Chapter Six: Changes and Reflection
Several weeks passed as Rick helped the Bonnes rebuild their Draches. Fortunately, during this same time, the Bonnes allowed him access to materials that could restore the underside armor of his on ship. He even managed to skim a few parts as well from their overstocked items- a hoverboard, a few small thruster ports, and a discarded yellow refractor. In return, Rick managed to upgrade the remaining Draches with help from Tron and her small legion of Kobuns. Tron and Rick became friends, since both were rather well versed in engineering and designing at this point. Teasel, however, never really trusted him, and Rick constantly got in trouble for things that would go wrong. For instance, one of the experimental blue Draches, which had been designed for speed and firepower, had blown up after its tilt wing assembly had been disabled. Soon however, all the Draches had superior firepower and speed, as well as slightly better armor thanks to the smelting processes.
The Gustaff II, a mech that Rick had enjoyed working on, was already as good as his own suit of armor, but he managed to make it even better. Smaller by 15%, the Gustaff II boasted its own arm cannon, upgraded in firepower and range by 20%, while also supporting several servo enhancements in the legs. Its speed was increased by a total of 25%, thanks to the reduction in weight and enhanced servos. With the enhanced endoskeleton taken from his own design for his Nova Armor, the strength and protection were both increased by 10%. With the increased energy capacity, taken from using a set of larger refractors than the single red refractor, it could increase the bionic protection power grid of the entire mech. The Beacon bomb cannon was made much, much smaller, while increasing its range with a slightly longer barrel. In the end, Tron was happy with the new, streamlined mech.
After another month or two, helping to construct a few new weapons for use on the Gustaff II, Rick knew it was time to leave. This came up during dinner, when everyone was in the mess hall of the base. "Well, I hate to say it guys, but I really should be going... I have paid my debt to you... and then some. I've got places to go, ruins to explore, and people to meet." Rick said, looking up from the lasagna that he was eating, and he wiped off his mouth with a napkin. Tron and Teasel looked back up to him, while Bomb and the Servbots continued to eat. "Rick, you don't have to leave, ya know. We could give ya a job here as a secondary mechanic, next to Tron, that is." Teasel said, and that rather surprised him. I thought he didn't like me much, Rick was thinking, even as he saw Tron nod in agreement. "Yeah, we could always use some help, Rick." She added, smiling to him. Her face was still somewhat covered with grease, thanks to the fact that they had spent the majority of the morning putting together a much more powerful plasma blaster. One of the coolant lines had burst, which covered her with the freezing liquid as well as the grease that had lined the line.
"Thanks... but I think I should be going. I had you guys pegged down wrong, I think. You're not as bad as the Kattlelox news wrote you out to be." He laughed softly at that, and then shook his head. "I just feel like I'm free loading off of you, that's all. I mean, I've helped rebuild your Draches, I've already helped to upgrade the existing Draches and the Gustaff II... Heck, I've done just about everything that would be needed for your own invasion of a small island... I just hope you never do." Teasel and Tron both laughed at that. They couldn't keep control of a small, already populated island, Rick thought. Mega Man was almost always where they needed or wanted to be, whenever they went out to steal, pillage, rob, or dig. Teasel nodded after a moment of consideration. "Well, it's been good to have ya aboard, Rick. If ya ever need a place to stay while you're in the area, feel free to come on in here." He said, and grinned. "And, if you ever feel like helping us out... Well, we can use all the help we can get, ya know?"
Rick nodded, and grinned as well. "Well, I may not help you to go pirating... but, if you need any help with fixing or making something, just let me know, okay?" Tron nodded at that, and grinned. "Sure thing, Rick. Those tilt-wing designs have saved us a lot of money! Plus, with those modifications to the Draches, we can definitely do what we have to a lot easier. You've probably helped us to not need to steal quite as often, thanks to the upgrades and such."
Teasel was about to speak up, when suddenly the red alert alarm went off. "What in the world?" Rick exclaimed, jumping to his feet. He was, for once, out of his Nova Armor, which he had left in the prototype room. A few weeks ago, he and Tron had begun an experiment to see what could be upgraded. Tron decided to add some hover thrusters to the armor, which required the dual Vulcan guns to be removed, and replaced with smaller Vulcan guns. The smaller ones have half the range, equivalent firepower, and have less of a rapid-fire ability. Rick, however, changed the blaster. Now calling it a charge buster, he could power up a single capacitor within the slightly larger buster gun. With the buster enhancements in place, he could basically double his buster's firepower within a single second of charging it. The right arm was fitted with a new weapon, though it was concealed.
"Everyone to their battle stations immediately! We're under attack!" Teasel yelled, before running to get into his newest Battling Mech. Called the Firewolf, it was a quadruped mech, looking kind of like the Karumuna Bash reaverbots, but a little slower, and with a much more powerful jumping ability. On its back were three Vulcan guns, which could be raised up to 90degrees upward, or in a 360degree rotation. It also contained a flame-thrower like weapon in the mouth, as well as a powerful plasma cannon found on the lower chest, fixed in a forward position between the legs.
Bomb floated away without a single word (he'd been learning how to speak, lately, though it couldn't say much. He soon strapped himself into a smallish orb-mech, which had a total of 8 spikes around the entire thing. Thrusters on all sides gave him tremendous maneuverability, while on all 8 spikes, a powerful, if small plasma cannon could be found. The thing was like a flying bowling ball with blasters, Rick knew, even as he and Tron ran toward the lab. Her Gustaff II was there as well, being fitted with the new experimental right arm weapon that they hadn't been able to even test yet.
The Servbots ran in all sorts of directions, a few being trampled by Tron and Rick as they went where they knew they needed to go. A large amount of Vulcan blasts shredded the hallway behind them, but neither of the two spared a second to look back at the ship that had destroyed it. Instead, Tron jumped up and onto the shoulder of the Gustaff, pushing a button to cause the back of the mech to pop out, with her pilot's seat with it. "See ya out there, Rick! Good luck!" she exclaimed, even as the hatch closed back up and the 'eyes' of the mech lit up to signal that it was up and running. Meanwhile Rick gave her a gloved thumbs-up, then continued to suit up with the lightened Nova. "Nova, activate all weapon systems. Begin power up sequence of charge buster. Also, bring radar screen online. Visor down." He said as the Nova came online, and he pulled the helmet on even as the visor came downward. The radar screen on his visor lit up, and a dozen blips appeared quickly, darting back and forth on the screen. However, he couldn't tell what they were.
"Oh crap! Rick yelled, and started running toward the door as he saw one of the blips head toward his position. He was about 10ft away from the bay door's opening, when the lab began to blow up behind him. Getting angry at the thought of so many of his own experiments, not to mention Tron's, getting destroyed really pissed him off. Soon, the explosions surrounded even him as the chain reaction of the exploding experiments engulfed his armor. Kicking in the Nova's new hover thrusters, he jumped into the air and pointed his legs behind him, and literally flew out of the explosion. As he barely managed to land the flying armor, he looked around at the battle scene, and his eyes went wide at what he saw.
The Bonnes were engaged in fighting a bunch of bird-like mechs and fighter craft. Teasel was rather loud, even when you consider his com link wasn't open. His cursing as shots raked his mech were sounds to behold. Bomb was busy taking care of the aerial threats, spinning all over the place as his blasters shot out at the flying bird-like bots. Tron, however, was moving quickly and with a lot of blasting. Her new maneuverability was amazing, considering that she hadn't tested the newest systems yet. Suddenly a large humanoid, slightly bird-like mech lumbered into view. Rick's communication line was opened by an unknown, slightly feminine voice. "Hey I don't know who you are... but why not work for me, instead of those losers?"
"I don't even know who you are..." Rick replied, looking up at the large robot as he ran towards it. "And I don't work for people I don't know, and especially for people who attack my friends!" he yelled, and then jumped as a set of vulcan blasts slammed through the air and into the ground beneath him. His own momentum brought him into firing range, and Rick grinned, even as he heard the same voice again. "Fine. If you won't work for me, I'll have to destroy you!"
"Works for me, but I'll tell ya one thing- bigger isn't always better!" Rick exclaimed over the communication link, even while Tron lumbered toward him. "Glyde! You'll pay for this!" she yelled, and started blasting, even though she was out of range. She wasn't out of range to hit Rick, and he dodged to the side as her blasts neared him, shaking his head, even as he turned back to Glyde's mech. "So, you're Glyde, huh? Hehehe... Well, I'd like to say its been nice knowing ya, but, then I'd be lying." He commented, and then started blasting at the barely turning mech with his shoulder mounted Vulcan cannons. Round after round after round of supercharged energy bolts blasted into the thing hard and fast, and they were soon accompanied by a barrage of Tron's shots as she pulled up alongside him.
"You can't defeat my Ultra Glyde Mech! It's too powerful for the likes of you! Ha ha ha ha ha!" that same annoying, feminine voice went once again. Rick shook his head, and quickly pressed the second button on his right palm. The four small ports that had been installed popped outward, and out went the four small harpoon-like projectiles. However, these weren't normal harpoons... "Oh Glyde? Follow me!" Rick yelled, and suddenly jumped up on top of the Gustaff II. "Tron, give me a boost, will ya?" In response, the Gustaff II quickly jumped into the air, and Rick launched off of the mech and into the air, blasting away with his charge buster every other second, letting the gun charge up before firing. A twist of his arm, and suddenly, with another press of the special button on the right palm, and he fired the four mini harpoons. The pole-like part of the projectiles pierced the armor, then blew up at the harpoon-like tip, blasting a large hole wide open in his armor.
----
Teasel, however, had his hands full with the flying and bombing Bird drones. They kept diving in and out of even his own weapon ranges, and several of the individual Bird Bots were even trying to get into his base! "Alright, that's it! No more Mr. Nice guys! Bomb, follow me, we're gonna go save our base!" he yelled, almost loud enough that even through the explosions, Tron and Rick could hear him. "They better be alright," he said to himself, even as he ran his Fokker Wolf into position near the base. Bomb hovered over the base itself, spinning to send plasma blasts in all directions to keep the Bird Drones away. "Try this!" Teasel yelled again, and his top mounted cannons fired away at a small wing (3) of the Bird Drones. Shifting his aim after every few seconds, the Bird Drones began to descend at a rather sharp angle, trailing smoke behind them, even as Teasel saw their trajectory. "Bomb, get outta there!" he yelled, before opening the com-link to the base. "Abandon base, abandon base! All servbots grab what you can and get out of there! Get to the Gesellchaft II, and get it up and flying! We need air support out... Waaah!" he exclaimed, as he lurched the quadruped mech of his away from the base as he noticed the Bird Drones about to slam into it... and then, boom!
Teasel shook his head, and then grinned wildly. His radar screen was devoid of any flying contraptions, other than one that was hightailing it out of the combat zone, trailing small puffs of smoke behind it. "Master Teasel, we have the Gesellchaft II up and running now. We will have a Drache come by and pick you up. We can't get close to Miss Tron or Rick yet, though." one of the whiny voices of a Kobun said into the com-link, and Teasel nodded. "Alright then. We'll wait until they get clear, and then we'll strike and pick them up!"
----
"Hey Glyde, do ya feel a draft? Let me fix you up!" and with that, Rick cocked his right arm up and down suddenly, causing another four harpoon tips to load in his right arm. These harpoons, however, had a red tip, rather than the flat metal like tip the last load had. "Tron, you want to do the honors?" he asked, as he landed on the ground beside the Gustaff II. "Love to!" Tron yelled, and then she raised her plasma cannon up at the exposed chest plate of Glyde's mech before beginning to unload plasma blasts into it.
"Heh... eat that, Glyde!" she exclaimed, and Rick was once again surprised at the ferocity by which she fought Glyde in. "My turn..." Rick muttered, and grins, as the chest plate could noticeably be seen taking lots of damage. Lifting his right arm into a firing position, he waited until the crosshairs on the helmet's scanners settled in on it...
----
"Charge up the main cannon! Bring us in close enough to blast Glyde! Then, we'll dash in and get Tron and Rick!" he yelled, and a chorus of 'Rogers' could be heard as the Kobuns complied. Led by Kobun #38, the resident masochist, all of the Kobuns had managed to survive the assault on the base, as well as managing to save as much of the undamaged equipment as possible. The base, though almost completely totaled, was nearly worthless as well, since all the refractors and zenny that they had stored had been saved. An energy indicator went off on the command chair, to which Teasel looked to and grinned. "Open fire!" he yelled, and hit the firing switch for the main cannon. A large green beam flashed out from the skull-like protrusion on the front of the craft, lancing away at the upper legs and back of Glyde's mech.
"We've got 'im now! Get ready to retrieve Tron and Rick!" he exclaimed, and he began to laugh maniacally, as he watched Glyde's mech take punishment from two sides now. "Goodbye, Glyde, you won't survive this time!" his laughter filling the entire bridge, as well as the craft as bolt after green bolt of pure plasma energy slammed into the mech. The armor, which was strong, soon began to buckle under the stress of the firepower being poured into it.
----
"Harpoons away!" he yelled out, just as his finger pressed that special little button again, and the four harpoon-like projectiles were launched forward. One of the missiles impacted just beneath the bottom part of the hole, denting the area around it even more. The other three, however, dove straight in. All four, however, struck their target... and then self-destructed, completely engulfing the upper torso in a good-sized explosion. Another, much larger explosion, followed this series of explosions. "Rick, we gotta get outta here! You just destroyed his Refractor engine! It's gonna blow!" she exclaimed, and Rick fell off of her running Gustaff II mech, getting left far behind as she ran away from the explosive radius. A Drache swooped in towards the Gustaff II, and got picked up. Rick barely had time to notice that as he tried to get to his feet once again.
"Uh-oh..." and suddenly, a flash of white-red light covered the whole are that he could see, nearly blinding him before the intense heat and shrapnel caught up to him. His vision fell, and so did his mind, as he slipped into the numbness that was called unconsciousness. Falling down without a single though, he lay there, on the now superheated ground, unconscious as the color black swept over his eyes and mind.
Several weeks passed as Rick helped the Bonnes rebuild their Draches. Fortunately, during this same time, the Bonnes allowed him access to materials that could restore the underside armor of his on ship. He even managed to skim a few parts as well from their overstocked items- a hoverboard, a few small thruster ports, and a discarded yellow refractor. In return, Rick managed to upgrade the remaining Draches with help from Tron and her small legion of Kobuns. Tron and Rick became friends, since both were rather well versed in engineering and designing at this point. Teasel, however, never really trusted him, and Rick constantly got in trouble for things that would go wrong. For instance, one of the experimental blue Draches, which had been designed for speed and firepower, had blown up after its tilt wing assembly had been disabled. Soon however, all the Draches had superior firepower and speed, as well as slightly better armor thanks to the smelting processes.
The Gustaff II, a mech that Rick had enjoyed working on, was already as good as his own suit of armor, but he managed to make it even better. Smaller by 15%, the Gustaff II boasted its own arm cannon, upgraded in firepower and range by 20%, while also supporting several servo enhancements in the legs. Its speed was increased by a total of 25%, thanks to the reduction in weight and enhanced servos. With the enhanced endoskeleton taken from his own design for his Nova Armor, the strength and protection were both increased by 10%. With the increased energy capacity, taken from using a set of larger refractors than the single red refractor, it could increase the bionic protection power grid of the entire mech. The Beacon bomb cannon was made much, much smaller, while increasing its range with a slightly longer barrel. In the end, Tron was happy with the new, streamlined mech.
After another month or two, helping to construct a few new weapons for use on the Gustaff II, Rick knew it was time to leave. This came up during dinner, when everyone was in the mess hall of the base. "Well, I hate to say it guys, but I really should be going... I have paid my debt to you... and then some. I've got places to go, ruins to explore, and people to meet." Rick said, looking up from the lasagna that he was eating, and he wiped off his mouth with a napkin. Tron and Teasel looked back up to him, while Bomb and the Servbots continued to eat. "Rick, you don't have to leave, ya know. We could give ya a job here as a secondary mechanic, next to Tron, that is." Teasel said, and that rather surprised him. I thought he didn't like me much, Rick was thinking, even as he saw Tron nod in agreement. "Yeah, we could always use some help, Rick." She added, smiling to him. Her face was still somewhat covered with grease, thanks to the fact that they had spent the majority of the morning putting together a much more powerful plasma blaster. One of the coolant lines had burst, which covered her with the freezing liquid as well as the grease that had lined the line.
"Thanks... but I think I should be going. I had you guys pegged down wrong, I think. You're not as bad as the Kattlelox news wrote you out to be." He laughed softly at that, and then shook his head. "I just feel like I'm free loading off of you, that's all. I mean, I've helped rebuild your Draches, I've already helped to upgrade the existing Draches and the Gustaff II... Heck, I've done just about everything that would be needed for your own invasion of a small island... I just hope you never do." Teasel and Tron both laughed at that. They couldn't keep control of a small, already populated island, Rick thought. Mega Man was almost always where they needed or wanted to be, whenever they went out to steal, pillage, rob, or dig. Teasel nodded after a moment of consideration. "Well, it's been good to have ya aboard, Rick. If ya ever need a place to stay while you're in the area, feel free to come on in here." He said, and grinned. "And, if you ever feel like helping us out... Well, we can use all the help we can get, ya know?"
Rick nodded, and grinned as well. "Well, I may not help you to go pirating... but, if you need any help with fixing or making something, just let me know, okay?" Tron nodded at that, and grinned. "Sure thing, Rick. Those tilt-wing designs have saved us a lot of money! Plus, with those modifications to the Draches, we can definitely do what we have to a lot easier. You've probably helped us to not need to steal quite as often, thanks to the upgrades and such."
Teasel was about to speak up, when suddenly the red alert alarm went off. "What in the world?" Rick exclaimed, jumping to his feet. He was, for once, out of his Nova Armor, which he had left in the prototype room. A few weeks ago, he and Tron had begun an experiment to see what could be upgraded. Tron decided to add some hover thrusters to the armor, which required the dual Vulcan guns to be removed, and replaced with smaller Vulcan guns. The smaller ones have half the range, equivalent firepower, and have less of a rapid-fire ability. Rick, however, changed the blaster. Now calling it a charge buster, he could power up a single capacitor within the slightly larger buster gun. With the buster enhancements in place, he could basically double his buster's firepower within a single second of charging it. The right arm was fitted with a new weapon, though it was concealed.
"Everyone to their battle stations immediately! We're under attack!" Teasel yelled, before running to get into his newest Battling Mech. Called the Firewolf, it was a quadruped mech, looking kind of like the Karumuna Bash reaverbots, but a little slower, and with a much more powerful jumping ability. On its back were three Vulcan guns, which could be raised up to 90degrees upward, or in a 360degree rotation. It also contained a flame-thrower like weapon in the mouth, as well as a powerful plasma cannon found on the lower chest, fixed in a forward position between the legs.
Bomb floated away without a single word (he'd been learning how to speak, lately, though it couldn't say much. He soon strapped himself into a smallish orb-mech, which had a total of 8 spikes around the entire thing. Thrusters on all sides gave him tremendous maneuverability, while on all 8 spikes, a powerful, if small plasma cannon could be found. The thing was like a flying bowling ball with blasters, Rick knew, even as he and Tron ran toward the lab. Her Gustaff II was there as well, being fitted with the new experimental right arm weapon that they hadn't been able to even test yet.
The Servbots ran in all sorts of directions, a few being trampled by Tron and Rick as they went where they knew they needed to go. A large amount of Vulcan blasts shredded the hallway behind them, but neither of the two spared a second to look back at the ship that had destroyed it. Instead, Tron jumped up and onto the shoulder of the Gustaff, pushing a button to cause the back of the mech to pop out, with her pilot's seat with it. "See ya out there, Rick! Good luck!" she exclaimed, even as the hatch closed back up and the 'eyes' of the mech lit up to signal that it was up and running. Meanwhile Rick gave her a gloved thumbs-up, then continued to suit up with the lightened Nova. "Nova, activate all weapon systems. Begin power up sequence of charge buster. Also, bring radar screen online. Visor down." He said as the Nova came online, and he pulled the helmet on even as the visor came downward. The radar screen on his visor lit up, and a dozen blips appeared quickly, darting back and forth on the screen. However, he couldn't tell what they were.
"Oh crap! Rick yelled, and started running toward the door as he saw one of the blips head toward his position. He was about 10ft away from the bay door's opening, when the lab began to blow up behind him. Getting angry at the thought of so many of his own experiments, not to mention Tron's, getting destroyed really pissed him off. Soon, the explosions surrounded even him as the chain reaction of the exploding experiments engulfed his armor. Kicking in the Nova's new hover thrusters, he jumped into the air and pointed his legs behind him, and literally flew out of the explosion. As he barely managed to land the flying armor, he looked around at the battle scene, and his eyes went wide at what he saw.
The Bonnes were engaged in fighting a bunch of bird-like mechs and fighter craft. Teasel was rather loud, even when you consider his com link wasn't open. His cursing as shots raked his mech were sounds to behold. Bomb was busy taking care of the aerial threats, spinning all over the place as his blasters shot out at the flying bird-like bots. Tron, however, was moving quickly and with a lot of blasting. Her new maneuverability was amazing, considering that she hadn't tested the newest systems yet. Suddenly a large humanoid, slightly bird-like mech lumbered into view. Rick's communication line was opened by an unknown, slightly feminine voice. "Hey I don't know who you are... but why not work for me, instead of those losers?"
"I don't even know who you are..." Rick replied, looking up at the large robot as he ran towards it. "And I don't work for people I don't know, and especially for people who attack my friends!" he yelled, and then jumped as a set of vulcan blasts slammed through the air and into the ground beneath him. His own momentum brought him into firing range, and Rick grinned, even as he heard the same voice again. "Fine. If you won't work for me, I'll have to destroy you!"
"Works for me, but I'll tell ya one thing- bigger isn't always better!" Rick exclaimed over the communication link, even while Tron lumbered toward him. "Glyde! You'll pay for this!" she yelled, and started blasting, even though she was out of range. She wasn't out of range to hit Rick, and he dodged to the side as her blasts neared him, shaking his head, even as he turned back to Glyde's mech. "So, you're Glyde, huh? Hehehe... Well, I'd like to say its been nice knowing ya, but, then I'd be lying." He commented, and then started blasting at the barely turning mech with his shoulder mounted Vulcan cannons. Round after round after round of supercharged energy bolts blasted into the thing hard and fast, and they were soon accompanied by a barrage of Tron's shots as she pulled up alongside him.
"You can't defeat my Ultra Glyde Mech! It's too powerful for the likes of you! Ha ha ha ha ha!" that same annoying, feminine voice went once again. Rick shook his head, and quickly pressed the second button on his right palm. The four small ports that had been installed popped outward, and out went the four small harpoon-like projectiles. However, these weren't normal harpoons... "Oh Glyde? Follow me!" Rick yelled, and suddenly jumped up on top of the Gustaff II. "Tron, give me a boost, will ya?" In response, the Gustaff II quickly jumped into the air, and Rick launched off of the mech and into the air, blasting away with his charge buster every other second, letting the gun charge up before firing. A twist of his arm, and suddenly, with another press of the special button on the right palm, and he fired the four mini harpoons. The pole-like part of the projectiles pierced the armor, then blew up at the harpoon-like tip, blasting a large hole wide open in his armor.
----
Teasel, however, had his hands full with the flying and bombing Bird drones. They kept diving in and out of even his own weapon ranges, and several of the individual Bird Bots were even trying to get into his base! "Alright, that's it! No more Mr. Nice guys! Bomb, follow me, we're gonna go save our base!" he yelled, almost loud enough that even through the explosions, Tron and Rick could hear him. "They better be alright," he said to himself, even as he ran his Fokker Wolf into position near the base. Bomb hovered over the base itself, spinning to send plasma blasts in all directions to keep the Bird Drones away. "Try this!" Teasel yelled again, and his top mounted cannons fired away at a small wing (3) of the Bird Drones. Shifting his aim after every few seconds, the Bird Drones began to descend at a rather sharp angle, trailing smoke behind them, even as Teasel saw their trajectory. "Bomb, get outta there!" he yelled, before opening the com-link to the base. "Abandon base, abandon base! All servbots grab what you can and get out of there! Get to the Gesellchaft II, and get it up and flying! We need air support out... Waaah!" he exclaimed, as he lurched the quadruped mech of his away from the base as he noticed the Bird Drones about to slam into it... and then, boom!
Teasel shook his head, and then grinned wildly. His radar screen was devoid of any flying contraptions, other than one that was hightailing it out of the combat zone, trailing small puffs of smoke behind it. "Master Teasel, we have the Gesellchaft II up and running now. We will have a Drache come by and pick you up. We can't get close to Miss Tron or Rick yet, though." one of the whiny voices of a Kobun said into the com-link, and Teasel nodded. "Alright then. We'll wait until they get clear, and then we'll strike and pick them up!"
----
"Hey Glyde, do ya feel a draft? Let me fix you up!" and with that, Rick cocked his right arm up and down suddenly, causing another four harpoon tips to load in his right arm. These harpoons, however, had a red tip, rather than the flat metal like tip the last load had. "Tron, you want to do the honors?" he asked, as he landed on the ground beside the Gustaff II. "Love to!" Tron yelled, and then she raised her plasma cannon up at the exposed chest plate of Glyde's mech before beginning to unload plasma blasts into it.
"Heh... eat that, Glyde!" she exclaimed, and Rick was once again surprised at the ferocity by which she fought Glyde in. "My turn..." Rick muttered, and grins, as the chest plate could noticeably be seen taking lots of damage. Lifting his right arm into a firing position, he waited until the crosshairs on the helmet's scanners settled in on it...
----
"Charge up the main cannon! Bring us in close enough to blast Glyde! Then, we'll dash in and get Tron and Rick!" he yelled, and a chorus of 'Rogers' could be heard as the Kobuns complied. Led by Kobun #38, the resident masochist, all of the Kobuns had managed to survive the assault on the base, as well as managing to save as much of the undamaged equipment as possible. The base, though almost completely totaled, was nearly worthless as well, since all the refractors and zenny that they had stored had been saved. An energy indicator went off on the command chair, to which Teasel looked to and grinned. "Open fire!" he yelled, and hit the firing switch for the main cannon. A large green beam flashed out from the skull-like protrusion on the front of the craft, lancing away at the upper legs and back of Glyde's mech.
"We've got 'im now! Get ready to retrieve Tron and Rick!" he exclaimed, and he began to laugh maniacally, as he watched Glyde's mech take punishment from two sides now. "Goodbye, Glyde, you won't survive this time!" his laughter filling the entire bridge, as well as the craft as bolt after green bolt of pure plasma energy slammed into the mech. The armor, which was strong, soon began to buckle under the stress of the firepower being poured into it.
----
"Harpoons away!" he yelled out, just as his finger pressed that special little button again, and the four harpoon-like projectiles were launched forward. One of the missiles impacted just beneath the bottom part of the hole, denting the area around it even more. The other three, however, dove straight in. All four, however, struck their target... and then self-destructed, completely engulfing the upper torso in a good-sized explosion. Another, much larger explosion, followed this series of explosions. "Rick, we gotta get outta here! You just destroyed his Refractor engine! It's gonna blow!" she exclaimed, and Rick fell off of her running Gustaff II mech, getting left far behind as she ran away from the explosive radius. A Drache swooped in towards the Gustaff II, and got picked up. Rick barely had time to notice that as he tried to get to his feet once again.
"Uh-oh..." and suddenly, a flash of white-red light covered the whole are that he could see, nearly blinding him before the intense heat and shrapnel caught up to him. His vision fell, and so did his mind, as he slipped into the numbness that was called unconsciousness. Falling down without a single though, he lay there, on the now superheated ground, unconscious as the color black swept over his eyes and mind.