|| Heyo! My name's mpuppy4, you may shorten that however you will. Holy Boosting Water Dragons Batman, I've had this game for like three months and I'm only just now writing fanfiction about it. Who are you and what have you done with mpuppy4?! Well, I've been throwing ideas at the metaphorical wall and trying to see what sticks. I've got a few ideas, one other of which I'm hoping to upload relatively soon, but I decided to go with this one first because it has a relatively easy concept that I should be able to roll with for a good while. And short chapters, so hopefully I can update relatively often! Also I just really want to write this story before someone else takes a crack at the idea.

If you haven't figured out what this story is actually about yet, hopefully this opening will shed some light on it. ||

1. Riveredge

Sash Lilac stood at the top of a cliff overlooking a small village below. It was built beside a long river, which stretched away from the little village's territory and into the vast beyond. Not far from this village, the target: an enormous yellow machine, spherical in shape and packed to the brim with artillery, wandering aimlessly across the landscape.

She stepped to the side as a motorcycle zoomed up, sending up a cloud of dust as it skidded to a halt. At the handlebars was Carol Tea, wearing a gleeful grin and looking rather energetic. Seated behind her was Milla Basset, clinging to Carol's waist and now glancing uncertainly over the cliff they had just barely not fallen off of.

"Took you long enough," said Lilac, though her tone was pleasant.

"Yeah, whatever," Carol responded, smile unwavering. "What have we got?"

Lilac raised a hand over her eyes for a better view, a motion which Milla mimicked. "Something big," Lilac answered, "and probably stupid. A little too close to that town for comfort though. We should have been here sooner."

Carol chuckled. "Don't sweat it, Heropants. We'll clean this up no problem and be home in time for my mid-midday nap. Got a plan?"

"I think so…"

"Good enough for me!"

At that, Milla let out a howling battle cry, and Carol roared with laughter. "Hey, looks like somebody's into it! Alright, let's go kick some metal butt!"

Carol jammed down the gas, and she and Milla rocketed down the cliff face. With a sigh and an eyeroll, Lilac took after them.

"Milla, I need you to warn the townspeople. Tell them that they're safe, but they have to stay in their homes until we're done. Once everybody is inside, come meet up with us."

"Okay!" After a moment's hesitation, Milla leaped off of the motorcycle and rolled across the dirt. She sat up and shook out her fur, before darting into the village on all fours.

"What about us?" asked Carol.

"We'll lead it away from here," Lilac answered.

"And then?"

"We smash it!"

"Sweet! Then let's get on with it!"

While Lilac and Carol trailed away from the village's borders, Milla centered herself in the middle of the town and magicked a large green cube to stand on top of.

"Attention, people of town!" Milla shouted, cupping her hands around her mouth. "There is no cause for alarm! A big, scary robot is running around outside of your village, but we're taking care of it! Please return to your homes in a calm and orderly fashion-"

This was immediately met with panic.

"Hey, ugly!"

The robot turned slightly, only for a sharp disc to be hurled into the side of its body. Before it could react, Lilac dragon-boosted clean through it, retrieving the disc as she did so. She busted out the other side and skidded across the ground, handing the disc back to Carol when she pulled up.

"Nice shot!"

"You too!"

The robot turned on them, apparently still functioning just fine despite the Lilac-sized hole now through it.

"You want some of this, buddy?!" Carol taunted. "Come and get it!" The girls sped away in the direction opposite the village, giggling to each other as they did so. The great mechanism followed on four pointed, spider-like legs.

"You're in a good mood today!" Lilac observed as Carol continued to cackle. "You're not usually so eager to go out for a cleanup."

"Yeah? I had a good nap."

"Ha! Yeah, a good thirteen-hour nap. You may as well have downed a gallon of catnip-laced coffee."

The two let out a joint shriek as something exploded behind them, and they glanced back shortly. The robot had opened fire.

"Uh, we might want to speed this up," said Carol.

Lilac nodded. "Right. We should be far enough away now. You go behind."

"On it!"

While Carol fell back, Lilac sprang up and gave the bot a good smack across the eye. It released another missile at her, but she boosted away before it could connect. When she landed, Lilac found herself at the edge of the river that she had observed from the cliff. It looked quite a bit more daunting down here than it did from up there. It must have been at least twice the robot's width, and its depth likely more than ten times her own height.

"Yikes," Lilac gasped. "Guess we're not getting it across there…"

She glanced back at the rapidly approaching robot behind her and clenched a fist. She dashed toward it, leaped up and scaled to the top of one of its legs. The robot frantically tried to shake her off, spinning around in circles, to no avail. Lilac caught sight of Carol, stopped not far from the action.

"Aim for the eye!" Lilac exclaimed.

Carol flashed a thumbs-up, then whipped her disc back out. She locked her eyes onto the robot's own as it spun, blinking a few times as she waited. Then Lilac pulled back on the leg she had climbed, and the robot recoiled to reveal an opening. The disc was jammed into it shortly after. Lilac swung off of the leg and latched onto the disc, dragging it down the eye and slicing it in two. While the now blinded robot stumbled and stuttered, Lilac hopped off and again returned the disc to its owner.

"Did that do it?" Carol queried.

The release of more explosives answered that question before Lilac could.

Milla, meanwhile, was busy trying to calm the panicked rampage of townspeople. "Please calm down! There's no need to panic! Return to your homes and you'll be safe!" Upon receiving no response beyond more screaming, Milla heaved a sigh. "I don't think this is working..."

The panic was anything but aided by the loud, earth-shaking boom that came from the distance. Its force caused Milla's cube to poof out of existence, and she plopped down to the ground. She looked around and spotted the rising smoke by the river. "Uh-oh." Forgetting her assignment, Milla sped away.

Carol slid across the dirt just far enough away from the explosion to avoid being impacted. She scanned the battlefield, and released a sigh when she saw Lilac boost upward out of the smoke. Carol swerved back around and drove across the charred ground for a head start, then jumped up to deliver a wild claw attack. The robot stumbled.

Lilac made to deliver what would hopefully be the finishing blow as she descended from her escape boost. However, her shot was just barely misaimed. She clenched her teeth as she careened into the water below.

Lilac closed her eyes tight for the impact, then reopened them once she had sunk a few feet. She shook herself, preparing another boost that would propel her out. Perhaps it would have done so, had she not misfired again and accidentally launched herself into the rocky floor.

Carol delivered a good kick to the robot's front, knocking it completely off-balance.

Lilac rubbed her head, opening her eyes again to find that they weren't focused correctly. However, that didn't stop her from staring up at the enormous shadow looming over the water.

In a swift movement, Carol shot across the river edge like a bullet, tossing out her disc one last time as she did so. It sliced off both of the robot's back legs. It fell.

When the robot crashed into the river, it caused all of the water to push out, slamming Lilac into the the rocks and knocking the breath out of her.

Carol's motorcycle screeched to a halt. She snatched the disc out of the air. Behind her, water splashed up like a tidal wave, and she couldn't help glancing back for a moment to watch. "Alright! That was totally awesome!" she cheered, pumping a fist in the air. "Did you see that, Lilac?!" There was no answer. Carol blinked and looked around. "Uh, Lilac…?"

Her heart stopped momentarily as something exploded behind her, and she swung around just in time to see a green blast completely obliterate the cripple that was once a dangerous machine of war.

The explosion went off under the water just as it did above. Rocks were shattered and launched forcibly, debris crashed into each other, and mass clouds of bubbles made it near impossible to see what was going on. Among the carnage tumbling downstream were several little lavender feathers.

"Milla!" came Carol.

Milla stuck her landing just by the river, though she didn't address Carol's call. Her nose was working. She lowered herself to the ground, leaning over the water as she sniffed.

"Do you smell Lilac?" Carol asked eagerly.

The response wasn't exactly what she had been hoping for. Milla stood up sharply, eyes wide and a small gasp squeaking out of her throat.

Carol faltered. "What? What's the matter?"

She yelped as Milla launched herself into the water, splashing her shoes and leaving her breathing heavily.

Milla made herself a block and fired it off, accelerating her downstream travel. She blinked the debris out of her eyes as she scanned the water for any sign of something even vaguely shaped like a person. She found something, and carefully swam down to examine it. Tendrils. It was Lilac. Milla took Lilac by the arms and hastily making another block, choking on the breath she was holding. The cube fired, and the two were sent back up to the surface.

Milla grabbed hold of the shore and shoved Lilac up onto the solid ground. She struggled to pull her own soggy self up, and broke into a wet coughing fit when she finally succeeded. The moment that Carol arrived, she cast her bike aside and dropped to her knees beside Lilac's unconscious figure.

"Lilac!" Carol cried, grabbing Lilac's limp arm and shaking it. "No, no, no…"

Milla shook the water out of her coat. Carol didn't so much as flinch when it sprayed her; she was too busy checking Lilac's vitals to care. Milla crawled over and took Lilac's hand in hers, gazing hopefully at her resting expression. Then Milla's nose started working again. It lead her to Lilac's head. She sniffed closer, and a lump caught in her throat.

"Carol," Milla whispered. "Carol…"

"What?!" Carol spat, hardly glancing up from Lilac's wrist.

"Look." Milla indicated the currently hidden back of Lilac's head. Carol's expression loosened uncertainly. She reached out, taking Lilac's head in one hand and lower back in the other, and turned her over.

Carol gasped shortly, and Milla bit back a sob. Neither had ever seen this much blood in one place.

Carol turned Lilac back over, trying her hardest to keep her breathing even.

"W-What do we do?" Milla stammered.

Carol looked up to find tears streaming down Milla's face. She didn't look much better herself. She held her hand out in front of her, shaking. The hand that had been holding Lilac's head. "I-I…" The words caught in her throat. Milla was staring.

Carol took a deep breath. "Milla," she said, as steadily as possible in this moment. "Go into that town… and find its hospital. Or clinic, or infirmary, or whatever the closest thing they have to a hospital is. Find its doctor… and bring them here. Preferably… with an ambulance."

"I-I—"

"Go!"

Milla scrambled back off to the village without another word between them.

Carol stared at her hand again, stained with the blood of her best friend. Then she stared back down at her best friend. "It's… it's going to be okay," she murmured. "It's going to be okay. I promise. I'm right here. I promise."

With that, she recalled and executed each and every one of the life-preserving techniques that Lilac herself had taught her.

|| I'm trying something different with the style of this story. Just a little less telly in this story, so you kind of have to squint a little harder to get what the characters are feeling. I think it's a bit more professional than how I normally write. Or maybe I'm just being pretentious.

And yes, I did throw together that obviously hastily made cover image myself over the course of like an hour. Why do you ask?

If you still don't know what this story is actually about... well, the next chapter should make it pretty obvious. ||