Apriltober 2022 07 Smoothie (Irina, Gwin, Mathias, Lin)

a/n: A small mission with a sweet reward.

All the good things belong to Monolith Soft.

"Wait, wait, I got a plan," Gwin panted as he ran after the main group.

Irina turned on him and snapped, "I don't want to hear it. There are 20 Prone back in that valley, and I don't think the three of us..."

"Four," said a BLADE that could have been Gwin's blonder twin.

"Five!" shouted Tatsu. He nudged Lin and hissed, "Why Irina counting?"

Irina looked at the sky, seeking strength from a divine source. "Look, Matthew, I don't mean to be rude ..."

"Mathias," the blond said politely.

"Excuse me, Mathias, you're a great Curator and all that, plus an excellent cat dad, but honestly your furry child has a better combat record than you do."

Gwin talked over his friend's weak protestations. "Irina, honest, this could work. We use Tatsu as bait..."

"MEHHHHH!"

"Oh no you do not!" shouted Lin. "No one uses my potato as bait."

"He'll be perfectly safe. Irina will be covering him at a distance, but the Prone will never get close in the first place. We'll only lure over a couple, and before they get near Tatsu, you, Lin, will do something to draw them in a different direction. Then me and Matthias will get the jump on them. We do that a couple times and the situation won't be so tricky."

While the younger members of the team were still considering this plan uncertainly, Irina had made her mind up quickly. "We'll try it, once, then decide if we continue. Lin, you go over by that group of boulders. Gwin and new guy, climb up somewhere and do your best to look like rocks, ready to drop down." She dropped to one knee and tried to look through Tatsu's thick glasses. "You stay put, right here. This bare dirt patch actually works in our favor. Great for transmitting anything I need to throw on you. I promise, they won't touch a hair on your tuft."

"I don't like leaving him alone," Lin said unhappily.

"Tatsu be just fine!" the round alien replied with equal parts enthusiasm and lack of conviction. "Noponfolk important part of Miran balanced diet. Prone fall for it, no worries."

The first trial worked better than they expected. Three Prone wandered away from their group, intent on snagging a beach ball-shaped bbq treat. Lin's commotion had them swerving away and Gwin and Matthias quickly handled the rest. They tried again, luring two more, before the plan failed, and disastrously. The remaining group proved that Cavern Prone were not as dumb as they looked. They came as a full group, descending on a squealing Nopon and a slender Interceptor like a tsunami. Irina had a brief moment of pure artificial adrenaline as she tested just how good she was at defending the helpless. Her knife flashed in the Primordia sunshine, and she had gotten the first rounds of shots off when her backup arrived.

Irina was grateful to pass defense over to Lin. She and Gwin worked as the long-standing team that they were, him spreading unfocused destruction, her doing extreme damage one by one. Three against fifteen wasn't bad odds for BLADE. Irina spared a moment to curse Mathias, who had vanished from the face of the planet.

It was taking longer than it should have, too long. Irina was about to order the others to run, when a small explosion behind the mass of remaining Prone shifted the battle. Irina and Gwin were as surprised as the enemy, but since they hadn't been the ones taking damage from the blast, they immediately used the opportunity to force the Prone away from Lin and Tatsu. Free of concerns about the weakest members of the party, they were able to finish the fight with every excessive move they had at their disposal.

When the dust settled, they saw Mathias standing nervously at the edge of the blast zone. "What the hell were you doing?" asked Irina with more curiosity than anger.

"I'm not great at fighting, but I'm pretty good at lobbing grenades." He shuffled the toe of his boot in the streaks the explosion had left on the ground. "Sorry. I'll make it up to you. I spotted a patch of strawlennies. This heatwave should have them at peak sweetness."

"All right, now you're talking!" Lin said. "So what do you think: shortcake or smoothies?"

a/n: Any use of a prompt is a win. I have been told Mathias is a Mediator, but I do not believe it.

Next up: Sling me a prompt or suggestion or dare. Otherwise: scale.