Team SABL Ch 4
Saturday, Deep Southern Vale, Bubblegloop Swamp, 7 in the morning
"Why is our mission in this dust forsaken swamp?" Alicia raged as she almost lost her footing on the solid ground that would have slid her into the swamp water.
"Because it had a whole section of the bounty board's to itself and no one comes here unwillingly. In fact we are the first people to come here willingly in fifty years. The Grim numbers must be huge." Beatrix sounded excited and then gagged as she was still adjusting to the pungent air of the swamp. She was wearing a hazmat suit minus the helmet and oxygen tank. She said it would have slowed her down.
"If you hadn't given us ample warning as to the location of the mission I would have killed you Silver." Lulu ground out as her right foot plunged into the swamp muck instead of dry land. Thankfully she had gone with biohazard disposal clothing instead of her suit.
"Look it was either this or two weeks being a beat cop for the police. I figured two days in a swamp would be faster for us all. And that we'd have the card bounties done on the first day so that we could make money on the second day." Silver explained as he trudged through swamp muck waist high in his gear. The girls had asked him why he was doing that when they had been reasonable and chosen different gear he had said.
"The warranty covers any and all things that could damage and/or stain for a complete refund and new order free of charge. So far they've been proven right. But, no one accounts for a swamp."
"Don't worry team." Beatrix tried sounding up beat.
"It's only five more miles of who knows what to the last known base in the area. Once there we can get on with the mission." Her false cheer gave out as she realized what she had just said.
Alicia and Lulu gave her death glares as Silver trudged on.
"Let's keep going ladies. I'll tell you the good news about our mission when we get there." He wheezed out through his helmet.
Five miles later
"It's an oil rig converted to mine dust and it's infested with Beowolves!" Alicia whispered furiously to her team leader as she took aim with her weapon.
"No missiles Alicia. That is going to be our base for the next forty eight hours." He put a hand on her weapon nudging it down. She grumbled at not getting to blow stuff up.
"Later I promise." He looked at the girl decked out it rain gear from its silly hat to its ridiculously long boots in the glaring shade of canary yellow. Anger only made her look adorable.
"You better." She threatened as she hefted her war hammer onto her shoulder.
"What's the plan sir?" Beatrix asked as she drew her sword making sure to keep it from catching any light.
"Fist; stop calling me sir, second; rush in and get to the non sunken side. Third; kill the grim. Fourth; stay near your partner and don't blow up the place. And finally if something too big appears we regroup and then kill it, not on your own." He said all of this switching between each of the girls as he did so and ended on Alicia and Beatrix.
"You got it boss." Alicia mock saluted.
"Are your plans always so simple?" Lulu adjusted her gloves.
"Yes Sir." Beatrix actually saluted him. Before she motioned Alicia to follow her and they started for the rig.
"She's never going to stop is she?" He asked his partner as he pulled his Tonfa out and set them to gun mode.
"I don't think so." Lulu answered as they followed the pair into the rig. Where they quickly cleared the deck of the Grim, before each team entered into the rigs main building through different means; AB through a window and LS through a wall.
In the rig Alicia and Beatrix
Alicia and Beatrix had found a rhythm as they attacked the Beowolves. Alicia would either knock them down dead or throw the ones that advanced in groups back so Beatrix could slide on up and kill them. Then Alicia would leap forward to repeat. It was akin to leap frog only violent.
"Hey Beatrix why are their Beowolves in a swamp? I mean I get that it's a forest and all but, wolves aren't fond of swamps." She asked calmly as she caved in a skull and her partner flew past her skewering another.
"Perhaps they were introduced to the area by someone early on to combat another species of Grim?" Beatrix answered as she beheaded one and Alicia flung three back into the pack with her hammer.
"Why would we do that? That would just cause a buildup of Grim in an area and then you would need even more hunters!" Alicia said quickly as she caved in a chest cavity causing the Grim to stick to her hammer forcing her to use it as well as a weapon.
"While Grim can work together and have been proven to do so. Several species of Grim simply cannot function next to another species and they begin to fight. An example of this would be the Nevalaa and Naja. Put the two of them next to each other and one or both will be dead shortly after." Beatrix explained as she decapitated another Grim and her partner finally dislodged the one on her hammer into the pack ahead of them killing one and downing another.
"Good explanation, but not the answer I was looking for!" Alicia shouted charging the pack and started crushing skulls.
"It was necessary background information and it leads into my next piece. Mistral was fond of doing it as it also provided more entertainment in the coliseums then just watching humans fight Grim." She was forced to dodge as she explained herself. She switched her sword to whip mode and with a quick pirouette cut down the Grim in front of her and several others before she switched back to sword mode.
"The practice itself however died out around the advent of successful A.I. development and Mecha's as it revolutionized expansion to the kingdoms." She said as Alicia caved in the last skull of the pack they had run into.
"Okay. So what does a Beowolf not get along with that someone would move them here to kill it?" Alicia asked as they moved on.
Lulu and Silver
"Lulu it has occurred to me that I may have chosen poorly in regards to our mission." Silver switched his Tonfa's to sword mode and quickly declawed the Beowolf in front of him before he ran it through.
"At first I would have agreed but, a place this old and abandoned? I want to see more of it and if our fights can be kept out of the water that would be so much better." She told him as she punched a Beowulf's head in and then flung ice from her fist into another killing it.
"That is a comforting notion but, am I being a good leader?" He cut through several Grim his blades only flashing light and blood off them as passed.
"I couldn't say. The only experiences I've had with other leaders were also my trainers. And they were all assholes and died because of it. So, seeing as you're not an asshole and you're not dead I'd say you're doing well. It's still only your first week so; I'll tell you if you mess up in the future." She unleashed a whirlwind of wind that cut through the rest of the pack they had encountered.
"Huh, I guess I got lucky." He said to himself as they passed further into the rig.
Beatrix and Alicia
So far they had progressed well into the rig. Silvers plan almost ignored at this point. The place was infested with Beowolves oddly enough and whenever they would proceed down one path a battle would spring up and force them down another route. Right up until they encountered an Alpha Beowolf. It was bigger, meaner, spikier and smarter. It quickly called for backup. Beowolves came from everywhere all at once forcing the girls on the defensive.
"Which part of the plan was this?" Alicia asked keeping her hammer going in long chains of combos to keep the enemy back.
"The final Part!" Beatrix said sword jammed into a skull.
"Exit stage up." Alicia glowed black activating her semblance. With a mighty uppercut from her hammer she blasted an alpha straight through the roof and up into the sky. Beatrix grabbed her partner and leapt up through the hole in the roof to overgrown paneling.
Alicia hit the summon app on her scroll signaling Lulu and Silver it was time to regroup.
Lulu and Silver even deeper in the Rig
The two of them had stopped moving when they realized they had found the den of the Beowolves. Thankfully they were asleep. Unthankfully there was a much larger Grim sleeping in the middle of the den. That's when their scrolls went off.
The songs "Supernova" and "Jet black Dress" blasted forth waking up every grim in front of them.
"Fuck the plan!" Silver grabbed his partner as he thought of them being outside and in a flash of purple light they were gone leaving behind groggy and confused Beowolves.
The Beowolves that had been woken up however were hungry and they had a scent to follow.
Outside the Rig
"When you told us earlier in the week that you could teleport even the short jumps you took us on weren't so bad, but what was with that jump?" Lulu asked as her partner took deep breaths after using his semblance.
"Distance, plus aura, minus time I've been fighting." He quickly silenced his scroll before they alerted the entire swamp to their presence. Lulu did so as well and she actually checked who had done the summoning.
"Alicia made the call. I wonder what they encountered." She called up the girl in question.
"Go for Alicia." She said on video call Beatrix was next to her.
"What was the summon for? You both look alright." Lulu told her cutting to the chase.
"We ran into an Alpha who summoned a whole swarm of Beowolves. We had to bail out." Alicia explained quickly.
"Where are you two?" Beatrix asked keeping an eye out for the enemy.
"Silver teleported us out of the Rig entirely. We had just found the Den with a large number of Grim and something even larger asleep with them.
"They're asleep that's good." Alicia smiled at her own words. Beatrix chuckled optimistically.
"When you summoned us our scrolls went off waking them all up." Lulu said calmly. Their faces switched to disbelief and surprise.
"I'll port over with Silver and then we'll make another plan." Lulu finished saying just as Silver grabbed her and teleported them to the rest of the team. A flash of purple and they were gone.
Just as they teleported a large black body with white plaiting landed where they had stood. But, it had a scent and it was hungry.
Atop the Rig, whole team, Afternoon
A flash of purple told Alicia and Beatrix that Silver and Lulu had arrived.
"So, what's the plan?" Beatrix asked as her team leader took several deep breaths.
A loud roar cut Silver off as a huge Beowolf broke out through the rig near them. It was three Beowolves tall, three wide and had enough armor plaiting that only its joints were exposed. It had no spikes as if it was saying I'm tough enough to kill you without them. But its eyes said far more. They said it knew what we were and that its rage was finally getting sated.
Victory fanfare blared out from their scrolls.
"Congratulation you've paid off your debt. Enjoy collecting your bounties now." Kurt's voice told them in a false cheer.
They all grabbed their scrolls and ended the message. Then they snapped a photo of the Beowolf in front of them.
"What is that?" Alicia asked fear in her voice.
"I don't know." Lulu chimed in.
"Given its size and shape I'm tempted to say it's an elder Grim." Beatrix said adjusting her stance as the Rig shifted a little.
The Beowolf howled its challenge to the team.
"No, it's only a Beta." Silver said confidently bringing his blades together into a single large double helix sword.
