I would love to say I got there fast, a few hours of riding Rival and then boom I'm in the nations Capital. Nope, I made it to Maryland before shit went south.

Rival thundered through Bethesda, cars were going nuts, windows were shattering, I was just coming up to the bridge that separated Maryland and Virginia when something caught my eye.

A blur of movement in the trees, I almost missed it but my senses were going crazy telling me to go faster and get the hell out of here! I spurred Rival and he increased his speed when everything slowed down to almost freezing entirely.

In my view I saw the end of a large barrel aimed right in front of us, on the other side I saw a large amount of archers taking aim at me. I pulled the reigns and tried to turn but I saw fire and sparks brewing from the end of the barrel when time resumed.

The tank firing nearly deafened me, then the explosion that erupted right in front of me finished the job. I was thrown off of Rival and he was bucking and kicking causing the trees to shake and the archers to lose their balance. I hit the ground hard and groaned as my back spasmed in pain and shrapnel of rock rained down on me.

Rival clearly was having a difficult time getting his bearings because he neighed very loudly and then ran off into the forest to calm down. Never let it be said that that horse was not smart, he knew when to cut and fucking run!

I winced as I slowly got to my feet, my sword in hand and I wanted to make sure the anger and hatred in my eyes was evident. The archers were still pulling themselves together from the massive earthquake that Rival caused. I could only hear a high pitched ringing sound as I stumbled around for a second.

I saw that the tank was in fact a World War II Panzer! On any other occasion I probably would have been excited to be this close to a tank from the second war, but right now as the barrel is aimed at me and they intend to blow me to shreds...not really feeling a lot of excitement here.

I glanced at the body of the tank and realized there was no way I could even attempt to fight against it! The hull is way too thick and they would kill me before I even tried. I glanced at the bridge that was maybe a hundred feet away on the other side of the tank and then I felt a small tremor.

I saw Rival in the dense forest and I a plan came to mind, I held my hand up to tell him to lay low. The horse backed away a little and I saw the archers were taking aim again.

"Okay..." I said cracking my neck and readying my sword.

"Let's go asshole!" I shouted before sprinting towards the archers. They all fired at once and time slowed for a split second allowing me to jump to the side and cut the arrows in my way. I started up the hill and I could hear the tank closing in behind me, apparently they wanted to up close and personal when they blew me up.

I leaped over the archers as they readied their bows again only for them to scream and jump out of the way as the tank came over the rise. The archers were scrambling to try and shoot me but the chaos the tank was causing couldn't give them a clear shot.

The tank fired again and thank all the is holy that the ground was bumpy! The shell missed by an inch, the force throwing me to the side as it exploded and brought down like five trees. The archers were shouting orders as they rushed over the fallen trees and I booked it as fast as I could down the hill towards the bridge.

I had just made it to the road when I heard the barrel ready itself again, meaning they just had to fire down and I was toast! As I looked behind me I accidentally kicked my own heel and I fell all the way down the rest of the hill. I was groaning as I tried to get up, but winced I felt my stomach wound throb I guess it wasn't fully healed. The tank was less than thirty feet away and I quickly looked out to the forest.

"RIVAL! NOW!" I shouted hoping my horse understood what I wanted. The ground shook as the tank barreled towards me ready to kill me when suddenly Rival rushed from behind, killing a few of the archers as he trampled them. The tanks barrel started to turn to try and fight Rival, then it stopped and the hatch opened, a young soldier started crawling out, a look of fear on his face.

"Bail! Bail! This is not worth it!" he shouted leaping off the top of the tank and landing on his leg and his arm, he screamed as he tried to crawl away just as Rival rammed the tank head on.

The metal screamed as it bent and then was put into reverse as Rival continued to push the tank towards the large cliff, far below were the rushing currents of the Potomac River, I knew that jagged rocks and strong currents were what were waiting for the riders of that tank.

I saw the young Gargarean trying desperately to get away as the tank slowly was losing ground, if he wasn't faster he's going to get crushed! I ignored the throbbing pain that felt like someone was stabbing my gut and quickly made my way over and grabbed the guy by his arm and quickly pulled as hard as I could and dragged him away from the tanks path.

The soldier looked confused but also grateful, I looked over and Rival was clearly pouring all his strength into pushing the tank, now that the gunner was gone no one was firing the tank, it seemed the only ones in the tank were the driver and maybe a few fighters.

"They don't know how it operates." the young soldier to my left said, I looked over at him "They wanted me in charge because I knew how to fire and reload. Those idiots just wanted to ride in the tank they have no idea how to work it." he said groaning loudly.

I looked up the hill and saw the archers had retreated, probably after Rival had trampled some of them they saw it as a lost cause.

Then the hatch opened again and one soldier holding a hook and a chain came out glaring at Rival. He swung the chain like a lasso and threw it, the hook digging into Rivals skin. Then he tied the chain to one of the outer mechanisms of the tank.

"No! No!" I shouted running towards the tank as fast as I could despite the soldier shouting for me to stop. I had to shake my head a bunch as a cut on my forehead poured into my eyes making everything blurry.

I saw my sword laying on the ground and I grabbed it and leaped onto the tank as the soldier threw two more hooks at Rival, both digging deep into the horse. Rival let out a loud neigh that sounded almost like a scream as he pushed harder against the tank.

"Hey!?" I shouted and the soldier turned just in time for me to kick him in the head, breaking his neck and sending him back into the tank.

I looking into the hatch only to see a sword shoot out and slice into my shoulder "Fuck!" I shouted stumbling back. A very large Gargarean leaped out of the hatch with a battle axe.

"Come on kid! Let's see what you got!" he shouted before bringing the axe down. I rolled to the side and cut his leg but he didn't even seem fazed as he kicked me and ripped the axe out of the dense metal. I realized I was laying on one of the chains that were hurting Rival. I smirked as the man swung his axe down in an attempt to decapitate me but I rolled away and the chain snapped under the weapons might.

The man growled as Rival seemed to push even harder and the cliff was approaching fast. I quickly got to my feet and swiped over the second chain, cutting it clean off.

I turned to cut the final chain when the man swung his axe in an arc and and I was forced to block causing the sword to fly out of my hand.

"Did you think this whole plan was an attempt to kill you?" the man asked grinning and I was breathing heavily as I heard the final chain rattling as it held strong even against Rivals strength.

"We all know about your horse! The thing can take on a tank! So we thought it might be a good idea to get rid of it once and for all you red eyed freak!" he shouted just as the tank reached the cliff and half of it was now dangling over the river. The soldier laughed as he pinned me to the tank with the shaft of his axe, I choked as he cut off my air flow, then an arrow struck the mans side and he roared in pain before kicking me in the gut.

I sailed off of the tank and hit the ground hard, my already throbbing wounds were now screaming in agony. I looked up just as the man laughed only for Rival to buck up and the chain still connected to him flew up and landed on the mans back. Then Rival backed up causing the chain to go taut and pin the man to the tank.

"No! No! One of you idiots get this chain off me!" he shouted and another soldier rushed out of the hatch and tried to get the chain but Rival rushed forward and slammed the tank one final time, and the rocks gave in to the war machines immense weight.

I heard the soldiers scream and Rival turned his head to look at me one final time before the chain pulled and he, along with the tank, fell off of the cliff into the rushing water below.

"RIVAL!" I screamed as I tried to crawl towards the cliffside but my body refused to do what I asked. All it wanted was for me to stop and the blood covering my face made it so difficult to see. Finally after an eternity of agony I made it to the cliff and looked down.

The drop was certainly fatal and in the waters I could see the tank, now just a crushed and ruined scrap of metal.

Rival was nowhere in sight.

"No...no please not again..." I mumbled as tears rushed down my cheeks.

"Not again."

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