Chapter 9: Company of Combatants
"Bell, c'mon! You want your mornin' vittles or what?"
"Hmph… five more minutes… too comfy right now..."
Cog was already dressed in her usual clothes and so was Nitroplus. Raw Meat fluttered close to the latter as usual. Bell continued to wrap herself in the blankets and curl in a ball on the hotel bed. The sun had been up for quite some time and Cog's stomach was starting to get the rumblies that only a steak breakfast would satisfy. Problem was, Bell lingered on her bed, throwing a wrench in their plans to head down to the hotel lobby for breakfast.
"Grmph… Did I tell you that I hate getting up early…?" Bell groaned beneath the wrinkled white covers.
"It's almost 8, Bell."
"... Same thing."
"C'mon Bell. You're gonna miss out on breakfast," whined Cog as she repeatedly shoved the sleeping form of Bell. "If you don't haul yer butt out there, we're gonna have to go without you."
Cog's plea was met with a muffled grunt from Bell who curled up in the blankets even deeper. A subtle rumbling sound was heard and Cog's face reddened in response. She growled in frustration, rubbing her face with both hands. But then, Cog stopped - an idea popped in her head. She let her hands rest on her hips and began talking loudly to no one in particular
"Oh boy! I can't seem to get Belly here outta the bed! Maybe… maybe I should invite BJ here and let her work her magic on you! Her special, special magic!"
The tangle of blankets jerked up and everyone saw it take a vague human shape. A slip of the sheets gave way to reveal Bell's face: irritated by both the threat and sudden awakening. She glared at Cog with squinting eyes due to her annoyance and because she wasn't wearing her glasses.
"... I hate you sometimes Coggie," she huffed as she finally got out of bed.
The breakfast down in the hotel lobby was quite pleasant, but Bell wasn't quite too interested. Despite the rather relaxing atmosphere courtesy of the warm glow of ceiling lamps, soft leather seats, and jukebox, the only thing that remotely caught Bell's interest was the wide flat-screen television that hung from the ceiling in the corner of the room. A well-groomed newscaster sat off-center in the screen, with visuals and special effects taking up the empty space.
"... according to our experts, multiple game stores have reported a slight drop in smalls ranging between 6% to 10% for the past month. They fear that it is due to the work of video game pirates. As our analysts have noticed a small uptick in piracy, the fears may be quite justified. And in other news, the representative of the Weiss Guild made a public statement..."
It was currently stuck on the boring news channel but it at least better than lounging around having to listen some boring songs coming from the jukebox's scratchy speakers. Especially if it's playing country music, which seemed to be aggravating Weaver as she pestered Cog to change the music to something else.
Bell droned out Weaver's complaints as her eyes stay glued to the TV. Right now, the channel was just starting to report yesterday's events.
"... and just yesterday, a significant group of video game pirates hidden in Pedissia was apprehended. But other than the unexpected presence of such a large and organized group of rat felons that managed to hide within the capital, what was most intriguing was that they were brought down by a small group of Devs."
Bell raised an eyebrow once she heard the newscaster mention the word. 'Oh this ought to be fun.'
"... Never in the past couple of years have we seen anything like this. The ones that were at the scene were identified to be prominent goddesses such as Weaver, Kreass, and BJ. Local police mentioned others but..."
BJ let out a whoop at the mention of her name. Heaving heard her name, Weaver looked up to see a footage of herself, forgetting her irritation with Cog's choice of music. Nitroplus watched the news go on as it played snippets of an reporter attempting to interview Kreass before moving on to Weaver who seemed more approachable for questions.
From what Nitroplus could hear, the news report was quite praising of the Devs. Around her, Bell looked disinterested while Cog and SPARK looked attentive. Out of the corner of her eye, she saw Weaver beaming at seeing their actions praised. She quietly tapped on her shoulder and upon getting Weaver's attention, whispered to her.
"You seem quite pleased with yourself." Weaver simply sipped from her cup of decaffeinated coffee before she murmured back.
"Well, good public relations never hurt. More Acclaim the better. Even if I don't do heroics for a living, it sure feels good."
Nitroplus nodded. She knew what Weaver was talking about, the pleasure one feels for upholding morals, particularly those made by oneself. It didn't matter what others thought, doing good came from one's inner being.
It was something Nitroplus would take to heart.
Suddenly, the report was halted by the newscaster leaving her segment unfinished as she put her finger to her earpiece. Whatever the unexpected event was, it was something drastic as the newscaster's expressions changed to shock. And when they all listened to the breaking news, they were just as equally shocked.
"Uh, please excuse the interruption, but we've just received reports of what seems to be horde of monsters already making their way to eastern Calipolis. A general evacuation order to the area has been issued. Authorities have been contacted and, uh… Commercial, just skip to commercial already..."
The hotel lounge occupants cleared out without waiting for another word. No rest for the wicked, it seems.
Everyone quickly piled into Weaver's car as quickly and comfortably as they could. Eschewing the trunk, BJ hopped on top of its cover as Weaver fumbled for the keys. Within seconds, they were on the road, passing by sleek chalk-colored buildings. Taking a risk as she was driving, Weaver activated her wrist computer and brought up the map. She had received a notification telling her the same thing that the newscaster said and thankfully, the computer pinpointed the general area on the map. It was on the eastern side of Calipolis, outside the city limits. But she could imagine that they would be getting closer; they couldn't afford to waste time.
Beside her in the passenger seat, Bell griped. "Ugh. Talk about bad timing. Didn't even get the chance to brush my teeth or anything."
"What? Ya think they're gonna go out on a limb an' make an appointment?" said Cog as she leaned in from the back seat.
"Still, this was supposed to be our vacation," Weaver replied, turning her head slightly to face the others. "You would normally think that this nation's military would've -"
"Waitwaitwait, stop the car!"
Weaver whipped back to the road and upon seeing a pedestrian, reflexively slammed on the brakes. The tires squealed as Weaver's convertible and its occupants rocked from the sudden deceleration. As they recovered from the stop, they looked up to see who the pedestrian was.
They all looked up to find themselves eye-to-eye with a black-haired girl with pupils that were just as dark; she stood by the street wearing a bright yellow hoodie and a black scarf wrapped around her neck, oblivious to the relative weather.
Looking at her, Nitroplus did a double-take. "Hang on, are you..."
The girl's eyes widened once she laid eyes on Nitroplus, recognition apparent on her face. Bell slowly leaned forward in her seat as it dawned on her who the stranger was. "Woah, is that you, Gelb?"
Surprised, Nitroplus turned to Bell. "You know her?" she asked.
"Well, I recognize her. I know that she's like us - specializes in certain RTSs," replied Bell. "If anything, I should ask you that question. Since when did you two meet?"
"At the beach." Gelb finally spoke up but even then her voice was fairly quiet and flat. She walked towards the car and continued speaking, her voice barely above inside voice. "I was there yesterday when she and I met."
Weaver looked at Gelb then at Nitroplus with a quizzical look. "Really? Don't quite think I remember that." But she knew they couldn't afford to waste anymore time. "So listen: you know there's a bunch of monsters headed from the east?"
Gelb nodded once slightly. "That is why I'm here." Not once did her voice deviate from the usual neutral tone; her face still retained a bored disinterested expression.
"You weren't planning to take them on by yourself, were you?" Bell asked while raising a curious eyebrow. "Let alone get there on foot?"
Like before, Gelb's only response was the same small nod, albeit after a second's hesitation.
BJ gave out a hearty laugh. "Well, that makes two of us! Hop in - or in my case, hop on!"
With Weaver's convertible past capacity, Gelb looked for something to hang on to. Finding none, Gelb settled with opening the passenger seat and squeezing in on Bell's lap, much to the latter's displeasure. With Gelb seated as best she could, Weaver shifted gears and floored it.
"HAHA!" BJ laughed as she dared to stand on top the trunk cover without anything to hang onto. "Hi-ho Silver, AWAYYYYYYYYY!"
As they got closer to where Weaver's computer pinpointed the monster horde's predicted location, they could see that they were certainly getting close. As they drove, the streets became steadily congested with traffic and people - all of them headed in the opposite direction. On the other hand, the traffic headed towards the monsters was nonexistent save for a lone stylish car loaded with empowered individuals, each of them a force to reckon with.
As they streaked past the stream of people, the Devs could see that some of the people managed to catch a glimpse; some even recognized them and even cheered, rejoicing at the sight of several members of the PC Continent's protectors driving past to save the day. Seeing as how they were being applauded, BJ and Cog either waved back or responded with their own cheers.
Eventually, the stream of people became a mere trickle and as they disappeared, so did the vestiges of the urban cityscape and civilization. Eventually, the Devs found themselves within a suburban area, with plenty of open spaces and vegetation mixed with an occasional short building. Weaver spotted a police barricade - though "barricade" was generous considering it consisted only of two police cars blocking most of the street.
An officer in a simple uniform looked to address whoever it was that was headed towards the danger but stopped once he saw who the new arrivals - and what they were capable of. Weaver brought the car to a stop alongside the officer, their appearance noted by all the officer's colleagues.
"What's the situation?" asked Weaver. They were getting close to the destination according to her map but not close enough to see the danger directly. From the looks of things, the monster horde may arrive just outside the city limits.
"Um, we just managed to get everyone out as fast as we could, although there's others holed up in safe locations," reported the officer, still nervous to be in the presence of a Dev, let alone several of them. "The monster horde should just be down the road. I, uh, doubt we'd be able to handle them and since you're here, I, uh, guess I can let you pass."
"Well that simplifies things," quietly muttered Bell who still had Gelb sitting on her lap. Weaver gave a quick nod of thanks to the officer and got her car moving again, weaving between the obstacles to head in the direction of the monsters. The streets were devoid of both inhabitants and beasts. But the emptiness was thick with anticipation of potential surprises. The shift from buildings to trees didn't help as they blocked line of sight.
Weaver slammed the breaks on the car. Directly ahead of them was the silhouette of a feral wolf with untamed vibrant fur - a fenrir. Behind it, in and off the streets, was the horde of identical monsters blended among the ranks of dogoos, bits, and other monsters. Everywhere they went, they vandalized anything man-made: road signs, fences, bus stops, and powerlines.
Killing the engine, Weaver stepped out and everyone followed. With Gelb finally off of her, Bell got out and stretched her legs and back, glad to be free from the car's confines. As she did so, she saw what looked to be some kind of submachine gun appear in Gelb's hands, accompanied by a mechanical click. Gelb turned to face Bell and Weaver.
"Any plans?" she asked.
Bell and Weaver looked amongst themselves as they tried to come up with a viable strategy. They both pointed to SPARK. "Okay, just like last time: SPARK, hang back. BJ, front and center." As everyone moved into formation, Bell let herself hang in the middle and noticed Gelb doing something similar, positioning herself out of melee range of the enemy.
'Right,' Bell thought. 'Knowing her and her gun, that'll be the best place for her.'
The team made their way towards the group of monsters who began to notice their presence one-by-one. The nearest trio of fenrirs slowly stepped towards the interlopers, growling in intimidation. In response, BJ hoisted her launcher and quickly turned the closest fenrir into a mere smoking crater in the earth. Slashes of fire from Nitroplus and gunfire from Cog that followed up unleashed all hell on a high note. Shouts, explosions, roars, and gunfire gave the orchestra of battle its melody as the battle began.
Weaver swung her sword around as it began sparking and glowing in blue before she finally stabbed it outwards, unleashing a bolt of plasma and lightning that vaporized a dogoo. Bell tossed down her sentry gun before tossing down an identical blue turret to maximize the carnage. A handful of orb-like bits hovered overhead in an attempt to strike down at the Devs before a slick shaft split into multiple parts, piercing all of the bits before promptly exploding.
Cog peppered a chocopi with bullets, shredding an abandoned pickup truck in the process. Scanning for her next target, she saw the nearby meadows explode from BJ's rockets as she soared through the air. In Cog's moment of distraction, another fenrir tried to rush her. Cog swung to react but before it could pounce her, a flurry of bullets flew past her and dropped the fenrir like a sack of potatoes.
A smoking gun in Gelb's hands was what Cog saw. Cog's bewildered gaze met Gelb's neutral stare as she pointed towards a group of monsters charging across an open field to join the fight.
"More of them. Focus your fire." Gelb's words were terse and even at their loudest, they were still just shy of shouting. Unloading bursts of fire at the monsters, Gelb slid behind an overturned garbage can and resumed firing without skipping a beat. From there, she motioned to Weaver the incoming monsters that were headed their way. Letting out one last shout to the monsters she was originally fighting, Weaver shifted her sword to the monsters pointed out by Gelb.
More monsters, including car-sized dragons, starting trickling down the road, threatening Nitroplus and BJ who were in the thick of the action. Shouting, Gelb impatiently motioned for Nitroplus to fall back who immediately complied under the shelter of covering fire courtesy of Bell's sentries and Cog.
But BJ was still engaged in melee, oblivious to the tide of monsters. Punting a dogoo skyward and into next weekend, she wrenched a wumpossum off of her before burying its head into the barrel of her rocket launcher and pulling the trigger. Something hard tackled her from the side, causing her to stumble before BJ switched to her chainsaw and sawing the attacker. But without even a second to breathe, a shadow fell upon BJ as she looked up to see the face of an imposing upright fur body with an equally furry - but grotesque - face: an alpha wumpossum.
As it snarled down at its quarry with an expression that resembled a manic predatory grin, BJ couldn't help but reciprocate. A smaller monster foolishly took a chance to pounce on BJ who merely grabbed it by its neck and threw it towards the alpha wumpossum who deflected it with casual ease. It settled down on all fours to try to crush BJ who tucked and rolled away. Swinging her chainsaw around her, her cackle accompanied the sputtering motor as she began to duel with the monster.
SPARK loaded another bolt into her crossbow. From the top of a tree, she had a decent commanding view of the battle. She could see more monsters coming from the fields and from the road and that Gelb seemed to be doing what she could to micromanage the rest where they were huddled around whatever cover they could find. Well, everyone but BJ who was far ahead fighting a big wumpossum.
'Oh bother,' she thought as she saw BJ doing her thing oblivious to the calls from others to regroup. They were holding their ground against the horde of wild monsters but the situation could change at anytime.
Attacks from the others were doing a good enough job of defeating all the nearby monsters but SPARK remained vigilant for any targets of opportunity. Several meters above the ground, she spied the orb-like body of a bit as it zipped in the air.
"Uh, that's about… few dozen meters away? And it's moving so, uh… I'd say about 73 - no, 65% chance to hit," she muttered to herself as she attempted to track their movements. SPARK's crossbow was primed and aimed but no shot came. "... Ehhhh, on second thought, I don't like those odds..."
"Sparky! You musn't be afraid to take chances if the opportunity presents itself!"
"EEEEK!" SPARK squealed and almost fell out of her vantage point as she whirled around to find herself face-to-face with something that apparently followed up the tree. "D-d-don't abduct me please! I-I'm not that developed!"
"Relax, meat! It's me!" When SPARK stopped flailing her arms about, she realized that it was just Raw Meat. Realizing that it was (literally) a friendly face, SPARK took a deep breath.
"D-don't do that again!" she complained. A loud commotion was heard and SPARK looked back to see BJ get flung into the air by the alpha wumpossum, making a rough landing on top of Bell's blue-colored sentry, smashing it into pieces. Laughing, BJ heaved herself back on her feet and charged back into the fray, leaving behind a miffed Bell and her other functional red sentry. While herself, Bell, Cog, and Gelb remained behind cover with their ranged attacks, SPARK could see BJ, Nitroplus, and Weaver at the forefront with their respective melee weapons. A sudden movement caught SPARK's eyes as she loaded a regular crossbow bolt and aimed at a charging fenrir.
"About 98% - ah, screw it," she muttered as her shot struck home, felling the fenrir. It slid in the dirt, barely noticed by the combatants on the ground as they fought. As SPARK scouted for another target, Raw Meat cried out a warning. "Look, meat! More on the horizon!"
As SPARK gazed out into the distance, she spotted something coming from the meadows. Or rather, a lot of small somethings, all scurrying towards them as a carpet of white, grey, and black. They were small, but there were many and they were fast approaching.
'... Oh jeez,' thought SPARK as she loaded another bolt in anticipation of a long battle.
"HAH! Come over here so I can show you a neat magic trick where I make you disappear!" shouted BJ as she tuck and rolled under the alpha wumpossum's lashing claws. Around them lay incapacitated monsters and ruined soil. In an epic duel between two mighty contestants, none dared to interfere lest they be a casualty to this dance of death.
The alpha wumpossum lashed at BJ with its other arm which BJ caught, sliding back from the force before grinding herself to a halt and holding the beast's claws at bay with one hand. In the other was a chainsaw which BJ used to hack and slash the wumpossum as much as she could. The wumpossum roared in pain as it lifted BJ with its arm before repeatedly smashing her on the ground.
"Ha!" *Smash* "That - " *Smash!* "- the best - " *Smash!* "- you got?!" Despite repeated pounding, BJ laughed off each blow.
A fiery slash hit the wumpossum in the face who reeled from the unexpected attack. It glared at the dark-haired girl who it deemed responsible and threw BJ at her. Seeing BJ headed her way, Nitroplus rolled out of the way. She looked up to see the alpha wumpossum hurtling towards her at high speed before its momentum was interrupted by a small flail-like object. The wumpossum fell to the earth far off of his mark and Nitroplus turned to see Weaver's sword shrink back to its original shape.
"We got more trouble coming ahead!" she shouted. "Going to need you and BJ to regroup with us; got clickers headed our way!"
Nitroplus turned to face the stretching road to see that amidst the various beasts they fought, there was a subtle tide of white and grey headed their way. Up to this point, it had been a relatively even battle between the Devs and the horde. But with another horde headed their way, the chances of winning were becoming slim. If they were forced to retreat...
A bolt of bright red flew just over Nitroplus's head, interrupting her thoughts as she immediately ducked low to avoid more ruby-colored beams that followed. From the edge of her vision, she noticed the white and grey ones surging forth while the black ones stayed back, one of them launching a familiar red beam in her general direction. She scrambled back behind an abandoned station wagon where Bell, Cog, Weaver, and Gelb were. Another set of lasers singed the wagon's exterior while some burned a nearby tree, forcing SPARK and Raw Meat to evacuate from their vantage point.
"Take cover!" ordered Gelb, her voice just below a shout.
Seeing that the horde of fresh monsters has arrived and are forcing their opponents back, the surviving beasts of the original horde began to rally and reinvigorated their assault.
"BJ! Come on!" Nitroplus turned to see Weaver peering from behind her cover and saw that BJ was still out there, seemingly oblivious to the dangers that the clicker horde presented. The alpha wumpossum was now at her mercy as BJ repaid its earlier action by repeatedly smashing its head against the ground. A white clicker tackled her but BJ brushed it aside in an annoyed snarl and continued with her action.
Bell sighed in exasperation as she ducked back into cover. So far, her second turret was still up on top of the station wagon and it had been engaging the monsters nonstop ever since she plopped it down but one turret could only go so far. Risking the beams, Bell whacked the sentry's mount in the place only she knew. At that instant, the remaining turret retracted its gun and the body expanded outwards where two barrels and a rack of missiles sprouted forth to hold back the monster onslaught.
"Abou' time you got that up an' working!" Bell turned to see Cog looking bemused at the upgraded turret. She had ditched her one machine gun for a pair of oversized machine pistols. "I was startin' to think you forgot about that or somethin'!"
"Cog, if I was in vacation like we were supposed to, I wouldn't have to remember this kind of stuff to begin with!" Bell retorted. "I shouldn't have to tell you that this isn't what I had in mind when we were going to relax!"
Cog popped up to spray the closest clickers with her akimbo pistols before ducking back down. "Oh lighten up, Belly! Just think of this sorta stuff as exercise; gettin' your blood pumping and crap!"
A laser beam punched a neat hole right between Bell and Cog, leaving behind a steaming rift in the metal inches from either one's nose. "... Yeah, my blood's pumping so much I think I'm going to have a heart problems. Next time we go on vacation, let's stick with playing videogames!"
As the clicker swarm approached, everyone did what they could to hold them back but the ranged attacks from the black-colored clickers limited the Devs' ability to retaliate comfortably. With almost all of them cooped up behind an increasingly perforated vehicle, their most vicious but effective fighter isolated, and the monster swarm resuming its momentum, there was no way they could continue fighting like this.
And if they couldn't fight effectively here, then that would mean a hasty retreat that would only bring the beasts closer to the city and people they were supposed to protect.
And to Nitroplus, such course of action was unacceptable. Paragon or not, she was not going to endanger innocent lives and cause collateral damage. But there was no way they could hold the monsters back and within seconds, the monsters would all be upon them unless -
Above the din of gunfire, shouts, and explosions, Nitroplus heard what sounded like distant cracking - a different set of gunfire? Then, she saw a couple beasts encroaching BJ's blindspot fall. Weaver witnessed the same thing and she turned to everyone else. "Was that from any of you?"
Cog, Gelb, and Bell all looked at each other bewildered. Then the distant gunfire resumed as more monsters were shot down, their charge halted in face of a new threat from an unexpected angle. The Devs looked around to find the source. Did the Calipolis military already arrive? But surely there would be much more than simple gunfire…
A flash of bright white light suddenly blinded everyone. Reeling from the sudden blindness, Bell fell to the ground so as to avoid any crossfire. She didn't appreciate her inability to see and hear due to her ears ringing -
… Ringing? Caused by sudden bright light?
As the thought crossed her mind, Bell noticed that her vision slowly recovered. She looked around and saw the rest recovering as well whereas the monsters were still flaying about aimlessly.
"Dag-nabbit! What was that?!" shouted Cog after rubbing the blindness from her eyes and getting up.
SPARK was still sitting on the ground, still dazed from the stun effects. "I, um… well, uh whatever it was, it wasn't natural."
Nitroplus was curious about what the bright flash was, but even if they identified what the cause was, another question came up: where did it originate from? As her vision and hearing cleared, movement from the side caught her eyes. Blinking, Nitroplus saw that it was some person, dressed in some kind of uniform she couldn't identify. The figure raised her weapon and a burst of gunfire erupted from it.
The figure's blue-green eyes glanced over to where they took cover behind. "Look alive, grunts! We still got a battle to win!"
All eyes were cast on the unknown figure. "... Uh, who's she?"
***** Pedissia Database Entry: Clicker *****
Resembling an old computer mouse, the Clicker is only about as tall as a person's shin. They all have a slender tail which they can use as a whip if the situation calls for it. In terms of appearance, clickers are mostly a mix of grey and white, though variations exist with different colors, shape, and abilities. Individually, a clicker is weak; thus they are social creatures who are frequently encountered in groups and use overwhelming numbers to their advantage.
Clickers are confirmed to exist in three versions. The normal Clicker has no special ability and is the most frequently encountered variant; predominantly white and grey. Optical Clickers are the second-most encountered version and have the ability to launch a laser beam; colored black. Stream Clickers are the most powerful but more rare of the clickers, with a more sleek exterior and superior performance; colored grey.
***** End of Entry *****