Mystic Destiny
Chapter 4-Mission
Vengeance landed on the hot desert sands, looking over the city below. Also below them, were swarms of smallish...things...Klein had never seen any of their type before, and neither had Selskia. Actually, they kind of looked like Selskia's mini ACs, but more like bugs than anything. Golden shiny bugs. Just a few, and he could've squashed them like the bugs they looked like, but the problem was that there were thousands of the tiny things, a giant mass of moving metal. All moving towards the large city. Selskia, back in her own AC, opened a com link.
"They look like scarabs..."
A slight rumble sounded behind the AC, as they turned to see that three other ACs had come to join them. He recognized one as Retiff, a fairly good raven although known to run if the situation got hopeless. The others were new, as far as he could tell. All the ACs had had a missile launchers and Moonlights, but the newbies had grenade launchers and orbit cannons while Retiff had a chain gun and plasma cannon instead. Medium/heavy weights as far as he could tell.
A com link screen opened in front of them, showing Retiff's boyish face.
"Hello Klein, fine day to battle beetles, isn't it?"
"Beetles are fine, but not thousands of them! Ah well, might as well get started."
He started to fire a few missiles into the mass, but it seemed to be absorbed into the bunch as those that were destroyed were instantly replaced. Even with all four of their missile launchers firing, even a few grenades, nothing affected the moving mass. They just kept coming and coming and coming...
"Hm...I guess you were right. What should we do, oh mighty Klein?"
"Don't call me that!" He snapped back quickly. "Wait, let me think..."
He looked back to Selskia's com link to see her also deep in thought.
"Well, any ideas?"
She looked up, with a hopeless expression on her face.
"There has to be an end to all of those things, you just have to find it. Destroy them all, or find their source, that's all I have to say."
Klein looked back out the window to see that the things were quickly approaching the city limit during the time he and the others had been firing and thinking about what to do. If they reached the city limit, no pay for him.
"Well...Can't you just...You know...Make them disappear?"
He hated to ask that of her, but there really wasn't much chance. There must be millions of those things, and all under the top layer they had been blasting at.
"Of course I can. Here."
She snapped.
Nothing happened.
So she snapped again. And again. And again. Still nothing. Her hand flew up to her chest, as a shocked expression grew on her face.
"No...No no no no NO!!!!!"
"What's the matter, Selskia? Didn't you say you could just make them disappear?"
She looked at the edge of tears.
"My magic...It's gone...The punishment...I'm sorry Klein..."
But she disappeared and reappeared back in Klein's cockpit. Turning, Klein had a rather sarcastic look on his face.
"And you said you couldn't use magic anymore...Hah! Well, what else are we supposed to do?"
"I can use some magic, just the little powers I had as a raven. And I'm stuck in this form, most likely...But I'm supposed to be a goddess!"
She really did look sad, but then looked out of the Plexiglas at scarabs, and at a fissure running along the rocky ground.
"I've got an idea! Ok, Klein, we don't have much time, do this..."
She started to trace diagrams in the air with little trails of smoke, pointing and listing things to do. It really was a good plan.
"Ok, got it."
She teleported back into her own AC, and the plan began.
Klein didn't shoot at the scarab things, but instead shot at a large crack which was just a few feet ahead of them. A few well placed missiles and the fissure was wide open. Although there was also a slight earthquake, better than those things reaching the city. It seemed like millions of the things were sucked down into the hole, but a smallish mass managed to change direction quickly enough not to fall in, but were met by another large hole ahead, where Selskia had also blown open a crack.
"Yes! We did it!"
Klein nodded his head. All in a day's work. The other ravens were still there, shooting and stepping on the few remaining scarabs so they could get some credit for the work. Suddenly, the ground began to shake.
"What the!? Not more of them...!"
The ground burst open near Vengeance, sending the huge AC flying. Another larger AC had appeared, and had apparently shot a grenade for its entrance. It was a sand colored AC, and it blended in with the endless swirls of sand and rock around it. It was equipped with the grenade launcher it had just fired, a missile launcher, a laser blade, and a machine gun as far as she could tell. Suddenly, it started attacking the nearest ACs, which happened to be Retiff. For its enormous size, the desert AC moved with amazing speed, deftly slicing armor off Retiff's sluggish heavyweight.
Selskia looked back to the view screen.
"Mystic Angel, any stats on that AC?"
No information detected
Klein was helping Retiff, slicing at the AC's weapons. But it dodged every single slash.
The newbies tried to help, or at least what they thought was help. They shot grenades and missiles from afar, not wanting to get too close to their gigantic target, but every single projectile missed. Klein managed to get out of the way when he noticed they were firing, shouting "No you stupid IDIOTS!" The sandy AC danced out of the way as each and every one of the missiles flew past him, and instead hit Retiff's nearly armorless AC, blowing the badly damaged AC to bits.
"RETIFF!!!!!"
End Chapter 4, Part I
Note from Selskia We call this guy the 'invincible AC', and for good reason, too...
Klein looked back at the very spot where his friend had been standing just moments ago. Retiff. Behind him, there was the pop of displaced air. Selskia. Not now...
"Selskia...Go away...Not in the mood to talk..."
"But...*pant*...But I thought you wanted...*pant*...Wanted Retiff..."
He turned in his chair. There, standing in front of him was a panting Selskia dragging along a shocked Retiff. He seemed to be fine, as far as he could tell.
"Just managed to get...*pant*...Get in right before the explosion...*pant*....You take care of him..."
She dropped her load in the back of the cockpit, her usual spot, and teleported back to her own AC. Klein thought Retiff looked fine, although he obviously needed some time to recover from what just happened. He looked back up at the desert AC to find that it was attacking the other two ravens right now, and effectively disabling them. One already lay in a heap off to the side, weapons destroyed and legs slashed up. He fired about ten missiles, and then ran up to the AC firing his KARASAWA and Moonlight flashing in his hand. Amazingly, the AC dodged everyone, and met Klein's moonlight with his own. The desert AC's Moonlight glowed black for a second, and cut through Klein's like it was nothing but a piece of wood.
"What the #$%@?!?!"
Klein jumped back abruptly, tossing the handle of the now broken moonlight aside, noting both pieces' location. /I can fix that later.../
Selskia, meanwhile, had been firing missiles from afar, her AC not well suited for battling such a powerful and fast AC. Every single one was dodged, and nothing she did seemed to affect it. She even sent out a mini AC, hastily made with her other mini, to try to find out what the heck the enemy was using. It never came back.
Klein was getting pummeled. There really wasn't any other way to put it. He dodged the best he could, even over boosting and intercepting half the missiles with his own, but he took more and more hits. Strangely, all the shots seemed to be aimed to cripple, not to kill or destroy the generator or anything. He was moving slower and slower, focused only on defending himself, until he finally came to a stop. His AC was smoldering and blackened, but still functional, although only one brush with anything would topple it. He braced himself for the final killing blow, but it never came. The other AC turned to Selskia, who was deep in thought at the time.
"God, I hope you can do something, Selskia..."
Behind him, Retiff stirred.
"Where...Where am I?"
Selskia was still thinking when the AC turned to her and rushed at her like it had with the other ACs, prepared to reduce her to scrap metal.
"Oh crap..."
She teleported herself and her AC with her to the side, and started up an illusion of herself, each with its own blip on the radar. Immediately, every single one fired its chain gun at the tan AC, which was in the center. Not even noticing the bullets, it charged right at the real Mystic Angel, and the real Selskia. She took a few rounds of machine gun fire before she jumped back, the illusions fading, and fired a single blast or her KARASAWA at the giant AC. It dodged, of course, and the ball of energy instead grazed Klein.
"SELSKIA! YOU IDIOT!!!!!"
He braced himself, but was nonetheless jolted up out of his seat when Vengeance hit the ground, toppled even though nothing had hit it. Retiff was hit in the head at the back of the cockpit, knocked unconscious yet again. Klein looked up at the sky, which was pretty much the only thing he could look at. The sun was setting. Just like when he had first met Selskia.
Selskia danced the dance of death, weaving around missiles and grenades with the occasional nudge of her magic. Her armor was getting low though, and the other AC was virtually untouched. In desperation, she threw her Moonlight at the AC like a javelin, managing to stick the thing in the AC's arm. In return, however, she got a busted missile launcher, and her chain gun was almost out of ammo. He even pulled out Selskia's Moonlight sticking in its arm as if bored. She resorted to simply blasting at him the best she could with her KARASAWA, the lone weapon remaining that actually worked. But the AC didn't get hit at all, and actually didn't dodge them either. No, he had to hit the energy beams back with his enhanced Moonlight. One hit also fried her KARASAWA.
"Klein? What the hell am I supposed to do now?"
"How should I know!?!? Think of something!!!"
She ran over to the piles of machinery that used to be the other Ravens' ACs and tore off a leg. And she chucked it at the sandy AC. The other AC hesitated for a moment, as if in surprise, and deftly slashed it in two with its Moonlight. She did it again. And again. To no avail, but she continued. Better to distract it, if anything. Sighing, she quickly teleported to Klein's cockpit and returned with him in tow.
"Any suggestions? I'd let you take the controls if I could, but you can't."
He shrugged, thinking.
Selskia went back to the opposing AC again, and just stood in front of it. Surprisingly, it didn't do anything, either. Suddenly, she teleported behind the AC, giving it a kick in the back. Of course, nothing happened, but she did it for the heck of it anyway. In retaliation, the Ac spun around and gave Selskia a slash, cutting through the little remaining armor like butter.
Klein looked up at the sky again, squinting because of the little light outside. The sun's last few beams shone for a second, and disappeared, leaving them in near darkness. Abruptly, the ground started to shake again. He looked up, to see a dust cloud forming around the other AC as it burrowed into the ground. Finally, there was nothing left of the AC but a memory, and little left of any of the ACs, crippled and falling apart.
"Well, now what? It's not like any of our ACs can manage the journey back to the city in this condition..."
End Chapter 4, Part II
Selskia was sitting against her AC, the only one that was actually worth working on. The rest of the ACs were trashed. Vengeance was a mess of blackened metal, and the other three ravens didn't really have ACs at all. The remaining weapons were moved to Selskia's AC, and Klein was working on fixing his broken Moonlight with some help with Selskia's first mini AC over to the side. Mystic Angel was actually in fair condition, although it only had 2 weapons: A recovered missile launcher and a nearly-out-of-ammo KARASAWA. Klein was working on the Moonlight, and he would be the pilot if the desert AC came back. She had no idea how, but Klein just said that it was coming back and it would be better to stay here. Even he had looked surprised as he said those words. Standing up, the girl walked over to Retiff, Perth, and Gailin. Retiff had recovered from his injuries with nothing but a few bruises and cuts while the other newbies had simple cases of shock, although one had a nasty gash on one arm. Spreading some salve from her supplies, she put the bandage back on Perth's arm and stood, looking up at the stars and the boulder that was their shelter for the night.
Returning to her work, Selskia went to salvage more metal scraps from the various ACs so she could make more mini ACs. Kamikaze was the plan. Some metal, a few fuses, and a touch of magic were all she needed to inflict some damage on the enemy. Although they were nothing more than shells that were lined with explosives, they did their job, as one earlier test had showed. Setting her 5th on top of a rock, she turned back to Klein, slightly worried. He had been working on that thing ever since they had gotten the pieces with no success. It was blackened from burns and the beam was discolored. When they tried to hook it up, no hum of electricity flowed through to make the blade. Yet he still worked on.
She sat back down and leaned against the rock, a few of the mini ACs stepping towards her. All 5 of them had a crudely made bomb strapped to them, her kamikaze dive bombers. Reassuring the little machines that she was all right, Selskia returned to work, calling her original mini over to help her occasionally, much to the annoyance of Klein. When she finally set down her tools and gave a last sleep command to the minis, there were 25 of them, lined up in rows of 5. Going back to the small area that they had set up, she leaned against the boulder on the various jackets they had laid down for pallets. The moon was at its high, full and providing enough light to work by. Selskia nodded off to sleep, hoping tomorrow would be better.
Klein was still working, still carefully arranging the microchips and wires. Need for sleep didn't touch his eyes at all, in fact, he seemed able to go another few nights without sleep. With a brief swipe of a hand, he commanded the little mini to stop wielding a piece on as he started to polish the handle. He was done at last. The previous failure was to be expected, without spending time on the wiring. This time, he re-enforced every wire and took out every flaw in the shining metal. Stepping back to look at his handiwork, he took a glance at the starry night sky. The moon was almost about to set. Moving quickly, he went to Selskia's AC to see if the blade was still compatible. It should be, with all that work he had done checking and rechecking it.
The blade was shorter than most, but enhanced far beyond any mere mass production Moonlight. The beam was jet black with a deep, midnight blue edge. He had taken out some of the coloring beams to make room for the power supply, although the little he could salvage wasn't quite fit for a beam sword. His modifications had taken care of that. Actually, it matched the night sky itself. Speaking of the night sky...
Klein looked up again. Actually, he didn't have to look up too far to see the moon, which was setting. A thought flashed through his head, with no apparent reason. /It's coming...With the light of day it comes unbidden with the setting of the sun it hides./ He shook his head. /What am I thinking! I don't know that! It's the same thing that happened earlier.../ The same thing that told him it was coming back. Shaking his head, he walked towards Selskia and the others.
Before he could reach the sleeping girl, however, the ground had started shaking. Jolting awake, Selskia jumped up and snapped her minis to attention, waking Retiff, Perth, and Gailin. Klein was already running towards the AC sitting on the ground, already ready for battle. Selskia grabbed all three of them and teleported up to the cockpit where Klein was already starting the AC. All 25 of the minis followed her, sitting on her AC's head.
From Mystic Angel, the rumbling wasn't as strong, especially when Klein boosted a little in the air. Below, a vortex of sand was forming and a very familiar head poking out of the center. Jumping up and out of the spinning mass of sand, the AC came up slashing, the sand stopping the moment he exited it. Spinning to face the mysterious AC, Klein met the blade with his own, light meeting dark. Electric blue sparks flew as the swords clashed, and they jumped back, each firing. Klein only fired a few, well aimed shots while the desert AC was firing round after round of machine gun fire. Everyone was happy to see that the enemy's moonlight was just a little bit duller, and a little unsure of itself despite its obvious advantage. Selskia poked her head over Klein's shoulder.
"I think we might just win this..."
End Chapter 4, Part III
Klein piloted Selskia's lightweight AC well, despite the fact that he was accustomed to medium-heavyweights. As he focused in on the battle, Selskia noticed that he never got hit, not by a single bullet. Turning back to her own job in the battle, she readied the mini ACs to kamikaze.
Despite his apparent calm demeanor and his impossible task, Klein was actually having fun. A true enemy that he was nothing compared to. That was what he liked to do, and win in the battle. Dodging the opposing AC's newest round of grenades, he dove in and slashed once before boosting back to safety. Already, there were many dents and slashes in the opponent's armor.
Looking up, Selskia held the first AC in her hands, ready to teleport the moment the way was clear. As Klein slashed once again, she closed her eyes and sent the little AC to the edge of the desert AC's armor, the little bomb crawling into one of the slashes in its armor and self destructing. The scrap of armor over the core blew off, scorching the core a little as well. Reaching over to the next one, she readied it too for combat.
/Finally, an opening.../ Klein looked over the enemy AC once again, wondering whether he should attack another section of armor or the defenseless core. Armor.
He slashed again, weaving in and out of the sandy AC's volleys and slashing again on its shoulder, trying to disable the arm. Stepping back, he fired one shot of the KARASAWA, hitting the AC on the head. In return, he got a shot in the leg by a grenade.
Selskia whispered a few words to the AC before teleporting it to the arm, letting it crawl in and self-destruct, blowing the arm off. Good, no more machine gun fire. Of course, Klein was doing fine with the machine gun firing at him, but at least it was one load off his back.
Klein blinked the sweat out of his eyes so he could see again. It was a hard battle, dodging everything, but somehow he managed. Looking back to Selskia for a brief moment, he saw her out of the corner of his eye, holding another mini AC. Turning back, he managed to see a grenade right before it exploded near the core. And another before it exploded almost in his face.
Danger: Overheating Danger: Armor low
/Great...I better finish this fast.../ He aimed for the grenade launcher this time, best to get that troublesome weapon off. Firing the last few shots in the KARASAWA, he ran forward and slashed once again. In vain. The desert AC met Klein's blade with his own, and fired a few more shots into Klein.
Danger: Armor reaching critical level Danger: Heat reaching critical level
Peeking over Klein's shoulder once again, Selskia looked at all the readings on damage. They were all very very low...
"Well, this looks bad..."
She reached back to her mini AC and sent it to the grenade launcher, hoping it wouldn't be blown up before it could reach it...But it made it, and blew the troublesome weapon to pieces. And with that, an idea.
"Klein, get up close...I have an idea..."
Complying, he boosted up closer, carefully though. At least there weren't any more grenades to dodge. But it didn't help much anyway; any hit could kill all of them.
"Closer..."
"I can't GO any closer...Unless you want us all to die!"
"Go closer anyway...Or reach out an arm or something..."
Sighing, he ducked and boosted up, dodging and reached an arm out.
Selskia closed her eyes once again, and teleported herself (holding the mini AC) out onto the AC's arm. Throwing the mini off, she teleported it right into the cockpit of the enemy...And made it self destruct. It fired one last shot of defiance before it wilted and shut off. Then disintegrated into thousands of tiny scraps of metal.
"That's over with now..."
End Part IV, Chapter 4 End Chapter 4
Vengeance landed on the hot desert sands, looking over the city below. Also below them, were swarms of smallish...things...Klein had never seen any of their type before, and neither had Selskia. Actually, they kind of looked like Selskia's mini ACs, but more like bugs than anything. Golden shiny bugs. Just a few, and he could've squashed them like the bugs they looked like, but the problem was that there were thousands of the tiny things, a giant mass of moving metal. All moving towards the large city. Selskia, back in her own AC, opened a com link.
"They look like scarabs..."
A slight rumble sounded behind the AC, as they turned to see that three other ACs had come to join them. He recognized one as Retiff, a fairly good raven although known to run if the situation got hopeless. The others were new, as far as he could tell. All the ACs had had a missile launchers and Moonlights, but the newbies had grenade launchers and orbit cannons while Retiff had a chain gun and plasma cannon instead. Medium/heavy weights as far as he could tell.
A com link screen opened in front of them, showing Retiff's boyish face.
"Hello Klein, fine day to battle beetles, isn't it?"
"Beetles are fine, but not thousands of them! Ah well, might as well get started."
He started to fire a few missiles into the mass, but it seemed to be absorbed into the bunch as those that were destroyed were instantly replaced. Even with all four of their missile launchers firing, even a few grenades, nothing affected the moving mass. They just kept coming and coming and coming...
"Hm...I guess you were right. What should we do, oh mighty Klein?"
"Don't call me that!" He snapped back quickly. "Wait, let me think..."
He looked back to Selskia's com link to see her also deep in thought.
"Well, any ideas?"
She looked up, with a hopeless expression on her face.
"There has to be an end to all of those things, you just have to find it. Destroy them all, or find their source, that's all I have to say."
Klein looked back out the window to see that the things were quickly approaching the city limit during the time he and the others had been firing and thinking about what to do. If they reached the city limit, no pay for him.
"Well...Can't you just...You know...Make them disappear?"
He hated to ask that of her, but there really wasn't much chance. There must be millions of those things, and all under the top layer they had been blasting at.
"Of course I can. Here."
She snapped.
Nothing happened.
So she snapped again. And again. And again. Still nothing. Her hand flew up to her chest, as a shocked expression grew on her face.
"No...No no no no NO!!!!!"
"What's the matter, Selskia? Didn't you say you could just make them disappear?"
She looked at the edge of tears.
"My magic...It's gone...The punishment...I'm sorry Klein..."
But she disappeared and reappeared back in Klein's cockpit. Turning, Klein had a rather sarcastic look on his face.
"And you said you couldn't use magic anymore...Hah! Well, what else are we supposed to do?"
"I can use some magic, just the little powers I had as a raven. And I'm stuck in this form, most likely...But I'm supposed to be a goddess!"
She really did look sad, but then looked out of the Plexiglas at scarabs, and at a fissure running along the rocky ground.
"I've got an idea! Ok, Klein, we don't have much time, do this..."
She started to trace diagrams in the air with little trails of smoke, pointing and listing things to do. It really was a good plan.
"Ok, got it."
She teleported back into her own AC, and the plan began.
Klein didn't shoot at the scarab things, but instead shot at a large crack which was just a few feet ahead of them. A few well placed missiles and the fissure was wide open. Although there was also a slight earthquake, better than those things reaching the city. It seemed like millions of the things were sucked down into the hole, but a smallish mass managed to change direction quickly enough not to fall in, but were met by another large hole ahead, where Selskia had also blown open a crack.
"Yes! We did it!"
Klein nodded his head. All in a day's work. The other ravens were still there, shooting and stepping on the few remaining scarabs so they could get some credit for the work. Suddenly, the ground began to shake.
"What the!? Not more of them...!"
The ground burst open near Vengeance, sending the huge AC flying. Another larger AC had appeared, and had apparently shot a grenade for its entrance. It was a sand colored AC, and it blended in with the endless swirls of sand and rock around it. It was equipped with the grenade launcher it had just fired, a missile launcher, a laser blade, and a machine gun as far as she could tell. Suddenly, it started attacking the nearest ACs, which happened to be Retiff. For its enormous size, the desert AC moved with amazing speed, deftly slicing armor off Retiff's sluggish heavyweight.
Selskia looked back to the view screen.
"Mystic Angel, any stats on that AC?"
No information detected
Klein was helping Retiff, slicing at the AC's weapons. But it dodged every single slash.
The newbies tried to help, or at least what they thought was help. They shot grenades and missiles from afar, not wanting to get too close to their gigantic target, but every single projectile missed. Klein managed to get out of the way when he noticed they were firing, shouting "No you stupid IDIOTS!" The sandy AC danced out of the way as each and every one of the missiles flew past him, and instead hit Retiff's nearly armorless AC, blowing the badly damaged AC to bits.
"RETIFF!!!!!"
End Chapter 4, Part I
Note from Selskia We call this guy the 'invincible AC', and for good reason, too...
Klein looked back at the very spot where his friend had been standing just moments ago. Retiff. Behind him, there was the pop of displaced air. Selskia. Not now...
"Selskia...Go away...Not in the mood to talk..."
"But...*pant*...But I thought you wanted...*pant*...Wanted Retiff..."
He turned in his chair. There, standing in front of him was a panting Selskia dragging along a shocked Retiff. He seemed to be fine, as far as he could tell.
"Just managed to get...*pant*...Get in right before the explosion...*pant*....You take care of him..."
She dropped her load in the back of the cockpit, her usual spot, and teleported back to her own AC. Klein thought Retiff looked fine, although he obviously needed some time to recover from what just happened. He looked back up at the desert AC to find that it was attacking the other two ravens right now, and effectively disabling them. One already lay in a heap off to the side, weapons destroyed and legs slashed up. He fired about ten missiles, and then ran up to the AC firing his KARASAWA and Moonlight flashing in his hand. Amazingly, the AC dodged everyone, and met Klein's moonlight with his own. The desert AC's Moonlight glowed black for a second, and cut through Klein's like it was nothing but a piece of wood.
"What the #$%@?!?!"
Klein jumped back abruptly, tossing the handle of the now broken moonlight aside, noting both pieces' location. /I can fix that later.../
Selskia, meanwhile, had been firing missiles from afar, her AC not well suited for battling such a powerful and fast AC. Every single one was dodged, and nothing she did seemed to affect it. She even sent out a mini AC, hastily made with her other mini, to try to find out what the heck the enemy was using. It never came back.
Klein was getting pummeled. There really wasn't any other way to put it. He dodged the best he could, even over boosting and intercepting half the missiles with his own, but he took more and more hits. Strangely, all the shots seemed to be aimed to cripple, not to kill or destroy the generator or anything. He was moving slower and slower, focused only on defending himself, until he finally came to a stop. His AC was smoldering and blackened, but still functional, although only one brush with anything would topple it. He braced himself for the final killing blow, but it never came. The other AC turned to Selskia, who was deep in thought at the time.
"God, I hope you can do something, Selskia..."
Behind him, Retiff stirred.
"Where...Where am I?"
Selskia was still thinking when the AC turned to her and rushed at her like it had with the other ACs, prepared to reduce her to scrap metal.
"Oh crap..."
She teleported herself and her AC with her to the side, and started up an illusion of herself, each with its own blip on the radar. Immediately, every single one fired its chain gun at the tan AC, which was in the center. Not even noticing the bullets, it charged right at the real Mystic Angel, and the real Selskia. She took a few rounds of machine gun fire before she jumped back, the illusions fading, and fired a single blast or her KARASAWA at the giant AC. It dodged, of course, and the ball of energy instead grazed Klein.
"SELSKIA! YOU IDIOT!!!!!"
He braced himself, but was nonetheless jolted up out of his seat when Vengeance hit the ground, toppled even though nothing had hit it. Retiff was hit in the head at the back of the cockpit, knocked unconscious yet again. Klein looked up at the sky, which was pretty much the only thing he could look at. The sun was setting. Just like when he had first met Selskia.
Selskia danced the dance of death, weaving around missiles and grenades with the occasional nudge of her magic. Her armor was getting low though, and the other AC was virtually untouched. In desperation, she threw her Moonlight at the AC like a javelin, managing to stick the thing in the AC's arm. In return, however, she got a busted missile launcher, and her chain gun was almost out of ammo. He even pulled out Selskia's Moonlight sticking in its arm as if bored. She resorted to simply blasting at him the best she could with her KARASAWA, the lone weapon remaining that actually worked. But the AC didn't get hit at all, and actually didn't dodge them either. No, he had to hit the energy beams back with his enhanced Moonlight. One hit also fried her KARASAWA.
"Klein? What the hell am I supposed to do now?"
"How should I know!?!? Think of something!!!"
She ran over to the piles of machinery that used to be the other Ravens' ACs and tore off a leg. And she chucked it at the sandy AC. The other AC hesitated for a moment, as if in surprise, and deftly slashed it in two with its Moonlight. She did it again. And again. To no avail, but she continued. Better to distract it, if anything. Sighing, she quickly teleported to Klein's cockpit and returned with him in tow.
"Any suggestions? I'd let you take the controls if I could, but you can't."
He shrugged, thinking.
Selskia went back to the opposing AC again, and just stood in front of it. Surprisingly, it didn't do anything, either. Suddenly, she teleported behind the AC, giving it a kick in the back. Of course, nothing happened, but she did it for the heck of it anyway. In retaliation, the Ac spun around and gave Selskia a slash, cutting through the little remaining armor like butter.
Klein looked up at the sky again, squinting because of the little light outside. The sun's last few beams shone for a second, and disappeared, leaving them in near darkness. Abruptly, the ground started to shake again. He looked up, to see a dust cloud forming around the other AC as it burrowed into the ground. Finally, there was nothing left of the AC but a memory, and little left of any of the ACs, crippled and falling apart.
"Well, now what? It's not like any of our ACs can manage the journey back to the city in this condition..."
End Chapter 4, Part II
Selskia was sitting against her AC, the only one that was actually worth working on. The rest of the ACs were trashed. Vengeance was a mess of blackened metal, and the other three ravens didn't really have ACs at all. The remaining weapons were moved to Selskia's AC, and Klein was working on fixing his broken Moonlight with some help with Selskia's first mini AC over to the side. Mystic Angel was actually in fair condition, although it only had 2 weapons: A recovered missile launcher and a nearly-out-of-ammo KARASAWA. Klein was working on the Moonlight, and he would be the pilot if the desert AC came back. She had no idea how, but Klein just said that it was coming back and it would be better to stay here. Even he had looked surprised as he said those words. Standing up, the girl walked over to Retiff, Perth, and Gailin. Retiff had recovered from his injuries with nothing but a few bruises and cuts while the other newbies had simple cases of shock, although one had a nasty gash on one arm. Spreading some salve from her supplies, she put the bandage back on Perth's arm and stood, looking up at the stars and the boulder that was their shelter for the night.
Returning to her work, Selskia went to salvage more metal scraps from the various ACs so she could make more mini ACs. Kamikaze was the plan. Some metal, a few fuses, and a touch of magic were all she needed to inflict some damage on the enemy. Although they were nothing more than shells that were lined with explosives, they did their job, as one earlier test had showed. Setting her 5th on top of a rock, she turned back to Klein, slightly worried. He had been working on that thing ever since they had gotten the pieces with no success. It was blackened from burns and the beam was discolored. When they tried to hook it up, no hum of electricity flowed through to make the blade. Yet he still worked on.
She sat back down and leaned against the rock, a few of the mini ACs stepping towards her. All 5 of them had a crudely made bomb strapped to them, her kamikaze dive bombers. Reassuring the little machines that she was all right, Selskia returned to work, calling her original mini over to help her occasionally, much to the annoyance of Klein. When she finally set down her tools and gave a last sleep command to the minis, there were 25 of them, lined up in rows of 5. Going back to the small area that they had set up, she leaned against the boulder on the various jackets they had laid down for pallets. The moon was at its high, full and providing enough light to work by. Selskia nodded off to sleep, hoping tomorrow would be better.
Klein was still working, still carefully arranging the microchips and wires. Need for sleep didn't touch his eyes at all, in fact, he seemed able to go another few nights without sleep. With a brief swipe of a hand, he commanded the little mini to stop wielding a piece on as he started to polish the handle. He was done at last. The previous failure was to be expected, without spending time on the wiring. This time, he re-enforced every wire and took out every flaw in the shining metal. Stepping back to look at his handiwork, he took a glance at the starry night sky. The moon was almost about to set. Moving quickly, he went to Selskia's AC to see if the blade was still compatible. It should be, with all that work he had done checking and rechecking it.
The blade was shorter than most, but enhanced far beyond any mere mass production Moonlight. The beam was jet black with a deep, midnight blue edge. He had taken out some of the coloring beams to make room for the power supply, although the little he could salvage wasn't quite fit for a beam sword. His modifications had taken care of that. Actually, it matched the night sky itself. Speaking of the night sky...
Klein looked up again. Actually, he didn't have to look up too far to see the moon, which was setting. A thought flashed through his head, with no apparent reason. /It's coming...With the light of day it comes unbidden with the setting of the sun it hides./ He shook his head. /What am I thinking! I don't know that! It's the same thing that happened earlier.../ The same thing that told him it was coming back. Shaking his head, he walked towards Selskia and the others.
Before he could reach the sleeping girl, however, the ground had started shaking. Jolting awake, Selskia jumped up and snapped her minis to attention, waking Retiff, Perth, and Gailin. Klein was already running towards the AC sitting on the ground, already ready for battle. Selskia grabbed all three of them and teleported up to the cockpit where Klein was already starting the AC. All 25 of the minis followed her, sitting on her AC's head.
From Mystic Angel, the rumbling wasn't as strong, especially when Klein boosted a little in the air. Below, a vortex of sand was forming and a very familiar head poking out of the center. Jumping up and out of the spinning mass of sand, the AC came up slashing, the sand stopping the moment he exited it. Spinning to face the mysterious AC, Klein met the blade with his own, light meeting dark. Electric blue sparks flew as the swords clashed, and they jumped back, each firing. Klein only fired a few, well aimed shots while the desert AC was firing round after round of machine gun fire. Everyone was happy to see that the enemy's moonlight was just a little bit duller, and a little unsure of itself despite its obvious advantage. Selskia poked her head over Klein's shoulder.
"I think we might just win this..."
End Chapter 4, Part III
Klein piloted Selskia's lightweight AC well, despite the fact that he was accustomed to medium-heavyweights. As he focused in on the battle, Selskia noticed that he never got hit, not by a single bullet. Turning back to her own job in the battle, she readied the mini ACs to kamikaze.
Despite his apparent calm demeanor and his impossible task, Klein was actually having fun. A true enemy that he was nothing compared to. That was what he liked to do, and win in the battle. Dodging the opposing AC's newest round of grenades, he dove in and slashed once before boosting back to safety. Already, there were many dents and slashes in the opponent's armor.
Looking up, Selskia held the first AC in her hands, ready to teleport the moment the way was clear. As Klein slashed once again, she closed her eyes and sent the little AC to the edge of the desert AC's armor, the little bomb crawling into one of the slashes in its armor and self destructing. The scrap of armor over the core blew off, scorching the core a little as well. Reaching over to the next one, she readied it too for combat.
/Finally, an opening.../ Klein looked over the enemy AC once again, wondering whether he should attack another section of armor or the defenseless core. Armor.
He slashed again, weaving in and out of the sandy AC's volleys and slashing again on its shoulder, trying to disable the arm. Stepping back, he fired one shot of the KARASAWA, hitting the AC on the head. In return, he got a shot in the leg by a grenade.
Selskia whispered a few words to the AC before teleporting it to the arm, letting it crawl in and self-destruct, blowing the arm off. Good, no more machine gun fire. Of course, Klein was doing fine with the machine gun firing at him, but at least it was one load off his back.
Klein blinked the sweat out of his eyes so he could see again. It was a hard battle, dodging everything, but somehow he managed. Looking back to Selskia for a brief moment, he saw her out of the corner of his eye, holding another mini AC. Turning back, he managed to see a grenade right before it exploded near the core. And another before it exploded almost in his face.
Danger: Overheating Danger: Armor low
/Great...I better finish this fast.../ He aimed for the grenade launcher this time, best to get that troublesome weapon off. Firing the last few shots in the KARASAWA, he ran forward and slashed once again. In vain. The desert AC met Klein's blade with his own, and fired a few more shots into Klein.
Danger: Armor reaching critical level Danger: Heat reaching critical level
Peeking over Klein's shoulder once again, Selskia looked at all the readings on damage. They were all very very low...
"Well, this looks bad..."
She reached back to her mini AC and sent it to the grenade launcher, hoping it wouldn't be blown up before it could reach it...But it made it, and blew the troublesome weapon to pieces. And with that, an idea.
"Klein, get up close...I have an idea..."
Complying, he boosted up closer, carefully though. At least there weren't any more grenades to dodge. But it didn't help much anyway; any hit could kill all of them.
"Closer..."
"I can't GO any closer...Unless you want us all to die!"
"Go closer anyway...Or reach out an arm or something..."
Sighing, he ducked and boosted up, dodging and reached an arm out.
Selskia closed her eyes once again, and teleported herself (holding the mini AC) out onto the AC's arm. Throwing the mini off, she teleported it right into the cockpit of the enemy...And made it self destruct. It fired one last shot of defiance before it wilted and shut off. Then disintegrated into thousands of tiny scraps of metal.
"That's over with now..."
End Part IV, Chapter 4 End Chapter 4