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Chapter 5: The Emerald
"Fireclaw! Fi-Cl-." The last radio communication Fireclaw recieved from the Great Valley's radio frequency. He tried to radio back, but to no avail. The line was dead, and Fireclaw grew frustrated.
Fireclaw flipped a targeting switch on the dashboard of the small dropship he got from Allo back at Lavadome. Trying to pilot the aircraft, he calibrated his targeting systems to get the most accurate shot with a new weapon Allo had shipped in from Reptillon. Under his ship in the cargo hold now converted weapon hangar was an experimental ultrasonic railgun. Capable of punching through nearly ten feet of stainless steel, this weapon could pack a serious punch for nearly any reason needed. All he needed to do was to get the targeting system to recognise what weapon it was and how accurate it needed to be. Fireclaw performed a number of flight patterns that involved rolls, flips, turns and twists in order to get the weapon system used to quick movements. He liked to call these "twitch shots" because of the twitching the ship can create when trying to flatten out for a shot.
A small buzzer indicated that he was being locked on to. Fireclaw immediately rolled hard to the right, narrowly dodging a missile flying over his left wing.
"What the- " Another missile flew past, this time nearly taking out his right wing.
"Someone knows how to aim." Fireclaw said to himself.
He pulled the small ship into a backwards roll, lowering the railgun out of the cargo bay as he pulled up. The charge was at eighty percent. Charging the rest would give him just enough time to pull behind his attacker and sight the railgun in. As he leveled out, he recognized right away who's ship he was about to knock down.
"So Quackpot, trying to take me down, huh?" Fireclaw asked antagonizingly.
He recognized his laugh and shut off the recieving end of his radio to ignore it. Once Fireclaw was totally level and ready to fire, he turned his radio back on one last time. Judging by what Quackpot was saying, he was utterly confused and lost. It would be his last mistake.
"Hey Quackpot, check out my new gun!" Fireclaw shouted over the radio.
Quackpot managed to turn broadside towards Fireclaw in an attempt to get a better view. Seizing the opportunity, Fireclaw pulled the trigger. An impressive shockwave burst from under the railgun, a bright beam of light followed by an explosion and metal fragments signified that he had a hit. Quackpot's rear half was destroyed instantly by an ultrasonic railgun blast, sending metal fragments from his ship in every direction. He could hear Quackpot screaming as his ship fell straight for Earth.
"Bet you didn't see that coming." Fireclaw said to himself.
"Uhh Fireclaw, sorry to interrupt your moment of pride there, but we've got bigger problems! Ghenghis Rex has something attached to his ship that's glowing bright green, and I think it's going to blow something up! Wait, scratch that, it just turned red. What the hell?" Fireclaw managed to recieve just this just a mile out of the Great Valley.
"Ok, on my way Chomp, just hold your own for a while, get everyone to cover!" Fireclaw relayed back, unsure as to if he would even get it.
The ship jarred hard against something as Fireclaw rammed it trying to raise the railgun. The railgun has just detached, and Fireclaw couldn't pull the ship back up! He sat there, waiting for the impending crash. Tree after tree he took out trying to regain control, his ship going straight for the ground fast. He was so close to the Great Valley now that if he could just pull his ship a little higher he could see over the ridge that was blocking his view. As he pulled up on the control wheel, the ship ascended slightly before totalling itself on a very thick tree. A rear afterburner was torn clean off with a loud bang. Fireclaw let go of the controls and watched the ground come up quick. Once the ship made contact, he was thrown backwards hard, hitting the back wall of the cockpit. The ship finally came to a stop just short of another tree trunk.
"I'm a horrible pilot. No wonder Allo never made me head of an air defense team." Fireclaw said to himself.
He kicked out the windshield and climbed out. Looking around, he managed to total the dropship within fifty yards of the Great Wall. Not too bad of an aim for him, considering he's never piloted a drop ship with a weapon attached. The damage was done though. With one wing embedded in a tree, another wing crumpled beyond repair and the body of the ship itself in horrible condition, he wasn't getting back into the air again. Once he was able to climb to the top of the ridge, he saw that Ghenghis Rex did in fact have a weapon all his own. An Ion-Splitter with the capability of knocking the top off of a mountain was ready to deal some major damage. The Ion-Splitter has a top and bottom portion, with an induction rod in the middle. The smaller rod builds energy, and the opened halves amplify the energy up to five hundred times. Once fully charged, the cannon focuses the energy into a straight beam, causing an explosion powerful enough to rock a city to it's foundation. Rex's cannon was just about there.
"Chomper, can you try and get a shot off to disarm that weapon?" Fireclaw radioed out.
"Don't think it'll be possible. I can't see any way to disarm it without causing it to melt down mid-air. Looks like we're going to have to do it the hard way." Chomper said.
"Hope you know what that way is, I just totalled our means of transportation." Fireclaw said with a laugh.
"You stupid ass! You totalled Allo's only weapon-capable dropship? Honestly? He's gonna be so pissed when you have to tell him where it is." Chomper yelled back through the radio.
"Ya know, for growing up around Littlefoot and them, you have a rather colorful vocabulary." Fireclaw joked.
"Piss off." Was his reply.
A gunshot pierced the air, followed by a spark Fireclaw could see bounce off of the steel plated armor the cannon was surrounded with. A few seconds later, the cannon began to turn towards Fireclaw. Fireclaw sprinted for his life as a high pitched sound was emitted from the cannon. Fireclaw dove behind a rock to avoid the bright red column of plasma energy that nearly vapourized him. The heat was so intense it nearly set his tail on fire from almost ten feet away. Fireclaw turned and fired his .357 at the windshield of Rex's fighter ship, hoping to hit him at least once. He missed all six rounds. He holstered the magnum and pulled his USP off of his other leg, emptying yet another unsuccessful clip into the ship's hardened armored shell. One managed to hit the windshield, but not close enough to Rex to do any damage. Fireclaw had to keep moving. The cannon would destroy any cover he had when it fired. Another red column nearly incinerated him as Rex attempted to fire in front of him. Fireclaw saw this coming and dove backward as the beam burned straight through the hillside, reducing solid rock into a molten, soupy death trap.
Fireclaw tried to refrain from using his sword's power to give the impression that he didn't have it, but if he was going to stop Rex's Ion-Ripper, now was the chance. He stood up, unsheathed the sword off of his back and raised it into the air. He focused this time on the heat the magma that Rex had beamed into the hillside was giving off. Fireclaw began to channel that energy straight into his sword. This was drawing magma off of the ground and creating a whip off of his sword handle. The magma swirled in a long column in the air as Fireclaw had to hold his focus on this newly improvised weapon, which wasn't proving as easy as he'd though. Ghenghis Rex tried to get a shot off of with the cannon, but it wasn't yet heated enough to fire. In the more stable state it became easy for Fireclaw to sever it from the bottom of the ship with a horizontal whip attack from the molten whip. He spun the whip around him and brought it down in an attempt to slice the ship in half. Rex activated an emergency thruster, barely avoiding the flaming column as it came hurdling down towards the earth. Fireclaw was focusing on making it longer at the same time, and surprisingly to him it was working. Rex put it into overdrive and fled before Fireclaw could hit him again. He was just out of reach of a straight-on whip attack Fireclaw attempted to try to knock him out of the air.
The whip retracted into a small pool as Fireclaw disbanded it. He felt a sense of dread as he came out of his power driven euphoria, knowing that Ghenghis Rex knows he's got a unique power that could prove catastrophic if he manages to get a hold of it. Pterano was no longer the main threat towards the sword's power. Rex has a greater chance of getting it to work anywhere than Pterano ever could, anyway.
"Chomper! You alright? Talk to me!" Fireclaw yelled out.
"Down here! I'm good, just about got beamed though. Thing came extremely close the first time he fired it." Chomper replied. He'd hidden between two large boulders directly under where Fireclaw was standing.
Fireclaw used a small grappling hook he kept on his tactical vest to rappel down the small cliff. Chomper climbed out of the hole and pulled up with him something that caught Fireclaw's attention.
"Chomper, where'd you get that?"
"This?" Chomper replied, holding up a small gem similar to the one that Allo had found. This one was smaller in size, but was the exact same as the last one that had been delivered to Lavadome.
"We have another one back at Lavadome too. Exact same, where'd you get this?" Fireclaw asked.
"I found it over there." Chomper said. He pointed to a small crevice behind him. There was an odd greenish glow eminating from the crack. Fireclaw went over to have a look
"Chomper, check this out!"
"Wow! There's a hole vein of them in there! What is this exactly?"
Fireclaw and Chomper have just discovered a very large deposit of these mysterious gems. Fireclaw's sword began to react oddly when standing near the crack. His sword began to glow with a hint of green, almost the same color as the small emeralds. Fireclaw took out his sword and smashed a hole in the wall with great force. The deposit was much bigger than they thought. Fireclaw's sword was going crazy when he stuck it into the hole. It vibrated very hard and was glowing brighter than the gems themselves. He used a heated slice to sear off a small gem. Fireclaw suddenly got an idea.
"Chomper, I wonder if this smokey substance inside has anything to do with the sword." Fireclaw said.
"Well break it, let's see what happens." Chomper replied.
Fireclaw crushed the gem with one claw, then forced it open, arm extended. A very loud blast followed with a bright green cone of light burst from his open claw, sending leaves from a nearby tree flying. He looked down at the small shards he was holding, quite impressed.
"Wait let me try!" Chomper said.
Chomper took one, crushed it against his knee, then did exactly as Fireclaw had done. Same result, only stronger because of the larger crystal he broke.
"Chomper, I hope you're interested in getting a new piece of armor, because I have an idea as to what to do with these." Fireclaw said.
Fireclaw stomped the ground collapsing rocks from above them down over the hole. They weren't going to risk anything losing these.
Chomper and Fireclaw walked out of the woods after managing their way through thick trees and shrubbery to be met by silence. It was eerily quiet around the Great Valley for being early in the afternoon. As they walked, they could see large amounts of footprints that weren't native to the Great Valley. Identifying footprints was a useless skill Fireclaw had learned after living there for so long. They could find no one at all. It's as if everyone had just left and not told them at all.
"Chomper, something doesn't seem right. Where is everyone?" Fireclaw asked.
"Good question. They were here this morning. At least before Ghenghis Rex attacked. I told them to take cover, but I think they just up and took off instead." Chomper replied.
"Probably not the case. They wouldn't just leave the Great Valley so easily. That's definetely not the case. Remember the last time a war nearly broke out because Redclaw decided it was his time of the month again?" Fireclaw replied.
"Hmm, good point. Okay then, looks like we have to find them, right?"
"Possibly not. We can try a bio-scan and see if we can pinpoint them on radar."
"You wrecked the ship, Fireclaw! We don't have radar equipment!" Chomper yelled in Fireclaw's face.
"Would you believe me if I told you I kept one in case of emergencies?"
Chomper's face showed a hint of confusion when Fireclaw said that.
"You have a radar kit here? Are you serious?" Chomper asked.
"In all honesty. I stashed one away a long time ago, just for something like this. Either that or to be creepy and stuff." Fireclaw replied.
"Wow, so you do come prepared." Chomper replied sarcastically.
"Come on, we can try some scans and see if anything comes up. I already have ping stations set up so that we can cover the most distance we can with this thing."
Someone yet again had been watching, this time totally undetected. Terrible-Dactyl hung down from a tree across the Valley as he watched Fireclaw and Chomper walk back to the cave they lived in.
"Yes Fireclaw, scan the area hehe. I'm eager to see how you'll enjoy what Rex has in store for you." Terrible-Dactyl said with a chuckle. He flipped himself back up and flew off.