I don't normally include headnotes anymore, but there are some things I wish to address. First of all, I've apparently been having some formatting problems in the form of italics that don't show up until I post it. Thank you for Vix and Phantom Kensai for showing me specifically where. I'm afraid, however, that changing them is a time consuming problem, so I'm sorry if I don't for a long time. Second, Demented Demon referred to me as "Doug" in his review, and I just want to clarify that I AM A GIRL! The e-mail addy that I was using was my boyfriend's so my name came up as his. To avoid further confusion, I have changed mine e-mail address. Look in my bio to find out! And third, I have posted some hand-drawn MMZ wallpapers at www.Madbbs. com/users/alucard. There isn't many now, but I should have more there soon. (They take awhile to do!) Look under the name Kelly to find them. That being said, enjoy chapter 7.
Chapter 7
Something had drawn me back to the abandoned factory yet again, and I would have given half my sanity- if I had that much left- to know what. It was dark- I wouldn't have expected otherwise- and I searched half-heartedly through the shadows with no idea what I was looking for. This time, I had opted to keep my armor on, save for my helmet and the rocket boosters on my back. I had simply thrown a dark cloak over myself after that, mildly covering the fact that I was a reploid in case anyone did spot me.
The signs from the last battle I had had here were untouched, the scorches on the ground, the hole in the wall from the impact of my body- not that I was particularly fond of those memories. It had, however, begun an interesting chain of events with Mayu.
I knelt down and picked up the scrap of metal that I had found last time, black with blue markings. Where did it come from? Why is it here? Only one small scrap, not like if they were being created here. My mind rang with numerous questions, all of which had no obvious answer. That last demon- or demi-dragon, Mayu called it- was it trying to defend this place? Or was it following Mayu?
My thoughts were interrupted by the whining drone of a land chaser's engine. It slowed and stopped near the door, which creaked open a moment later. I shrank into the shadows, the only nearby place to hide at the moment.
"Get out here, Sage, I don't have time for this." Mayu strolled in and leaned against the wall. "Anyway, I see you, so give it up." I stood from my crouch and walked toward her slight shadow.
"What are you doing here? Do you have something to report already? It's only been two days."
She shook her head. "There's not much to report yet. There's talk about another attack, but the why's and the wherefore's are kinda fuzzy. Figured I'd pay you people a visit." She stretched one arm over her head. "After all, I should know what's going on with my own group as well, right?"
I frowned. "You could try being more subtle. A bright orange reploid on a new chaser is a little conspicuous."
"No one saw me- I don't think, anyway."
"'You don't think' being the key words there," I muttered.
"What was that?" she queried, one eyebrow raised.
"Nothing."
"Whatever." She crossed her arms over her small breasts. "By the way, I've been wondering..."
I waited for her to finish her thought. "Yeah...?" I prompted when she did not."
"What are you?"
"Huh?" I took a step back involuntarily. "A reploid, of course."
"No kind of reploid that I've ever seen. You looked human that day in the city, and again when I fought you in the desert. At least," and she gave me an upraising glance, "That body looked pretty human to me."
I felt heat creep into my face, although I did not know what I had to be embarrassed about. I prayed that blushing was not one of the many attributes my creator had given me.
"You're turning red," Mayu smirked.
Apparently, It was.
"What of it?" I said, regaining my composure. "It doesn't matter. Now tell me; why are you here? Are you some kind of stalker?"
She shrugged. "I figured you'd come here. You're the type who lets curiosity get the best of you more often than not. Am I wrong?"
I opened my mouth to answer, but she gave me no chance.
"But you're not backing out of answering my question so easily. I can already tell I know more than everyone else, so you may as well tell me the rest."
"Fine" I growled. "I've been created to live, look, and function exactly like a human. At the moment, I simply choose not to."
She began to say something, but stopped. "We'll finish this conversation later."
I followed her dark gaze to the far upper corner of the room, but saw nothing. "What-?" Then I caught a movement from the corner of my eye and turned. A pale figure stood atop an old machine, but as I squinted to make out the detail, he dissipated into an inarticulate haze. At least, I thought the figure was male. I could not be too sure with the brief glimpse I had gotten. I shot a glance at Mayu and she shook her head, apparently as puzzled as I.
"I could amuse myself for quite some time watching your confusion, but I suppose I have more important things to do." The voice was a rather refined baritone, holding a hint of an old British accent and much more than a hint of condescending snobbery. I whirled and found the ghostlike figure I had witnessed a moment ago standing before us with his arms crossed and a smug expression on his face.
He was around my height, perhaps an inch taller, with a ghostly pale, pinched face from which peered a pair of narrowed amber eyes. Silvery-white hair hung a bit past his shoulders from beneath a silver-gray headband with a blood-red gem set in the center. Two red slashes marred his cheeks. His armor was mostly white with some gray, a relatively standard issue, for the most part. There were some differences, such as his foot armor ending in single, red, claw-like protrusions and his left shoulder plates were enlarged and elongated. A white, velvety cape hung over his shoulders. The one, true attention drawing feature was his left arm. Instead of ending in a hand or a buster, it widened into a huge claw, three long, glistening white digits sprouting from a red base.
He took a step toward us and raised his claw to gesture at me. "You are nothing but an abomination, a disgusting hybrid between two unlike creatures." He paused, giving Mayu a condescending glare. "And you are..." He drew his claw back as though to strike. "You both shall die." Wraithlike, he vanished again, appearing to my far right. I decided that he must have some sort of short-range teleporter built into his systems.
"Regretfully, I do not have time to destroy you myself. However, you may remember the demi-dragons well. Perhaps these two will give you a bit more of a challenge." From either side of the room, aqua tattoos and shining wings flared to life.
The phantom teleported one last time, landing atop the machine once again. "If, perchance, you survive, remember my name; Phase. I will be the one to destroy you."
I threw off my cloak and phased in the rest of my armor, leaping after Phase with a thrust of my boosters. With a final amused laugh, he teleported away, and I sailed through a cloud of white vapor.
"Come back here!" I screamed, knowing it would do no good.
"Forget him, Sage," Mayu yelled behind me. "We have more immediate problems!"
I recovered my mid-air balance and spun around, barely avoiding a huge set of claws that raked at me viciously. Are these ones bigger than before...? The demi-dragon hissed. Then I realized that it was not a hiss, but a dry, rattling voice. They're intelligent enough to speak now?
"We will terminate the abomination," it scratched out, swooping after me with surprising speed. I dropped to the ground and rolled to the side, catching sight of Mayu as I did. She had been backed into a corner, and blocked a set of thrusting claws with a saber. The other set of claws came foreword, and she dropped to the ground and rolled between its legs, coming to her feet and dancing away form its slashing tail. Blood leaked from one cheek where a glancing blow had been delivered from the wicked claws.
I kicked up and leapt to the air again, just in time to avoid the black behemoth's landing on the spot where I had been and digging all four sets of claws deeply into the solid metal floor. That would not have felt good... I charged the beast, blades in front of me, but with one unexpectedly fast stroke of its wings, it was overhead and swooping at me with lunging jaws.
I changed directions and instead flew to stab the creature in the back that was in pursuit of Mayu. Being grounded, Mayu had a serious disadvantage against our airborne assailants. I felt white-hot pain stab through my back as the demon I had turned away from swiped at me and delivered a glancing blow. I screamed in rage and pain, attacking with both of my sabers. One connected with the black armor of the shoulder and sparked before sliding off, leave a shallow scratch, but little else. Tough little buggers, I thought, though "little" was not quite the appropriate descriptive word. My other sword caught one of the creature's clawed hands and two blue-pointed fingers went spinning off into the darkness.
"You mock me," the creature hissed. Black blood leaked from its severed digits. "If that is all you can do, you will die quickly." The demi-dragon roared and swung its armored tail. I moved so the spikes did not puncture, but the blow still forced all of the air from my lungs and I doubled over and found myself plummeting toward the ground. I managed to straighten and land on my feet, though the impact was jarring.
Mayu threw a swipe at the face of her own obsidian attacker. It dodged its head backward and bellowed a mockery. She stabbed her other blade into its chest, twisting and ripping downward. Only a small trickle of blood congratulated her attack, but any signs of damage were welcome. Unfortunately, it also outraged the demi-dragon. It came at her with its toothy maw opened wide, and Mayu backed into the wall. Either side was blocked by flashing, sickle-like claws.
I leapt up and flew in a tight semi-circle and then straightened my flight pate to slide between the dragon and the wall. I grabbed Mayu in a tight, saving embrace and shot past the ebony assailant, but not before the flying azure claws raked my left side from ribs to knee. My flight hit the ground and I rolled, losing my grip on Mayu. We tumbled to a stop in a battered heap.
"Thanks for the save," she mumbled. "But you should be worrying about you own hide." I rolled across the floor, pulling Mayu with me to avoid the heavy landing of one of the demi-dragons. The other hovered above us, prepared to strike.
I got up and yanked Mayu roughly to her feet. "Get to the land chaser. I'll follow by air." Her eyes gave me a once over, and I knew she was taking in the wounds. Blood coursed down my side to pool on the floor by my left foot.
"Don't do anything stupid, Sage," she said and turned away to make a run for the door. A demon gave chase, and she fended it off with flashing sabers. The other monster turned on me, and I flew up and over its head. Mayu, I saw, made it safely to the door, but refused to leave without me.
"Go!" I yelled. "I'll follow!"
"Hurry up!" she answered defiantly.
I made a beeline for the door, but I felt an ebony bulk smash into me from behind, driving me into the wall. The unnatural claws pinned me, one through my right bicep, and the other through the left side of my ribs. I heard a painful yell and realized that it was my own.
I heard the sparking protests of a saber imbedded in armor, and the pressure holding me to the wall disappeared. I fell unceremoniously to the floor, catching sight of Mayu driving a blade into the creature's neck. It didn't penetrate far, but the monster screamed in pain, flinging Mayu away. She landed next to me and, grabbing my arm, pulled me toward the door.
"Can you fly in that condition?" She asked, jumping onto the land chaser. "Maybe you should ride with me."
I shook my head, which was a mistake because it sent a wave of dizziness and nausea pulsing through me- I can get nauseous?- and I realized that I had lost way too much blood. A resounding crash came from behind us and I looked over my shoulder to see both of the gargantuan dragon-beasts trying to claw their way out the door. They teleported in, I realized. They're too big to come and go as we do. Unfortunately, that would not be true for long. The twin demons' efforts were effectively turning the doorway into a large hole in the wall, and metal shrieked in protest as they tore at it with unnervingly powerful jaws.
"Get moving," I yelled back to Mayu. "We'll be too much of a target if we stay together, and we'll slow each other down as well."
"How do you expect to outrun them or fight them in your condition? You'll bleed to death!" She failed to mask the concern in her voice.
"I'll be fine. My body's systems are good at cauterizing wounds quickly." I did not bother to mention that the internal damage- and bleeding- took much longer to heal. I ended the discussion by leaping to the air and hoping that Mayu would follow by land.
We gained a decent head start, and I surprisingly did not have to slow my flight speed by much to match that of the chaser. I was not about to leave Mayu behind as bait for the demi-dragons.
With a flurried explosion of wings and claws, the two dragons broke free of their steel-walled prison and gave chase. They overtook us at an alarming rate.
"Heads up! I yelled, giving Mayu as a best a warning as I could. One ebony creature swooped down on her and the bike, charging an energy blast in its mouth. As it let loose with the cerulean shot, she kicked back the thrusters to half-speed and executed a sharp U-turn. The demon overshot its target and the explosion hit bare ground.
The other dragon charged me head on as if in a game of chicken. I, however, would be the loser regardless of who dodged first, so instead of humoring him, I dropped like a stone. The earth rushed up at my face, and I pulled up seconds before impact. The dragon landed unfazed where my trajectory had been and I noticed it gathering energy to itself. I think this shot is gonna be bigger...
Unfortunately, I was right. The creature let loose a hadoken-style blast which was dwarfed only by its massive body. I yelped and dove out of the way. The boiling sapphire energy exploded at some unknown point in the sky, and the shock-wave bowled me over onto the ground. My wounds that had begun to seal tore themselves open again, and I left a trail of blood behind me.
Mayu leapt at the creature, who had given chase to me once again, and scaled its jagged armor, somehow avoiding the claws. She thrust viciously with one saber and stabbed it through the eye. Letting go, she dropped to the ground and rolled away from the lashing tail as oily black blood gushed from the monster's now empty socket.
"What're you doing?!" I yelled. "Get on the bike! Get out of here!" As per tradition, she blatantly ignored me and continued harassing the beast, like a sparrow attacking a hawk
The other demi-dragon stomped forward and flapped its huge wings, catching me across the chest and sending me flying. Blood dripped down my upper-torso and I realized that the wings' edges cut like razors. I flew into the air again, and blood poured from me like gory rain. I don't know how much more of this I can take. I'm not even sure how I'm doing it now...
A dragon blew past me, its speed much greater than mine. It swooped around in a tight arc and I tried to avoid it, but it slammed into me, driving me back into the dirt. I struggled to my feet and leapt from the ground yet again, only to be swatted down like and insect. I can't win this, I realized. The dragon roared overhead.