In one lonely corner of the universe, a small planet mostly covered in blue liquid lazily orbits a bright yellow star. Its companion satellite was a shattered moon with large chunks slowly floating into the vast open void. The two celestial objects floated in relative peace for centuries, undisturbed by the events of the surface world. However, this peace would not last for much longer.
Something twinkled in the distance. Gunshots and explosions began to light up the night sky as a small airship rocketed through space. It was shaped like a bullet and colored yellow with black trimmings, and two large engines attached to each side that emitted blue flames. Tethered to the back of the ship was a man wearing black armor with blue outlines that covered him from head to toe. On his back were large feathery wings with black tips, and his feet were that of a bird's, two toes in front and one in the back, each with wickedly sharp talons, even on his hands. The man wore a plague mask with dark blue visors, and wielded two large grenade launchers.
Tailing the man were small dragons the size of toddlers and varying colors, wearing black suits, white dress shirts and white ties. Some had horns, others had forked tails, some were wearing glasses, and all came equipped with firearms–ranging from pistols to assault rifles–aimed at the birdman. The began firing, and the bird man wings flared, flapping in time with each shot to avoid being peppered with bullets.
"Marline!" Shuraig, codename "Ill Omen Knight," shouted into his mask's comms, "Hurry up and get us out of here!" Inside the ship was a young blue-eyed woman with pink hair that had purple streaks neatly tied into a ponytail, black horns that curved backwards, a slim black tail with heart shaped tip, and wore an outfit that resembled an academy uniform; white overcoat and skirt, red shirt, black stockings, and the air filters for a gas mask designed to look like a bowtie. From the passenger seat, she tried piloting the craft, but was knocked off balance whenever bullets slammed into the hull, causing the ship to veer uncontrollably.
"It's kind of hard to drive from the godsdamned passenger seat, Master Knight!" Marline Mouse, codename "Zircon Paladin," shouted. She shrieked suddenly, pulling on the controls to swerve over a chuck of moon. Over the comms, she heard a thud and groan, and murmured a small "Sorry." Shuriag grunted, dusting off moon shrapnel from his armor. Afterwards, he pointed his guns at the dragons, and started firing.
Without air resistance to slow them down, the grenades rocketed towards their pursuers. Some of them shot the explosives down, while others had to swerve around them. One of them was hit directly in the face, and was sent spiraling down towards the planet. Shuraig continued firing, striking two more dragons, and sending them careening into the moon's chunks and core respectively.
As Shuraig deflected the incoming attacks and Marline tried her best to outpace their pursuers, another dragon about six feet tall, with blue scales, orange horns, and two sets of wings came out from behind a chunk of moon, hefting a rocket launcher over his shoulder. His glasses began glowing as a reticle appeared over the ship's left engine. He fired, and landed a direct hit.
"Crap baskets!" Marline cursed. The explosion was strong enough to send her flying into the driver's seat and smush her face against the window. As she pried herself free from the glass, multiple alerts, red lights and warning sounds blared from the dashboard. Marline punched it out of frustration, and then slipped the air filters over her face and clicked a button. The collar of her uniform expanded, forming a featureless mask with a black chevron split visor.
"Master Knight, you need to get in right now!" Marline shouted. Shuraig looked behind him, and saw the busted engine, currently expelling massive amounts of black smoke. He looked past it, and saw the blue planet that was slowly growing bigger and bigger.
"Oh shit…" He muttered. He strapped his two launchers to his back, and after doing so, flung multiple explosives and flashbangs forwards, right into the cluster of dragons flying towards him. He clicked the button on his tether, and was brought back to the ship. The explosive went off, and the dragons were sent spiraling away.
The cockpit of their ship opened, and Marline moved back to the passenger seat, while Shuraig gripped the controls tightly. When the ship closed, Marline slipped her mask off, and looked worriedly at the incoming planet. "Do you think we can take it?" She asked, her tail flicking anxiously.
"Ship can handle reentry and a crash landing, easy," Shuraig reassured her. "...Not so sure about us though." Marline looked at him with a deadpan expression and crossed her arms under her chest.
"If we die, I'm going to make you choke on your own soul," She growled.
Shuraig shrugged. "Fair enough," He muttered as the ship began to shake violently from friction against the atmosphere.
The remaining dragons watched the ship descend from the shattered. The blue dragon with four wings snarled, and landed on the moon. "Set up jammers in low orbit, place one here as well." The four-winged dragon, Aquamentus, pointing his clawed finger at a trio of auburn-scaled lizards. They nodded and flew away. "The rest of you, get back to the Dragoon and report to the Don and Gleeok."
The dragons nodded and flew away. Aquamentus looked down at the small planet and snarled. Afterwards, he unfolded his wings and flew away.
—
Marline groaned. Reaching up, she felt a small hairline crack on her left horn, and blood dribbling down her mouth and nose. She groggily lifted herself off the ground and sat cross-legged on a white blanket. Standing off to the side was Shuraig, currently standing on top of a cactus. The two looked to be in some sort of flat desert, occasionally littered with boulders and small caves.
"Master Knight?" Marline asked. She tried standing up, but stumbled to the ground.
"You can drop the formalities," Shuraig said. He jumped down from his perch and walked past her. He had taken off his mask, revealing short, platinum blonde hair, green slitted eyes, and black teardrop marking starting from the bottom of his eyes and ending near his chin.
"Oh thank gods! Ugh, I feel like a character in a doujin whenever I say that," Marline said. Shuraig shrugged, fiddling with her air filter. "By the way, what happened to the ship?"
"Totaled. I think that the atmosphere is a bit thicker than most planets, since most of the hull melted right off," Shuraig said, and then pointed towards a large cloud of smoke billowing out from afar. "It was hot enough for nearby plants to catch fire, when we were over a forest." Marline pushed herself up with a groan.
"Great. Now we have to repair the damn thing," Marline said, drawing a half-heartedly glare from Shuraig.
"It's not a 'damn thing.' I've been driving that thing for 17 years now," Shuraig says, despite the fact that he looked like he was in his early twenties. Marline snorted and rolled her eyes. She snapped her fingers, and orange glyphs and sigils appeared, glowing on both Shuraig's and Marline's arm. She snorts and looks at Shuraig in disbelief.
"These wards suck."
"What're you talking about? It's the same wards I taught you and the rest of the class," Shuraig deadpans.
"It's not my fault I'm more magically inclined than you," Marline retorts as Shuraig rolls his eyes. Under her breath, the pink-haired girl began reciting something, drawing characters in the air that glowed dark pink. After she finished, the glowing markings brightened, and turned into a shade of blue that matched her eyes. Shuraig rolls his eyes and walks toward the wreckage.
"Show off," He mutters, getting a raspberry from Marline. "I set up a distress signal. Hopefully GUN will be able to pick up on this soon." Marline hummed in response.
"You have the blueprints those dragons wanted, right?" She asked. Shuraig nodded, and removed a small disc with a hammer logo below the blue core. He turned on the device, and a holographic screen appeared in front of him. After scrolling through it for a few seconds, he clicked one file called "important_dragon_ ," which generated a hologram of a manilla folder stuffed with blueprints.
"Good. GUN would've thrown a fit if it burned up with the ship," Marline says.
Shuraig scoffed. "I'm not as sloppy as you," He retorts, stretching his wings and his knees. "Onto more important topics, we should probably find a place to lay low for a while, in case those dragons start showing up. While we were 'landing,' I thought I saw a city off to the northeast of here, it should be a quick flight."
"Alright! Let's head out over there and get a lay of the land!" Marline said, raising her arms. Shuraig looked at her blankly, and instead of picking her up, flicked her forehead with enough force to make her stumble.
"Hold up a moment. We have no idea what people look like here. We could be mistaken for Boss Monsters or the like," Shuraig warns her, making her pout. "I'll go on ahead and scout the place out. I'll contact you if you need to change into anything less suspicious."
"Aye aye, commander knight sir!" Marline saluted, placing one hand above her head. Shuraig sighed, and after some more wing stretches, he flew away, disappearing over the horizon in only a few short minutes. Marline pouts as he disappears idly and begins idly stretching her limbs.
"Wonder how far away that city is…" Marline mutters, stretching her legs. As she stretched, she heard growling coming from behind her. However she doesn't pay much attention to it. The wards she strength should prevent wild animals and other people from just walking in on them. The growling somehow manages to get louder, prompting Marline to look behind her.
Unimpressed, she finds herself face to face with Monsters. They are large, black furred things with armor that is or is made to look like bones. Red line of energy ran through the plating, originating from red and yellow eyes. They looked like various types of wildlife and bugs, like gorillas, centipedes, wolves, and even a two-headed snake. She doesn't even know how that would work.
As they slowly begin to approach her, Marline begins to slowly mutter again. Once she finishes, sun-shaped runes float over her wrists. She gives off a sinister smile as her eyes begin to glow, and engages the sudden flood of Monster with delighted laughter.