Sorry to tell some of you guys this, but the story is going to be on another hiatus for a while. But don't get sad. It's only going to be about four days. I'm heading over to Chicago for the Anime Central convention, and I won't be able to update during then.
Platno swung his first arm down. The boomerang was flung from it at incredible force, and soon became a giant circular cutter. It was flung at a vertical angle straight for Celes, and so low to the ground that it began to cut a large trench into it. The speed was considerable, but Celes quickly calculated the correct angle, and leapt out of the way.
She soon received a nasty surprise. Platno had already flung his other weapon at a diagonal angle, right for the direction she was headed. Already, the cutter was so close to her she could feel the wind from it. Quickly, she flung herself back to where she had been a moment earlier. Yet that too was a mistake. She heard a cutting sound growing closer behind her again, and with a cry she quickly twisted herself again to the opposite side. She barely missed getting cut, but the cutter sliced a section of her cape off instead. Celes paled. She forgot that these weapons acted as boomerangs. The first cutter had come right back after passing her once. That wasn't the worst, though. The other cutter apparently did an arc on its own return, and was now coming up behind her as well. She tried to move, but was unable to do so before the edge of the cutter shot past her shoulder. A flash of blood went out as it flew by, cutting right through the armor to strike the woman, and she cried out in pain.
Nevertheless, Celes managed to hold on through it, and tried to counterattack. However, that was hopeless. Platno had his timing down well. As the last cutter slashed her, the first one returned to his arm, and was immediately thrown again. This time, it was for her legs. The ex-general was stopped in mid-run, and quickly had to leap to avoid the cutter. That was almost a fatal mistake, for by now the other had returned to him, and he flung that at her airborne body. Celes paled again, and just barely managed to twist her body in midair to have the cutter sail over her. Gravity pulled her back to the ground soon after, still in her bent backward shape. However, using her own limber body, she was forced to flatten herself soon after to avoid the cutter that returned to Platno. If she hadn't been so stretched out through training, it would have killed her. As it was, a few of her hairs were cut. The other cutter came back harmlessly overhead, but unfortunately Celes couldn't use it to her advantage. She needed all the time she had to get out of her dangerous position and into a squat.
Soon, Platnohad thrown the first at her again, and she was forced to side roll to avoid it. This one swung low to the ground again, though it was angled this time, and cut through the stone at her feet. Sure enough, Platno soon flung the other where she landed, forcing the woman to roll again or be sliced up. But the monster was throwing different this time. Both cutters were angled so that they would come around behind where she had landed. The woman was forced to roll yet again to miss the first one. Unfortunately…she realized after that she had nowhere to dodge. She was up against the rock wall. The woman paled a moment, but then quickly did an unorthodox move. She rushed up the side of the rock cave and did a backflip in midair, just missing the returning cutter.
Celes was starting to sweat, and grow tired. This creature was smart and deadly with his cutters. In essence, Celes found herself being chased around by them. Each swing was designed to make her go in a given direction…namely, into the path of the next cutter. She was so busy trying to stay alive that she had no time to plan an offense or get any closer to the monster. If he kept this up, Celes knew she would eventually tire, and then be an easy target. She had to do something. She had to somehow break the chain of dodging and give herself enough time to counter. Unfortunately, she had very little time to think of anything…as was no doubt Platno's intention. Already, the first cutter was headed for her again.
Unable to think of anything else, Celes reacted in another unconventional move. This cutter was once again meant to make her leap into the air, no doubt into the path of another. And so, quickly, she raisedRagnarok over her head andjumped. Only she didn't stop in midair to be easy pickings for the next shot. Instead, she plunged her sword into the ceiling, and made it an anchor. Rather than twist to avoid the next cutter, she pulled her whole body to the ceiling, letting this shot slide harmlessly beneath her. Platno's surprise showed. He didn't plan on her doing this. The cutters continued to arch below her on their preset paths, to which Celes was well out of range. Unfortunately…the woman realized this move accomplished little else than giving her a breather. She couldn't attack from here, and she couldn't drop to the ground without getting back into the attack pathway. Both cutters returned behind her, but she was still stuck up there.
In fact, Celes soon realized she was in trouble.Ragnarok was stuck, and Platno aimed his next shot for the dangling woman. The ex-general swallowed. The cutter was let loose, and soon a disc of death was headed right for her. She had to get down now if she was going to survive. Bringing her strength to bear, she pulled her legs up and planted them against the ceiling, and then graspedRagnarok hard. Now standing upside down, she gave a mighty pull and yanked her sword free. Immediately, her whole body fell to the ground, avoiding Platno's cutter by mere inches. Yet the woman wasn't out of danger yet. Platno intended on her falling…and had flung the other cutter right for her. Now, she was in a bad position on free fall, and seemed helpless to adjust her position before she landed in the path of the weapon. She panicked for a moment, wondering what she could do. In the end…there was only one thing she could think of. She spun around in midair and droveRagnarok down ahead of her, into the stone ground. It struck and held, and like a graceful acrobat she held herself suspended above it, balancing on the hilt.
Platno was surprised again, as was Celes, for this soon had an interesting effect. The cutter continued to sail forward, and connected with Ragnarok. But the sword was unbreakable by mortal standards. Rather than cut through it as it would have any other blade, the great cutter struck it like a horseshoe around a pole, spun around it once, and then had its path redirected to cast it to the ground loosely. It lost so much speed on descent that the giant boomerang merely clattered against the rock once before coming to a halt.
Seeing this, Celes realized there was hope. One of his weapons was disarmed. Without them, he couldn't keep her back. Quickly, while hanging upside down, she looked to the other cutter. It was on its way back, and she quickly did some calculations. The timing had to be just right. He wouldn't give her another chance at this. She waited until the cutter was at just the right distance…and then suddenly swung down and landed on her feet. Immediately, she used her new force to pullRagnarok back up from the ground, swing it up, and slice into the oncoming cutter. It was a perfect move. The sword went through the giant boomerang right through the middle. The great weapon was sliced in half, and its two useless, now-unbalanced halves flew to either side of the cave, where they collided with the walls and fell to the ground.
Celes was sweaty again, but she managed a smile as she leveled her blade at Platno. It looked like his record was about to be broken… But before she could call out challengingly or make a move…she paled. Platno responded to the destruction of his weapons by crossing his arms and grabbing the pinky finger on either one of his long, spidery hands. He grunted once…stiffened a moment…and then, to Celes' surprise, seemed to rip the pinkies from his body. Only they weren't fingers for long. Instead…they rapidly enlarged and lengthened as he pulled them out, growing wider and curving as they did so. A sort of stretching and tearing sound resulted as he yanked these from his own flesh. He seemed to rip out his very arm bones as he did this, as long as they were. However, such wasn't the case. Once he finally finished pulling them out from his hands, they broke off…and immediately two more pinkies filled the ones he had just yanked. He now hoisted the long objects in front of him…two more cutter boomerangs.
Celes cursed once to herself, before Platno let them fly again. Soon, she was taking up the deadly dance once more. Apparently, destroying the weapons wasn't going to help her either. She was back to square one all over again, and more tired than ever. The woman continued to dodge the stream of cutters for about a minute…before she felt hot pain as she fell short another one. This time, it was against her leg. A few seconds later, one of her arms dangled out too much and got sliced as well…the deepest cut yet. The ex-general realized she was in trouble. Soon, Platno would start lopping off parts of her body. She grew anxious and fearful. What was she going to do? How could she fight this thing? How could she move fast enough to strike back, tired as she was? She began to fear she couldn't…and that fear started to grip her heart and made her tremble…
Wait, Celes… She told herself, even as she began to panic. Calm down… You're not thinking like a general. He wants you to panic. He wants you to desperately come at him. That's how these work. The enemy always wants you to play his game. You have to force him to play yours. Stop thinking of this in terms of brute strength. Look to your opponent… He has to have a weakness. There's always a weakness. He wouldn't be mortal if he didn't have one…
With this in mind, Celes forced herself to calm down and start thinking even as she scrambled to survive. As she did, she looked again to her opponent. He was big, and seemed to be pretty strong. However…she soon realized something. All of his strength seemed to be focused into throwing his weapons. Indeed, as he moved, he planted his feet solidly, and put his whole body into casting the great objects fast and hard enough to be lethal. That seemed to be the real reason he didn't want to shift weight. If he did, he'd lose the ability to focus all of his power into throwing his boomerangs. The slightest change in this could frustrate his ability to fight. If he couldn't throw his weapons…he was nothing.
Celes quickly developed a new idea. It would require putting herself in danger again, but she had no choice. After all…risks were a part of war. Abruptly, the woman swung her blade around and inserted it back into her sheath. Platno was puzzled again by this, but kept throwing. The latest cutter came to her at an angle. It was obvious from the way it was coming that it meant her to dodge to the right. However, Celes braced herself and summoned what stamina she had left this time. As the cutter neared, she threw herself into another dodge roll. But this time…she did so to the left. The monster gaped in surprise at this. Celes, on her part, felt another painful slash go past her leg as she did this. It was a costly maneuver indeed, and she cried out again as she rolled away. However…it had worked. She was clear for a few precious seconds. Gritting her teeth through the pain, she quickly forced herself to her feet and ran to the wall.
As Platno watched helplessly, waiting for his cutters to return, Celes reached the rock and found what she had been looking for…half of one of the boomerangs. She quickly scooped it up, just as the cutters returned to the tall monster. He quickly reared back to throw again, but it was too late. Celes turned and threw the weapon straight for Platno's left hamstring. She was no slouch at throwing weapons herself, and the aim was straight and true. And just as she expected, Platno had already put too much weight on his calf to be able to dodge it. The weapon sailed through the air and struck the mark, slightly behind one of Platno's outturned feet, and sliced right through the hamstring. Immediately, all of the standing power in the one leg left him, and the creature dropped down to one knee. The monster gaped in surprise, shocked at what had happened to it. Blood leaked from his back leg, and he struggled to push himself up. But it was impossible. That leg was now useless, and his body was too awkward to rise on the other.
Celes straightened herself and immediately drew Ragnarok. Then, the warrior took off for the tall creature. Platno glared at her and grit his teeth. He tried throwing his cutter at her…but without the proper leverage it only turned a few times before falling uselessly to the ground. A moment later, Celes ran right over it as she headed for the thing. Platno panicked. Soon, Celes was on top of him. In one last act of desperation, he brought his other boomerang out to block. Celes swungRagnarok down one, and lopped it in half easily. Then, bringing her sword back around, she sliced once more across Platno's neck. The creature gaped one final time before his head left his shoulders. After that, the tall monster collapsed to the ground and went totally limp. His blood slowly poured forth.
Celes let out a massive exhale, and slumped slightly. She was exhausted from that fight, and sore from all of the activity she had gone through. Slowly, she put her sword back, and then pulled off her cape. She tore it into further strips, and tied them around the slashes that Platno had given to her. But once all of those had been tied, she rose back to her feet and wiped the sweat off of her brow. She swept her sweaty hair back with both hands, and tied it back with one of her wrist bands. With that finished, the woman at last began to walk forward, leaving the dead warrior behind her and pressing on into the caves to find a way back to the others.
Terra paused a moment to catch her breath. She found a pretty solid foothold on the rock, and let her feet rest there a moment. She looked around a bit to see how far she had gotten. She was still dangling over a considerable oblivion. It had gotten dark around her now, and she could barely see the rock column in front of her. Unfortunately, she still couldn't see the ground. She looked overhead, and saw that already she had left the bridge hundreds of feet away. Yet still she hadn't come to the bottom. She began to grow fearful that if there was a trap, Celes had already run into it. She wished she could just drop…but she also realized that might be foolish. She still had no idea how high she was. And so, in the end, she sighed and continued her descent.
As she began to climb down, she thought again. Perhaps she could merely transform and fly the rest of the way down? Perhaps she should… It was a tempting thought. The transformation came easier now, after all. And her friends would find out sooner or later that she could still do it. It might as well be one at a time instead of all together. It would make this all much easier. Besides…she wasn't as scared of it as she used to be. Bahamut had taken her fear of it away. She began to slow her climb as she went, and thought about it for a moment longer…
But before she could come to a conclusion…she suddenly felt something. Abruptly, a wet, cold, and slimy object pressed itself against her waist. It quickly moved around her, until it had it completely encircled. The woman looked down in surprise to this, but even if the area wasn't dark she wouldn't have been able to see it. For abruptly, she was yanked right off of the column and into the gloom. Terra cried out in surprise. Her equilibrium was cast to the wind, and soon she was spinning and flailing about so much in space that she lost her sense of direction. She soon couldn't tell which way was up, or where she was going, as she spun into the darkness.
Abruptly, as she was being cast about, however, she saw a light up ahead. She couldn't focus on where it had come from, but it seemed to suddenly be lit in the darkness. She rapidly began to be pulled toward that light, still tumbling over herself in midair. She managed to make out the details of a hole, and some long, dark length attached to her and pulling her into it. But she was still too shocked and dazzled to make out what was going on. Before she could do anything else, she was into the lit area, and suddenly found herself thrown onto stone ground. She landed hard, and gave out a mild cry as she hit. For a moment, she was stunned, and couldn't tell what was going on, where she was, or what had happened.
That didn't last. Abruptly, the slimy length around her waist began to show impressive force as it tightened, and began to become a painful squeeze. Terra winced, and grabbed for the wet thing that held her. That wasn't for long, however. Soon, another length lashed around her neck, also slimy and cold and smelling like ammonia. It quickly tightened and throttled her. Terra shifted her grasp to her neck at this, and struggled to pull it. But seeing it was futile after only a moment, she reached down for the Atma Weapon. A black length beat her to it, reaching out to the weapon, seizing it, and then tossing it away. After that, it lashed around her wrist and yanked her arm away, pinning it. Another length did the same to her other arm, and finally one went around her legs. Soon, she was totally restrained and unable to move, while the life was being crushed out of her.
As Terra gagged and struggled to breathe, she at last got enough of her bearings to see something. The massive, ugly face of Ultros raised over her body, grinning maliciously at her fallen, trapped form. Drool dripped from his massive incisors, and his eyes flashed wickedly. At once, Terra realized what had happened. Ultros had grabbed her. It was his tentacles that were now crushing her to death. And now that he had her pinned, she could do nothing about it.
"Look who we have here…" Ultros sneered with a smile. "You're that same little witch that always enjoyed giving me a hot foot. But now, you don't have any monks, samurai, thieves, or even upstart little artists here to save you! You're just all alone…and all ready to make me a fine meal. Lord Nireevyou wanted me to bring you to him personally…but he never said whether or not you would be in one piece or several…"
The woman grit her teeth and struggled. She was turning blue already, and she was starting to get dizzy. Ultros maintained his iron grip, however. She couldn't get anything free, and he was going to crush her in seconds. She had to do something to get loose, before it was too late. Finally, she realized something. Her legs were bound…but they weren't held back. Ultros was just holding them together. And now, the great octopus was leering over her, opening his great mouth to get a bite. This gave her one chance… As the monster lowered to attack, she managed to put all her remaining strength into one move. She swung both legs upward and underneath the creature's jaw.
Normally, octopi lacked bones, but Ultros was no true octopus. The blow successfully caught him hard under the chin, and slammed his mouth shut with a bone-jarring thud. His teeth were knocked a little loose, and he was stunned by the move. Immediately, his tentacles loosened as he staggered, allowing Terra to slip free and gasp for air. She quickly rolled backward and away from the great slimy creature, stumbling a bit from dizziness as she did so. Nevertheless, she had time to get clear and breathe a little after a few moments. She winced a bit as she gasped, feeling how sore she was. She now had bruises where the monster had clutched her, and her skin had sores from where his suckers had attached to her exposed flesh.
As Ultros cursed and recovered, Terra looked around for a moment. She now saw where she was. It was a rock room, illuminated with torches. It was fairly large, and looked to be almost like the top of a tower. This was mostly due to a circular staircase beginning in the floor of the center of the room. Overhead, there was a single circular opening, just big enough to let a human through, that had a hatch dangling from hinges next to it. Evidently, that was where Ultros had reached out and snagged her off of the pillar. She frowned at the thought. Nireevyou had wanted him to bring her to him. That meant that he likely had expected Terra to be in that position when she had been caught by Ultros. The rogue esper was expecting her to react like this. It made the woman nervous… But not nearly nervous as she was next. Ultros was recovering, and she now saw that her Atma Weapon was on the other side of the room.
The octopus sneered and shook off the last of his daze, and glared daggers at Terra. "Oh…that did it. Now you've made me mad. Lord Nireevyou won't even get your bones now. I'll grind them into flour, and make a nice bloody sandwich out of your flesh. I'm going to end our little rivalry once and for all."
Terra swallowed, and dropped herself into the best ready position she could muster without a weapon. Transforming, unfortunately, was no longer an option. She hadn't the time to focus without others covering her. She said a quick prayer to herself…hoping that she was as strong as Bahamut said she was. It was her only chance to best this creature…
Bahamut continued to charge up the mountain trail. He hadn't run into any incidents or opponents yet. That was good for them, because now he could vent himself on them fully. He was ascending above the cloud level now as he went higher. The day was getting clearer around him, and the sky began to turn blue. He looked up from time to time, and saw the peak drawing ever nearer. It couldn't be much farther. Nireevyou didn't have many places left on this mountain to hide. There was only room for a few more caves before the whole mountain terminated into a peak. With this in mind, Bahamut continued to charge up the mountain path.
At last, just up ahead, Bahamut saw another cave entrance. He quickly scanned the area in front of him as he ran forward, looking for traps or enemies. He froze when he did so. There was indeed one power just a little ahead of him…hiding on the other side of the cave. It was a weak power compared to him, but it could have been operating the controls to a bigger trap. Immediately, Bahamut ground to a halt, and stared ahead at the entrance. He balled his hands into fists and glared at the opening coldly.
"I know someone is up ahead." He called out coldly, his voice echoing around the high mountain. "Come out already."
There was a brief pause of silence, during which his echo faded and he saw only the darkness of the cave. However…that didn't last long. Soon after, he saw a form step out of the darkness and come into the light. He had his arms crossed, and calmly smiled at Bahamut as he neared him. As for the esper, he frowned at the sight. He recognized this one. It was Chile, the lackey that he had run into back in Zozo. He still looked smug and confident as well, and looked out at Bahamut with an arrogant stare.
"There's no need to shout, old man." Chile calmly responded, his voice smooth and controlled, and having the air of a debonair fop. "I can hear you quite clearly. Besides, I wasn't hiding from the likes of you. I planned on coming out anyway."
Bahamut leveled his glare at him. This loser wasn't nearly his equal in strength. Beating him would be a cinch. He raised his fist again and prepared himself. "Well, now that you're out, perhaps you'd like to come over so I can get this over with."
Chile merely let out a small, snooty laugh. He placed his wrist against his mouth as he did so. Bahamut had little love for preppy, arrogant individuals like this. It made his anger rise a bit, but he held for the moment. "Oh please…like someone of my class, upbringing, and talent would waste his time on a filthy little old man like you. I've got to keep myself clean and tidy, you know. I'm merely here to unleash your doom upon you. I do hope you appreciate all the effort we're wasting on an inconsequential…civilian…" Here, he spat this out with some disgust, keeping his nose up as he did so. "Such as yourself. These are our deadliest guardians."
Here, Chile gave a clap of his hands. Immediately…Bahamut picked up on another energy. And unlike the bag of wind in front of him…this one made Bahamut's eyes widen. This energy was strong…much, much stronger than the foe in front of him. And it was already approaching. He felt the ground shake as it neared, and the shudders quickly began to turn violent. Bahamut felt his body raised and lowered roughly, and he saw rocks begin to fracture off of the mountainside and fall to the ground below. The esper was stunned. He didn't think creatures this horrible existed…and he stared up in genuine alarm at the dark hole behind Chile.
Moments later, the hole exploded as something on the other side punched a much larger hole through the cave. Huge boulders, large enough to crush a man, went flying everywhere in a great eruption of dust and debris. Bahamut was shocked. One headed toward him, and he quickly had to punch it to shatter it into pieces before it flattened him. But now, he stared ahead with growing amazement toward what had come. The last few rocks fell, and Chile still stood there calmly. However, he was not alone anymore.
A great wyrm, as large and powerful looking as the greatest dragons, stomped out of the hole and made his way forward. Each footstep of his powerful legs shattered the stones underneath him. His skin, brass-colored, sparkled in the sunlight, and large blue eyes without pupils or irises glared in front of him. His head swung around on a huge neck, and his teeth flashed at Bahamut as he came out. He also had a great tail that freely swung behind him. Without thinking anything of it, the giant beast swung his tail at the new hole he had made and broke off another man-sized boulder. The world shook as it came forward, glaring at Bahamut all the way.
The esper was stunned. This thing was the most powerful beast he had ever seen that was non-esper. He knew what it had to be. No creatures like this had ever lived in his time. This was a great dragon of the Old World, from a time when beasts and monsters were almost considered god-like in their own right. Even espers feared these great creatures, and one was headed right for him…
Chile, calm as ever, lowered his hand, and seemed to open what was a hatch in the ground. After he did, he began to lower himself into it. But before he did, he looked up and called out to Bahamut again. "This is a Brachiosaur, one of our master's most prized possessions. He will make your final moments of life more painful than conceivable to human knowledge. I'll be back in a few minutes to collect your remains. Good day." And with that, he lowered himself into the hole and shut the door behind him.
Bahamut tensed up. This was bad. In his human form, this creature could probably flatten him. Its power was that shocking. But now, with its master gone, the thing gave an earth-shattering cry. It was so loud that even Bahamut recoiled in pain from it. The thing sneered once, and then began to stomp forward toward Bahamut. The ground shook more violently than ever, and rocks and debris rained down from the mountainside. Its huge bulk became a juggernaut as it came forward. Bahamut began to sweat. He even took a step back as the thing came up.
However, he managed to snap out of it. He readied himself for a fight. The monster sneered and drew closer and closer, lowering its head and opening its mouth to sink its teeth into the esper. But just as it was in range, and a moment before it could attack, Bahamut gave his own yell, and swung his left fist around with all his might, smashing it into the side of the dragon's head.
The thing roared once in pain as the powerful blow smacked its head aside on its long neck. That was cut off, however, when its head was viciously slammed into the side of the mountain. It hit so hard that it smashed out more rocks in its wake, and it staggered and halted its run in response. However, it was far from dead…and Bahamut paled when he realized it wasn't even that injured. Snorting, it pulled its head slowly off of the rocks, and shook it for a moment, groaning at the power it had just endured. But then, it leveled its glare at Bahamut…and grew angry. Snarling, it suddenly spun around so quickly that even Bahamut couldn't keep up with it. Before he knew what was happening, the creature swung its huge tail around and smashed it into the esper.
Bahamut was turned into a projectile, and his body was thrown a hundred feet back down the mountain. He landed roughly, letting out an oof as he went down, and then tumbling down like a limp rag doll another few dozen feet. He finally came to a stop, and sprawled out on the path. He lay there a moment before grunting, and with a strained face began to rise. His stomach was bruised from the power of that blow, and he felt stiff and aching as he rose. The granite had been driven into his soft flesh, and he was dazzled from the power of the hit. Soon, however, he was standing, and shook his head. He looked back up to the Brachiosaur afterward.
The great beast hissed at him, turning around to face him again. Then, once again causing another quake in its wake, the huge beast began to storm down the path after him. But that wasn't all. Bahamut soon had another reason to fear. As he sat there and struggled to get back to his feet, the violent vibrations thwarted him. They were so strong that he could barely get his feet under him as he rose. That was when he realized something. One Brachiosaur alone wasn't this heavy to cause these kinds of vibrations…
He looked up again, back toward the larger cave entrance. His stomach soon sank into an icy pit in his gut…for he saw two more Brachiosaurs stomp out of the new hole, both furious and bloodthirsty as well, to join the first one that was, by now, nearly on Bahamut.
The esper sighed.
I'm getting too old for this…
Anaranda stormed forward, bellowing like a bear, and swung his massive fist at Edgar. The king saw soon that this individual packed considerable power…but little in terms of speed. He nimbly leapt backward to avoid the impact. Still, the whole ground shook on connection, and a huge rumble was sent through the ground. Immediately, the huge monster stormed forward and swung a backhand at him next. Edgar quickly had to duck and move back again to avoid his head being taken off.
By now, Edgar decided to counterattack. Quickly, he hoisted his autocrossbow, took aim, and let fly a hail of bolts at his enemy. Anaranda raised one of his massive forearms to guard his face, but other than that had no protection as the arrows sunk into his flesh. Edgar fired off his clip into the creature, decorating it with bolts. But once he was out, he realized the creature wasn't in pain. It didn't even bleed. Instead, it lowered its arm and grinned evilly at the king.
"Was that supposed to hurt?"
Edgar merely grimaced, and replaced his device. He backed away a little, but Anaranda, oblivious to the bolts in his arm, put his fists to his sides and immediately stomped after the king. He quickly put himself into a full fledged charge, ready to trample Edgar into nothingness when he reached him. In response, Edgar quickly reached to his side and pulled out a new device, a great big funnel with a large array attached behind it. He paused only long enough to fit a pair of earplugs into his ears,but then he activated it and sent out a sonic blast of noise at the hulk.
Anaranda immediately screamed in pain. The sound was so deafening and painful that it distorted his sense of reality. He soon began to twist and stumble on his own feet, staggering around and reaching his massive arms to cover his head and ear openings. He stumbled for a moment, before, in a desperate attempt to lunge at Edgar, shot forward and instead smashed his head into a stone wall. It was so powerful, that the rock overhead fractured, and a huge boulder came down on his head, landing with a sickening thud. Anaranda cried out and buckled underneath it, and Edgar shut off his machine and replaced it in his belt to recharge.
However, he soon realized he had little reason to rejoice. Anaranda wasn't in pain from the experience. Instead, he was furious. Fuming and snarling, he quickly straightened up again. He reached up to his head and seized the boulder that had landed on it, and raised the massive rock over his own head. He turned to Edgar next, and prepared to bring the huge stone down on him, crushing him into smithereens. As he glared hatefully at the king, Edgar paled and swallowed for a moment. But then, he quickly pulled out yet another device, the great flashing weapon from before. He took quick aim at Anaranda's tiny eyes, and then pressed the button. A huge brilliant yellow light pierced the dark of the cave and pierced Anaranda's pupils. The orange monster cried out in agony again, and released his boulder. It slowly toppled out of his hands and landed on his head again, this time cracking and splitting in two. However, again, the thing seemed to not notice, and instead fumed and reached for his eyes in pain.
Edgar frowned again at this. However, he still had quite the repitoire. He replaced the flash, and reached for yet another new weapon. This time, he brought out a large device that had a somewhat oval-shaped set of saw teeth on the end of it. In addition, he pulled out a small protective white mask that looked deceptively like a skull, and placed that over his face as he pulled a cord hard on the side of the new device. As he did, it began to sputter, and soon grew loud as a motor started within it. Edgar hoisted the device and pressed a button, and a long chain began to turn the saw teeth within it. He brandished it before himself like a blade, as Anaranda's vision cleared and he turned to glare at the king. He staggered forward to lunge at him again, but this time Edgar was ready. The noble quickly darted forward and past him, and as he did he raised his chainsaw and swung it down on Anaranda's extended arm. As he tore past, the great rippling appendage was severed from Anaranda's body, and fell to the ground. Anaranda bellowed again.
Edgar spun back, and hoisted his saw over his head, ready for another slice. Anaranda had his back to him, staggering away, grasping his wound, and yelling out non stop. Edgar prepared himself for another strike…but then suddenly held. He began to realize something about the creature. For one…neither of the wounds were bleeding. They didn't even look cut. In fact…it seemed almost as if the balls that made Anaranda up had separated themselves when he lopped off his arm. That wasn't all. As Edgar lowered his saw in puzzlement, he noticed that Anaranda wasn't yelling in pain…
He was laughing.
"Heh heh…now you've done it!" He cried.
Edgar stared on. As he did, he began to notice something. It seemed that more balls were coming out from the severed limb of Anaranda. As they did, he saw that they began to fuse together, creating a new surface like the rest of his body. However, it didn't stop there. Once they formed, more balls began to inflate and add onto these. And more after that. They continued to do this, and sped up as they did so, rapidly lengthening Anaranda's stump of a limb. They also shifted in size. Some grew smaller and some shorter before fusing, creating contour and shape. Within a few moments, Anaranda's limb had fully regenerated. He flexed his new fist once and then tightened it and as he raised his arms up.
But that wasn't the worst thing. His severed limb was growing on the end too. Only it did so much faster. And once it reached the part where the shoulder would be, it began to grow more erratically. It formed a large lump, and various smaller lumps began to form on it. As they did, they soon began to grow wider, as if more balls were coming in front behind to make them into mounds rather than lumps. The central mass continued to grow, and as it did it also began to make more fine details through selective growing. The same happened with the other lumps, some of which lengthened more than others, and some of which stayed smooth. They continued to grow until they were as big as Anaranda himself. Only then did they begin to fuse. The ends split to form longer strands of balls, and the mound on top rounded itself and fused to form a more orb shaped array. They continued to sharpen up. And as they did, the huge form began to move. It slowly rolled itself onto what was now legs, and straightened up as it finished growing. It cracked its new limbs, rotated its neck, and then turned to face Edgar. To the shock of the king, he now saw that there were two Anarandas.
"Well…" Edgar remarked from behind his skull mask. "That's a good trick…"
"Ha!" Both Anarandas remarked at once, producing a booming stereo effect. "Now you see! You can slice us up like a pie, but it won't do no good! We'll just rebuild ourselves from the fragments! We'll keep getting stronger every time you cut us up!"
Edgar swallowed a moment, but that was all he got. Soon, both hulks were charging at him at once. Thankfully they were still slow, but with two of them that made less difference. Edgar quickly leapt out of the way as their fists smashed down on his location, pounding a crater into the ground. The king quickly leapt back, but one of them recovered and kept going forward, swinging his arms at him. He managed to dodge them, feeling the wind yank at his clothing as he did so, until he was backed up to a wall and stopped. Grinning, the closest monster swung his fist forward right for him. Gulping, Edgar quickly dodged to the side, and the thing embedded its huge fist into the stone wall. It snarled, and tried to pull it back…but to no avail. It was stuck. Edgar had little time to gloat over his victory, however. The other one swung his own fist down right where he had landed, trying to pound the king flat. Edgar's eyes widened, and he quickly went back to avoid the huge fist, which smashed the stone ground into fragments instead. However, he couldn't move anymore. He was soon backed up to the wrist of the massive creature, and was blocked against his forearm.
This monster glared at Edgar. He struggled even harder to break his hand free, but to no avail. Grunting, he quickly brought his opposite arm up instead, ready to hit Edgar with that. The king panicked for a moment. He was stuck. The other Anaranda was pulling back his fist and gritting his teeth at Edgar, ready to move in again. On his other side, the stuck arm blocked him. Sighing, the man realized he had no choice. He gunned his chainsaw up again, and sliced through the wrist of the monster. The creature, which had been rearing back to punch Edgar, had, at the same time, been pulling on his stuck arm. Now suddenly free, his face turned to surprise, and he waved backward on his feet a brief moment before crying out and falling on his back. Now, Edgar was free. He quickly darted out of the way, just as the other creature came forward and drove his fist into the ground, smashing where he had been second ago. This one cursed, seeing how it had failed again.
As for Edgar, he quickly used his lull to back up from the two creatures. He removed his mask and put his chainsaw away, and watched them. The one that had struck last grunted and pulled himself up again with a frown, glaring at Edgar. The one on his back also groaned, a bit stunned from having fell, but then began to pull himself up too. His severed hand already had regenerated. As for the hand against the wall, within a few seconds a giant body was attached to it again. This latest Anaranda scowled at his position. Then, he put his foot against the wall, and with one mighty pull yanked it free. After that, he turned and glared at Edgar. The others did too, and began to walk toward him with dark expressions. Edgar sighed. Now, he had three of them to deal with.
"You'll pay for that!" All three of them said at once, even louder than before.
Sabin, on his part, was still calmly leaning against the wall, and regarding this entire battle with some boredom. "Need any help yet, big brother?" He asked innocently.
Edgar frowned, and waved him off with a free hand…even as he backed away from the titans nearing him. "I still have a few tricks left up my sleeve." He simply answered. He turned back to the enemy as he did so. As he looked at them, he reached into his coat again, and this time pulled out a hard hat and put it in his head. "Well…if you won't get sliced up like pie…maybe I can skewer you like a shiskabob."
With that, Edgar pulled up his latest device…his great boring drill. He quickly activated it, and the giant weapon began to rotate. He aimed this at the nearest creature. The Anarandas paused at this, staring at the latest development. But Edgar only hesitated a moment before leaping forward and driving his diamond-bitted drill toward the nearest monster. It gaped and leapt back a bit, but it was too late. Edgar was already on it. Aiming as close as he could to the thing's heart, he drove the machine forward and into its chest, and quickly gunned his machine up to full power. The drill pierced him immediately, and drove itself clean through to the other side.
The Anaranda gaped in shock for a moment, and looked down as Edgar put his weapon through it. The king gave a victorious cry as he shoved. For a moment, the monsters froze as Edgar held his device. But then…they simply grinned and looked down to the king maliciously. Edgar himself lost his own smile…as he realized that the thing wasn't bleeding or in any pain.
"Well…crud."
That was all Edgar could say before the beast bent over, seized Edgar with one massive hand, ripped him and his drill out of him, and then flung the king across the room. Edgar cried out in surprise and shock as he felt himself flail through the air…before he smashed against the rock wall at the bend in the corridor. At that, he gave out a resounding "oof", and slumped down to the ground again. He fell flat on landing, and gave out a groan. Pain radiated through his back…and he felt very thankful for his helmet. He leaned up soon after, shaking his head as he did so, and managed to groan and struggle his way back to his feet. He was a bit sore now, but he recovered easily enough.
The Anaranda's grabbed their sides and bellowed in laughter at their puny opponent, taking the moment to gloat. Edgar frowned at them as he rose. He wiped his dirty face for a moment, and, still glaring at them, replaced his drill and helmet back into his coat. After that, he managed the boldest stance he could muster before reaching into his coat again, and coming out with yet another device. This one look like some sort of giant gun, so heavy and huge Edgar had to brace it against his side with both hands to support it. The ammunition that it held seemed to be some sort of giant rail bullets with balls attached to giant hooks. These, he aimed at the three in front of him.
"Too tough to grill, eh?" He called out to them, as they continued to laugh at him. "Well…let's try a roast."
At that, Edgar fired the weapon. The creatures stopped laughing, and looked in puzzlement at this latest move. Edgar's gun soon began to fire out the small rail bullets. On firing, each one of the hooks spring ejected to extend, sailed right for their targets. Moments later, they embedded themselves into the flesh of the closest Anaranda. The monster looked down in puzzlement. He felt no pain, but he saw the hooks soon latch into him, and a moment later the balls that had been hanging on the end of the rail bullets swung down on a giant hinge to hang from his flesh. That wasn't all. Edgar soon pumped four more into him on various spots. He turned and did the same to the one on the right, followed by the one on the left. As each one landed and hooked into its foe, none of them realized that a small automatic device had gone off in each one, setting off a chemical reaction to create a severely unstable compound. With his work done, Edgar swung the gun around and replaced it under his coat. With that, he smiled at the creatures.
"Move…and you're dust." He simply stated.
The nearest Anaranda looked up to him, followed by the others. They scowled and began to sneer at him. Immediately, ignoring the warning, they all began to march forward to the king. As they did, the vibrations their bodies generated violently shook the volatile chemicals located inside the balls attached to them. It took only moments for a chain reaction to begin. Before the creatures even had time to gape in surprise…each one of the small anchors exploded.
Edgar raised his arms to his face and shielded himself as a series of fiery eruptions went off. Explosions rocked the inner tunnel, and fire and smoke poured out from around the four creatures as they were ripped apart by powerful blasts. The eruptions continued until every last explosive in each anchor had gone off. After that, the shockwave continued to ripple past Edgar for a moment. Sabin himself, far in the back, closed his eyes to the boom. But in the end, the explosions died down, and the area became calm again as the echo died down. At that, the king lowered his hand and looked to his damage.
The Anarandas were gone. All that was left was a few oddly shaped piles of orange balls, still somewhat joined to one another. They smoked and smoldered slightly as they sat in errant clumps all over the floor. Edgar looked over this for a moment, and simply crossed his arms and shrugged.
"I warned them." He commented. "Let's see you regenerate from that."
About two seconds later, Edgar wished he hadn't said that.
The smile on the king's face faded as he saw the balls begin to shift. It didn't matter if they were in the largest clump or a single small ball. They all began to do it. Then…as they started to quiver…they began to divide again. The smallest ones split in half and grew to their former sizes in an instant, then split into four and did the same thing. They kept this up and began to grow. The larger clumps merely seemed to extend from what was already there. They all did this at once, and within a few seconds each former bit was much larger…and growing bigger. Edgar gazed in wide-eyed shock for a moment, before his face fell and he let out a sigh. But that didn't change the fact that soon the lumps began to stand up from the ground again. They became more detailed once more, and soon began to form bodies.
After a few seconds more, the corridor was stuffed almost the point of being jam packed with Anarandas. There was at least fifty of them now crushed into the small space, all full sized and without a scratch on them. They cracked their new limbs and stretched a bit, but mostly they stared at Edgar and grinned with delight. Slowly…they began to laugh. They rapidly increased in volume, but now it came from an entire chorus of them rather than just a few. They glared maliciously at their quarry, and turned their bodies to him as they continued to laugh.
"Heh…we told you." They sneered after a moment longer, now from a huge booming crowd of monsters. "You can cut us up, tear us apart, or blow us into a million pieces… We'll always come back stronger. Just like a weed, we only grow back stronger and bigger every time you pull us out. Your toys can't beat us." After saying this, they flashed a larger grin and began to crack their knuckles. They slowly began to step forward toward the small human, each one of them ravenous and feeling victorious. "Any last words?"
Edgar glared at them a moment. He actually sweat a little now. However…he did have one trick left. And frankly, he felt it still had a good chance of working. This creature might not bleed…but it was alive. And anything alive could be affected by this. He took one step backward, from the approaching monsters. But then, he swung down into his coat one last time. This time, he pulled out a much larger helmet with a special breath mask on the end, and swung it over his head. With his other hand, he yanked out a great nozzle, connected to special tanks that hung from his back. He aimed the nozzle at the enemy, and placed his hand on the button.
"I don't pull my weeds, gentlemen…I spray them."
With that, he pressed the control button. Immediately, a blast of thick, green smoke spilled out of the front of Edgar's machine and flooded the creatures in front of him. The smoke couldn't travel far, but it did spread out somewhat on its ejection. And Edgar spread a thick cloud all over the enemy before him, making sure to scatter his foul gas over them all. The creatures hesitated again and snorted, staring at this strange attack. And in their hesitation, Edgar managed to thoroughly douse each and every one of them with a healthy helping of his green mist. They looked around in puzzlement, and as they did so failed to notice that they were inhaling great amounts of it into their circular lungs. For a moment, they dwelled under this cloud, and continued to breathe it. But the gas reacted quickly with normal air, becoming a harmless, neutral substance. It did so now, and quickly dissipated. Soon, the confused monsters stood in normal air, and looked around themselves.
But that lasted only a moment. A strange sort of sound began to rise from the creatures. It sounded like drying of some sort…or some sort of stretching or ripping. As it went out, the monsters looked in terror toward their limbs. To their shock, they saw that large brown spots were beginning to appear on their skin. Not only that, but they were quickly spreading. And as they did, the millions of balls that made up their flesh began to turn brown and dry. They withered, becoming wrinkled small pits on their skin. As the brown spots spread, they dried up more and more of them. They began to crack open and let out empty clouds of brown dust into the air. The Anarandas gaped, and tried to cry out in shock. But their lungs had already been totally infected, and they could only let out small dry sounds before dust poofed out of their mouths. Their bodies began to turn a duller color, and their limbs began to wither, especially as the brown continued to cover them, turning them into small, dried out stick versions of their former size. Their faces began to sag as their skin turned to wrinkles, and they looked out to Edgar in shock.
But Edgar had already replaced his mask and bio blaster, and now had his circular saw out again. With one pull of the cord, he fired up the chain again, and soon he gunned the huge blade. He smiled at the rapidly withering opposition.
"Now…let's try this again, shall we?"
The Anarandas could only exhale empty sounds before the king went into them. Again, he spun around in a deadly twister, swinging his saw out as he did so. He slashed through the creatures left and right, slicing off their limbs and casting them everywhere. He moved into their torsos as well, and soon slashed them off too. But they didn't stay entire this time. They exploded into dusty fragments, and were chopped up even smaller as Edgar continued to cut through them. A huge cloud of brown material soon surrounded Edgar as he danced around into them, chopping the dry creatures into fragments. It was a massacre. The withered creatures couldn't even react as Edgar sliced them into bits. They were torn up like a kid jumping into a pile of dry leaves.
After a few moments, Edgar came to a stop. He exhaled once, showing a bit of tiredness, and stood in the wake of his destruction. He slowly powered his chainsaw down, and glared out as he huffed and puffed. All that was left now was dry, leafy matter piled up at his feet, and tons and tons of dust. A cloud of it still hung in the air and floated there. Edgar himself was turned brown from all of the material that had blown over him. He glared out a moment longer, staring ahead with a dangerous look. But then, his face twisted, he reared back, and he sneezed, scattering dust off of his hair and body and thrown everywhere.
Sabin, over against the wall, cracked a grin and leaned off of it. He began to walk forward, waving the dust out of his face as he did so. Edgar sniffled and huffed for a moment longer, but then put his chainsaw back to his side. Sabin wandered into the dust cloud after him, continuing to wave it away, while Edgar began to pat his clothes and run his hands through his hair, scattering the dry material off of him.
"Stupid allergies…" He remarked, sniffling, as he turned and began to walk out of the cloud, back down the hallway.
Sabin quickly pulled up to his side and walked with him. "Not bad, big brother. But why didn't you just do that to him in the first place?"
The king breathed hard again for a moment, but then merely shrugged. "Well, you know me. I wanted to give the overconfident imbecile the impression he was going to actually win this fight. I mean, that was a pretty good move after all. Growing back every time I lopped off a limb. I just wish I would have known he was going to leave such a mess…" Edgar sneezed again here, still surrounded by a cloud of dust. Frowned, he waved more of it away from his face, and eagerly stepped out of the dust pile and into the main corridor. "I wouldn't have let him divide so much."
Sabin sneezed as well after this, accenting his similar allergies taking effect. However, he and his brother continued to walk down the hallway, making for the bend from earlier. "Maybe next time, you should invent a flamethrower or something." He suggested.
"Nah." Edgar answered as they turned the corner. "That would just make smoke and ash. And in this small of a place, that'd be just as ba…"
Edgar trailed off and halted. Sabin stopped as well. The twins both stood frozen in the hall, and looked ahead down the latest corridor they had descended. As they did…they saw that they weren't alone. Standing just at the end of the next corridor, before the next turn in it, was another opponent. His arms were crossed, he smiled smugly, and his hair was over one side of his face. On seeing him…the two of them immediately recognized who he was. It was yet another warrior from the city of Zozo…this time, the one named Chile.
However…they weren't as impressed as he might have wanted.
Edgar frowned. "Another one?" He asked rhetorically as he shook his head. "They're making this too easy on us."
"Yeah. I thought we'd have to hunt them down." Sabin remarked, crossing his arms and shaking his head. "I'm amazed they've lived this long."
Chile, on hearing this, frowned and stuck his nose up. "What rude little creatures." He snorted, sounding utterly insulted by these remarks, but still very confident. "Though I suppose your two lives aren't totally meaningless. After all, you did manage to kill Anaranda somehow." After saying this, the creature let out a very bored sigh. "I suppose I have to kill you now myself. What a ridiculous waste of time. I have much better things to be doing than wasting my time on the likes of you. It disgusts me that I even have to dirty myself touching your ugly little bodies…"
The twins stared back at the creature on hearing this. Both of them showed similar expressions, both of them dark and frowning at the arrogance of the latest foe to challenge them.
"Now I know why they need a mountain for a base…" Edgar grimly responded as he looked at the odd, snooty creature before them. "This was the only place they could find big enough to hold their gigantic egos."
"On second thought, big brother," Sabin said out loud…already twisting his arms behind him, locking his hands, and cracking. "I'm glad you got the chance to beat up the big one back there. Now I get to beat the tar out of this one. And personally, I think I'll enjoy ripping his face off a lot better than I would have the lunkhead's."
Edgar sighed a bit himself at that, but gave a shrug. He walked over to the wall and prepared to lean on it himself. "I'd really like to help you out on this one, little brother." He responded, and then frowned and shrugged. "But…fair is fair. You get to hog him all to yourself."
Chile looked down at this, and his eyes widened in surprise at this kind of dialogue. He "hmphed" in reply, and then turned his nose again. "You annoying little trollups. How dare you talk down to one of my superior grace, strength, skill, and beauty. I am one of Lord Nireevyou's greatest warriors, making me one of the greatest beings alive. And you underevolved, uncouth, uncultured, barely sentient apes think you can actually contest me?"
"I don't know about any of that stuff." Sabin simply replied as he began to step forward toward the monster, limbering himself up a little as he did. "I was thinking more along the lines of just plain kicking your scrawny, pansy ass."
The monster opened his eyes again at this, and glared back in indignation. "Uncultured wretch!" He cried back in anger. "You will suffer for that! Feel privileged. You will die at the hand of the great and marvelous Chile!"
To be continued...
