Prologue: Skirmish in the Dark
The moon shone brightly, casting its pale light throughout the forest, while a lone figure stalked beneath the canopy-while she had the appearance of a young girl, with blonde hair and dressed in a black vest and skirt, with a white blouse, she was no ordinary girl-she was Rumia, the Youkai of the Dusk-and she was on the hunt, having caught the scent of a human nearby, and not having eaten for most of the day except what few scraps remained of her latest victim. And upon learning of the intruder in the area...
It was time to feast once again.
Still...the human could at least do her the courtesy of making themselves much easier catch-sneaking around like this is too much work and she was hungry! Wait a minute...THERE! A wicked smile came across her face as the sound of heavy footfalls drew near, she could practically hear their heartbeat; rapid, but steady. 'Already in a state of panic...good,' came the gleeful thought, 'That should make this considerably easier.' Floating a few feet off the ground, using the leaves as cover, she could make out their breathing-a loud, rasping sound. And out of shape too...it had been a while since she had a fatty human-they were good eating, if not particularly good for you. Hovering overhead, she saw her prey-a large, hunchbacked form. An outcast perhaps? Either way, they wouldn't be missed. She positioned herself against the trunk of the tree at an angle nearly perpendicular to the human. Hunching her knees, she kicked off hard-launching at them. They must of heard the noise she made as they began to turn.
Not that is mattered-they were entirely too slow to stop her. A quick strike to the neck, and it would be all over. The Youkai grunted as she impacted her target in the chest-her target grunted, staggering, but not falling-something the Rumia didn't really notice; as far as she was concerned the human was already dead. Moving with the speed only a youkai, even a relatively low-tier one such as herself, possessed she grasped the edge of something hard and pulled. Her target's panicked cries were music to her ears-so close...now to fe-the air was suddenly blasted from her lungs as a strong impact hammered into her side, sending her sprawling. Spitting dirt, she stood, only for a bright light to blind her. There was a second, brighter flash, along with a BAM-FWOOSH! Followed by a large chunk of dirt being churned up, providing with a fleeting respite.
It was all she needed. Raising a hand, she let off a stream of diamond-shaped danmaku in a wave-type stream, almost like what an observer from the outside world would be considered almost like a shotgun. There was a rasping grunt along with the light being mercifully diverted as several impacted against them. Even in the moonlit darkness, she could see her prey more clearly now as she blinked away the spots in her eyes: Huge, almost 8 feet tall, adorned in heavy, segmented armor plates-what she thought had been some kind of deformity was a pair of large pauldrons. Along the helmet, the human wore was a long yellow slit, overshadowed by some kind of dome. In their right hand was some kind of weapon, huge and bulky with a light-emitting from it, where their left hand was oversized, covered in yellow and black stripes. They were breathing hard, and she could see the spots where her attack had struck-they still glowed with heat. With a speed that belied their bulk, they brought their weapon to bear, then the same noise and flash-and the tree behind her sudden exploded in a shower of splinters. She immediately sprang to her feet, the light following her as several more attacks tracked her-she felt one pass overhead as another passed in front, sending spots in her eyes as a second light passed briefly. They were still tracking her.
Taking a moment to fly out of sight, Rumia considered her options-here prey was all too aware of her now, and judging by the look of things was more than capable of taking a few hits-most humans would've died by now. As the light panned back and forth, clearly looking for some sign of her, a sinister smile graced her lips-summoning her drawing upon her abilities, she conjured a sphere of darkness around her-that light would be quite useless. She lunged...
-
? P.O.V.
Beep.
Beep.
Beep.
Where did it go? The built-in scanner had lost the contact's signal after it had fired off those energy attacks; the electromagnetic interference from the attack had disrupted the sensors in my suit. Going over the readouts, I had lost a total of 12 percent overall armor integrity, mostly concentrated in the chest area with some minor damage in the left pauldron and upper leg. Ammo count was 25 out of 30, with an additional 3 magazines-enough for a short-ranged patrol. At least that's the way it seemed initially. Though with as fast as the hostile was moving, it may come to hand to hand combat. A shudder ran through me at the memories-good men ripped limb form limb as the tried desperately to fend off chittering horrors that bore sharp teeth and claws. The tracker pinged left, I turned and my vision went black as something slammed hard, staggering me in the several hundred kilos suit. I cried out, feeling several powerful blows impact the chestplate and nearly knocking the wind out of me-a half-dozen alarms went off as the suit suffered yet more damage-only the combined thickness of the plating and servo units kept me standing.
Heart hammering I swung, and the darkness seemed to recede-that was good-even if the servo gauntlet hadn't made contact it at least got them to back off. Pulling the trigger several times, a mixture of fear and training guiding my movements. The effort was rewarded with a shriek and more of those glowing energy blasts being hurled in my direction. More warnings, and the readouts on the screen were reading a dangerous mixture of orange and yellow. There was a good chance the armor would suffer a blow through if it got hit again. I started to back up, the smoke drifting off my armor curling through the air forming weird shapes while the targeting software inside the helmet was doing its best to compensate for the interference the attack had cause-all things considered I was lucky it didn't lose power. The darkness seemed to flow all around me, with the space I occupied being the only place that had any sort of visibility.-19 out of 30 shots-had I really fired off a half-dozen rounds? I saw movement-or a lack of with the shadows reaching towards me. I swung, the motors in the servo gauntlet automatically compensating for the maneuver. I heard my fist connect with my attacker, as the impact jarred my arm the wet crunch sending a mixture of relief and vindictive satisfaction coursing through me. The darkness receded, vanished, and visibility retuned-evidence of the struggle-shattered trees, churned earth and a smattering of dark stains along the trees.
What the hell had attacked me?
I leaned against the tree I was backed against, sweat stinging my eyes as I assed the damage-overall armor integrity was at 47 percent with the majority concentrated on the left arm, right shoulder and chest. I shuddered at what would've happened if the fight had a dragged out any longer. I held up my left hand; there was damage from the impact. I could see the pitting in the armor from where the where a black substance had touched. Maybe it was some sort of digestive enzyme? No matter. I need to get back to base. Letting out a breath as I loaded a fresh magazine into my weapon, the bolt racking providing a small measure of comfort as the adrenaline of the fight began to give way to exhaustion-even with the assistance of artificial muscle and servo motors moving in the armor was still taxing. I proceeded east, keeping an eye on my surroundings while listening for the telltale ping of the motion tracker.
Rumia P.O.V.
She collapsed against the side of a tree with every breath being agony-her left arm from the shoulder down ended in bits of stringy meat and tattered cloth. The blow she had received felt like an oni's fist. It had pulverized flesh and bone alike, as she let out a rasping wet cough while black ichor oozed from her mouth. Through the haze of pain, a singer thought dawned on her-her opponent hadn't been human-not entirely anyways, not with the kind of strength they had possessed. As her bones began to set themselves in place and torn flesh began to knit and reform, she decided to set aside her wounded pride for the moment and concentrate on healing her mangled body.
While it did make things incredibly interesting, she didn't particularly enjoy it when her prey actually proved willing and able to fight back-much better when they proved too terrified to fend her off. She winced in a combination of pain and disgust as her bones set themselves back into place with a sicking wet crack. She was still hungry however, and resolved to see if Mystia had some lamperys lampreys left at her stall-in spite of her defeat, at least something might come good out of this night. She drew her darkness around her, and flew-albeit slowly and with all the grace of a drunkard-off into the night.
A/N: This is a mild(as in the equipment being used)between Touhou and Alien Assault. Hope you enjoy.