Ready to see some action!?
Well too bad! I can't draw that fast in order to give you an animated version of the fight... so you'll have to read it and use your imagination.
XD Haha. NOW... and then... and after... lettuce fine that strange snake that bastes malicious and devour it.
That sentence hurt, didn't it? hehehehe. I'm evil with grammar.
Read, fav, follow, review, and enjoy, grabbing that strange snack. Mine today is a croissant stuffed with marshmallows and covered in chocolate. it's like a French S'more.
"So," Conner started slowly, cracking his knuckles to relieve some tension in his joints, "we're not being inducted unless we beat you?"
"I will be surmising your skills and styles of combat, making it supplemental that you must face me," Leo reiterated. "Please select your gear. Everything has labels and simple instructions. I am patient so take as long as you need."
The gnu snorted in affirmation, turning to the racks and shedding his suit jacket, finding a full body suit that seemed like a base for all armor components. Unlike the armaments Flux and Phantom used, everything here appeared quite basic and more akin to a highly durable polymer or carbon fiber.
The caliber of their gear also told him the force of the attacks that would be used. If the craft was any indication, nothing lethal would be used.
The wildebeest geared up, using as much armor as he could on his arms and legs, the chest being lightly plated and joints left unhindered for movement.
Among all the weapons, with things like stun batons, staffs, short range rifles, and even a bladed axe, Conner chose something more in line with his fighting style. Donning the fist armaments, the description saying it could expend energy in the form of kinetic blasts, it worked for his punching style combat techniques.
A blasting sound and resulting squeal turned his head, seeing the wild dog, Essie, flying through the air and crashing into the warehouse wall.
"Oww…" she groaned, followed quickly by a giggle. "I think I broke my visor… got another one?"
The gnu facehoofed.
Gus lumbered over to her, lifting her easily and helping her remove the broken headwear.
The android brought a replacement over, lightly reminding her to be careful.
Essie had donned the full body suit as well, using armor that mainly covered her legs below the knees and arms beyond the elbow. A light plating was put on her back and chest, with speed and agility being her priority.
Her visor, now replaced was a lighter armor as well, the advantage of it being an advanced targeting system and sensitive control functions over her accessories. She picked out boots that had a jump jet ability, allowing her to rebound surfaces and make short distance course corrections. Her overexhuberance was what caused the malfunction which broke her visor.
Hanging from either side of her hip were two guns that resembled a sci-fi version of energy pistols. The wild dog was unsure of their ammo capacity and not familiar with changing out their ammo sources, so she took two to switch as necessary.
She smiled, thinking, Or use them both at once like some sort of comic book hero.
The large grizzly bear, on the other paw, went for heavy armor, feeling confident he could bring some power to the fight. However, he was fully aware of a few of Flux's more arduous fights. He would win by smarts and take on a multitude of opponents, each of which were several times his size and weight.
He couldn't afford to underestimate this Galileo, or Leo as he introduced himself before in the alley.
Gus left his shoulders bear, wanting the movement, but kept anywhere else well armored to protect himself. He figured that if he could defend against any precise attacks, maybe he could push through and overpower the smaller being.
Not feeling all that interested in point and shoot weapons, the bear grabbed and equipped claw extensions. They were blunted for this simulative combat session, but the intent was clear. Three large blades extended out from above the forearm, braced against it and held out by the grip in his paws.
As a bouncer at a nightclub, the large mammal was used to leaping right in and taking no chances. He was the 'punch first, and take them down quick' type.
Bella resisted being a part of any combat, reluctantly putting on the suit for protection but selecting no weapons as she stayed near the edge of the combat zone. A helmet rested on her head, with a readout for various observing functions.
"I'll watch from over here," she remarked definitively.
"Understood," was the simple reply from Leo. "Is everyone else ready?"
Grunts and nods were exchanged all around, the males looking nervous, but Essie seemed primed and pumped, ready to kick some tail. The deer doe stood in the background, eyes steady and patiently watching.
"Let us begin," the robot told them, twirling the staff in front of itself and taking a defensive posture.
The wild dog was the furst to move, leaping up and over, using one pistol to try striking from above.
A barrage of small blue bolts came out, met with a spinning staff, whereas they burst and bubbled out.
In midair, Essie tried to recover her position from her odd, arching jump. It was a forlorn attempt as Leo jumped up and swung one end of the staff into her side.
A strange sound, like an expanding bubble of energy bursting, came from the blunted end, with a swash of energy that threw the canine a dozen feet away and onto the floor. She recovered quickly…
...but Gus had taken advantage of the distraction and moved in to swipe his blunt claw blades from behind.
The android intercepted him, parrying the blow and rotating the staff to smack the end into the bear's armored head. Another stunning energy explosion came from the staff, throwing off his balance and sending him awkwardly to the ground. With skulls as hard as steel, Leo knew he would be fine and recover in a few seconds.
Conner was the last to assault, having watched the other two and trying a more tepid approach, legs itching to use his experience in fighting to outmaneuver the seemingly very reactive being.
The mechanical entity swung the staff upward, trying to take out one of his legs, to which the gnu sidestepped with grace…
...only to be met with a backpawed strike from one of Leo's arms.
The wildebeest made a rookie mistake and calculated his initial assault based on the fact that this opponent used the same weapon to knock down two mammals. The being dropped the staff for a moment to connect a strike devoid of that thinking and used his former attack to distract him.
Before the staff fell to the ground, Leo knelt down quickly and grabbed it, swinging in a wide arc and connecting a blunted end with Conner's hip. He was blow sideways by the energy blast bubble, bouncing off of Gus's armored back.
Essie had well recovered by now and fired away from the side, taking careful aim and shooting slowly. Each blast was deflected expertly by her opponent, with one such bolt being rebounded by a blunted end using the energy bubble and striking the recovering bear in the chest.
He roared in annoyance and charged on all fours, swinging and swiping his claws.
Leo multitasked very well, dodging each strike and making occasional hits to the grizzly. The movements the robot made were also to keep Essie blocked from firing directly on itself with Gus's larger proportions in the way.
The gnu attempted to attack from the rear, with the mechanical entity spinning on one foot to put the staff to Conner's back, the blunt end expunging its energy and launching his body straight into the bear's midsection, toppling them both.
"A brilliant effort, I assure you all," Leo evenly mentioned, "though you should try to temper your assault with precaution. You know about your weapons to a degree, but you are neither trained nor do you know the extent of my capabilities."
"Noted!" the wildebeest bellowed, leaping up and charging back into the fray, with the canine giving him cover fire.
0000000
"I'm bored just sitting here waiting…" Judy griped. "Can't we go there and watch or something?"
"I could put it up on the tv," Nick replied.
"Why didn't you say that earlier!?" the doe chastened her fox. "I wanna see that Adam… Conner… whatever his name is… get his snout knocked in."
"And Essie?" questioned the fox with a raised brow of concern.
The grey bunny went quiet for a moment and shrugged with a returning grin, "Nah… I wouldn't mind her getting a bit of a butt whooping. She's been way too nosy, especially about my blog as of late. Call this karmic balance."
The red tod was fiddling with the television in their house, trying to hook up the feed from the warehouse to it for their viewing pleasure.
"You still update that thing?" he inquired in mild surprise, having completely forgotten it.
Her paws teetered ambiguously, with a sound of the same tone coming from her maw as she replied, "Ehhhhh… sorta. I still update it occasionally, but I have to take footage from other sources to make do, since I'm now fighting with you instead of following you with my phone. It's actually easier than you think to find terrible phone footage from a Flux versus Drone battle scene. And that whole thing with you and me being labeled outlaws made things work well enough for me."
"Oh… how so?" Nick asked curiously, only half paying attention as he became increasingly frustrated with his inability to link the feeds to the television.
Grumbling to himself, he spoke, "You can take apart and reconstruct a full suit of autonomous armor with energy weapons and shields, but working the inputs and functions to a television from your remote still eludes your understanding… ugh…"
None the wiser of his woes, the doe continued to speak, "Well… when it happened, a commenter coincidentally told me it might be wise to lay low with it, to keep attention from me. I took that reasoning and said I wasn't interested in the government knocking on my door and going through my search history, so I was going to post less for a while. People seemed to take that well and no huge question marks have popped up."
"Uh-huh," mumbled the red fox, having listened, though mostly focusing on the darn contraption of his remote. Giving up, he yelled out, "Leo! Mind giving me a paw with this?"
Rounding the corner, the android was holding a platter of snacks and drinks for the two, the television turning on and displaying the correct feeds, only infuriating the fox exponentially so at how easy the robot made it seem.
"Wait…," Judy remarked, "...how is he here… and there?" Her paw pointed to the screen in confusion, seeing a duplicate of Leo, though in armor plating and wielding a staff, fighting and winning against three mammals.
"You've seen me use your suits as a medium for combat and reconnaissance… and this puts you in a mental quandary?" the robotic being inquired evenly. "I have multiple bodies I can use or replace in case of mechanical failure or disrepair. Besides, I would be remiss to put myself on the line too much, in case the unlikely event comes to pass that they destroy that vessel."
"Oh… that… makes sense?" she remarked as more of a question than a confirmation.
"So," the tod interjected, landing heavily on the couch and propping his feet up, "how are they doing?"
"Better than you when you started," Leo bluntly told him, the doe clapping a paw to her muzzle to stifle a growing giggle, Nick's face falling flat and becoming grumpy as he took the information in.
"Hey! I was a farmboy that barely brandished a knife," he complained. "You showed me no mercy and gave me a stick to hit you with. I still remember you tossing me into a lake with that kick to the stomach."
"Back then, I was ill informed as to your biological durability," the android weakly defended.
"You're saying he was weak?" the grey bunny doe asked, doing her best to keep the smile from her muzzle and giggle in check.
"Correct," Leo answered easily, the rabbit losing all restraint and laughing heartily, blubbering out small apologies to her fox with each gasping breath.
He simply rolled her eyes and decided to let it go.
"Well…?" he resumed his previous question.
"Ah… well everyone is performing as expected," the entity began to detail. "Essie is quick to recover and adaptive, though her energy is her downfall. She's too impatient. Gus is a leap before he looks type. No… more like he is one to power in on impulse and let loose."
"You could say he's a… Bearzerker?" Nick offered with a eyebrow wiggle and gesturing paws. The android unsurprisingly looked stoic, but Judy appeared unamused, much to his infuriating dismay. He then murmured something about 'No sense of humor', leaning back to gesture that the robot continue.
"Anyways," Leo resumed, "Conner, as he has chosen to address himself in front of the others, as I suppose we should as well, is more experienced and approaches with caution, looking for weak points. He takes too long to observe though and it becomes his downfall."
There's a slight pause as the two mammals take it in, watching all three on screen fight with inaccuracy and no team effort, not that they knew one another well enough to do so.
"I'm betting Essie will be the one to deal a critical strike," Judy offered smugly.
"I'll bet it'll be Gus," Nick countered. "He's taking those hits rather well and I think he could push past that to hit Leo. What do you think?"
"I believe you are looking at the wrong mammals," the mechanical being told them abruptly.
"Oh… soooo… Conner?" both mammals asked tepidly.
"There is one mammals, as of yet, to deal any blows, and might be the one to breach my defenses," Leo explained. "I think she will be the biggest threat…"
"Huh?" fox and bunny said, confused as they squinted at the television.
0000000
Bella stood back, watching, waiting, evaluating.
1, 2, 3, 4, 5….
Galileo swung in an upward arc with the staff, connecting with Conner's lower abdomen and sending him flying a few feet back with the energy wave pushing him.
1, 2…
The other end rotated around expertly, with the blunted part being shoved like a spear head into Essie's chest. The explosion of energy knocked her backwards violently.
1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, and 7…
The end that connected with the wildebeest before began to glow brightly once more.
The deer doe smiled deviously. One part of her little puzzle was complete. She needed just a few other pieces of info to come up with a plan.
"Um…" the wild dog began timidly, her previous energetic personality being hampered by the repeated hits, "...is there a chance I can grab a different weapon? Or maybe more armor?"
Bella frowned, an irksome feeling sparking her next words, "You picked your armaments. Deal with it. I've seen Flux having to face off foes that put him at a disadvantage with his equipment choices before. You adapt and overcome. If you feel your weapons don't fit the situation… then think outside of the box and MAKE them work for you."
"Though harshly delivered," the mechanical being offered, still effortlessly evading and dealing blows, "Bella is mostly correct. I gave you simple instructions on your weapon's and armor's most efficient uses… but your mind can offer you other solutions."
The doe was able to figure out a crude, but hopefully worthwhile, plan of attack.
"Galileo!" she called out.
"Yes?"
"Do these helmets have a private frequency?" she inquired. "I want to relay a plan."
"Understood," Leo readily agreed. "All comms between you four are calibrated and I'll be excluded for your benefit. Say what you will without my interference."
"I like you," the deer sighed with a smile. "You aren't infuriating to talk to."
"Likewise," the android voiced back evenly. "Your blunt remarks and tone devoid of doubt are quite amiable to take in."
Bella raised a brow in question, not detecting any malice or sarcasm, but still feeling like part of that comprehensive statement wasn't as good as it was intended.
Nevertheless, she nodded and found a button on her helmet to close the channel with her partner and two other new teammates.
"Alright you three," she griped venomously, all nonsense gone and ready to snuff any out, "I've watched you get your tails kicked in long enough."
The gnu and canine stopped moving, taking in her words, though the bear seemed to either not hear her or simply ignored her as he tried to land a few more blows on Leo.
With the robotic figure engaged with him, the doe decided to use that to her advantage and hoped Gus would hear or listen to her.
"I've noticed that staff needs about seven seconds to charge each end of the staff before it expends that bubble force shield thing," Bella explained. "I've also noticed it doesn't knock you back much Gus… just stuns you. Essie… your energy gun appears to have no recoil and good accuracy. Use them both. In such close quarters, you don't need to aim. Conner… get your horns out of your butt and stop hesitating so much!"
"Er… I… uh…" the wildebeest weakly answered, unable to aptly defend against her observations.
"Stow it," she fired at him. "Gus, if you are even listening, keep taking those hits. Try to keep all his attention on you. Conner, flank Galileo and go low. Try to unbalance him. His staff makes jumping or high attacks hard to do when he can just knock you aside. Essie, fire away from all angles. Make it hard for him to focus on Gus and you. Try not to come at him from the same direction as Gus though. You mammals got it?"
Though not all at once, all three voiced agreements with both her plan and having understood it.
Essie acted furst, pulling out the other energy weapon and firing off shots in tandem, the higher concentration of rapid fire shots forcing Leo to backstep and twirl the staff to defend properly.
Gus bellowed and attacked from the opposing side, unrelenting with swipes and inelegant strikes. With the staff still recharging either end for a few more seconds, the android had to rely on footwork, doing a backshuffle that exited the extended range of his claws and closer to the canine.
Conner closed in and performed a leg sweep, with the mechanical being leaping up and over him, landing behind him. A swift kick toppled the gnu…
...straight into an incoming strike from the bear.
Most of the power behind it was restrained as Gus's reflexes slowed his hit, but didn't entirely stop him. The wildebeest ended up with a most annoying hit to his shoulder, knocking him over.
It wasn't bad, with Conner rising and Gus turning.
"Don't let up," the deer doe ordered, using a gentler tone than the commanding one from before, but still pushing them. "Muddle through. He can only keep up with so much."
Bear and wildebeest looked to one another and nodded, resuming their assault. Gus went high and Conner went low.
Bella had to admit it was quite impressive to see a comparatively diminutive armored being deal with two powerful mammals like neophyte fighters.
With the android thusly engaged between the two, the bear trying to purposefully take the brunt of the explosive energy strikes, and the gnu taking advantage of backsteps to trip up Galileo, Essie was able to use her mobility to get around behind the mechanical entity and fire off a couple of charged shots that impacted the back of the android.
Leo was thrown forward, landing and rolling to recover without becoming pinned.
There was little stun time as the robot recovered, dropping the staff on the ground and kicking it forward with it positioned perpendicular to it's foot. The deer saw all too late that each end was charged just in time…
...as both ends found Gus's right foot and Conner's left one respectively. The energy expenditure took their legs out from under them, heads knocking together and either one slumping in a half conscious state.
Leaping up and over the heap made by the two, the robot grabbed the loose staff and threw it like a spear at Essie, impacting her chest armor and tossing her by sheer physical force alone into the wall.
She was nowhere near unconscious, but the wind was definitely knocked out of her, with the canine resigning herself to sit down heavily, catching her breath.
"Awww darn… I take it to mean we don't get to be one of you?" Essie whined, addressing Leo as it walked to retrieve the staff.
"Where did you get such a notion?" asked the entity. "I never told you that your acceptance as an ally was based upon succeeding at incapacitating me. I merely said you had to face me. This entire exercise was to evaluate your choices of armaments and tactics. If I'm to make you comprehensive and skillset specific suits, I needed to see how you adapted to using advanced technology in a controlled setting."
"So… we're in?" Gus groaned in a hopeful tone, rising to his feet after having them taken out from under him. He helped up Conner as well, with Bella offering some assistance.
"Your acceptance was never in question," confirmed the android. "Now… if you'll follow me, Bella included, I will take you to a scanning station to take detailed information on your anatomy and specs for building form fitting and viable suits of armor."
"Will we get to pick our super names?!" the wild dog vented with spastic energy, suddenly finding the strength to stand and bounce happily, as if the previous fight barely happened.
Leo looked at her, taking in her odd reactions and state, saying, "I am willing to log requests but the public usually picks the names. Both Flux and Phantom had little say in what names they had. However… should the media find the opportunity to interview you in a suit… you are free to offer your suggestions as to a pseudonym."
"Oooh, I wanna be something… bouncy!" Essie chirped. "Hmm… Bouncer?"
"Haha... I don't think that would fit you well," the bear offered, taking off the helmet. "Besides… as a bouncer myself… I think of something different when you say that."
"Ah… that makes sense," she replied. "Soooo, you're a bouncer at a… bar or nightclub?"
"Both," he answered curtly and with a smile. "Depends on what night we're talking about. I freelance between clubs and bars as they see fit… and to whoever pays me more."
"Greedy much?" the canine teased with an eyebrow wiggle.
Gus chuckled, "Nah… just making a living. I have expensive hobbies."
"Alright Mr. Bouncer," Essie sassed, "what do you think is a good name for me?"
The gentle and snide confidence left his muzzle, thoughtful confusion lining his features as he shrugged.
Conner snorted and jested lightly, feeling more comfortable with the mammals he now fought alongside, "Seeing you jump and bounce around like you did reminded me of a basketball on the rebound in a game."
"Ohhh, Rebound!" she piped up, running up to the gnu and thumping his chest playfully. "I like that one. We'll call you Hard Hitter."
"No," the wildebeest deadpanned.
"And Bella can be Brain."
"No," the deer doe replied, unamused.
"...and Gus can be… Bear Bomb!" the canine spoke loudly, gesturing dramatically.
Everyone looked quite disinterested and lacked surprise as the bear offered a simple… "No."
"Awww come on," she groaned, giggling slightly. "At least give it some thought."
Bella was the first to respond, telling her, "I did. I promise. But there isn't a stopwatch with small enough increments of time on it to sufficiently measure how little time it took to think that over."
Without missing a beat, Essie shrugged and told her, "That's fair."
0000000
"Guess Leo was right…" pouted Judy, watching the feed play out until everyone exited the sparring area. Nick looked equally frustrated at being proven wrong, though his face quickly morphed into a small smirk.
"I should have known the tenacious female with a brain would come out on top," he voiced in minor revelation. "I should know a thing or two about dealing with that by now." The last line was mentioned with a roguish grin aimed at his bunny.
Her eyes narrowed dangerously, knowing it sounded like a compliment out loud, but sensing the obvious teasing undertones that she had now come to so frequently expect.
"I'm going to pretend you don't have a secret teasing insult in there and thank you for saying I have a brain," came her disgruntled reply to his now infuriating smirk.
"I believe Nick was making a sexual innuendo at your expense as well," Leo remarked from the kitchen.
The red fox choked on air as the grey doe yelled, "I did NOT want to know that."
"LEO!" the tod barked out, suffering a mild coughing fit from having choked.
Both now blushing and averting gazes, the reasons more rhetorical than blatantly obvious, Nick scratched at an ear for a minute or two before working his muzzle uselessly.
He extended a paw towards the bunny, her eyes now on him once more, gesturing blankly, as if trying to get some point across.
"I… uh… would you… ugh…" he began in mild annoyance at himself. "Would you like to see something?"
Her brow raised in suspicion, to which the red tod figured was fair.
"Sure?" she offered ambiguously.
"Great!" the fox chirped happily, taking her by the paw and leading her away from the android and towards his workshop area.
The doors automatically opened for them, with him taking a venture into a side chamber, Judy mentally remarking that it looked very similar to the other room he was experimenting in.
"Are actually showing me something?" the doe dared to inquire. "Or are you just trying to escape Leo's latest critical hit to your psyche?"
Grumbling under his breath, Nick glanced back at her, mumbling a barely audible, "Yes…"
"Which…?" she began, before the tod cut her off.
"Both."
"Ooooh, prey tell, please," Judy teased, softly speaking to him as she gripped his paw a bit tighter and pressed her chest to his arm, nuzzling said arm.
"You'll see…" he offered sheepishly.
The small doe tried to be patient, and was quickly allowed the reprise of not having to be as such for long.
Inside another room that looked like most other workshops that Nick had used, Judy saw the remarkable tech and strewn about tools. While messy and chaotic looking in its initial impression, the doe knew that her fox was methodical in cleaning up after his projects…
...unless he was really really into it.
Only one project seemed to fit under that proviso for her, with the Zero armor having been the fruit of that labor apparently.
"Right over here…" came the soft tone of a smiling fox, letting her go to attend to a console, paws working in a frenzy as he activated something.
A loud clanking sounded as a something disengaged.
The grey rabbit looked around, locating the sound and looking to a cylindrical vat with a wrap around metal casing. It lifted once the locks unlatched and lifted….
...to reveal a transparent tube about the size of an oil drum and filled halfway with a silver fluid. It bubbled and swirled, looking a bit ominous, but she was nonetheless intrigued.
"What… what is it?" the doe barely whispered in question, resting a paw against the container's side.
"It's hopefully my latest prototype to perfect the microbot tech," the red fox tod explained in short. "Your idea about ants spun a few solutions in my head and collected like cotton candy on my brain. I couldn't resist trying all of them. Zero was a haphazard means to test the swarm theory… and it worked, but not well enough. This… this is what I hope will be the final design."
"But it's not a suit…. Right?"
"Not yet, but it will be anything I want it to be soon," Nick continued. "It's a fluidic and programmable metal alloy infused with the nano tech and able to flex and form as if it were a fluid, reforming and solidifying into any design I see fit. I could potentially copy any of my suit designs or merge them as needed on the fly. I could even try to infuse a method of copying enemy tech in the field and copying their weapons against them."
The bunny's eyes couldn't pawsibly get any wider in recognition of that prospect. Her eyes darted between the swirling mass of fluidic metal and her boyfriend's self satisfied and lopsided grin.
"Does it work?" she duly inquired.
"Not yet… but I'm so close," he replied confidently. "Imagine being able to use a suit that can repair itself on the fly, adjust parameters to match our needs, switch between a well armored tank of armor… and a speed type suit that can strike faster than a bullet. If Leo is right and this is only going to get tougher… we need to up our game and our tech."
"Whatcha calling this silver goo?"
The red fox gave her a mild glare, clearly not liking the term she coined for it offpaw. She smiled with a tinted blush to her cheeks as the doe fiddled with her paws.
"Please don't call it goo… and it's called," the fox spoke, pausing to stare proudly at his work.
"...Blade Storm."
Yessssss! I'm so excited to finally touch upon this.
Blade Storm! growing up with wild ideas of what armor I would make if I could bring Sci-fi to life, this was one of my favs.
And no... it's not inspired by the nanotech from Iron Man's newest armor in Infinity War, for those that know of it.
THIS... was inspired by one of the coolest ideas from an older film that I found so innovative as a cinematic induction...
Terminator 2: Judgement Day. the T-1000 and that programmable metal that could shapeshift into anything the user or program desired for function. Imagine that metal composite being used to form and reform any suit, weapons, or tech that you needed.
One moment, they're making a vast shield to protect themselves, the next they're recreating a huge Howlitzer cannon to punch through their own enemies defenses, then shifting back to defense all in as little time as the metal takes to reform.
I'm also so glad I've gotten to the point to start bringing my team together.
So glad to see all the pawsitive feedback! Thank you all so much.
Gotta say though, quite a few of you had some solid theories about what was coming. I almost wanted to change it up from what I planned but that might have altered some stuff down the line. lol.
Anywho!...
Until next time, It's been a hustle, Sweethearts!