear stuff. Sounds familiar, too.
"He's alive!"
"I thought we'd lost him for sure."
Deccus opened his eyes. So bright...
"Deccus! He lives!"
Suddenly something clamped onto his chest.
"Ouch! Holly! Your crushing me!"
She jumped off. "Sorry. I forgot you have broken ribs."
"What isn't broken?"
"Well, for one, your left leg is perfectly intact." A doctor in a white lab coat said. "But that's one of the few. Nearly every other bone is somehow broken or cracked. It's a wonder you're still alive."
"Tell it to me straight, doc. How long do I have?"
"Considering your state, I'd say about a few days ago. But since you're a special case, maybe eighty or more years. If it wasn't for your training in defense, you'd be dead."
"A few days ago? How long was I out for?"
"144 hours. You were progressively dying up until yesterday, when you started to recover. Despite the fact you got hit in the head twice, I'm surprised your conscious now. After a concussion and internal bleeding, I thought you were finished."
"It'd take more than that to kill him." Holly was tearing.
"Yes, but the best thing for him now is rest. Let his body do it's work. You can have a couple more minutes with him, then leave him alone." The doctor turned and walked out, leaving Holly and Deccus alone.
She sat back down. "I never thought you would have made it."
"So why are you crying? Disappointed that I survived?"
"No, you lummox! I'm happy!"
"Oh. So... Where's Kaeden and Kleth? Did they make it?"
"With difficulty, yes. They're not quite as durable as you, but they didn't take as many hits, either. They're on the way to recovery."
"What about you? You look fine."
"I pretended to get hit and feigned death. After they went away I radioed a medic team while Ted kept you all warm until they came."
"So that means you heard me get hit?"
"I risked a glance to watch you get the beating of your life. How can you take so many hits?"
"Let's just say I had practice in getting hit."
"What do you mean?"
The doctor came in. "That's enough, Holly. Let Deccus get his rest."
She stood up and leaned in, gave him a kiss on the cheek, and continued out.
This alone helped Deccus recover more than anything.
"And there goes the last cast." The doctor took off the plaster around Deccus's leg.
"Finally I can scratch that itch. It's been bugging me for a week."
With the greatest feeling of satisfaction, Deccus scratched his leg.
"Every time I remove a cast, they itch. It must be horrible to have that itch for weeks and weeks, but you can't reach it. I wouldn't know, since I've never had a cast.
"Say, are Kaeden and Kleth recovered?"
"Yes. Both of them have made a full recovery and are waiting for you to return."
"Am I able to stand now?"
"Yes, but no sudden movements. Your body is still stiff."
Slowly Deccus sat up, tilted so his legs were over the side of the bed, and nimbly put both feet on the floor and stood.
"Feel all right?"
"Hard to move, but otherwise I feel great."
"Excellent. The record has been broken."
Deccus cocked an eyebrow. "What record?
"The record for worst injuries recovered from. You had 57 broken bones, internal bleeding and a concussion, yet they're completely healed. I have to say, I'm impressed."
"I don't blame you. I'm surprised myself."
"Try moving around now. See if you're completely recovered."
Gingerly Deccus lifted one foot. Instantly all his weight was put on one appendage. It wasn't too unbearable, though. He moved his lifted foot forwards, then put it down. He lifted his other one, and did it again.
"Wow." The doctor was mightily impressed. "After only three weeks, you're walking again. Truly amazing."
Deccus continued to walk, over to his boots. He noticed that his armor was repaired and hanging on a coat rack.
He slipped one foot into his boot and tied the string. He did the same tot he other foot, then put on his newly refurbished armor, Then his shield and the rest of his uniform.
It felt wonderful to be wearing them again. All decked out for battle and everything.
"By the way, Doc. Do you happen to know where Holly might be?"
"I assume at the Academy. That's where the General told them to stay until you returned."
Deccus nodded. "Thanks."
"Hold on, there."
"What?"
"You're still in your hospital gown."
He looked around himself. His entire behind was exposed.
"Ah... Heh heh. Where're some clothes?"
The doctor strode over to a closet and opened it, revealing some of Deccus's clothes from his dorm.
"Thanks."
Quickly he dressed and redonned his armor. Instead of carrying his shield on his arm like in battle, be put both arms in the ropes that held it on his arm, so it was carried like a backpack. His blaster he put in his holster.
The sun reflecting off the city walls nearly blinded Deccus. He hadn't been outside for nearly a month, so his eyes weren't used to bright sun.
He stopped squinting when he entered the front doors to the Academy. Thinking of where to go, he headed for dorm room 5.
He knocked a few times. A groan was heard inside. It sounded like Holly's groan. He knocked again.
"Hold on, I'm coming."
The door opened. Yep, it was Holly. She was a mess, though, like her room. She brightened up immediately as soon as she saw who was there, though.
"Deccus! Hi! Are you alright?"
"Yes, I'm fine. You don't look good, though."
"Oh. Sorry. I haven't been able to sleep very well recently."
"How come?"
"Oh, look at me. I'm leaving you in the hallway. Come in, come in. I want to tell you something." She stepped to the side to allow him passage.
"So why haven't you been able to sleep well?"
"Because... I wasn't sure if you were really going to make it. Your wounds should have been fatal, yet you survived. Any sort of outside force could have finished you off with the slightest effort. If you didn't make it, I wouldn't have been able to tell you..."
"What? What is it?"
She swallowed. "I..."
The door opened and Wedge came in.
"Good to see you walking again. Hard to believe after that pounding you got."
"Yeah. Just my luck, I guess." Deccus shrugged.
Just then Kaeden and Kleth came in as well, followed closely by Ted.
"He's back! He walks again!" Kaeden yelled.
“This is quite extraordinary. Statistically, you shouldn’t have survived. Even with your defense training, your wounds were fatal especially since we don’t have licensed doctors on the island.”
Deccus shrugged again. “I try not to think about it.”
Then someone else came in the room. She had a red robe on, and a pretty face. Deccus recognized her as a messenger Nymph. Why they were called that is unknown, but they do their job very good.
“Deccus?” She asked.
He stepped up. “That’s me.”
“Your presence is requested by the General as soon as possible.” Her voice seemed mystical and other-worldly.
“Did he say why?”
“No. He said only to tell you to be there.”
“Ok. Anything else?”
“No. That is all.” She said in a final tone and walked out.
Holly had a peculiar expression. “What was that for?”
“What was what for?”
“Why did she have to talk like she has a throat disease to deliver a simple message? A paper airplane with the message written on it would have worked just as well.”
Deccus shrugged. “Who knows? Let’s go see what he wants.”
He strode out the door with the rest following him.
It was a fairly long walk from the Academy to Headquarters. Vahal wasn’t the biggest of city’s, but the Academy and Headquarters were across town from each other, and was still a considerable distance.
The secretary waved them into the General’s room when they arrived.
As always it was very dark. His hands were visible, but nothing else of the General could be seen.
“You came post-haste. I like that.”
Deccus nodded. “Yes, sir. I came as soon as I heard.”
“Excellent. Now, I called you here to assign another mission.”
Deccus gulped. He hoped it wasn’t another difficult one.
“Don’t worry. It’s not quite as impossible as the last one. Given all of your previous history, this one should be just right.” He cleared his throat. “The sub-city of Arcania is under siege from a heavy Howler attack. They could withstand the assault, but it would be with difficulty. Your assignment will be to attack the Howlers from the other side. At the same time, you’ll give a signal for the Arcanian forces to go all-out, thus capturing them in a pincer attack. One of the most important things to do will be to jam all Howler transmissions while you fight, since all personnel in Arcania are needed to fight so none of them can work the radio. This job will depend heavily on Kleth, so a new recruit will be added to your team to give him extra protection. Shed, come on out.”
A rather young boy came out from the shadows.
The most startling aspect of him was the gigantic shield he was carrying. It was taller than him, and rather heavy. It put Deccus’s shield to shame. Despite his young age, he looked like he could carry it rather deftly. It was red in color, as was his armor. It looked to be reasonably thick as well. Despite all this, he looked to be a very bright and optimistic person. He had a small handgun strapped to his belt, but for weaponry that was all.
“Hi! I’m Shed.” He stuck out his hand at Deccus.
He took it and shook. “I’m Deccus. Nice to meet you.”
He blushed slightly. “Wow. The great Deccus shook my hand…”
He wasn’t expecting this. “I didn’t think I was famous at all…”
Shed couldn’t believe it. “What!? How can someone with Valiant status not know he’s famous? How could have the army have pierced Styx Path without your help? And what about when those Howlers were attacking Vahal? You alone volunteered to be launched into the air with a catapult and parachute to the ground behind them to distract them while we gathered our army! Plus, with only minimal forces, you captured a heavily defended Howler fortress! That was only a few weeks ago, but still! It was amazing!”
Quite overwhelmed, Deccus decided to introduce Shed to the rest of the group.
“This is Kaeden, our heavy weapons specialist.”
He grunted and nodded.
“Wow. He looks like he’d be a fierce opponent on the battle field.”
“When he has a full stomach, he can do anything.” Kleth said.
Kaeden put a smug look on his face.
“This is Ted, our medic.”
Shed put out his hand. “How do you do?”
Ted nervously shook his hand and remained silent.
“It’s best not to push him to talk. He won’t do it. One person who can talk, though, is Holly here. Boy, can she talk.”
She thumped Deccus on the arm. “Quiet, you!”
Shed waved his finger. “Hey, I know you. You took my lunch money when I was at the academy still, a couple years ago.”
She was unyielding. “Yeah, so? What’re you gonna do about it?”
“I’m going to ask for it back.”
“Like hell you are!”
Shed shrugged. “I knew it’d be pointless.”
“General! I have a question.” Kleth spoke up.
“What is it?”
“How are we going to get to Arcania in time to help with the siege on foot? It’d take hours to get there.”
“I have that problem solved. Go outside the city and your question will be answered.”
“A-all right.”
“Uh, General, sir?” Deccus started.
“Hm?”
“Will just us seven be enough to make a difference?”
“What, you thought I’d have you go alone? No, no. The Elite Eight will be assisting you.”
An awed silence followed.
“The Elite Eight!?”
“The most powerful single force on this island?”
“Yes. With both them and you combined, you should do enough damage to aid the Arcanian forces.”
“Wow. The Elite Eight…”
“I never dreamed I’d ever be able to work beside them.”
“See, Shed, those are people you should admire, not me. They have the most optimum equipment possible, they have very highly trained units, and enough power to punch a hole into any Howler army.”
“Don’t you people have somewhere to go?”
“Right, sir. We should head out.”
Losing interest in the Elite Eight altogether, Kaeden headed out the door. “I wonder if we got rides! I love riding in carts!”
“Kaeden, we can walk faster than carts.” Holly said and ran out after him, with Kleth and Ted following.
“So what’s your name?” Shed asked.
“I’m Wedge, the sniper. I’ll tell you about me outside.” They both walked out. Deccus followed.
“Oh, and Deccus.”
He stopped and turned. “What?”
“I spent a lot of money to fully heal you. Don’t make that money go to waste.”
He puzzled that for a second. “Yes, sir.”
Again, Deccus’s eyes had trouble adjusting from the darkness inside to the brightness of the city. He couldn’t see the others, so he went to the main gate, where they’d most likely be.
He found them arguing with the guards at the top of the wall, who granted passage in and out of the city.
“I’m sorry, but I can’t let you out without a master password.”
“But only leaders know that password! We don’t know it!” Kaeden yelled to them.
“Sorry, but no can do. The Howlers are getting very active out there, and I can’t send some random people out there to get captured.”
“Sorry!” Deccus yelled very loudly, right by Holly’s ears, so as to see her jump. “I know the password.”
The guard nodded. “Ok!”
Deccus said the password and they were allowed out.
And granted with something never seen on Vahal before.
“We get to ride Ski-doo’s!? Sweet deal!” Kaeden exclaimed and jumped on a yellow one.
“This will get us there faster for sure.” Holly was trying to hide her excitement, but failing. She jumped on the black one, the biggest smile Deccus had seen from her on her face.
“Yahoo! I love these things!” Shed yelled and jumped on the red one.
Wedge seemed quite disgruntled. “I hate skidoo’s.” He grumbled but got on nonetheless.
There wasn’t one for both Kleth and Ted individually, so they paired up one, while Deccus got on the last remaining vehicle.
He started the motor. It shook and vibrated, brimming with power.
“Let’s go!” He waved towards the direction they were to go and sped off, the rest of them following.
What normally would have been a three hour hike was a quick ten minute ride on skidoo’s.
Deccus could see eight figures on the horizon. Deccus saw the middle person standing, and assumed him to be the leader. Slowly coming to a stop he got off and addressed him.
“Are you the leader of the Elite Eight?”
He looked Deccus up and down once. “Yes. Call me Anton.” His voice was harsh, tuned to years of battle.
Anton was rather tall for his age. He was considerably higher than Deccus, by at least four inches. His armor was a simple white, with shoulder plates that stuck out quite a ways. His boots looked like high-tech ski boots, but more flexible. There were red stripes here and there, but other than that he was all white. His weapons were twin cannons on his back and twin handguns on his belt. His forearm and foreleg plates were widened for increased protection. The rest of his team seemed to be dressed in a similar fashion.
Deccus nodded. “Ok, Anton. What’s the situation here?”
“The Howler forces have surrounded this side of Arcania.” He pointed over the hill. Deccus walked forward and saw.
Siege machines by the dozens had lined up in front of the Arcania wall. Nearly an even hundred infantry were there, some guarding the siege machines and others attacking by either lobbing shots or putting ladders up against the wall and climbing. The machines consisted of towers, catapults and rammers. The towers inched slowly towards the wall; the catapults lobbed huge shots over the wall and rammers moved forwards, carrying infantry inside it and rammed the wall, hoping to break it down.
On the Arcania side, some soldiers were on top of the wall, firing with random weapons. Some were on the ground level, but they were really getting pounded. Sometimes a rope came down and pulled a soldier up, while another came down. They had a couple of turret cannons on the wall, but the most noticeable part of the city was the tower near the middle of the city. It had a cannon that looked nearly as large as the city gate. It must have been broken, since it wasn’t firing anything.
“As you can see this will be a difficult task.” Anton continued. “I’ve formulated a strategy that I think will work well. I just need you to agree to it.”
“Let’s hear it.”
Everyone converged to Anton, and he quickly explained his plan to Deccus and the others.
“All the close range fighters will run forward, doing as much damage as possible. The snipers will stay behind the fighters cover, and pick off whoever they can. Deccus, you go first, since you’re quite a good fighter and you have a shield, along with you, Hadrian. CJ, Kaeden, you cover him.”
Kaeden and CJ nodded. CJ looked to be very similar in style to Kaeden.
“Holly and Meg, you go with me and give me cover fire.”
They both nodded.
“Shed, you try and cover both systemators at once the best you can. This mission depends on them, so the Howlers don’t call for reinforcements.”
“Ok!”
“Systemators, send the signal to Arcania to attack when I signal for us to attack. Ted, Krea, watch for whoever needs medical attention.”
All mentioned nodded.
“Everyone, assume positions!”
All present conformed according to Anton’s orders. Deccus and Hadrian in front, fighters behind them, snipers further behind and systemators at back.
“All ready?” Anton cried.
“Yes, sir!”
“CHARGE!”
Deccus sprang forward shield first, matching Hadrian’s speed. Deccus charged his blaster to full power and fired. The shot was focused as wide as possible, to announce their approach. Quickly Deccus popped open the ammo valve and refilled his gun while running still, then charged again, only more focused this time. Kaeden and CJ were firing as much as possible while still trying to keep up with the Shield Joe’s.
For the first time Deccus saw why Anton was the leader of the Elite Eight. His twin cannons were immensely powerful, and still had a high refire rate. He ran and switched between both guns without taking his eyes off of the Howlers. Sometimes he pulled both handguns out and released a barrage of shells, then switched back to his cannon, all without straying his vision. He himself downed more foes than anyone else.
By now they were closer to the enemy than before, and were in firing range of them.
“Hadrian! Go faster and ram into them!” Deccus yelled.
“Ok!”
Gathering more speed, Deccus hoped to do as much damage as possible while he still had the momentum. The enemy shells bounced harmlessly off Deccus’s shield, not slowing him at all.
“Deccus! What are you doing?” Anton yelled at him.
Deccus ignored him so he wouldn’t lose his concentration.
Seeing what Deccus was intent on, the Howler soldiers were starting to get out of the way.
This is gonna hurt.
Deccus braced himself for impact.
Many hard bodies slammed against his shield, but he kept as much speed as possible. Looking to the side he saw Hadrian doing the same.
Finally stopped, Deccus signaled Hadrian to fall back. They ran back to the others at top speed, hoping not to get attacked on the way.
“What were you thinking?” Anton yelled at them both.
“We did more damage there than a firing range would, and we made it out okay, didn’t we?” Deccus told him.
“You’re right. But, no time to argue. Get back to the front.”
Looking over the massive forces of the Howlers, Deccus could see the rammers starting to break the wall. There wasn’t much to the Arcanian forces, and they were taking a beating.
“Hadrian! We gotta help the Arcanian soldiers! Let’s circle around the Howlers!”
“Ok, but Anton won’t like it.”
“Kaeden, CJ, follow us!”
Splitting apart, they went separate ways around with the other two struggling to catch up to them while still firing. Deccus caught a glimpse of Anton following Deccus.
Eventually they worked their way around and were on the side of the Arcanians, who needed the help badly.
Deccus set his sights on the rammer doing lethal damage to the wall. He ran up and jumped on top of it. He charged his gun, poked it through a window on the side and fired, then jumped in himself. His shield worked very well as a melee weapon, as he found out then.
After he had taken over the rammer, he turned it around and aimed for the Howler forces. He inched it slowly for a catapult in the middle of an infantry swarm. He ran over a few Howlers’, but they’d be fine.
Once next to the catapult, he drew back the huge log inside the machine and rammed it at the catapult, completely obliterating it. He drove for another catapult, but the number of Howler’s inside the machine forced Deccus to retreat out.
Jumping on top of many heads and firing many shots, Deccus made for the others at the Arcanian gate.
An Arcanian soldier addressed Deccus. “Thanks, man! You’re in for a heroes thanks after this!”
That made him happier.
The battle raged for many hours. Deccus was getting quite exhausted. He called for a medic, and one came from the Arcania’s forces. A quick heat pack and swig of hot sugar water rejuvenated Deccus, and was ready to fight again.
With many snipers and fighters on one side, and Anton, Deccus and CJ on the other, the Howler forces were wearing thin.
“Good job, guys! We’re wearing them out!” Anton said.
It was true. Many Howler’s were starting to look for ways to retreat.
Suddenly Deccus’s intercom burst to life. Kleth’s voice was heard, and he sounded excited. “Deccus! The Howler’s are looking for ways to retreat! We don’t have to finish them all off, all we have to do is scare them away! Their morale is already low, all we have to do is throw things that explode at them, and we’ll be set!”
“Great idea, Kleth.” Deccus returned. “Only thing is, where do we get things that explode?”
“I’m sure we can collect enough materials to make a primitive Molotov cocktail.”
“Where from?”
“Inside Arcania. Hey, Raijin. Keep going, ok? I’m going to the other side. Shed, cover me.”
Soon Deccus could see Kleth running around the same path Deccus took, with Shed covering him. With Shed’s huge shield, the trip was rather easy.
“Ok, Kleth. What’s the plan?”
“We need to get into the city, but without opening the gate.”
“Ok.”
On spontaneous logic, Deccus ran into the crowd of Howler’s and snatched a ladder, then ran back.
“Will this do?”
“We need to signify a way to let Arcania know it isn’t a howler scaling the wall.”
Deccus undid his scarf and tied it to the end of the ladder, making a crude flag.
“Looks good. Let’s go.”
Slowly Deccus lifted the ladder and leaned it against the wall. A soldier on the wall was about to push it down, but saw the flag and left it alone. Deccus climbed the ladder as fast as possible, so as to not waste time. Kleth followed.
“Ok. We’re in the city.” Deccus put his scarf back on. “Now what?”
“We find a bar. There’s bound to be enough chemicals to make a Molotov cocktail.”
Deccus asked the soldier where the bar was. He quickly pointed at it and returned to fighting.
Sliding down the steps, Deccus dashed quickly to the tavern.
“Let’s look in the back. He probably keeps his supplies there.”
Many layers of drinks and other materials were lined up on shelves.
“Root beer?”
-
WHAT!? What happened there, Minion?
:arrow: Apparently.... There's a character limit to the TPH server.
Crap. Oh, well. Post whatever is remaining!
:arrow: yes, sir.
For quite a while they all laughed, including Ted, though he made no sound, but his mouth was moving. Deccus made a mental note of it to ask him later.
Anton decided to give the congratulatory speech.
“Excellent work, people. With our help, Arcania has survived to live another day. Tonight we shall celebrate, and tomorrow gather the war machines and pack them into the city. Deccus,” Anton walked up to him and stuck out his hand. “Thanks for your help.”
Deccus took his hand and shook it. “No problem. Just doing my job.”
Anton waved his arm to the city. “Come! Let us celebrate!”
They entered the bar, almost already decorated for a party.
“Drinks on the house!” The barkeeper yelled.
Almost immediately everyone swarmed to the counter. Deccus hopped behind it to help.
“Pepsi here!” Kaeden yelled.
“I want orange!” Holly elbowed Kaeden aside.
“One at a time! Have patience.” Deccus was trying to prepare two drinks at once, but failed and stayed to doing one at a time.
For a few minutes Deccus served as assistant bartender, until Krea came and took over. Deccus quickly poured a root beer for himself and went off.
“Hey, Deccus! Come on over here!” Anton yelled above the crowd. He was sitting at a table with CJ, Hadrian and another person he didn’t know. Deccus went and sat down with them.
“Hey, Deccus. Nice going out there. That idea to use the rammer on their catapult was genius!” Hadrian was quite talkative once he had a drink.
Deccus shrugged. “Well. Yeah. It was a spontaneous thing.”
“An’ what made you ram them with your shield? That was suicidal, man.”
“It worked before.”
Hadrian laughed. “You’re alright, Deccus. I gotta say, you sure turned that fight around.”
“Say, Anton.” Deccus tried to change the subject. “Who’s this guy here? I don’t think I know him.”
“Him?” Anton pointed his thumb at the new figure. “He was the commander on the Arcanian side. Brilliant strategist.”
He seemed quite honored to be complimented by the leader of the Elite Eight. “Now, I can’t say I’m that good. I just do what has to be done.”
“That’s the same with me!” Deccus said. “People always say I’m a good fighter and say I can command an army well, but really, half the time I’m not even thinking. What’s your name, anyways?”
“The name’s Butch. And I know you already. Who doesn’t know of the great Deccus?”
“Oh, come on. I can’t be as famous as that, can I? I mean, I’m nothing compared to Anton. If me and him had a fight right now, he’d kick my ass in barely a few seconds.”
“Please.” Anton seemed to like the recognition. “In a few seconds? You’re very good yourself. You have good defense, more than me. You could just block everything I throw at you.”
“You know, on a different subject,” CJ said, tired of being left out. “I’m kinda curious where you came from, Deccus. Where you were born and stuff.”
Deccus stammered a bit, but with little convincing he launched into his story. It was a little spiced up from what he told Kleth and the others, but stayed to the facts enough to be classified as accurate. He finished in a few minutes, then finished off his root beer.
“Hadrian, why don’t you go?” Deccus said above the rising noise of the crowd.
He finished his drink and went to his story. “I came from British Columbia, in Canada. A nice town, not too big, with very little to disturb the peace. I thought it was too boring, and asked my parents if I could go to summer camp. They thought I could do better, and sent me here instead. I graduated at an early age from the Academy, and served well in the army, until Anton asked me to join his force. I said yes, and I’ve been working for him ever since.”
“How old were you when you graduated?”
“Oh, just a year early. I only trained for two years.”
It was normal for everyone attending the Academy to train for three years, work in the regular army for at least one year, then they could start their own team, join another, or stay in the army. Many stayed with their friends in the army, and barely any made their own teams. Much like Deccus. He worked in the army a year extra, then started his own team against his will. He was on break from working in the army, living in a small house in Vahal, working at the armory. It was traditional for people that acquire Valiant status to take a short break. His was cut short by the General, but that was all right. It was boring working at the armory, anyways.
“Good story. You want to go, CJ?”
“Sure. Why not.” He took a drink then started to talk. “I’m from New York. You know, the Big Apple. Let me tell you, it’s quite different from there to here. Where I come from, the most frightening thing to happen would be getting mugged in Central Park, but after this place, that’d be a cakewalk. Having to charge a full on army with only fourteen allies? Come on. That’s almost suicidal. Muggers are only one person. Just punch him in the face and move on. I was getting pretty rowdy over there, and was starting to hang with the wrong crowd. My parents changed that by sending me here. See, I saw the Howler’s and the scum of New York as the same thing. I learned to hate the Howler’s, and as such saw that the people I was getting with were part of that. My parents made the right choice in sending me here. Anton and Hadrian make way better friends than they would’ve ever been. Once I graduated…”
He was interrupted by Kleth setting off the remaining fireworks in quick succession, making for quite the show now that he put different colors of dye in the mix.
“Ooh, fire.” CJ said and ran for Kleth.
Deccus watched him wrestle Kleth for the lighter. “You know, I used to think of the Elite Eight as a highly disciplined, emotionless team, but after this it proved that theory wrong.”
“Well, if we’re all relaxed and happy, it improves morale and…”
A firecracker went off by Deccus’s head, singing his hair slightly.
“CJ! Watch where you throw those things!”
“Sorry!” He promptly lit another and aimed directly at Deccus’s face.
“Don’t throw that!” Kleth yelled, but it was too late.
The glass shattered on Deccus’s face. He fell down and knocked his chair, which swung and hit him in the stomach and took his breath away. He tried to inhale, but nothing came. He tried again, but nothing happened. He needed oxygen… Bad…
“You idiot, CJ!” Anton got up and pushed Deccus out of the field of carbon dioxide. Air… Wonderful air…
Anton went to CJ and backhanded his face. “When Kleth says ‘don’t throw that’, then that means, don’t throw that! Listen better next time!”
CJ looked quite shocked. Anton never resorted to physical punishment.
Anton went to Deccus and helped him up. “You alright?”
“Yeah. I’m fine. Thanks, though.”
The mood lightened after Kleth made more fireworks, with improved formula’s for enhanced explosions. CJ left the demolitions to him.
After the party lasted for nearly two more hours, Deccus went to the second floor to sleep for the night. He shared a room with the rest of his team, and the beds could only sleep two people, so they had a few rounds of Janken to see who would sleep in them. Perhaps by a pure coincidence or a cruel mistress of fate, Deccus and Holly got a bed together.
Better than Kaeden. Deccus thought to himself as he opened the door.
He was the first one there. Kleth and the rest were still partying downstairs, making a huge ruckus. Removing his armor he climbed in and rested his eyes, since sleep was nigh impossible at the moment.
Ted was the first one in. He took his sleeping bag, removed his toque and boots and curled up against the wall. Kaeden came second, slightly charred and rather sticky looking. He went into the bathroom and the sound of the shower was heard. Ted had to use the bathroom, but since Kaeden was in that one, he went to a different washroom in the hallway.
Then Holly came in. Without saying anything she got changed and went in the bed, a fair distance away from Deccus. Perhaps too far? He edged a little closer to her to experiment. She didn’t move, but the second time he moved she went further to the side.
Perhaps she’s nervous? He thought to himself hopefully. He edged more to his side, just to be careful.
“So… All alone.” He said quietly.
“Yep.” She responded.
“Holly… About… This morning… Back at the Academy, when I went in your room after I could walk again. What were you planning to say before Wedge came in?”
Her breathing paused for a second. “Wwwhhy do you want to know?”
“It sounded important, like you wanted to say it for a long time.”
She inhaled sharply, turned over and sat up. “You’re right. I have been wanting to say it for a long time. I just never seem to get to be alone with you long enough to get it out.”
He sat up as well. “We have time now. Say it.”
She closed her eyes and looked down. “Deccus, I…”
The door to the room burst open and Shed, followed by Wedge. They appeared to be firing on one another.
Shed had his shield and blaster going, working in unison blocking Wedge’s shots while attacking himself. He fired a few shells and put his shield in his face. Wedge jumped on top and pushed Shed’s shield to the floor while he blasted his face with a few shots. Shed lifted his shield and smacked Wedge on the cheek and continued to fire.
“Hey!” Deccus jumped out of bed, grabbed his shield and blaster and ended the fight within seconds. “What’s going on here? Are you all hopped up on sugar?”
Shed answered first. “We’re just seeing which is better in a fight: Offense or defense.”
“Yeah. We weren’t fighting for no reason. This’ll help us on the field.”
“Know what else will help? Getting some sleep!” Deccus dropped his things on the floor and went back to bed.
“Sorry, boss.” Shed went back out, while Wedge went to get a sleeping bag. As soon as he left Ted came back in.
“Okay, Holly.” Deccus whispered to her under the blankets. “What did you want to say?”
“Not with Ted here.”
Deccus would just have to wait another day.
He couldn’t sleep. He couldn’t even get drowsy in the slightest. He could only think on what Holly had to say.
Could she feel like I do, but just too nervous and never getting a lone second with me? Yes, that could be. Could she hate me? No. That’s impossible.
But even as he thought it, he found it grew more and more true. At first it was a radical thought, but seemed entirely possible now.
Finally, in a disheartened state, Deccus fell asleep.
“Hey, guys! Wake up!”
A thump at the door violently awoke Deccus.
It continued. “Hurry! The Howler’s are back!”
“What!?” Deccus jumped out of bed and very quickly put on his armor and weapons. He burst the door open, ready to run, until he saw CJ on the floor laughing.
“You fell for it! Hook, line and sinker!” He was clutching his sides.
Anton came and kicked CJ. “You just don’t know when to shut up, do you?”
Deccus dropped his stuff off and went downstairs for breakfast.
Only Hadrian, CJ and Anton were up already. Hadrian was enjoying pancakes, while Anton went for waffles. CJ appeared to have eaten already. Deccus got a little of everything and sat with the others.
“Oh, yeah. Deccus.” Anton said with a full mouth. He swallowed twice before continuing. “I got a message from the General.”
Oh, bloody hell. Not already._ He thought. “What is it?”
“He wants you to take the skidoo’s you have and scout the area around here. Make sure there aren’t any Howler’s preparing for a second attack.”
Deccus sighed in relief. “Ok. Thanks. I thought he wanted us to attack another fort.”
Hadrian finished his orange juice. “You haven’t attacked a fort in over a month! We had to assault one just three days ago!”
“I guess you have a point there.” Deccus took a huge bite of sausage.
Anton took a huge gulp of his drink before speaking. “Say, what was it like being in bed for three weeks without being able to move?”
“Almost as bad as taking the hits that caused the injuries. It gets awful boring there, you can’t itch yourself under the casts, and there’s barely anyone to talk to. Just the occasional visitor.”
Holly came down, dished up and sat beside Deccus. Closer than she should be, perhaps?
“You know, I never have broken an arm or anything. I never seem to get hit very often.” Anton said thumping his chest after a particularly big bite.
“Depending on how you get hit,” Hadrian spoke up. “It’s alright to get an arm or leg broken. They don’t hurt much if they’re broken right. What hurts is having your ribs broken.”
“I know! It hurts to breathe even.”
“You’ve had them broken?”
“Seven of them.”
“How?”
“That guy in the red team we had to take down named Allouette. He’s evil with his blasters.”
CJ laughed and fell off his chair.
“And what’s so funny?”
“Allouette’s a girl’s name!”
“And how would you know, Mr. Mature?”
“My parents are French. My full name is Criqué Jacques Matúr. My cousin’s name is Allouette.”
“So if we get a French exchange student, we should find you for translator?”
Anton coughed. “Back at the Academy he always bugged us by talking to us in French.”
CJ laughed again.
“Did you notice that CJ’s last name sounds like mature?”
Hadrian thought a second. “Yeah, it does. Not that it’s true or anything.”
Anton coughed harder.
Hadrian ignored him. “So you have to go on a scouting mission next?”
“Yup. I don’t mind, though. I’m riding the ski-doo’s, and if I’m doing that I’m not complaining.”
Anton was having trouble breathing.
“Are you all right, Anton?”
He coughed quite hard and shook his head.
It took a second before anyone reacted.
Hadrian got up and started thumping his back, but it didn’t help.
“Who knows the Heimlich?”
“Nobody does! We’re just kids!”
Deccus picked him up and slung him on his shoulder. It wasn’t very easy. “Where’s a hospital in this town?”
The barkeep pointed towards the gate through the wall.
“Thanks!” Deccus ran off.
The morning sun was very bright, but Deccus paid it no notion. The hospital was a rather small building located close to the wall.
Only one nurse was in at the moment. She seemed quite flustered to have a choking person come in so suddenly. “What’s wrong with him?
“He choked on some food.”
“Set him on that chair.”
Deccus sat Anton up and she came over, stuck her finger in his mouth, turned him around and performed an expert Heimlich maneuver. A piece of waffle flew out and hit the floor.
“There. That’s it.”
“That’s it? He’s fine now? It was just a piece of breakfast food that made him choke like that?”
“Uh… Yeah. He’s free to go now.”
“Sweet! Back to eating.” Anton said and ran back.
Quite in awe at the rapid recovery, Deccus followed him. He quickly finished his breakfast, went to his room and put his armor on. He then went outside the city and gathered the skidoos to the front of the city, since they had to park a ways away due to the large Howler swarm in front of the city. Afterwards he went back into the bar.
By now Holly had finished eating and Kaeden had come down. Shed and Wedge had continued their ‘discussion’ outside, where more room was available. Ted was presumably still asleep. Deccus got another plate of food and sat down again.
“So, Anton.” Deccus asked. “Where are you going after this?”
He couldn’t answer, due to the roughly a half-pound of food in his mouth. Hadrian answered in his stead.
“We were ordered to take a week long break. Apparently, Anton thinks we’re over worked. Personally, I can’t sit still for more than a day. I was thinking of returning to the army for a while.”
“Why not join my squad? We can always use the help.”
Hadrian thought for a second before answering. “Sure, why not. I know I’ll be bored sitting around.”
Deccus sealed the deal with a hand shake.
“Thanks. I know we could use all the help we can get.”
“It is proven that we’re an excellent team. We alone knocked out more Howler’s than all the snipers and fighters combined, excluding Anton.”
A particularly loud belch came from his side.
Hadrian continued. “Yet, he can still drink us under the table. He alone consumed more sugar that night than any one single person, yet never got a sugar high.”
“Wait, I just thought of something.”
“What’s that?”
“Our next mission is to patrol the area on ski-doo’s.”
“And?”
“We only have seven of them. With you, that makes eight. We need an extra ski-doo.”
“You’re right. We may have to call for another one.”
The door opened and Shed and Wedge came in, both very wet and covered in frost.
“So, how did it go? Who won?” Anton asked.
“It’s still a tie. Neither of us has won yet.” Wedge said while he flagged the bartender for a hot chocolate.
“He put up one heck of a fight, though. I’d say that my shield is probably the best weapon if I’m being swarmed by multiple enemies.” Shed put two fingers up, saying he wanted a hot chocolate also.
“We’re just taking a break, then we’ll give it another shot.”
“You do know that we’re about to leave on a mission, right?” Deccus said to the two.
“Yeah, but frankly, I’m too pooped. It’s just a patrol anyways, right?” Shed said as he brushed off a layer of snow.
“I hate those things. I’m not riding them.”
Deccus shrugged. “Guess we have room for you then, Hadrian.”
The door opened and Ted came in.
“Were you at the cannon, Ted?”
He nodded.
“Is it fixed yet?”
Ted shook his head.
“Oh, well. Meet us at the gate in ten minutes, okay?”
He nodded and went upstairs.
“Say, where’s Holly?”
“I saw her outside climbing to the cannon before I came in.” Wedge said with a gulp.
“Thanks.”
Deccus got up and left. He headed for the ladder that led to the cannon and scaled it within seconds.
Indeed, Holly was up there. Her legs were over the edge, and she looked rather lonely.
“Something wrong, Holly?” Deccus asked and sat beside her.
“No, nothing.”
“You sure? Wanna talk about it?”
“Not to you.” She replied rather snidely.
“Oh. Ok.”
A loud, piercing yell was heard through the whole city.
“There’s something really big heading this way!”
Deccus got up immediately and went to the viewpoint in the tower.
It was indeed very big. In fact, its foot was as big as the bar.
It was a giant, walking, robot. It was much taller than the wall, and definitely had the ability to destroy the city in seconds.
“What the hell is that!?” Deccus yelled.
“It looks like a mech, only way bigger!” Holly appeared quite frantic.
Deccus slid down the ladder and made for the gate.
He spoke to the guards on top of the wall. “Open the gate and get to the bar’s basement! It’s the safest place!”
They both opened the gate and ran for the tavern. By that time, everyone had gathered at the gate.
Anton and Deccus were giving orders. “Wedge, stay here. Shed, you’re coming with us. Hadrian, you choose who to go with: The Elite Eight or us. Here’s what we’ll do. We’ll ride out on ski-doo’s, giving the Elite Eight a ride. They’ll jump on the feet of that thing, and hopefully work their way inside and dismantle it. We’ll distract it by attacking and chasing it away.
“Everyone ready?”
“YES, SIR!”
Deccus got on his ride and started the motor as Anton got on behind. “Let’s go!”
They all sped off towards the hulking opponent. It moved fast for such a large mechanism.
Deccus circled around the foot, getting as close as possible for Anton to jump on. A door was visible on it, so they wouldn’t have to make an entrance.
“Get ready to jump!” Deccus yelled to Anton.
Anton jumped, but just as the foot lifted. Deccus quickly reached out and grabbed his arm before he slid too far. Deccus caught up to the foot, but by the time he got there it was gone again.
“Holly! Go ahead and catch up to it ahead of time!”
She did so, Hadrian preparing to jump behind her. The foot landed, and Hadrian jumped. He managed to climb on, but the door seemed unopenable. No latch or knob was on it.
Deccus spoke in his mike. “Hadrian! Is the door loose at all?”
He saw him thud it a bit before replying. “Yeah, a little.”
“Kaeden, Get on that foot!”
“How?”
“Switch places with CJ!”
Deccus saw the two fighters attempt some sort of a shuffle, but didn’t quite work. Holly rode up and held the handle still while they switched. They managed to switch, and Kaeden jumped in time to get on the foot.
“Now what?”
“Pull that door off! Hadrian, hold him still!”
Kaeden used both hands to grip the loose board while Hadrian kept his arm behind him to keep him from falling off. He tugged at the door, but it only got looser in its frame. Deccus drove up and Anton pulled as well, then Kleth came and Ted tugged also.
“I think it moved!” Kaeden yelled.
“Keep going!”
Then the foot lifted. It didn’t come straight down, but rather shook in mid-air. Kaeden and Hadrian fell off easy and landed in the soft snow. Holly and CJ came and picked them up.
“I have an idea! Anton, you drive.”
They switched places so Deccus was in the back.
“Drive up to the foot again!”
Anton proved to be a very skillful driver. He drove up within seconds and stopped by the foot on a dime. Deccus jumped on.
He spoke in his mike. “Hadrian, get on the other foot!”
He saw Holly drive to it and Hadrian jumped on.
“Now climb up and we’ll get to a better spot!”
“Are you crazy? What could possibly be up there?”
“What do you think they use to see? Bulletproof glass? Let’s work to the head!”
Deccus put his gun away so he could use both hands to climb. He hugged the leg, then wrapped his legs around it. He began to shimmy up like he would a tree. Hadrian was doing the same.
It was difficult due to the thing they were climbing was walking, but eventually they made it to the hip joints.
What use could come of that, though? Then Deccus saw that the way to the joints was bare. No armor protected these vital parts. He put on his blaster on and fired a shot. The snow seemed to stick in the gears a bit.
“Hadrian! Can you charge your blaster?”
“No! Only you can!”
“Then fire at the open spot beside you and maybe we can slow it down a bit!”
Deccus charged his gun and fired. The increased size of the shot knocked one gear off its track and loosened another. He fired another charged shot and a couple were nearly removed.
The speed of the mech was definitely lowered. Now it would take longer for it to get to Arcania, thus giving Deccus and Hadrian more time.
The two continued on their vertical ascent. Getting to the shoulders were quite difficult, but they managed to get there in time.
“Okay, here’s the plan.” Deccus said to Hadrian. “We’ll climb on that rim there and attack through the optic area. From there we’ll knock out and capture the pilot squad, thus halting the mech.”
Hadrian nodded and got into position. They climbed the side at equal speeds, so that they would attack at the same time. Deccus could see Hadrian, and put up three fingers, counting down to one. All fingers down, they jumped into the gap.
“Alright! We’re takin over this mech!” Deccus had his blaster charged and ready to fire.
Only to have roughly a dozen guns aimed at him.
The pilots didn’t drive unguarded. Many security soldiers were prepared to fight Deccus and Hadrian to their last ounce of ammo.
But, Deccus and Hadrian weren’t just anyone.
In near-perfect synchronization they charged forward, shields first. Knocking out four soldiers and firing at another two, half of them were effectively stopped. Then the Howlers started firing. Deccus and Hadrian walked backwards while firing until they were back to back. Hadrian’s blaster had greater ammo supply, but Deccus could charge.
One after another of them fell to the constant barrage fired from the two shield joes. Soon it was just them and the pilots.
One let go of the controls. “Don’t hurt me! I was only following orders!”
The mech violently swerved to the side. “Jenkins! Don’t let go of the controls!”
Jenkins immediately grabbed the stick.
Hadrian spoke up. “Now, make this thing stop or we’ll start firing! NOW!”
“How ‘bout I fire instead?”
Deccus turned to see who spoke.
Allouette had returned.
“Ah, crap! Not him!”
“Hey, it’s you again! Fancy that! Thought I’da killed ya off!”
Hadrian readied his shield and blaster. “He’s not alone this time!”
“Two ‘o yez? That’s almost unfair!”
“Don’t underestimate him, Hadrian. His blasters are very deadly.”
“Any advice?”
“Don’t get hit.”
Simultaneously they charged forward. Allouette raised his guns and fired, but the duo spilt and ran circles around him, hoping to confuse him. He began to fire in random directions, hoping to hit one of them. One shot came very close to Deccus’s head, one nicked Hadrian’s leg and he tripped, another hit a pilot, and one more hit one of the control systems.
The pilot captain spoke. “Allouette! Watch where you’re firing or you’ll destroy this thing, with you in it!”
“Shut up, boss man! I’m trying to kill these guys!”
One of the shots made contact with Deccus’s shield. He was blown back and into a wall by the massive power of the literal cannon.
“Finally, you stopped movin!” Allouette raised his blaster.
Oh, bloody hell. Not again.
But just as Allouette fired, Hadrian knocked the blaster downwards, making a hole in the floor. Then he took his shield and smacked Allouette across the face with it. He swung his cannon and knocked back Hadrian, then prepared to fire a couple shots, but Deccus tackled him shield-first, then fired a charged shot to his head. Allouette kicked Deccus back and fired a shot, but it was dodged easily. Hadrian tried to attack from behind, but Allouette swung around and hit Hadrian in the head a couple times with his cannon barrel. Deccus ran up from behind, but Allouette turned, hit Deccus with both of his guns and turned back to Hadrian, who was getting quite dazed. Deccus tried to fire a shot, but he was out of ammo. He scooped what he could off himself and fired at Allouette’s head. The force of the shot knocked off his helmet, drawing his attention away from Hadrian until he could get his bearings.
“You’re really annoyin, ya know that?”
“I’ve been told.”
Allouette fired the first shot, but Deccus stepped aside and dodged it easily. He fired again and again, but did more damage to the mech than him.
“That’s it!”
Allouette ran forward and thwacked Deccus across the head. It hurt plenty. “I’ve had it with you!”
He hit Deccus a few more times, then picked him up and threw him out the window.
Deccus was too disoriented to notice he was falling. He saw the ground, but he didn’t seem to be able to think straight.
The snow plummeted closer and closer, but Deccus couldn’t focus. He could only fall…
Suddenly Anton appeared in front of him. He had his armor off, and he broke Deccus’s fall.
“Uhh… Thanks Anton…”
He helped him stand, but Deccus was too weak and he crouched instead. “No problem. I expect Hadrian will be out shortly.”
“Probably. He sure took a beating to the head… If both of us at once couldn’t take him down, Hadrian alone doesn’t stand a chance.”
“Who? Who knocked you out?”
Deccus grabbed Anton by the collar. “Allouette has returned…”
Anton couldn’t help but be surprised. “Allouette? The guy with the killer cannons?”
Deccus nodded, out of breath.
Hadrian started to fall. Anton positioned himself directly below him and flexed his stomach. Hadrian landed on him, completely unharmed besides the whacks to his head.
“You all right, Hadrian?”
“Uhh… I guess…”
Anton snapped his fingers. “Ted! I need some medical assistance.”
Kleth drove up and Ted jumped off. Some hot sugar water and a couple of heat packs rejuvenated the wounded soldiers.
“Now what? If you two couldn’t stop that, what can we do?” Anton said, watching the mech.
Suddenly it stopped. A rope came down, followed by another and several more. Down descended from them were Allouette, Venra, Pix, and the rest of the team.
“The Crimson Bandits!” Anton yelled and readied his weapons. Deccus and Hadrian did the same.
“Ha! Three against seven? Don’t make me laugh!” Venra laughed and pulled out his shield and gun, which appeared to have received an upgrade.
“One of them is Anton, the best soldier on the Badger’s side. He alone is more dangerous than any other team.” Pix said, flipping through a book.
“Can you shut up for one second, pipsqueak?” The blonde girl exclaimed.
“Anita, calm yourself.” Venra ordered.
“Can we get to killing them already? Them’re the only ones who’ve ever survived my shootin!”
Then rode up Holly, Kaeden, Kleth, Ted, CJ and the rest of the Elite Eight. They assumed positions that flanked Anton, Deccus and Hadrian.
“Okay… Twelve against seven is quite impossible.” The skinny one said, rather nervous.
“Just shut up! We’ll fight them to the death! Badgers! I’ll make you a deal!” Venra stepped closer. “If you beat us, we’ll stop the mech before it crushes your city. If we win, we continue our attack. Agreed?”
Anton grimaced. “I don’t like the sound of it.”
“What do you mean? We can take them on easy!” Deccus explained.
“I’m not so sure. I’ve seen these guys in action before. They specialize against large amounts of people, plus their deal sounds fishy.”
“How are we gonna stop the mech otherwise?”
Anton thought, at a loss for words. “You’re right. Venra! I accept your proposal!”
He grinned rather nastily. “Very well. ATTACK!”
Anton and company charged forward, but Venra’s team stood their ground.
“FIRE!”
They all raised their blasters and fired. Anton was knocked out first, as they had all focused on him solely. He fell to the ground and the medics attended to him. Deccus and Hadrian tried their trademark attack of charging shield first. They got very close before being knocked back by Allouette. Deccus got back up and did a sweeping run around Allouette. One after another members of Deccus’s team and the Elite Eight were knocked down and buried in frost. CJ was the first to go, and then Holly and Kaeden, effectively disabling over half of the team’s attack power. Deccus was nearly the only fighter remaining.
He came up with a desperate plan…
Charging his blaster, he ran behind Allouette and fired at his back. It didn’t hurt him much, but it made him focus on Deccus. He fired, but Deccus dodged. Deciding that the best way to dodge was to stand still at a distance and make small steps to the side.
Allouette tried again and again to hit Deccus, but it never worked. He was simply too fast. He started to get very angry. Normally a person didn’t survive one encounter with him, let alone three.
“You little prick! Stand still!” Allouette’s accuracy fell as his rage rose.
Anita came behind him and locked his arms. “Now, Allouette! Hit him now!”
Allouette grinned and fired.
Reacting swiftly, Deccus jumped and flipped around so Anita was in front.
“Terribly sorry to do this to you.” Deccus said to the struggling girl.
The shots pounded her. One in the stomach, both legs and her head were hit. She passed out immediately.
“No! Anita, No!” Venra yelled.
He saw Deccus holding her unconscious body.
“You bastard!” Venra ran for Deccus.
Deccus readied his weapons. “Bring it!”
Venra ran faster. His affection for the girl made him infuriated, and he wouldn’t stop until Deccus was either mortally wounded or forever crippled. Deccus didn’t want to die yet, and he had already been mutilated once, so he had no choice but to fight back.
Deccus jumped to the side when Venra got close and fired a charged shot to the head. Venra ducked in time to dodge it, and fired a few shots of his own. They ricocheted off Deccus’s shield harmlessly and Deccus returned with his own fire. Venra blocked them with his shield, continuing to fire. Taking him by surprise, Deccus charged forward and ran into Venra. He was knocked back, but rather put his gun away and readied his fist. Deccus blocked the first punch, but the second felt like it knocked a tooth loose.
“Ow. That hurt.”
Venra didn’t respond, but rather high-kicked Deccus on the head and punched him in the stomach. Deccus bent to his knees, trying to get air, but Venra clasped his fists together and brought them down on his head.
Deccus tasted blood.
This guy sure can hit hard…
“Hah ha hah! This is too easy!”
Deccus risked a glance at Allouette.
All of his team was knocked out or worse. Once again, he was the only one left.
“That’s it.”
Deccus swung his shield up and hit Venra on the chin. He quickly stood up and hit him again in the face. And again in the nose, and again in the arm, then knocked him out with a running jump with his shield.
Without wasting time, Deccus ran for Allouette. If this worked, he’d win. If not, he’d be as good as dead.
While Allouette’s back was turned, Deccus made for his guns. He grabbed the barrel and pulled. Allouette naturally pulled back. This broke the arm brace on his arm that helped him hold it. Deccus ripped the ammo valve that led to the backpack Allouette wore that held all the ammo he needed. Deccus ran back a few steps and aimed at Allouette, who in turn aimed his at Deccus.
The weight of this thing was no laughing matter. How Allouette managed to carry two of them and a backpack of ammo was extraordinary.
“Ya idiot. Ya only got ammo for two shots in that.”
“I guess I’ll have to make them count.”
He laughed. “’Make them count’? That’s stupid. Can’t ya come up with a better comeback than that?”
“I don’t need to.”
Deccus fired. Allouette fired.
Deccus managed to jump in time, but Allouette was hit across the face.
“Ow ow ow! That thing hurts!”
“Imagine getting hit seven times with it.” Deccus fired another shot. It hit Allouette in the stomach, who bent to his knees in reflex. Deccus ran up and hit Allouette with the giant barrel a few times, then grabbed the other gun and the backpack.
“You’re defenseless. Give up.”
“Neva’!”
Deccus fired a few shots to his back.
“Give up?”
“No!”
A few shots to the legs. “Say uncle!”
“No way!”
Deccus was enjoying this way too much. “C’mon. You’re about to pass out. May as well surrender.”
He was panting and out of breath. “No… Never… Not…”
Deccus prepared the final shot. He aimed to the head…
Suddenly a barrage of rapid fire shells tore across his back. He dropped the weapons and tried to cradle his wound.
“Hipou! What took ye?”
The stout boy with the railgun reloaded. “Sorry! This systemator was giving me trouble!”
Deccus looked and saw Kleth holding his arm.
“Kleth! You all right?” Deccus yelled, but was silenced by Allouette’s barrel.
“Shut up! I think it’s time I finished ye, once and fer all!”
Deccus tried to run, but Allouette tripped him, put his put on his chest and aimed, point-blank range, to the head.
“Say g’night.”
“No!”
Kleth grabbed his wrench and flung it at Allouette.
“Eh?”
The chrome tool struck him right on the nose. Deccus couldn’t help but hear a crack.
“By node! You budder! You brode by dose!”
Deccus took this opportunity to wallop Allouette to the side of the face. It hurt his fist, but managed to knock out the behemoth of a boy.
“Hey! Take this!”
Hipou raised his railgun and fired a stream at Deccus. He blocked them harmlessly with his shield and ran for him.
He was hopelessly outmatched. If Allouette couldn’t stop Deccus, what chance did he have?
It was over in a couple of seconds. Hipou was lying on the ground sobbing, cradling his bleeding nose.
Deccus surveyed the scene.
“Unnh…” Venra tried to get up.
Deccus stepped on his head deeper in the snow. Only he and Kleth were left standing.
“Is that everyone?” Kleth asked timidly, coming up from hiding behind Kaeden’s unconscious body.
“Looks like it. Radio HQ to have a cleanup crew sent.”
“Okay.”
Deccus went to a mound of snow. He swept it aside, revealing Hadrian’s unconscious body.
“Hadrian?” You okay?”
Deccus shook his shoulder a bit.
“Hadrian?”
He moved slightly. “Oh… Whatzit…”
“You all right?”
“Uh… I think so.”
Hadrian stood up, but wavered slightly.
“Yeah, you’re fine.”
Deccus went around and woke everyone up. Some he left sleeping and others wouldn’t wake up.
Deccus looked up at mechanical behemoth before him. “Now… What to do with the mech.”
Anton answered. “Simple. We use it on its creators.”
“Are we that cold-hearted? I mean, that thing can crush entire cities. Imagine if someone was under that foot.”
“Well, what else can we do? It’s not something you can store and keep until we’re attacked.”
“Kleth, what do you think we should do?”
He was still talking on his mike.
Deccus continued. “But even if we capture it, how can we drive it? I saw the control scheme and it didn’t look easy.”
“I’m sure we can figure something out. Let’s go take a look.”
“Wait.”
Deccus stopped in his tracks.
“What?”
“The pilots are still in there!”
The giant foot beside them lifted up and the mech stomped for Arcania.
“No!” Anton ran for a leg and grabbed on. He repositioned himself and began to climb.
“We can’t stop it that way! We have to destroy it somehow!” Deccus yelled to Anton.
“How exactly?”
He stammered. “I don’t know!”
Kleth came up. “If I had some gunpowder, I could destroy the legs.”
“The powder you made isn’t near powerful enough!”
Deccus turned on his mike. “Wedge! Can you hear me?”
He responded after a second. “Yeah, I can hear. What d’ya need?”
“A way to stop this mech. Can you think of anything?
“Well, I can see an opening in the eye area. Maybe there?”
“We’ve tried that. Anything else you can think of?”
“Uh… That powder Kleth made?”
“Not powerful enough.”
Deccus looked at the mech. “Wah! It’s almost to the wall!”
Wedge’s voice became more frantic. “Well, I could try and snipe the pilots from the cannon tower!”
A light came on in Deccus’s head.
“The tower cannon! It’s big enough to make the mech fall over at the least!”
“It’s broken, though!”
“Get crews going on fixing it. Kleth, get in the city and help them.”
“Okay!” Kleth said and he jumped on the nearest ski-doo.
Deccus waited and watched. The mech got closer to the wall with each step. Thinking that maybe he should jump on and fire at the gears in the hip area to gain more time, he remembered that Anton was on the mech already.
“Hey, Anton! Where you at?”
“I’m on the leg! It’s taking all I got to talk here, so don’t ask anything that I need to talk back to!”
“Okay! Up on the hip area, there’s a bunch of gears. Me and Hadrian knocked some loose and there was a definite drop in speed! Go up there and shoot the gears. Knock some loose!”
Deccus looked up and saw Anton climbing the leg.
He waited half a minute before he radioed in to Kleth.
“How’s the fix up going?”
Kleth’s voice replied. “Slow. The launch spring is out of alignment. Try and slow it down!”
“Anton’s already going on that. What else can we do?”
“I don’t know! Think of something! We’re busy here!”
Deccus looked around for ideas. Nothing came at first, until he saw Allouette’s body.
_His guns… They ripped through the floor inside the mech. Maybe they can damage the outside._
Deccus slung his shield on his back and picked up the two guns. The weight was more than he could bear, plus only one gun had ammo.
“Kaeden! Come here!”
Kaeden stumbled up. “What?”
“Can you carry these guns?”
Deccus passed the giant cannons to Kaeden, who took them and maneuvered them with ease.
“Yeah. What do ya want me to shoot?”
Deccus pointed. “The mech. Try to damage it as much as possible.”
“Okay!”
He aimed up and fired. The left gun had no ammo, but the right one did. Deccus managed to connect the left tubes together so that the ammo could travel through.
The shots didn’t do anything. They just ricocheted off harmlessly.
“Well, I’m outta ideas. How else can we slow it down?”
Deccus looked around again.
The mech was standing next to the wall.
He yelled in his mike. “Hurry! The mech’s about to wreck the wall!”
“Tell me something I don’t know!”
There was nothing Deccus could do now.
The mech raised its arms. It made a fist with both hands, and brought them down on the wall.
It never stood a chance. The heavy wood buckled and crumbled at the hand of the giant.
“Hurry, Kleth! The wall’s gone!”
“We’re working on it!”
It continued on its warpath. It ripped the roof of the bar off and crushed the armory.
“The town’s being destroyed! Hurry!”
“We’re goin as fast as we can!”
Then it saw the tower. It turned and made for it.
“Ack! It’s heading for your position!”
It was standing right in front of it. It reached with its arms and grabbed the support trusses. It was about to pull…
Then the cannon fired. A shell the size of its head hit and knocked the head off of the body altogether. The body slacked and fell backwards with a crash.
Deccus did an impromptu victory dance. A couple ski-doos were heading for the city, so Deccus got on one, pulled Holly aboard and sped off for Arcania.
A couple of buildings were crushed under the mech, but no one was in them.
Deccus saw Anton still clinging to the leg. He had his eyes closed.
“Anton! You all right?”
He raised his head, looked around and got off. “Oh. I’m okay, I guess.”
Everyone gathered at where the head should have been on the mech.
Deccus gave the orders. “Kaeden, CJ, Meg, go in there and capture whoever might be in the body. Holly, Wedge, Ted, go find the head and take whoever’s in it.”
All mentioned nodded.
“Kleth, where’s the clean-up crew I ordered?”
“They’re ten minutes away and are ready to take the captives to Vahal.”
“Great. Thanks.”
Everyone started discussing what to do with the body. It wasn’t an easy topic, since no one seemed to have a way to move it.
“Hey, what’s that sound?”
There was indeed a foreign sound.
Over the remains of the wall came a helicopter. It was composed of unpainted wood, and was an open cockpit design. It was very small, barely enough to hold one person. Driving it was an older boy, almost about to leave the island for being too old. He had a light armor the color of reddish-brown on and a bazooka strapped to his back, but other that that he was rather plain, besides the shock of bright blonde hair.
He spoke with a crude megaphone. “I see you’ve destroyed our prototype mech, Gamma. How you did it, I don’t know, but there will be more, I assure you!”
Anton addressed the flying boy. “Who’re you?”
“My name isn’t important. I will tell you it, though. You may call me Clash, newly appointed second in command to the Howler army.” He laughed sinisterly, then yelled out a question. “Who was it that destroyed Gamma here?”
Everyone looked at each other. Wedge was the one who spoke up.
“No one single person, really. We all helped to fix the cannon, but Deccus had the idea to do that. Plus, he would’ve stopped the mech before if not for the Crimson Bandits.”
“Deccus!? Which one of you is that?”
Deccus walked forward. “I am.”
Clash looked him over, then yelled out “I assure you, Deccus, you will pay for what you’ve done.”
He flew up a little higher. “Now, taste the power of the Sprinters!”
Like a wave of water, nearly fifty Howler soldiers climbed up the broken wall and ran for the group.
Since the attack was so spontaneous, no one had time to do anything but pick up their weapons before the runner’s were upon them.
“Hadrian! Let’s do the ‘Twin Shields’!”
Hadrian nodded and readied his shield. He lined up parallel to Deccus, and they sped off.
The Sprinters were simply too fast to be hit at all, really. They had minimal armor and weapons, but their speed was unreal. They just kept running circles around them.
Deccus fought them with their own weapon. He ran parallel to them and hit them with his shield. They couldn’t dodge something going as fast as themselves. Hadrian saw this, and did the same.
One had caught up to Deccus. He was slightly larger than the rest. He swung his arm and smacked Deccus upside the head. He countered by swinging his shield, but that was blocked and countered to. Deccus stuck his foot out and tripped him instead of fighting him.
Then another came up. Deccus promptly knocked him out, but he was replaced by two others. They tried to grab on and slow Deccus down, but they were knocked out because of it. They were both disposed of, but five more came to their aid, then another six. They had all grabbed onto Deccus, who was finally slowing down. After the next eight Deccus fell to the ground and they piled on top of him in swarms, punching and kicking and biting.
“Leave him alone!” Hadrian yelled and rammed through the crowd. Several dozen Sprinters went flying, and were replaced by more. Only this time, they picked him up and carried him off over the wall. Deccus tried to struggle, but one of them pressure pointed him and he passed out…
* * *
“Uhh…”
Deccus awoke, but kept his eyes closed and pretended to still be unconscious. What had happened?
Oh, yeah. He remembered now… They had just defeated Gamma, the giant mech, and Clash flew by. He rambled a bit, then sent a wave of Sprinters after us. It gets hazy after that…
“Is he awake or not?”
“Looks like he’s still sleeping. Wanna poke him?”
“Sure!”
Deccus opened his eyes and lifted his head.
Two Howler interrogators were in front of him, fingers at the ready. They seemed to be below Deccus a bit, but then he noticed that he was tied to the wall. But not his feet…
“He is awake.”
“Let’s poke ‘im anyways!”
They walked up and were about to jab him, but Deccus kicked their fingers and then their faces.
“Ow! You little…” One of them reached for a dangerous looking tool.
“Wait! Remember what Clash said! We can’t interrogate the prisoner without him there to ask the questions!”
“Fine. But if he kicks me again, I’m defibulating him.”
Deccus assessed his situation. He had been captured by those Sprinters and brought to a Howler base, where he was about to be accosted for answers. He was tied to the wall by the wrist and shoulders. His feet still hung free, which was good. They couldn’t interrogate him too hard if he could break their necks.
The room had a dark blue glow to it. The walls were painted wood, and dark blue lights were scattered around. A couple of tables carried various instruments of torture, none of them looked desirable near your body. On one table he saw his shield and blaster.
Good. If I make it out of here, those are going to be needed.
“So when’s Clash gonna get here?”
“He said he’d be about an hour since he brought in the prisoner. All we have to do is make sure he doesn’t escape.”
“Well, then.” He sat down and propped his feet on the table. “Let’s relax. It’s not like he’s going anywhere.”
The other one followed suit. They started talking about things uninteresting, until something caught Deccus’s ear.
“So what would you do if you were the Baron?”
“Well… I’d send all the troops we have and attack that Badger city, Vahla or somethin?”
“Vahal, I think.”
“No, it’s Vahla, I’m sure of it.”
“It’s Vahal.”
“You.” He addressed Deccus. “Is it Vahla or Vahal?”
“Vahal.”
“Thanks.” He turned back to his accomplice. “Told ya it was Vahal.”
“Well, how would I know what the name of some Badger city was?”
“It’s only their capital! You should know it. We were sieging it once and some guy parachuted on top of you and he knocked you out. Wait, now I know why you don’t remember.”
“I remember fine! Just that part was kinda hazy.”
“Are you getting old timers already? Need to be sent to a nursing home?”
“I’m two weeks younger than you are!”
“And yet you still have memory problems. Tsk tsk. For shame.”
“At least I was able to not get captured after that battle!”
“That’s because you were drug off somewhere else after you were landed on.”
The other one got up and socked him on the chin. “Shut up! You’re really annoying!”
“At least I’m not stupid!”
“Ooo, great comeback.”
“How’s this for a comeback?”
He walloped the other one square on the nose.
“Better. But try this!”
The other one had picked up a long, black metal rod and pressed it against him. Sharp electrical currents flowed from the rod and shocked him.
“Ow… You…” He grabbed a lethal looking knife and sliced the other one’s arm. The other one countered with a few extra volts and a kick to the shin.
He returned fire with a roundhouse to the other one’s open arm wound and another slice. Other one went into a flurry of punches against him.
The door slammed open and Clash came in, storming mad.
“Hime! Otherun! Stop beating each other senseless before I have to!”
They stopped immediately.
“Good boys. I’m going to interrogate the prisoner now. If you have a weak stomach, turn away.”
Neither of them wanted to miss seeing a Badger get defibulated, so they turned their attention to Clash.
“Now, Deccus.”
Clash walked up and looked Deccus in the eye. They were almost nose to nose.
“I really don’t like you, Deccus. But, also, I like you as well. You see,” He turned around and began to pace. “If you joined our side, we’d make you a general, and you’d have command of the entire Howler army. But, I dislike you also, because you’re not on the Howler team. You’re a fighter with incredible potential. I should know, for I am one too. I learned to utilize that potential, and I used it for my gain. You, however, squander that potential with things like ‘kindness’ and ‘mercy’.” Clash whipped around and began yelling. “I can protect myself! What can you do? Nothing! I could beat you to the ground if we fought.”
“Wrong, Clash.” Deccus would try to talk himself out of getting defibulated, whatever it meant. “I can protect myself. But I don’t choose to. I’ve learned my potential, and it’s worked for me so far. Only thing is, I use my potential to protect others. So you see, Clash, we’re not so different. The only thing that ‘clashes’ between us, so to say, is who we’re protecting.”
Clash’s lip quivered.
Deccus continued. “If you truly know what’s good for you, you’d let me down and allow me a free passage to Vahal.”
“And why would I do that?”
“Because, I could break your jaw right now if I wanted to. I know how much it’d hurt you if you couldn’t talk. It must be your favorite pastime. Only thing is, you’re a person of talk, and I’m a person of action. You talk about doing stuff, but do nothing. You said I would pay for what I did to Gamma, and you’re right, I should. I think I can cover the cost. Reach in my pocket and you’ll find quite a sum of Snowcraft money. Go ahead and take it.”
Clash looked quizzical at first, but decided to reach in and grab the money anyways. Instead of letting him take his money, Deccus raised his knee into Clash’s jaw. He jumped backwards.
“Hey! You said I could have that money!”
“Yes, but I never said I wouldn’t stop you.”
“You… You really can get annoying, sometimes!”
“Just like Hime.”
Otherun suppressed a laugh. Hime held his anger though, since Clash was in the room.
Clash backhanded Otherun. “Shut up, idiot!”
Deccus tried not to laugh, but failed fairly miserably.
“You shut up too!”
Clash tried to punch Deccus in the kidney, but he blocked with his foreleg.
“Hey! Your not allowed to b-“
Deccus kicked him in the neck, hitting him where Deccus was pressure pointed earlier, thus rendering Clash unconscious.
Hime and Otherun watched in horror. No one had been able to knock out Clash before.
Deccus looked expectantly at them. “What?”
“No one’s been able to do that before…”
“And I’ll do it to you too if you don’t let me down.”
They both looked at each other. “Should we?”
“I don’t know. He could be bluffing.”
“You know, you two are within kicking range. If you let me go, I promise not to beat you senseless.”
“Well, I dunno…”
“Why not? It’ll be Clash’s fault, not ours.”
They reached up and untied Deccus. He fell on top of Clash, who didn’t stir. He grabbed his shield and blaster and equipped them.
Deccus turned to the two other’s and made a small salute “Hime, Otherun, thanks.”
“Just go! If Clash wakes up we’re gonna be in big trouble!”
Deccus didn’t need telling twice. He opened the door and ran out.
The walls outside of that room were painted red, with gold stripes along it, typical Howler colors. A few hallways led to different locations, but no signs existed, so figuring out which way led where was quite impossible.
The hallways were lightly guarded. He was expecting masses of Howler’s patrolling the corridors, but none were in sight. He headed down a hallway that looked larger than the rest, so it probably led to the exit.
Deccus quietly stepped through the hallway, making as little noise as possible. No one was in sight, but they could be standing right around the corner.
Speaking of which, Deccus heard voices.
“So, where is Clash, anyways?”
“He said he had a prisoner to interrogate, but that was an hour ago.”
“Poor guy. Imagine being punished by Clash for an hour straight.”
“I don’t wanna see him afterwards.”
Deccus risked a peek around the corner. Two Howlers’ were standing talking to each other. They each had heavy rifle weapons and heavy armor. They looked older than Deccus, and quite larger.
“Isn’t there a meeting at the front entrance in a minute?”
“Yeah. Clash was going to talk about a new plan of his.”
“Maybe we should go soon.”
“Yeah. Clash doesn’t like people being late.”
Deccus jumped at the chance. He punched the first soldier in the back of the head. He turned around, but Deccus slugged him and he went down.
“You knocked out Kenny! You must be that Badger prisoner!”
The other one fired a few shots, but his shield blocked them all, and Deccus used it on his opponents head.
Deccus quickly put the first one’s armor on himself. He was the same height as Deccus, but wider in the front, so the armor rattled as he walked. He solved that by slipping his blaster in the gap, so he could hide it. His shield he slid on his back underneath the Howler armor, and his boots fit inside the bigger boots, and his helmet could fit in the stomach space, so he put on the Howler helmet instead.
He was completely disguised. All his equipment was hidden, and all the Howler armor was on him. His own face rather resembled Kenny’s, so he could go anywhere in the base.
He went down the hallway that the two Howler’s had started for. He hoped it would lead to the front entrance, where the meeting would be held.
It must have, since nearly three dozen soldiers in matching uniform were standing, waiting.
One of the soldiers addressed Deccus. “Hey, Kenny. Where’s Jerry?”
Deccus assumed Jerry to be the other person he knocked out, so he made up an alibi. “He had to use the bathroom.”
“Really? He must’ve really had to go, to miss Clash’s meeting. If he finds out, he’s in for a world of hurt.”
“Sucks to be him.” Deccus joked.
“Yeah. He is so dead.”
Deccus waited for a minute before saying something again. “Why would Clash be late for his own meeting?”
“I know. We’ve been waiting for five minutes and nothing has happened.”
“Good thing the Baron doesn’t know about this.”
“The Baron? Here? Yeah right. This place is tiny compared to Derlic.”
So this isn’t the main Howler base. Good. That makes it that much easier to escape.
“Where is Derlic anyways? I’ve never been there.” Deccus asked, curious.
“I don’t know either. I don’t think anyone here has ever been there, besides Clash. I do hear though that most Elite units are trained there, though.”
“I see.”
“Hey, you were in the attack on that Badger city, weren’t you?”
“Which one, Vahal or Arcania?”
“We haven’t attacked Vahal in a while, so it must be Arcania. How hard was the resistance?”
“It seemed easy at first, but then a couple of special teams pincered us between the city and them. Then stuff started blowing up and I couldn’t breath, so I just got the hell outta there.”
“And how did the mech do?”
“It ripped through the wall and stomped a couple buildings, but when it tried to rip the tower cannon down, it fired and blew the head apart.”
“Ouch. Sucks to be them.”
“Yeah, but that’s when Clash came and sent the Sprinters at the Badger’s. They captured one of them and ran to here.”
“And how would you know that? You said you ran after stuff started blowing up. Speaking of which, your voice is kinda funny.”
Deccus almost panicked, but remained calm. “I saw everything from a distance, and I’ve got a cold. Sue me.”
“And how would you know that the Sprinters caught a prisoner?”
“They’re the Sprinters, right? They caught up to me. Ah, here’s Clash.”
Clash came through the hallway behind them. Deccus looked at Clash, and Clash looked back. His expression changed, but he continued.
Glad to stop talking to the boy, Deccus focused on the podium up front where Clash stood at.
“I know I’m late. No need to make a big deal of it. Let’s just carry on.”
He cleared his throat and continued in a booming voice that echoed through the room.
“Soldiers! Surely you’ve heard of the unsuccessful attack on the Badger city of Arcania. We sent our most powerful forces, we had plenty of units, we had siege machines, and we even had our new prototype mech, Gamma! Yet it didn’t work! Why? I’ll tell you why!”
He pulled a string beside him and a giant poster fell down. Deccus gasped as it unfurled.
It was him. It was a giant picture of him, Deccus, on a paper the size of the wall.
“This one soldier was the reason we lost! He’s more dangerous than a dozen Howler’s! He severely damaged our forces, impaired Gamma considerably, and made some chemicals that exploded and prevented breathing. He even escaped our clutches when we had him captured in this very building! He’s most likely long gone now, but if you capture him, I will give you 10,000 credits as a reward!”
A murmur of agreement was heard. Who wouldn’t want that much money?
“But, on a different note, I present a new weapon that will make us unstoppable on the battlefield! I bring you, THE GOLEM!”
A large, wooden object appeared through the floor of the stage.
It was a scaled down version of Gamma. It was larger than a person, but not by much.
“Delia, come on out.”
The Golem split open and a girl with red hair came out. The Golem seemed to just be a full-sized armor suit.
“If we build these in mass bulk, we could swarm and attack any Badger city with ease! And they’re easy to operate. Anyone could come up and work it! Any volunteers?”
Instantly a swarm of hands were raised high in the air.
“How about… Kenny there?”
Everyone suddenly looked at Deccus.
“Who, me?”
“Yes, you! Come here and demonstrate how easy it is to work this thing!”
Reluctantly Deccus went up to the stage. He felt the eye’s of dozens of people on his back.
While on the stage, Clash looked long and hard at Deccus’s face. To prevent being found out, Deccus hopped into the Golem and closed it up.
This was nifty. He moved just like himself, only his strength was magnified considerably. The Golem was rather heavy, however, and he couldn’t move very fast.
“As you can see, people, the ease of use makes this the ultimate war machine! Soon we’ll have every soldier in one of these, and we’ll make more advanced models on top of that!” Clash rambled on.
Through the view port on the Golem, Deccus caught Delia’s eye. She seemed skeptical of something.
“Any Howler can use one of
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Heh... I'm just bursting with idea's for Trigger's guy... heh...
I'm not sure if I should be happy....Or very scared right now.
>_>
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That's up to you, Trigger. You can be one of these choices:
a: A wierd guy in green armor that dances to techno music holding glowsticks
b: An expert driver for ski-doo's, and has green armor (of course)
One of those two, or if you wanna be something else, just say it and I'll incorporate it at one point.
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Hmmm Can I haver a hybrid?
An Expert Ski-doo Driver who has custimized his ski-doo to shoot out Glowsticks, perhapes? XD
But lemme think here.....If I were really there.....
I would be a large sized kid, not quite the size of Alloutte, but a reasonable amount.
(The scale I use;
1. Theres big
2. Theres healthy
3. Theres husky
4. Theres fluffy
5. Then theres DAAAAAYYYYMMMNnNn
I would be about Husky.)
I would probably my armour to be 2 shades of blue. With Dark blue as the main armour peices, and light blue cloth for several belt like pieces, going in the shape of an X across his chest, and waist, and another for a kick ass headband.
Weapons would be....Two shotgun-ish weapons. With a wide range that spreads out as it goes farther, and can knock down an opponent easily from up close, or if aimed carefully, several of them.
And on each arm a Buckler-ish small shield, that I would not have to carry, becuase it would (of course) be strapped to my arms. And when placed close together, would be about half the size of Deccus's shield, not large, but enough to block a few blows.
Even with all this gear, I would still be unable to overcome one obstacle. I wear glasses, and without them I'm terrible at aiming, and unless their 1 foot away from me, cannot even tell who i'm talking to (true), unless their a close friend of mine whom I've grow accustomed to their voice. hence I wear a big piar of goggles over them (Gotta have the goggles man) to insure they don't get lost, or knocked off, though it has still happen quite a few times.
Personality....Generally nice guy, abit clumsy, and starts plenty of trouble becuase I get bored easily. Though I'm a loner at heart. I don't like many people, so if I had to be in a team, I would only say what needs to be said. One of my mottos happens to be "If I have no answer to give, I will give no answer". Anyways, becuase I get so bored, I spend alot of time sleeping, or eating (hence the weight).
I think that'll do. EVen though i'm pretty sure you got more then you bargened for. I think I went alittle overboard. ^^;
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No no, it's good, Trigger. I need as many details as possible. Now, do you want to be a search and rescue kinda guy, (hence the glowsticks, so people can find you easy) or a quick motorized assault team who has a fetish with glowsticks (I should incorporate glowsticks more. They're perfect sort of thing for kids to use.)
And, do you want the name Trigger or DrifterX? I can use either (Deccus isn't his real name, just a nickname he uses.) And how does he meet Deccus and team? They're under attack, surrounded in a big field, Kleth radios for help, and your team comes along, being the quick assault team you are (you can be the leader, if you like) Or some other circumstances? It has to relate to Deccus or one of his team, since they're the main guys in the story and it shouldn't change from them to anyone else. They're the main guys, and will stay the main guys.
(as a note: Allouette isn't fat, just really really really muscular (Like this one 12 year old I know. He's huge! A definite husky[fluffy doesn't describe him very well. That holds more on Hipou than Allouette there.])
Can anyone guess who I've based Ted on?
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or a quick motorized assault team who has a fetish with glowsticks
LMAO!!
(I should incorporate glowsticks more. They're perfect sort of thing for kids to use.)
I gotcha covered....
Swift Search and Reascue, that use glowsticks to sycronyze their attack formations (simaler to how Air plane directors use their rodlike thingies), they use Ski-doos to get to their target(s) quickly, pick them up, and remove them from the immediate location.
If he were to have a nickname...it would be Drifter (no X). And what few close friends he has (mainly those in his team) call him DT (The T stands for Trigger ;)) (which also happens to be a name I use at another forum, DriftingTrigger, I have alot of them ^^).
If I could then...I R R34LLY L33T L34DER!!
It has to relate to Deccus or one of his team, since they're the main guys in the story and it shouldn't change from them to anyone else. They're the main guys, and will stay the main guys.
I've got an idea. I've only read so far what you've sent to me. So what if Deccus gets ahold of a radio in the Howler base, and changes its frequency's to match that of the Badgers (BTW is that the name of the Force Deccus Works for? >.>). He radios to get an evac, and my team could be sent in to get him outa there?
If you need me to assemble a team, I can do that as well.
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Howler's=bad guys (the ones Allouette and Clash work for)
Badgers=good guys (the ones Deccus works for and the General commands)
To clear it up a wee mite.
I was thinking with the glowsticks that all soldiers have one, and at night when they're injured and need a pick up, they stick out a glow stick and they're easier to find, like flares that shot down pilots use when they're in the ocean and need a pickup.
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Howler's=bad guys (the ones Allouette and Clash work for)
Badgers=good guys (the ones Deccus works for and the General commands)
To clear it up a wee mite.
Thanks for that...But they never called themselve the badgers, so thanks for clearing that bit up.
I was thinking with the glowsticks that all soldiers have one, and at night when they're injured and need a pick up, they stick out a glow stick and they're easier to find, like flares that shot down pilots use when they're in the ocean and need a pickup.
That wouldn't be a very good strategic move, if your glowing in the middle of the night, and some enemy patrol sees you, your as good as dead, or captured. Maybe some other way of communication such as radios to call for backup or help.
I think they could use them to cordanate through their formations, and such. Use them as a way of comunicating, without using radios and such. And have speacial attacks just for when they are in use. Though if that were for the whole army, you would have to change some of the story maybe to implacate this. Thus I think that maybe this Rescue team has been trained expecially for using the Glowsticks, unlike the others.
Then again, perhapes you can find some way of implacating both of these ideas. I like my whole cordanation through glowsticks idea. And not all soldiers may have access to radios or walkie talkies when needing help, so maybe them having glowsticks might work as well. if you can find a way for both of these to work that is.
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Good idea's... Good idea's.... I like the idea of only your team being able to communicate through glowsticks and using them for attack patterns and stuff. That sounds good. I'll use that.
And maybe some specifics for your team, like your second in command being Nova or something (that name is okay, Nova. Remeber, they can be nickames) And do you want your team to be a scout team, a clean up team (like, after a big raid your team goes in and captures Howler straglers) or just a fast assault team that uses glowsticks in an overkill fashion?
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ooh ooh what about me?
you dont have to, but if you incorporate me, you can let me die or make me really badass. Ill love you forever
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I was going to, until you said "Ill love you forever." NOW I won't do it. Ha ha!
But really, i would, but you're really hard to write about, Herb. You have no real 'one' distinguishable feature. You're a meld of a bunch, and that makes it hard. Plus, I still have no idea what yo'd look like.
Give me some details about your character like Trigger did, and I'll for sure do it up.
And has anyone found out who Ted is based on?
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And has anyone found out who Ted is based on?
Gee, I wonder who THAT could be...
Even though I helped in the making of this piece of work, I enjoyed re-reading it. Wish I had a minion of my own...
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And maybe some specifics for your team, like your second in command being Nova or something (that name is okay, Nova. Remeber, they can be nickames) And do you want your team to be a scout team, a clean up team (like, after a big raid your team goes in and captures Howler straglers) or just a fast assault team that uses glowsticks in an overkill fashion?
I still like the Search And Rescue Idea the best, so i think I'll stick with that one. I think it'd be the best one.
My second in command would be "Nova".
Nova: Cool, and stern, he keeps the team in line. Though he's not the commander its apparent that he wants to be. He does have a good sense of humor, and is funny when not on duty. And generally an alright guy. He uses one machine gun like weapon. Though the rounds he fires are small he can shoot rapidly and at many people at once. It is connected to a hose that leads to a backpack,, which insures a steady steam of rounds going at his enemies, that can be used for supresive fire. This is his only weaponry. Nova as well is about my size. And has Brown hair, and brown eyes.
My Third Would be "Skull"
He's the funniest of us all. Always when addressed, he answers wiith wit and humor. He's been a great friend of mine for awhile. And is always there if you need a guy to talk to. He uses a small buster gun as a primary weapon, and another small Buster, with a sheild as well. But he himself uses his own abilaties as a thrid weapon. Simaler to grenades, he uses "Snow bombs" to take down small groups of eneies at once, or in any other fashion he can think of. Hes great at using snowballs as giant grenades, especailly to get into some place, to take out the gaurds. Also has brown hair, but green eyes.
Fourth would be "Pirate"
Kinda annoying at times, and yet still pulls off being smart. Pirate is just one of the guys you'd like to hang out with afterschool. Pirate uses 4 Buster guns. Instead of waiting to reload his first ones in use, he puts them away and takes out his second pair and continues to fire. Once all ammo is depleted he then refills them. he has a very large Shell-like sheild on his back. It hinders his movment a bit, but when he picks it up and uses it, it covers his whole body plus some. Pirate , like Skull, is skinny, but not quite as tall. Dark red hair, green eyes.
5th would be "Riles"
He's very short, becuase of this many larger weapons were unavialable to him. So he instead decided to take up snipering. Becuase he's quick and nimble, he can avoide most attacks, untill he reachs a suitable location to start fireing from. Hes about 4 feet tall (short in this case), skinny, and can be picked up and carried, quite easily. Black hair, brown eyes.
6th is "Mikey boy"
As with the rest of them, he has a greate sense of humor, but he doesn't controll is very well cracking jokes when its best they shouldnt be. He uses one large cannon. That has a widespread out shot, instead of one concentraited shot. It covers alot of ground, and enemies when fired right. He too is tall, But he isn't skinny, nor fat. He's somewhere in the middle. blonde hair, blue eyes.
These are all based off people I know, in some way or fashion. So they are best to be my team.
And I forgot to mention I have brown hair, and eyes that switch from blue to green on occasion.
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Normally I would force Swiftman to put me in his story, but too late. I already am.
And it's good to have atleast one search and rescue team. But, judging by your firepower, you could be an assault team as well, if needed.
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Normally I would force Swiftman to put me in his story, but too late. I already am.
Holly, or Anita? Or someone yet to be introduced?
And it's good to have atleast one search and rescue team. But, judging by your firepower, you could be an assault team as well, if needed.
I still like the search and rescue one best. :D Maybe a $\_/|?3/2 3|,,373 $34/2c|-| /\|\/|] |?,3$c\_/3 734/\/\?
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It's not Anita, I'll tell you that. I wouldn't kick a midget like she did.
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That leave Holly....Or Delia....
Holly?
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Delia hasn't really been given an active part yet. But don't worry, I have plans.... Heh heh.
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You know, when you laugh like that, its creepy. >.>
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You haven't heard it in real life. If I could, I'd make a recording of it.
And he told me his plans with delia. It's nothing bad, I can tell you that. She has dealings with a future character on the Badger side.
You'll see. It all comes around in the end.
My only worry on your story, Swift, is that the battles aren't long enough. Sure, they have good detail, but seem to lack in bredth.
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You haven't heard it in real life. If I could, I'd make a recording of it.
It's true. His laugh like that in real life is way creepier in real life. You have to hear it to believe it.
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You haven't heard it in real life. If I could, I'd make a recording of it.
It's true. His laugh like that in real life is way creepier in real life. You have to hear it to believe it.
\
Now that I think about it...I think I'll pass on any oppertunitys to hear him laugh like that.
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Ugh! Why did Herb have to leave so hastily? I don't even know how to BEGIN to incorporate him in the story.
(and trigger: I got the plan for your team's intro to the story. The Crimson Bandits have some form of vehicular transportation, and Deccus's squad is sent out to get them, but they're beat back from massive counter-fire. [Deccus's team, that is, is shot back] they had disabled Kleth's radio, so they couldn't radio for help. Who comes to the rescue? THE (what's your teams's name, by the way?) YOU GUYS! Your ski-doo's are faster, and you have better firepower than Deccus and co., so you guys help chase down teh Crimson Bandits. Sound good?)
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(what's your teams's name, by the way?)
THE!!...*drum roll*....CATGIRLS!!! *shot*
No but really...If I were to mix up the places I've met these people that I know at...It would be "Arsinal Legacy"......
Kinda weird but thats all I can think of.
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Did you mean "Arsenal Legacy?" Or was Arsinil you original intent? (Arsenal is the correct spelling)
And taht actually sounds really, good. I'll use that, unless you come up with somemthing better. (and maybe find Nova and invite him to ths forum. He' dmake a good addition.)
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Did you mean "Arsenal Legacy?" Or was Arsinil you original intent? (Arsenal is the correct spelling)
Well funny story...well not really...but my plans for world domination were once called "Arsinal Gear" (My friend Mike named it, and he's a TOTAL Metal gear Solid Nut -_-; ). We couldn't spell "Arsenal" right, so we just winged it. XD
And taht actually sounds really, good. I'll use that, unless you come up with somemthing better. (and maybe find Nova and invite him to ths forum. He' dmake a good addition.)
Acually Nova's been trying to move on in the world.
MegamanNova1: Except for the death of MMTL, this girl jerking my chain and ignoring my calls, no work and a major debt.
So he's trying to fix those things.....I don't hear much of him anymore...T_T
But yes Arsenal Legacy will work nicley.
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(http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v605/Swiftman/popup-scout.gif) So it will be, human. It shall be done.
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HOLY CARP ITS A PROTOSS DUDE!!!11!!11onieone1!!!!11!1eleven!1!1!!!11!!shift+1
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(http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v605/Swiftman/popup-scout.gif) I do not understand you humans. You're reactions are always so strange. Perhaps if you aligned yourself with the Conclave, you would become stronger than you already are. (I believe they have catgirl priveleges for the higher ranks of the Conclave.)
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(http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v605/Swiftman/popup-scout.gif) I do not understand you humans. You're reactions are always so strange.
DIEDIEDIE JUSDIE ZEEELLLOOOOOOO!!!!11!!
Perhaps if you aligned yourself with the Conclave, you would become stronger than you already are.
Meh, I'm more a stratagist then a fighter.
(I believe they have catgirl priveleges for the higher ranks of the Conclave.)
.....IM IN!!!
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I wonder what Lazlo would be like in my story.
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I wonder what Lazlo would be like in my story.
*invisions*
~Lazlo: DO A BARREL ROLL!!!!~
....Ok....maybe not....
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Hmm.. I would put in flying objects, but how could kids make a plane? (but then again, how cold they make a mech >_< [I will explain that later hwo they made those impossible things])
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I would also like to point out that Whats his face had a helicopter too.
[I will explain that later hwo they made those impossible things])
Impossible? I beg to differ. As long as you have the imagination, and will, determination, and resources need ANYTHING is possible.
Did you hear about the guy in Alaska BUILDING his own mech, alone? Will, determination, and alittle money go far in this world.
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(as a note: that helicopter is a direct rip from GUNSTAR HEROES. It looks exatly like the one Orange uses,)
(http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v605/Swiftman/skivertrans.png)And mechs are already made? Why do I not have a Skiver then? WHY!?
I meant it was nigh impossible for KIDS to make mechs and stuff themselves.
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I meant it was nigh impossible for KIDS to make mechs and stuff themselves.
.....You'll see....
YOU'LL ALL SEE!!!!!
MWAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHHAHA!!!!
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Hum... Wish I was home. I got a writing finger thing going on and I don't have the file on my school comp.
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Write it down in a notebook of yours or something.
Ideas don't last forever. If you don't take them they will dissapear. Though new ones will take their place.
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I can't write worth crap by hand. I do have my laptop in my locker, though.... It has the full version of the story, and it's lunch right now. Minion!
:arrow: What now...?
(http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v605/Swiftman/swiftfoldfull.gif) Go to my locker and get my laptop! NOW!
:arrow: Fine. You don't ahve to yell.
(http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v605/Swiftman/swiftfoldfull.gif) *puts mouth right by minion's ear* ILL YELL IF I WANT TO!
:arrow: *runs away very fast*
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i''m the only catgirl here so back off! Gerrr... it's mine and i might share ^,~
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Huh boy... Don't say those words to Trigger. He'll run all the way from the East coast (I presume that's where he is) to where you are, and dance around you with cheesy techno music holding glowsticks. (or whatever he does to charm women.)
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Huh boy... Don't say those words to Trigger. He'll run all the way from the East coast (I presume that's where he is) to where you are, and dance around you with cheesy techno music holding glowsticks. (or whatever he does to charm women.)
LMAO!!!
......I'm from Hell!!1!1...I mean...Ohio....
No I'd proably steal the Popes hat scream "BABALOOENGRISHOOO BABALOOOENGRIIIISHOOOOO" while swinging a bible around wildly.
...That...Or try and be normal....I've been told I can be quite the charmer...when I want to be that is...And I'm shy anyways, i'd probably run farther AWAY then nearer to her.
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Ah, don't be scared of Morrigan. She won't hurt you. Just me. She knows I ain't gonna hurt her for nothin, and she knows my weakness. So she has a bigger advantage over me than you.
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She has the same advantage Kary does...
I read in another topic that you don't hurt anything that has 'girl' or 'cat' in the name, and I apply to one of those. So, natually: me > trigger
I didn't think shed see that since I posted it awhile ago...
And Kary was only a GIRL. Morrigan is a CATGIRL.
Its like kryptonite to superman!!!
T_T;
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Yes, Sophih does have the catgirl power, but she can't wield a 2x4 near as good.
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Yes, Sophih does have the catgirl power, but she can't wield a 2x4 near as good.
She doesn't need a 2x4. Shes got claws, sharp teeth, a super sexy tail.
The list goes on for natural weapons she has!! She doesn't NEED a 2x4.
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Yes, but can Sophih take down a 6'8 guy in a suit of armor, like Kary can? I dunno...
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Yes, but can Sophih take down a 6'8 guy in a suit of armor, like Kary can? I dunno...
Uhhhh O.o When has THAT ever happened?
And besides She is a catgirl, thus she can seduce and kill him.
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(as a note: Garland, my friend here, is 6'8 and is an expert black smith. he's made lots of medieval stuff, and Kary took him down with nothing but a 2x4)
And All Morrigan would have to do is stand there, and she would win. Garland has no courage around girls, other than Kary and Lacus.
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You know...
if you mix you, this Garland, and a hairy gorrila together...you get me.
A shy, hairy, kinda intellectual, weird guy.
Hell my nickname around where I live is "Sas", which is short for Sasquatch.
-___-
But thats all irrelevant.
I want you to go back and rewrite the begining of your story, It needs to include more detail about the charactors. All we know about Deccus is he has thick armour, and a custom weapon. Thats really about it. No hiar color, no eye color, no hieght. Thats it.
You need to put more detail into the apperance of your charactors. Becuase you never know when someone might pop up with a flash movie series about your book.
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Yeah, now that you mention it I was pretty sparse with Deccus. Back then I was unsure of his appearence, but now I know it, so I should go back.
And yeah, that scene with Holly and co. in Dorm room 5 was lacking in details. That's what I need more, is to flesh it out a bit.
Thanks, Trig! I won't re-write the whole thing, jstu add a few better parts here and there.
A flash movie on my books? *whistles* that's pretty far down the road.
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A flash movie on my books? *whistles* that's pretty far down the road.
You never know. It could already be in the works...
;)
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Oh, do YOU know flash or something? I thought that was Superyoshi's shtick.
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You know, since coming here, if I posted my flash movies I'd be infringing on TWO peoples sticks.
Brooms, and then superyoshis.
MAY I HAVE NO UNIQUENESS!!! ((Don't say I can act like a n00b, cuase I'll SKIN YOU ALIVE if you do >:())
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Nah, Broom wouldn't mind. (I didn't even know you bothered to either rememebr him or read his intro thread.) Superyoshi prolly wouldn't care, cuz there's lots of flash artists in the world.
And besides, you could be un-unique in being good at everything. (ever think of that?)
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he cared when I startedtalking in backwards |,,337. >.>
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Yeah, but he's unrealy uber at that. He's not the best at flash, still a beginner really (said so himself. B'sides, Superyoshi was here before Broom)
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Meh...Anyways. tell me when your done, re-configuring the introductions and descriptions of everyone.
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The very essence of a broom is it's ability to talk backwards, just like the essence of Kagemitsu is that he can't talk. It's really an inherent ability that they pride themselves on, and if someone impersonates that it's slightly offensive. But, imitation is the sincerest form of flattery, so....
But, it's still entering their turf. How would Protoman like it if another site started doing hand-recordings of game music and put them up on a big site like this one? It's like competition in their field of work. If some upstart newb came and said: "Lookit me! I can do 3-D better than that mute guy!" Well, Kag wouldn't like that much. Kag worked damn hard on those models, and put his heart and soul in them. Just to have some guy come up and say that he can do better would hurt poor ol' Kag's feelings.
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How would Protoman like it if another site started doing hand-recordings of game music and put them up on a big site like this one?
I think he might be excited acually. If the site had stolen HIS work, then I can see him getting angry, but if it did like lesser known games, or games not done here, I think he'd be pretty OK with it.
If some upstart newb came and said: "Lookit me! I can do 3-D better than that mute guy!" Well, Kag wouldn't like that much. Kag worked damn hard on those models, and put his heart and soul in them. Just to have some guy come up and say that he can do better would hurt poor ol' Kag's feelings.
I don't like saying this...But not everyone in nice, not everyone cares about other peoples feelings. People like to boast about what they can do better then other people, its the way they are. If someone can beat halo in 4 hours, you know he's gonna be telling EVERYONE that he can. And he doesn't care who else could, he wants it to be known that HE can do better then anyone else.
And I honsetly doubt ANYONES gonna be doing much better then Kag at 3-D unless they are a pro. For one its hard to even learn how to use a program, let alone have the pateince to work on something till its don't, and I commend Kag for doing that.
But, imitation is the sincerest form of flattery, so....
T3h winn3r is j001!!1!!1!
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Oh, I know that people arent' nice. Garland is mean, but he's nice enough to not to take another's thunder. He makes his own. But to pick on a mute guy that wouldn't hurt another guy to save his life, I find to be extremely despicable.
T3h winn3r is m3!!1!!1!
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Thanks, Kary.
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hey im sorry i couldnt providd you with details, but now i can if its not to late.
well lets see, the thing i am obsessed with most when comes to fighting (guns or physical) is fighting with style and fluidity. other than that, you can do anything youd like. i could care less whether im quiet, loud, annoying, cool, or a pimp. i just wana be a good fighter.
and i like black and red, and i can work alone or on a team, or just put me in someones team.
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or a pimp
LMAO That'd be awesome. You'd have control over your elite team of hooker warriors...
I can see it now...*invisions*
"GO FOURTH MY HOOKER ARMY!!!"
XD
Though I think what Swift was looking for, is a description of yourself.
Speaking of which...
@Swift- Have you gotten any farther on the story yet? I wanna read more. So hurry it up! *cracks a whip*
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Maybe I'll make Herb a 'lone wolf' sorta thing. He doesn't work in the regular army, but doesn't have a team of his own, since he doesn't need one. He can fight off anyone that attacks easily, so he just wanders the Island, maybe doing some personal favours for the General.
And no Trigger, I haven't got much further. I mostly have been going back and revamping what I already have (eg: Adding what Deccus looks like, further clarifying parts that don't have enough explanation, fleching out the battles, etc.)
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You know, I used to be a vigilante.
"PROTECT T3H NEWBIES!!" was my moto. And my enforcement was DEATH!
Good times...
So accually...I think that might work for me. And the quote of the day is!! "Like back in my Zen days". XD
But besides the vigilante thing...
"Fight of anyone that attacks easily"?...No offense but *cough*godmoder*cough*
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Sure someone can be good, I won't deny that. But THAT[/b] good?! To be able to stave off an army of soldiers, or at the very least a small attack force, on his own?
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IN the story maybe, they don't hav'ta build it, finding is allways good. And if they find it it give an oppirtunity for more bad guys.
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i know!
make me a mercinary (sp?) that constanly changes sides, and whose true intentions are totally unknown (kinda like protoman)
as for my real life characteristics:
im not really tall (5´9´´) but not short either, i have dirty lond hair and very blue eyes. im not muscular, but i am very stong (like in kung-fu movies where no one has muscle but can all lauch people whe nthey kick/punch)
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Yeah, Mercenary sounds better than an all-powerful guy anyways. Merc it is!
And, what about armor and weapon specs, Herb? I need some of those too.
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eh, weapons should be up to the author (aka it doesnt matter to me, unless its like a flower)
but if i HAVE to choose, id like some sort of shield, proably small-mid size. also a bowstaff or two butterfly-knives (idk if knives are allowed or not though) ive had about 3 years of balisong trainging in real life, so that would be a good representation of me (at least give me one to use incase of emergency.
and if you choose to go with the bowstaff, make it acryllic so that it is invisible when it is being spun (i have one of those too)
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That acryllic bowstaff sounds really neat. Maybe I'll make it so that you have to fight Deccus one-on-one first, and I'll make it like that scene with General Grievious where he spins his lightsabers to scratch the ground, only I'll make you throw the snow around in front of you, only Deccus can't see the staff doing the spinning, and you'll go into a ruthless attack. Maybe Deccus will lose again, and the next time you and him meet, they'll have to fight alongside each other.
Just a thought. I like the Grievious-esque idea for you. That scene was so cool....
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Oh man, that General Grievious idea sounds really good. That'd be cool to see in a movie.
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First, sorry I took so long to post in this thread :P
But... OMG! And I thought I was a good writer... your narration puts mine to the ground with ease (note that I hardly praise ppl in things that I usually do, I am truly competitive XD) really loved your story :)
My only questions are regarding the macginery, not just mechs and planes, but the now weapons also, I am still trying to figure out how wooden weapons can have mechanics sety so they can launch snow projectives so efficiently. Also how are made the cables conected to the guys backpacks and so on :)
Also I ask if you could put a "me" there XD In fact of course as part of me Laura would be there too :)
After you reply I ppost a deswcription about me or what I would be there XD Still thinking of weapony :P (just note that I live by the law: "in battle, a hand that is not carrying a weapon is useless" which means... Two handed giant weapons, or paired weapons, or both in sucession XD
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NICHES. Where do they do after they're 14?
will deadly weapons be used? maybe i could have a really realy really dull halberd, or something like bras knuckles. And i think you need a Hummel
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Halberd? OMG! girls+polearms are cool XD I was finding of a rod like thingy too, but since we can´t pierce or slash there, I prefer ranged stuff :P You know, If I can´t kill em of or mutilate their hands, id better be safe from afar :P
IBut again, both hands must be armed full time, probably carrying big ammo suplies, or secondary weapons (I am very cautious before doing things, but after prepartaions my mind go blank, so I must rely on my preparations very well XD Also my reflexes sux, in other hand my memory is great... which means, sux for the first time at anything, but after learing it, master it :P too bad if I dioe at a first time though >.>)
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NICHES. Where do they do after they're 14?
will deadly weapons be used? maybe i could have a really realy really dull halberd, or something like bras knuckles. And i think you need a Hummel
Once they are 14, they are sent back home to whereever they came from. And no, nothing lethal that looks like it can kill at first glance. Like fists, or an acrylic staff. They have the potential to, but they don't look like they can at first, right? That sort of things. (IE: Nothing metal)
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Yeah, what she said.
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hmmm nothing metal... then how do they craft wood? I mean, they need metal axes and knives to craff wood so perfectly as those kids do huh?
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Remember the weapon smith, Dagor? He has metal tools for making it all. He makes about 80% of the armies equipment. (with a lot of hired help, as will be revealed later.)
And, Clest gave me good advice. A little seperate word document that gives an overview of all the characters.
So... Here goes! 2500 words of explaining goodness! 9I've only gotten to Anton so far, I will cover all characters coming and already gone)
T H E B A D G E R ‘ S
Deccus: Deccus is a rather extraordinary boy. He is only twelve years of age, yet has seen hardship that would make a thirty year old curl in fear. Needless to say, he is very tough and hard for someone his age and is not fazed by much. He has a cold exterior and a small amount of his interior is cold as well. If you did down deep enough, you will find a warm-hearted boy who just wants to have fun.
He is a reluctant leader, but an effective one. He was granted the Valiant rank after single-handedly turning the tide of the Battle for Styx Path. (Will be explained in-story) After being granted Valiant status, he worked with Dagor the weapon-smith for three weeks before being called to action again by the General’s request. (It is normal for new Valiant soldiers to take a month long break before taking command of a regiment of regular army soldiers or starting a team of their own. [Only Valiant ranks can start their own team, and they can include whomever they want in it, so long as the other person agrees to be in the team.])
Deccus attended the Academy for the standard time of 3 years, then worked in the regular army for one year. His rapid increase of rank is extraordinary, but he is not the youngest Valiant rank in the Snowcraft force.
Deccus has equipped himself with an array of equipment that more than suits his needs. He has a simple helmet, green with white stripes going across the forehead and around to the back. In the helmet is a communication unit, allowing him to talk on several wavelengths but not able to jam any lines, just listen and talk.
His armor consists of a wooden chest plate, composed of two separate pieces, one on the back and one for the front. They can hook together with leather straps, and is very difficult to undo and take off. The top parts of the armor go over the shoulders, permanently attacked in between both pieces. Chest plate armor must be removed by lifting over the head. Deccus has a two-pieced cylindrical stomach plate, built in the same fashion as the chest plate but can hook onto the bottom of the chest plate with straps. This piece must be removed first before the chest plate can be taken off. The armor is heavy, yet still moderately flexible. All armor is a base color of green with white colorations in the form of stripes. Under all armor is a thick, down filled coat, not only for warmth but for shock absorbing also.
The boots are simple rubber soled, non-marking black rubber, with wooden greaves for the foreleg and thighs, both hooked together with straps, and has a space between the two sections for fluid motion of the knee joint, and the space is covered on the front by a round, curved, bowl-shaped wooded slab. The arms are protected by wooden bracers for the forearm, and thick, two-pieced cylinder armor for the bicep region. Additional shoulder plates can be added on, but are unnecessary except to the heaviest of battles. The shoulder and knee-pads are white, with the bracers and greaves being totally green.
The main part of Deccus’s armor outfit is his shield. It is used mainly in conjunction with his S-Buster, but any one-handed weapon can work. The shield is made of 5 centimeter thick Tamarack wood, the strongest known wood in North America. It is aegis-esque in shape, and slightly inclined to properly deflect heavy projectiles. It is
Total armor weight: 30 pounds, 35 with shield, 36 with S-buster, 42 with Striker (revealed later)
(Note: all armor, bracers and greaves are custom fitted to Deccus’s body. They are not loose when fitted properly.)
Holly: Holly is hardly more girl than she is tomboy. She can take a lot of pain, have a traumatic event occur and not bat an eye-lid, she can beat a Howler with her bare fists within seconds, dodge flying projectiles with ease, and can command lower-rank soldiers impeccably. She is the third eldest child in a family of eight brothers (eldest brother is 16, second oldest is 14, second oldest was also formally in the Snowcraft force, but had to leave due to over-aging, to be revealed later)
Her armor outfit is slightly complex and unorthodox, but she can use it all with very high effectiveness.
Her armor is rather minimal. It consists of a one piece slip-on breastplate, composed of wood, and attachable shoulder covers. (Not plates) She has no helmet, but rather a lot of hair for protection against cold. (Is weak to head shots) She has two piece greaves for forelegs and thighs, both pieces separated along the middle and connect by ways of cloth straps. The same go for the bracers, but she doesn’t have protection for upper arms. Her boots are rubber and cloth, with insulation on the inside.
Her weapon is lethal in her hands. Instead of packing snow into one single projectile, it streams it out in a constant stream, much like a real flamethrower would. It can confuse and cover an enemy within seconds, allowing her to hit them with her barrel or punch them to knock them out once they are disoriented. The ammo comes from a backpack filled with snow, which insures a good supply until reloading is needed. She has a small com unit on her belt, and she can’t use it while using her weapon, unlike Deccus.
Total armor weight: 15 pounds, 16 with weapon, 22 if fully loaded ammo.
Kaeden: A large, fierce boy. He stands taller than most, and stronger than any. He grew up in a town composed of cliffs, so his upper body strength is extremely high, allowing him to lift heavy loads and use heavy weapons. His friend is Ted, and the two could be no more different than any other two people.
His armor is a standard armor set, the same he wore in his regular army days, just recolored to be completely black, not a wise choice for where he’s at. The helmet is standard shape and thickness, only black, his armor normal chest plate with stomach protection and shoulder plates, and rather thin rubber winter boots. (They are thin since Kaeden refuses to replace them, saying he’s too busy, but he complains about them a lot.
His weapon is, unlike his armor, a very non-standard affair. It is simply a huge, single-shot heavy rifle projectile firing snowthrower. It is much too heavy for many smaller soldiers to use, but not many could be able to withstand a hit with this fearsome weapon. Kaeden has dubbed it rather simply “Beast”, and that is exactly what it is on the field of battle. Both hands are required to use this awesome weapon, and as such Kaeden’s defense is rather low. Though, it is said “The best defense is a good offense.”
Total armor weight: 25 pounds, 35 with “Beast”, 55 with “Behemoth”
Kleth: Kleth is a piece of work, indeed. He has virtually no physical skills, but his mind has been fully developed to the point of being a child prodigy. He has never left the island he is on now, and is worried than when he turns 14 in 4 years, that he will have no where to go. His parents were only 10 years old when they had Kleth as a child, a very remarkable age but not a record breaker. Kleth’s academic skills far surpass many others that come from the Academy, and as such it automatically qualified to be a Systemator.
His equipment varies greatly from the others, since he is not a fighter class. (There are two classes of units, fighters and support units. Units like Deccus and Kaeden are fighters, but non-fighters like Ted and Kleth are support units.)
He has thin, fingerless gloves on his hands. The thin layer blocks rough winds but the bare fingers keep his accuracy at typing and close, micro work good. His armor on his body is virtually nonexistent, consisting of only a coat that has many pockets. Kleth is not too worried about cold, since he was born and raised on the Island, he suffers the sub-zero temperatures all day, around the clock. He has never had a case of frostbite of pneumonia, and hardly ever shivers. He has very light boots, mainly used to keep the wind and snow out and off his feet. They are minimally insulated, and are very helpful when compared to Deccus when running from battle.
What truly makes Kleth unique is his tools. He has a utility belt that has many different tools for doing all the tasks he does. He has his master radio, which can receive, send, intercept and block up to 160 frequencies. He also has a screwdriver with multiple, switch able tips. The pride and joy of his tools, however, is his wrench. It is a high-quality chromed tool with a heavy end. He has used this for more occasions than fixing things. He uses it for self defense more often than for fixing things. Even though no one else can, Kleth can throw his wrench as a projectile weapon better than he can throw a snowball. Other equipment is his backpack of mysteries, his secondary radio, and his tazer.
Back Pack of Mysteries: No one has ever seen the full contents of Kleth’s backpack. It is filled with so many things you can hardly imagine what it really could contain. Some reported items are sandwiches, spare radios, some transmitters, a few spare tools, a couple chemicals (added to his list after the Arcania Attack) some chewing gum, a few electronic parts, a cold-proof databank, and water, kept in a thermos (to prevent freezing).
Secondary Radio: On a headset covering one ear Kleth has his secondary radio. It cannot completely jam a wavelength, like his master radio, and it can only cover 80 frequencies, but it is always on hand when he needs it, rather than having to detach his master radio from his belt.
Tazer: This handy electronic device was acquired after Kleth’s participation in the Arcania attack. Since he created the first one rather hastily, the first version lacked real power other than to annoy and spark fires. He has since revamped it numerous times, and now it has the power to stun, almost paralyze foes that get close enough to Kleth. It can start huge fires with single charge, so long as sufficient kindling is provided.
Total armor weight: 2 pounds, 5 with radio, wrench and screwdriver, with backpack, 6-25 pounds, varies depending on mission.
Ted: Ted is truly the puppy of the group. He has never reportedly spoken, and it is questioned whether he has the ability to do so or not. He comes from the same place as Kaeden, a large hilly town in Montana, so his strength is quite a bit higher than one could expect. In fact, it is believed that Ted has climbing abilities that surpass Kaeden, since Ted has much less weight to lift.
His equipment is rather minimal. He wears a thick coat, light boots, and a toque. All pockets containing medical equipment are inside his coat, which has many inside pockets. It is theorized that Ted was mugged at a young age, and keeps all his valuables safely tucked inside. These medical equipment can handle almost any situation needed. The pack consists of bandages, heat packs, sugar water, an instant water heater, cloth for tourniquets, and cloth for sealing a large wound, among many others. His medical prowess has been tested several times, and each time it is needed more than the last.
Total armor weight: 2 pounds, 12 with medical packs.
Anton: A boy born of Russian descent, he is quite accustomed to cold weather growing up in the chilly tundra of northern Russia. He is quite frequently called the best fighter on the Island. His fighting skill is beyond anyone could dream, and it far surpasses Deccus even, though Deccus does make a very close second. Anton is 13 years old, and in half a year he will be leaving the Island due to the age restrictions. Many believe that the Badger’s chances of winning against the Howlers will die once Anton leaves, but that doesn’t mean that Anton is relaxing. He drives his team, the Elite Eight, to the point of exhaustion, hoping to either decide on a proper successor to his throne, or defeat the Howlers before then. Either option will be fine with him.
He was granted the Valiant rank after he was returning from a break to find Vahal under siege, and he quickly stepped in and did enough damage to the attacking Howlers that it turned the tide of the fight. It is said that Deccus was also involved in the battle in the rear, but this has never been approved. Many of Deccus’s fans believe this fact to be true, but only Deccus and Anton know for sure. Deccus has not been rewarded for his supposed part in that battle, and only Anton received any sort of recompense for the battle.
Anton is well equipped to being the best fighter on the Snowcraft force. His armor is composed completely of tamarack wood, and a thick coat underneath. It has been rumored that there is a sheet of metal beneath his wooden exterior, but no one has seen Anton in the process of taking his armor off, so this theory has been disapproved. Meg, on the team that Anton leads, said that she has seen Anton take his armor off in front of her, but she saw nothing of the sort, thus smashing the theory.
His armor is wood, painted white with red stripes, the standard color of the Elite Eight. He has all parts of his body covered with his armor, and it is very hard to take the armor off from the outside. (The reasoning behind having armor that is difficult to take off is that Olaf, a thief like Howler, disarmored his foes by taking off their armor and attacking their backs. Olaf was rather successful, until Anton brought him down. Olaf currently resides in the Vahal prison under the Academy [the purpose of having the prison under the Academy is because if a convict manages to escape from the prison, he has far to go through the Academy, which is filled with young rookie’s eager to prove themselves.])
Anton also has sharp shoulder plates that jut out upwards at a 45 degree angle. Other than for looks, this serves no purpose, though it is rumored that Anton has used these sharp shoulder plates to tackle into lightly armored Howlers. Anton’s lower leg greaves jut out upwards in a point, and cover the space between the two leg armors that was made for his knee to move. Anton uses no helmet, but rather he was grafted with a metal skull plate as a child, as he was born with much of his skull bones missing. (the reason: He lives very close to Chernobyl)
Another remarkable aspect of Anton is his weaponry. He has two, long-range cannon like snowthrowers and two heavy pistol weapons. He uses the cannons for the approaching attack, then switches to the pistols once he gets closer. If the opportunity is presented, he will use his cannons as melee weapons. The cannons fire heavy shots very rapidly, but the ammo is limited, but easily refilled. His pistols are the same, since they fire big shots (for pistols) He calls this method of attack the “Swapping Reg”.
Total armor weight: 15 pounds, 17 with pistols, 19 with cannons, 22 with both
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Nice work Swiftanator. Keep it up.
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Swiftanator? HA! That's good. Kary's gonna call me that alll the time now..... Oh, well. It sounds cool. I'll have to make a sig for it.....
And can you believe I wrote those 7 pages of hardcore explanation in about half a day? I started in second period, worked a bit in third, none in fourth, then a bunch on the bus (an hour and a half) and I was nearly done Anton when I got home. I just quickly wrapped him up and put it up on TPH.
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Pretty good.
Pretty good indeed.....NOW CONTINUE TO WRITE!!! *cracks whip*
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*grabs whip and pulls it out of hands* Hey, I've had seven exams this week. Give a guy a break! My brain feels like a wrung sponge, especcially after some pelasent news I've had this week, I've had a lot on my plate.
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*pulls out another whip* Take it like a man!!! *whips*
Be a man and stand up to your homework!! TAKE IT'S ASS DOWN A NOTCH!!
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I guess some people haven't been through high school in Alberta.....
Besides, I'm making SOME progress on it. I've mostly been going back and adding stuff and fleshing out parts, like a re-vamp. That's progress, right? If I'm not going backwards, I'm either standing still or going forwards.
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I know....I hate finals, swift save me from the evil finals. Trigger whip the person that thought of the week that teacher get back at the kids for all the crud we give them. (finals)
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Worry not, fair Sophih, for I, Swiftman, shall save thee from the evil Finals!
How, I don't know, but I sure would if I could. I'd impersonate you, and do them in your place! It's easy grade 9 stuff. grade 11 is WAY harder.
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I'd impersonate you
(http://img293.echo.cx/img293/9387/theimagesinmymindwontgoaway222.gif)
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Swift as me....HEY! I AM CUTE..swift is a cute me.
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You = rawr
Swift impersanating you...= (http://img231.echo.cx/img231/8030/myeyes4yz.gif)
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haha if you think 11th is hard, wait untl 12th!
haha only kidding, 12th was the easiest year of school that ive ever had (hopefully its like that outside of Georgia too)
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Yeah, Alberta has a pretty strict school system. Heck, my design class is the third best in the country, and the dropout rate is at .7% right now.
My school is hardcore. But, it's the weekend now, so expect another character description or more pages.
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awesome
in germanz we drink and go clubbing at night through the morning, and i sleep during the day, but the evening is reserved for reading your stuff (p.s. its really good incasenobody else told you)
and ill be home in 5-6 days so then ill be super active
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Yay! Super-active Herb! More people! w00t!!1!
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haha i just found this website called www.partyshooters.de. they go to all the major clubs in Europe and take everyones picture and then post them. so i have a picture of me now with my exchange partner
(http://images1.partyshooters.de/pspics/20050618/2969/20.jpg)
word, that club was bouncin, but they didnt play any Megaman music (holy crap i think ill open an 8-bit music club)
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That's you, Herb? Whoa... Who knew you were a girl! I guess Roronoa_Forte wasn't the first girl on TPH! *shot*
Hmm.... I know that an 8-bit bar probably wouldn't be too accepted in most town (like mine. How many stinkin Halo fans do I need in a town of 20,000?)
Good idea though, Herb. 8-bit Bar. Hmm....
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im not sure if you´re joking or not, so im just gonna say that im NOT the girl, but te fellow in that picture
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It was a joke, Herb. A total joke.
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haha ok i was pretty sure, but it is pretty much is totally impossible to detect sarcasm.
anyways, hows the story going?
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No it's not. EX:
[1] tph has bad music ^.^
[2] yeah.. i did see the pigs fly -.-
but i understand if you're all not masters ike myself. (*^,^)
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.....Am I the only one cunfuzzled as hell by what Sophih just said? O_o
Nevermind, I read that wrong..ok I understand now...
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I got it. You have to understand Sophih to get it at first. (I understand her, so I got it right off.)
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Any updates on new people coming to Snow-Craft?
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Yes, I finished describing a character I plan to be rather major to the story, but hasn't been introduced yet. (he'll be in a majority of the story, I'm not even a quarter finished from what I have planned.)
The story is on hold while I do exams and work on the character explanations (Jaeger has QUITE an explanation...)
Well, here you go.
Wedge- Wedge is a soldier that has skills that have helped Deccus’s team in many ways. He is a sniper class, and as such has excellent eye sight, combat instincts, skills for hiding, etc. When Deccus and co. have to go on vehicles to other places, Wedge is usually the one left behind to stay at home base. He hates all forms of motor transportation, and refuses to use them unless absolutely necessary. (No one knows why Wedge hates vehicles so much, though it is thought that he was dropped from a moving vehicle as a child, but that would bring fear, not hatred for vehicles.)
For a sniper, Wedge is heavily armored. After getting a promotion from the Arcania Attack, he was allowed higher levels of equipment, such as an upgrade from the standard Longbomber sniper rifle to the experimental Farshot semi-automatic rifle. (As ultimate as the Farshot sounds, it isn’t the best for extreme long distances, but the accuracy is made up for the amount of shots it fires. One thing with the Farshot is the large amount of ammo it takes to keep it loaded. [The Farshot toys with the idea of preprepared ammo. When it lies dormant and is turned on, it automatically prepares up to ten shells prior to use, and can reload this ammo while it is in use, and can restock itself at a rate of 1 per three seconds.])
Wedge has a very thick coat, far above standard for a regular sniper (Hence his promotion, he can wear thicker armor). It is a simple black colored coat, though sometimes it doesn’t seem very black when he needs to hide. He also has padding in his legs, and slightly heavier boots that do not impede movement yet are warmer (Wedge hates getting his feet cold.)
Wedge has no helmet, but for minor frontal protection he always wears his polarized goggles. These not only protect his eyes from head shots, but the strap covers his ears and keeps them warmer. Another reason Wedge wears these goggles is that it hides a minority of his face from onlookers. Why Wedge continually wears these goggles is not known, but rumours flew about for a short time that he has an eye disease that swelled his eyeballs, and he hides them with goggles, but if one looks close enough one can see the outline of Wedge’s eyes, thus disproving this theory. (Anther theory is that it is so he could sleep in class and not have a teacher catch him)
Total armor weight: 8 pounds, 14 with Longbomber, 16 with Farshot
Shed: Shed is the person who can take a lot of hits. He is actually a rather small person, but this fact is hidden by the large amounts of armor he has on. One could say that Shed decided to become a Shield Joe because he was inspired by Deccus’s exploits, and Shed became a heavier class of Shield Joe, because Shed does not like to take a hit to the skin.
Shed is more heavily armored than any other member of his team. His helmet is thick, covers nearly all of his head and face, but from what can be seen he is a bright and optimistic person.
His upper armor is about 1 inch thick, and it covers all area of him. The shoulders are flat, but large protruding sides stick out to protect the sides of his face. His legs are protected by hefty wood, but only on the front of his legs. His boots are painted to be the same color as his armor, light beige, and they are extremely heavy boots.
The most startling of his armor, however, is his gigantic shield. It is 2 inches thick, 3 feet wide and 5 feet high. It can easily give total frontal protection for Shed and 2 others. The shield is heavy oak, and quite heavy and awkward to use. It is almost all of the time resting on the ground.
Shed’s weaponry is simple. He uses a heavy pistol-type snowthrower. It fires small shells with good to great power, and has fair accuracy. It can be worked with one hand, simultaneously with his shield.
Total armor weight: 40 pounds, 55 with shield
Jaeger: A relatively new recuit in the Snowcraft force, he is a boy of German descent. He learned English with the help of his sister, who is also in the Snwocraft force. (will be explained) Jaeger wanted to join the Snowcraft force because he knew he would be able to help with whatever went on on the Island, but his biggest choice was which side to go on. His sister went to the Howlers, and Jaeger was heavily tempted to follow, but the first Howler he met was Allouette, and Jaeger was determined to not be like him. He went to the Badger side, and he liked the way the training system worked there better than the Howler system (The Howler’s training process involves forcing each soldier to work their hardest, and has little emphasis on academic studies, whereas the Badger’s put equal focus on academic and physical training, and the training process is much easier, effective, and all soldiers end up happier than a Howler soldier)
One can look at Jaeger and say that he looks perfectly normal. His face is happy and bright, shines intelligence but not hard to invision angered. He has a mat of brown hair, which doesn’t take any maintenance at all to keep in good shape. It seems like it is more there for simply being there than to serve any purpose. For someone aged twelve he is rather hefty, but not fat at all. He makes no effort to improve himself, since he see’s himself as a specimen that doesn’t have need or want of improvement, so he remains as he is, simply because he doesn’t want to. He see’s it as a waste of time to improve oneself, unless it aids the effort of the Badgers, such as practicing piloting.
Jaeger is not an infantry soldier, but is rather a Pilot, meaning he can drive mechs, ski-doo’s, transports, and any other vehicles that are used. His unique driving style is difficult to copy, easy to understand. If one knows how he drives, one can hang on to the outside of a ski-doo going at full speed with ease. (Spoiler note: Later on in the story, Jaeger is the only person besides Deccus that can manage to pilot the Sliepner effectively.)
Jaeger really doesn’t have much for armor, since he is a much better Pilot than infantry. When he is forced to run from a battle, perhaps due to a destroyed vehicle, he has a thick coat to protect from minor projectiles while he escapes to get another vehicle.
Jaeger is yet to be introduced, but he will be in the next few pages, and from there he'll be an important story character.
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Swiftman....
(http://img28.exs.cx/img28/1332/yourawesome9ml.gif)
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(http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v605/Swiftman/alexV.gif)
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hey once you finish this story you should make a sandcraft story, and then a third one where they team up or fight each other
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Sandcraft? Herb, d00d, I live in Canada. I know nothing about deserts. Not a thing. Snow, however, is one of my favorite things,and I thought that kids needed a story about JUST them and make them kinda bad-ass, unlike Harry Potter. Heck, the teachers at the Academy in Snowcraft are still kids! Albiet older kids, but still! Harry Potter makes kids wave wands and stuff. Me? I make them shoot stuff, tackle people, use violence a lot (uh, oh. Hope there isn't going to be a Mothers Against Snowcraft....) AND my story has mechs in it. DING! *thumbs up* Compare THAT to Harry Potter! Which is cooler, huh? Wands vs. Snowthrowers. Hmm......
*EDIT* Yes, actually, Sandcraft sounds good. After I'm done Snowcraft, I'll have to move to the desert or a much warmer place (Newport, maybe....) and I'll write that up, and cross them over. I'll have to either revamp the system for age and stuff, or set it all in the same universe and everything, just at a different location. (it'll be like Dune, but with kids!)
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haha cool
and then to promote it i can write an atlanta-based-MODERNCRAFT based in the city. and since its sooooo boring because its just kids' normal lives; everybody will start to read yours
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Heh.... Streetcraft... I think if I did that, along with Snowcraft and sandcraft, Blizzard would be at my throat in lawsuits. Better not risk it.
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haha yea besides we already have streetcraft, its called Grand Theft Auto
keep up the work
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If you think his current explanations are good, wait until you see what he wrote about the inner workings of the Island. That peice of work really clears a lot of things up. It's not near done yet, but from what he has so far, it's very good.
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Inner workings of the Island you say, Kag? Ask and you shall recieve. MINION!
:arrow: *pokes ear* Knall, you can yell loud.
Hey, I'm the Swiftman. Feel lucky you don't work for Garland.
:arrow: Yes, I'm glad for that. Well, what did you want?
load up characters.doc and paste the inner working section onto this post.
:arrow: That's all? You could do that easily yourself.
It's more fun to yell MINION! Now, get going on it, MINION!
:arrow: *clicks and types* Fine.... Enter twice, and.... CTRL+V!
T H E W O R K I N G S O F T H E I S L A N D
The Island, as it is called since no official name has been given to it (to distinguish a normal island from the Island is the obvious capitalization of the I). It is used as a long-term military simulation for those between the ages of 7-14. Simply put, it is a winter camp for children to get stronger, gain friends, and have a good time (as the sales brochure says).
The island was set up by the United Nations as an attempt to decrease racism in the world. An island was discovered off the northern coast of Alaska that was perfect for military simulations, but rather than have the military use it, they decided to use it for the use of children. Children of all countries are welcome to come and participate, though a good knowledge of English will help, but isn’t necessary. No adults are in the workings of the Island, only children, mostly the General or whoever is in second in charge of the Howler’s at the time, (at the moment, Clash manages the Howler’s end)
The minimum age for entry into the Island is seven years. If the child wants to go to the Island, and the parents simply pay the minor admission fee and the cost of the ride there. Once there, the child is there for good. Their stay is not permanent in any way, and they can leave at any time they so choose, or take a break for a week. It is not a problem. However, they are allowed to leave for Christmas or family emergency’s, but they don’t have to go if they don’t want to. Letter’s to home are free, and the governments of the various countries involved pay for the shipping of letter’s to and from the families and their children on the Island.
Once a child is at the island, they are presented with numerous choices. They can join either the Howler’s or the Badgers. If they chose Badgers, they are interviewed by the General for validity. For an example, we will use the author, Swiftman, as if he was just about to join the Snowcraft force.
What is your name?
Devon Kirk
Why do you want to join the Snowcraft Force?
It sounds like fun, and I think I could do good in it.
Where are you from?
Wetaskiwin, Alberta, Canada. I lived in the country and not the city.
Do you plan to use your real name or a nickname during your stay here?
Nickname, please.
What would you like to be called?
Swiftman, preferably.
How old are you?
7 years old.
What obvious physical skills do you have?
I can run really fast, even through deep snow, and I can dodge stuff really good. And I’m good at climbing ropes, tree’s and rocks, and I’m unfazed by -30 C temperature.
Impressive. What sort of mental attributes do you have?
I can remain unfazed after taking a hit to the head (thank you, Kary) and I can keep track of multiple enemies at once in my head. Plus I can think and decide very quickly.
What type of weapon would you like to use? (Ie: pistol, rifle, melee weapon, etc)
I would like a medium range rifle type weapon, and a light melee weapon. I can fire at them from a fair distance away, but still be able to charge into their face and smack them up.
Anything else you feel you want to note?
Do I have to do any school work here? I don’t like to do school work.
Yes, but sorry. You will be at the Academy for 3 years, and during that time you must follow standard school curriculum as you would if you stayed home, along with your physical training. You have to learn less than most though, since you already know English.
Well, crap. I was hoping I could get out of school, but whatever. It still sounds fun. I would like to ask though, if a few of my friends come along with me here, would they be able to go with me wherever I go?
You can request to attend the same classes, but after you join the regular army there is nothing that can be done. If you are appointed in the same regiment, that’s good. But after a year of working in the army, you can join another team or if one of you has obtained Valiant status, then you may form your own team.
Cool! Thanks! Actually, I have one more question.
What’s that?
Do you always hide yourself in the shadows like that? And if so, then can I see you? I promise I won’t tell anyone.
*silence*
Uh, okay. Well, see ya later, General guy. *leaves*
Guh! Finally! I thought that guy would never leave. *sound of pop can opening heard*
That is the standard interview for Badger recruits. (40% of recruits ask to see the General’s face. The range of excuses are quite varied, but all meet the same answer.)
In order to decide which team to decide at the start, new recruits are described both teams in the pamphlet and on the website.
Badgers: A team devoted to fair play and honor, the Badgers train their recruits very well and make sure they can fight before they are sent to the field. They always fight fair, and they never do anything they don’t think they can do. They use a perfect balance of physical strength and academic excellence in order to achieve victory
*insert Badger logo here*
Howlers: A team that does not go to war without achieving total victory. They train their soldiers extremely well, focusing mainly on physical strength. It is easier to become a higher ranking officer with the Howlers, and you can command entire armies after only a year in the army. The Howlers try their best to obtain victory, and accept no other outcome.
*insert Howler logo here*
These are unbiased descriptions of both teams. Orwell, a natural writer on the Badger team, has written a far more accurate review on the teams:
Badgers: These guys are great. They focus on an equality of schooling and training, honing both their mind and their body. They never cheat, they fight fair, and never push their troops too hard.
Howlers: These guys stink. They will do anything (repeat: ANYTHING) to win. They don’t do hardly any schooling, and work mainly on physical training, and hardly anything else.
These explanations have been refused numerous times, no matter how many times they are revised, since new recruits must be given an unbiased explanation, in order to give them an equal chance to choose the right team for them.
Many students complain that the requirements for being acceptable for the army are too high. Whenever this happens, they are sent to the General, and they are spoken to from him. Usually the reluctant recruits are told that they can grab a gun and go on the field now. Most are silent after that, and they return to the Academy to continue their training. Once, a soldier by the name of Ratchet went to Dagor, asked for a fighter’s outfit, and left Vahal. He hasn’t been seen or heard of since, but it is believed that he now lives as a Neutral, fighting off whoever he comes across with skill beyond anything else seen. This, however, is just a myth of the Island and hasn’t been approved or disproved.
It has often been wondered what the point of this fight is. Sure, the United Nations put this all up to help against racism in children, but beyond that is wondered. Why must the Badgers fight against the Howlers? Some soldiers have wondered this, but soon forgot it. However, one girl by the name of Astrologica has wondered this, and has devoted her life on the Island solely to this purpose. She does not fight, but nor does she want to. She will not defend herself, or attack either, so attacking her is utterly pointless. She is a wandering philosopher of sorts, wrapped in many layers, wandering the barren plains of the Island, finding battle after battle, and pondering for the cause of it all. She has not found her answer, and her time is running short. As soon as she turns 14, she will have to leave and never return. She hopes to find the answer before then, but the chances of it are very slim. She cannot see any sort of reason, even after 6 years of wandering and pondering, she has not found the slightest inkling to the answer. Perhaps she cannot find the answer since she lacks a proper question to find the answer to…
That is the main gist of how the inner workings of the Island work. I hope that this has cleared some things up for you. (Maybe after I’m done Snowcraft, I’ll make a separate book that has all the explanation things like this and the characters, and anything else I come up with.)
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Theres a chance im wrong, but is Ratchet based off of me?
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No no. He's different from anyone else. (I called him Ratchet cuz that's my official transformer. Everyone at my place has an official transformer. Garland is Superion, Broom is Rodimus Prime, Kagemitsu is Skylynx, stuff like that. [maybe I should have been Blurr....])
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Ooh ooh ooh!
Who gets to be Roboticus?
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Hasn't been decided yet, Bladegash. If you want to be Roboticus, go rright on ahead.
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Cool story and character descriptions. Nice indeed. Can't wait for more.
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Cool story and character descriptions. Nice indeed. Can't wait for more.
(http://img229.imageshack.us/img229/1576/gbdsavessamusrevised8ts.png)
Everytime you don't register to a forum, TGBD get's some action.
Please, do you REALLY want our world populated by people so stupid that they get blasted in the face with a laser, and blow up? I don't.
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Hey, Trigger, I couldn't understand what you said, but any compliments are appreciated.
Wait til I get home. I got 15 more pages done in Snowcraft (that's right, 15. I almost doubled it's length in 4 days. Camping is JUST the thing I need for my writing... [it's hard to write about Deccus fighting in the snow when it's 28 degrees out here. I should do Sandcraft in the summer, and Snowcraft in the winter. I write best when I'm in the right environment.])
So yeah, wait for tomorrow afternoon, and I'll have more Snowcraft ready for you all.
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I was telling that unregistered guest to JOIN US!!!
I'LL F\_/C|<ING KILL YOU IF YOU DON'T!!!!
JOIIIIINNNN USSSSSS!!!!!
SNAKE MAN WILL EAT YOU IN YOUR SLEEP. SNAKE MAN WILL EAT YOU WHOLE. SNAKE MAN CAN DISLOCATE HIS LOWER JAW TO ALLOW EASIER CONSUMPTION OF SAID YOU. SNAKE MAN WILL YADDA YADDA YADDA. SNAKE MAN WILL PARTY ALL NIGHT CRAZY FREAKY MONKEY STYLE. SNAKE MAN IS THE MAN. PLEASE, SOMEBODY KILL ME. MY "VOICE" IS SORE. I SHOULD TAKE A COUGH DROP. HUZZAH!!!
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Trigger, maybe you should stop holding shift, take a deep breath, and eat a pizza roll. Maybe there's a good reason why he was a guest.
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I'm too lazy to release the shift buttom from my pinky fingers powerful grasp!!!! I can no longer breathe, nor need to thanks to my new bionic implants!!! And I'm OUT of PIZZA ROLLS!!! OHNOES!!!
Besides, I'm just messing around. there's no harm in that, is there?
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Seeing how MMtL is, messing around is fine.
And we should send you this 12 pack of pizza pops I have. Them things are great.....
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Kary was once asking me about Pizza pop....Then this came out of nowhere!
Blazing Kary says:
they're MUCH better in person. Believe me.
Blazing Kary says:
mmm.... so tasty.....
Blazing Kary says:
SO FULL OF TASY MEAT! KARY LIKES TOSE SORT OF THINGS!
XD I don't think I'll EVER stop quoting that.
But, she says they're good, I guess I'll have to take you two's word for it.
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They're tasty and they have a good amount of beef, pepperoni, and almost any sort of thing you would find on a pizza, just it's in a little piece of food instead of a huge slab of bread. (think a pizza folded over and sealed. That's a pizza pop. So tasty.... or, as Kary said:
Blazing Kary says:
SO FULL OF TASY MEAT! KARY LIKES TOSE SORT OF THINGS!
XD
I'm gonna start quoting those too. (or not, since I'm in 2x4 range of her and you all aren't.)
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*STORY UPDATE*
No, I'm not posting the story yet. I'm just gonna say that i finished some concept sketches of some of the things in Snowcraft, like the complicated wall complex that I added. (it's in the next 15 pages, the wall complex) I'll have to take a my black Z4 pen and ink it up, then scan it, give it to Trigger for GIMPing, and I'll post it up on here. (I also made a birds eye view drawing of Vahal, just so it's explained a little, in case there is some confusion. I'll send the pictures to Clest, and he'll make the more final versions of all of my sketches (I plan to make drawings of Arcania, Perry and some characters, too. [I drew Allouette, crappy a drawing as it is, it explains how his weapons work])
Just so you know, I've been working like a dog on Snowcraft while camping. This is EXACTLY what I needed for my story. Getting away from my stuffy basement and getting some actual 'fresh air' to breathe. It just clears the mind of the cobwebs. *breathes*
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HERE IT IS! The next 15 pages of Snowcraft, ready for all your greedy eyes to read. And, introducing in todays update, the introduction of DDDDOOOORRRRIIIIFFFTTTAAAAHHHH!!!!
Here ya all go! For those of you saying Snowcraft is lacking in action, HERE IS A MITTFUL OF IT FOR YA!
Deccus took a deep breath. Concentrating heavily, Deccus bent his legs and jumped.
Time seemed to slow down for a few seconds. He bent his body at the height of his jump, twisting slowly backwards.
Due to the heavy weight of Golem, Deccus could not complete the back flip, and landed heavily on his rear.
The crowd instantly roared its disapproval.
“What the heck was that? That was pitiful!”
“C’mon! Do it for real this time!”
Deccus immediately tried to stand, but moving in something twice your size and three times your weight was not easily done. He tried several times to get up, and finally succeeded.
The crowd was not pleased at all. They started to throw things and fire some shots at Deccus. They all ricocheted off the shell harmlessly, but Deccus started to back up anyways. He tripped on his feet and fell back again.
This time Delia came to Deccus’s rescue. She helped Deccus to stand up again, and said softly to him “Don’t worry. You’ve done very well compared to me. It’s very hard to move in the Golem.” Deccus then looked at her through the crude eye ports, and saw Delia smile slightly. Luckily the Golem’s faceplate covered all of Deccus’s face, since he went beet red at that.
Clash waved his arms at the crowd and they eventually settled down.
“Do not blame Kenny for the poor agility shown. It is a fault of the Golem’s inner mechanics. They are just air hydraulics, and are not the most responsive. Not the best for moving quickly. But anyways!” Clash stomped the floor and a section of wall opened up. “Everyone! We are going on an exhibition match against the Badgers with these Golems!” Out of the wall came two Golem’s on a cart, pushed by two people. Then came another cart, and another behind it, then more on top of that.
Deccus watched in horror as a force powerful enough to smash through Vahal was unfolded in front of his very eyes. An even three dozen Golems were wheeled out in front of the Howler soldiers, one Golem for every person there.
The eyes of the soldiers lit up immediately. For so long they had strived for a power great enough to take over the impregnable fortress city of Vahal, and now they had it. Nothing but the largest of shots could break the armor of the Golem, and Vahal had no defenses on that scale.
It seemed hopeless to Deccus. The soldiers quickly gathered into the Golem’s, and they learned how to work them far faster than Deccus did.
Trying his best to impersonate Kenny’s voice, Deccus turned to Clash and said “Hey, Clash. Where are we taking these first?”
Clash turned to Deccus. “What?”
A little louder, to say it over the voices of the enthusiastic Howlers, Deccus repeated his question.
“Take your faceplate off, boy. I can’t hear a word your saying.”
Deccus opened the plate and it swung upwards. It was hinged at the top of it. Deccus left it down slightly, so only his mouth was visible. “I said where are we going first with the Golems?”
Clash laughed maniacally. “Vahal, of course! Where else did you expect!?”
Deccus’s heart clenched. And they could take it, too. Without Vahal, the Badgers were lost. It had everything they needed, and hardly any other place could substitute it as well. Sure, Arcania had their own barracks, but it wasn’t near as good as the Academy.
Clash whipped his hand and knocked Deccus’s loose faceplate up. It swung upwards and revealed Deccus’s face.
Deccus stared in horror as an evil grin spread on Clash’s face. Deccus could do nothing but watch as Clash started to laugh. He laughed harder and harder, then whipped around to face his minions. “Minions! I have news most pleasant for you! In this mech is not Kenny, but it is actually-“ Clash grabbed an arm of the Golem and flung it towards the Howler swarm. “DECCUS!”
Clash had pulled Deccus hard enough that he was trying to keep his balance, and he eventually fell off the raised stage and into the Howlers.
Instantly there was a contest to see who could hold Deccus the longest before they were ripped off by another Howler trying to get Deccus too. Luckily the sudden movement of Clash’s pull had closed Deccus’s faceplate, otherwise his eyes would have been gouged by the mass of people.
Deccus tried in vain to fight off the onslaught, but it was useless. If one was knocked out it was replaced by another.
Then the sound of wood hitting wood was heard and Deccus felt a very strong grip on his left forearm. A Golem pilot had waded his way through the crowd and had Deccus by the arm.
“Get off of me!” Deccus yelled and forced his Golem to pull towards himself, slinging the unsuspecting Howler into a group of three trying to pull Deccus across the floor. The Howler pilot didn’t release his grip on Deccus, but he fell on his head and the pilot was knocked out.
Deccus yelled and lifted himself up so he stood, and ran. He ran through the crowd and back into the hallway where he came from. A few Howlers managed to hang on, but Deccus shook them off.
The Golem moved very slowly, but the power in each step seemed to send it flying with each step. Every vibration as the foot stamped the floor sent shivers down Deccus’s spine. It was enough to make a person squeal with glee.
Still pulling the limp body of the other Golem pilot, Deccus quickly looked down the hallways, trying to find the best way out before a swarm of angry Howlers caught him.
To his left it got darker, and was the way he had come from before. Straight ahead got a shorter roof as it went, and was too short for a Golem. To the right looked like it had bright lights all the way along it.
The sudden yells behind Deccus made him run down the path to the right.
The hallway stayed just high enough to allow passage for a Golem to get through. The lights seemed to be some glow in the dark kind of thing, and lit the way fairly well.
The hallway continued for a while, until it led straight to a door. A rather large door, one that slid up like a garage door. However, Deccus couldn’t see any switches or handles on it. The yells behind him got closer and closer, until he could bear it no more.
Deccus reared his right arm backwards, and punched the door with all his might. It didn’t knock the door off, but it was loosened. Gripping the limp soldier still holding his left arm with both hands, Deccus swung the Howler against the door. It shook heavily, but the door still wasn’t open. It did make the unconscious Howler let go, so Deccus left it on the floor.
Deccus turned to look behind him and saw six Golem’s trying to fit through the cramped hallway. Taking a few steps back, Deccus readied his shoulder and ran into the door. It finally buckled and came off it’s hinges.
Deccus ran forward a bit, and found that he was walking in snow. He was happy to see it after being in the Howler fortress for so long, but it posed a new problem if it got too deep. Knowing that if he didn’t try, he would get caught, so he ran straight again, taking what seemed a good route to return to Badger territory.
The deep snow proved to be more of a challenge than first anticipated. He had the strength now to walk right through it all, but it slowed him down a lot. Deccus took higher, longer steps to walk over it all, and it worked better. He could outrun all of the pursuing Golem’s with this method.
Except one.
Deccus saw how the last Golem was walking, and Deccus copied it. Taking a slight jump at each step he could move a few feet each jump, and his pace was much faster than merely walking.
But, it proved useless. Deccus simply could not move fast enough to outrun his last rival.
There was only one way out.
Deccus spun on his heel and sped for the Howler. It seemed that the Howler expected this, and was ready to fight as soon as Deccus got there.
Deccus threw his fist forward at the chest region of the Howler. It put it’s arms up and blocked the punch, but it knocked it back a little. Deccus swung his other arm at the side of the Howler, and it hit the arm of it. It punched Deccus in the shoulder, knocking Deccus back, then another on the left arm. Deccus blocked a punch to the head, but it made him fall on his back.
Immediately the Howler was on top of Deccus. It started to punch furiously at him, one arm after the next. Deccus threw an arm up and smacked it back a little, but it returned with harder punches. Deccus thought he heard a crack…
He swung his arm up and it contacted with the Howler right in the head. The uppercut had hit the Howler in the chin. He heard something break, and saw that he had knocked the faceplate right off of the Howler. But, it wasn’t just any Howler.
Delia reached up and felt her face. Then her face contorted with anger and she screamed “Damn you!” and resumed her punching with an increased ferocity.
All Deccus could do was put his arms up and block the punches as best he could. He was useless against her anger, and could do nothing to stop it.
Then Delia reached, gripped Deccus’s faceplate, and ripped it off it’s hinges. Deccus realized that his weakest spot was now exposed, and Delia wasted no time to try and cream his face.
Deccus blocked a left arm swing, blocked the right arm, grabbed her left arm, blocked the other arm and grabbed it on the next swing. Using the legs now he put them on her stomach and kicked, sending her flying several feet. Deccus tried to get up, but failed again, and Delia got up much faster than he did. Instead he swung his leg and tripped Delia. She fell on her side and Deccus pushed on the ground and flung to his other side, then crawled to her and punched her shoulder. The well aimed strike hit the joint, and ripped through the weak portion of the armoring. His arm broke through rubber hoses that started to spray air all over. Delia looked at the wound, then punched with her other arm and kicked him. The loose air started to blow all over, so she ripped what remained of her helmet off and threw it aside.
Deccus had managed to stand again while she did that, and had a sure footing so he could block punches without falling back.
She ran forward, her good arm reared and ready to hit Deccus in the face. Deccus stuck out a palm as she swung and caught her fist, then clenched hard. Then he realized that there wasn’t any power in the hands, just in the arms and legs, so squeezing did nothing to her fist. She stuck her other arm out and swung it at Deccus’s face. The slow Golem could not raise his arm in time to block, so he took a hit to the face. He felt Kenny’s useless helmet fly off. His footing had been lost, so he reeled back from the hit. Luckily the swing had hit the side of his head, and there was still armor there.
But, that wasn’t where her fist was headed.
Deccus saw her fist, moving in slow motion, heading straight for his unprotected face.
Just in time, he moved his head to the side and put both arms around her good arm. Doing a move Deccus saw on TV once, he put that arm on his shoulder, gripped hard and flung her over his shoulder. She landed on the snow on chest. Deccus quickly jumped and stomped on her back, then jumped off again.
She was on the ground, imprinted in the snow, heaving for breath, her loose hair spread out beneath her head.
Deccus wiped his brow. He came up and put a foot on her throat. “Give up?”
She opened her eyes and glared. “Never.”
She swung her good arm and clipped him on the foreleg. Deccus fell on his side, right on top of her. She immediately started to pound on him through any means she could, and Deccus hurt too badly to stop her.
An air valve on Deccus’s elbow burst open from a punch. He raised his arm and blocked the next punch, then grabbed her arm. He used his other arm to grab the side of her open head area, pulled the shoulder plate, and with a yell he ripped a section of armor off, exposing her shoulder.
“Take that!” Deccus yelled as he used the ripped off portion of the armor as a weapon on Delia. Deccus had her good arm pinned down, her other arm was losing power quickly, and her whole suit started to become heavier by the second.
She made a well aimed kick on Deccus’s back. Deccus bent from the pain, and he looked at her face.
Deccus saw Delia grin. With a quick tug and a spin, Deccus was flung a few feet away and she had jumped at him head first while he lay on his back.
Deccus rolled on the snow and she plunged right into the frost. She struggled to free herself while Deccus stood up.
_Holy crap, she’s a scrapper._ Deccus thought as he took deep breaths.
Delia tackled Deccus to the ground. The attack knocked them down a nearby hill. But, the hill happened to be Howler Hill, the longest continuous slope on the Island. People commonly slid on shields down the hill for fun, so the snow was packed hard and slick as ice. The slope was quite steep, and it was nearly a mile down in total.
This, of course, did not bode well with Deccus.
They were sliding down the hill at high speeds, punching and kicking each other. Delia was on top, using her knees and good arm. Deccus could only punch, since he tried to slow down with his feet by gouging his heel in the snow.
Deccus reached up, pushed her up and backhanded Delia on the shoulder, knocking her off of him and a few feet to the side. She continued to slide down at the same speed. She angled her body to head back for Deccus. He was less agile than her on the slope, since he was on his back and her on her stomach.
As she quickly approached, he grabbed her arm, pulled in, pushed off her back and landed hard on his stomach. This knocked the wind out of him, but at least he could maneuver better.
Delia stuck her fingers in the snow to slow down slightly, in order to go to Deccus’s level. He slipped his hand on the snow and threw them backwards, flying forward. Delia grabbed a leg and tried to pull herself up Deccus. He shook his legs to try and shake her off, but she held on tightly and continued to climb. He reached behind him and grabbed her hand, threw her forward, grabbed a leg, then swung her backwards in a spin. She was behind Deccus a little, but he was intent on beating her, so he stuck his fingers in the snow to slow down as she peddled up.
Deccus aimed a kick at her exposed shoulder, but she swerved to the side and peddled up so that they were side by side. Deccus punched, but she grabbed his arm, pulled herself forward and punched his rib cage. Her fist went right through the armor, ripping some hoses. Deccus felt his right leg get heavy.
He punched her back, but she had a hose by the grips, and she refused to let go. Instead Deccus pulled her closer, put his hand above her head and pushed her face in the snow. He could hear her yell in anger at this, since she couldn’t lift her head. Deccus pulled her head up, to let her catch her breath, then pushed it back down.
Deccus felt a bump on her face. He lifted her up, and saw what would scare the living daylights out of anyone.
Apparently a rock had gotten in the way of her path, and it had made a deep gash across her face, right in between the eyes and went to the chin. Her face was beyond hatred, it was loathing. She clenched the hose in her hands, cutting the air flow, which caused the hose to overflow and burst. Deccus’s right leg got heavier again. He pushed her off and swerved to his left, away from her. She peddled to the side and caught up easily, a trail of red behind her as the blood flowed freely from her face.
At that moment Deccus hit a mound of powder snow. He was temporarily blinded, and his eyes stung. He closed them for a second as the powder snow built up in his hair.
As the snow cleared, Deccus felt something gripping his hair. He opened his eyes and looked.
She was right in front of Deccus, her face staring at his. Her good Golem arm was holding Deccus’s hair, and her arm was sticking out of the hole Deccus ripped in her shoulder. Her face had an evil grin to it, and it spooked Deccus to see a face still smile like that despite the huge gash.
She pushed Deccus’s face down into the snow, the same as he did. He couldn’t breathe while she did this, and all he could do is flail his arms and close his eyes. She pulled his head up, but before she let him catch his breath she started to punch his face with her exposed arm. She dunked his head again, then pulled it up and punched it more.
_Ugh. She’s killing me!_ Deccus thought to himself.
Suddenly they were both airborne. Sometimes jumps were made on the hill, and they had hit one.
Deccus opened his eyes and looked down, seeing them go up and the hill go down wasn’t too comforting.
Delia still had a grip on Deccus’s hair, and she started punching again. Deccus reached over, grabbed her shoulder opening that he made, and pushed her under him. Her face stuck out the back, and her feet by Deccus’s face.
_Bad idea._ Deccus thought as she started waving her feet around to try and hit Deccus’s head. He didn’t want to hurt her too badly by putting her head first, but when one is going as fast as they were and hit a jump, he didn’t want to land on his own mech.
The ground came quickly and it hit Delia first. They bounced once, then continued to slide. Deccus let go of her and pushed her back under him so she slid behind him. He turned around to face her.
She had been knocked unconscious by the landing, and her head hung limp in the snow, skidding on the glazed surface. Deccus grabbed her hair, pulled it up and pulled her close. He could see the end of the hill approaching, and the level ground came quickly. It could break her neck if her head hung loosely and the ground evened off.
Apparently another ramp was built at the bottom of the hill, and they went airborne again. Instead of landing on her this time, Deccus tilted so that he would land sideways, his right arm first, and Delia clamped to his left side. Deccus saw the ground come closer, closed his eyes and prepared for impact.
When the ground came Deccus rolled. He bounced up once, which knocked his breath out, but he regained it quick when he prepared for the rebound. He bounced again, smaller though, and continued to roll. She was clamped tightly to Deccus, and he didn’t dare let go.
Eventually they slid to a stop, Deccus still holding Delia to him. He opened his eyes, let go of her and stood up.
He was battered. He had melted snow in his hair, which had long ago frozen, a heavy leg, no helmet, a crack in his hip region and almost no breath. All he could do is stand there and take deep breaths, watching the blood run down Delia’s face while she lay unmoving.
Deccus reached down, put an arm under her knees and another under her head, and picked her up. Both his arms were good, but her bad arm was useless as it had no pressure to move.
Deccus adjusted her position and started to walk off in a general direction.
“Well, Delia.” Deccus said to her limp body. “If it wasn’t for you trying to kill me, that would have been enjoyable. We should do it again sometime.”
“Mmm…” She moaned in his arms. Deccus paid no attention to this.
She opened her eyes slowly. They darted from Deccus’s face, to lower down on her, then to his face again.
Delia stuck her exposed arm into the limp Golem arm and lifted. It was much heavier without the additional power, but she managed to lift it and hit Deccus on the head with it.
He let go of her as he fell backwards. One cannot take a 20 pound hit to the head too well. She stood up after she fell and stood over Deccus, who was feeling his head for open wounds.
Delia kicked Deccus in the rib, which made him flip on his stomach. She sat on top and brought an elbow down on his back. She did it again, several times, without mercy. Then she grabbed his head and stuffed it in the snow, and pounded it in. She stood, gripped his leg, began so spin in a circle, lifting Deccus up and threw him several feet and onto his face.
She came over and saw the crack in the hip joints. Getting an evil idea, she reached down, put a hand into each crack, and pulled it apart. The wood began to split further, and it snapped in two. The hoses were still there, but she ripped them all apart so that the lower half could not move.
Delia reached down, picked Deccus up by the collar, and lifted him up to her face. His legs slipped out of the leg armor, thus reducing his weight by half. With that reduction in weight she could easily lift him up to her face.
She smiled at Deccus. He didn’t like it, not like the one in the base. All he could do was move his head backwards and stare at her face in horror, which was almost completely red with her blood.
“Nice work, wonderboy. You almost beat me there. You put up one heck of a fight.” She said right to his face.
He nodded, trying his best to be nonchalant as possible. “Thanks. You too.”
She pulled him closer. “Don’t get sassy with me, boy. Remember, you are at my mercy. I could snap your neck right now if I wanted to. I could-“
Her words were stopped by a sound fast approaching in the distance. It was one sound, sounding rather unlike a machine, but it got louder as it came.
“Yeeeeeeeeeeeeeeee…” Was the sound.
“What the-“ Delia started to say.
“HAAAAAAA!” A blue streak flew across Deccus’s vision and smacked into Delia, sending her flying. Deccus fell to the ground and watched the scene ahead.
A blue ski-doo had ran into Delia, sending her rolling across the snow.
The rider was not a light boy, and had quite a bit of weight to him. He still looked like he had good reflexes and speed, for a rider. Across his back were two large, long, double-barreled guns, and his armor was blue, but that was all Deccus could see since he was moving too fast.
The rider drove circles around Delia much in the way a horse would taunt an intruder. He drove circles around her, once in a while driving in closer to her and almost hitting her. She tried to fight back against this new arrival, but he was simply too fast for the slow Golem to hit.
The mystery rider pulled out a glowstick. He began waving it in an odd fashion, but it must have meant something.
Another ski-doo came roaring past Deccus and into the circle around Delia. They both started taunting her, laughing and pointing at her all the while. She could do nothing against the two of them, and they just poked fun at her.
Nova pulled out a glowstick and waved it around. Deccus couldn’t make out the slightest meaning from it.
Almost instantly another ski-doo came into the scene. He drove up to Deccus and stopped beside him.
His voice was very reminiscent of the biker dude stereotype. “Whoa, cool threads, dude.”
Deccus looked down at himself. He noticed how silly he looked having a huge mech upper half, but his normal legs beneath that. He hadn’t noticed it due to him being on the business end of Delia’s fists.
“Uh, thanks, man.” Deccus said slowly.
Instantly the rider’s voice changed into that of an over pumped action hero. “Now is not the time for talk! Now is the time for ACTION!” He waved his head, signaling Deccus to get on. Deccus did just that, swinging a leg over the back half of the seat as the rider started to speed off.
The other two riders left Delia, waved more glowsticks and followed Deccus’s ride. Behind them were three more riders, all on ski-doo’s. Delia didn’t try to stop them, and instead she just watched them leave and started to climb up the hill.
“She’s in for a rough night.” Deccus heard the main leader say to him. “There’s going to be a blizzard moving in and she’s gonna try and climb a mile long hill.”
Deccus didn’t say anything, he just looked at the rider beside him to his left.
“Oh, by the way, I’m Drifter.” He took one hand off the steering and stuck it out to Deccus.
Drifter was not a light boy by any means. He wasn’t unnaturally large, but his arms were strong and looked fast, despite their size. On his forearms were two small shields, clamped on and looked hard to take off. He had dark blue armor on, with blue cloth forming an X on his chest, and other cloth straps n his forearm, foreleg, belt and one piece tied around his head for a headband. He had glasses on, but they were under sharp goggles. The hair itself was brown and his eyes green.
Deccus only looked at the hand. “Is that safe? I don’t think I want to let go of a hand here. I might fall off.”
“Nah, don’t worry about it. Skull here is an excellent rider, aren’t you, Skully?” Drifter gave Deccus’s driver a light punch on the shoulder. Skull immediately turned and glared to Drifter, said in a menacing tone: “Don’t touch me.” Then turned back to driving. Drifter just laughed.
“By the way, where were you Deccus? We’ve been looking almost a whole day for you. I’ve never seen the General so uptight to look for someone. Practically all the Badgers were out on patrol, trying to find any trace of you.”
Deccus thought on this. Had the General really been looking that hard for Deccus? He wasn’t near as important as someone like Anton, but now that he thought on it, Deccus did have quite a record of single-handedly changing the course of a battle to his side. Someone like him didn’t come very often.
“Say, Drifter, I should tell you.” Deccus said above the sound of the ski-doo’s going. Drifter drove closer and leaned his head.
“What’s that?”
“The Howler’s are preparing a huge strike force to attack Vahal with. It’s going to have three dozen Golem’s (the thing that I’m wearing… half of) and Clash will probably gather more troops and siege machines too. I hate to say it, but with those Golem’s, Vahal doesn’t stand a chance.”
Drifter thought for a second, then pulled out a glow stick. He gave it a complicated wave, and one rider from behind drove up to Drifter’s other side. They spoke to each other, but Deccus couldn’t hear anything. They both nodded and the new rider broke off from the group.
“I just sent Mikey boy off to send a message to Vahal about your warning. It’s probably a good thing you were gone. Now at least we can prepare.”
“But you don’t understand Drifter, a Golem is invincible to everything but another Golem. Vahal’s defenses don’t have anything strong enough to punch through the armor.”
Drifter waved his hand. “We’ll worry about that when it comes. Right now our main concern is getting you back to Vahal. Don’t you worry about anything.”
Despite Drifter’s words, Deccus still worried. Without Vahal, the Badger’s would be effectively taken over. Clash is sure to properly defend Vahal if he took it. It would be his greatest victory, and he could finally surpass Lazlo as the greatest Howler commander after Venom.
Deccus heard Skull clear his voice. He spoke in a loud announcers voice. “Males and gentlemen, may I present to you, VAHAL!”
Deccus looked over Skull’s shoulder and saw indeed the Badger capital of Vahal. Deccus almost thought that he would never see it again.
The six of them drove to the gate, Drifter said the master password, and they entered. They disembarked from the ski-doo’s.
“Dang, your hair looks like crap, Deccus.” A rider with dark red hair said. Deccus reached up and felt it. It was almost straight up, and full of ice chunks.
“We’ll worry about that later. Come, we should take you to the general.” Drifter waved a glowstick in the direction of Headquarters and walked. The rest of them followed behind him.
The secretaries jumped when they saw Deccus in his state. They immediately opened the door to the General when they saw him and Drifter. They all entered, and the darkness of the room immediately followed as the doors shut behind them.
“Ah, excellent job, Drifter. I see you found Deccus.” The General said in his mysterious voice.
Drifter looked at Deccus, then his hair, then back to the General. “Well, he’s not in the best of shape, but we got him all right.”
“Excellent. That’s good to hear.” The General spoke to Deccus next. “Did you see anything while in the Howler base?”
Deccus immediately launched into his story. He told him of him on the dungeon wall, of Hime and Otherun, of Clash’s announcement, the unveiling of the Golem’s, the planned attack on Vahal, and his battle with Delia.
The General sighed. “It’s as I feared. I never thought that they would stoop so low. But anyways, about this attack. Riles, go the Comm Tower and send a message to Arcania and Perry. Tell them we need every available soldier and heavy weapon they can bring, and tell them not to worry about defense. The Howler’s will focus only on Vahal now, so defense of their cities are useless and unnecessary.”
A rather short boy nodded and left the office. When the door opened the light flashed on the General. Deccus quickly whipped his head to the General’s direction, but he had leaned to avoid his face being seen. All Deccus could see was the General’s shoulder, and nothing else.
The door shut and the General spoke again. “Drifter, I want you and the rest of your team to go back out and find the missing half to Deccus’s Golem. We’ll need to make Golem’s of our own if we hope to properly defend ourselves in the future.
Drifter nodded, waved a glowstick, and the other four members of his team left. Deccus was about to follow, but the General stopped him. He stopped and turned back to him.
“Secretary, send the rest of the team in here.”
In a second the door opened again, and Holly, Kaeden, Kleth, Ted, Wedge and Shed came in the room.
Holly blinked and tried to see through the darkness. “Deccus? Man, you’re a sight.”
Kaeden patted Deccus on the back rather hard. He didn’t notice due to the remains of the Golem on him. “Good to see ya back, man.”
“Silence!” The General said sharply. Everyone stopped and faced him with attention.
“As of now, you seven have been promoted for your service in the Arcania Attack. All of you now have access to higher level equipment, and special circumstances have made new weapons available. For, as you see, Vahal is about to engage in a massive siege by the Howlers, and it is likely that they will succeed.”
Everyone but Deccus gasped at this.
“But…” Shed stammered. “How could they beat us? We got them good last time, didn’t we?”
“Yes, we did repel the attack last time, but this time they have new equipment. You see what Deccus is wearing?”
Everyone looked to him.
“Looks like he put a tree on and named himself ‘squeaky’, as usual, only now he has hair like a punk rocker.” Holly said with her usual wit. Deccus glared at her. His hair was starting to melt, and was slowly sinking back down.
The General spoke again. “What Deccus is wearing is half of a new piece of Howler equipment. It can increase ones strength two fold, but at half the speed. With the increased strength, anyone in one of them can easily break through any infantry’s armor with ease. Why, with enough hits, it could even take down the wall around Vahal.”
Kleth gave a small whimper.
“But, if you all go to Dagor now, we have prepared new equipment for you in order to help combat the new Howler threat.”
“Sweet!” Kaeden yelled. “New weapons!”
“Think of the upgrades as a gift for your assistance. Arcania would have been lost without all your help.”
The General tried to speak further, but gave up due to Deccus’s, Holly’s and Kaeden’s excited yells. The General growled under his breath and yelled.
“Just go and get them already!”
Everyone shut up and went out the door.
“Oh, and Deccus?”
Deccus stopped and turned.
“Take that half of the Golem to Science, could you?”
Deccus nodded. “Sure thing.” He left out the door, went up the stairs in the receiving office, took off the Golem, threw it on a random table in the Science bay, then left to Dagor’s weapon shop excitedly.
He went in, and saw the other six of them swarming at Dagor’s desk. He was trying to restore calm, but Holly was almost over the desk trying to get her new equipment. Deccus reached, grabbed her by the collar and pulled her back down.
“Thanks, man.” Dagor said and retreated to the back with an assistant.
Deccus folded his arms and glared Holly in the eye. She returned the look, and they attempted to stare each other down. Kaeden was hopping on the spot, Wedge tried to keep calm and was succeeding, and Shed looked puzzled. He didn’t know what could possibly improve his armor any more than it already was. He made it himself, and it was heavier than anyone else’s armor. He couldn’t see how any improvements could be made.
Dagor returned with a cart full of equipment. Deccus made everyone line up in a row in front of the desk.
Dagor put a pile of leather and a rifle in front of Wedge, a very, very very large gun by Kaeden, new armor and weapons for Holly, new radio for Kleth, a satchel of medic equipment for Ted, a complicated wood set for Shed, and a strange weapon for Deccus.
Everyone marveled at their new armament, Kaeden and Deccus especially.
Deccus took off the Howler armor he was wearing, put on his hidden armor, and picked up the new weapon.
The indefinable sense of power from this gun flowed through Deccus like electricity. It had a space for an arm to go in, with wood shielding for the forearm, a long barrel, and a few switches. Deccus slipped his arm in the opening, and found that it fit snugly. Only the sides of his forearm were protected by the outrigger of wood, but it seemed more for looks that purpose. It was a considerably heavier weapon than his S-buster, and Deccus felt the internal triggers. One was for firing, and another for charging, Deccus hypothesized. Despite it’s huge increase of size over his S-buster, it still could effectively be used with one hand only.
Kaeden was shaking. His new weapon was almost three times as heavy as his old one, and the barrel was twice as wide. He had gotten no new armor, but even if he did he wouldn’t have noticed it. He was wrapped up about his new cannon.
Wedge had gotten an awkwardly shaped rifle. It looked uncomfortable to use while looking at it, but after trying it out he found that it fit rather well for him. His new armor was just a thicker leather jacket and boots, nothing new there. He wanted to test the rifle out…
Holly had gotten standard upgrades. Heavier armor, larger weapon, the like. She wasn’t complaining, though.
Kleth’s new radio had an increased range and more wavelengths could be covered, and it even had a new scan feature, so looking through different frequencies for activity went much faster.
Ted’s satchel had new kinds of bandages, heat packs, drinks, and other assorted things. They looked like they would help him out immensely.
Shed couldn’t make head nor tails of his upgrade. All it was was a bunch of pieces of lumber, hinged at the ends in complicated fashions. Dagor came over and showed him that it was a bracer for his shield. Once latched onto the underside of the shield, it could increase the force of hit it could withstand without falling over. It even folded up inside the shield for easy carrying.
Everyone marveled at the new equipment.
“So, how do you all like it?” Dagor said and leaned on his desk. “This all was some of my best work. Hope you like ‘em.”
Kaeden was too overwhelmed to speak, Holly didn’t want to, Ted couldn’t, Kleth was busy trying out his new radio, Deccus was figuring out the purpose for the protective sides, Wedge was flicking with his weapon and Shed was busy installing his new attachment.
No one spoke for quite some time.
“C’mon! I worked for days on these! At least say SOMEthing!”
Deccus nodded his approval. “Nice work, Dagor. Definitely some of your best.”
A sudden burst of wind knocked the door open. Ted shut it with difficulty.
“That blizzard Drifter talked about must be moving in.” Deccus said while fiddling with his weapon.
Deccus remembered something. It hit him like a ton of bricks.
“Oh, no….” He whispered. He dropped his new weapon, unslung his shield and dashed out the door. Everyone yelled at him, but he didn’t listen. He didn’t stop running until he hit Vahal’s gate.
“Let me out!” He yelled above the howling winds. It was starting to get very dark.
The guard inside the wall yelled back. “No way. This blizzard is getting fierce. You’d be better to get in the Academy.”
“But I’m a Valiant! You gotta let me through!” Deccus said the master password, but the gate still didn’t budge.
“Sorry. Orders from the General. No one is to leave Vahal.”
Deccus didn’t have time for this.
Acting on spontaneous logic, Deccus felt in the snow for the secret doorway into the wall complex. He found it, opened the door and was inside the thin hallways of the wall complex. He went up some stairs up, and a few levels up he was in the guards room.
“Hey! You can’t come in here!” the guard stood up and blocked further passage.
“I don’t care.” Deccus pushed the thin guard to the side easily and stuck his head out the open window.
It was a sheer drop down to the ground, several meters at most. Deccus had no choice, however, and prepared to jump down.
The guard grabbed Deccus around the chest. “You must be crazy! Jumping down in this weather.”
Deccus took his shield and smacked the guard across the face. He was easily knocked out, and he slumped to the floor. Deccus stuck his head out again, moved back a few steps, readied himself, then ran forward and jumped out the window.
The wind blew Deccus to the side as he fell. He put his shield up above his head, to try and catch as much wind as possible to slow his descent. It worked fairly well, and Deccus landed hard on his feet. The snow cushioned much of his fall though, and he couldn’t waste time. He immediately began to run in the direction he came from.
He saw a series of ski-doo treads in the snow still, and he moved his finger straight across them, judged his direction, and began to run.
The wind must have blown on his back that night. Deccus could feel his steps being lighter than usual, and he ran with all the speed he could, still following the tracks the best he could in the darkness.
After a few minutes of running Deccus couldn’t see the tracks anymore. The blizzard’s falling flakes had covered them up, and Deccus had to go on instinct alone.
The snow got heavier and heavier as it built up on Deccus’s shoulders. He unfolded his scarf, brushed himself off with it, tied it around his face and neck, and continued on.
Not seeing anything in any directions, Deccus took a rest. He had been running for thirty minutes straight, and he still hadn’t seen anything. It didn’t take at all long on the ski-doo’s to get to Vahal, but they moved many times faster than Deccus could. How he still had a bearing on his direction was any guess. Deccus shook his face, brushed more snow off and continued on his way, at a lessened pace.
Onward he struggled. The wind had stopped cooperating, and was blowing against his path. Deccus slowed from a jog to a quick power walk, then to taking slow, powerful steps. He didn’t dare put his shield in front of him, since it would catch the wind and blow him away. He kept it parallel with him, so that the wind just blew past it.
For nearly ten more minutes he continued like this. It was now completely dark, and the wind and snow blew harder than ever.
Finally, Deccus found a sign that insured he was on the right track. Oversized human imprints in the snow, massive footsteps, and most of all, a blood trail. Deccus got on his hands and knee’s, and followed the trail the best he could. It tended to pool in area’s, but it generally kept a continuous path.
Deccus followed the trail of blood, and he felt it go uphill. Nevertheless, he kept going determinately.
He continued to climb up the hill. His face was almost right in the snow, since it was getting very hard to see in the blackness. On and on he followed it, until he saw a sign.
The blood behind him was frozen, like it had been there for a while. This blood was newer, and wasn’t completely hard yet. Deccus followed it all the more.
Indeed the blood got newer and newer as he crawled, and the wind and frost got heavier and heavier.
Then, he found what he had been looking for.
Delia was lying in the snow, unconscious, still in her broken Golem. Her face was laid on the snow, and the wound on her face almost frozen. Her face was almost starting to look blue, she was so cold.
Deccus leapt for joy. He reached down and somehow managed to pull her out of the hole Deccus had made earlier. He slung Delia over his shoulder, sat on his shield and slid down the hill with her on him.
The descent down was quick, and he had slowed down in time for the jump at the bottom. Deccus found his old tracks, made a mark of the direction they were in, slung his arms in his shield, and plodded on.
It was difficult going. The wind was harder than ever, and Delia wasn’t very light either. She caught a lot of wind and had a lot of snow on top of her. Worrying about her face, Deccus put Delia down, took his scarf off and tied it around her neck and mouth, not blocking the nose. He picked her back up and continued.
The going was very slow. He walked for ten minutes, not daring to stop. The wind had changed it’s mind, and now blew the other way against him again. Deccus was hoping that it would have stayed blowing in the same direction, so the trip back would be easier, but he never had that much luck, let alone now when he needed it most.
Another ten minutes of walking seemed to lead to no where. By now all tracks had faded, and even the tracks Deccus made behind him seemed to fill in as he watched them. Nevertheless, he trudged on for Vahal.
Without his scarf, the wind stung at Deccus’s bare face. He had his helmet on, and it covered his ears, but his mouth and nose was now completely numb. He started to faint for a second, but shook himself and continued.
He didn’t think that it would be this hard. Delia was getting heavier, the wind harder, the snowflakes more numerous, and his consciousness was fading, along with his strength.
_C’mon, you!_ Deccus thought to himself. _You can do it! Vahal can’t be that far away now!_
_I’m right. I’m come this far. I have to continue!_
With spurt of determination Deccus ran forward. He took huge sprinting steps, gaining as much ground as possible. Hopefully, the lights of Vahal would appear over the horizon, and he would be safe.
But, his sprinting burst didn’t last long, and he soon returned to his trudging.
The wind didn’t let up, his boots were filled with snow, and his armor was getting heavier, along with Delia. He slumped on the ground and let her roll off his grip. She flopped face down and stayed there. Deccus, however, fell to his knee’s, then face forward in the snow.
The snow felt so warm. He wanted to just burrow in there and sleep. It was so tempting…
A sudden gust of stronger wind woke Deccus from his stupor. He couldn’t just lay and sleep, he would freeze to death. He…. Had…. To… keep… going…
He pushed himself up, held himself up with his arms, and took several deep breaths. One last effort… he could do this.
But it was useless. He fell back down and gave up. He was as good as dead, and he accepted this knowledge. It would be a relief to not have to heave his lungs, and to not feel the numbness in his leg.
A cough brought Deccus back to reality. He heard snow crunching beside him, so he pushed himself up and crouched on one knee beside Delia.
She had awoken.
She opened her eyes and felt the scarf on her face.
“How did this get here?” She said.
“I put it there.” Deccus said loudly above the wind.
She quickly turned to face Deccus, then backed away. “You!”
Deccus put an arm around himself, to warm his chest. “Don’t be so jumpy.” He practically had to yell to be heard. “I’m not here… To hurt you…”
He heaved his frozen lungs for breath. Delia looked at him in the face, and he looked right back.
“I promise….” He continued speaking. “I’m… not… here to… hurt you… Please…. Believe… me…”
She inclined her eyebrows, her mouth still hidden by his scarf. “And how do I know I can trust you?”
“Because… I haven’t…. hurt you further, have…. I?”
She puzzled this for a second.
“Believe… me…. I had plenty…. Of opportunities to….”
She looked down at a nearby rock, still thinking.
“Delia… I’m really weak…. Here… I just…. Carried you… a few miles… in this weather… At… least… give me… a chance…”
She still looked at the rock, her eye’s squinting slightly.
“Delia… Please… I’m… spent here… I can… hardly… breathe… I can barely…. Talk… I’m just… about ready… to… give up……..”
Deccus sunk lower and fell again on the snow. He fully expected Delia to walk away, or to knock him out and take his equipment, leaving him for the dead.
But, luck was on his side that night.
She hefted Deccus up, put his arm across her shoulder and hers on his.
“You went to all this work to save me, The least I can do is return the favor.” She said to him softly.
Deccus leaned his head to face her, nodded, then took a step forward.
With her help, Deccus could finally walk again. She had much more energy than him, having just slept, but she almost had to carry him across the frigid tundra.
The wind was still blowing against them, and the snow hadn’t eased up. Yet still, they plodded on.
Deccus thought that they had neared Vahal, since they had walked for so long, but it didn’t seem so. Even after thirty minutes of it, they still saw no trace of civilization.
“Ugh!” Delia let go of Deccus and fell to the ground. Deccus sat next to her and tried to block the wind.
“What is it… Delia?”
“My… My back… It really hurts…”
Deccus thought back to their battle. He remembered now how he had stomped on her back. He thought he heard something go crack then, but he had ignored it. Apparently, so had she.
“That was… My fault.. I hurt your back.”
She turned her head to face his and moved the scarf off her face. She smiled, and this time it was genuine. Her hair was blowing in front of her face, her eye’s seemed to glint in the darkness, and her rising and falling chest broke all worries that Deccus had at the moment.
“Here… Would it help if I… Rubbed your back for you?”
She nodded. “Please.”
Deccus took his left glove off and reached for her back. He found her spine, touched it, and began to move his fingers back and forth, then in small circles, moving up slowly. She sighed and leaned forward slightly.
Deccus felt something on her back. She cringed when he touched it. It had felt like a large gap between two places of her spine.
“Ouch… That hurt.” She whispered while breathing heavily.
Deccus massaged the area around the wound, helping the tense muscles all he could. Without her, he was doomed, so he had to help anyway he could.
He was done with her back, and he put his glove back on his bare hand. His hand was very, very cold after being in the wind for so long.
Delia turned herself to face Deccus. She smiled ever so slightly. She leaned forward and put both her arms around Deccus’s frigid body and lay her head on his shivering shoulders.
“Thank you.” She whispered in his ear.
Having her body against Deccus’s seemed to light a fire under him. His body coursed warmth where she was touching him, and spread through his entire self. He stopped shivering so frantically, and calmed down immensely.
She let go of him and positioned her head right in front of his. For the first time Deccus noticed that her hair was the color of chestnut.
For a second she stared him in the eye, with the lightest of grins on her face. Deccus didn’t know what to do other than stare back in the same fashion.
In a surprise move, she moved her head forward and planted her lips right on his.
This had taken Deccus completely by surprise. He didn’t expect this to happen at all. But, he wasn’t complaining.
She parted from him and gazed at him again. “Thank you.”
Utterly flabbergasted, Deccus took several deep breaths. That was about the last thing in the world he had expected to happen, but now that it was over, he reveled in the idea of his first kiss.
Delia stood and helped him up. “Come on. We still got a ways to go.” She flipped the scarf back up on her face, put his arm on her shoulder again, and hers on his. Deccus remembered the direction they were heading, and went that way.
The wind hadn’t calmed down at all, but it didn’t nip as hard. The snow wasn’t so heavy, even though it was no lighter. Deccus had his strength back, and much more motivation than before.
For ten more minutes they continued at the increased speed. Deccus started to feel the effects of the cold again, and the wind began to roar in his ears. Delia started to slow down too. She was feeling the cold on her face, despite Deccus’s scarf. She only had on a Howler cloth outfit, and it wasn’t near as thick as Deccus’s armor and heavy fabric.
“I need to stop.” Delia said and sat down. She began to rub her arms, trying to warm herself up. Deccus sat down beside her and tried to block the wind with his body.
He thought back to his days of training. What did they tell you to do when you’re caught in a blizzard?
Always keep moving, that was the biggest thing. Even if you’re sitting, do more than just shiver.
“Rub your chest.” Deccus said to Delia. “Your arms can warm themselves up.”
She looked at him funny.
“I’m just saying, it works.”
She shrugged and moved her hands.
Now that he noticed, Delia was not at all dressed for this weather. She only had one layer on against Deccus’s three. He had an undershirt, a coat and thick armor. She only had a Howler pilot’s suit.
Deccus took off his armor and gave it to Delia.
“What’re you doing?” She stared at the armor.
“You only have one layer. I have three. This will be better than nothing.”
She looked at the armor, then him. She smiled, took it, and slipped it on. Even if it was only wood armor, it still blocked much of the wind. It fit her snugly, and covered much of her upper half.
She reached and touched Deccus’s hand. “Thanks.”
Deccus could do nothing but stare at her face. Her smile was so tempting…
There was a sudden gust of much stronger wind, followed by a loud crack that sounded very close to them. Deccus whipped his head in all directions, trying to find the source. He found it, and it wasn’t good.
A huge tree had snapped from the powerful winds and it was falling straight for Deccus and Delia.
“Look out!” He leapt forward and pushed Delia back and away from the tree. Deccus lay on his stomach, unaware of what was heading his way.
He looked up, and saw the tree continuing on it’s path downwards. He gaped for a second, but his instincts kicked in. He slammed both hands and the snow and kicked off at the same time, sending him forward quickly enough to avoid the tree.
But not quite quick enough….
Deccus’s ankle was caught under the massive tree.
“Agh! Delia, help!” He called to her. He heard no response, so he looked at her.
A long branch had come down and hit her on the head. She was knocked out cold, but something about her didn’t look right.
“Ah, crap!” Deccus yelled and tried to force his leg out from under the tree. He couldn’t move his foot at all, and the tree just sat on top, not caring about how much pain Deccus was in.
With a grunt, Deccus managed to pop his heel out from under the tree. He immediately ran to Delia. Even though she looked fine, something told Deccus that there was something more that was wrong.
_Vahal can’t be that far away now._ Deccus thought. _I can make it._
He stood up straight, and fell right back down. His left ankle felt like it was broken in seven places. Reaching down and feeling, he found it was only in five.
Still, he had no choice. He stood again, putting all his weight on his right foot. He tried to put the slightest weight on his ankle, but it hurt like blazes to even touch the ground. Giving up trying to work around the ankle, he decided to just not use it at all, so he got down on hands and knees and crawled quickly to Vahal.
It was slow enough walking to Vahal, but crawling slowed that progress to a near stand still.
Deccus never noticed before how much of a difference it made having his armor on. It had blocked a lot of the wind that was now ravaging his body. It was chilling to move, and Deccus grew stiffer by the moment. The wind felt like a knife in his side, and the snow a chilly blanket of ice on him. But, his determination made him continue, however slowly he was going.
Deccus was starting to lose the feeling in his face. He no longer felt the cold wind, and his eyes were on the brink of watering. He hoped that he didn’t tear, since the tears would freeze within seconds. Deccus had to keep his eyes closed shut almost all of the time, to prevent the cold from freezing his eyes into his skull.
_I wonder what Skull would say if he saw me right now…_ Deccus wondered. He half expected Skull to appear in front of him with a ride back, but apparently Deccus had seen too many movies. He stopped, opened his eyes and looked around, but saw nothing but trees and the random rock. Nothing was in sight that could help him at all.
Not a thing…
He was completely alone, he was too tired to move, the wind was stinging all the more, the snow was piling up on top of him, and his ankle hurt even though it had no weight on it.
_But… I have to keep going… For Delia…_
Deccus began to crawl again. He knew it couldn’t be that far to Vahal.
He crawled further in the snow. The frost was building up in his jacket, and melted down his shirt, which froze again. Deccus couldn’t feel his left arm, nor his feet.
_I guess… This is…. It…._ Deccus thought sadly. _I failed… I think I’ll just lie down… and die… Right here…_
Deccus’s arms refused to hold him up any longer. He slumped is body onto the snow. He felt the snowflakes begin to bury him, as if telling him that he was getting buried as he slept…
-
AND THE CROWD GOES WILD!!! WOOO!!!!
Though there ARE a *few* revisions you might wanna consider. :D Read it carefully, cuase not ALL of it is my randomness.
Her words were stopped by a sound fast approaching in the distance. It was one sound, sounding rather unlike a machine, but it got louder as it came.
“Zeeelllllllllllllll..."Was the sound.
“What the-“ Delia started to say.
“LLLOOOOOOOOO!" A blue streak flew across Deccus’s vision and smacked into Delia, sending her flying. Deccus fell to the ground and watched the scene ahead.
A blue ski-doo had ran into Delia, sending her rolling across the snow.
The rider was not a light boy, and had quite a bit of weight to him. He still looked like he had good reflexes and speed, for a rider. Across his back were two large, long, double-barreled guns, and his armor was blue, but that was all Deccus could see since he was moving too fast.
The rider drove circles around Delia much in the way a horse would taunt an intruder. He drove circles around her, once in a while driving in closer to her and shanking her each time. She tried to fight back against this new arrival, but he was simply too fast for the slow Golem to hit.
The mystery rider pulled out a groovy glowstick. He began waving it in a super cool fashion, but it must have meant something.
Another ski-doo came roaring past Deccus and into the circle around Delia. They both started taunting her, laughing and shanking her all the while. She could do nothing against the two of them, and they just poked fun at her.
Nova pulled out a glowstick and waved it around crazy freaky monkey style. Deccus couldn’t make out the slightest meaning from it.
Almost instantly another ski-doo came into the scene. He drove up to Deccus and stopped beside him.
His voice was very reminiscent of the biker dude stereotype. “Whoa, cool threads, dude.”
Deccus looked down at himself. He noticed how silly he looked having a huge mech upper half, but his normal legs beneath that. He hadn’t noticed it due to him being on the business end of Delia’s fists.
“Uh, thanks, man.” Deccus said slowly.
Instantly the rider’s voice changed into that of an over pumped action hero. “Now is not the time for talk! Now is the time for ACTION! WAKALALALALALAL!!!!” He waved his head, signaling Deccus to get on. Deccus did just that, swinging a leg over the back half of the seat as the rider started to speed off.
The other two riders left Delia, waved more glowsticks and followed Deccus’s ride. Behind them were three more riders, all on ski-doo’s. Delia didn’t try to stop them, and instead she just watched them leave and started to climb up the hill.
“She’s in for a rough night.” Deccus heard the main leader say to him. “There’s going to be a blizzard moving in and she’s gonna try and climb a mile long hill.”
Deccus didn’t say anything, he just looked at the rider beside him to his left.
“Oh, by the way, I’m DOOORRRIIIFFFTAAAAAHHH!!!” He said in a crazy voice, as he took one hand off the steering and stuck it out to Deccus.
Drifter was not a light boy by any means. He wasn’t unnaturally large, but his arms were strong and looked fast, despite their size. On his forearms were two small shields, clamped on and looked hard to take off. He had dark blue armor on, with blue cloth forming an X on his chest, and other cloth straps n his forearm, foreleg, belt and one piece tied around his head for a headband. He had glasses on, but they were under sharp goggles. The hair itself was brown and his eyes green.
Deccus only looked at the hand. “Is that safe? I don’t think I want to let go of a hand here. I might fall off.”
“Nah, don’t worry about it. Skull here is an excellent rider, aren’t you, Skully?” Drifter gave Deccus’s driver a light punch on the shoulder. Skull immediately turned and glared to Drifter, said in a menacing tone: “Don’t touch me.” Then poked Drifter with a fork and turned back to driving. Drifter just laughed.
“By the way, where were you Deccus? We’ve been looking almost a whole day for you. I’ve never seen the General so uptight to look for someone. Practically all the Badgers were out on patrol, trying to find any trace of you.”
Deccus thought on this. Had the General really been looking that hard for Deccus? He wasn’t near as important as someone like Anton, but now that he thought on it, Deccus did have quite a record of single-handedly changing the course of a battle to his side. Someone like him didn’t come very often.
“Say, Drifter, I should tell you.” Deccus said above the sound of the ski-doo’s going. Drifter drove closer and leaned his head.
“What’s that?”
“The Howler’s are preparing a huge strike force to attack Vahal with. It’s going to have three dozen Golem’s (the thing that I’m wearing… half of) and Clash will probably gather more troops and siege machines too. I hate to say it, but with those Golem’s, Vahal doesn’t stand a chance.”
Drifter thought for a second, then pulled out a glow stick. He gave it a complicated wave, and one rider from behind drove up to Drifter’s other side. They spoke to each other, but Deccus couldn’t hear anything. They both nodded and the new rider broke off from the group.
“I just sent Mikey boy off to send a message to Vahal about your warning. It’s probably a good thing you were gone. Now at least we can prepare.”
“But you don’t understand Drifter, a Golem is invincible to everything but another Golem. Vahal’s defenses don’t have anything strong enough to punch through the armor.”
Drifter waved his hand. “We’ll worry about that when it comes. Right now our main concern is getting you back to Vahal. Don’t you worry about anything.”
Despite Drifter’s words, Deccus still worried. Without Vahal, the Badger’s would be effectively taken over. Clash is sure to properly defend Vahal if he took it. It would be his greatest victory, and he could finally surpass Lazlo as the greatest Howler commander after Venom.
Deccus heard Skull clear his voice. He spoke in a loud announcers voice. “Males and gentlemen, may I present to you, VAHAL!”
Deccus looked over Skull’s shoulder and saw indeed the Badger capital of Vahal. Deccus almost thought that he would never see it again.
The six of them drove to the gate, Drifter said the master password, and they entered. They disembarked from the ski-doo’s.
“Dude, your hair looks like crap, Deccus.” A rider with dark red hair said. Deccus reached up and felt it. It was almost straight up, and full of ice chunks.
“We’ll worry about that later. Come, we should take you to the general.” Drifter waved a glowstick in the direction of Headquarters and walked. The rest of them followed behind him.
The secretaries jumped when they saw Deccus in his state. They immediately opened the door to the General when they saw him and Drifter. They all entered, and the darkness of the room immediately followed as the doors shut behind them.
“Ah, excellent job, Drifter. I see you found Deccus.” The General said in his mysterious voice.
Drifter looked at Deccus, then his hair, then back to the General. “Well, he’s not in the best of shape, but we got him all right.”
“Excellent. That’s good to hear.” The General spoke to Deccus next. “Did you see anything while in the Howler base?”
Deccus immediately launched into his story. He told him of him on the dungeon wall, of Hime and Otherun, of Clash’s announcement, the unveiling of the Golem’s, the planned attack on Vahal, and his battle with Delia.
The General sighed. “It’s as I feared. I never thought that they would stoop so low. But anyways, about this attack. Riles the Great, go the Comm Tower and send a message to Arcania and Perry. Tell them we need every available soldier and heavy weapon they can bring, and tell them not to worry about defense. The Howler’s will focus only on Vahal now, so defense of their cities are useless and unnecessary.”
A rather short boy nodded and left the office. When the door opened the light flashed on the General. Deccus quickly whipped his head to the General’s direction, but he had leaned to avoid his face being seen. All Deccus could see was the General’s shoulder, and nothing else.
The door shut and the General spoke again. “Drifter, I want you and the rest of your team to go back out and find the missing half to Deccus’s Golem. We’ll need to make Golem’s of our own if we hope to properly defend ourselves in the future.
Drifter said "You got it.", nodded, waved a glowstick, and the other four members of his team left.
=^-^=
By the way, you really are good at this stuff. Continue to work, cuase I'm looking forward to it. ;)
Also, I noticed a reference to LAZLO in there. XD
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Wait for the next update on explanations for the full Lazlo picture. (I al ready checked it over with Falconi himself, and he likes it all. Next update of descriptions will explain it.)
And should I take out what text I have in Snowcraft and paste what you have, Trigger? I read through it and it looks fine, excluding Skull's forking you. (why would he have one anyways? Oh wait, it's Skull.....)
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(why would he have one anyways? Oh wait, it's Skull.....)
Best. Explanation. Ever.
I think it WOULD be a little more like us.....But it seems alittle unrealistic for the time and place such things would be happining.
But I WOULD like to see me screaming "ZEELLLLLLOOOO" in a book. XD
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So it shall be done. Zello would confuse Delia more than yee-ha anyways. I kinda wanted to add a Dukes of Hazzard spin to you guys, but now that I think of it, screw it. It wouldn't match you at all. Skull just doesn't fit that at all. And I can totally imagine Skull having a fork and some food with him at all times. Should I make him have just the fork, or have some food with him too?
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I think I would be the one with food with me all the time. XD
But now that I think of it...it would only confuse and enemy EVEN MORE, if somehow a plate of beans landed on their face. XD
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But now that I think of it...it would only confuse and enemy EVEN MORE, if somehow a plate of beans landed on their face. XD
Funniest stuff I read this week! Maybe you'll have a secret compartment under your ski-doo seat that has food in it, and Skull just has a fork because.... well, he's Skull.
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haha nice work swift, i hadnt been able to read it earlier, but now i got the chance
everything is awesome too, you really are good at writing
is there going to be an explanantion of whole the golems function also?
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No, but good idea, Herb. I'll have to explain that part... I usually just write the normal story, and do the explanations as I think of them. I'll have to work on that. Good idea's, Herby.
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haha its actually "ideas", not "idea's"
but yea, i was wondering how wood and air tubes double your strength and whatnot
an alos, we should all find a 1 mile hill somewhere and have a picninc of death on it together
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The Golem will be explained fully. Swift had it in his head and he explained it. It's simple, really. It's just an air hydralic system. Wait til the explanation gets finished.
Picnic of death.... Hmm.... I would dominate there. 2x4's reach farther than arms.
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Story gets a 10/10.
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yaya it didnet get a Gannon Banned out of 10!
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GANNON-BANNED/10 is for stuff that sucks.
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GANNON-BANNED/10 is for stuff that sucks.
Perhapes it should get a BURN-SIR-KIBBLE/10
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This story gets a GBD'S APPROVAL/10.
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maybe it could also get a 75/91.456, with 75 being the best and 89.768245 being the worst and 1.00054 being average
its a weird score system, but it really helps people to know whats good and whats bad
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That gets a RSJ/10
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Devil May Kart / 5-0
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Thanks! I don't know what they all mean, but so long as it's not bad, it's grood! I mean good. and great. good and great.
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So, I have a severe case of writers block this week. I'll have to rewrite what I already have started for the next portion from scratch. Bleh. Oh weel. It wasn't that great anyways.
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You say this LESS then a week after your last update? o_O
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Yeah. I don't wanna do the standard Deus Ex Machina for Deccus, but I don't want him to be crippled or anything again either. Look at what he's in now. Any suggestions without using some old style of escape?
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I say he pulls uot a grapple-hook, and fires it and swings off into the night.
But that wouldn't work, so that's a no.
I say...he freezes to death.
But that would suck, so that's a no.
I say...ANOTHER hot gir, who happens to be swedish, living in a cottage somwhere, finds him and take him and Delia home to save them.
The only semi-problem I see with THAT would be finding out how they get their food to survive.
All of my idea's suck. Sorry....
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It's alright. Anything is appreciated.
I thought have Venra, Allouette and co. out looking for Delia through Clash's orders, and since Deccus is covered in snow he hears everything and they don't see him, so he gets up, finds Delia, tells her who's looking for her, tries to go to Vahal with her, but he rememebrs she's a Howler, and from there complications rise.
But, he's jsut been snowed in and frozen. He couldn't jsut get up.
Should I make him in the same situation and weather when he passed out, or what?
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It didn't say he was SNOWED IN did it? He isn't burried alive or anything.
So, have the storm stop alittle bit AFTER he passes out, that way he doesn't get covered up and frozen to death.
THEN make Venra and such looking for Delia, she see's them coming, and She throws snow on Deccus to hide him from sight. Then, much like with an igloo, the insulation would keep him warm abit. THEN he digs his way out, and see's Vahal on the horizon, and makes it to the gate, passes out again from exhuation, and the guards pick him up and bring him in to the hospital.
Also, I have an idea. You know how I'm in there? (How could you NOT?) Well if something happens storywise, and I do something in it, you can ask me what I'd do. XD that way it would be more..."Authentic". :D
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Hmm... Yes, I like that idea of Delia covering Deccus up.... Yeah, that's good.
And I will. Before I do any Drifter activity done, I'll ask what you do first.
*EDIT*
Knall I'm tired... I'll stay up a bit more, but I won't last much longer....
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And.... i'm off to bed now. Night, peeps.
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What? Running from the field of battle I see.
Coward!
Zaijian,
Tiger
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That's rather lame, Swift. Taking enituitve, being responsible.
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you could introduce ME and have Deccus wake up in a small cottage that i own
and i can nurse him and Delia back to health and then leave one day and never return (until later)
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I don't think he wants to, Herb, because you live in the Southeast. Why don't you go shop at Publix or something?
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egads!
publix is awesome
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Damn straight it is! I work there, don'chyaknow.
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What's Publix?
And no, you're a mean merc Herb, not a kindly cottage owner. (by t3h way Herb, what do you want to be called in Snowcraft? Herb doesn't make too good a merc name, I don't think. pI could make it the name still, but if you have something else in mind, I'll use it])
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Nice story. Good good. Likey very muchy.
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AHA HAHA HA! I need more people with names like that on TPH.
And thanks for the plug. It's good to hear stuff like that.
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WHO'S STEALING MY NAME THIS TIME?!?!?!?!
YOU WILL ALL COWER BEFORE ME!!!!!
FOOLS!!!!
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Who knows WHO it is. Could be Skull messing around. Who knows.
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dang i could really care less what my name is in Snowcraft
the fact that im in the story is sweet enough
but dont make it a generic name like "killer"
what if it was a very contradictory name like gerald or walter or rufus
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After FF7, Rufus sounds kinda badass to me now. And Herb would be contradictory. It's the first name of my uncle, after all.
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Believe it or not, Herb is actually my last name, from the German Herbes.
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Heh. There's a very unknown fact. XD
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well i picked my name here to be herb cuz my last name is Hrebenak (not misspelled), and it is pronounced Herb-en-ack. so all my friends call me herb
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And where did whosgottheherb come from?
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That's cool, I don't have a story about that, they jsut decided to change my families name at Ellis Island.
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Whos got the Herb is a song about weed by 311
i dont do weed, or anything for that matter (well, i did get wasted in Germany) but it was a cool screenname and everyone liked it so i kept it
AIM: WhosGotTheHerb13
Email: WhosGotTheHerb13@Gmail.com
and 13 is my number when i played soccer
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Heh. Cool story Herb.
I called myself Swiftman because it was cooler than Zephyr, my previous nickname, and I was high on megaman 3 at the time.
Grimlock is one of hte easieet Transformer names to type, and he's among my favorites, and jsut plain grimlock was taken, so I added an _5 and got a kickass e-mail adress from it.
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Heh, Lazlo Falconi's origins are a secret. But my AIM screename, EVILAnm, comes from one week when AIM locked me out of my account, and wouldn't let me make a new one. At all, it somehow knew when I was trying. So, I had a friend make me on, he just chose some random crap I think...
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This is the last time I'm ever going to double post, I promise. Swiftman, could you get me a .txt of Snowcraft? If you could, I'd put it on my GBA and read it at work during my lunchbreak. Kthxbai.
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GBA's can do that!? SWEET!
But yeah, sure thing. (would an .rtf work? Otherwise each paragraph will be one continuous line, and I don't wanna enter the spaces down for 51 pages worth of text.)
But yeah, for sure I can do that. It'll take a while though.
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ooo! me too!
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Alright, I'll have to work on that, I guess. Might take a wee bit o' time though.
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'sOK, because my sparkman song is gonna take some time too
i still have to learn how to use a Mälstrom Synthesizer, an NN-19 sampler, a Matrix Pattern Sequencer, a BV512 encoder, and RV-7 digital reverb, a Scream 4 sound destruction unit, and RV7000 advanced reverb, and DDL-1 digital delay line, a D-11 foldback distorter, and ECF- 42 Eveloped control filter, a CF-101 Flanger, a PH-90 Phaser,and a COMP-01 Auto Make-up gain compressor
so yea, take your time
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*quite overwhelmed*
Okay. That puts my entering of 51 pages of stuff to shame. Look at that gear you have to learn! Good luck, man.
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well i dont NEED to learn all of it, but i think only having knowledge of a Subtractor Synth and a Redrum drum kit mixer kinda lmits my options
edit: search for some screenshots of REASON 2.5 and you'll see the stuff i get to work with
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Ah.
Well, I can whistle good and my singing voice isn't bad. That's all the help I can offer. I'm about the most music illiterate person in the world.
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haha actually i can sing really good too
maybe i should add vocals to the song *shot*
*unshot* well maybe if they were good.
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If you're gonna do that, maybe make two versions of it. One purely instrumental, ready for a megaman game and everything. The other with lyrics and words, if you have them ready and be easy to add.
Just an idea.
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oh. yea.
add words is no problem, as long as they're wavs
but i dont think ill have words, unless they're at the end "dedicated to swift"
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Heh. Imagine that on continuous loop in a flash game. XD
I have a bunch of cool midi's that Kagemitsu really liked. he really would have liked to have seen them orchestrated or rock-ized, but seeing how complex and cool those midi's are, perhaps not. It would take a whole orchestra to play them right. (lots and lots of subsounds)
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it wouldnt be a problem for reason
i would open up the midi, then reason would replace each instrument with real wavs of insrtuments (at the appropriate pitch), and then i could mix it up and go bananas
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Oh. Cool. Once I finish extracting (HOWever I did it!) level 11 and level 21 music from Descent, submit it to TPH, you get it, listen to Descent game 07.midi and go banana's.
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haha ok ill see what i can do
btw i pirated reason and if anyone wants to pay shipping and handling ill send the CDs to them
or just DL it yourself if your compy is fast, and i know swift's isnt
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My comp is fast-ish, it's my internet that sucks.
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ALL of the music of megaman?
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Uh, PogoShell for my GBA can only read .txt's. Why couldn't you just copy and paste it into Notepad?
(By the way, I can put music, GBA, GB, and NES games on mine, as well as certain music files, images TXTs and pictures)
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To re-orchestrate that would take years upon years of unheard of skill and knowledge of all music involving megaman. THere's a HELLL of a lot of Megaman music.
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By the way, Swift... Why doesn't everyone paint themselves white, wouldn't that make the most sense?
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wha? In Snowcraft? They dont paint themselves white cuz that would look awful, would clash with a lot of things, and as of now is against regulations on the Island.
dddduuuuuuhhhhh! *shot*
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Actually, white against white wouldn't clash at all... but if it's against regulations... why do the Elite Eight get white?
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they can wear white, just not pure white. that would make it wholly unfair. The Elite Eight have white with red trim and colors, so it's not pure white.
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It's been days not, I'm just posting here to check up on it.
How's the writing going out there? Not much luck?
UPDATE DAMN YOU!!!
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I've been hogging his lappy quite a bit. Sorry.....
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GRRR WE WANT MORE!
and about what % have we gotten so far
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Out of what I have planned, I have maybe 20-30% done. 51 pages out of a planned 300-350. I haven't even used nearly half the idea's I have yet.
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thats awesome
and im sure we'll be able to give you more ideas
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Oh yeah, for sure. Trigger does a good job of plugging idea's in my head. You too Herb. I'm gonna get you in the story as soon as I can. (I can't pass up that acrylic staff thing. Damn, that sounds wicked cool....)
Most of my planned idea's are scattered around in the verious explanations I did. Read through them and you'll get idea's as to what's ahead. (I for sure will do another book after I publish this, but this new one will have explanations of everything that goes on in the story, like the explanations I did.)
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dude maybe there could be holes in the staff so that it whistles, and then work the whistling into an event where its like
"Deccus was sure he was going to die. Suddenly, a loud whistling noise was being forced into his head, and it was the last thing he felt before all was black"
and then have him rescued by me (but dont intro me yet) then later he'll hear the whistle again when im introduced, and he'll remember where he heard it from
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Oh, nice idea, Herb. Goes perfect with your niehter side lineage mercenary thing. I'll have to make it that way...
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I know, Double post and all, and it's a small update, but an update nonetheless.
Shortly after Deccus had fainted, the blizzard had stopped. Both Deccus and Delia lay unconscious in the snow, lying, almost lifelessly.
“Delia?”
Delia awoke to the sound of her name being called. She turned around and saw Venra and his team closing in. Luckily, they hadn't seen her yet.
Acting quickly, she hid herself under the snow in an attempt to hide. She knew that if they saw her, they would take her back , and she still had a promise to keep for Deccus.
Venra and his team closed in on Delia's location and Venra ordered them all to stop. "I could've sworn I saw something around here." He said as he shifted his eyes from side to side, scanning the area.
"Awww come on, I'm hungry, and we're not gonna find em here! There's nothing here but Vahal, and that's a mile and a half to the east, plus Howler Hill, and that's out to the west a long ways! If they were here, we would have seen them already. It's flat land! There's no where to go!" Allouette barged out.
"He's right for once." Pix said in a sarcastic tone, only to be followed by a swift fist to the head.
"How many time's do I need to tell you to shut up, runt?!" Anita bellowed.
"Cut the chatter!" Venra yelled at them both, "We're here to find Delia, not to bicker with each other, so get back to looking for her!" He continued in his head, I can't believe that I got stuck on a stupid assignment like this....After that stupid badger kid beat me TWICE, they haven't taken me seriously...I'll complete this assignment, and get back to what I do best...
The team of Howlers eventually moved on far enough so that Delia was out of sight. She got up as quickly as she could and uncovered Deccus. He was still out cold; she felt his chest and head. He was getting colder by the minute.
"East...East...Which way is east?" She thought. And then she remembered, the sun rises in the east, and settles in the west, so she just had to figure out which was it was going now.
She stood for a moment, looking up at the sun, unable to figure it out. There were still clouds left over from the storm. Luckily, she saw a patch of light shining through. She watched it closely as it moved towards her.
"If it's moving towards me, then it's going west...Heh.” She then slung Deccus over her shoulder, and began trudging through the snow, towards the sun.
With the storm over, it was quite a bit warmer and much easier to walk in. The scar on Delia’s face still stung a bit, but it felt better than it did the night before. Perhaps the absence of the stinging wind made a difference.
Within an hour she saw the outline of Vahal. Her injured back made the trip there all the more painful to her. She eventually came within sight of the Guards atop the wall.
"Hey you!! Who are you-" He looked at her carefully. He noticed that she had on a Howler uniform. "You’re a Howler!! GUARDS!! Open fire!" he yelled. She began saying "Hey wait! Stop I'm just here to-" But she was hit in the stomach and arms 3, 4, 5 times, she lost count. Though the guard’s guns weren't powerful, in her condition, they were enough to cause severe pain. She crouched, let go of Deccus, and clutched at her stomach. She was hit again, and again, on her back, arms and legs. The guards wouldn't let up on her.
All of the commotion caused quite a stir in the town. And Delia was greeted by Deccus's whole team. Holly spoke to herself, "Who is she? And why is a Howler here at Vahal, all alone?" Ted noticed something that looked familiar, and he began pointing franticly at the limp body of Deccus. And Kaeden saw what Ted was pointing at and yelled "Look!! It's Deccus!!" he then turned his attention. He ran up to face her and pointed his new gun at her face. The simple shadow from it was enough to scare Delia. He bared his teeth and said "What have you done to him!! Why are you with him?" He fired a warning shot. "Answer me!!" he yelled while firing another warning shot. He had the power setting very low, so it was little more than snowball being dropped on her face.
"Kaeden, can it!" Kleth said to him, as he walked closer to Delia.
As he approached Delia, she breathed a sigh of relief. He came face to face with her and asked her "What have you done to Deccus?"
_Figures..._ she thought as she began to explain the situation. But Kleth stopped her after the first few sentences.
"This might take awhile, let's get you inside where it's warm....Guards!" he beckoned for a few guards to come over, and he ordered them to carry Delia and Deccus to the Infirmary.
After spending a few hours catching a nap, her interrogation was continued by Kleth, with Kaeden in the room and his new gun, which he stroked affectionately. He had practiced firing it in the Academy firing range, and he was very pleased with the results.
“So, Delia.” Kleth said, sitting on a high chair while she lay in her bed. “Start your story again.”
She leaned up on her pillow and cleared her throat. She couldn’t tell them that a Golem attack on Vahal was planned, so she said a slightly modified version of her account on things.
“Well, as you saw, I’m a Howler. But, don’t judge me by that. Clash said he had started some new weaponry theories, and he chose me to be the main test pilot, so to say. He said that with this new weapon, he would finally surpass all other Howler commanders and forge his name in the crucible of the best, to quote him. I don’t know why he chose me, but he did. I was the first one to learn this new weapon, and I helped develop it into its final form. All problems with it I could find before it was truly tested on the field, but even I don’t know what it’s fully capable of.”
Kleth leaned in closer to Delia and stared her in the eye. His expression was one that he never used, but in the circumstance he had no choice. “Delia, we know about the Golems. We know that you were the test pilot for them, we know that you and Deccus fought with them. Science has studied Deccus’s stolen Golem, and Drifter’s team had brought back the last half. We understand the mechanics of the Golem, and we are working on making our own version, but with more improvements. We also know of the coming attack on Vahal, where Golems are going to be used.” Kleth intensified his voice. “You hold no more secrets, Delia. You may as well tell us everything.”
She moved back, away from Kleth. She then sighed and hung her head, her hair hiding her face. If the Badgers knew of the attack on Vahal, then there was a chance that the Howler’s would fail.
“And that’s not all.” Kleth continued. “There is more than Vahal that is going to defend us. Arcania and Perry are helping also. Arcania is going to move its tower cannon to Vahal, and Perry has dozens of top notch soldiers and equipment that is going to be used in defense. As you can see Delia, you won’t find us unprepared.” Kleth made his voice to sound as evil as possible. “You will fail, Delia. The Howlers cannot win against us. There is no chance your attack will succeed. You will be shot down in flames.”
Delia was almost spooked by Kleth. His expression showed no compassion, and his voice made it clear that he hated her guts. She was also frightened by the massive gun that Kaeden was holding, and she noticed that the power level on it was set to max….
“Delia, tell us all your secrets. You have no chance of getting out of Vahal alive if you try to escape. Kaeden has the door locked, and if you try to fight us he won’t hold back because you’re a girl. He has the orders to shoot to kill.”
Delia felt a vein in her neck clench in fear. Death? There was no way that Kleth was telling the truth. The Badgers never would stoop so low. Only Allouette enjoyed killing, and even he was evil for a Howler.
“You’re lying, Badger!” Delia yelled out against Kleth. He didn’t flinch or change expression. “The Badgers are supposed to be the good guys. You would never go so low as to kill!”
“Kaeden.” Kleth said simply. Kaeden came up, loaded his gun and pointed it at Delia’s face. The barrel of it was almost as big as her face.
“Who says I don’t wanna really hurt a Howler, huh?” Kaeden said with his well-practiced bad-guy voice.
Delia thought much differently about the Badgers when she was at gunpoint with one. She didn’t move, she only stared down the gun and at the holder of it, her eyes filled with fear. Kaeden liked to see that, somehow.
“Okay…..” Delia said and hung her head again in shame. Clash wasn’t going to like this… “I’ll tell you everything…”
Kleth gave an evil grin. Finally, some results…
Delia gave a sigh and launched into her story. “After Deccus and I fought on Howler hill and that ski-doo team managed to rescue Deccus, I tried to work my way back to the base I was at. But, I couldn’t climb the hill very well, since one of the legs of my Golem was broken, and a blizzard had just started up. I got too cold to continue, so I just lay in the snow and slept. When I woke up I was lying in the snow, and Deccus was beside me, about to freeze to death. He had tried so hard to save me, and I promised that I would do the same for him. But, a tree fell on Deccus’s ankle, and it had knocked me out with a branch.” She sighed again. “I don’t know what happened after that, but I woke up to find the Crimson Bandits looking for me, so I hid myself until they went away. Then I found Deccus and took him to Vahal, when your guards started shooting me, and you know the rest.”
Kleth nodded at this info, Kaeden still pointing his new gun at Delia. For the first time she noticed the words “Behemoth” printed on the side.
“Anything else, Delia? I know there’s more you know, and I will get it out of you. Why not save yourself further pain and tell me now?”
Delia hung her head lower and continued. “The attack on Vahal will start in 2 days. There will be 36 Golem units and 150 regular infantry. There will all types of war machines and siege weapons. The attack will be at 4:00 pm…”
Delia said those last words with a sniffle and she felt a tear go down her cheek. Why? Why was she betraying the Howler’s now? She had served them faithfully for years, and now she was giving secret information that could completely turn the tide to the Badger side. Did she want the Badgers to win? She knew what Clash would do if he got his hands on Deccus. She didn’t want that to happen…
“Thank you, Delia. This will prove very interesting to the General. I will make sure to allow you free passage to the nearest Howler base.” Kleth said and stood up, heading for the door.
“Wait!” Delia burst out. Kaeden pushed her back down with his gun.
“Quiet you! You’re staying here til the Man says you can go!”
“Let her speak, Kaeden.”
Kaeden looked at Kleth with confusion, then lowered his gun and backed to the wall. Kleth went to Delia and stood over her.
“What is it, Delia?”
“Can I see Deccus before I go?:
Kleth looked her over. “Yes, I would allow you. I’m not the one that decides, however. May I ask, why?”
“I said I would keep a promise to him, and I just wanted to tell him that before I go.”
Kleth nodded. “Very well. I will ask the General if you can speak to Deccus when he wakes up.” He said and headed for the door again. “Kaeden, see to it that she is well treated and doesn’t leave the room until I come back.”
Kaeden acknowledged this with a grunt and a nod. Kleth exited the room and shut the door behind him.
Kaeden took Kleth’s chair and sat down a ways from Delia. She simply lay on her bed, her back on the backboard. Her back didn’t feel as bad as before, then she noticed that she had several bandages on her spine.
“So, Kaeden is it?” Delia asked her watchdog. He simply grunted at this and remained adamantly silent. “Are you on Deccus’s team?”
“Yeah.”
“What class are you?”
“Fighter.”
“Have you fought much on the field?”
“Oh yeah. Many times.”
“Is Deccus a good leader?”
“Yeah, he’s great. He never tells us to do impossible things, he knows what we’re capable of, he doesn’t ask for much, he does a lot of the work himself, and he’s nice too. He just needs to learn to loosen up and have some fun once in a while. I haven’t seen him have fun once since I knew him. Sure, he’s happy enough, but he just needs to learn that there’s more to life than fighting.”
_Wow… So he can talk full sentences._ Delia thought to herself, and then said “Exactly how did you convince your parents to let you enter the Snowcraft Force?”
Delia remembered the fuss she and her brother had to go through in order to enter the Snowcraft Force.
“Eh, it was easy. My friend Ted entered, and I told my folks that Ted needed someone to protect him, so I was sent here with him.”
“This Ted… What is he like?”
“Very, very quiet. Now that I think of it, I haven’t heard him say a single word.”
“Mute?”
“I’m thinking so, but who knows. He hasn’t even made a single sound from my experience.”
“What does he do? Is he a fighter like you?”
“No no. He’s way too small for that. He’s a medic on the same team as Deccus and me.”
“Now, how about Deccus? Where does he come from?”
“Somewhere in Canada. He said it all, but I forgot most of it. All I remember is him saying he wanted to be a cook instead of a fighter.”
_Hm?_
“Really?” Delia said. “Sounds kind of like me.”
“What, you wanted to be a cook too?”
“Sort of. I more would have liked to be a waitress or something instead.”
“And you were too good of a soldier to pass up?”
“Something like that. I think it was a recommendation from a higher power or something like that.”
The door to the room opened and Kleth walked in. He shut it after him and faced Delia.
“Despite severe hypothermia, ankle broken in five places, a frozen hand and an acute case of depression, Deccus has come around and the doctor has allowed short visits with people.”
Delia jumped out of bed. “Really!? Can I see him now?”
Kleth raised an eyebrow at her excited behavior, but beckoned her to follow him and he opened the door. He walked out with Delia close behind and Kaeden following her.
Several nurses looked at Delia and pointed at her uniform, but they saw Kaeden close behind with his Behemoth gun and were not frightened by her due to her escort. Delia ignored all their gestures and kept her gaze straight forward, looking at the back of Kleth’s head.
Kleth stopped by a door and opened it. He put his head in, saw Deccus was awake, then opened the door for Delia to enter. She took the offer and quickly strode in, and she beheld a sight that didn’t reassure her.
Deccus’s face was covered in all sorts of bandages and heat packs, and what skin was showing was an odd shade of blue. His hands and legs were wrapped in a cast-like casing, and his body was covered in multiple layers of heat packs. All skin that showed was that same, sickly shade of blue. She noticed his left hand had the worst look to it, having many layers over it. His ankle was wrapped in a cast and it looked to be the least of his worries.
Despite these, Deccus’s face broke into a smile when he saw Delia. “Hey you.” His voice was terribly raspy and cracked, obviously freshly thawed.
“Hi.” Delia took a seat beside the bed and she heard the door close. She turned to see the view port open and Kleth’s watchful eye through the glass.
“Good to see you made it.” Deccus said with an unstoppable grin, which afterwards faded into a frown and his eye’s looking away. “I’m sorry that I failed.”
“Failed what?”
“I promised that I would save you, and I didn’t. You saved both of us. I didn’t do anything. I was useless…”
“No.” Delia moved closer and put a hand on his cheek, even though it was covered in heat packs. “You did more than you should have. You hiked miles in a raging blizzard, just so you could rescue me. You got me through something that would have killed me, and the start was the hardest part. I just helped finish the job.” She moved her hand to stroke a portion of his visible nose. “You saved me then, Deccus. I can’t forget that.”
The smile returned to his sickly visage. “Thanks, Delia. I guess I did do something right…”
Delia gave Deccus a smile, then sat back down. She noticed the size of the cast on his ankle. “So, how’s the foot doing? I saw it about to get crushed, but then something hit me and I was knocked out.”
“It’s pretty busted up, but the doctor said that I could get a walking cast for it and at least be able to move around. I think it’s the least of my worries…”
He looked down to his chest, which Delia saw was uncovered save for a few heat packs. She moved her hand towards it. “Can I see?” She asked quietly. Deccus gave a nod and she slid the heat pack to the side, revealing Deccus’s chest.
The sheer amount of blue made it look like he had been beaten, but the certain shade of it made it evident he had nearly been frozen to the bone. Delia looked away and put the heat pack back on.
“Not good, eh?” Deccus said simply, then coughed.
“Ugh… No. I’m sorry, Deccus…”
“For what? You didn’t do anything.”
“Yes I did. I dragged our fight out too far. I shouldn’t have tackled you and send us down Howler Hill. I should have tried to keep the fight on top of the hill, so I didn’t have to climb it to get back to the base. It’s my fault that you came back to look for me, and I’m sorry…” She tilted her head to the side and hid her face with her hair.
She heard a sigh come from Deccus. “Delia, I don’t even know why I went back for you. I mean, you’re a Howler, and I’m a Badger. It would have looked better to my superiors to just leave you out there, but I went back anyways. There was even a storm warning around, and I wasn’t even let outside of Vahal. I had to force my way out to get to you. I don’t have any idea why I did, but I did it, and I’m glad that I did.” Deccus gave a series of raspy coughs, then pointed to his bedside table with four fingers. “Can you pass me my water, please?”
Delia poured him a glass and handed it to him. He gave a small thanks and drank the whole cup with difficulty. He threw the empty glass on the floor, but it just bounced. “Delia… I never thought that I would be saying this, let alone to a Howler, but…” He closed his eyes and took a deep breath. “I really enjoyed our kiss.”
Delia thought she heard a small gasp from somewhere, but she ignored it and smiled. “Me too.”
Outside of the room, Kleth muttered under his breath and went to find Holly.
“Deccus? Is it true you wanted to be a cook?”
Deccus nodded. “Yeah. I always had to cook at home, so I was always good at it. I could have been the head chef if they had let me stay, but they saw how I did in the physical exam, and said I should be a fighter instead. They made it sound like I didn’t have a choice though, so I became a Shield Joe fighter and eventually I graduated to a Valiant rank, and I’m here where I am, in the infirmary for life threatening injuries the second time around.” He coughed loudly, but only once.
“Sounds kind of like me. I wanted to be a waitress for the Training Center in Kalthus, but due to recommendations from a higher power I became a soldier instead. When they started making Golem’s, I was solely picked to test pilot them. After doing that for a few months-“
“They had Golem’s for MONTHS!?” Deccus yelled loudly.
“Well, yes, but very simple ones. They didn’t have any armor or anything, they simply wanted to make them as strong as possible and figure out the best design for the hydraulics. After that they put armor on and tested them fully. It took a long time to get them to the final model that we used.”
“Well, STILL! That was before Clash came in charge, right?”
“Yes, Spike was the one who originated the plans, but he didn’t focus on them too much. When Clash came into power, however, he made all available tech personnel work on the Golem Project.”
Deccus closed his eyes and mulled this over. If they had the Golems for so long, then why didn’t they use them earlier? Surely they would have used them in the Arcania attack, even if they weren’t to their maximum potential.
“Delia, can I ask you something?”
“Sure.”
“Can you stay in Vahal for a while? Until I’m fully healed? I know that they want to send you back right away, but I’m going to ask them to keep you here, at least until I can say goodbye properly.”
Delia looked at Deccus funny. “Well, if you want, of course I’ll stay, but if they don’t let me, then what?”
“Then…” Deccus sighed. “I’ll have to find you on the battlefield.”
Delia looked Deccus in the eye. She couldn’t tell what he was thinking… He kept his face as inscrutable as possible, and she couldn’t see anything in his eyes.
The door behind them opened. The doctor walked in and said “That’s quite long enough. Deccus needs his rest.”
Delia stood up and faced the doctor. “Can I stay in Vahal?”
Quite taken aback, the doctor lifted his head and looked down on Delia. “Absolutely not! I wouldn’t allow it! But it’s not my decision.”
“Then can you take me to whoever’s decision it is, then?”
“You and what army?”
Deccus spoke up. “Please, let her talk to the General. She can use my old dorm room in the Academy. Just until I’m healed.”
“Deccus!? You allow her to-“
“Please!”
The doctor stayed silent, his face looked deep in thought. “Well, I guess I’ll at least give her a chance.” He turned to the door and started to walk out, continuing to talk. “Still, a Howler living in the Academy? Kaeden, take her to the General. What will the rookies think? They’ll be at her heels left and right.” He turned a corner and his voice droned out from the distance.
Kaeden looked in the room, gestured with his head to have her follow him, and they left the Infirmary with him in the lead.
Outside in the sun, Delia saw that it was after school for the rookies, and they were all outside, enjoying the sun. Some were with friends, some took advantage of the warm weather by not wearing heavy coats, but all of them noticed Delia’s Howler uniform. They all either backed away from her, made small hand gestures, or looked at her with loathing. They knew she wasn’t going to do anything, what with the massive weapon Kaeden had in his hands, so they egged her on all they could.
It was a relief for Delia to be in the headquarters building and away from the rookies. Instead she had to deal with the looks the secretaries gave her. Kaeden was talking to one of them, to let Delia see the General. Apparently there was someone else he was in a meeting with now, so Kaeden gestured to a chair for Delia to sit in. She took the offer and Kaeden sat in the one next to her, his gun still trained on her general direction. The secretaries continued to work, though still wary of Delia’s presence.
The doors to the General’s office opened and out stepped a boy. But, somehow, Delia recognized him. She stood bolt upright and ran for him.
“Jaeger!?”
He looked up at his name being said. “Delia? What’re YOU doing here?”
Delia stood in front of her brother, slightly taller than him. “Is that any way to talk to your sister? I haven’t seen you for years.”
“Neither have I. This is just… Too weird.”
“What do you mean?”
“I was just thinking about you, wondering how you were doing, and here you are, right in front of me, still… In a Howler uniform.”
“Something wrong with that?”
“Yes, there’s PLENTY wrong with that. Delia, why didn’t you come with me to the Badgers when I joined?”
“I told you Jaeger, I make my own decisions. I wanted to join the Howler side, and it would take more than you to make me change that.”
Jaeger heaved a sigh. “Then I guess my big sister isn’t the same as before.”
Jaeger continued his path out of the building, leaving Delia alone with some very confused thoughts. Kaeden came up behind her and gave her a push.
“The General will see you now.” He said simply and pushed her again. She saw the gaping doors, leading into a very dark room. She swallowed her courage and stepped into the room.
The doors shut behind her with a bang as she entered, leaving her in complete darkness. She couldn’t see anything, not even a sliver from under the door.
_The Badger General controls through fear?_ Delia thought. She always wondered how the Badgers remained loyal to a figure that did not control through brute power.
“Delia.”
She turned to where the voice came from. She saw a pair of angled eyes, shaped like triangles and bright red in color.
Delia gasped and backed away from them.
“Stop.” The voice commanded. She obeyed immediately. “I know why you are here, Delia. And I know why you are going to ask it, also.”
Delia gulped. “You do?” She said very quietly, completely controlled by the fear she had for this invisible figure.
“Yes. I know what you and Deccus did, I know why he wants you to stay, I know that you want to stay, and against my better judgment, I’m going to provide a room in the Academy dormitories for you.”
The eyes grew larger and burned a brighter red. A sound almost like a bat was heard. She started backing up again, to get away from the fearsome foe.
She hit a wall, but it wasn’t the door.
She saw the eyes move closer towards her. “There is nothing you can hide from me, Delia. Not even the attack on Vahal is kept secret anymore. Not even the weapons being used on Vahal is secret.” The eyes moved ever closer. Delia slumped down against the wall, cowering and shaking. “I want you to know, there is no chance for the Howler’s to win. Even if Deccus cannot participate in the battle, we still will win. We’ve defended Vahal before, and we shall do it again.” The voice grew suddenly sinister. “You Howlers shall be crushed by our iron will.”
Delia gave a small whimper.
“Now, leave.”
The doors opened. From the sudden burst of light the General was illuminated, but like a vampire he moved into the shadows, a cape clearly visible as he swept his arms to hide his face. Delia left the room without hesitation.
“Kaeden, can I speak with you for a moment?” The voice behind her said, now in a completely different tone than was used on her. Kaeden quickly strode into the room and the doors shut again
Her eyes had not adjusted to the light of the receiving office, so she closed her eyes and knelt on the ground. Was that the General of the Badgers? No wonder they serve him without question.
_Those eyes… They looked like they were from some creature… They weren’t human._ She thought as she opened her eyes again.
The office was empty, save for the two secretaries on both sides of the door. They both worked nonchalantly, as if the General hadn’t spooked Delia half to death. They knew his methods of dealing with Howlers in person, and they didn’t fear for their safety, since they knew that after speaking to the General a Howler would be in no condition to fight. They simply left Delia to lay there, all alone in her thoughts.
The doors opened behind Delia and Kaeden strode out.
“C’mon! Follow me.” He nudged her with his barrel and she followed obediently.
Outside in the bright daylight the rookies were still out. They regarded her with caution, but knew that they were in no danger due to Kaeden and his hefty gun. He led her into the Academy, and up the staircase that led to the dormitories.
Kaeden stopped at one that had the numbers “17” on its door. Kaeden took out a key and unlocked it. He opened the door, pointed to it and said simply “In.” Delia obeyed immediately.
The inside was not glamorous, but far better than many Howler dorms. It had a bed, bookcase, a simple weight set, and cupboards of food. A door led somewhere else, Delia didn’t know, but the large window gave a great view of Vahal. Normally a Howler dorm had only food and a bed, maybe a window or a few books, but this was extravagant compared to that.
“Wow. It’s nice.” Delia nodded her appreciation. Her dorm certainly didn’t have a weight set.
Kaeden laughed. “Nice!? We put you in one of the crappiest rooms! Anyways, I’ll have this door locked. There’s a bathroom through that door, and you are not to leave here until someone comes to get you. You will not be moved during the attack on Vahal, and if you jump out the window you’ll probably break a leg. So stay here, even if the building is about to come down. Got it?”
Delia nodded. She didn’t see a problem to not leaving, especially since they didn’t look kindly on her, and the room was very nice compared to what she was used to.
“Thank you, Kaeden.”
Kaeden grunted and nodded, then shut the door. Delia heard a key at work and knew she was locked in from the outside.
She strode over to the window. She saw a few rookies wrestling in the snow, and she wondered what Deccus would do during the attack…
“Holly, there’s something I need to tell you.”
Holly looked up from her workout and looked to Kleth. She replied fiercely “What is it? I‘m busy”
“You know that Howler that we captured?”
“Of course. Everyone in Vahal knows of her.”
“Well, what would you say if she and Deccus did more than you thought they did when they were out in the blizzard?”
“You’re not making sense. Either explain yourself, or leave me alone. I’m busy.”
Kleth rubbed his head. How would he say this without her going berserk?
“Let’s see… They were out in the middle of a storm, saving each others lives one time after another, and let’s say that Deccus did her a favor. Well, she naturally would want to reward that, right?”
“Start making sense before I start hurting you.”
“Deccus and Delia made out in the blizzard.”
Holly dropped her weight on the ground. It made a bang on landing, but she didn’t notice.
“They WHAT!?”
“You heard me.”
“Deccus did that with a Howler? Is he INSANE!?”
“Why don’t you ask him yourself?”
Holly stood bolt upright. “No, I won’t ask him. I’ll talk to Delia instead. Where’s Kaeden? He has her key.”
“He’s in the cafeteria, as usual.”
With grim determination Holly left the weight room and made her way to the cafeteria.
For nearly an hour Delia did nothing but watch the rookies at play in the city square, watching the sun go down for the night. It made such a picturesque moment that she wished she had a camera.
_This place is so much nicer than Kalthus. The rookies can do what they want, they don’t have to worry about higher authorities coming in and making them do more work, they can just run and play, free from cares._ Delia sighed. _Maybe Jaeger was right. The Badgers are better than the Howlers. Maybe I should defect from the Howlers and join the Badgers. At least then I won’t have to fight Deccus every time I see him…_
There was a knock at Delia’s door and the sound of a key at work. She leaned up from the window and turned to the door.
It burst open for a second and Holly came in. She quickly shut the door in Kaeden’s face, then locked it again from the inside. After that she turned to Delia, anger on her face and fury in her eyes.
“Okay, Howler. I’m gonna ask the questions, and you’re gonna answer them. FULLY. Got it?” Holly came up and stood over Delia. They were almost the same height, but Holly was much more intimidating.
Delia nodded simply, afraid to talk.
“What were you thinking when you kissed Deccus? Didn’t you think that maybe you were on different teams?”
Delia stepped forward. “I don’t know what I was thinking then. He had risked his life to save me, and I wanted to do the same for him.”
Holly narrowed her eyes. “Not enough. Explain it again, but better!”
Delia racked her brain. “What’s to explain? He had tried so hard to save me and he was failing, but I knew I had to help him, for both of our sakes.”
Holly reared her arm and backhanded Delia across the cheek. “Still not enough! Say it again!”
Delia was knocked back from Holly’s hit, but she soon stood again. “I already told you all that I can! That’s all that happened!”
Holly reached and grabbed Delia by the throat. “I think you’re hiding something still. Tell me, or I’ll gut you like a fish.”
Delia gasped for breath. What was she doing? “I… Already told you… gurk… I…”
Holly’s grip tightened and she lifted Delia off the ground an inch. “TELL ME!”
Reacting to baser instincts, Delia thrust her fist into Holly’s kidney. She immediately dropped her, and Delia took in a few breaths of air while bent down. Holly fell to her knees in pain.
Holly stared at Delia in the face. “Tell me you just didn’t do that.”
Delia looked at Holly with a gaze of equal contempt. “I just did it. What’re you gonna do about it?”
Holly reached out and gripped some of Delia’s hair. She countered by taking hold of Holly’s other wrist and twisting it. Holly let go of her hair, but instead tried to punch Delia in the face. She blocked by putting her forearm out, then punched Holly across the cheek. Holly took the hit then grabbed Delia’s nose, then twisted it so hard that Delia spun around and her head was upside down. She reached for Holly’s ankles and pulled, sending Holly crashing to her side.
Reacting to well trained reflexes, Delia jumped on top of Holly and began to punch her in the face, many times over and in quick succession. Holly couldn’t block the attacks, but instead she reached and gripped Delia’s throat. She grabbed Holly’s wrist and pulled her hand off, but by then Holly’s other hand reached Delia’s head at high speed. Delia was knocked back and off of Holly, and Holly had gotten up and tried again to strangle Delia. This time she succeeded in getting both hands around Delia’s neck, and she squeezed. Delia tried to get Holly to let go, but she had too strong of hands.
Delia had her head against the wall, being pushed against it by Holly’s savage attack. Delia lifted her foot quickly and hit Holly in the shin. Holly’s grasp loosened enough for Delia to pull them off, and she gasped for breath. Delia put both on Holly and pushed her off, sending her careening across the room and into the cupboard. The door to the cupboard was knocked open and food of varying sorts fell out and piled on top of Holly.
Delia dashed in and was ready to attack again. Holly stuck her foot out and it contacted with Delia’s face. Holly’s boot had heavy tread on it, and it made Delia’s scar open again in several places, making her bleed again.
Holly grinned at the successful attack and took a heavy cardboard box full of food and hit Delia across the face with it. Delia took the hit and attacked Holly again by grabbing her throat. Holly had one hand trying to pry her grip from her neck and the other had Delia by the hair. Delia’s other hand was on one of Holly’s wrists, trying to her hand off of her hair.
The door opened sharply and Kaeden saw what the two girls were doing to each other. He ran over quickly, knocked Delia back and caught Holly from falling. Delia slid on the floor, her face bleeding violently and making one of her eyes sting.
“What the hell were you two doing!?” Kaeden yelled, still holding Holly up.
“I don’t know! She came in and started yelling and hitting me, and I just fought back!” Delia yelled out, still confused as to why Holly got so angry.
“Fine!” Kaeden yelled to Delia, who was holding her face scar to prevent further bleeding. “I’ll take Holly outta here, and you better learn to control your temper! Remember, you’re not in friendly territory!” Kaeden pushed Holly out of the room and shut the door sharply.
Delia lay on the ground, still utterly confused as to why Holly got so infuriated.
_Does she feel the same for Deccus as I do?_ She wondered. She hoped not, since she was on the same team as Deccus and had much more opportunity than she did.
Delia decided to pack up the spilt food. It had been spread all over the room, and some had been torn open.
_I wonder if they’ll try to rescue me when they invade Vahal…_ Delia thought while she worked.
News of Delia had spread throughout Vahal like a wildfire. The thought that a Howler was here, in Vahal, not only that, but in a dorm room? It was unthinkable to the rookies. However, Deccus had wanted her to stay, and the General made sure that no further harm would come to her. He also insured that Delia was still good and afraid of the Badgers, due to his impressive display, along with Holly and Kaeden.
However, for the next two days, the General ordered all available personnel to train to fight against mechs. Heavy rifles were being made in massive numbers by Dagor, and the tower cannon from Arcania was successfully transplanted temporarily to Vahal. Perry had sent five dozen of its finest and most elite soldiers, all equipped with heavy weapons and armor to combat the Golems. Medics were trained in how to treat broken ribs, since there were sure to be many ribs being hit with Golem punches. The Elite Eight and the Arsenal Legacy had been equipped with special weapons, uniquely made to combat very heavily armored foes. Each one was different and sated each person’s abilities and preferences. Anton’s twin cannons had been modified for extra hitting power, an electrical charge would be fired through Holly’s and Meg’s snowthrowers, and when aimed properly at a Golem pilot’s face, would cause confusion for the pilot. Hadrian had been equipped with heavier armor and a larger, thicker shield, Kleth had upgraded his tazer to actually be able to stun a foe for several moments, and a new type of unit, named a “Disabler” had been made to specifically disable the hydraulic system in a Golem, effectively making it useless. Kaeden’s new gun was powerful enough to knock a Golem right onto its back, even though it didn’t do much damage to it, it made it knocked back for easy access for a Disabler to reach it.
Dozens of soldiers patrolled the top of the Vahal wall, each carrying the special anti-mech rifles. Anton and Wedge were on the wall, ready to lead and command all roof soldiers. On the ground Disablers and fighters were ready for the attack, but didn’t look towards it with enthusiasm. Even with Kaeden and his Behemoth gun, and Holly with her enhancements still didn’t increase morale too much.
Vahal had been turned into a literal fortress, all to counter this massive threat that the Howler’s posed. Its focus had been entirely on defense, and in two days the entire city waited and watched, dreading four o’clock, when the charge would begin.
On Clash’s end, he was very excited. He watched his Golem’s prepare for battle by flying over them in his crude helicopter. Each pilot had been trained extensively to pilot a Golem with ease and power. His additional war machines and siege weapons would insure victory, and his 150 infantry soldiers would be more than enough for the battle.
Clash would cement his name within the history of Howler commanders, being known as the only one to surmount Vahal. He waited excitedly for the battle to begin, but he waited still for all his soldiers to finish preparing. Why they had to take so long was beyond him, but instead he increased his helicopters height and looked over the hill at Vahal.
“Strange flying object in the distance, Anton.” Wedge said to the squad leader beside him. Anton had command of the entire Badger force, but mainly commanded the general infantry firing squad. Wedge had control of the snipers, Kaeden and Holly did the ground troops, and Kleth and Raijin oversaw the systemator tasks.
Anton looked at the direction Wedge pointed at. Anton’s eyesight was never that great, but he did indeed see something hovering over the hill.
“I think I’ve seen it before.” Anton said. “I don’t know where or what it is, but I just know I’ve seen it.”
“It looks kinda like that weird helicopter thing Clash had at Arcania.” Wedge said, since his eyesight was better and he had seen it before also.
Anton sighed. “He must have his force over that hill and out of sight. He probably thinks we can’t see him.” Anton got an idea. “Say, do you think that you can hit him from here, Wedge or Gizmo?”
The two said snipers readied their rifles. Gizmo had a single firing rifle that was extremely accurate over long distances, whereas Wedge’s was a semi-auto firing rifle that made up for the lack of accuracy for the number of shots it could fire. Gizmo peered in his viewing scope and saw that he could indeed hit Clash. Wedge couldn’t get as accurate a shot, but he could fire three shots before Clash noticed, and one of them was bound to hit.
“I can take him out, yeah. It’ll be hard, cuz his little machine thing moves up and down a lot.” Gizmo said to Anton.
“Good enough. Take your best shot, you two, and fire at the same time.
Gizmo trained his aim to follow Clash’s erratic movements, while Wedge aimed for somewhere in between the path.
“On three.” Anton called. “One, two, three.”
The two snipers pulled their triggers at the same time. Gizmo’s rifle fired one densely packed projectile, while Wedge’s fired three. All four shots were true to their aim, but Gizmo’s was the most accurate.
The round hit Clash on the side of the face. His sensitive balance was knocked off and he was sent careening off the side of the helicopter.
On the ground, Hime and Otherun prepared the medic team to help Clash. The damage to his face was small, but if left alone the wound would freeze and could be life threatening. Quickly the wound was swabbed, cleaned and bandaged. All danger had passed, but the damage had been done.
It was clear that the Badgers were desperate to win. They had taken advantage of Clash’s unawareness, and he had paid for it. Now it was time for revenge.
“HOWLERS!” clash bellowed to his minions. “The time is now to attack! Every Golem, every soldier, every war machine, EVERYTHING AND EVERYONE ATTACK!”
“Uh, Anton?”
“What is it, Wedge?”
“I think we made them mad.”
“No kidding. We sniped their leader. What’s happening?”
“Um… You’re not gonna like it, but they’re sending every Golem, infantry and siege weapon at us in one wave.”
“Oh, sonuva…”
Anton brought out his twin cannons, then yelled to his troops. “EVERYONE! OPEN FIRE ON THE HOWLERS! NOW!”
Every Badger on and in front of the Vahal wall heard the order, pointed their weapons to the Howlers, and fired.
Nearly hundreds of shells were flung towards the attacking Howlers. All the lighter shots just glanced off of the sides of the Golems, but heavier shots knocked them onto their backs, forcing the infantry behind them to step over to continue. The war machines followed up at the back, lurching forward.
The Howler infantry’s returned fire with their own blasters. The hapless soldiers in front of the wall were the most vulnerable, but the soldiers on the wall could duck and be covered.
Kaeden felt a shot hit his head. He had his helmet on, and all it did was make him angry. His massive Behemoth gun was firing away, knocking back Golems and felling Howlers left and right. Many of the Howler’s noticed the damage Kaeden was doing and focused their fire on him. Kaeden never wore much armor, and this time he wished he had something more. He was taking several hits a second, but he continued firing off in random directions, knowing that he would go down in a blaze of glory.
But then it stopped. He risked opening his eyes and saw that Shed had his new shield support system at work, helping keep the shield straight up to properly deflect attacks.
“You alright, guy?” Shed said without turning his head.
“Yeah, thanks.” Kaeden said and aimed beside the shield.
Then a shadow came over the two of them. A Golem had reached them, and it was preparing to punch over Shed’s shield and at his face. The arm as reared back, and it swung.
Kaeden gripped his Behemoth, aimed at the Golem’s head, and fired. The massive shell flew with extreme force and it knocked the Golem clear off its feet. Another Howler was behind him and he helped the Golem to stand, but Kaeden fired at the Golem while Shed used his new pistol to fire at the infantry behind the Golem.
Holly’s new enhancement seemed to work wonderful. The electrical charge flowed through soft snow with ease, adding a slight blue look to her fire. It didn’t work nearly as good on Golem’s, but on infantry it was great. Holly and Meg were back to back, turning in a circle to cover as many Howler’s as possible.
A Golem broke through the waves of infantry and tried to knock Holly and Meg out. They both fired on the Golem, but the snow just reflected off of its side. It managed to grip Meg’s gun, but Holly jumped up and stuck her own into the Howler’s exposed eyespot. She felt it mash into soft flesh, but then she fired, sending electrically charged frost right into the face of the Howler. It reached up with its hand and tried to force Holly off, but she pushed in all the harder, eventually making the Howler lose focus. He gave up and backed off, too injured to continue. By then two more Golems were upon the two girls, but instead of fighting them they just ran.
Wedge noticed that Holly and Meg were having Golem problems, so he took careful aim and fired several rounds. One of them went right into the eyespot of the Golem, making the Howler inside screech in pain. The other one continued relentlessly on the girls, and Wedge didn’t get another lucky shot into the eyespot. Knowing that he couldn’t help the two, Wedge gulped and focused on the infantry soldiers, dearly hoping to not hear any screams.
Anton, however, could help the two girls. He took a running jump off of the top of the wall, his cannon’s blazing into a crowd of infantry. He had aimed himself just right so that he was heading straight for the Golem threatening Holly and Meg. He stuck his foot out and kicked it with extreme force, knocking the Golem right into an infantry, crushing him under the weight of the Golem.
Anton landed beside Meg. She had almost looked death in the eye, but Anton had saved them both.
He ran up to the fallen Golem and fired both cannons right in the face of it. The fire from both cannons shook the Howler’s head violently, knocking him out.
A few infantry had tried to tackle Anton and wrestle him to the ground, but he used his cannons as melee weapons and knocked them all back. They pulled out guns and fired at Anton, and he took the hits, using his arms to block his face. A group of infantry had surrounded Anton, preventing his escape. They all pulled out their guns and fired at Anton. He fired off in random directions, hitting soldiers and knocking them out, but they were always replaced with more. He couldn’t keep them back, and he couldn’t run.
Gritting his teeth, he ran forward, dashing head first into the Howler swarm. He took a few shots, but he ignored all damage that he took and simply continued to run for them. They saw the look on the face of the Badger, and started to run from him. He caught up to them easily however, and he pounded them mercilessly with fist and cannon.
A Golem ran by and picked Anton up by the neck. He struggled to free himself, but the grip was too strong. Anton swung a foot out and it connected with the chest of the Golem, doing nothing. Instead Anton pushed off and managed to free himself from the Golem, and he fired his cannons at the head. Another Golem came up from behind Anton and tried to hit Anton on the head. Anton knew it was there and he ducked in time. He let go of his cannons and grabbed the Golem by the legs, then pulled with all his strength. He managed to make the Golem fall to its back, where Anton picked up his cannons, lifted the faceplate of it and fired four shots at the Howler’s uncovered face.
The first Golem punched Anton in the ribs. The force of the hit knocked Anton back, but he managed to keep his footing. He fired both of his cannons at the Golem, not caring where they hit. The shots just hit the Golem in the chest, but Anton didn’t stop. He fired round after round at the Golem, but it simply walked up to Anton and tried to punch him again. Anton managed to dodge and he jumped up on the shoulders of the Golem. He used both his cannons to hit the Golem on the head, knocking the Howler’s head around inside. Anton reached and took the faceplate off, then hit the Howler on his nose, then again on the chin, effectively sending him unconscious.
By then Anton had attracted much of the Howler’s attention, and infantry and Golem alike tried to take him down.
CJ gave a whoop and fired his new blaster at the infantry around Anton, knocking them flat. He then ran to a nearby Golem and placed a sticky cloth pack onto its chest, He lit the fuse with an electric lighter.
“Courtesy of Kleth!” CJ said and the pack of cloth exploded, ripping the wood armor apart.
From atop the wall, grenadiers were throwing chemical compounds contained in cloth. The crude grenades exploded around the Howlers, sometimes knocking them to their feet. The Golems took some damage from these explosives, especially if the shrapnel from them went into the eyespots.
Skull was in his element here. He always was very good at using throwing weapons, and now his skills came into play. Kleth had mixed a batch of extra-powerful bombs, made specifically for Skull to use. He threw them gleefully into the Howler swarm, sending Howler’s to their faces in groups of five or more.
The siege weapons finally had worked their way through the crowd and now were at the wall. Rammers drew back their huge logs and flung them at the wall. It shook the very foundations of the wall complex with each hit. Catapults flung huge mounds of snow into the inside of Vahal. The Academy took heavy hits, and the Market was severely damaged, and even Dagor’s shop sustained a few hits.
Inside of the Academy Delia could hear the sounds of the battle outside of the city enclosure. She could hear the rammers hitting the walls, feel the catapults destroying Vahal from the inside, and even hear a few screams from outside of the wall……
_Is this what I’ve done? If I hadn’t told the Badgers about the attack, then the Howlers would come and the battle would be over in minutes. But, I guess it’s better if the Howlers lose. I don’t want to see them going through the infirmary, finishing off those that can’t walk, or anything like that. Not to Deccus…_
Looking back out of the window, she happened to see a soldier being flung over the wall and into Vahal. Then she saw that he didn’t land properly, and that he was a Badger. She saw him trying to get up and back up to the wall, but he slumped over and didn’t get up.
She heard a very loud crack. It was followed by another and one last one that caused the wall to shake.
The Howlers had broken the wall.
With a few more hits, the hole in the wall was increased to a sizeable amount. From there Howler’s started to pour into the city, infantry and Golem alike.
Some of the soldiers that came from Perry were behind the wall, in case they needed reinforcements outside the wall, but now they were fighting to the best of their ability to try and keep the Howlers outside of Vahal. Perry soldiers were a special branch off of Vahal, focusing mainly on physical perfection over academic excellence. And now their skills were paying off. They fought back all infantry soldiers that came in, and a few Disabler units managed to make the Golem’s weaker, and the flow of Howlers into Vahal was stemmed. A few engineers came and put a replacement portion of wall to cover up the gaping hole, but it wasn’t quite enough. The Golems simply were too powerful to hold back, and a group of five made it into Vahal. The Disablers couldn’t stop them all, and three managed to reach the hapless Perry soldiers. They fought back bravely, but no infantry could stand up to a Golem.
“It seems… That the Howlers have broken into the city.”
Deccus sighed. “Thank you, doctor. Anything else?”
“Well…” The doctor looked out of the window again. “The Howlers are doing damage to the city with their catapults, the soldiers on the wall are taking a lot of hits, and I can only imagine how it is for the ones outside of the wall…”
Deccus leaned his head back. If the Howlers were doing this much damage in this short of time, he didn’t like how it was looking in an hour.
Anton was exhausted. He was resting behind Shed’s massive shield, getting a quick medic attention. He had taken down nearly 3 Golems and 2 dozen infantry, and he couldn’t take much more. All he needed was a few minutes of rest, and he would be ready to fight again. His arms ached and he was caked with frost, but he was still fine. Nothing broken, at least.
“Heads up!”
“Huh?” Shed looked to the side, but all Anton saw was him turning his head and something hitting Shed in the face, sending him flying backwards.
Anton turned his head to see where Shed was looking, and he saw Allouette, one cannon still pointed at where Shed was.
Anton could almost feel his pupil shrink. “Allouette!”
Allouette’s face cracked into a savage grin. He raised both of his cannons to Anton, and prepared to fire.
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lookin good, very good, very eye catching, cant wait till more comes
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Thanks Herb. (you read fast. It's taking Lazlo way longer)
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The suspense is killing me. I hope it lasts.
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grrr suspense was the word i wanted to use a while ago but i couldnt remember it (lol omg that sounds retarded)
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The suspense is killing me. I hope it lasts.
Willy Wonka kicks ass, XD. I can't read this thing, Swiftman, my attention span won't let me, sorry ;_;
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Maybe I'll email it to you in one page bursts, SY. Would that work?
And Willy Wonka does indeed kick major ass.
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Thanks for getting the referance, SY.
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I just got on, and have yet to read this.
But here is a pre-emptive congratz on another succesfully good story update.
WOOOOOOOOOOOOO!!!!!! YEAH FRIGGIN ROCKS!! THIS OWNS MY SOULL!!!!! *shot*
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YOU GET BACK TO WORK!! YOU SLACKER!!! WAKALAKALAKALAKALAAAAAAAA!!!!
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Trigger's right, for once!
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Ever hear of working in the moment? If I don't have the right writing mood, all the stuff I write turns out as crap. And I don't want to write crap. [you see that as an excuse, I see it as the truth.]
Oh, and also..... *points to left arm* That doesn't help any.
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Ok, a good writer CREATS the moment, not waits for it to come so he can try to write during it. ;P
And you type JUST FINE.
YOU WROTE UP THAT HUGE FUCKING THING ABOTU SKY HIGH!!
Don't give me a BS excuse such as the arm when you STILL USE IT RIGHT IN FRONT OF ME.
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I type more lazily and less articulate sentences with one hand only, Trigger. Not too good for Snowcraft writing. Why do you think it took so long to write all that Sky high stuff? Cuz I put extra effort into making it my normal typing.
And don't you think that I've TRIED to create the moment? I've failed. Many times. I need winter, badly.
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*throws some crushed ice at Swift* There's your winter.
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*casts Ice3 on Lazlo*
Now hush. School jsut started, and I'm bound to have a writing moment on the bus with my lappy. Oh wait, Faris has it still.... >_< Never mind.
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Finally, I have cought up with the who snowcraft story. I love it. Its pretty long, and I started reading it fairly late in production. Its great. Good work.
This is my December
This is my time of the year
This is my December
This is all so clear
This is my December
This is my snow covered home
This is my December
This is me alone
And I
Just wish that
I didn't feel
Like there was
Something I missed
And I
Take back all
The things I said
To make you
Feel like that
And I
Just wish that
I didn't feel
Like there was
Something I missed
And I
Take back all the
Things I said to you
And I give it all away
Just to have somewhere
To go to
Give it all away
To have someone
To come home to
This is my December
These are my snow-covered trees
This is me pretending
This is all I need
And I
Just wish that
I didn't feel
Like there was
Something I missed
And I
Take back all
The things I said
To make you feel like that
And I
Just wish that
I didn't feel
Like there was
Something I missed
And I
Take back all the things
I said to you
And I give it all away
Just to have
Somewhere to go to
Give it all away
To have someone
To come home to
This is my December
This is my time of the year
This is my December
This is all so clear
And I give it all away
Just to have somewhere
To go to
Give it all away
To have someone
To come home to
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Oh wow. That was great, Skull. I liked that. I liked it a lot. THanks.