Galaluna:
Bombs fired through the once beautiful empire, knocking down more pillars and putting the place to ruins. An army of Galalunan soldiers ran towards the enemies with valor and fired their guns once they got closer. In the air, multiple of Manus armors were soaring across the area, attacking any flying enemies coming their way.
A soldier was running towards a trench, a life size lizard Mutraddi was chasing him. With a powerful leap, the soldier hid behind his trench.
"Now!" he exclaimed, and with that order three soldiers popped out of the trench and fired at the creature. Withering, the Mutraddi let out a horrid cry and was gone.
Another soldier was running away from two enormous Mutraddi that resembled wolves, and running on all fours. Their abnormal mouths let out roars, giving a good glimpse of thousands of small, sharp jagged fangs. The running soldier looked behind at them for a second, but then felt himself trip over something. Hearing a snap, the soldier eyes widened. He came to a crouching position while holding on to his wrist, shutting his eyes and clenching his teeth through the pain. Suddenly he felt himself being lifted off the ground and in a matter of seconds, collided with a wall. After another snap, he was gone.
Behind that wall, two young siblings gasped and shook at the fallen soldier. The little sister buried her face into the older brother's long sleeve while whimpering. The wolves spotted the siblings and began charging at them. The young ones screamed and began running, the brother holding protectively tight onto his sister's hand. The little girl felt something hot on her bare leg and captured a small glimpse of one of the Mutraddi's face. She let out a scream as her and her brother was sent flying on the other side of the battle field. With instinct, the brother covered her protectively as they both hit the ground.
The two looked up at the wolves that were now standing over them, drool dripping from their mouths. They both raised a clawed hand-a sudden roar made them stop and look towards the source of the sound.
A massive rhinoceros, adorned with silver armor on its back and around its head charged towards the creatures. With a violent strike, the rhinoceros knocked one of the Mutraddi away from the siblings and then the other Mutraddi was faced getting zapped and killed with a beam by a giant vulture. The rhinoceros turned towards the kids and had them climb on its back. It ran off with the sibling as the vulture sent a killer beam towards the other Mutraddi.
Gazing down at the bloody battle field from the palace windows, General Modula stood tall with hands behind his back. To his left was the injured and chained by his wrists, King with eyes closed and head drooping down.
"I'm growing rather…impatient with you." Modula stated slowly to the King without turning to look at him. The King raised his head and glared wordlessly at his lost friend.
"Do what you want, I won't tell you anything." The King replied.
"Sir," a raspy voiced called. A Mutraddi soldier came running towards Modula crotched down on one knee. "There is a visitor for you." The soldier said.
"Hm?" Modula looked down at the soldier. After a moment of silence, "Well then, bring him in." The Mutraddi nodded and stood up to fetch the unexpected visitor. The palace doors swung opened and footsteps were walking towards Modula. The King looked up curiously at the stranger coming to them. Once under light, the visitor stood in front of Modula and the King.
He was a tall lanky figure, very lanky. His body slightly leaned towards the side like that of a snake. He wore a forest green gunner coat; a black strap was running diagonally in front of it. His pants were black and completed with short buckled hunter boots. He wore dark, leather biker gloves that had spikes on each knuckle. A naginata was strapped to his back, but what interested Modula the most was the stranger's mask; a full face, alabaster skull mask. A deadly mask that hid his eyes so all one can see was empty eye sockets.
Suddenly intrigued with the stranger, Modula spoke. "For what reason have you come here?" he asked.
"I hear that you are searching out for a certain target." Despite his thin structure, the stranger's voice was darkly deep and yet oddly soothing.
The King's mouth hung as he stared at the stranger wide eyed, Modula raised his eyebrow with inquiry.
The stranger spoke again. "You can say that I am a bounty hunter and when there's a prey on the loose, I intend to hunt it."
"Do you kill it?" Modula asked.
Under his mask, the stranger smirked. "Depends on my mood,"
"What if you're asked to?"
"Then I would… and I assure you, General, I am the best at what I do."
"…Prove it." Modula calmly ordered.
Down at the laboratory, Mutraddi scientist were scattered all about at their stations. Some had clipboards and were writing down notes while looking up at giant test tubes, where more Mutraddi soldiers were being nurtured. Modula and the hunter walked silently to the center of the room, standing in front the test tubes.
One of the scientists noticed Modula and immediately scurried over to him. "General, sir, they are ready."
"Good…bring out the strongest one." Modula commanded. The scientist looked at him with curiosity.
"Are-are you sure, sir? I mean what if-"
"Yes, I'm sure. Bring it out."
After standing there for a moment the scientist headed for a large shed, to the left, that had the number 7 at the top. On the side of the side was a red lever. With the lever pulled down the shed made a small groan and from the bottom, the doors began rising up slowly. A low, deep growl was heard on the other side of the shed. As the doors were rising, a hoof of an animal was shown digging the dirt and slightly lifting it off the ground. It continuously did this as the doors finally came to a stop. The growl still was low.
The scientist that pulled the lever took out a long whistle and blew on it. It made a shrilly sound and the growl now suddenly became loud. The hoof was stomping on the ground and a shadowy figure was shifting about in the shed. The scientist blew on the whistle again. The horrid shrill made the Mutraddi bellow. The stomping became rapid and in a matter of seconds, it leapt out of the shed and stared at Modula and the hunter. The Mutraddi wasn't as monstrous in size as other Mutraddi; it was in fact the size of a bull.
Both of its front hooves dug the ground as it continued to stare at the two. With dark, narrow green eyes that were embedded inside a grotesque face that had a wide, scrunched up snout resting between two, ivory tusks protruding out of its mouth. To its left and right, without the tusks, that same face and those same eyes were present.
"As you must know, I need to see if you truly are worthy." Modula told the hunter. Without saying a word, the hunter reached for his naginata. Walking up to the beast, he held his weapon out towards the side. The room then became silent; only the Mutraddi's low growl was heard. The hunter and the Mutraddi locked eyes. The hooves continued to dig. The lever-pulling scientist slowly placed the whistle between his lips. After the third count, he blew.
The Mutraddi let out a booming roar and stomped its front leg towards the hunter. The hunter jumped away from its attack, making the Mutraddi shaking and breaking the ground. When the hunter made it back to the ground, he immediately was back in front of the creature, almost as if he teleported there. He raised his naginata and amazingly pierced the Mutraddi's hoof, pinning it to the ground. The Hunter leaped in the air once the Mutraddi dragged its other front leg towards him. The hunter reached behind his back and brought out a spear, smaller than his naginata, and threw it down to the other leg. The spear successfully pinned it down, leaving it crossed over the leg that was pinned down by the naginata.
This made the Mutraddi holler; the whole room shook at the sound. It tried to raise its legs, but it was no use. The Mutraddi's head shook vigorously while his back legs where stomping on the ground with rage. As the hunter was coming back down, a bright light was forming in his hands. Once he was close enough, a beam of light hit the beast's back. Letting out one last roar, the Mutraddi arched its back with agony as the beam pierced through its body.
Too easy, the hunter thought while smirking. And this was the strongest one?
The hunter made it back down and retrieved his weapons. Modula raised an eyebrow once the hunter was standing in front of him.
"What is your name?" Modula asked.
"You may call me Skeleton Mask." The hunter replied.
"Hmm…you have potential, Skeleton Mask, well done; you've proved yourself worthy." Modula turned his back away from Skeleton Mask. "You said your mood decides whether or not you kill your prey, but what if there is a price in it?"
"I'll gladly accept." Skeleton Mask replied in his dark tone, smirking again.
"Then go…destroy Princess Ilana, however if you fail, you will not be rewarded…" Modula turned his head towards Skeleton Mask. "And depending on my mood, I'll decided whether to get rid of you or not. Are we clear?"
"Crystal…" And with that, Skeleton Mask disappeared.
Earth:
It was a very sunny day at Sherman High, and very odd, for everyone (at least it seemed like everyone) was talking, more like gossiping, about the same topic. Lance, Ilana, and Newton walked through the chattering halls, listening discreetly to the conversations.
"So did you hear about her?" a preppy girl asked her also preppy crew.
"Yeah, I think she's a foreign exchange student." A rocker boy said talking to his group of friends.
"From what country?" one of the cheerleaders asked as she was filing her nails.
"I don't know, somewhere in Europe I think." Another cheerleader replied.
"Sweet, she could help me with my French!" a jock exclaimed happily as he high-fived his pal.
Lance and Newton sat down at their usual spot; shortly Ilana joined them with her tray of food.
Sitting down next to Newton, Ilana began talking. "Geez, a lot of people seem to be interested about this new girl."
"It seems so, have any of you two seen her?" Newton inquired.
"No, I haven't." Ilana replied.
"No." Lance muttered while picking at the plate of glob with his fork.
"Hmm, I wonder what she's like; she seems like a cool person." Ilana stated while smiling and then she placed her fingertips on her chin. "But I still think it's a little strange that just about everyone is talking about her. I wonder what's so interesting."
"I don't know but I do feel a little anxious about something." Newton said.
"What's that?"
"Well, I'm still thinking about the Rift Gate that was opened two days ago. I just don't understand how we didn't find anything and how it's been quiet and peaceful for these past days. But now, coincidently, we have this new girl appearing out of nowhere and she's basically the talk of the town."
"So you think she's the one that opened the Rift Gate?" Lance looked up at Newton with alertness.
"That…I'm not sure of. I don't want to jump to conclusions but I am curious about this girl."
The bell then rang, ending lunch. The Galalunian trio cleaned up their trash.
The final bell had rung and while the trio walked towards the van, Newton was bombarded with dark blue pixels in front of his eyes.
"Another Rift Gate has opened." He stated. Lance and Ilana stopped and looked at him; now they were anxious.